Yin Ying Kong Extended Essay Failure in Performance Art by yinying.kyy

FAILURE IN PERFORMANCE ART How does Failure generate or enhance the narrative dimensions of performance art?

International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme Session: November 2014

VISUAL ARTS HL EXTENDED ESSAY

Candidate Name: Kong Yin Ying Candidate Session no: 004130-0007 Personal Code: fgc837 Supervisor: Mr. David Gan Word count: 3985 words

Kong Yin Ying Candidate Session No: 004130-0007

Table of Contents Abstract ………………………………………………………………………..

1. Introduction …………………………………………………………………… 4 1.1 Investigation Approach ………………………....……….……............. 5

2. Literature Review: On Failure ……………………………………………..

2.1 The Manifestation of Failure in the Human.…..….………….……...

3. Failure and Authenticity ………………....…………………………..……..

4. Failure and Heightened Emotional and Psychic States ……….…..…

5. Failure and Instigation of Creative Processes ……….………….……..

6. Conclusion …………………………………….…………………….....……..

7. Bibliography ………………………………….…………………….....………

8. Images …………………..……………………………….…………….….…… 28

9. Appendix ………………………………….…………………….....…………..

9.1 Interview with Arahmaiani Feisal…………………………….….…… 29 9.2 Interview with Daniela Beltrani……………………………….….…… 32 9.3 Interview with Lee Wen……………….………….…………….….…… 34 9.4 Interview with Lisa Bauer……………………………….……………… 40

Page 2 of 43

Kong Yin Ying Candidate Session No: 004130-0007

Abstract Artistic methodologies open to external influence and change, such as that of Performance Art, have often to take into account elements that are unplanned for and unexpected, in a way, ‘failures’ of their original intent. This paper aims to examine how this ‘failure’ can be and has been used to generate new possibilities or enhance existing ones – in terms of narrative and meaning – in performance artworks.

Failure is analysed in view of the defining narrative dimensions of performance art: authenticity, the elevation of emotional and psychic state, and the instigation of creative processes1.

Primary information acquired at performance art event Making Space, Body as Woman (2013)2 was used to identify instances of failure. The works – and their failures – that most directly address each dimension are examined with respect to it. Interviews with the artists were conducted to account for the practitioner’s viewpoint. Their input on failure’s role in their practice was used to evaluate their performances.

In every work analyzed, failure was found to be crucial in the three dimensions as a catalyst for unexpected narrative progressions. The aspect of the artwork responsible for sustaining these progressions is its “relational aesthetic”3, wherein the dialogue between artist, artwork and observer continues to generate meaning. The sum total of these findings proposes that failure is not the commonly held negative absolute; it can be a springboard for discovery in Visual Arts.

(299 words)

Narrative dimensions cited by art critic T.K. Sabapathy

Making Space, Body as Woman is a parallel event to the Singapore Biennale 2013, If the

World Changed, organized and curated by Daniela Beltrani. The event was conducted from 30 October to 3 November 2013, at the SCWO Centre in Singapore. 3

The relational aesthetic of a work refers to the “inter-human relations which [the work]

represent[s], produce[s] or prompt[s].” (Bourriaud 112) Page 3 of 43

Kong Yin Ying Candidate Session No: 004130-0007

1. Introduction The art-making process is wrought with the unpredictable and unexplainable. This is particularly so when certain circumstances are beyond the control of the artist, as is often the case in performance art. Therein, factors such as the unexpected response of the audience and physical factors within the work result in “failures” of varied scale. Here, I have taken failure to be the results or progressions in an artwork outside the realm of the artist’s intention and control. Some artists actively allow for the possibility of failure in their work. Lisa Bauer, who practices performance art in Taiwan, notes that “[her] performances are never thoroughly planned and there is always room for something unpredictable” (refer to annexed ‘Interview with Lisa Bauer’). Likewise, Daniela Beltrani, an Italian performance artist based in Singapore, for whom “the less control […] the better” (refer to annexed “Interview with Daniela Beltrani). Indonesian performance artist Arahmaiani Feisal’s work encompasses this possibility of failure through a combination of what the French art theorist Nicolas Bourriaud terms ‘relational aesthetics’ and the use of mediums of a transitory nature. Singapore’s pioneering performance artist Lee Wen similarly does so through a conscious lack of premeditation, and the site-specificity of his work – both spatially and materially. His work at the Black Market International (Hannover Expo 2000) reflects this allowance for the accidental, using mediums collected the morning of the performance and an understanding of space acquired only the night prior.

