“I can’t clean my room because I get distracted by all the trinkets and doodads I find.”
One Kilometer Masking Tape Road
When I started thinking about how I wanted to fufill this project, my immediate thought was travel as travelling a km seemed the most obvious. However I wanted to think outside the box when it came to travelling. (I also didnt want to go outside as it’s cold and gloomy). I came up with a concept that would allow me to travel with my hands. I decided that I would follow a winding road of masking tape with my fingers and present the km I “walked” in a balled up piece.
I first had to do some math to ensure I was following an exact km. I had found a listing on Amazon for a six pack of Scotch masking tape. Its length was 60.1 yards (54.955 meters). By rounding up to ~55m I concluded I would need 18 rolls to equal 990m. I purchased an additional single roll that I would measure out 10m from by using a meter stick. This would equal a km.
I was stricken with a moderate case of contact dermatitis on my hands as I was completing the project. It replicated the pain I would get in my toes due to poor circulation. Nonetheless pushed on
Did I acheive what I wanted to in this project? Yes. I was able to present a kilometer having actually travelled it. The pain in my hands reminded me of the sharp stinging in my toes, the harsh smell of adhesive reminded me of the gross salty snow and gasoline I’d smell outside. I listened to the same music I would if I were walking outside. While making this km tape ball, I started fast, slowed down overtime, and at the homestretch, sped up just to get the journey over with.. Just like I would have if I was walking.
Analysis #1 Turning the Gestures of Everyday Life into Art, Katja Heitmann
- One of the key challenges mentioned in the article is the difficulty in capturing the fluid, transient nature of movement. The article discusses how traditional archiving methods, such as video recordings or written notations, fall short of preserving the essence of movement. These methods can only capture a version of the performance, potentially missing nuances like emotion, intention, or the immediate reaction of the performer to the environment or audience. The article also noted that, “It’s tempting for the volunteers to sit up straighter than usual or perform an ideal version of one’s self.” The camera and documentation of this work may cause these dancers to act rather than to be themselves. A gift that comes with this form of artwork is how open individuals can be when showing their little gestures and tics to others. Additionally, the article touches on the artistic potential of archiving personal movements. Some artists see the archive as a canvas in itself, offering opportunities for reinterpretation and recontextualization of movements across time.
- One example of movement was a short GIF of what looks to be a preschooler walking on his toes. Toe walking is a trait that is commonly associated with the autism spectrum. This strikes me as interesting as a lot of gestures in humans, whether they realize it or not, come from a state of being neurodivergent. It’s also interesting how some behaviours are detriental to ones physical health whereas others are not. For example, toe walking, thumb sucking, and nail biting cause health issues impacting bone structure in the jaw and legs, but behavoiurs like repeated leg shaking, harsh blinking, and throat clearing have no detrimets to ones physical health.
- My mom has restless legs when she’s tired, she moves them in this harsh circular motion uncontrollably. She also tends to get annoying and childish when tired, using a baby voice and exaggerated pouts to express her tiredness. This combination of restlessness and child-like behaviour encapsulates the age regression most people go through as they begin to get tired. Most individuals attempt to hide this, but my mom does not. This can imply safety in her environment or a care free attitude. My dad bounces his leg uncontrollably when sitting down, it is the only part of him that is moving, the rest is still not including regular human shifts. His heavy body weight makes the whole floor shake. There is no particular time or mood he does this, it happens randomly while he’s performing another task in his seat (looking at TikTok). This movement displays hyperactivity, as well as a way to ground himself. When I am home, my dog walker always greets my dog with a super high pitched “HEELLLOOO” followed by rambles about how she knows my dog missed her. This is accompanied by trying to pet my dog as he spins around aimlessly. The combination of her high pitched voice, aimlessly bedding down to attempt some cuddles with my dog, and the blurred facial expressions as she is moving around creates this awkwardly overstimulating scene to create. She’ll then greet me afterwards with a normal/slightly high pitched voice and will ask me how i’m doing. I imagine that she has differing routines with other clients and their pets. To me this implies the need for routine, both in my dog and my dog walker.
AGO + The Power Plant Field Trip
I was able to participate in the class field trip to the AGO and the Power Plant Art Gallery.
Starting at the AGO, I really enjoyed “The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century” exhibition. I was extremely mesmerized by “Cloud Break” (2022) a sculpture by Devan Shimoyama. This sculpture is made out of Timberland boots, Adidas shoes, rhinestones, silk flowers, epoxy resin and chain. While researching this piece on my own time, I was able to get an understanding for why Shimoyama creates pieces like these (theres more than just one), and I found something interesting about the artwork (Cloud Break) seen at the AGO.
