A few weeks back I visited the 'Hacking Habitat' exhibition, set in an old prison in Utrecht. Much as the title suggests its focus centred around the technological advances of humanity and sported a large collection of politically fuelled artworks.
The space itself was a refreshing and strongly relevant location that proved to be highly inspirational to the artists involved. Each cell provided an individual experience in which the artworks became an installation - communicating with the very present memory of the buildings former use and the feeling of restriction and hierarchy this produced.
Despite my love for this concept the message that stayed with me all three hours homeward bound was the unbelievably reliant nature of modern society on technology. And what more the ability to learn about one another remotely and our willingness to allow our privacy to be bought from us in the name of safety, sales or simply social media. This has inspired me to continue to question such things and bring this argument into my work.
As a socially engaged artist myself I have a keen interest on such works but due to the usual negativity instilled in such collections I was wary of this visit. However, I am pleased to say I was blown away, inspired and truly touched by the experience; leaving with a feeling of increased awareness and a passion for those who choose to question and improve the system.
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My Position as an Artist in Society:
The term 'Political Artist' brings to mind a stereotypical collection of confrontational artworks inspired by a somewhat cynical view on our societal systems. For my own work, I find better identification with 'Social Art': Art that is inspired by humanity and communication. Of course these two labels are not mutually exclusive but with a strong belief in creating approachable, equalising art I believe these initial expectations can be a detriment to an artist's practice if not used with caution. Furthermore, with the ongoing rise of political, cynical and shocking art - just as in news media and cinema - this now regular experience is becoming redundant. Shepard Fairey said that if you repeat something enough it becomes important. However, a person cannot be shocked and appalled into action every day. Walk around a political exhibition or watch a shocking film and you will see people discussing skill, innovation, maybe even the bravery of the artist - but how many will show true emotion towards the message and how many of those will go home and do something about it? I am not unaccustomed to the feeling of helplessness: The hopeless wishes to improve a world much too large. And so with complete sympathy for those who separate themselves from the problems of the world - teaching themselves there is nothing they can do - I chose to focus on small achievable differences with faith in the ripple-effect they cause: My main aims are to bring understanding, positivity and gratitude to our varied society. I place my viewer in the shoes of another, spreading awareness of the differences between people and helping them to empathise with one another. In doing so I fight against stereotyping and prejudice in a more subtle way and without just negatively portraying the issue. As well as social differences I also take inspiration from philosophy, psychology and opinion. I believe the route to contentment lies within the practice of appreciation and gratitude and therefore attempt to 'teach' people to observe and enjoy the little things that are special to them. You will notice here I refer to the viewers interests and not to my own - this is where opinion comes in. I see a simultaneous issue with the art world that is the Ego. The idea of the humble artist is overtaken by the elitist nature of the market which can fuel artists with a sense of personal power or leave the 'uneducated' viewer feeling belittled by unclear artwork excelled by high prices and long terminology. Whilst I don't believe an artist needs to be poor I believe everyone can gain from humility and so as well as creating work with a wider audience in mind I view myself as a tool to facilitate communication where it otherwise lacks. This is why for the past year the majority of text in my artworks are direct quotes from conversations with others, whether directly (preferable) or via social media (to contact a larger audience). This removes stubborn or biased information from myself and instead proves the importance of the opinions of those around me no matter who they are. It is also of high importance that whilst my work has positive aims it is not there to fool or coerce the viewer to agree. Art should be the beginning of a conversation not the persuasion of an argument. After the success of our recent group exhibition I thought I would take time to update you readers with the process, experience and outcomes of this project. Firstly, we were lucky enough to come into contact with Talentweb Groningen, an organisation that aims to utilise unused buildings to nurture and provide for the young talent in Groningen. For anyone looking to hold an event I would greatly recommend first searching for such companies, as this provided us with a beautiful old town house in the city centre for two weeks - our only charge the general improvement of the space and good publicity of Talentweb. *cough cough Talentweb is amazing everyone support them* So after a rather substantial 'lick of paint' and a day's hard-core cleaning the five of us found ourselves with a pretty perfect (if a bit desolate) studio and event space complete with storage basement, kitchen and toilet. Our next move was to spend some time meeting in and becoming accustomed to our new space. To construct our group concept we found inspiration in the building itself - emphasising the 'aura' of a previous house to become an exhibition space based on the ideals of home and comfort. Our aim was to facilitate open-minded discussion in a safe and comfortable environment: A break in the space and time of the city centre: A stillness to contemplate, communicate and enjoy. We titled this experience; "They'll drop you know" - Mother. A joke stemming from one of our brainstorming sessions on the concept of 'home' and its meaning… The discussion developed from talk of houses to families to emotions and memories, circling around numerous clichés without finite end in sight. However, as we began to tire the discussion loosened and extraditing our box of clichés we started to name the first thing we did when we got 'home'. As a group of five women we soon received the comment "I take my bra off as soon as I get home", to which I felt the need to insert the anecdote of my mother's repetitive warnings against going out without a bra because, well, "They'll drop you know!". And so '"They'll drop you know" - Mother' was born. Having an exciting new space and a motivational team we decided to get started straight away with two weeks of open studios in the exhibition space. From 11am to 7pm daily we offered tea, coffee and conversations with the public and each other. This was strategically and personally our best decision of the project. By the end of the first week the space was transformed with an entirely new feel. Articles accumulated on the walls, magazines piled the toilet floor and flowers, drinks and artwork littered the surfaces. Somehow the vibe combined both a calming effect with a productive motivation and daily discussions and 'Thoughts of the Day' inspired philosophical and critical thinking on a variety of subjects keeping each day a new learning experience. By the second week we were ahead of schedule - work was being installed and the public was beginning to take more notice of the curious happenings in this usually dark space.