If the crux of an artwork is taken as its message, the most fundamental mechanism through which this message is conveyed is the work’s narrative progression; the fundamental role of failure in performance art will also be found therein. This essay will thus examine and explore how failure contributes to the performance artwork in its narrative dimensions, and consider why, in all the aforementioned instances, failure, or the possibility of it, has been crafted into the artists’ methodology as a tool to generate or enhance the narrative dimensions of their work.

Page 4 of 43

Kong Yin Ying Candidate Session No: 004130-0007

1.1 An investigation of Failure and its narrative contributions in the works of four performance artists practising in Southeast Asia.

The idea of the narrative discussed here is not merely a plot or storyline; it is a combination of the practice of narration, the represented ideas, and extra-narrative influence, such as the instigation of creative processes. Aspects of the narrative can be seen in a statement of The Artist Village in Singapore, a collective founded in the late 1980s, which Lee is a pioneering member of: “[its group of Singaporean performance artists] are interested in art as a continuous process, instead of as a finished work. […] They seek to use artistic medium boldly and directly without artifice or ornamentation. They are concerned with figuration, whereby the worlds of man and nature are transformed into images which express highly charged emotional and psychic states. […] They wish to draw the viewer into an active,

dynamic

relationship

with

the

art

work,

the

artist

and

the

process

creation.” (Sabapathy "Artists' Colony in Ulu Sembawang.") Given this, failure, as an artistic “medium” in performance art, will be judged in this essay based on its contribution to the narrative dimensions of performance art as outlined by Sabapathy: first, that of authenticity, second, in terms of engendering “highly charged emotional and psychic states”, and third, in the stimulation of an “active, dynamic” relational process of creation involving artist, work and viewer.

Page 5 of 43

Kong Yin Ying Candidate Session No: 004130-0007

2. Literature Review: On Failure

“[The] conflicting ideas of the ancient Greeks and the early Christians operate within us simultaneously rather than sequentially. [...] The result is that sometimes we view success as finished perfection – at other times as the perfectibility of growth." (116)

Joel Fisher Judgment and Purpose: Anaprokopology, 1987 FAILURE: Documents of Contemporary Art

Fisher proposes that the ancient Greek’s “idea of success [is] intrinsically linked to the idea of perfection” while Christian ideology glorifies the potential of imperfections (116). The result of their integration is the modern individual’s – and the contemporary artist’s – conception of the “perfectibility of growth”. In this, we are met with the curious notion that failure is not failure anymore; there is always some measure of success to be found in failure. This is aptly stated by the Indonesian artist Arahmaiani Feisal: “[An artist] is not a businessman [or] woman – there is no such dualistic parameter as fail[ure] and success in [the] creative process” (refer to annexed ‘Interview with Arahmaiani Feisal’). For some artists, failure is not even a concern; Lee Wen claims that “[he doesn’t] talk about success and failure […] to [him], it’s always success […] as long as [he] continues [his] work” (refer to annexed ‘Interview with Lee Wen’). The latter part of his statement proposes that progress and process are synonymous with success, even if they encompass smaller failures, a notion that runs in tandem with Fisher’s idea of “perfectibility in growth”.

In performance art, deviations from the original plan due to failure introduce lacunae (narrative gaps) into the artwork that function as avenues for this “growth”. In ‘The cognitive poetics of literary resonance’, Peter Stockwell explains that lacunae can “create […] a discomforting sense of incompleteness” (35) and a “sense of fluctuation and uncertainty” (39). These narrative elements prompt immediacy in cognitive response, to fill the “tangible absences” (39) of past happenings, or what this essay proposes as the absence of a projected immediate future. In this way, failure both instigates an anticipation of “what comes next”, as well as introduces a spontaneity and changeability to the narrative. Here, we Page 6 of 43

Kong Yin Ying Candidate Session No: 004130-0007

observe phenomena as engendered by failure, where the disintegration of one plan results in the creation of another in the same instance.4

There are many similar notions across the different fields of film, physics and visual arts.

