can you hear my song. My attempt. Paradoxa double politic- globally dialecticala confrontation between labour of thought and nihilism confrontation: empty present hand undo accepted doctrine darkness refers to how the unspeakable is referred to how do we speak truth to power? Consolation the comfort received after the unspeakable tears struggle ritual draw from reality draw from dreams where is your voice? solidify the ritual. A tongue tied so firmly- is it bleeding? its dripping is it sweat? The tragedy is silencedon’t you see- maybe if we were heard maybe if you listened maybe maybe spiracle maybe spiracle breath breathe are you listening? are you learning? are you unlearning? yes yes you you with your power your *power* don’t you dare with your authoritarian look How does make you feel? Do you feel? Do you laugh? Do you think?
Does it make you happy? Are you happy. Do your lips shake- when you sew my lips together. Does it make your head spin. Let the flowers begging you - let them breathe- let them bloom.
alright. A subversive use of language. What does it take- to speak an attempt at disobedience altering. bring about change. I have nowhere to go but inside profound unconscious communication dream dream dream of justice
free. Access to time and space allows for a broader interpretation to be made. Time makes sculpture
The umbilical cord of the dream.
Dimensionsof sculpture: 180x40x15 of rope:310x3x3 of space: 330 x 600 The current photos and videos have been taken in an open gallery space, with an “L” shape wall space. There are windows with natural light, with 5 spotlights. Since the work is an ongoing installation the lighting of the work differs depending on the natural light of the windows. I have used casting as a technique to build the sculpture. I made moulds from a living model, with materials that are safe to use on the skin. The sound piece was made by recording my own voice and altering it through the Premiere Pro programme. I wrote the text on the walls by hand, and later smudged the words to convey a sense of freedom- rawness. Based on available resources, and my past material experimentation, which included use of wax, jesmonite, silicone, tallow, bronze, plaster, synthetic plaster, etc. I have chosen to use “kunstoff gips” for the exterior of my sculpture. “Kunstoff gips” is a type of synthetic plaster that is not water based. It is thus very firm and strong; and can survive in water or in environments that are typically inhospitable to artworks. I have chosen this material not solely because of its functional qualities, but also greatly due to its aesthetic properties. The aesthetic values of this piece are reminiscent of classic stone sculpture, drawing from mythology and the Old Masters as seen in examples such as Sisyphus or Michaelangelo’s David, respectively. My use of colour adds sensation, and an emotive quality to the piece. I have used
colour as an attempt to suggest specific sensations and emotive qualities. For example, my use of green is meant to suggest freedom, but can also make the audience feel sickness or decay, for its alignment with its containment of both feelings of comfort and discomfort. I have chosen to avoid realistic skin colours, and instead have use unexpected colours in hopes that viewers will make their own interpretations of what this form is. More on material components in relation to subject matter is written of in section, “particulars”. There is a speaker built into the interior of the sculpture. The reason for this is to portray the sound as the sculpture’s sound. The sculpture is speaking- emitting sound that breaks silence. Silence- speakingspeaking out, referring to the narrative of the work. I have chosen to use charcoal on the wall as a reference to a typical classroom chalkboards, which ties to the narrative of the work: dialogue, speaking out, interpretation, learning, unlearning, consciousness: ambiguity.
