this is my resolution: ponderings

Will be working with the drains on the outside stairs of the Dorrit Black instead.

Thinking about drains and what they represent:

/ Anonymity- you put something in the drain and then it no longer is tied to you

/ Waste- the drain system is often the site for things that people are too lazy to throw away properly

/ Shame- ties in with the idea of anonymity. Putting things like antidepressants, alcohol, hard drugs, condoms, tampons, wedding rings etc down the drain with the idea that the action will end the relationship with the particular object. 

I once heard about a parent throwing her sons live pet fish into the drain because the anxiety of the pressure of having to look after it became too much for her. She told her son that the fish died and she buried it in the yard. This story has stayed with me for a really long time.

Could potentially block up each drain and then fill with items that are often discarded. I like the ideas of shame and self-hate playing a role in the throwing away of these objects. Must look at the website Post Secret- people send in hand written secrets that are then posted onto the website. Some of the posts are very dark and I think it would be interesting to tie into those ideas. 

Ideas for next installation

kitten in the wall

Marcel duchamp hidden installation
james turrel fluroescent lighting installation stuck red and stuck blue
bruce naumans green corridor
lucia nogueira installation 1988 unit 7 gallery
Doug Aitken - migration 2008 book 4 pg 24


vending machine

video installations that cause anxiety
Louise Sudell -Ascensor Negro. Interested in the power relationship between the artist and the audience. She realises that artwork can hold a potential for control over them.

count down timer

mirror in the image to see yourself in the artwork

Settings: Reflections

The final installation went well. I think there were areas that could definitely have been worked on but some aspects of the work seemed to be effective.

I found that the site worked well particularly because the wall was a side of a car park. I had not really taken this into consideration and felt that the added 'white noise' from the vehicles traveling through the levels of the car park really added to the abandoned, derelict environment that I had initially envisioned.

There were a few issues with the audio and speakers. I found that the second time when I had correlated all of the necessities for the installation into a checklist that the showing went a little smoother. The issues that arose prior to the showing of the installation were easily avoidable (flat battery on phone, compatibility with speakers). I did find, however, that the softer the sound from the audio, the more the the viewer had to interact with it. 

I was happy that I had printed the art labels in the end as they were a very late idea but I think they were effective as an added element to further push the idea of 'high' art. 

A number of the students in the class did come and ask how we managed to get the paintings that the artists in the audio clips were talking about and that felt like a success to me. I wanted the viewer to feel very conflicted about what they were seeing compared to what they were hearing. 

Settings: Artist Statement Final

Post: An exhibition

This installation revolves around the questions of “what makes ‘high’ art?” and “Where does the line between ‘high’ and ‘low’ art start to blur?” This installation intends to challenge the notion of ‘high art’ and the ways in which the influences of wealth, power and privilege play a role in determining the value of an artwork. The strong dichotomy that exists between ‘high’ art and ‘low’ art is problematic. Whether an artwork belongs to one camp or another is not strictly distinguished based on aesthetic or genre or concept.  To simplify, if ‘high’ art is considered works that fall under the central cases of art, thus defining what an artwork is, then the ‘low’ art within the paradigm would logically encapsulate works that are thus labeled as ‘art’ by courtesy only. Does this lead one to believe that low art is thus not art at all? Would one consequently assume that ‘high’ art equates to good art and ‘low’ art equates to bad art?

This hierarchy may exist in the different audiences who view a work. A painting found in a second-hand store might be considered ‘low’ art, be later discovered to be an original William Turner work, and then the same painting would be considered ‘high’ art immediately after.

The works of art within this installation have been sourced from second-hand stores and could potentially belong to a ‘high’ artists body of work. They do not necessarily hold the qualities that are often associated with ‘low’ art; described by J. A. Fisher in his essay ‘High art versus low art’ (2013) as a need for familiar forms, an intolerance of ambiguity, a tendency toward easiness and emotional indulgence. However, we argue that perhaps the dichotomy only exists to serve those who make up the majority of the art world; the white middle-upper class male. We are challenging the conversations that occur within the art world and the value of these conversations over the artwork itself. We are suggesting that an exhibition opening may often be more about the free champagne and the chance to be spotted on Page 6 than the works hanging on the walls. The conversation and crowd which an artwork draws often determine the market value of the works. For example, Basquiat was homeless, selling his paintings on the street for pennies until Maggie Boone and Andy Warhol took interest in his work. Suddenly Basquiat’s work is selling for millions. His paintings, like that of many artists, are only ‘validated’ when someone of power in the art market declares it so. 