One of Donnie Darko’s famous lines included, “destruction is a form or creation” ("Donnie Darko: Quotes." IMDb.com.); in Physics, the law of conservation of energy states that energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be converted from one form to another; Picasso famously said, “Every act of creation is first an act of destruction” ("Famous Pablo Picasso Quotes." PabloPicasso.org.). Page 7 of 43

Kong Yin Ying Candidate Session No: 004130-0007

2.1. The Manifestation of Failure in the Human

In recent years, there has been greater exploration in the field of relational art, wherein the human is the most essential medium. Bourriaud proposes in his text Relational Aesthetics that “the essence of humankind is purely trans-individual, made up of bonds that link individuals together in social forms” (18). As such, relational art is taken as “a set of artistic practices which take as their theoretical and practical point of departure the whole of human relations and their social context, rather than an independent and private space” (Bourriaud 113). Performance art in Singapore began with this relational approach. As mentioned by noted art critic T.K. Sabapathy, Singaporean’s pioneering performance artists sought to “draw the viewer into an active, dynamic relationship with the art work, the artist and the process of creation” ("Artists' Colony in Ulu Sembawang."); indeed, the Artist Village actively relied on the artwork‘s collaborative nature and its commentary on local social issues of the period as a point of accessibility. This practice of using the relational aspects of the human specimen, along with their “vulnerable” state (as highlighted by Beltrani; refer to annexed ‘Interview with Daniela Beltrani’) has been sustained in more contemporary practice, as have the unavoidable possibility for failure.

We observe that the human is a vessel of fallibilities and potential for failure. The individual has lapses in self-control, as confirmed by the institutions that have researched this and named “slips of action” and “lapses of memory” among the types of human error (Health and Safety Executive. Leadership and Worker Involvement Toolkit: Understanding Human Failure.). Sometimes, emotion overcomes reason and physical resilience; the individual can only endure as long as he wants to. In other instances, attention deviates from one idea to the next in a second, seemingly without rhyme or reason. These constitute inconsistencies in human character, which contribute to its changeable tendencies. Given that the performance artwork’s narrative progression is dependent on human response, the human’s changeability renders the artwork’s narrative to be similarly changeable.

Page 8 of 43

Kong Yin Ying Candidate Session No: 004130-0007

Fig. 1 Rhythm 0, 1972 Marina Abramovic source: Dents.tumblr.com

Fig. 2 Cut Piece, 1964 Yoko Ono source: Lenono Photo Archive

The space in which the artist works and objects therein – introduced by the artist or otherwise – are also essential constituents of a performance artwork. They are elements that are rendered by human action, supplementing material or stimuli in the artwork’s narrative. Marina Abramovic’s Rhythm 0 (1972) and Yoko Ono’s Cut Piece (1964) both introduce objects for the audience participants to use at their will, in reaction to the artists’ vulnerability. In Rhythm 0, Abramovic offered seventy-two objects to her audience5. She relinquished control of her work’s narrative, passively receiving their “abuse” and “defen[ce]”. At one, point a gun was pointed to her neck; even objects with the “potential for pleasure” were unexpectedly applied in a violent manner as audience members used the rose to cut into Abramovic’s skin (see fig. 1) ("Who Is Marina Abramovic?" Marinaabramovicinstitute.org).

5 Objects in Rhythm 0 ranged from “sugar, honey, and a rose“ to “knives, whips, scissors, and a gun (with a single bullet)“. ("Who Is Marina Abramovic?" Marinaabramovicinstitute.org) Page 9 of 43

Kong Yin Ying Candidate Session No: 004130-0007

Similarly, Cut Pieceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s progressions were audience-led. Yoko Ono sat passively centre-stage while audience members, presented with a pair of scissors, took apart her clothing in an unsystematic fashion (see fig. 2). The artistsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; vulnerability provides impetus for unexpected progressions, including harm, and the object is a suggestion of method. In this, we also observe how the individualâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s vulnerability becomes an avenue for failure.

Page 10 of 43

Kong Yin Ying Candidate Session No: 004130-0007

3. Failure and Authenticity – Lee Wen at Black Market International (BMI), Hannover Expo, 2000

Lee Wen is particularly engaged with the idea of authenticity, and he has written extensively on it6. His works feature a conspicuous lack of premeditation, which he attributed to an interest in “discover[ing] new things” as he creates (refer to annexed ‘Interview with Lee Wen’).

In his piece for Black Market International (BMI) at the Hannover Expo in 2000, Lee sought to limit his experience of a space prior to devising his performance; he arrived without material or thematic preparation. The possibility of failure in his work, Untitled, was thus introduced when the event organizers only allowed a short viewing of the space at midnight, and performances were set for the following morning. Lee had no opportunity to acquire materials at such a late hour. His limited understanding of space and lack of medium introduced lacunae into his work, rendering its narrative fluctuant, uncertain and precarious. The conditions led him to construct a largely unplanned performance, creating a need to problem-solve, and subsequently setting up for a process reliant on serendipity.

