Writing & Concepts , The exploration of writing as both a process and an outcome // Khalisha Mthasnan
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Contents ,
Lecture Series 1. Helen Johnson
1
2. Pia Ednie-Brown
2
3. Tom Nicholson
3
4. Callum Morton
4
5. Agatha Gothe-Snape & Brian Fuata
5
6. Justin Clemens
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7. Nella Themelios & Ricarda Bigolin
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8. Nikos Papastergiadis
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1. Helen Johnson
21.07.2016
The process during writing was the core inference of her thoughts came pouring out. A singular connection between the words on paper and the colors on her canvas, and seeing that progresses over time completes the whole process. The writings, fills up the void in between the paintings of hers. It is seen that her paintings are very moment-capturing, while what she writes about them is a bit more self-theoretical, of memories, and hints of the mind that only she knows. Somehow, she emphasizes that you just have to start to write, regardless of the thoughts of wanting it to be perfect, or what proper entry should the writer give. You just have to start. As those ‘brain farts’ will start to develop in ways you wouldn’t imagine how it would end or being concluded. It is far more sincere and truthful, and the problems that you find while processing are the ones that will produce your final work. Because eventually, you will edit it and chop things out, add some salt and sugar where needed, rearrange and far in the end, you will find the clarity of the work with probably the best punch phrases. It is not mistaken that a write-up without having to deal with authority or a severe deadline and grades are far more honest, especially to yourself. You exclude the fear of rejection, the cringe to get good marks based on what you write. Within the academic realm, Helen finds herself to be restrictive, in her placement and upbringing of thoughts and expressions. Although, when she writes only for herself, the words became more truthful and welcoming rather than instructional or demands the readers to commit their life to it. Pressure plays quite a big role in this situation. Did Helen feel pressured when she was doing her thesis that she can’t really feel what she writes or was it something else going on? Pressure, though does trick people to work better in some ways, absorbing the tense into a creative cloud that let individuals to let out a massive rain of ideas. But of course, these theories are valid accordingly to each individual, we are after all different beings. Our five fingers will never be the same, no matter how you place it. Interestingly, she talked about how reading is a continuity. Audiobooks helps her to focus while she paints, but while she doesn’t write. I wonder, is it the listening that keeps her mind on track or the story that is being told? What if the audiobooks are replaced with good music, would she have the same feelings while she paints? It is an amusing hypothesis, whether we humans should maximize the potential of our senses to achieve greatness in the things we do. Say, painting in this circumstance, is an exploration of thoughts being translated visually. Which have traversed perhaps a memory of a sight, a smell or taste (thoughts) and with an application of the touch creates a heart-warming artwork. The hearing then comes in between, helping to make the process more natural and soothing with no tension interrupting the moment. Or basically, it just flows into the present and occupy the cavities that needed to be occupied. And then the moment becomes one, where time is already irrelative to the work that is being produced. The painters or writers would just keep on going within their own complexity. -K
2. Pia Ednie-Brown
28.07.2016
What an unusual name, I thought. The one that you would remember now and then, trapped somewhere in the untouched corner of your memory. Pia Ednie Brown. I am truly sorry for her loss, her mother.. It is as if I can sense the pain in her voice – A pain that no longer has a wound, only the crumbling thoughts of feeling hurt. Although, I think that pain sometimes demands to be felt and Brown embraces this conceptual intimacy into her writings. Where, the concept of intimacy is to immerse all of yourself into the subject of your thoughts. You do not just think of it, but you live it, you breathe it, you need to have a relationship with it. It is only so different to be writing about something that you have no special connection with. She expresses exceedingly about the space that has surrounded her then and the space surrounding her now. The places she touched with her presence, or precisely in another correct term, the places that have touched her. Her writings have been truly descriptive. She talks about the reality of the spaces as if they are alive. It can be a corner of a room, a crack upstairs in the attic, the messy little plot of her gardening stretch, or on the very edge of her balcony. She contextualizes them in profound respect that you would feel the qualities taking place inside of your own memories about your own places. The title of her thesis triggered a thought in me. “Getting habits out of perspective”. Of course I haven’t taken a thorough look of that particular work of hers but the title itself demands for a meaning, a statement that intrigues with how the mind works. So, when I think about habits, I think of involuntary actions. Things we do out