Further Developments on First-Year Project Proposal

 

Further Developments on First-Year Project Proposal

 

“The Process and Praxis of Constructing the Self as Medium”

a practical pedagogy for the practice of Performance Art

Student

Claire Elizabeth Barratt

Advisors

Laura Gonzales (studio)

Laura Bissel (research)

Areas that relate to my work

Although all subjects could potentially be included in my work - the intention of this particular project is to develop a method & curriculum for a performance art pedagogy that can explore any subject matter.
However - if I were to define an underlying theme that runs through my work, I would have to say it is that of Transformation, Metamorphosis & Transcendence.

Description of proposed project or body of work – practical element

As an Inter-Disciplinary Performing Artist with a background in dance, music, theatre and visual arts, the objective of my Creative MFA Practice project proposal is twofold:

To develop a deeper cognizant grasp of the various aspects of this broadly encompassing genre and to establish a context for my own work within its history;

To develop a pedagogy in which my methods of training, preparation and execution can be integrated into a curriculum for the practice of Performance Art.

Over my first year of study, my projected areas of research include: a comprehensive study of the chronological history of Performance Art; a study of contemporaries writing about their own practice; interviews with individuals who are currently teaching Performance Art.

I plan to facilitate a regular workshop series in which my own physical and creative methods of training and preparing body and mind can be fully explored within a synergetic setting.

The discoveries and developments of this research process will be continuously assimilated and assessed throughout the course of the year

Curriculum to include 4 areas of focus:

      1.    Definition, History & Context.

      2.    Physical Preparation.

      3.    Creative Response, Play & Interaction.

      4.    Assignments & New Work.

Examples of studies & exercises for each of these 4 focus areas.

1.    Definition, History & Context.

Study all available definitions of Performance Art

Study the work of key performance artists & movements throughout the 20^th Century.

Put current work into historic context.

Examples of key artists to study:

Futurist & Dadaist performance.

(Hugo Ball, Emmy Hennings, Kurt Schwitters, Jean Arp, Sophie Taeuber-Arp)

Happenings – Black Mountain College (Merce Cunningham, John Cage, Robert Rauschenberg)

Fluxus performance.

(Joseph Beuys, Yoko Ono, Nam June Paik, Charlotte Moorman)

Other key 60s, 70s & 80s artists.

(Marina Abramovic, Linda Montano, Karen Finley, Robert Wilson, Richard Foreman, Yvonne Rainer, Trisha Brown)

2.    Physical Preparation.

Preparation of the body as a versatile medium for art.

Exercises to engage in relationship with self, body, time, space, gravity, surface & concepts of form & motion.

Examples of physical exercises:

Vibrate/Shake/Throw

Skeleton/Joint spirals

Breath – Expansion/Extension

Transfer of weight – Connection/Locomotion/Stability

Presence/Definition

Shape

Quality of motion

Stillness/Silence

Opposites/Contrasts (tempo, level, weight etc)

Sound (body generated)

3.    Creative Response, Play & Interaction.

Utilize aspects of physical preparation in creative response and interaction.

Exercises to engage in relationship with “other” in response to sound, image, text, smell, taste, texture, environment, colour, object, person, identity and more.

Examples of creative exercises:

Creative Synesthesia (game)

Adverbs (game)

Call & Response (partner)

Movement Telepathy (partner)

Cross-Medium Response (individual)

Human Sculptures (group)

Flocking (group)

Identity/Character Development (individual)

Defining Essence (group)

Defining Narrative (group)

       4.   Assignments & New Work.

Assignments for the purpose of applying physical & creative tools explored in class towards the development of original work.

Examples of assignments:

a)   Go to place (nature, market, construction site, cemetery – anywhere).

Absorb scene without intent.

Return & formulate creative response based on sensory memory.

Use any medium(s)

Develop into performative action & create piece.

Return to place to perform piece.

b)   Chose a mythological character from any culture.

Define their “essence”. Define their “narrative”.

Collect images, objects, sounds, textures, smells, tastes, colours, texts, places, people, animals etc (in any medium) who you feel portray these essential qualities.

Create a series of responses to these qualities in any medium(s).

Begin to assemble these materials into a time-based framework.

Add, remove, re-arrange & adapt material as you see appropriate in order to refine it into a performative piece.

Description of project report or thesis – written element

Detailed descriptions of my physical & creative exercises.
Reports on results of exercises in a workshop situation.
Discussion on further development of exercises based on workshop results.
Research methods of historically renowned performance artists & report results - compare & contrast with my own methods.

