4D II Project 3: Time, Space and Body – Part 1

Start of the last 4D II project is venturing into unknown fields wew. Admittedly, I am not completely foreign to the concept of installation art, video art, or performance art, as the A’level syllabus has managed to give me some knowledge about them.

To bring forward themes from precious projects, some themes I would be interested in developing would probably be, sexuality, the body and identity. Here are the artist researches that might be relevant to the upcoming project.

  1. MARINA ABRAMOVIC

I know Wen Lei has covered her in class but genuinely and honestly, she’s my idol. I love her works. She is a Yugoslavia born performance artist. Her performance surround themes of pushing the body to extremes, the interaction between the artist and audience. Rhythm 10 is actually my favourite piece of her work, but since it has been cover, I’ll cover another one of my favourites.

Marina Abramović and ULAY. Imponderabilia. 1977/2010
Performance. Reperformed continuously in shifts throughout this exhibition for a total of over 700 hours.
Courtesy Marina Abramović and Sean Kelly Gallery

In this work, Marina and her partner Ulay stood opposite each other, stark naked at an entrance to an exhibition in a way that people entering the exhibition had to squeeze through them, unable to avoid physical contact, and had to choose who to face. This particular work is about confronting the idea of the audience actively participating in the performance space, and being made aware of the human touch and their own bodies through the need to come into contact with a stranger. I think this work is relevant to my research, as the exploration of nudity, human contact, and the body is something I am interested in.

 

2. VITO ACCONCI

An American designer, landscape architect, and installation and performance artist. This artist I’m interested in particular one of his works called “Seedbed”. I though it was brilliant as it was a hidden performance art and more of sound art. The extremely disturbing and voyeuristic nature of the work is also rather amazing.

Vito Acconci. Seedbed. 1972
Medium: Super 8 film transferred to video (color, silent)
Duration: 10 min.
Credit: Gift of the Julia Stoschek Foundation, Düsseldorf and Committee on Media Funds

View the work here: https://archive.org/details/ubu-acconci_seedbed

In this work, the viewers entered a room with an empty ramp and unknown to them, Acconci himself is lying underneath the ramp masturbating. He would do this intermittently, while he was doing this he would speak out about his sexual fantasies, based on the movement of the visitor’s above. The tension between public and private was overwhelming.

Found on the Museum of Modern Art Website:

“The following text, which documents and transcribes Seedbed, was published in Avalanche magazine in 1972:

. . . I’m doing this with you now . . . you’re in front of me . . . you’re turning around . . . I’m moving toward you . . . leaning toward you . . .

Under the ramp: I’m moving from point to point, covering the floor . . . (I was thinking in terms of producing seed, leaving seed throughout the underground area).

I’m turned to myself: turned onto myself: constant contact with my body (rub my body in order to rub it away, rub something away from it, leave that and move on): masturbating: I have to continue all day—cover the floor with sperm, seed the floor.

Through the viewers: because of the viewers: I can hear their footsteps, they’re walking on top of me, to the side of me—I’m catching up with them—I’m focusing on one of them: I can form an image of you, dream about you, work on you.

. . . you’re on my left . . . you’re moving away but I’m pushing my body against you, into the corner . . . you’re bending your head down, over me . . . I’m pressing my eyes into your hair . . .I can go on as I think of you, you can reinforce my excitement, serve as my medium (the seed planted on the floor is a joint result of my presence and yours). You can listen to me; I want you to stay here; you can walk around me; walk past me; come back; sit here; lie close to me; walk with me again.

Reasons to move away from a space: there’s no need to stay—I’ve left something there, outside, that used to be here, inside—I’ve left something there that can grow, develop, on its own.

Reasons to move: I can move with an easy mind—what’s left behind is safe, in storage.”

This artist would be useful in my research as sexuality was a strong theme in my previous works and I would like to explore this theme again.

3. MONA HATOUM

Hatoum is a Lebanese born Palestinian installation and video artist. But the work I’ll be speaking about would be “Homebound” an installation art piece arguably sound art as well.