The artworks were selected based on both their compatibility with the conversations had on the audio clips, and also the technical qualities which they share with these high art pieces along with their obvious lack of concept and critical thinking. Positioning of these found artworks into an unconventional makeshift gallery space directly opposes the classic white-cube institution. Accompanied by sound clips of individuals seemingly coming from within the art works delineating ‘high’ art, the conversation acts as an audio guide validating the pieces to the viewer. Through the environment of the piece and the sound and visual elements, this installation will thus intend to challenge the existing ideas about ‘high’ and ‘low’ art whilst giving conflicting messages to the viewer. We are directly questioning the notion that a piece of art from a second hand store, be it a landscape, still life, readymade, portrait, abstract, or sculptural, can only exist as ‘low’ art.

Settings: Paintings and mock up installation

I came to the site on the weekend and set up the paintings to see how they would be spaced and in what order they would be positioned on the ledge.

Paintings and mock up installation

Added a strip of colour to make it appear like a Mark Rothko painting

Potential paintings at the op shop

Will use the first from the left and the two on the right hand side

Landscape and portrait painting in a mock set up

Settings: My section of the Artist Statement so far

What I have so far:

This installation intends to challenge the notion of ‘high art’ and the ways in which the influences of wealth, power and privilege play a role in determining the value of an artwork. The strong dichotomy that exists between ‘high’ art and ‘low’ art is problematic. Whether an artwork belongs to one camp or another is not strictly distinguished based on aesthetic or genre or concept.  To simplify, if ‘high’ art is considered works that fall under the central cases of art, thus defining what an artwork is, then the ‘low’ art within the paradigm would logically encapsulate works that are thus labeled as ‘art’ by courtesy only. Does this lead one to believe that low art is thus not art at all? Would one consequently assume that ‘high’ art equates to good art and ‘low’ art equates to bad art?

This hierarchy may exist in the different audiences who view a work. A painting found in a second-hand store might be considered ‘low’ art, be later discovered to be an original William Turner work, and then the same painting would be considered ‘high’ art immediately after.

The works of art within this installation have been sourced from second-hand stores and could potentially belong to a ‘high’ artists body of work. They do not necessarily hold the qualities that are often associated with ‘low’ art; described by J. A. Fisher in his essay ‘High art versus low art’ (2013) as a need for familiar forms, an intolerance of ambiguity, a tendency toward easiness and emotional indulgence. However, we argue that perhaps the dichotomy only exists to serve those who make up the majority of the art world; the white middle-upper class male. We are challenging the conversations that occur within the art world and the value of these conversations over the artwork itself. We are suggesting that an exhibition opening may often be more about the free champagne and the chance to be spotted on Page 6 than the works hanging on the walls. The conversation and crowd which an artwork draws often determine the market value of the works. For example, Basquiat was homeless, selling his paintings on the street for pennies until Maggie Boone and Andy Warhol took interest in his work. Suddenly Basquiat’s work is selling for millions. His paintings, like that of many artists, are only ‘validated’ when someone of power in the art market declares it so. 

Essay on High art vs Low art

Settings Project: Mock up set up

Molly and I took a few pieces of cardboard and MDF into the space, along with the plinth, to set it up and see how it would look when the paintings were installed. 