of conscious. Well, technically, we are aware of it, we just don’t interpret the information much often. We would just go with it. We let our minds to be in control of our physicality and we slide through the autopilot mode. But what if, you take a few seconds and snap out of this habit, you will find yourself to be within the in between. And this in between is the tension created out of involuntariness and willpower. This might get confusing, but I am relating this closely to Brown’s concept of writing when she said, which i quote, “ The real intention sits in the in between”. Perhaps, if we try to interpret this in-between intention, we can develop a unique abstraction into our works. Tapping into your norm, might trigger some intact axons of spectacular-ness of ideas. Brown emphasizes that we should constantly go through things, to get something coming out to the surface. Which interestingly brings us to Avery Green. A non-verbal process of writing, of how Brown writes for the house. Not for her, not for anybody else, but for Avery Green. She claims that she goes beyond words and tries to think in qualities. Somehow I am trapped to single out the two matters when writing, because I believe that qualities are of existence while words are of definition. And these two would be inseparable. They correlate each other to elevate our senses, to think, to imagine, and to translate. After all, having a synesthetic experience is real in us, so we should contain that as a gift. -K
3. Tom Nicholson
04.08.2016
Tom Nicholson, a writer, an artist. A writer-artist, who involves himself around the story of origins. Of how, one and another co-exist unconsciously, without intention - forming history and his-stories. He started off his lecture with works of others, slowly directing us to his works that seemed to flow in between narratives, connecting stories through his arts-writings. Inspired, he talked about the paintings of Albert Namatjira, through the writings of Rex Battarbee, both being notable Australian landscape painters. Nicholson regarded that, the paintings of Namatjira appeared to be more than just colors on a piece of paper. They embody a form that becomes another form, translating a reading of information that lay somewhere in between. It was not very sure of what he meant by information that lies within these different forms, but looking at Namatjira’s works, he does have his own way of transforming his captured landscape, beautifully water-colored, into a different sense of reality. His works, seemingly filled with colours that do not define day or night do appear softly elegant on its own. These paintings, although having its own narrative tangling within the vividly illuminated pastel colours used, they do give the impression of being equivocal. Thusly, why writings, according to Nicholson, play quite an indicative role to represent these paintings – or perhaps any painting, any artwork. Which, then, he pointed out how writing has a spectral relation to form. Again, swivelling around the story of origins, and history, Nicholson idealised of one of his projects facilitating the concept, which he wrote a commemoration of the contradicting story of the first chimney and the making of Melbourne city. The ‘Unfinished Monument to Batman’s Treaty’ confronts with the complex implications of the treaty against its consequences through a domestic formlike (hearths and fireplaces in living rooms, chimneys), seeking for a more intimate relation between the conflicting stories of origin, and back to ourselves. This, subconsciously allow these writings to be inscribed in our psyche, that when we see maroon-orangey chimneys poking out quite contrastingly against the blue sky of Melbourne, somehow, we would evoke a memory, trying to remember, trying to visualize history. Similarly, in another of his project, ‘Cartoons for Joseph Selleny’, Nicholson implies the knowledge of words, or in this case, imaginary letters, to narrate the past into the present. He spoke, how letters, create an emotional knot to the words written inside, that these words express more than just a piece of writing, being read out in the body of the present, advancing the events of the past, while devouring the unpredictable happening of the future. But still, in letters, we indicate the possibility of a future – suggesting that the letters would continue. It seems that writings, bloom itself into many forms, undefined of its significance, but have implicate a strong existence into our psyche – let it be in the appearance of paintings, monuments, or even letters, and evidently so much more. -K
4. Callum Morton
11.08.2016
The clouds of formality in this metaliic room started to loosen up after an attempt of a classic dry joke about ‘nothing’ began to fill in the empty seats in between. It cracked up some of the audience, echoing the space with their humble laughter. This entertaining thought about nothingness and its variance associates closely to how it would also be traumatic to have nothing worthwhile at all to say – a moment Morton found himself when approached to give this lecture about writing and concepts. A few minutes after telling his joke, he ended it with the word ‘nothing’ – long pause, and “well, that’s it”. Laughter, again. Morton’s sense of humour is very straightforward, and short. Very similar to how he explored and produced his art works, he keeps everything bare and bona fide – atleast to its visual intention and form. FORM. He is probably obessed with form, and how form can devoid