Berlin (field visit).

20th March 2015.

Day one.

Location: Hamburger Bahnhof.

On this visit there were two main points of interest for me, the Dieter Roth and Joseph Beuys exhibit. I am familiar with both of their works, however I have never physically seen the work. It is an experience that I am unlikely to forget. Joseph Beuys has a method of displaying his process sketches, a point that James Green made me aware of in a tutorial.  This maybe an interesting avenue for me to experiment with in a way that would be relevant to my practice. Also I found it interesting that he leaves the work looking unfinished or unresolved in some way: a prominent point I am also interested in doing in my own work. For me if the work looks unresolved or unfinished in some way it still has the presence of body, human touch or a life to the piece, rather than just an abandoned object. Dieter Roth what can be said..........  well the journey starts in fact before you enter the exhibition. The Hamburger Bahnof is located in an old train station, so in order to access the exhibit firstly you must enter a tunnel with many steps,  its as though  you were there for what seems like a long time.  Eventually you reach a  long corridor with big 1960's style orb lights with exit on the apposing side. To your left are many openings with huge sliding doors. On entering each exhibit you realise how deceiving  the hall way is. Even though it is a long hall way you do not expect to find that there are many hidden rooms  inside. The quantity of work is vast and extremely over whelming, its as if all of the fullness of you and your senses are being bombarded and oozing with stuff everywhere, stuff everywhere!!!  Then I happened upon one room that was quite small in mass compared to the others.  A single piano and painted on the walls what looked like musical notes. I walked around the room, on leaving the room something intriguing happened and the piano played a single note.  I turned around and it was as inconspicuous  as it always was; how delightful. There were also many video art pieces, all just as hilarious as the last, full of quite ridiculous displays of sound making. I think out of it all, though it's hard to put my finger on, bar room 2 was of the most interest to me. It was a installation of what appears to be a collection of random obtained objects hoarded in the center of the room precariously built and screwed together and towards the end of the room an abandoned work shop as if still being worked on and enjoyed.

 

 

Whilst walking along the banks of the river Spree, we happened upon the new government building of fantastically precarious design. The Berlin wall memorial is situated within this building.

Designpanoptikum Surreales Museum fur Industrielle.

Designpanoptikum is a fantastical display of curious industrial objects mixed with other intriguing objects that miss lead you into believing they had another purpose. You have to separate your logical mind from the realms of science fiction to find the truth, which is of course most of the time far harder to believe.

An exhibition about colour (not sure of the name).

 In the evening of the first day we happened upon an exhibition which the artist described as the new philosophy of colour. The exhibition was about new pigments of colour only existing digitally and being given numbers as names (from what I could gather). The work consisted of a projection of colours' into the center of the room with a screen below indicating the number of said colours'. When having a conversation with the artist he made a bold statement saying that humans are the only animals who could see the most colour.  I questioned this with him and commented that his statement was incorrect as a butterfly and many other animals can see colour spectrum's that we are not even aware of. To which he repeated his prior statement, so I ended the conversation there.

21st March 2015.

Day two.

Museen Dahlem Ethologisches Museum.

This is an extraordinarily museum full to the brim with astounding artifacts. However there was one exhibit in the Africa exhibit 10 that was a film documentary of tribal dance with masks; I feel that this was of particular value to me with regard to my work entitled ‘INTERFACE’. In fact for the ‘Clear Cut’ performance night in ‘MADE’ I think it might be interesting to use some of the originally used pigments of colour, possibly pastels.

The Museum of Things.

This museum has a collection of 30,00 objects related around design and every day life, from both east and west Berlin. Material clutter of the 20th and 21st centuries. As the museum describes in its flier ‘Werbund was one of the Utopian cultural movements of the early 20th century, and was aimed at promoting modern, functional design in industrial products, architecture and environment. Quality, sensitivity to materials, objectivity, functionalism and durability were the guiding principles’. ‘the Werkbund's main purpose, in addition to promoting the modern design and production of objects and ensembles, was aesthetic education, a way to individual self expression’.

 

21st March 2015.

Day three.(the final full day in Berlin).

On the last day we visited the Bauhous and as directed by James Green I played particular interest in  Laszlo Moholy-Nagy and his ‘Light Space Modulator’ one of the first times an artist worked with engineers, it’s a movable kinetic sculpture that inter plays with coloured lights, creating a spectacular display of shadows.  I felt this work had a synergy with my own work, in particular ‘screen’.   I will be expanding on this work in the art boutique car park event hosted by ‘Chapter’.

'Interface'

Interface is an idea for a new body attachment i.e. body sculpture, in which I hope to achieve a blurred line between human being and machine. Connecting to previous research into the post-human.

INTERFACE.

TEMMAH.

10.00 am. 25/03/2015.  Studio 7.

An experimental painting/performance using a metal helmet/exoskeleton with two wooden arms made autonomous through the use of magnets that exert opposing force within the arms: producing marks using thermal reactive paint retaining an opportunity of a continued event.

