the wax kettle takes an unseasonably long time to melt the wax contained, Dubai is currently much colder than usual.
My patience is tested as I check, and check and check again. I takes 5 hours to melt, so I turn the temperature down and leave it to melt and keep warm while I sleep.
Fresh the next day I can begin casting. The molds are ready from the day before and I pour. The wax is clear when liquid, its viscosity it tempting and I want to place my hand under the stream. The heat deters.
The experience of pouring the wax provided the knowledge of its changing viscosity as it cools, and how its opacity becomes more dense. The audience of the final pieces do not have that experience, it is mine alone, unless I offer it to them, perhaps via video. But do I want them to have it? Do they need it? Does it add to the work?
garden wax set up
In providing the audience with work that is produced without the method of production visible is mirroring the consumption of goods that we take part in daily, without question. Why is it art demands some questioning of process when consumer goods do not? How does it change our consumption of products when we know the methods of manufacture? Does it change them? Does it change our consumption of art if we see process? This brings me back to the piece by Hassan Sharif pictured below:
Hassan Sharif, Cotton (still), 2013. Cotton and single-channel HD video, silent, 20 x 67 x 46 cm, 8 minutes 26 seconds. Courtesy Estate of Hassan Sharif and Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde, Dubai.
Is process about the work or the artist? is it selfish? Self-indulgent? What does the audience take away from process, or observation of process? What is the artist trying to say by showing process? How does the audience actually read the sharing of process?
I can only speak from ones own experience, in that, process is intimate, it's quiet and focussed moments with material and surface. Process is the out pouring of thought into a visual/physical format; a moment captured in structure of paint or material. An attempt at dialogue with surface, not always completing the intention, sometimes a miscommunication.
I went to a warehouse to collect materials and equipment. Instead of being a lofty echoey space it was extremely sound deadened by its contents.
The warehouse got me thinking about the sound aspect. What are the sounds of anticipation and expectation? I’ve been coming at it from the wrong angle.
I was thinking about surprise, silence followed by a sudden loud noise of some sort. But that’s too obvious.
Anticipation sounds like a door clicking, or footsteps, a kettle boiling. Things that have an expected outcome. What happens if that outcome doesn’t emerge?
So then, what does sensuality sound like when it’s not based on sexuality? How does something sensual sound, like grain in a sack perhaps? The wax in the bag as it was being broken up. Lentils in a pot being stirred.
What does it mean to be sensual in a society that restricts? denies it?
What does anticipation sound like? What are the sounds of anticipation? How does expectations sound? What is an expectant sound?
Is sensuality layered? What are the layers? What do they look like? What are they asking or telling? How do they communicate with each other? Do they? Do they need too? holding in, holding back, holding on, holding.
What do caverns, caves holes and density have to do with sensuality and materiality? Why are they important?
What is darkness and sensuality? Is it quiet or loud? Are the layers building sounds? How do they sound? How do they feel?
What are the feelings of the layers? How do I feel in the layers? Does it matter?
How do I feel when making? Content? Focussed, Excited? Scared? Aroused? What does it mean to be aroused? Aroused by process, by material? Is arousal always sexual? Or is it sensual? Arousing the senses? piqued interest? How is society aroused?
What arouses a collective? how do you get a sensual collective? movement? a movement or movements? dance? contact, contracts. sensuality contracts.
Thoughts on touch, when is the tension of moment actually done? When is the initial sensation over> How long do goosebumps last?
Before you even start? They are a symptom of anticipation
Sometimes an indicator of the frisson of the thrill. So actually happen in the moment after the anticipation and the experience of initially felt
I use the book form and couldn't explain is, it just felt right. Now I'm writing and thinking about the primacy of touch, a lack of experiential information first hand, I can see a link between narrative as depicted in prose and poetry. An author leads you, page by page, somewhere, the anticipation is intrinsic, it is what maintains the action of turning the page.
Book as Anticipation Containment. A 'page turner' whats going to happen next, how will the material/line/substrate behave as we flip it over. What will be revealed...