Anticipated results, e.g. documentation, performance, script, intervention, website, exhibition, book, journal

Journal of workshop developments.
Performances with workshop participants.
Documentation of workshops & performances - photo & video.
Final result to be a curriculum for the teaching of performance art - including:
1. Historic information
2. Physical exercises
3. Creative exercises
4. Development of new work.
Presentation format of curriculum TBD (script, blog etc)

Initial bibliography for written element

TBD -
Projected reading material possibly includes:
 
Richard Schechner – ‘Performance Studies’
Guillermo Gomez Pena – ‘Exercises For Rebel Artists’

Victor Turner – ‘The Anthropology of Performance’
Amelia Jones – ‘The Artist’s Body’, ‘Perform, Repeat, Record’ & ‘Performing The Body/Performing The Text’
Josephine Machon – ‘Immersive Theatres’ & ‘(Syn)aesthetics’
Sandra Reeve – ‘Body & Performance’
plus Roselee Goldberg’s Performance Art chronology synopsizes.
 
- also study: Joseph Beuys, Michel Chekov, Antonin Artaud, Oskar Schlemmer,
Tim Etchells / Forced Entertainment, Tino Sehgal

Research statement – hypothesis or question you pose

“The Process and Praxis of Constructing the Self as Medium”
a practical pedagogy for the practice of Performance Art
To develop a pedagogy in which my methods of training, preparation and execution can be integrated into a curriculum for the practice of Performance Art.

Formulate entire project in 2-3 meaningful sentences

Based on the axiom that the body is the primary medium of performance art, my focus is to develop my methods of training, preparation and execution into a structure that can be integrated into a pedagogical curriculum for the practice of Performance Art.

List three works of art, performances, events, etc. to describe, compare and contrast.

3 eras/movements of western performance art
1920s - Dada
1960s - Fluxus
1980s

Provide one to three themes, questions, topics, issues, threads etc. to discuss, compare and contrast which are relevant to your work.

what information can be found about:
methods of creating work
methods of pedagogy/instruction/explanation

Formulate as a paragraph as in the examples above.

I will study three eras of performance art: 1920s (Dada), 1960s (Fluxus) leading into  the 1980s and I will compare and contrast methods of creating work, pedagogy and instruction.

How will this research support your creative project or practice in general (150 words)?

By putting my current work into historic context.
By giving me a fuller understanding of historic experimental methods in performance as a guide in pedagogical practice.

This study will enable me to compare and contrast my own creative, instructional and pedagogical methods of making, explaining and teaching performance with those of key figures throughout these distinct eras in the history of performance art.

Reading Diary - Performing Our Chakras

PERFORMING OUR CHAKRAS

“SHRINE: What Do You Worship?” was a twelve-day continuous living

installation at Chashama on Times Square.

I created a series of Shrines & Rituals – including the ritualizing of mundane

activities such as eating, bathing & sleeping.

Guest artists, as well as the general public, were invited to enter &

participate – giving their responses to the questions: “What Do You

Worship?” & “What Are Your Rituals?”

Images:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/114531261@N02/sets/72157639838898396/

Video - short documentation of installation:
http://youtu.be/Z_prY8zgMrA

Reading Diary - The World As Sculpture

THE WORLD AS SCULPTURE

I'm sharing something that might be a source of amusement!

 http://www.critical-theory.com/deleuze-guattari-biography/

Erik Koed – Sculpture and The Sculptural

What I find interesting in this essay is the idea of “sculpturality” as a quality.

The sculptural can be found in that which is not intended as sculpture – as with the effects of nature’s elements – on a landscape as one sweeping mass, or on individual objects of nature – like driftwood or weathered rock.

It is when this organic use of “sculpturality” is implemented by a sculptor in their work, that it carries the most appealing plasticity.

Koed briefly touches on the idea of the plastique – I wish he had expanded on this thought, as it is what I find to be the most tangible definition of the sculptural in sculpture. It suggests a dynamic force, a fluidity between sculpture and viewer, a connection with the plasticity in the mind of the viewer, which is thus shaped in turn by viewing the sculpture.

Plasticity also extends to the dynamic shaping of space itself – as an equal presence.

Koed quotes F David Martin’s idea of “enlivened space” – all are in relationship – object, space and viewer.

Anthony Gormley – Reflection

I find myself resonating strongly with Gormley’s delivery in this interview.

His ideas of being centered in the body, inhabiting the body, then creating a representation of that body which inhabits a space really make sense to me.

