15/05/2012
14/02/2012
04/01/2012
Pipolotti Rist!
Pickle Porno is said to be an exploration into feminine pornography. It explores the female body and arousal. The piece is helpful for us because it is an example of making the body abstract. The images are complex and at times confusing, but beautiful. Pipolotti Rist plays with close ups of body parts that become alien and unidentifiable.
Emails
I sent George this email to hash out a vague idea I had been thinking of. He responded positively! So we are going to play around with it, try out some exercises, pitch ideas when they come to us and see what happens! Here is the email.
i think that there are particular activities we can do to play around with making sound ideas abstracts. i also like the idea of moving digital film interspersed with still film images. i imagine a fast jerky video, with sort of tongue-in-cheek- exposition of our relationship and others opinions to romantic love.
the idea is sketchy and full of holes at the moment! it needs neatening out. i think what will be useful from now on is if we each keep doing three things
1) keeping a BANK OF IDEAS in which we note down images we would like to experiment with, exercises/workshops we would like to do and any questions that arise
2) start creating a VISUAL LANGUAGE by making collages, drawing pictures and taking photographs or shot film clips. this can be based on quotes, responses to the questionnaire or things we have written personally. it will help us start thinking aesthetically but also will help us play around with making literal things more abstract
3) KEEP RESEARCHING but specifically pin pointing why we are drawn in certain directions, what we can take from them and what future techniques we can play with
in relation to the final piece i have been having quite specific ideas/visions about the route it will take. because we have not been together i have not been able to share these with you. the ideas have come out of the books i have read and the people i have researched. i understand that you have not been looking into the same people i have ,and i do not know who you have been researching (for example i am particularly inspired by carolee schneeman and i know you have not read her books). i have great trust in our ability to synthesise any ideas each of us have.
the idea i have for the final performance is an installation video piece. imagine: projections on three of the walls, the centre being a video we have made and either side being scenes to add texture (for example a repetitive vision of a hand squirming in paint. the colour of the paint will be representative of the erotic insides (deep reds and purples)). the video on the centre wall will be an exploration into the explosion of the original concept; instead of the absurdity of trying to define love, it will be the absurdity of love. structurally the video will be organised into chapters (somewhat ironically demonstrating the rigidity imposed on human emotion) i have not thought of all of the chapters but they will each explore a different idea, they will be short, introduced by writing on the screen similar to a silent film. the chapters i have thought of already are "LEAKING THE EROTIC: abject-ifying love". in which we demonstrate love 'leaking' outside of us (particular images i like are you vomiting and then a shot of the sick on the floor with candy letters in it spelling out 'i wanked over you before i kissed you'. i also like the idea of a close up of me crying and dribbling quickly intercepted with an image of me crying and dribbling red liquid). other things i played with in my head are a chapter where we show how we met but within 1 minute, or a re-creation of famous couples but with a grotesque twist to show how media sensationalises/dehumanises love. i also thought about the possibility of a necessity of physicality chapter where are bodies are involved somewhat abstractly.
the idea is sketchy and full of holes at the moment! it needs neatening out. i think what will be useful from now on is if we each keep doing three things
1) keeping a BANK OF IDEAS in which we note down images we would like to experiment with, exercises/workshops we would like to do and any questions that arise
2) start creating a VISUAL LANGUAGE by making collages, drawing pictures and taking photographs or shot film clips. this can be based on quotes, responses to the questionnaire or things we have written personally. it will help us start thinking aesthetically but also will help us play around with making literal things more abstract
3) KEEP RESEARCHING but specifically pin pointing why we are drawn in certain directions, what we can take from them and what future techniques we can play with
Carolee Schneemann
A great deal of influence has come from Schneeman! Here are some main points we've extracted from the books read by/about her.
giving life to art rather than aesthetiscing life
Schneeman as a miner of the hidden, the unseen, the stolen and misappropriated
uncovers unconscious anxiety in the social matrix
personal as political
sensual pleasure, sexual equality
motivating factors for performance:
to confront paradoxes, to bridge the conventionally public/private areas of experience
no part of the body should be considered taboo
giving our bodies back to ourselves
embrace emphatically conceived and lucidly sexual
capacity for expressive life and for love are insolubly linked
work has direct relationship to your social/sexual/emotional life
"I decided my genital was my soul...soul was 'true and most perfect' ...the soul was some essence of being"
"when I said LOVE I meant EROTIC love; deep, transforming bounty one imparts to another reciprocally, it assumes all!"