Interruption Heston blithe then Antihithis study - antonyms Can these be applied to this form Glory holes- photographic sense? Negatives work - analogue photography, can you photograph something as a negative, what would work? Too obvious Bridget Riley Weaver - anne Albers The writing over in Notts castle Being watched and written about How can the participants Control feel sor the opposite how will the audience react. Can cater for aspects or your audience? Should you be?
Displaying Interruption Heston b…
Why do I deny myself pleasure? I hold back Refrain Contain Silence my desires, Until they explode I stop drawing I stop my touch I refuse to commit Why do I deny myself so much?
On the 3rd of December, we will be having an Open Discussion in which we can have time to discuss emerging issues within our practice/writing/thinking. what do you NEED to discuss and share - what is exciting you - what is preoccupying, puzzling, interesting you. Can you share a question, or an image or a quote, or text or….. by Friday 30th, please.
we can see the practices you are involved with as a whole, not just making, not just thinking, not just theory…...all of it.
Make it useful!
KF- how we manifest practice - Charles Garoian - how we make things concrete, how we see things differently when they are outside of our heads
https://youtu.be/MKY6VN2Tsis
conceptual wonderings, the ideas of what practice can be and how we find our route through it.
Slide show - - how do we take risks? the ways we all take risks are different and appropriate to our own practices. Kettles Yard - small things are shifted and made a little more interesting - Jim Eade - Keep off the grass - signs that were ignored and then one that wasn't - things that we are afraid of that we don't know, the sudden fear of what we don't know. - whats our grass? what are we afraid of?
my question - think through the making - that is your research - allows there to be concrete links through the process and be embedded in the practice - so we are researching through the materials
Art pursues knowledge and yet resists the assimilative urge to know. This is the why, the what and the how - the questioning through our stuff not just in our heads
Speculative and emergent - a relationship with the work - acknowledging the movement - try to feel unity while in flux - understanding that I am part of the relationship -
Greenhill - thinking and the aspects - can you replace the word making - is that what I need - this list, to consider that practice and thinking are the same, that research is the making, that thinking needs to happen through the making - let the making research and think for me.
meeting point - this is something I want to articulate - how do I make these ideas come together - worrying away materially and conceptually - trying to get to the foothold. trying to find the foundations -
the questions are mapping the practice and doing so appropriately - the difference between thinking and making - having an intention and playing purposefully.
audio film from Joseph Bouys - link to come.
My moment was actually at the end of the session - I have included the notes from othere members moments below my feedback.
Changing a practice - more art based from design led
Influence or guidance - how to get comfortable
Can a practice change dramatically with a simple term change?
outside sources impacting directly on practice - to credit? ownership?
materials led vs research led - help!
KF - entanglements happen - differentiate between what you know, what you learn and what you are influenced by and how to unpick it. constantly influenced but don't reference it all - when you find something that influences perfectly and understands your position within it - how do you determine which part is yours. the drawings are coming from me - it's been read through my work - she saw it and offered it - she saw it and found it there in the work.
jv - would the it help to stop questioning?
KF - don't have to do either or - allows you to play you can do both and allow them to coexist and that they are interdependent and correspondent. complementary - what its doing is enriching - don't have to say whether I am practice-led- or concept based - push the 'what I am doing' sometimes labelling it actually blocks us in to a corner - shift it out of the head and allow the work to happen and realise that the thinking and creating happens at the same time. Let it happen and the drawings take shape.
chatbox:
-We are all building on the work of those before us
- we all need a framework to give our practices context! you are tethered!
- By a chair?! You seemed so happy on making day getting into the materials
- I guess the difference between design based practice and art based practice is intention even if the outcome is the same physically
- I recognize what you say. I can easily get overwhelmed by my thoughts. That is why I tend to focus more on making because I know my head will continuously do its work; this makes its way easier for me.
- I always thought that fine art is a deeper version of other art/design disciplines
- Some of the best scientists are artists too
- also Katie: embrace the experiences from the past. I always try to use whatever I developed in the past
KF - the shift from the architectural - to joins and then built - back into drawing and flattening. all the work to happen - allow the drawings to grow in their potential - just let them grow and be surprised by it. Interesting questions of authorship and influence - do my work! collision - disruption - confidence - drawing colliding.