6 Several of his essay contributions to international performance art event Future of Imagination deal with it. They include ‘Performance Art and the Quest for Authenticity” (Lee "Performance Art and the Quest for Authenticity.") and the section “Authenticity and Audience” in “Permutations of Individualism” (Lee "Permutations of Individualism.”). Page 11 of 43

Kong Yin Ying Candidate Session No: 004130-0007

Fig. 3 Untitled (flowers), 2000 Lee Wen Artist holds the wild flowers acquired at Hannover Credit: Sakiko Yamaoka

His serendipitous medium choice amplified his work’s authenticity. Lee found wild flowers (see fig 3) around his living quarters, having woken early to explore, and filled a trolley bag with them. The plants and the carrier, quite accidentally, became his medium. Their arbitrariness created a gap in his understanding of them – a lacuna in his work –, which conversely facilitated a process of discovery. In this, the medium functioned as stimuli for immediate responses that formed the narrative. Lee’s genuine discovery of the medium during the performance allows his audience to observe an authentic first-hand exploration.

Page 12 of 43

Kong Yin Ying Candidate Session No: 004130-0007

Fig. 4 Untitled (on ladder), 2000 Lee Wen Artist with flowers on a ladder credit: Sakiko Yamaoka

The performance’s accidental nature, based on in-situ discovery, both allowed and forced Lee to construct sequences of actions as the work progressed. Ascending a ladder – another object the artist found – (see fig. 4) prompted Lee to toss the flowers from his elevated position. From this, he was inspired to protract the activity by continuing to fling and throw his medium. He also encountered other artists’ materials as he traversed through the space, including fellow BMI artist Alastair MacLennan’s pig ear. This object gave Lee the avenue to conclude his performance; by carefully arranging the flowers around the shell of the ear, he slowed the tempo of his work. Each new physical experiment uncovered another action possibility, borne of “connections in the brain that you don’t realise” activating in the “action of making” (refer to annexed ‘Interview with Lee Wen’) as well as encounters with unfamiliar spaces and objects. Lee’s performance leveraged on intuition, allowing the unpredictable to manifest unmitigated; he mentioned that he was “half fulfilling [the idea] along the way, and also searching for the next thing to do” (refer to the annexed ‘Interview with Lee Wen’). This partial suspension and unpredictability made his response genuine because it demanded an immediacy that eliminates artifice. Dewey’s claim regarding the act of art-making in Art as Experience succinctly expresses how this happens: "Because of [the] intimate connection [between the act of doing and the perception of what is done], subsequent doing is cumulative and not a matter of caprice nor yet of routine” (51). As such, the unrehearsed sequence of actions in Lee’s performance piece supplemented the work’s authenticity. Page 13 of 43

Kong Yin Ying Candidate Session No: 004130-0007

The combination of unpremeditated aspects of the performance, from objects used to the unfolding of events in the work, somehow found its perfect symbolic expression in the flowers’ final form. When Lee first opened the trolley bag, flowers in the form of a cuboid were revealed. This was a result of the compaction of the flowers in the bag’s interior through Lee’s improvisatory actions. The incongruity between the flowers’ organic nature and the angularity and regularity of its ultimate form communicated the flux of the artwork’s narrative. The cuboid of flowers can be seen as an unexpected progression in the narrative, the potential of growth and change from failure, in a physicalized form.

The performance’s intuitional nature allowed for such possible outcomes to remain unforeseen. In this, we observe how Lee introduced authenticity’s strongest contributor – surprise. The lacunae in the work were dependent on each instance of serendipity to be filled; the spectre of failure hung over Lee’s performance at every point. Lee’s improvisations existed on a precipice between being stalled and getting triggered, and uncontrolled lulls and excitations in this process allow deviation from the structure of a classical (planned) narrative – exposition, climax, and resolution. His tangential process of discovery – resultant of failures of organization – may introduce incoherence or illogic, but also create genuine anticipation and relief, which play a part in enhancing the work’s authenticity.

Page 14 of 43

Kong Yin Ying Candidate Session No: 004130-0007

4. Failure and Heightened Emotional and Psychic states for both artist and audience – Daniela Beltrani and Lisa Bauer at Making Space, Body as Woman, Singapore Council of Women’s Organisations (SCWO) Centre, 2013

