Production shots from the new and improved video
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Grad Research Artist Statement and New Semester Work Documentation
My art practice is rooted in the concept of perpetual human struggle. By staging performative actions that give rise to issues of repetitive, restless tasking without distinct resolution, I attempt to use my body as a metaphor to explore the emotional alienation and struggle that occurs in every day life.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Pitts Grad Research Assignment: Discussion Questions on Article or Essay
How does shock art get reinterpreted by those who once championed it?
It seems that shock art is very much the haven for the young, but not always...But it does seems like the way that young people gravitate to it and older people tend to gravitate away from it as it becomes childish or passe. Does this mean shock art is not dead? It seems that as long as there is an established hireaarchy of anything shock will be viable. Of course the method and the execution will still always be critiqued, but as Bremer illustrated-you don't have to call it art for it to be shocking.
In a secondary realm, the discussion of consent and context seems like just a convienent way of justifying the punked nature of being called over the hill. Is there anytime that under the justification of shock art one can say off limits, or "just not now?"
I feel that if shock is where your heart is that no moment is off limit, no subject to shy away from. It is an oppositional attitude to take but it has its place in time and uses as Barhtes would say to disorganize and to destroy. Everything deserves to get shaken up.
Pitts Grad Research Assignment: Discussion Questions on Article or Essay
In the conversation between Doug Aitken and Robert Altman they discuss the concept of collaberation or at least what goes into making one of his films since he is a larger budget film maker. I am interested in at what point a project becomes a point of us/our and mine. It seems like there are a lot of people who get lots of credit for movies, films and art in general where they may not be the "creative force behind" the bang or the zing of the final project. But at the same time they may have been the one who thought of the idea with out which the house falls apart. Is it simply a parlayance of the word "collaboration" when two artist mutually agree to try out a partnership? I think that perhapse a simple acknolwledgement is enough. Or perhapse a creation of a collaborative name or collective so that the individual names become secondary to the work created or the aims of the project.
Later in that same conversation Robert Altman talks about the concept of improvasation in perticular dialog. He says he is not overly concerned with what the characters are saying with specific words rather what they are saying more interms of conveying atmosphere. Do you think a geneal audience of art seekes are more inclined to think along these lines with mediums such as painting and sculpture than with say film, video or sound? I feel like with sound art that often times confronts language or subverts language it is very hard for many listeners to fully invest in projects that deviate from the standard listening practice. Video and film, especially in the exerimental realm is very hard to grasp. But when either separately or together attempt to define or shape an emotion, or emotional space, the spectators have the same sort of hurdle to hop as there are two elements that they aren't used to justifying. The run of the mill western art lover has a hard time justifying anything frivolous. Frivolity seems to be attached to art except when an established authority has spoken for it. So that your Michelangelo's and Cezanne's are perfectly legitament for people to justify a little time, but to sit in a dark space and watch projections of the sunlight reflected off of glass structures whith a soundtrack meant for calm and meditation is harder to sit through. Robert altman points out that being able to experince a thing first hand is the most visceral of experinces so it makes it doubly hard when the aim is to take a primary experience, say of light reflecting, and then bring it inside where it can be then expereinces for the first time with the inclusion of sound and have people sit with it. What is it about the inabilty to concentrate and therefore contemplate the here and now that people get frustrated by having to sit through something new? Looking for something new is all I ever want to find.
Aitken, Doug. Broken screen expanding the image, breaking the narrative 26 conversations with doug aitkin. New York, NY: D.A.P/ Distributed Art, Inc., 2006. 26-37.
Later in that same conversation Robert Altman talks about the concept of improvasation in perticular dialog. He says he is not overly concerned with what the characters are saying with specific words rather what they are saying more interms of conveying atmosphere. Do you think a geneal audience of art seekes are more inclined to think along these lines with mediums such as painting and sculpture than with say film, video or sound? I feel like with sound art that often times confronts language or subverts language it is very hard for many listeners to fully invest in projects that deviate from the standard listening practice. Video and film, especially in the exerimental realm is very hard to grasp. But when either separately or together attempt to define or shape an emotion, or emotional space, the spectators have the same sort of hurdle to hop as there are two elements that they aren't used to justifying. The run of the mill western art lover has a hard time justifying anything frivolous. Frivolity seems to be attached to art except when an established authority has spoken for it. So that your Michelangelo's and Cezanne's are perfectly legitament for people to justify a little time, but to sit in a dark space and watch projections of the sunlight reflected off of glass structures whith a soundtrack meant for calm and meditation is harder to sit through. Robert altman points out that being able to experince a thing first hand is the most visceral of experinces so it makes it doubly hard when the aim is to take a primary experience, say of light reflecting, and then bring it inside where it can be then expereinces for the first time with the inclusion of sound and have people sit with it. What is it about the inabilty to concentrate and therefore contemplate the here and now that people get frustrated by having to sit through something new? Looking for something new is all I ever want to find.
Aitken, Doug. Broken screen expanding the image, breaking the narrative 26 conversations with doug aitkin. New York, NY: D.A.P/ Distributed Art, Inc., 2006. 26-37.
Sunday post 11/01/2008
Name-
Björn Melhus
Bio-
Born in 1966 in Germany; '85-'86 Filmschule, Stuttgart; '85-'87 Adolf-Lazi-Schule, private professional college for photography and audiovision, Stuttgart; '88 free art at the Hochschule der Bildenden Künste, Braunschweig; works mainly in film, video and video installations; lives in Berlin.