ParticularsWhen you enter the space, you will be comforted by the sight of the familiar: the human figure —life-sized. You will feel the human sensation of bodily connection. Because statues have been used as a form of representation for centuries, the familiarity of the human form has been leant to sculpture itself. Drawing from Christian iconography, the Old Masters and mythology, sculpture is able to layer history with new and current narratives. Access is granted for the viewer to engage through the recognition of the familiar. As unfamiliar elements reveal themselves, the work may cause discomfort: it is headless. A rope is slithering out of its body, between its fingers, through its hands. The rope, foot and hand position look as if the person on the floor is climbing up a rope. Is the person climbing up or down? Does he/she try to escape? Is it fighting to climb- a sport? Is it swinging on the rope? Is it holding on? Is it falling? Is the sculpture pulled with the rope? Where does the rope come from? There is a sound emerging from the interior of the sculpture. What is this sound? Is it human? The sculpture is fractured and conjoined, or rather placed in a kind of formation. The figure is fragile. Their broken parts have come together, but have not quite attached. The wooden bricks…why are there wooden bricks supporting the sculpture? By including the wood, I make reference to the tree- like figure of the human body, and hope that the viewer is reminded that this wood once functioned as a living being. The veins in the bricks are similar to our veins, which is why I have chosen to place it under the body; merging it into the figure. Comfort and discomfort are collapsed in this space. Viewing works of art such as this can sometimes produce the sensation of uncertainty. A sculpture may be genderless, anonymous. It may be impossible to ascribe an object with a fixed identity. No face to read for answers. In my sculpture I have removed the figure’s face to create uncertainty in the viewer, and also as a comment on contemporary surveillance politics. In light of recent technological advances, the face becomes the key feature in which we, civilians, are detected. A face, a head, contains too much information, gives away too much information. I have chosen to exclude the head because it holds too much information. The body, fractured. We ask ourselves: what is its significance, its purpose, and how we feel witnessing this work; being part of this work. The fractured pieces lay together, united. It has the option to fall apart but is kept together in a fragile and brittle manner. To be broken into pieces means to open oneself. It is through this struggle that we learn. A device of simultaneous enclosure and freedom, those viewing will reflect on the piece through themselves. That which reaches us immediately, and may seem clear at that distinct moment, becomes filtered through what we soon realise is a long detour of words and mediation. We experience ourselves torn between what we know and don’t yet understand. The representation of the unknown, or potentially unknowable, becomes imperative for both the artist and us, as viewers.The installation is, simply, presented to us, yet the image relies on us to be understood. In this way it holds our thoughts and our judgment: within its presence will ultimately be what we think of it. Thus, can we separate the work itself and how it acts as a mirror of our own thoughts? The regime of interpretation and representation becomes directly linked with one another. The work relies on direct engagement. The direct engagement between the viewer, the installation, space and work holds empathy within its power of connection and mirror affect of ones own being. It is looked at, rather than seen through, with its effective ability to occupy the space not only through visual factors but also with sound. The choice to include sound adds a new dimension to the space, in which the human senses are active but not overloaded. An overload of activating the human senses comes with the responsibility of the viewer shutting down and disassociating, rather than engaging with the work. Thus, my conscious decision to use two senses allows for the work to speak, and permits semiotic exchange through informing our feelings. We encounter a dialogue between our inner selves and our feelings which the piece informs. The installation comes into existence, it breathes through its sound, it speaks, it is finally brought to life through the viewer and their thoughts.