The fact that the marks from the mold are still present actually seems to give the piece a sense of living rawness, as if that sculpture-body itself possesses life.

I appreciate his distinction between the archetype and the individual / subjective.

His idea of the subjective is not an alienating one, it is representative of individuality and encourages the sense of individuality in the viewer.

Jean Baudrillard – Simulations

My thoughts on this are a little fragmented – however, I will do my best to communicate them!

In his comparison between the abstracted (and even the represented) to the simulated,  Baudrillard seems to be saying that abstraction and representation still give space and place to the REAL  (by describing it, or some quality of it) – whereas in a simulation, the direct copy leaves nowhere for the imagination to go in order to consider the qualities of the thing.

I find it interesting that this was written in the early 80s, well before the current virtual reality world where the lines between real and simulated are almost ignored altogether. Of course it is still addressed as a (maybe slightly outdated) ethical debate and there is still a sense that the simulated is not quite the real thing but there is a resigned acceptance of the fact.

Everything is considered as “some kind of real”.

And in the art world, the virtual or simulated has become it’s own medium.

Marcus & Saka – Assemblage

I feel like I need the “Assemblage For Dummies” guide!

As this is my first foray into the subject, this text is rather a weighty discussion to serve as an introduction. I get a sense from it about HOW assemblage is USED – however, I am still not at all clear as to exactly what it IS!

With the term being associated with the psychological / philosophical / political writings of Deleuze & Guattari as well as to describe a collage type of process deployed by many artists from the Dadaists onwards, it appears to have many applications.

Reading Diary - Double Lens

DOUBLE LENS

Hito Steyerl – Aesthetics of Resistance?

This text was a little difficult for me to get to the main thrust of.

It opens and closes with the imposing history of a Nazi building, which now houses the Lintz Art Academy, and uses this as a base for an argument. The argument posed here, as I understand it, is that of the place of artistic research as codified in the contemporary art world. Steyerl seems to debate as to whether art should be subject to the same disciplines as other academic research, as it might be incongruous (to art itself?) to do so.

The passage referring directly to the filmic essay gives some examples of the development of the genre at the time when this term for it was coined. I believe he is saying this was the period when it was being recognized as “artistic research”.

Or perhaps taking the form that is now recognized as artistic research?

Although personally I doubt these artists were very concerned as to whether or not they were developing artistic research per se – I imagine they were more consumed with their subject matter, their filmic medium and how to present and discuss issues within the context of the integrity of film as a medium.

And as for the argument questioning the place of art as research in an academic institution?

Well it could possibly be argued that ANY subject has been forced into the disciplinary structure of an institution! Why are sciences considered as inextricable from an academic institution, for example? Or languages, or even mathematics for that matter.  They are all universal structures common to the human mind and it’s ability to observe, conceptualize, imagine, draw conclusions and evolve. They are all capable of “living free in the world” existing outside the confines of an institution – just as art is!

Nora M Alter – Journal of Visual Culture

This is a very comprehensive and comprehendible text. It traces the beginnings of the Essay in literary terms as a collection of arguments, questions and concepts based on any subject matter and follows it through to the film as essay and up to recent contemporary developments in the immersive environment of installation.

I don’t see that it really poses any arguments or problems, actually.  It comes across as more of an informative report.

Reading Diary - Praxis Enrichment

PRAXIS ENRICHMENT

Let me begin by saying how glad I am to have the opportunity to take this course – as it really is the one I need most on the most fundamental level.

As a performing artist I am able to articulate and express proficiently through the mediums of movement, sound and related inter-disciplinary techniques – however, my ability to plough through text and summon and craft language leaves much to be desired!

TEXTS – Reader Sampler & Roland Barthes texts

It is difficult for me to find language to demonstrate my understanding of these texts. In fact, it might be more organic for me to express their essence in improvised movement and sound!

Reader

The short quotes all very efficiently put their respective messages across – however, I was only caught up by the use of language in a couple of cases.

The first one (Fioretos) is extremely sensual and gives the reader a sensory effect that reminds me of Lewis Carol’s ability to place his reader in an opium poppy field (as in the Alice books, for example).

Schjeldahl’s description of Twombly’s work is also very captivating in that it brings about a physical sensation in an empathetic reader – one of awkwardness and discontent.

The last one (Weiss) is the most virtuosic use of language. It guides the mind of the reader in exactly the same manner as the structure of the gardens it describes guides their viewer.