From outside of the fence on the road

Paintings can sit quite comfortably on the ledge

Exhibition Sittings: Rob McLeish

Rob McLeish (at Anne and Gordon Samstag Museum)
2014
Gainer
Steel, screen prints on aluminium, cast epoxy resin, epoxy clay, enamel
Dimensions variable

Photo taken at the exhibition

Photo taken from exhibition catalogue

This work by Rob McLeish was one of my favourites within this particular exhibition. The work demanded attention based on the way that it used the space in such a dynamic, multi-levelled way. Gymnastics is a sport that requires huge amounts of control, strength, flexibility, grace and endurance. It throws the body into states of transition through movement of balancing, bending, jumping. However, personal expression is not allowed within the sport and the judging is rigid and constricting. The aim of the sport is ultimately to reach perfection with the body and the apparatus working in harmony with one another. I find this concept incredibly powerful. There is a tension present in this: that the human body is an entity that is essentially in constant decay, and the aspiration for perfection. The tool to achieve the end product is ultimately flawed based on its inevitable decay. The body is worked like a machine when it is not a machine. McLeish appears to explore these ideas through the sculptural forms of his work. The gymnast is silkscreened onto aluminium sheets and then draped over different gymnastic apparatus. The artist is replicated the movements of the gymnasts through these forms and demonstrates the angles and positions of their bodies that must take place in order for perfection to be achieved. I think the artists perspective can clearly be seen but his intention might resonate differently between members of the audience. 

The piece make me think of the works of Carl Andre and Richard Serra based on their simple, minimalist forms. These forms are balancing between strength and fragility and make me think of the fine line between decay and perfection. McLeish has created a piece that seems to move between figuration and abstraction. The work feels as though it has potential energy and I was half expecting it move whilst I observed it. I can observe a number of paradigms as I look at the work now; the dichotomy between movement and still, useful and useless, beautiful and brutal, perfection and decay.

The positioning of the work within the gallery was really interesting. It made use of the space in an effective way; some elements of the work were leaning against the wall, whilst others were positioned upright on the floor. The space between the different elements of the piece meant that I was able to walk between the installation; this interaction was surprisingly very important as it actually allowed me to imagine my body interacting with the apparatus. It made me feel strained with imagining my body in the positions of the aluminium sheet gymnasts. The use of the mats under only sections of the work were very effective in forcing me to think about the huge risks to the athletes. The carpetless floor of the gallery was also important in creating this sense of danger. 

I think it was really important for the work to be shown in a gallery with white walls and a hard floor. This worked to give the environment a harshness and feeling of impersonality. If I could choose a site for the work I think I would really like to see it in a space with concrete floors and walls. This would, to me, play on the rigidity of the sport in terms of individual expression and also heighten the sense of tension and ultimate decay. 

Exhibition Sittings: Tony Albert

Tony Albert at Anne and Gordon Samstag Museum

Photo sourced from exhibition catalogue

Photo sourced from exhibition catalogue

This work by Tony Albert was really interesting in terms of the way that the artist was referencing the work of Gordon Bennett. The work made up of a number of works set up on plinths and other drawings, paintings, cut outs, and collaged works in frames on the wall. The framed works on the wall sat on a red target and were emotive in the message they sent to the viewer. The pieces that made up the work were exploring the racism that exists within the Australian Football League, the National Rugby League, and society more broadly. The continued presence of this racism against Indigenous Australians is explored by Albert in a satirical form. The piece within the installation called Daddy's little girl (after Gordon Bennett) responds to the incident in which a NRL coach called an Indigenous rugby player a 'black c*nt' and tried to play it off as unmalicious clubroom banter. The work shows a young girl watching a game of rugby league and spells out the words 'black c*nt' as her father watches approvingly from the couch. The painted work is accompanied by blocks on a plinth that spell out the same words. This work is accompanied by a letter that Albert wrote to Gordon Bennett and gives a commentary on the work, in addition to explaining his admiration for and influenced received from the late artist. The wall adjacent to this work shows the framed works that discuss these ideas further. Covers and sections of children's books have been altered to suggest that these notions of racism are deep set and seen from a young age. 

The way that the artist has arranged the works is important. If the viewer starts at the plinths they can follow the work around and see a clear dialogue from the artist. The work uses the space effective and it feels like an exhibition within itself. I am drawn to the way that Albert has condensed so many framed works into such a small space. They play off one another and give a very powerful message that challenges the treatment of the Indigenous people in a quiet but intense way. The works are confronting even though they make use of so many childish elements that are familiar to the viewer. I think this is another reason why the work is so powerful. I was able to look at it and recognise things from my own childhood before Albert forced me to see them in a completely different light. This made me question my memory. Had I looked at these books in a completely naive way? Am I looking at the world around me in a completely naive way? I wondered whether I had ever contributed to the long standing racial stereotyping, cultural misrepresentations or the power imbalance between the Indigenous and everyone else, the colonised and the colonisers.