a contextual space. How form can be altered so much, but shockingly to how the differences are showing so little. He mentioned how he is an artist more of form than writing, although so, whenever there is the presence of words in his art works, it becomes significantly emphasized, to frame his audience within his intention – through his particular short text(s). Writing is tidoeus, and he – Morton is just naturally lazy. Lazy to write? Perhaps so, and whatever else that comes in between. But that writing process to him, even though he would loathe it sometimes, finds its way into another form that outlines his progress in life. Like diaries, he said, while documenting every detail of things happening and occuring, it starts to map out his development, his growth over a certain timeline. And that these words, although seemingly if to read back would be tremendously embarassing and excruciating (we’ve all been there), is somehow crucial enough to act as a recording device that is pretty much accessible to everybody – and that writing is considerably simple and readily there, if we actually put some time to do it, as so it seems. Standing behind the lecturn, funny enough and straightforward, as Morton can appear to be, his artworks, sometimes give out a vague impression of their real intentions. Through out the lecture, he talked more about the formed content of his artworks, rather than their intended actual meaning. But maybe that is the whole rational point that the intention of a specific artwork is to become secondary because in the end, the audience’s interpretations would always differ from one to another. His works, tries to communicate a hidden language between the perception and the interpretation that lies beyond. His works, while appearing very simple and evident, might evoke a false interpretation through that first, innocent perception, soon only to realize later that, they are only sculptural and a great form of altered mimicry. These artworks, while mimicking an original piece, a particular signage or a famous architecture breakthrough are frequently joined with words, simple words, to represent the content that sits in the real context. More to like a signification, to direct the eyes of the perceived audience into believing what is obvious – when really, this ‘obvious’ has changed its function and turned into the unpronounced. Expectations soon become a gathered confusion, and thoughts go wander, “what the hell is going on?”
While most artworks use writings to describe, or as a plaque that gives a glimpse definition about the artworks, Morton said his writings are texts that correspond rather than texts that interpret – a supporting element, that is there to assist and complete his works, not a created narrative to measure up with the bewildered questions. Back earlier in his practice, the relation of texts and his works were quite pronounced, as he continued to explain how he had implemented them in a type of fiction, to juxtapose the altered and the real. One of projects he explored on was a train chart that he had changed the signages of the train stops, rupturing the reality of destinations and signages to accomplish this fictional concept of his. Where, how would it feel to arrive at the correct place, seeing the same environment, but with a different name to it – any concious, alerted mind would be in turmoil of this situation, perhaps. Or atleast that is what he is trying to aim for. Fascinating enough, his fictional experiments continue as to what we see in present, seemingly still trying to evoke a sensational confusion within the mental state using altered form and of course, using text. -K
5. Agatha Gothe-Snape & Brain Fuata
18.08.2016
Abstract. It was a gestural lexicon. As she said, it was a ‘found’ language. It was an obsession to her, an experience that ranged from sublime to ridiculous. Beautiful. As though, watching the performance was never enough. He moves like a dancer, trying to lead his audience into a secret realm of his own. It’s like he is telling us a hidden message. A code, a piece of information, an intelligence, that can only be read in between the glitched lines. It was imperfect, but that was the whole point. When you miss a dot, you can leave it, go around it or touch it. To think of it, it was a performance of contextualization. Art can be a hole or a whole. Somehow, there is no logic to it, only senses being manipulated. This relates back to how all of our senses should be explored as much as possible to achieve greatness in what we do. Nothing comes and ends alone. You see, you touch, and you feel. You touch, you feel, you smell. You feel, you think, you see. There is no order. It is a seamless connection that all needed to be embraced as one. And that is the concept of this whole gestural lexicon. The whole process of this art, is actually very technical. It is a series of schemes and diagrams, which turned out to be quite a whimsical outcome. Rhetorical chorus was made to impress, to deconstruct the way we perceive a score. It gives homage to the absolute experience the audience will achieve, whichever and however they want to experience it. But as far as it goes it contains a rich poetic sense to it, a different kind, of course, the one that some might appreciate, while some might think it is too much. Almost everything was on the edge of an impulse, and as it goes, there are in between moments that require improvisations. These are the beautiful glitches, errors and feelings that make an imperfect