Jon Spruce / space / my work

I was advised to talk to Jon Spruce, (course leader of Spatial Design at LJMU), due to my interest in Interior Design and the online course that i am doing in it. When i started talking to Jon Spruce i could not believe the overlap between spatial design and fine art! Spatial design is not just interior and an environment but also people's experiences and feelings in the space. The course that i am studying at the moment in interior design is very structured, and has rules to follow in arranging, planning and furnishing a living space. It is very interesting to me as it is completely different from fine art which is very free and subjective. Spatial design is something in the middle - it works with the space and environment but in a more free way than interior design. What has opened my eyes was one question that Jon Spruce asked me in our meeting - “What particularly do you like about interior design?” in which i answered that it was the experiences people have in the space, you can create different atmospheres and moods, play with the architecture, the lighting etc…  

I think that is when i realized again that what i am interested in, deep down is people's experiences through what i do or change in a space. I looked back at the works that i have created for the past couple of years. From a floor piece that i have made in foundation course which was really interactive in the sense people walked on it, to solo show in Set the Controls where i created work the size of the wall, using uv lights which meant people had a unique experience of art in the dark. The lighting determined whether the work was seen or not. Both were also site specific and worked with the space itself. The floor piece engaged with splashes on the floor and the uv wall art engaged with imperfections and traces of previous artists artwork.

As i think about my current piece of work such as the spiral on the window, spill work on pavements, or the “mapping” piece where i work with symmetry in a space, it all engages with people's experiences of the artwork. It's not something i can take a picture of and call it art, but it's art for me when people engage with it. Some kind of interaction is very important to me.

The odd one out piece in this bunch of works in progress, is a piece of performance artwork where i unpick a cardigan with my hands. This piece of work is more about the traces of people through their clothes. The memories that are imprinted in them and the experiences that the clothes and their owners went through together. This is interesting for me as this is now a “performance piece” however i would prefer to call it an experience and the sharing of it, compared to an interactive piece where my audience is engaged. Or where i actually engage with the space. However it is still important if i was to do this performance, to really pick my spot in the showing space which is pleasing and somehow responds to the space also, visually of where it is placed.

Another strand that this project went is where i make work in charity shops. Engaging with the clothes such as coats and jackets by putting one on, getting a feel of its character and whilst wearing it quickly writing a note addressing the next owner of it. Slipping the note in the pocket and placing the jacket or coat back where i found it. This has nothing to do with the space structurally wise however it is very particular in what happens in the space and the objects there. It is very interesting for me. It is like a performance, however not an obvious one - it is an experience both for me and the people who find the note.

~Ev

Ann Hamilton

'indigo blue' 1991, 2007

"How is it that materials carry an embodied knowledge?"

For this piece of work Hamilton became interested in the early economic histories, the fact that indigo was the first cash crop that was cultivated. She began researching the history of the colour indigo and its use. How the meaning of the colour changed through time. From highly unique wallpaper to work clothing. She became interested in using work clothing that came from actual labouring class. How is it that materials can evoke presence of something that is not stated. 

What is very interesting for me is that Hamilton decided to stack the workers clothes on top of each other, that takes time and patience and links really well with the clothes and where they come from. It was important for her the way the clothes being touched and handled. It was part of the meaning of the project. The embodied quality of material as the blue cotton and the form of the shirts and the pants themselves, and their reference to the labouring class. Hamilton had a layer of pants and a layer of shirts places on top of each other honouring an individual history within a collective. 

I feel as though this piece has some overlapping with my performance piece, where i unpicked a cardigan, focusing on the process. The process for Hamilton was getting the workers clothes as well as the repetitive process of folding and stacking the shirts and pants on top of each other. In a way she identifies with the workers through the process and labour of folding and stacking, the same way i identify with the cardigan through unpicking and how the structure of it reflects how i feel inside - all tangled up. So by unpicking the cardigan its like im unpicking myself. untangling myself.

I love how it was important for Hamilton how the clothes were handled, she didn't just pile them as they were brought to her, but thought really carefully how to interact with them. Folding them in the same way each time to have consistency and repetition. i handle my carding in a particular way as well. I decided to unpick it myself, with my own hands, really interacting with the threads, the structure of it and the smell of perfume that still lingers. 

I see one difference though between this work and the performance i made. Hamilton is successful in interacting with the audience through her art, however i feel that my performance is more about my own experience and it might be hard for people to relate and understand it. 

