Theory of the Derive

I went to the building behind the music building and went up the stairs and felt the hollowness of the space. It was a very open building where you could walk up, down the hall, and right back down the stairs. There were no doors or windows, just open air and a constant light breeze. I observed the corners of the space, the open architectural balance between man made structures and nature. My eyes were parallel to the mid green lush of the trees. The main hallway was the main direction for the wanderer to go through, where the main breeze swept through. This reminded me of a quote from the reading,

"Within architecture itself, the taste for deriving tends to promote all sorts of new forms of labyrinths made possible by modern technology of construction."

Though the air and space were light and hollow, I felt that the rectangular space acted as an open cage to capture the wanderer and captivate them. There was only natural light shining through, so the long hallway was dark in the middle, as if it was meant to catch you. Or in the depth of the hall, was where a main realization came or a definite visible direction.

Jackie Battenfield Lecture

This was my first lecture of the semester that I attended and my first reaction that it was fairly informative and I enjoyed how excited she seemed. After I went to a few more in the semester, I could see why this lecture got much criticism. Battenfield wrote the book, "The Artist's Guide: How to Make a Living Doing What you Love." Her lecture was just a basic summary of her book and how things came to be for her. She did not show any of her work or give any new insight. Most of what she said was already clearly written out in her book. Not only that, but she seemed to go chapter by chapter through her lecture as well. I would have been more interested, I think, if she would have added more of a personal twist and discuss more of her work rather than simply talking about her paintings as foreign objects. Personally, I went to the lecture not looking for great details on how to make a living by selling art solely but by doing it as something on the side. I would have liked to hear more than just the struggle of her other work and kids. I felt like she was talking more about her personal struggles than the true struggles that came through her work. She did not mention much about the criticism she got from her work either and how she handled it. Maybe because it was more of a book lecture than a true artist lecture, everyone was automatically more disappointed because it wasn't truly about her personal inter-connection with creating and doing what she loved as her occupation.

Jason Sloan lecture

I was really impressed with Jason Sloan's lecture and overall works. This was the first lecture I've been to hearing the inside scoop on combining digital sounds with their work to recreate the space. He worked in many mixed digital media such as using sounds, installations, performance, sculpture, and video together as art. He explained the process of how he went to school as a painter and jumped right into performance. He entered into using video to experiment getting his work out there to others who are limited not to get a more sensual experience of his works than just photos. One of his earliest videos was him wrapping a roll of tape around his face continually until it was covered. My favorite part of his work was his minimalist music that he created. In fact may other fans began to know him more for his music than for his art, which is why he stopped. "I am an artist not a musician," he said. He examines the need for transcendence beyond the body through a vehicle of visual ritual and sonic stimulation. He later combined his own music and installations and other effect (fogs and lighting) to completely recreate the space he was using. This was something I was really blown away with, the last exhibit he showed I felt he pulled off very successfully. Most of his performances are routine motions, like continually placing and replacing objects in separate piles. A lot of his performances went on for many many hours, a few more than 12 hours. He mentioned that one simply knows when the performance has ended. The focus of his work is to take a non-dogmatic approach of artistic and intellectual inquiry that explores the basic human need for some type of spiritual alignment or wholeness.

Rebecca French and Andrew Mottershead lecture

Within the week that the two visiting artists were here and organizing a campus wide participatory show, they had a lecture about their work and their bigger projects. They explained their processes, how they planned, how much was left up to chance, and what they've learned from it all. Rebecca French and Andrew Mottershead create art that specifically explores ideas of identity, social ritual and the everyday public and private realms in which they are played out. Through participatory works, they subvert sites and engage people complicitly in the creative act. As Art Monthly states, "For once it is art that actually achieves the popular ideal of raising your awareness of everyday life." They have traveled all around the world to set up specific situations though things never go as planned. They will stay at a place for their bigger projects usually for a month or two and build relationships with the people there. They explained how much apart of it that the community really is and how much they're really trusting that they'll do their part. After experiencing a small scale of it for myself, I can see the relationships it can easily build and how much it grows a community together. In London, they had each guest pick up a card out of a deck that had many silly tasks written on that the guests had to perfom and then place the card where they performed it. For example, if a guest had to stare at someone's shoes while talking to them and then place the card on the table where they had performed the task. It gets people to interact together and to enjoy and be aware of the social norms and cultural realms we are existing in together.

"French Mottershead" participation

My friend Nipa and I went to speak with the collective "French Mottershead" to be apart of their project. They assigned us to go out around the school to look for three main criteria that they were looking for that is publicly displayed. The first was to find any official rules and regulations, for health and safety rules for example. The second was any handwritten notes claiming their possessions, like putting your name on something in a group cafeteria. The final thing they were looking for was any unwritten known rules that are possibly broken or anyway you can document that known regulation and have it communicated. The exhibition was mostly of photographs from all students who participated. The artists had a map and explained how they split up the area and which areas they were waiting to get permission to enter. I had taken a few photos around the Art building (the painting sinks with all the handwritten notes) and a "No Swimming" sign that was placed around a murky, trash ridden pond. My friend Nipa had documented the Biology labs to take photos of health hazards with toxic chemicals whether they were verbal warnings or visual ones. They were only here on campus for the week and kept everyone informed through the social network, Facebook online. There was an exhibit at the end of the week in the Oliver Gallery of all of the students' collaborative efforts. It was a great social mini-project that the two artists put together for us and was a wonderful opportunity overall. I was very impressed with how they organized a social project with such simple ideas of thinking of the realms of private/public space and hidden regulations.

New Weather

I attended the art show that collided with the musicians' response to New Weather. I felt like the entire experience was incredible and a great success. There were many different sections of the night, it was not only a change in music but I change in performance. I greatly enjoy the mix of music and art together to aid to one anothers' meanings. The pieces took on a life of their own, from the depth and mystery of the charcoal drawings to to the impulsive gestural abstract paintings. The two artists fit very well together for the show in showing a controlled and hesitant approach and ease to a fierce and primitive manner. Yet the two artists worked so well together with the same music in the background. The large charcoal drawings were hung right to your eye level, where you stand face to face with these massive grey sea figures. I felt like they produced a tone so eerie and mysterious. I loved this work the most. The style of it was so intriguing on a formal level, the viewer is immediately drawn. As the viewer observes and reads the title, they can easily read into the artist’s subtle decisions for themselves. It was an interesting choice to place the statue that stood in the first room, with the many triangular images that stacked on and on in different scales, because it would have paralleled well with the abstract paintings. Just like the spiraled dress statue would have paralleled more with the charcoal drawings, but the curator must have placed them in the space as such to compliment and unite the artist’s works.

Art House

In response to ArtHouse, I feel it was an overall success. Though I have heard much criticism about last year's event being more successful than this year's. I cannot compare because I was not at last year's event. Without seeing the comparison, I though the entire event was well organized and full of excitement. There was much going on, unfortunately some at the same time. Our class and the other concept's class put on the childhood/adulthood maze (for lack of a better title) which I felt was very successful. The space was well fulfilled with each section creating a very different tone and mood to the viewer. Each guest was well directed, with the exception I know a lot of people did not realize the continuation past the nap room. Everyone lounging in the nap room must have caused some confusion at times and they circled back around. I wish we could have worked and cooperated more with the other class to better collide our ideas. I noticed some people entering had a choice whether to go right in the nap room to skip the playground area and some people simply directed them straight to the playhouse. I think next time if we had a mandatory meeting to simplify the overall ideas of the experience, that way they could have been more effectively brought fourth. It was a very relaxed setting overall and everyone seemed to enjoy their selves.