- 4 images and / or video/sound clips of artwork
- a link to an interview with the artist or a review
http://jemly-thesisproto.blogspot.com/2007_02_01_archive.html
- link to gallery representing artist
Galerie Anita Beckers: www.galerie-beckers.de
- artist website
http://www.melhus.de/
Björn Melhus
Bio-
Born in 1966 in Germany; '85-'86 Filmschule, Stuttgart; '85-'87 Adolf-Lazi-Schule, private professional college for photography and audiovision, Stuttgart; '88 free art at the Hochschule der Bildenden Künste, Braunschweig; works mainly in film, video and video installations; lives in Berlin.
- 4 images and / or video/sound clips of artwork
- a link to an interview with the artist or a review
http://jemly-thesisproto.blogspot.com/2007_02_01_archive.html
- link to gallery representing artist
Galerie Anita Beckers: www.galerie-beckers.de
- artist website
http://www.melhus.de/
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Thursday post 10/29/08
Thoughts of interest – Week in review
- Answer the following questions:
* Did anyone critique your work this week? If so, what were their impressions?
I had a group crit and an individual crit which was positive. I had a lot of questions about the work which were addressed very well.
* What was the most motivational or creative moment of the past week?
Placing 386 cross dissolves in my work over the course of one weekend. It’s a record.
* What do you want to achieve in next week's studio practice?
Have a lot of feedback on my work and make some decisions on how to proceed.
* What did you achieve in your studio this past week?
“Finished” a piece for crit. Tried once more to pair orphan clips to create meaning.
* What has been an artistic failure this week?
Not enough sleep and scraping supposedly saved work.
* What was the most profound thought in relation to your practice this week?
That there is validity in the instinctual.
* If there was a visiting artist this week, what is your impression of their work and process in relation to your own?
NA
- Post 1 picture, video, etc. of your choice
If you thought you ever had a bad crit!
- Answer the following questions:
* Did anyone critique your work this week? If so, what were their impressions?
I had a group crit and an individual crit which was positive. I had a lot of questions about the work which were addressed very well.
* What was the most motivational or creative moment of the past week?
Placing 386 cross dissolves in my work over the course of one weekend. It’s a record.
* What do you want to achieve in next week's studio practice?
Have a lot of feedback on my work and make some decisions on how to proceed.
* What did you achieve in your studio this past week?
“Finished” a piece for crit. Tried once more to pair orphan clips to create meaning.
* What has been an artistic failure this week?
Not enough sleep and scraping supposedly saved work.
* What was the most profound thought in relation to your practice this week?
That there is validity in the instinctual.
* If there was a visiting artist this week, what is your impression of their work and process in relation to your own?
NA
- Post 1 picture, video, etc. of your choice
If you thought you ever had a bad crit!
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Sunday post 10/25/2008
MARINA ABRAMOVIC
Since the beginning of her career in Belgrade during the early 1970s, Marina Abramovic has pioneered the use of performance as a visual art form. The body has always been both her subject and medium. Exploring the physical and mental limits of her being, she has withstood pain, exhaustion, and danger in the quest for emotional and spiritual transformation. The tensions of abandonment and control lay at the heart of her series of performances known as Rhythms (1973–74). In Rhythm 5, Abramovic lay down inside the blazing frame of a wooden star. With her oxygen supply depleted by the fire, she lost consciousness and had to be rescued by concerned onlookers. In Rhythm 0, she invited her audience to do whatever they wanted to her using any of the 72 items she provided: pen, scissors, chains, axe, loaded pistol, and others. Truly ephemeral, Abramovic's earliest performances were documented only by crude black-and-white photographs and descriptive texts, which she published as an edition years later. Since 1976 she has utilized video to capture the temporal nature of her art. Cleaning the Mirror #1 shows videos of a haunting performance in which Abramovic scrubs a grime-covered human skeleton on her lap. Rich with metaphor, this three-hour action recalls, among other things, Tibetan death rites that prepare disciples to become one with their own mortality.
- 4 images and / or video/sound clips of artwork
- a link to an interview with the artist or a review
http://www.jca-online.com/abramovic.html
- link to gallery representing artist
http://seecult.org/v-web/gallery/albums.php
- artist website
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=338869754
Since the beginning of her career in Belgrade during the early 1970s, Marina Abramovic has pioneered the use of performance as a visual art form. The body has always been both her subject and medium. Exploring the physical and mental limits of her being, she has withstood pain, exhaustion, and danger in the quest for emotional and spiritual transformation. The tensions of abandonment and control lay at the heart of her series of performances known as Rhythms (1973–74). In Rhythm 5, Abramovic lay down inside the blazing frame of a wooden star. With her oxygen supply depleted by the fire, she lost consciousness and had to be rescued by concerned onlookers. In Rhythm 0, she invited her audience to do whatever they wanted to her using any of the 72 items she provided: pen, scissors, chains, axe, loaded pistol, and others. Truly ephemeral, Abramovic's earliest performances were documented only by crude black-and-white photographs and descriptive texts, which she published as an edition years later. Since 1976 she has utilized video to capture the temporal nature of her art. Cleaning the Mirror #1 shows videos of a haunting performance in which Abramovic scrubs a grime-covered human skeleton on her lap. Rich with metaphor, this three-hour action recalls, among other things, Tibetan death rites that prepare disciples to become one with their own mortality.
- 4 images and / or video/sound clips of artwork
- a link to an interview with the artist or a review
http://www.jca-online.com/abramovic.html
- link to gallery representing artist
http://seecult.org/v-web/gallery/albums.php
- artist website
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=338869754
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