The Wisdom of Art

I took note of the fact Barthes used a strong underlying structural technique in his use of a series of Greek concepts to hold the piece together and give inspiration to developing his comments within each given context.

(… As a parody of this kind of technique, I think it might be amusing to form an essay using the Seven Stages of Alchemy to describe the artwork of my four-year-old niece!)

On Fact / Pragma, he hangs a discussion of Twombly’s materials, gestures of application and content.

Chance / Tyche describes the results of Twombly’s gestures on the materials.

Outcome / Telos – here this equals meaning or effect. The effect on the viewer that gives a sense of meaning. (This is what I would refer to as “essence”)

Surprise / Adodeston – a shock or jolt that opens up a new avenue of awareness.

Action / Drama is used to ask “What is happening?” What is happening in the painting? And what is happening in the mind of the viewer? It is seeking story.

My question here is: how is this different from “meaning” in the way he uses Telos?

I am also interested in his ideas of Ma and Rarus in an aesthetic sense that comes out of a spiritual practice or philosophical axiom.

From Work to Text

This was extremely weighty language for me! The only way I can think of to demonstrate my understanding of it is to equate “Text” and “Work” to other concepts.

The two examples that have come to mind are:

1)   In Psychological science, the difference between the neurology of the brain and the development and use of classical Psycho-analysis could be likened to the roles of Text/Neurology and Work/Psycho-analysis (also the fact that it seems to be rather backward which study came first – as it is the neurology that is the physical material in which any thought process – conscious or unconscious - can occur)

2)   In Dance, the capabilities of the human body in gesture, form and kinetic motion are the Text, while their use in any given specific technique and choreography is the Work.

Much contemporary dance since Post-Modernism is focusing back into the “text” of movement as it’s primary goal.

PROJECT PROPOSAL

Claire Elizabeth Barratt

First Year Project Plan

Describe Project Proposal

Outline proposed first year of study

Include references & resources

Discuss how research may inform your practice.

“The Process and Praxis of Constructing the Self as Medium”

a practical pedagogy for the practice of Performance Art

As far as I understand it, Performance Art appears to have acquiesced to the label of “Unruly Stepchild” of the Modern Art world. Nonconformist and defiant by nature, over the course of history it has been defined by a number of disparate entities.

Historically recognized as originating through the work of the Futurists and Dadaists, it has developed and split into various “camps”.

The “Avant Garde Theatre camp” claims such contemporary visionaries as Robert Wilson, Richard Foreman and The Wooster Group; while the “Dance camp” heralds Trisha Brown, Pina Bausch and DV8 Physical Theatre. Music performance includes the famous Laurie Anderson, while Meredith Monk manages to defy pigeonholing.

The Gallery Art World’s Performance Art scene boomed with Fluxus, while there are the antics of dear Gilbert & George, as well as disturbing thrusts into endurance experiments by those such as Chris Burden and Tehching Hsieh. And now, of course Marina Abramovich has shown the movement capable of producing “movie star”– like status. And we can’t go without mentioning the “Happenings” in the days of Black Mountain College.

So what exactly IS Performance Art?

As an Inter-Disciplinary Performing Artist with a background in professional Dance plus Music, Theatre and Visual Arts, the objective of my Creative MFA Practice project proposal is twofold:

To develop a deeper cognizant grasp of the various aspects of this broadly encompassing genre and to establish a context for my own work within its history;

To develop a pedagogy in which my methods of training, preparation and execution can be integrated into a curriculum for the practice of Performance Art.

Over my first year of study, my projected areas of research include: a comprehensive study of the chronological history of Performance Art; a study of contemporaries writing about their own practice; interviews with individuals who are currently teaching Performance Art.

I plan to facilitate a regular workshop series in which my own physical and creative methods of training and preparing body and mind can be fully explored within a synergetic setting.

The discoveries and developments of this research process will be continuously assimilated and assessed throughout the course of the year.

Projected reading material includes:

Richard Schechner – ‘Performance Studies’

Victor Turner – ‘The Anthropology of Performance’

Amelia Jones – ‘The Artist’s Body’, ‘Perform, Repeat, Record’ & ‘Performing The Body/Performing The Text’

Josephine Machon – ‘Immersive Theatres’ & ‘(Syn)aesthetics’

Sandra Reeve – ‘Body & Performance’

plus Roselee Goldberg’s Performance Art chronology synopsizes.

Claire Elizabeth Barratt - TRANSART START

Claire Elizabeth Barratt

 TRANSART START