Immediate reaction after the session:
That felt really awkward - there was a point where the pause for feedback was too long and no one had anything to say to me. How do I read that? Were my questions not challenging or engaging enough, was everyone just over it and I was the unfortunate soul a the end of the session no-one could be bothered to engage with as they all wanted their beds? I feel like I'm at a different point to the other members - I spent last year questioning my research and how it feeds into my work while everyone went through materials and making and now I'm going through materials while everyone builds on their research and concepts. Is there something wrong with my practice? is it weak? Some days I question what I'm doing here and if I belong - the language frequently evades me and I spend so much time looking things up to play catch up.
Perhaps sleep will help.
Takeaways from other peoples moments:
questioning time - images that are timeless - or from time? unmooring time - I’m thinking about the way we digest time - the photo is a second in time - a time-lapse is time past but sped up - the piece at Ways of Seeing in NYUAD
tactile materiality and physical experience of visual experience - the tactile eye by Jennifer Barber
Paul Klee - taking an line for a walk -
lens based media - analogue vs digital - scale, time and distance - how close you become to something -
carve out time - using the commute to make work - the car journey productive.
Is the possibility more compelling than the product? How much consideration should there be for the audience? How much research do they need to see? Is a poem enough to let them in? KVW - My students and I had a conversation about the conceptuality of space last week - the fact that we talk about space being ‘out there’ but that we are also in space - it’s around us and in us - a vacuum is still something though—nothingness is still a 'thing’ A metaphor - Zen nothingness
Interpretation of objects - looking for a similarity of object - for validation? symbolism - semiotics - scientific drawing to understand an art practice studying objects - how they speak to us - question how long is culturally acceptable to listen to an object?
Are all art pieces related/connected to ethical questions? Is the term political correctness* intertwined with the term ethical responsible? Are artists expected to be politically correct/ethical responsible? Or are they may be expected to sometimes deviate from it? Related to the previous question, to what extent can artist behave ‘unethically’ for the sake of increasing awareness or making a statement?
if we are seen to be misrepresenting something - being open to the fact that you might trigger someone or something. Do I need to know what happened next? blocked the path - put our work out there consistently. working with others narratives to be simple, but multiple layers can add to the complexity. the chance element is really interesting the butterfly effect - that aspect of a happening having a massive impact or a nothing impact and not knowing work put out there - let it off and it's beyond the control - the instigator playfulness is fascinating and reminds me of this http://playthecitynowornever.com/
KF - punctuation of every day - situationist's - happenings - a shift has happened with the work as you can see it and it is beyond you. People being annoyed by it - slinkachu - model people enacting things with the debris of daily life
Things are changing, my thoughts are rapid, getting quicker and picking up pace, which sounds great but is actually a nuisance as my physical practice doesn't keep up.
Things I'm discussing mentally:
How can I change my practice; to move away from the design based thinking and be more 'art'? Does that sound weird? The processes are different as the end points have various requirements, how do I 'forget/park/ignore' the old habits?
How easily influenced am I? Does that matter? Is it influence or guidance? Am I simply being enabled by people with the tools and insight to guide?
I am drawing again and I'm loving it.
I discovered a talk by Amy Sillman which I have linked below:
https://youtu.be/BLOgc466nRk
Like Richard Serra she lists verbs to describe what drawing is/can be.
I took from the talk and my tutorials with both Catherine Baker and Kimberley Foster that drawing is so much more than pencil on paper....leading me to reevaluate my previous work. Dr Baker changed the word 'chaos', which I had been clinging on to with urgency as I really felt it was important, to the term 'collision'. It's was a moment. The moment. You know the ones....where you hit your self in the heard for not seeing to and celebrate the release at the same time. Where everything flashes before your eyes in a new light, a new frame, glistening and invigorated.
This leads me to the question, can it really be that simple? To change a couple of terms, give new frames and different angles and give a body of work more agency? I say simple although it doesn't feel like it. It feels like I've been banging my head for the past 6months hoping to shake something loose. Is it okay for these things to come from outside sources? Is that still organic? Is it still mine? Can I still say the work belongs to me?
How does a material led practice work? I'm confused as I have worked hard over the past 5years to create a practice with a conceptual context. Diving head first in to research, how do I balance the two?