Time lapse: link

~ Ev

Documenting performance

I saw my work really pushing me to tryout and do a mini performance, just to see how i would feel about it, even if it was in a wrong kind of setting. Just by placing myself in that situation where i am vulnerable to the audience, to the public doing my own thing is quite refreshing. New experience. I usually don't like to be visible, but this time my art has driven me to try something like this out. On the picture below you don't see any people around, however its just an unlucky shot. There were quite a lot of people around as right behind me there is an entrance to the university. I sat right in the middle of the space, facing away from the entrance as i felt more relaxed that way. I was nervous i am not going to lie. According to my friends i was there for ten minutes which for me felt like twenty. As i was interested in the mind state that i have previously reached through the repetition of doing something over and over again, i really wanted to test this out in an environment in which i was a bit uncomfortable. I wanted to see if after a while i could be calm again and reach that peaceful mind state. I focused on the cardigan and the threads that were in my hands and therefore really tuned out of what was happening around me. I didn't see peoples faces or reactions and after a while i didn't care. It was only me and the act of unpicking. Everything else didn't exist. 

A couple of days later as a group we caught up with each other and the work we might consider showing. As we were discussing the show we all decided that it is going to be in the dark, as there are a number of projections and work that needs absence of light. For me it meant i needed to adjust my performance to fit this new decision. I decided to use a fine art spare room just to film my performance in the dark. I had a spotlight focusing on my hands and at the same time blocking me out which was nice. The hands and the movement what was important and the spotlight really helped me with that. I filmed myself from different angles using a tripod, however it would be nice to have one video of someone else holding the camera and recording free hand, walking around me like an audience would. I think i want that just because i want to see how will the audience will see me. 

Documentation video 1 -  link

Documentation video 2 - link

My next steps:

1) Ask somebody to help me with a free motion recording of the performance.

2) Film myself unpicking the cardigan while wearing it.

3) The sense of smell is closely linked with memory, can i include in my performance? As i find the smell of the cardigan quite comforting. Can i play with that somehow?

~ Ev

Marina Abramovic + my own "performance"

Video that really gave me an insight into what Marina Abramovic is about - Marina Abramović on art, performance, time and nothingness

I have heard about Marina before but i didn't really explore her work in detail. I came across her as i was looking at some performance artists because i could see my work slowly moving into a performance. I wanted to explore performance artists and see what they are about and how they see performance as an art form and why they have chosen it. I fell in love with Marina's performances. They are well thought through and yet really simple and powerful. She is part of the performance and shares experiences with the audience. Marina uses her own body as the subject, object, and medium of her work. In one of the performances called "The Artist is Present" visitors were encouraged to sit silently across from the artist for a duration of their choosing, becoming participants in the artwork. So simple and yet so intense. She has spent 8 hours each day of the show sitting still and looking into the eyes of strangers. This is kind of an endurance. Visually you wouldn't notice that if you were an audience as you wouldn't spend so long in the gallery. Her work is challenging physically. I am sure its not easy to stay expressionless whilst looking into peoples eyes all day. She is all about mindfulness and the present moment. Her work is very strong in my opinion and has links to mine. 

Artist is Present, 2010

Through my processes that i choose i try and reach mindfulness, a sense of peace through repetition. At the moment the unpicking of the cardigan is the closest i have to that state. I tried making a video out of it however it does not completely express how i would like to come across. This is why i am looking into performance and the way i can use it to display and show my work. The process of unpicking the cardigan involves me doing it and looking at a video zoomed in on my hands takes me away from it. I am part of the work and this is why i believe performance is the way to go. However, i don't know how i feel about the word "performance", it sounds a bit forced and theatrical to me. I see it more as an experience. A state of mind. Being present in the moment. If my art requires me to be part of it then i will be. But i still don't know how i feel about it because it means that i will be visible to the public. 

I absolutely love the way Marina uses herself in her performances. She is the creator of them and yet is just part of it. The performance itself is big and includes the whole of the audience so she as an artist is just a piece of the big performance. What she does is works with people and the present moment. However if i would perform the unpicking of the cardigan, it would be just my own experience that would be visible. A lot to think about and see what is right for my own work.

~Ev

Projecting

For the Riverside laundry intervention crit we had to experiment in the way we present our work we made so far, or considering to show in the end. I decided to show the mirrored video i have made of me unpicking the cardigan. I think it was the most decent work that i could show and that i saw was getting somewhere. 