In the art-making process, “the relation [between the artistic and aesthetic experience] is so close that it controls simultaneously both the doing and the perception" (Dewey 51), as observed in Lee’s performance. As he creates, the artist engages the audience’s as well as his own perception, as he “embodies in himself the attitude of the perceiver while he works" (Dewey 50). This proposes that the artist and audience have an inextricable, interdependent cognitive relationship; the artwork’s relational aspects allow for interpersonal resonance. Simply put, through our ability to empathise, we access the artist’s fraught emotions as they work to master their limitations. Speaking about her performance at Making Space, Body as Woman, a performance art event intended as “a […] space for female performance artists to express their concerns and share the richness of their superimposing experience” (Making Space, Body as Woman 1), Lisa Bauer mentions that the “hard time [she endured during her performance makes it] very interesting and [the artist] had time to really […] get into the situation” (refer to annexed ‘Interview with Lisa Bauer’). Considering the empathetic quality inherent in performance art, as outlined by Dewey, it can be inferred that audience members can be similarly immersed. Furthermore, fellow-performing artist at and organizer of the event, Daniela Beltrani, proposes that the individual’s “vulnerability” in a difficult situation amplifies this empathy – “you can reach out to people more easily” (refer to annexed ‘Interview with Daniela Beltrani).

Page 15 of 43

Kong Yin Ying Candidate Session No: 004130-0007

Fig. 5 For Example II (front view), 2013 Daniela Beltrani Blue lines indicate the obliqueness of her form; implied imbalance and movement. credit: Nel Lim

Fig. 6 For Example II (side view), 2013 Daniela Beltrani Blue lines indicate the obliqueness of her form; implied imbalance and movement. credit: Nel Lim

Fig. 7 Close-ups of fig. 5 and 6 Visual and physical weight of books increase over the course of the performance. Obstructs artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s body.

Page 16 of 43

Kong Yin Ying Candidate Session No: 004130-0007

In For Example II, Beltrani sought to communicate how artists are losing “engagement with art” as they rely too much “on [their] minds” (Making Space, Body as Woman 28). The weight of “words and concepts” (Making Space, Body as Woman 28) bearing down on this “engagement” is prominently visually represented in the growing physical burden of the art books the artist carried. The books increasingly obscured her body as more of them were added during the performance. These books also gradually accumulated visual weight as a concrete, composite form (see fig. 7). Furthermore, we see the artist’s response to this in her constantly tilted form; the imbalance and movement communicated by the diagonal lines (see fig. 5 and 6, lines indicated) shows her struggle in staying atop a young coconut, added to increase difficulty, while managing this burden.

Fig. 8 Summer in Winter (front view), 2013 Lisa Bauer Artist’s arm extended perpendicular to her body. Sustained contact between shoulder and wall credit: Nel Lim

Fig. 9 Summer in Winter (side view), 2013 Lisa Bauer Artist’s fingers are clenched (foreground), mouth is full. credit: Nel Lim

Page 17 of 43

Kong Yin Ying Candidate Session No: 004130-0007

Summer in Winter, Bauer’s performance, deals with the almost subliminally existent tension between seasons. The “slowness and calmness” of the progression from season to season treads “the thin line between subtlety and nothingness” (Making Space, Body as Woman 34). The artist’s struggle to “perceive and notice” rather than “enter a state of nonconcentration and wait for a climax and obvious change” (Making Space, Body as Woman 34) within this process is represented in the performance’s visual tension. Uncomfortably sharp angles are created at various joints of the artist’s body: her fingers were clenched around a lemon, each acutely bent at three points (see fig. 9), whereas, her right arm is held at a right angle to her torso in a rigid straight line (see fig. 8). Bauer also fixed her points of contact with the space; her shoulder never leaves the wall as she treads carefully along the margins of the room (see fig. 8). Combined with the image of the lemon crowding her mouth (see fig. 9), we get a pervasive sense of claustrophobic and unyielding tensions. Through the long-drawn performance, this physical situation is religiously maintained, and we observe tension in the work’s protraction and resistance to change.

As we access their struggle and tension, we also encounter a mounting sense of failure in both narratives. Beltrani “lose[s] balance over and over again in a draining repetition of almost expected failure” (Making Space, Body as Woman 28) and Bauer’s grip on the fruit seems to falter as her performance lengthens. Each instance seems to foreshadow an abandonment of a goal or a breaking of the “rules” in their respective experiences. The emotional landscape of the performance narrative is a determinedly bleak one.

Yet, evidences of their physical resilience challenge these expectations of failure. Beltrani finds her way back onto the coconut with every fall, and Bauer remains undeterred as she negotiates her way around the unfamiliar room. In experiencing various crescendos and decrescendos of For Example II and Summer in Winter, our anticipation of failure wars with our hope that the artists’ determination will prevail. An inner emotional conflict arises and heightens our emotional and psychic state.