moment, perfect. Which ties back, and fills up the relationship of language between the scores, the question of what sits in between? So, in this proposition, what is the hierarchy of this ‘found’ language? Is it the process of finding it, the documenting, the categorization, the extraction of information, or is it the outcome, the improvisation, the repetition of actions? Or maybe there is no hierarchy to it. But then, there was a sentence during the performance, where it goes “If there is no hierarchy, there is no logic”. Fascinating enough, brings us to the medium of her presentation. Old-fashioned, but impressive. It was a medium that is at hand, it was ubiquitous. Well, to be honest PowerPoint, actually, never fails any of us. But, as she mentioned, to achieve what she wanted, she had to use this medium at the very edge of its capabilities. And sometimes, it would glitch. Although, seemingly, that is how the whole thing of her art is compounding. Where faults are to be celebrated at a different scale, and while that gives others the edginess, wonderfully, the anxiety drives her forward. -K
7. Justin Clemens
08.09.2016
Language is not a tool – it is a practice. It is not planned, it cannot be forced, it is an act of spontaneity. It is individual, but spoke collectively. It is of singular definition, but understood in plural. It is a process, a continuation, never ending, it is a trend. Clemens mentioned, “In order for it to begin, it must already be started”. Language therefore comes in many, many sorts. Where, one can perhaps understand its words, but does not relate to its contents. Or make sense of its contents, without knowing its words. It’s like travelling to a foreign place, with words that aren’t your vocabularies but somehow you would fill in the gaps with expressions and gestures, and maybe written concepts – to make an awkward tongue, familiar with its context. Because, language does not – no, should not contain a rule of being. It is a creature, void of form. It starts when it wants, changes when it has to, and ends – when it no longer has any speakers. Yes, language too, like humans, undergoes death. And at some point, it could be forgotten. To think of it, it is hard to relate of how language can be individualistic. If language is self-reliant, would there even be an attempt of trying to communicate at all? Because, somehow, it seems like language appears when there are differences, differences that we try to bridge – a form of conveying thoughts in its purest appearance. But language too, has its own explorations of appearances, throughout the many, many centuries. Of which, pinpoints us to the emergence of writing, a crucially fundamental part of a language. Writing is perhaps an invented method to make precision of the verbal words. When we translate our thoughts into a verbal state, a language appears simple, because the main intention is to have a mutual interaction. But when we write, it becomes more technical, and complex. Somehow, writing gives us a second feeling to a language, or maybe, a secondary feeling to our thoughts. This invented method, is primarily used to document, to capture, to differentiate what is already there within our psyche. It is, undoubtedly – a technology. If the essence of technology is in the creation of tools, then is writing a lexical tool? A tool that supplements the fallible and restricted nature of our memory and body, where it transcends time and distances. And true enough, writing has the capacity to do that. It is like reading book that is a thousand years old, but our being is in the present. Oh how beautiful is that? As if, writing allows us to time travel within our mental state even though actually we’re just probably sitting at a corner of a café with good coffee. Although, there are ideas suggesting that written words have become too powerful that maybe it starts to restructure our formation of thoughts. Where, thoughts are considered as the primary element of information, so when we write, do we write exactly as what we think? Or has it really become secondary? -K
9. Nella Themelios & Ricarda Bigolin
29.09.2016
What makes a fashion label? Dolci and Kabana. Yes, K-A-B-A-N-A. The delusional name of what seem to be mimicking a very famous brand – supposedly, I am pretty sure everybody knows which one I am talking about. So, what’s the real deal with Dolci and Kabana? There is something very ambiguous going on within this experimental fashion both Themelios and Bigolin are trying to achieve. A genius ambiguity I must say, I feel like they are searching for a meaning in a fashion label that seemed to be slowly disappearing once a label goes into market. When, once a label hits the commercial hotshot level. When, once the label goes way main stream. It’s like music, when it’s indie, it felt great, in fact, special, I suppose, close to the soul, but when things get ‘trendy’, identity starts to get blurred within the whole commercialization and over-capitalisation of the universe to feed the consumers – to sell. Uh-oh. Dolci and Kabana : A fashion brand in search of an identity. Poetry was part of their fashion process, and the use of words became emphasized in certain areas of their works. For fashion, I find it rare and unique to use poetry in finding the identity of a fashion label, well, perhaps not entirely their main intention, but using words to design a clothing line is not something very usual. And so, I thought of how poetic texts could possibly inspire the works of fashion? It’s like a reversed