to joyfully put all we are into another's hands
I didn't stand naked in front of 300 people because I wanted to be fucked
giving life to art rather than aesthetiscing life
Schneeman as a miner of the hidden, the unseen, the stolen and misappropriated
uncovers unconscious anxiety in the social matrix
personal as political
sensual pleasure, sexual equality
motivating factors for performance:
to confront paradoxes, to bridge the conventionally public/private areas of experience
no part of the body should be considered taboo
giving our bodies back to ourselves
embrace emphatically conceived and lucidly sexual
capacity for expressive life and for love are insolubly linked
work has direct relationship to your social/sexual/emotional life
"I decided my genital was my soul...soul was 'true and most perfect' ...the soul was some essence of being"
"when I said LOVE I meant EROTIC love; deep, transforming bounty one imparts to another reciprocally, it assumes all!"
to joyfully put all we are into another's hands
I didn't stand naked in front of 300 people because I wanted to be fucked
Women and Experimental Filmmaking - Petrolle, Wexman
This book has been a useful resource to point us in the direction of films and filmmakers that we will look into further (particularly Nina Menkes and Abigail Child). It has also been useful in giving us techniques and characteristics of experimental and avant-garde film that we are excited to play around with. Here are some things that interest us:
idea of rearranging perception and experience
conducing and provoking eperience
film acting as a spell that tries to change reality
non-linear, non naturalistic, challenging subject matter, obtrusive camera work, unconventional editing patterns, long takes to look like photography, repetition, collage, surrealism, fragmentation, hand-held camera, first person perspective
stunning visual adventures!
the question: to what extent should identity be understood as malleable
the violence of desire
relationship of the body and audience
revealing the dimensions of experience not evident in photographed imagery
subject not being frozen in specific gaze
idea of rearranging perception and experience
conducing and provoking eperience
film acting as a spell that tries to change reality
non-linear, non naturalistic, challenging subject matter, obtrusive camera work, unconventional editing patterns, long takes to look like photography, repetition, collage, surrealism, fragmentation, hand-held camera, first person perspective
stunning visual adventures!
the question: to what extent should identity be understood as malleable
the violence of desire
relationship of the body and audience
revealing the dimensions of experience not evident in photographed imagery
subject not being frozen in specific gaze
WE HAVE BEEN READING
and have found inspiration.
We are looking for particular theories/techniques about experimental, avant-garde and postmodern film making. We are also looking for the history of flesh and eroticism in performance art. We want to build a resource of information that we can draw from when creating exercises, trying out ideas and building on skills.
So far these books have been read:
We are looking for particular theories/techniques about experimental, avant-garde and postmodern film making. We are also looking for the history of flesh and eroticism in performance art. We want to build a resource of information that we can draw from when creating exercises, trying out ideas and building on skills.
So far these books have been read:
- Women and Experimental Filmmaking - Jean Petrolle, Virgina Wexman
- More Than Meat Joy Performance Works and Selected Writings - Carolee Schneeman and Bruce McPherson
- Marina Abramovic - Mary Richards
- Jenny Holzer - Diane Waldman
- Imaging Her Erotics - Carolee Schneeman
These books are in the process of being read:
- Eroticism and art - Alice Mahon
- Derek Jarman's Angelic Conversations - Jim Ellis
- The Explicit Body in Performance - Rebecca Schneider
- Body Art/Performing the Subject - Amelia Jones
16/12/2011
14/12/2011
08/12/2011
What Happened in the Workshop with Helena
On Tuesday, we performed a twenty minute workshop which Helena observed and then gave us feedback on what we had shown. Here are our separate response to the activities we performed.
George
1. Walk into the room, sit down
You came in quickly, but as always, loudly, banging the door. Your head started down but you lifted it quickly, smiling. Your walk was bouncy, the hair flopping slightly. You instantly get yourself comfy, removing clothes and shoes, as always, making yourself a bit too much at home.
2. Kissing
Your lips are soft and delicate. Cold. They aren't as dry as I had expected, maybe you've used chap stick this morning. As we went into the kiss I felt nervous, watched. But i placed one hand on your cheek, almost to hide what we were doing, to try and make it ours completely. Mid-way I forgot momentarily that we were being watched, but remembered again and stopped the kiss early.
3. Taking off item of clothing
You were quick, rapid, emotionless, almost ashamed. You caught my eye quickly, but then looked away, even more quickly. Your cheeks were burning, growing in redness, maybe growing in fear. the door became of interest to you, you couldn't tear your eyes away from it. and your body was slightly angled in it's direction. I think I felt a bit sorry for you. I hate to see you worried.