“Homebound” is a piece of work consisting of pieces of homely furniture laid out across the room. Wires are placed intertwining the entire work, with live electricity current running through them. The buzzing sound of the live current with occasional crackle and pop as different objects light up disturbs the quietness of the gallery, making it rather unsettling. I like this piece of work, as the tension between the familiar “home furniture” and foreign and dangerous “electricity” current leaves an interesting feeling in the viewer.

I this this work is relevant to my research as tension is one of the methods to immerse the audience in an installation art or performance piece, and I think Hatoum did so really well in her work.

 

References:
http://www.newmedia-art.org/cgi-bin/show-oeu.asp?ID=ML002604&lg=GBR
https://www.moma.org/explore/multimedia/audios/190/1974
https://www.moma.org/collection/works/109933?locale=en
http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/266876
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/may/03/mona-hatoum-review-tate-modern-electrified

4D II Project 2: Soundscape

ARTIST STATEMENT

The clip is supposed to represent a metaphorical death, death of a person’s senses. My soundtrack is not narrative based but more of an emotional transition. The first part has indiscrete chattering, coffee-making machinery, and laughter. These represent the daily emotive way of living. However, along the way, the emotive sounds turned more and more odd and rather disconcerting. This is followed by a form of destruction, a shattering of one’s beliefs, a snap in the persona’s head, and the persona is plunged into a state of emptiness. There is a struggle to fight against the waves, but the persona eventually gives in to the calm stillness of the water.

 

CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT/ RESEARCH/ CHALLENGES

I developed the concept purely based on interest. I was more interested in trying to create sounds that conveyed a certain idea rather than ambient sounds. However, I needed to create sounds that had emotions. So I started recording some of the places I go to, and some conversations I had, my laughter, to evoke the sound of happiness. Then, I proceeded to record generator sounds for an empty alienating effect, and dunked the recorder into the pool to create underwater sounds. These were the sounds I felt represented a lack of emotion.

Throughout the entire clip, there was a consistent rhythm of my breathing, initially extremely calm and slow, after the plunge, became faster as the persona struggles to hold on to life. Finally, the persona gave up and embraced the silence.

An artist that has inspired me would probably be AquaSonic, a band that produces underwater music. Check out their music video:

The main challenge I had for this project is that I couldn’t imagine the soundscape in my head, unlike being able to visualise a design before completing it. Therefore, even when I had the concept, I had trouble trying to create a clip for the concept. I also had trouble manipulating the different clips as I was unfamiliar with the program used.

Another thing is how I love music and use it as both inspiration and an outlet of emotions, but we cannot use music to represent our emotions, which is one of the hardest thing I was faced with.

To conclude, I think I tried my best to create the soundtrack for such a concept. I had fun doing this project and I look forward to the last one.

Credit for royalty free music:https://www.freesound.org/people/13FPanska_Cerny_Jan/sounds/379008/
https://www.freesound.org/people/InspectorJ/sounds/344265/

4D II Project 1: Alter Ego

Video Link: https://vimeo.com/202669074
(Tried multiple times to embed the vimeo video here but unable to so here’s the link to the vimeo version and the YouTube version for convenient viewing here)

STORYLINE

The sequence shown in my film is a non-linear storyline. Rather similar to that of a stream of consciousness. It compromises mostly of snapshots of the character’s memories and descriptions of her emotions. The main themes explored in her thoughts are that of love and sexuality. The first part of the monologue introduces her sexual awakening; secondly, an interaction with a lover, and lastly a self-reflection of the way she has been living. The narrative suggests a character who romanticises notions of love and sexuality, through the use of vivid imagery, and wholeheartedly embraces everything, both the negative and positive aspects, and thus, is truly a free-spirit at heart.

CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT + RESEARCH + CHALLENGES

After completing the first few tasks of Project 1, I was choosing between two characters, Marina from Marina and the Diamond’s Electra Heart album, and Ririko from the Japanese movie Helter Skelter. However, I decided to explore Marina as it was a theme I had never explored before in art. The character of Marina explored themes of love, sexuality, feminism, and certain social issues. She is someone who lives and loves fearlessly. She romanticises and loves the aesthetics of love, does not care for the person nor the real emotion. I felt an affinity with the character, as similar to her love was an unknown concept to me and I have no real care for it. Instead, I really appreciate the aesthetics of love and I admire Marina for the way she embraces her lifestyle wholeheartedly.

For research, I went to read up on the lyrics of Electra Heart songs more carefully. Through my interpretation of her songs, I drew out certain characteristics I wanted to explore in my monologue. Some characteristics are the openness and free-spirited attitude towards exploring one’s sexuality, and the admiration of the beauty of love without real attachment for the idea.

As for the aesthetics of the film, I initially wanted to explore a similar style to her album but because I couldn’t recreate the elaborate setting, I decided to stick to a rather minimalistic style. Other than that, some other challenges faced are, the difficulty in self- shooting, being both the videographer and actor. The inability to achieve certain images I have in mind due to money and equipment constraints. However, I managed to overcome these challenges with the help of using bits of found footage, as well as being flexible and adapting to what was available.

STORYBOARD

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4D II Project 1: Character Selection

Task 1
Ririko (from Helter Skelter)
Jay Gatsby (from The Great Gatsby)
Hester Prynne (from The Scarlet Letter)
Veronica Sawyer (from Heathers)

Task 2
Marina Diamandis (more famously known as Marina and the Diamonds)
Andy Warhol
Damien Hirst

Task 3
Boo
Chan
D

 

Task 4

Ririko (from Helter Skelter)

Ririko is a character portrayed as a famous Japanese model. She used to be unattractive, but agreed to dangerous procedures of large extents of plastic surgery in order to achieve beauty and fame. She represents the endless, and dangerously unrealistic desire for beauty, and being someone who also pursues beauty in life, I feel an affinity with the character

Jay Gatsby (from The Great Gatsby)

Jay Gatsby, is a man with large ambitions. Having originated from humble background, he spent his lifetime chasing after a wealthy dream (Daisy) and did manage to amass a large fortune. I do not relate to him chasing after unrealistic dreams, but what I can relate to is his relentless way of chasing success.

Marina Diamandis (more famously known as
Marina and the Diamonds)

I chose her not because I understand her actual person very well, it’s impossible to do so as she is a public figure and I do not know her personally. However, I do believe that a person’s art reveals a lot about them. Through her album Electra Hearts she questions love, feminism, and social issues, these I have an affinity with.

Damien Hirst

His most renowned work The impossibility of death in the mind of someone living, earned him 12 million dollars. I admire his ability to turn ideas into visual representation in an intelligent way. He also fearless say shocking things, be it calculatedly for shock factor or not, I feel an affinity towards his pragmatic ways.

Boo

I feel an affinity towards her because she is very matter-of-fact in the way she lives. She strives to be the best she can be and faces everything extremely calmly.

Chan

She is very different from me. But the thing I like the most about her is that she does not put on pretences. She feels deeply and freely, something I am unable to do.

Project 1: Inspiration File

This is a list of things that inspired me to create my character.

  1. Song Lyrics

“Got different people inside my head/ I wonder which one that they like best”

This lyric shows how my character is struggling with multiple identities within herself. Not in a multiple personality disorder way but perhaps some sort of cognitive dissonance in different sides of herself when surrounded by different circumstances and people.

“I never sang for love, I never had a heart to mend/ Because before the start began, I always saw the end”

While this one shows how my character is disillusioned by love and romance. She is cynical and does not believe in the love.

“I guess you could that my life’s a mess/ But I’m still looking pretty in this dress”

This lyric shows how my character is living through a façade of beauty and vanity, using these as a mask to hold her real self together and face the world. My character is one who does not easily reveal her true feelings and thoughts.