Page 18 of 43

Kong Yin Ying Candidate Session No: 004130-0007

Fig. 10 For Example II (fall), 2013 Daniela Beltrani After a hard fall, artist’s son comes forward to offer encouragement. credit: Nel Lim

For some participants of Making Space, Body as Woman, one emotion prevailed over another and was physicalised. As Beltrani’s performance progressed towards a climax, observers present became increasingly emotionally invested and sought to alleviate the growing sense of the inevitability of failure. Physical interventions thus arose. On-lookers gave her more than one book at a time and sorted them according to size (largest ones at the base of the stack) to aid her in completing her performance. At one point, after a hard fall, Beltrani’s son came forward to encourage her (see fig 10). These interventions were motivated by the strong sense of empathy or sympathy that the audience acquired during the performance.

Failure set these individual narratives within a larger, perennial narrative – of humans’ propensity to fail, compensated by our resilience. The universality of human failure allowed empathy and dialogue, which worked directly towards Beltrani’s intention of “creating […] an intense physical or emotional engagement with the audience and the use of a form of communication that […] appeals solely to humanity”7 (Making Space, Body as Woman 28). In Summer in Winter, the challenging of our expectation of failure – the suspension of it – was key in elevating the tension between body and space that Bauer sought to convey. Failure, conceptually, became an essential aspect of both performances.

This is Beltrani’s intention for her I’m-mortal series (2013), which For Example II is under. Page 19 of 43

Kong Yin Ying Candidate Session No: 004130-0007

5. Failure and Instigation of Creative Processes – Arahmaiani Feisal at Making Space, Body as Woman, Singapore Council of Women’s Organisations Centre, 2013

Bourriaud asserts that "art has always been relational in varying degrees” (15). In the Lee, Beltrani and Bauer’s performances, we have observed the simultaneity of experience and capacity for empathy between artist and audience – “factors of sociability” and unspoken “dialogue” (Bourriaud 15). In Arahmaiani Feisal’s performance at Making Space, Body as Woman, this dialogue is verbalised, more actively inciting a “collective elaboration of meaning” (Bourriaud 15) for the artwork. This dialogue was primarily stimulated by instances of failure within the work.

Fig. 11 Warm Zone (individual), 2013 Arahmaiani Feisal Kong Yin Ying (myself) on the ground playing with the flame of the candle. Singular, dominant visual of flame in dark room. credit: Daniela Beltrani

Page 20 of 43

Kong Yin Ying Candidate Session No: 004130-0007

Fig. 12 Warm Zone (group), 2013 Arahmaiani Feisal Chosen individuals bearing lit candles after expressing themselves individually. Multiple lit spaces, easily distinguishable from dark background. credit: Daniela Beltrani

The failures in Feisal’s work, Warm Zone, lay largely in the act of documentation impinging on the artwork’s aesthetic, due to the audience members’ non-observance of the artist’s instructions. Feisal explicitly requested for silence and darkness before her performance began. These conditions were intended to draw focus to the actions or spoken word of the individuals, who were later chosen by the artist to bear a candle and express their innermost thoughts while they existed within the lighted space. The lit candles asserted a visual dominance, a near sense of sanctity, as they established a contrast to the room’s darkness (see fig. 11 and 12), and their flickering rendered their presence as something delicate and transient. Despite Feisal’s request for darkness, bright camera flashes occurred during the performance, easily annihilating the candlelight’s fragile presence. In the same instance, the click of the camera also disrupted the suspension of silence. As flash photography ruptured the artwork’s aesthetic, it constitutes the main instance of failure in Warm Zone.

While the flashes caused interruptions wherein the intended mood disintegrated, it also generated new meaning for the work. This failure in aesthetic raised the long contended

Page 21 of 43

Kong Yin Ying Candidate Session No: 004130-0007

issue of tensions between documentation and performance art8 as a parallel narrative to the intended performance narrative – on the voices of female individuals. Here, we observe a potential of growth that comes with failure.

Fig. 13 No Flash Please (front view), 2013 Klara Wyse (right) and Kong Yin Ying (myself, center) credit: Jason Lim

Fig. 14 No Flash Please (back view), 2013 Klara Wyse (left) and Kong Yin Ying (myself, center) credit: Jason Lim

As a further incidence of failure generating new narratives, the disturbances experienced during Warm Zone led to a reactionary performance by two volunteers, Klara Wyse and myself, at the same event. No Flash Please (2013) (see fig. 13 and 14) took as its starting point the flash photography encountered in Warm Zone and featured darkness as a primary spatial element (see fig. 14), to recreate the situation in Feisal’s work. Without the

In Reliquarium, Beltrani affirms that “the ephemeral quality, which has characterized

performance art since its very beginnings, offers a resistance to any type of commodification [including documentation] of that exceptional meeting between artist and audience during the performance.” ("Performance Art on a Plinth." 31) Page 22 of 43

Kong Yin Ying Candidate Session No: 004130-0007

presence of candlelight, audience members are made “blind” and the camera flash is necessitated for visuals to surface. The disrupting element in Warm Zone – the flash – becomes the primary medium by which this new narrative is encountered. The change in the quality of light emphasizes the “recoiling” reactions (see fig. 13) of participants, in contrast to the more “spiritual” and “private” reactions in Warm Zone.

