WLAM Responses

The WLAM presentations, dialogue and discourse have been far more fruitful than anticipated. I think I especially felt this when basically the entire class voted for Mika Rottenberg and then during the group discussion completely ripped her apart about her consumption of labor with out a personal understanding of the value of her own labor. A sensitivity, awareness and accountability are all on the forefront of discussion these days which is refreshing because it means that ideas, morals, opinions, groups of marginalized people are not swept under the rug. I also enjoyed the conversation around Jacolby Satterwhite and the ways in which he is navigating the art world. We all were so critical of his art school write up of his own work but then noted (shed light on) his authorship and how its been erased from the beginning of time and by him putting his work into his own terms he was accessing his power and freedom and reclaiming it on his own time to give people only what he wants to give. He does not allow you to think about many other things because he is giving it to on a silver platter. Giuseppe Penone was interesting because of the Arte Povera movement that Penone was apart of, but i guess what blows me away about him is that his work now revolves around those trees which seems so far away from the ideology of Arte Povera but alas. All in all though the conversations have been far more richer then I anticipated. However, i do look forward to seeing what miranda and catherine bring in for all of us! 

Crit 2 Response

it has taken me a while to even want to write this response because the piece took so much out of me and is still so fresh and new in my eyes. there is so much room to continue to play with that/those pieces and fine tune each of them even further. i was so happy to finally bridge my video work with my body in real time. the cherry on top was my ability to bring objects into the world and not feel like they are a bastard. also, audio is really scary but also really exciting. i loved how i was able to give each object a sound which then controlled my movements and actions. I do agree that the timing of the piece was either too short or too long ( i think it was too short ) for me, when i am performing i want as much time as possible so i can really get into the mental space i go to when i perform. I want to dislocate my self, dissociate my self, distance my self from myself. it is not a character. it is me. it is me. it is always me. 
i want to keep re-performing this piece. I want to see and understand how it manifests in different times and spaces. in different head spaces and mental states. in front of different groups of people. the audio still needs work and for me needs to be more understood by myself. i think its an important material to the work but i need to more appropriately utilize its effects and pacing abilities. I think the sounds need more space and less clutter well maybe the clutter was working because then it forces this object, body, action relationship that interests me as a performer. Another thing about this piece that is important to me is that all of it was made by hand without the use of power tools (except the wood cube structure) but for the most part everything was made with small tools which is something that i have been trying to get into the habit of doing because i will not have all this machinery once i am out of school. this is not a necessity to the work but i am definitely thinking about it while i am making. 

PROCESS

                

SECOND PROMPT

Crit 1 response

My last first critique...how bittersweet. I was/am energized by the discourse surrounding the work I presented yesterday. I get excited and enriched when the conversation goes right into ideology, concept or perspective towards the constructs of the world. The stock videos offered up a lot of room for me to maneuver and play while simultaneously reinforcing a lot of the ideas I am concerned with. The saturation and inundation of imagery is something I am constantly investing in because it creates a magnetic energy that consumes the viewer. The stock videos also made me think much more about layers and how they interact or fail to interact, the boundaries between planes, space and visibility. Stock videos are the 'status quo' the 'normal life' and maybe its not that they ARE but that they are SIMULATING the 'status quo' silently reinforcing structures of expectations. I think the funny part about utilizing the stock videos was that I was in turn SIMULATING an event or experience surrounding my personal pedagogy. I was using the user.
Malcolm wrote 'the ambiguous, confused queer body being used as a puppet, object, a prize that is not desired....simply an object to be laughed at then forgotten. While trying to find its skin and its presence it is struggling without a community and this is powerful I think' Malcolm talks with such clarity and eloquence. Even when Miranda began talking about armature in relation to gender constructs and the limiting effects it has on all of us they were activating the discourse. I think about a lot of the things said yesterday on a daily basis. I am constantly checking in with myself and editing myself which in turn begins to dissolve these limiting placeholders that are stressed upon.
I was interested in how people  began to only talk about the one on the far wall (taking off clothes). It definitely had the most going on (the final video had 196 layers) visually but I also think conceptually. At the same time most everyone stated or wrote that the pieces work best together and not as separates which HOLLA I am all about multi channel projections. I also am into video to video relationship (imagery, action, color palette, etc).
Overall though I was pleased with the dialogue and left the critique really energized to keep making. I will say..this was the first critique in awhile where I went into it completely in love with what I was showing. That sounds really vain or narcissistic while I am typing it out and even thinking about it in my head but whatever.
In my process pictures you will see that I made objects (screens) to project on but I just was not attached or in love with them. The objects were not in service of the videos and visa versa so that is why I knixed them. I also felt (After having a conversation with Kotone definitely helped) that the videos had so much content that adding another layer would detract and convolute EVERYTHING and make it muddy when it does not have to be.
Moving forward I want to incorporate my live performances with my video work and see what happens then. I have been thinking about the body a lot and you wrote down 'I wonder about a fourth wall that could be just a projection of light that makes images out of the viewer' which I found interesting but I began thinking about extending my body in space too. Also adding silhouettes (you mentioned also) to the video to simulate/play with viewer interaction and relationship to space and the video(s)/performance. I am very excited to see what unfolds. I feel liberated. Which you mentioned a lot throughout the critiques specifically Zach, Sang and I.     

PROCESS

FIRST PROMPT

Armature

/ˈärməCHər,-ˌCHo͝or/

noun

1. 1.

   the rotating coil or coils of a dynamo or electric motor.
2. 2.

   a metal framework on which a sculpture is molded with clay or similar material.

We investigate only what is on the surface. What is easiest to see, gather, acknowledge. How do we go further to understand the Armature, the underbelly, the inner workings of systems, living organisms, the mind, space, time, infrastructure etc.? 

Also I am always aiming to further my use of screens and what 'screens' are/mean to/for the consumer, both projected and stationary television. How can I intervene and disrupt that flow?