  1. Poems

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“What You Are” by Tania de Rozario

This poem inspires my character because it is very brutal but in its harsh brutality, this poem contains the beauty of such harshness. Also, it calls for confrontation, something my character is faced with a lot, no matter with herself or with others.

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“Interpretation” by Tania de Rozario

This poem inspires my character because of the disjointedness, the uncertainty. Something my character lives and goes through a lot.

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“Goodbye” by Tania de Rozario

This is a poem that inspires my character because of the theme of leaving, which is what my character is used to do.

  1. Articles/Speeches

‘My belief is that if we live another century or so – I am talking of the common life which is the real life and not of the little separate lives which we live as individuals – and have five hundred a year each of us and rooms of our own; if we have the habit of freedom and the courage to write exactly what we think…’ – Virginia Woolf

I think this inspires my character to fight against patriarchy and speak her mind boldly as a woman in her songs.

“Teach your students to see that vulnerability is a human, rather than a female, trait.” – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

I think this inspires my character as she bravely faces and acknowledges her own vulnerability, not as a female, but as a human.

“There is nothing permanent in life except change.” – Heraclitus

I think this inspires my character as she only identifies too much with how human emotions are constantly changes, and therefore, she chooses to detach herself from them.

  1. Pictures

rsz_street

This is a street scene with a heavy emphasis on the neon lighting, making it look rather surrealistic. This inspires me to write about how my character enjoys feeling the energy of the city.

Colorful Candy Conversation Hearts for Valentine's Day

This photo is that of candy hearts. This inspires me to write about my character because candy hearts remind me of overly sweet superficial love, which my character loves the aesthetics of.

maxresdefault-1

This seems to be a blurry snapshot of a night out. This inspires me to write about my character as she is all about living her life in the moment.

  1. Headlines

7 Rules on How to be a Heartbreaker

I chose this headline because I taught it would be relevant as my character is heavily centred around the theme of love.

A story behind this could be how my character plays around with guys and she finally falls for the last guy, but she stays true to her heart-breaker persona, and she walks away.

 

Suicide Girl

I chose this because of how my character has some sort of emotional tendency.

Another story could be how my character is heartbroken and tormented over love and trying to understand the meaning of such. She craves freedom, and does so by crossing over to the other side.

 

Girl Disappears, Leaving Behind Burnt Town

I chose this headline because of how my character is borderline a little maniac and in the end she does have an extremely cold side to her.

Story: Character is a cold ruthless character, who comes into the town enchants the whole town. A group of teens from the town get jealous, decide to humiliate her. She withstands the humiliation, and instead looks better than before, during a baseball match when the whole town is away, she burns the entire toxic town down.

  1. Personal Credo

I firmly believe that humans should be able to in their own right choose to explore their sexuality to any degree or even not at all without receiving any form of social stigma or judgement.

  1. Emotions
    Tenderness
    Euphoria
    Rage
    Melancholy
    Fear
    Trust
    Indifference
    Hopelessness
    Free

My character’s favourite emotion would be the emotion of freedom. This is because she does not like to be tied down, she is a free-spirit.

My character’s least favourite emotion would be trust, this is because she is afraid to trust and open up to someone because it is the position she feels the most vulnerable in.

  1. Sentence Starters

I don’t want to live my life any other way”

I love love. It’s so unknown, like a beautiful mysterious being. But sometimes I think I only love love because I don’t truly know what it is”

I fear love, the same way humans fear the unknown. It’s so foreign it gives me no place to be.”

I have always wanted to fly, fly past the rooftops, into the expanse of blue, out of sight, out of existence.”

I would like to go back into the past, where I was once a pretty young thing.”

  1. Focus Objects

Lipstick

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It gives helps my character create the fake persona she uses to face the world.

Promise Ring

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She know that promises are meant to be broken and the ring is a daily reminder of that.

Notebook

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Because she likes to write her thoughts down in it, she is a very self reflective person.

White Shirt

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Because white was pure, white was innocence.

Perfume

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It was her signature scent.