During this project I not only gained experience of running a professional, self-initiated exhibition but tested my teamwork and organisation, connected to my fellow artists in a new way, found a passion for event organisation and reinstated my faith in the power of the creative community. These few weeks were the best experience of my studies so far and really opened my eyes to the possibilities of my future career: It was certainly a sad moment to pack up and say goodbye to Poelestraat 28. To see my artistic contributions to this exhibition and how this project has excelled my practice please visit the Exhibition Outcome posts:
5/6/2016 0 Comments Project Outcome: PostersInspiration
I also found a huge amount of inspiration in the Open Studio environment, from including the dead bird from Suhela's 'Alter of Inbetween' to being inspired by discussion with my fellow artists to display all of the photoshop experiments as a series and collaborating with Suhela again to curate a flower arrangement from her working style above my own single poster. The ProcessThe OutcomeWhat Next?I feel this project is just beginning and the works still have a long way to go to reach their potential. However, I have discovered that this format of working on two contrasting projects at once supports my motivation and enthusiasm for my work and opens my practice to a wider audience.
Moving on from here I would like to experiment with size and display formats as well as what kinds of comments I want to portray. What would you like to see commented in this visual format? The Idea
However, to me he is a friend, a confidant, a cuddle and an inspiration. With his own creative skill and typographical interest he regularly looks at my work and is a great support to my progress. Whilst discussing my 'Diagram as Art' exploration he explained that they remind him of a mind process; specifically the way he writes things down when thoughts get stuck in his mind or he needs to work something out. He elaborated that with his schizophrenia this process often becomes a huge collection as if his mind were flowing out across the wall. This immediately sparked my interest and we began to debate the possibility of really visualising a persons mind. How close could you get to a complete picture? How much do we understand of our own minds? And could this make a person more understandable to a 'reader'? Soon I asked if he would let me base this process on his own mind as a test of these ideas and as an attempt to spread awareness of the honest and direct effect of schizophrenia, without the dramatisation, rumour or stereotype usually attached to such terms. Thankfully he eagerly agreed and became devoted to the project and to the improvement of the term 'schizophrenic' in our society. The Process As with all good social art it began with communication. In fact make that hours and hours of communication. Over a two week period we met repeatedly and discussed the ins and outs of his thought processes. He explained what it's like living with the diagnosis, how the psychosis effected him and how his thoughts could be separated into personalities. We went through explanations and examples, mind maps and diagrams, good parts and bad parts. For him the analysis was tiring and I did my best to support rather than intrude. At times it would get too difficult and we'd take a break - we would doodle or watch shows or lay on the floor and discuss our weeks. Sometimes I would notice a hesitation to share a darker side of himself and I'd make myself busy whilst he wrote in silence. Eventually this delicate process resulted in a board full of pages and pages of notes that I could then shuffle into some sort of coherent layout. The main 'thought processes' took on a pie chart composition in the centre encased by a 'Sanity boarder' that restricted the flow of schizophrenic thoughts into his main consciousness. Connected to this were his schizophrenic 'safety nets' that encourage darker actions in order to protect himself and often become confused with or even take over his main thought processes. Then of course the better known side effect of voices - or 'wobbles' as he finds a better descriptor - surround the mind. I endeavoured to include all of our notes and so this outer layer also included some his own explanations: his description of schizophrenia, why hearing is effected, what sanity is to him and so on. The piece is drawn entirely by hand, first in pencil, then in fine liner on a large sheet of white paper. The work directly copies our notes, which considering his dyslexia and multiple languages makes for an interesting read. The aim of this was to create a human interpretation. The piece itself is an oxymoron - a minimised, formal schematic of one of the most complex and unclear concepts of our understanding: The mind. By disregarding a ruler, computer and even correct spelling this work proves itself to be an entirely humane construction with all of the beautiful struggles, contradictions and incorrectness of life itself. The OutcomeThe ReactionI am really pleased to say the understanding and appreciation for this piece was way beyond my expectations. People not only respected it's position as art despite its minimalist design but took time to read, consider and discuss the information it provides. Strangers began in depth discussions on societies interpretation of sanity, their own understand of schizophrenia and other diagnoses they have experienced first or second hand. Visitors described it as "interesting", "beautiful" and "informative" with people often revisiting it multiple times to discover more. In this way the project not only achieved its goals but improved my faith in the communities eagerness to understand and appreciate both these socially fuelled works and each other. What Next?Thanks to the hugely positive reaction received both by the public, the school and the owner of that 'unique mind' I can happily say this is not the end for this project. My initial aim is to continue our discussions and build some smaller mind maps to give the reader a more direct experience of how these processes effect every day life. From here I can also consider the usefulness of such a personal analytical process on other people and perhaps continue similar processes with multiple 'minds'.
So if you feel intrigued and inspired keep an eye on the development of this work here in the near future. And of course if this sparks a specific importance with you please share your feedback in the comments or directly to me via email. |