I think the work is complex and powerful. It explores memory, representation and the power of words. I do not think that there is anything about it that I would change. 

Settings Project: Potential Spaces

Have found two potential sites for the installation:

This first one is the one that is most preferred as it would work most effectively for the ideas we want to convey with the piece:

The space from the road

This space could be used to show the exhibition poster

The ledge that would be used to rest the paintings on

The rubbish that is in the lot already

The graffitied walls add an extra element to allow for the opposition toward the white walled gallery

The second space that could be used if we were not able to use the one above is shown:

The works could be hung onto the walls but it would prove difficult as there would be nowhere to hide the speaker unless a frame was made to encase the painting and speakers into

Settings: Artist Research- Bob and Roberta Smith, Jessica Voorsanger

Bob and Roberta Smith, Jessica Voorsanger
The LCCA
2001
Garden shed as site
Dimensions variable

https://makeyourowndamnfilm.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/lcca-2.jpg?w=1200

Video about the work:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eH01mqwA5M


Bob and Roberta Smith (actually one man) inaugurated the Leytonstone Centre for Contemporary Art with artist and curator Jessica Voorsanger. The Centre was located within a garden shed in Smiths back garden and acted as a parody to white cube galleries, the modernist art gallery. The site is challenging the notions of these modernist ideas behind the ways that art should be presented and positioned within an institution. 

The Centre has housed a number of conferences, actions and exhibitions (within the garden shed), giving a commentary on the institution and the the authority that it holds.

I found this work to be incredibly interesting in the way that the garden shed became a site of high art and class. The exhibitions held within the shed were attended by many, demonstrating that either the value of the art is not dependant on its context, or that the artworld are always jumping to the next new thing. It is difficult to move away from the idea that art exhibitions are less about the art and more about the 'being seen' element. I find myself torn between these two ideas when looking at works such as this one. I want to believe that the different environment has pulled viewers because the art is of high value regardless of where it is shown but, unfortunately, I cannot do so. 

I think the work is very blatant in what it is attempting to convey to the viewer. It is making a parody of the idea of the modernist gallery structure, but I feel that it is also making a parody of the viewer. The exhibitions, conferences and the actions that take place within this space are thus automatically challenging these ideas, regardless of their content. I wonder if the viewer of the exhibitions held within the space questioned the nature of the works of art being exhibited? I wonder if they were compelled to question to 'high art' nature of these works based on their surroundings?

I think it will be interesting to see how to audience reacts to the installation that my group and I are working on. I hope that they will find themselves questioning the status of the works of art that are being displayed, that they will be able to convince themselves that the person on the audio clip is indeed giving a commentary on the work of art that they are standing in front of. 

Interesting ideas about this art in the book 

Creative Explorations: New Approaches to Identities and Audiences

 By David Gauntlett

Settings: Artist Research- Marcel Duchamp

Marcel Duchamp
Fountain
1917
Readymade urinal

http://www.tate.org.uk/art/images/work/T/T07/T07573_9.jpg

The idea that I had for the Settings Installation stemmed originally from the appropriations of Marcel Duchamp. I liked the idea that he took an object and placed it into an environment that it would not usually be seen in to cause the viewer to challenge their assumptions about the object and the way that they view things based on where they are positioned.

Duchamp's Fountain is one of his most famous works and is seen as an icon of twentieth century art. The work is an example of Duchamp's readymades, where he would take an ordinary manufactured object and determine it as a work of art. He was making an assault on the notion of good taste and convention within high art that was so prevalent at the time. He took an ordinary article of everyday life and placed it in such a way that its usual significance was no more, vanishing behind its new title and position. He was able to take a urinal and remove the stigma by creating a new thought for the object.