This performance is a continuation of experiments that explore the parameters of the human body and its awareness of the prosthetic. ‘INTERFACE’ aims to experiment with restricted body movement;  due to the toxic fumes produced by the thermal reactive paint this performance cannot be physically viewed, therefore only the remnants of the performance is on view and a video footage of the performance from the perspective of the exoskeleton. This performance is a play on control in the mark making process as my vision is impaired by the helmet/exoskeleton. I am no longer aware of the marks produced, just movement. In addition, the exoskeleton itself is in a limited way autonomous, which further affects the outcome of the work. The lines between me and the exoskeleton become unclear in the action of movement. Essentially the installation offers the opportunity to view the performance from the perspective of the exoskeleton. A continuum of the event is provided with an invitation to interact with the painting.

‘Performance art seems to be everywhere, on the tip of everyone’s tongues’, but what really remains in our understanding of it? Two main strategies to collect live art still co-exist today. The first is to collect all the information and artefacts’ that surrounded, permitted, remained from the moment of the performance. The second requiring a greater effort, is to collect the original live experience (as paradoxical as it may sound), in order to bring it back to life.’ (‘Live forever: collecting live art’ by Teresa Colonje. 2014: pages:17-18). 


Exhausting Dance.

'Performance and the Politics of Movement'

In a tutorial with Prof Andre he referred me to the book 'Exhausting Dance'.  This book is relevant to my contextual portfolio. The reasons are essentially 'Exhausting Dance' is a hybrydised adaptation of contemporary performance, visual arts and dance.

visual and performance artists:

* Bruce Nauman (US) 
* William Pope.L (US)

'Co-inhabit'

Co-inhabit is an idea for a new experimental body sculpture which will attach to my hips.

Thoughts on the new body attachment.

There is something that happens in the act of making or in fact in any physical exertion where you hit wall with intense feelings of awareness. A reawakening if you will. All of a sudden you are aware of the movement and flow of the flesh, your spine, your bones. It almost activates an emotional state that envelopes, everything else falls away until there is just you and your gestures. The object that is produced does not always reflect your exertion , your blood, your sweat. I want my gestures to produce gestures, I want my movement to make marks simple in form but indicate a happening. The emotional state of mind is found in the full entirety of a human being, the environment and the extended,  My exoskeleton, it gestures as I do in a limited capability that I also inhabit, the lines become blurred between me and the exoskeleton in translation of the communicative body extended self and the environment.  I am co-inhabiting. 

'Inhabit'.

Artist Statement:

An experimental performance with 3 participants each wearing exoskeletons with 6 arms, attached together with a bendable sprung backbone , attached at the end of the arms in the first performance will be invisible security pens and in the second graphite pencils.

In contemporary western culture it is not deemed unusual to communicate only using the means of social networking sites, email or mobile phones. Through these means communication has become more accessible; however there are some senses in the wake of technological advancement which are becoming obsolete to communication, such as touch and smell, (face to face contact). This performance aims to experiment with the human body’s parameters and its awareness of the prosthetic , the focus is on controlling the movements of the participants and relating this to the control in our society on the individual.

This development of the 'Prosthetic Parameters' performance was firstly considered on the 30th November 2014.

From January 26th I have produced 2 more exoskeletons based on the design of the original with the intention of including participants that will be performed on the 24th February in the Gap space Studio 7, Llandaff Campus.

Research Questions:

  • Will introducing levels of control i.e. the participants using security pens with invisible ink, painting blind,  have an effect on their movements. Compare with original painting.

  • What will be the outcome when a visible medium such as graphite is used and  controlling their movements with recorded voice commands  have on  the drawing produced? When UV light is used to show the invisible ink markings the two markings can be compared. 

Research Seminar (Paul Granjon).

28th January 2015.

'Views on the co-evolution of human and machine'.

Paul Granjon starts his seminar with the history of the co-evolution of humans and technology ref: Research Seminars (Dr Stephen Thompson).November 26, 2014 : working his way briskly to the present day. Granjon then played a video of a robot called 'wildcat' which was built by Boston Dynamics. This robot has a humorous look in its movements ref: Virtual exodus. Granjon continues by talking about the debate for and against technological advancement and its movement towards the AI. This debate consists of some people thinking that we are losing our primal instincts   and abilities  and perhaps some extremists who think that the advance of technology is moving towards our destruction. On the other hand some think we are moving towards ref: neo evolution, and technology could create a point of transcendence, essentially humans will evolve through the advancement of technology ref: Transcendence movie 2014.

Paul Grajon himself uses many scientific movies and books as references , for example the movie 'AI' and books such a 'The singularity is near' , 'Life in the Woods' and 'The Amped' by Daniel H. Wilson. Granjon continued with talking about the fact that when we type something into our computers that this information is owned by what is termed as 'server farms'  and Granjon then talked about the control in society and online.

Parameters.

Artist Statement:

An experimental performance with 6 exoskeleton arms, attached together with a bendable sprung backbone with brushes bolted to the end of the arms that are dipped in to four buckets of Grey matt-emulsion and then in gestured body movements the exoskeleton applies the paint directly to the walls of the arcade shop space.

 ‘When wearing this exoskeleton one is reacquainted with the ability of the movement the human body and its capability to make elaborate jesters, also how the body is forced to redefine its parameters with the integration of this new found skin’.