An intrinsic bodily experience, reduced to a video rather than the true experience of the installation. I am sceptical on the overemphasis of my works subject matter, as I would like the viewer to view the work through their own interpretation. The work consists of multiple layers, both physically and metaphorically, many meanings and assumptions can be hung on this piece. We return to the viewer. The piece ultimately acts as a mirror for the thoughts of the individual viewing it. What they think, the work becomes. Colour, weight, form and the fractured pieces of the body, become subject matters within itself. The layers of colours and synthetic plaster act as the container of the soul. The colours of the figure, although mentioned earlier, do not hold skin- like features, it can be compared to interiors (our interiors)decayed interiors. Green, grey, red, white- the green, although all colours hold a variation of meanings, the green can be interlinked to hope, freedom- the colour of peace revolution and that of sickness, decay. Grey similarly can hold a relation to sickness, decay and despair. The red colour of hands, one half of the rib cage, knee, and feet give the sculpture a fleshy impression- it makes it human, a bodily experience. To look deeper at the piece one can even discover small hairs to further associate it with the real human figure. This object could contain a soul as easily as we do. It is as intangible as dreams, and yet we acknowledge they exist. This comparison both evidences and returns me to the notion of the unknowable.The unknowable and mystery become key factors within this art work. These key factors are what I hope will provoke the audience to look deeper in the work, uncover the layers and engage with the space and piece. Thus, what can be called as “charging the installation”, charging it with meaning, value, significance, stories. Furthermore, we ask why I have not yet spoken of the text on the walls, ambiguous and bold: “The umbilical cord of the dream”. The interpretation of death, violence and the unconscious can be made. Taboo and the representation of the unrepresentable. The saying “tongue tied”, is imagined here in rope. Though this work and phrase are very open to different interpretations. Through my work, I have been repetitively experimenting with the form of the umbilical cord through the use of rope and tubes. Originally, this idea was born through the idea of unspeakable violence and taboo, hence the reference to tongues and silence. I have since questioned how one represents the unthinkable or unspeakable (the unrepresentable?). The mention of the rope was previously left open to a variation of interpretations, and still remains open. A further interpretation in link to my previous work can however be made: the rope of the tied tongue has de-assembled from the mouth and the human figure is fighting against this conception of silence. The silence is set free, free from the unconscious. The umbilical cord, rope, tongue, is free to dream, is free to breathe is free to speak. The sound coming from the body can be further connected to the narrative. The sound is my own voice which has been altered through software to no longer sound as myself. It narrates poetry which I have written in debate of systemic silence, sculpture, time, dreams and justice. At times the sound is altered to the extent it becomes unknown what is being said. It returns to the unknowable and not-knowledge, further opening the installation for more interpretations to be made. To be able to know comes with the association that we must be able to imagine. Allowing different associations and creating a sense of ambiguity is an important feature of the sculpture. Following the latest news, one could associate the colour and the fallen position of the statue with slave trader Finally, why have I chosen a white gallery space? Why have I chosen to place the sculpture on the floor? The space of the gallery acts as a blank canvas. I have been thinking deeply of placing my sculpture in the outdoors, in a public space. Yet through experimentations of previous sculptures and installations in nature and outdoors, I came to the realisation that at times the outdoor world can distract form the installation. Although this at times is useful and allows for the merging of reality and art - at this stage I have chosen to use the gallery space to emphasise the piece rather than play with the invisibility of the work through outdoor exteriors. More description of why I have chosen to create this installation as I have: the sculpture is laying on the floor- the floor is the last element of the sculpture. The floor opens a time and space which can be animate in the viewers mind. The floor opens a possibility for a second world beneath: an embedded space. The work takes over the space in which it exists- a phenomenological experience. It adds a defamiliarising function to the “normality” of the body. It becomes the portal to the dream (in: the umbilical cord of the dream). Moving on to lighting- I have chosen to use 5 small spotlights to illuminate the sculpture and writing on the walls. I did not want my work to be illuminated by one light only and I wanted there to be both an atmosphere but also, I did not want to loose the detail of the work in darkness. Overemphasis through a spotlight, I personally, feel would reduce from the piece, as parts would disappear, go invisible in the darkness. The space is openthere is no formation for entering or exiting the space. This allows for a more open access- open- it again refers to the narrative of my hopes to leave my work open for interpretation and ambiguous. An invitation to hallucinate, an adventure of thought. I hope the ambiguity of the piece leaves each of us open to interpret the installation in a unique way. A consideration of any ethical concerns. In regards to ethical concerns, no living being has been harmed during the process of making this piece. The intention in making this sculpture and installation is to open dialogue in regards to ambiguous narratives. No certain narrative is dictated to the viewer. Links can be made to death, violence and taboo subjects- however this is entirely dependant on the mindset of the individual viewing the piece. Thus, taking us back to part 1, the description of this installation, and how the work acts as a mirror for the individual experiencing and viewing the piece. The work holds graphic visual components such as the human body and rope.
Film stills and images of installation.