I used a projector to project my video on to a white wall. I think it was really beneficial to have this crit and to see your work in a different setting in a more complete way than looking at it on the small screen of your laptop. It felt really good for me to see my video enlarged as this creates juxtaposition with the meticulous unpicking that i did. I think this projection worked as it was methodical and relaxing to watch, which is a good representation of how i feel during my processes. The first time i saw the projection it was mesmerizing to watch. I chose projecting my piece for a reason. I could have chosen a screen to show my work, however there is something appealing about projecting a video that is more transparent and temporary compared to a physical TV screen which is more solid. With projecting at the same time its present and not present.

While discussing and criticizing my work i had several suggestions in terms of how i can improve it. Somebody suggested to use old peoples hands in the video instead of my own. However i feel as though the whole point of unpicking was that i do it myself, like i am interacting with the memories through the threads i unpick. It is very important to me that it goes through me. Letting somebody else to do that will make it less personal to me and i am really into the process and doing it all myself.

~Ev

Filming The Process

I got a cardigan from a charity shop that I really liked, made out of wool, very warm, full of character. Looking at its details I started to unpick it because it looked so complicated. It was interesting to do it and after a while the process became addictive. By unpicking it I started to think about its previous owner, that it was a well looked after cardigan, that the energy and the smell of the previous owner was still present with it. I could still smell traces of sweet female perfume on it. So after some time I thought about the threads that I started to unpick as being memories and traces of the previous owner.

The cardigan is so collected and well made that when you look closer it is very complicated with all the threads tangled up in a certain way. I imagined myself being the cardigan, being all collected on the outside but very tangled up on the inside. Recently I have been feeling that way. So by unpicking the cardigan it wasn't only interacting with the previous owners energy but also a very therapeutic process for me as it helped me to untangle my thoughts through the process of untangling the cardigan. 

This reflection happened when I decided to film myself unpicking the cardigan up close, zooming in only on my hands doing the unpicking. I did this at the top of university building big spacious balcony, where I was by myself. It was just me, sitting on the chair, cardigan, camera on a tripod in front and the sound of the city and the church bells. It was something special, it helped me to relax by being there alone and doing what I love to do - engage in a repetitive process (and somebodies memories).

 

This is the cardigan

 

The threads that I unpicked

 

Some images of my video and if you want to see the video in full clink here
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I felt very peaceful which was a really nice encouragement for me to carry on exploring this unpicking process. The film was a good way to document the process which otherwise people wouldn't have seen. This is the first film I created which I felt like was going somewhere. What the film did really well is focus on what I wanted to focus on - the hands at work, the process, leaving everything around me out, placing importance on the things that I consider important. The memories.

 

 

I decided to play with the video that I have done on Adobe Premiere. Usually I am not into using different software however I wanted to experiment with it this time. Whilst playing around with it I tried mirroring the video horizontally just to see what will happen. I fell in love with it. Although usually its typical to mirror everything, it looked like it worked and belonged. I turned out a bit hypnotizing and strange. To see it click here

 

 

~Ev

 

 



Laundry Project,/ update

For the laundry project I started to experiment with stains on clothes, going round the boundary of the stain with stitches and in a sense capturing the stain before washing it off. Working with a trace of a person was very interesting, engaging with something that happened momentarily. I began to be too focused on a stain and perhaps started to be closed minded about other opportunities and allowing my work to evolve. These are some of the images of work I did where I engaged with stains on clothes.

 

 

Pair of jeans with dirt stains, perhaps
by walking in the mud in the park

A woman's shirt with green stains,
possibly a green marker? 

 

Perhaps I should have not cut out the rest of the clothes out around the circle but left the whole piece of clothing intact for people to understand what it is. With the embroidery hoop around the spot which I worked with it looks crafty and the hoop acts as a boundary which I don't like.

 

Later I found a tea stained tablecloth which I also started to stitch but in a different way, experimenting with colour and stitches. Something about stitching became very appealing I think this is because it is very time consuming and completely different with the sudden stains that I engage with. By spending time on the stains they become meaningful in a way.

 

 

For some reason I could not get away from stitching stains, I felt addicted every time I saw a new stain on fabric. I even found an old dustsheet with paint stains on that I started to work on also.

 

 

 

 

 Again everything that I tried was with the stains and slowly I began to realize that I need to keep an open mind and try and do something else. For example I forgot that I was interested in stories, whether it be the stains or the sentimental things that are very important to the owner. 

 

 

Consider:

-capturing moments in a different way

-Recording stories

-taking clothes apart

stitching into water soluble fabric?

 

~Ev