I think the work was open to many interpretations but I feel as though all of them would have been what Duchamp had hoped for. Through the use of the title and the placement within a gallery space, Duchamp ensured that the viewer would be forced to alter their perspective on an item that would generally be seen in a completely different way. The work is was a major turning point within the artworld. It forced the idea that the convention of high art could be challenged and that items within the gallery were bound by their context. 

I am unsure how I would change the work because I think at the time, the work was exactly how it needed to be. It challenged the pre-existing ideas around art and what constituted it. The simplicity of it what so effective in giving the message that Duchamp had intended. 

Exhibition Sitting: Jen Matthews

Jen Matthews at FELTspace - TREEspace

Still need to write my sitting for this work.

Exhibition Sittings: Kate Beckingham

Kate Beckingham at FELTspace
Worthwhile risk

Still need to write my sitting for this. 

Information from FELTspace website about the work.

In Worthwhile risk Kate Beckingham revisits the physical activities she undertook while on a residency in Iceland in late-2013. Her difficulties and struggles when crossing uneven and unknown terrain are explored in the present time of the gallery using photographic images and sculptural forms. Gestures of falling, reaching and stepping up are implicitly referenced as a way of considering the time passed between her instinctive reactions in the Icelandic landscape and the act of making this work. By placing images of gestures alongside apparently useless objects, this exhibition brings into being Beckingham’s thought processes; compressing the distance between present art making and past accidents, time and space.

Beckingham’s practice contemplates how we experience in-between spaces from the position of the perceptual body. Worthwhile risk furthers this investigation by considering the spaces situated between the viewer and the art object. By considering the time and space between the catalyst of work and final output, Beckingham is also able to reference the intuitive processes and actions undertaken in the privacy of her studio. Therefore, this exhibition reveals not only Beckingham’s experiences in Iceland, but also what happened upon her return.

Settings: Artist Research- Emily Speed

Emily Speed
Inhabitant
2009
Cardboard
Dimensions variable

http://www.contemporaryartsociety.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/E-Speed-Inhabitant-St-Louis-Mississippi.-Credit-Dana-Turcovic-772x600.jpg

The artist has recycled discarded items of cardboard, plastic and wood to create the piece. Due to the origin of the materials, a fragility is present through the structure. I interpret the use the particular materials, items which are generally used for packaging and temporary refuge of goods, to demonstrates an idea of communication and the inevitable temporary life of structures and architecture, regardless of the materials that are used to create them.
The form is multi-levelled and dimensional. The buildings protrude out of the piece in such a way that would appear random, the intention of the artist was to purposely go after a look that would be straddling between being half-built and half derelict, demonstrating the dichotomy between possibility and decay. 

The structure is designed to be worn, almost as a garment, and perhaps demonstrates the effect that living within a metropolis can have on a person. The anonymity and, contrastingly, vulnerability offered from being inside the structure is suggestive of the place that an individual holds within a busy metropolis society The inhibition that is brought about from being inside the structure, without sight and the ability to move properly, is wholly encompassing. The body is a building that houses the mind.

I find that the piece explores the relationship between humans and architecture; the ideas of shelter and the person who inhabits that selter, in addition to the way the inhabitant is affected by doing so. The dichotomy of the transient and the temporary are explored in her artworks and the artists finds that the architectural element in the piece demonstrates man's attempt to create permeance and legacy through building. The piece explores the place that an individual will take within a city in regards to both the physical and the psychological.

This work is ideological and emotive. The use of the piece as a garment allows me to visualise the ideas of inhabitance and the engulfing effect that it can have on an individual. The work makes me ponder the temporary nature of architecture; regardless of the materials used, the building will eventually begin to decay. The spindly nature of the of the buildings on the structure also give heed to this idea and have caused me to think about my urban surroundings and what they might represent or are monumental in the name of. It makes me think of homelessness and loneliness, anxiety and panic.

I think this artwork is interesting to look at in terms of the way that the artist is exploring the idea of being an inhabitant within a city. The space that we have chosen for our Settings installation is an interesting space in that it is in the middle of the city but has somehow been forgotten and abandoned. I like the idea that a viewer can go into that space and almost feel separate from the rest of the city, as if they have removed themselves from it.