Flash

Please

raised

conversations

the

necessity

photographic

documentation and its excessive practice among the event’s participants, after its conclusion. From this, we observe a cycle of creation coming into being: Feisal’s work generating a dialogue, which subsequently manifested as a performance, in turn giving rise to more conversations. Failure is seen to generate new meaning and work – even when the original performance has concluded. The singular narrative engenders a multiplex web of narratives. Considering that the artist, performance participants and “non-participants” perceive the work differently, different narratives are conceived in each observer’s mind. Some of these internal narratives are actualised as conversations and artworks. Compositely, they constitute creative processes instigated by failure.

Page 23 of 43

Kong Yin Ying Candidate Session No: 004130-0007

6. Conclusion

Failure can be seen as a mechanism that imbues an artwork with rawness and genuineness; it incites emotional response and instigates cycles of creativity. In Lee Wen’s work, it instigated a process of discovery, introducing a narrative flux and perpetual anticipation of what came next, thus enhancing its dimension of authenticity. For Daniela Beltrani and Lisa Bauer’s works, the conflict between optimistic and pessimistic expectations of the human and his potential for failure heightened the works’ psychological dimension. Failure in Arahmaiani Feisal’s work facilitated the generation of meaning where the disintegration of parts of her “plan” gave way to more narrative possibilities.

While their works were discussed specifically in each dimension, in actuality, each work pertained to all three dimensions in question. For example, Warm Zone’s creative processes were linked to and borne of emotional responses. These dimensions discussed are non-exhaustive and interlinked; further exploration could very well reveal more aspects under failure’s influence.

The relational aesthetic in each work is the mechanism upon which these progressions from failure function. While failure could be considered the ‘inciting incident’, interpersonal ties involve artists and observers in a sustained dialogue, be it emotional or physical. It sets the foundation for a cyclical proliferation of meaning within and beyond the original work – what could be considered intra- and extra-narrative progressions.

In an arts scene increasingly receptive to allowing “the form of the performance [to shape itself]” (Making Space, Body as Woman 28), the acceptance and understanding of failure as an occurrence inherent to the art-making process bears growing importance. Particularly in performance art, which is “a kind of practice, which isn’t finished when the performance ends and which also starts before the performance”, learning to face instances of failure with enthusiasm and interest instead of trepidation is essential as it is “a natural part of the […] practice” (refer to annexed ‘Interview with Lisa Bauer). The enhanced or generated dimensions come together with tangential, incoherent and illogical elements, and thus propose that failure cannot be easily dichotomised into benefits and drawbacks. In doing so,

Page 24 of 43

Kong Yin Ying Candidate Session No: 004130-0007

it serves to equip both artist and audience with a more comprehensive perception of failure â&#x20AC;&#x201C; not merely as the negative absolute it is often taken to be.

Page 25 of 43

Kong Yin Ying Candidate Session No: 004130-0007

Bibliography Beltrani, Daniela. "Performance Art on a Plinth." Reliquarium. Singapore: Daniela Beltrani, 2012. 28-37. Print. Beltrani, Daniela, ed. Making Space, Body as Woman. Singapore: Daniela Beltrani, 2014. Print. Bourriaud, Nicolas. Relational Aesthetics. Dijon: Leses Du RĂŠel, 2002. Print. Dewey, John. Art as Experience. New York: Penguin Putnam, 1980. Print. "Donnie Darko: Quotes." IMDb.com. Internet Movie Database, 2011. Web. 03 Feb. 2014. <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0246578/quotes>. "Famous Pablo Picasso Quotes." PabloPicasso.org. Pablo Picasso, 2009. Web. 04 Mar. 2014. <http://www.pablopicasso.org/quotes.jsp>. Fisher, Joel. "Judgment and Purpose." Failure: Documents of Contemporary Art. Ed. Lisa Le Feuvre. London: Whitechapel Gallery, 2010. 116-21. Print. Health and Safety Executive. Leadership and Worker Involvement Toolkit: Understanding Human Failure. Liverpool: Health and Safety Executive, 2012.Hse.gov.uk. Health and Safety Executive, 2012. Web. 18 Feb. 2014. <http://www.hse.gov.uk/construction/lwit/assets/downloads/human-failure.pdf>. Lee, Wen. "Performance Art and the Quest for Authenticity." Future of Imagination 8: International Performance Art Event, Singapore. Singapore: Lee Wen, 2012. 6-10. Print. Lee, Wen. "Permutations of Individualism." Future of Imagination 7. Singapore: Lee Wen, 2011. 4-8. Print. Sabapathy, Thiagarajan Kanaga. "Artists' Colony in Ulu Sembawang." Straits Times [Singapore] 10 Feb. 1989, Arts & Leisure sec.: 4. National Library Board. Web. 20 Oct. 2013. Page 26 of 43