Shimoyama touches on themes of racialized communities being displaced in the USA, as well as how DIY crafting in daily life can be used in memorial creation. This circles back to how communities can come together to celebrate life and mourn losses.
This is the picture I took at the AGO (left) next to a picture from an exhibition by Devan Shimoyama: A Counterfeit Gift Wrapped in Fire, 2022. At the Kavi Gupta Gallery in Chicago (right). Both pieces of art are called “Cloud Break” (2022), despite being in different forms. I believe that Shimoyama can use these shoe sculptures almost as deconstructable ready-mades, changing the composition of the sculpture to fit different narratives. I find this to be incredibly effecient both in time and cost when creating artwork.
I found myself circling back to this piece throughout my time at the AGO. The colours and composition really caught my eye.
Next up was the Power Plant. I spent a lot of time in the “How many colours has the sea” exhibition by Charles Campbell. This exhibition focused on the treacherous journey of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic by combining a sculpture, ocean sounds, and “Breath Portraits” that visualize the breath of members of the Black community.
[PICS]
(I know its elsewhere on the blog but I can’t get over this picture Diane took of me! I love it so much!)
One Feat. Three Ways
When exploring a feat we wanted to convey, the concept of toy guns was brought up. Thinking about a challenge that could be associated with this concept we realized how strong the toy guns were and found it hard to keep a straight face while being shot.
Looking at the bigger picture, we wanted to explore the concept of gun violence in today’s media. Most individuals in the younger generations are extremely desensitized to guns and gun violence. This has to do with mass manufacturing of Nerf guns, as well as children being given the ability to play video games that are rated “mature” or “adult only”.
These displays of violence go on to give children the understanding that it is okay to reenact or act upon what they see in video games. By using these brightly colored guns while maintaining a deadpan face as we explore various methods of shooting each other, ourselves, and a figure off camera we begin to show in a very crude manner how video games and toys have an impact on today’s gun violence.
Our one shot explored the consequences of shooting an individual while still maintaining that deadpan face to show that the concept of shooting others and being shot is a reality that most people have come to accept and embrace.
Our sequence explored different ways to use a gun. Adding a second dimension of what it means to blankly shoot oneself, this briefly touches on the normalization of suicidal ideation in today’s society.
Our loop is a video of us consistently shooting each other, in this rhythmic back and forth motion. To me this displays that unless a breakthrough happens in society, gun violence is going to be a persistent aspect of what it means to live on this earth in this time period.
Analysis #2 My Crops Are Dying But My Body Persists, Bridget Moser
To me, this video displays how ludacris some consumerism items are in today’s society. These items are made for individuals to feel better about themselves, to conform to a stereotype, to replicate what they see on social media.
This video explores items such as fake nails, white teeth loose on surfaces, spaghetti being used as hair, among plenty other items. These items and these concepts play into a beauty standard that women feel like they need to uphold in their own personal lives. We can see that with the nails and teeth loose on the table as well as an arbitrary concept of what hair could be that there is a disconnect between wanting to upkeep a beautiful aesthetic and feeling awful and exhausted about trying to be someone you’re not.
Furthermore, the space that this video is being filmed in displays a very “picture perfect” house that has the essence of a Barbie dream house. The white and gold aesthetic paired with pink furniture and walls creates a facade of an individual’s life. We can see the main character in this piece lying in her pink silk pajamas on her pink couch, but she looks so fed up with her own life. This plays into how consumers ultimately at the end of the day create conflict within oneself as they try to navigate the aesthetic that they want to upkeep in their own lives.
Chewing off Ten Press-On Nails in 1 Minute & 15 Seconds
Imagine you had to sit across from me.. Where the only sounds present in the room are white noise, sounds of fidgets, breathing, and me urgently and breathlessly chewing off all ten press-on nails I had just painted and applied.
I wanted to portray a habit through sound when I thought about what I wanted to record for this project. I have extreme impulse issues with biting/chewing my nails, unfortunately it’s a habit I’ve attempted to kick but cannot.. To me this sound immortalizes the (hopefully) last time I will chew off my press-ons.
When I choose to chew off my press-ons, I don’t ever realize how disgusting the sound is.. Getting the chance to record this sound, hear it, and play it back multiple times has given me a new found understanding of how my sound impacts others if it doesn’t impact myself. I’ve been told by my mom that the sound is gross, annoying and that I’m damaging my nails, which are true comments, but her criticalities’ of my habit were not appreciated, especially in her tone.
With this project I whole heartedly accept critiques of both my habit in itself and the portryal of the audio.