Chloe
1. Walk into the room, sit down
You are conscious of being watched, I can tell. The slight lick of the lip, uncertain. Even as you relax back into the chair it's forced. You are not frowning. Your gaze consciously neutral.
When you fiddled with your buttons there was a sweet urgency in you.
You are always thoughtful about closing doors.
2. Kissing
Our lips are shaking because we are not a couple who are used to kissing in the eyes of just one other person. I always try to determine whether the kiss is more on the site of your body or mine.
Today it is firmer than normal, caught in an almost affectionless limbo midway.
Today it feels like we do not own the kiss. I do not picture the plush reds I normally can, instead it is matt purple, not ugly but not alive.
3. Taking off item of clothing
You are fumbling with an urgency not normally associated with undressing. Your body without trousers is not that of a lover but a clown.
Your belt was an annoyance, you almost frowned in motion.
Even though I see you undress almost at least twice a day, today it seems alien in its coldness. maybe because we don't look at each other, if we did we'd probably laugh.
Helena's two key pieces of feedback were;
1. What do you want from your audience? How do you want them to feel?
This is one question we've had to constantly address but are yet to answer. But I think at the minute this is our biggest question. We will be playing with this next Tuesday at the Scratch performance.
2. Get a balance of the outside world as well as the nitty-gritty intimacies.
I think this comment was also in relation to the audience. We must not shut the spectators out of our world. We must invite them in and convince them, through our art, to stay, stay a while, stick around awhile...
After reading these responses it also became apparent to us that we have to now find away of using what they teach us. It has been useful to start studying the everyday, mundane actions, to analyse those things we usually take fore granted. But we now have to find a way of using our findings, or else they are useless. Maybe we should attempt to create another workshop to help us process and develop this short descriptions of the everyday.
George
1. Walk into the room, sit down
You came in quickly, but as always, loudly, banging the door. Your head started down but you lifted it quickly, smiling. Your walk was bouncy, the hair flopping slightly. You instantly get yourself comfy, removing clothes and shoes, as always, making yourself a bit too much at home.
2. Kissing
Your lips are soft and delicate. Cold. They aren't as dry as I had expected, maybe you've used chap stick this morning. As we went into the kiss I felt nervous, watched. But i placed one hand on your cheek, almost to hide what we were doing, to try and make it ours completely. Mid-way I forgot momentarily that we were being watched, but remembered again and stopped the kiss early.
3. Taking off item of clothing
You were quick, rapid, emotionless, almost ashamed. You caught my eye quickly, but then looked away, even more quickly. Your cheeks were burning, growing in redness, maybe growing in fear. the door became of interest to you, you couldn't tear your eyes away from it. and your body was slightly angled in it's direction. I think I felt a bit sorry for you. I hate to see you worried.
Chloe
1. Walk into the room, sit down
You are conscious of being watched, I can tell. The slight lick of the lip, uncertain. Even as you relax back into the chair it's forced. You are not frowning. Your gaze consciously neutral.
When you fiddled with your buttons there was a sweet urgency in you.
You are always thoughtful about closing doors.
2. Kissing
Our lips are shaking because we are not a couple who are used to kissing in the eyes of just one other person. I always try to determine whether the kiss is more on the site of your body or mine.
Today it is firmer than normal, caught in an almost affectionless limbo midway.
Today it feels like we do not own the kiss. I do not picture the plush reds I normally can, instead it is matt purple, not ugly but not alive.
3. Taking off item of clothing
You are fumbling with an urgency not normally associated with undressing. Your body without trousers is not that of a lover but a clown.
Your belt was an annoyance, you almost frowned in motion.
Even though I see you undress almost at least twice a day, today it seems alien in its coldness. maybe because we don't look at each other, if we did we'd probably laugh.
Helena's two key pieces of feedback were;
1. What do you want from your audience? How do you want them to feel?
This is one question we've had to constantly address but are yet to answer. But I think at the minute this is our biggest question. We will be playing with this next Tuesday at the Scratch performance.
2. Get a balance of the outside world as well as the nitty-gritty intimacies.
I think this comment was also in relation to the audience. We must not shut the spectators out of our world. We must invite them in and convince them, through our art, to stay, stay a while, stick around awhile...
After reading these responses it also became apparent to us that we have to now find away of using what they teach us. It has been useful to start studying the everyday, mundane actions, to analyse those things we usually take fore granted. But we now have to find a way of using our findings, or else they are useless. Maybe we should attempt to create another workshop to help us process and develop this short descriptions of the everyday.
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