process, where normally, we experience an event to write, and writing is usually a lexical device that assists the mind to strengthen thoughts and memories. While for Dolci and Kabana, somehow, in some parts of their works, writing comes first, and from there, from that mechanism of writing, triggered another sense, another concept, and another formation that translates it into fashion. Warning : Below would be an attempt of trying to sheepishly imitate the use of poetic writing to evoke some ideas or so. Here it goes. -----------She was fascinated with words. With emotions. With reality. What makes a fashion label? She was wearing a maroon suede leather jacket. No, she was rocking a long black cardigan that just fell luxuriously onto her body. She seemed soft, but strong. A little bit messy, yeah messy, but elegant. Goddess-like, maybe? But human. She’s not perfect at all, she just seemed naturally quirky. She, she, her, that girl, that woman, yes, her. With that nude coloured fitting top, nothing could go wrong and she was beautiful. Text without content, content within text. She started to speak of fashion, of a fashion language that submerged itself in between labels and poetry and undefined imagination. The screen zoomed in and out, moving from one place, space to another. It was exciting, like an unplanned road trip adventure. It seemed natural when those videos appeared without sound, when everybody just started to play those different voices and intonations in their own heads. Pretty sure, everybody thought, that was the intention. But, nah. It was just a technical error. With sound, it might make a big difference. Well, that’s what she said. Maybe. Maybe not. Her black cardigan fell a little bit, propping onto her shoulder halfway, one covered, the other bare. She’s probably trying to make appearance for the underestimated nude coloured top now, which was covered this whole time by that black overwhelmed cardigan. No, not overwhelmed, just perhaps a little bit too black. It’s unlikely for someone to let their overcoat hanging on just one shoulder while giving a talk, isn’t it? Usually you would take them off the moment before you start, or wear it all the way. But, anyway.. She continued talking. Again, screen zoomed in and out. Different colours, different words starting to pop out. Big, small, left, right, up, down. What makes a fashion label? “I am dismantling the idea of a brand, what is identity?” She said. -----------I guess, it felt different to write with an intention to design. Of course, writing and designing comes hand in hand, but it’s hard to determine which should come first. Personally, writing helps in ways to make clear of design intentions, poking out some shy thoughts and objectives – folding out what’s not accessible by perception and touch. Reversing that, is entirely a different experience, and utterly a fascinating process to be explored thoroughly. -K
10. Nikos Papastergiadis
06.10.2016
“The world has changed, not changing..” A pause in the air, a void of confusion starting to fill up with pondering thoughts. What possible meaning Papastergiadis was going with this statement? He has such an eloquent manner of lecturing, strong words coming out from his mouth. There are theories of which it seemed a little too complex to grope upon, but surely enough it felt convincing. There were no images on the wall popping in and out like previously with the two quirky fashion writers-designers, this lecture has different cut to it. Eyes all on him, his words piercing through our ears, some managed to stay, while some passed right through the walls of the rectangular theatre hall. Would the world still be considered as a changed object, a body, while it is always undergoing changes? Intriguing, cant really get that thought off yet. The starting of his lecture pulled out some bits of information from D K Ching’s book, Form, Space and Order. Papastergiadis mentioned the three elements of ; Surface, Frame, and Grid which instantly hooked some past learnings of these kind of theories. It was fascinating enough to ponder upon, of how singular elements tend to ‘grow’ and develop itself into a larger entity that we can considered as a collective structure within one body. Assuming, this is what Papastergiadis is trying to achieve with his concept of a decentralized structural organisation of a museum. That, nothing or nobody is being excluded. He opposes the idea of heirarchiness, and wanting to implement a structure that does not try to standardize itself. Because, to him, everything matters. Everybody matters. West or Non-west, ‘you’ are an active participant. ‘You’ are as equal as everybody else. Decolonizing the imagination, was the term that he specifically used to convey this idea of well, i guess, independence within unity – or the concept of being one. What is a common culture? This goes back to how art, are being understood and perceived. We now live in a contemporary world where everything has an influence on the other. Originality is seemingly not an issue anymore. We have a complex pattern of cultural exchange to what art is offering us today. And, to this, does it mean that we have to deform the initial notion of categorization? Well, from a vague perspective, it looks like we are all tangled up into and around each other that tracing back origins in art would be somehow irrelevant to a certain point. I guess, the world has really changed, not changing. So, quoting again from Papastergiadis, “What is the place of art today?” K
thanks ,