In contemporary western culture it is not deemed unusual to communicate only using the means of social networking sites, email or mobile phones. Through these means communication has become more accessible; however there are some senses in the wake of technological advancement which are becoming obsolete to communication, such as touch and smell, (face to face contact). This performance aims to experiment with the human body’s parameters and its awareness of the prosthetics' and the identifiable imprint that resonates upon our environment.

Research questions:

  • What response will a different viewing public have?- comments book and verbal communication with viewers.
  • What effect will a more confined and retail space have on this project? video documentation.
  • Will directing these gestures onto the walls of the space and performing these actions over a longer period of time produce a different outcome? Performance remnants.


Artes Mundi.

(Straight from the horse's mouth).

Day two.

January 22nd 2015.

Omer Fast ( Born in Jerusalem, lives and works in Berlin).

Omer is a  political video artist interested in story telling and manipulation seems appose ( the danger of the single story), ref:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9Ihs241zeg This artist work focuses on trauma and the experience of traumas including his own and others.

Ragnar Kjartansson. ( Icelandic artist).

Ragnar is mostly a performative based artist. Ragnar started his presentation with a video,  a bizarre interpretation of his own mothers daydream. This was a very amusing and evocative tale expressing Ragnar's sense of hilarity which is present throughout his work, ref:Jan Svankmajer. January 2nd 2015.

Sharon Lockhart (American artist from Massachusetts).

This presentation commenced with a video about Steve Paxton an experimental dancer and choreographer ref:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDBbyypWLJM whose ideas about experimental dance are fundamental to my subject matter.  Sharon Lockhart is a film and photography based artist  who is particularly interested in childhood and education. Her work displays an interest in the synchronisation of movement and interpretative dance.

Sanja Ivekovic (Croatian artist).

A feminist multi-medium artist whose subject matter is very political and the focus is in the main about societies control of the individual. Her talk commenced with a description of her first performative event which occurred the President Tito’s visit to the city, on a balcony, and at the time security police where on the top of the building. Sanja was on the balcony imitating an act of masturbating in the knowledge that the only person to view this was the security police, also Sanja being fully aware that they would communicate which each other. After a short period of time a knock at her door  and a man simply said ' all persons and items should be removed from the balcony'. Sania work aims to explore gender political agendas and social dynamics.

Karen Mirza & Brad Butler ( British artists).

  

These are activists artists who are interested in 'who's holding the gun who is to blame'. One image of their work  consisted of a found image of Meyrle Streep in her role as Margaret Thatcher, this image had been defaced with a biro scribble of what is commonly identified as Adolf Hitler's moustache and on one cheek is written 'I killed the British working class'. This displayed a paradoxical image which has layers of the pop culture, social controversy which surrounded Margaret Thatcher and connecting this to fascist dictatorships. The artist's talked about control  and questioning what a terrorist act actually is and who in fact are the terrorists, this connects to their work 'the museum on non-participants'.  The talk returned  to their work with Artes Mundi which concerned what some people refer to as 'the ruling classes' 'the old school'.

Theaster Gates (Chicago-based Artist).

An multi-medium installation Artist, the winner of Artes Mundi Six, this artist presentation was a series of images in the form of process and he also sang loudly, which caused a shocked reaction in the member of the viewers around me. This in addition was very funny and invoked different levels of emotional reactions , it appeared to be almost a form of rebellion against the systems of artists competitions. Theaster Gates concluded by vowing to share his prize winnings with his fellow competitors. It was a 'happening' that I was happy to observe.  

 

 

 

 

Artes Mundi

(Straight from the horse's mouth).

Day one.

January 21st 2015.

Carlos Bunga. (Portuguese artist).

Carlos Bunga's work is concerned with space and reflects the architecture of the space he is working in e.g. loosely site specific. He talked about the humanisation of artefacts' considering the similarities between body systems and the system of the city landscape ref:Research Seminars (Dr Stephen Thompson). November 26th 2014. Carlos discussed the processes involved in his art practice talking about the development of the realisation of an imaginative state into reality.

Renata Lucas. (Brazilian artist).

Renata Lucas is also concerned with space in her work, however Renata is more active in the sense that the work endeavours to bring social accessible spaces into gallery spaces, breaking barriers between different social communities. Essentially this artist is eliminating the barriers between environments (controlled spaces) and offering accessibility to places that perhaps would normally be severed from the public realm. This artist reminded me of artists such as Johnny Hardstaff whom I referenced in my degree dissertation,  except Renata  Lucas is more socially engaged. This manipulation of control could be an avenue for the exploration module.

 

 

 

 

Hannah M Morris & Owain Griffiths.

ARCADECARDIFF.

'Submersion'

An interesting collaboration of a journey in the form of a drawing of landscapes and written dialogue across the walls of Arcade Cardiff. A feeling of tranquillity comes from the music being played but not quite isolation on this busy open day. Off set in a small cubbyhole was a projected video of isolated experiences in a natural mountain environment. Due to the way the video is exhibited it restricts the number of people who are able to view, therefore allowing an intimate experience.  

http://arcadecardiff.co.uk/2014/12/30/submersionymdrochi/