Kong Yin Ying Candidate Session No: 004130-0007

<http://newspapers.nl.sg/Digitised/Article.aspx?articleid=straitstimes198902101.2.57.5.1&sessionid=d977cdb09ad04f96b8708385384c3587&keyword=artist+village +sabapathy&token=sabapathy%2cvillage%2cartist>. Stockwell, Peter. "The Cognitive Poetics of Literary Resonance." Thesis. University of Nottingham, 2009. Language and Cognition (2009): 25-44. Academia.edu. Academia. Web. 9 Jan. 2014. <http://www.academia.edu/718958/The_cognitive_poetics_of_literary_resonance>. "Who Is Marina Abramovic?" Marinaabramovicinstitute.org. Marina Abramovic Institute, 2014. Web. 23 Mar. 2014. <http://www.marinaabramovicinstitute.org/mai/mai/4>.

Page 27 of 43

Kong Yin Ying Candidate Session No: 004130-0007

Images

Cut Piece. 1964. Photograph. Lenono Photo Archive. Imaginepeace.com. Imagine Peace, 22 July 2010. Web. 23 Jan. 2014. <http://imaginepeace.com/archives/2680>. Lim, Jason. No Flash Please (front view). 2013. Photograph. Singapore. Lim, Jason. No Flash Please (back view). 2013. Photograph. Singapore. Lim, Nel. Warm Zone (individual). 2013. Photograph. Singapore. Lim, Nel. Warm Zone (group). 2013. Photograph. Singapore. Lim, Nel. Summer in Winter (front view). 2013. Photograph. Singapore. Lim, Nel. Summer in Winter (side view). 2013. Photograph. Singapore. Lim, Nel. For Example II (front view). 2013. Photograph. Singapore. Lim, Nel. For Example II (side view). 2013. Photograph. Singapore. Lim, Nel. For Example II (fall). 2013. Photograph. Singapore. Rhythm 0. 1974. Photograph. Dents.tumblr.com. Yahoo, 28 July 2013. Web. 5 Mar. 2014. <http://dents.tumblr.com/post/56748567240/lesbowie-marina-abramovic-rhythm-01974>. Yamaoka, Sakiko. Untitled (flowers). 2000. Photograph. Singapore. Yamaoka, Sakiko. Untitled (on ladder). 2000. Photograph. Singapore.

Page 28 of 43

Kong Yin Ying Candidate Session No: 004130-0007

9. Appendix 9.1 Interview with Arahmaiani Feisal Via email to arahmaianif@gmail.com 25 January 2014

On Failure

1. What qualifies as Failure in Performance Art to you?

If I have a specific plan for my performance and it doesn’t work. If the idea that I want to express somehow doesn’t work the way I want it to be. But be aware with posing this kind of question your are setting up boundary and you bring up dualism of failure and success. I personally do not want to be “trapped” by this kind of boundary and this kind of perspective is not agreeable with my art practise anyway

2. How do you think these “failures” come to manifest? (On a more specific level: Are they intentional or unintentional in nature? Caused by the artist, the situation or the audience participants?)

An artist usually have way or “strategy” in doing her/his art/performance. In expressing the idea an artist understand that “failure” is common thing in art making or process. And sometimes failure could even lead to a surprise or discovery – that the fantasy and imagination could have not seen it! Experienced artist understood it that making art is often like dealing with failure and enjoying it and turn it into something un-expectedly beautiful. Art making is not a making of product in the factory where everything is planned and the result has to be exactly like it is planned.

3. Do you personally subscribe to the methodology of “welcoming the possibility of failure”?

YES

• •

If yes, how do you execute such a methodology, i.e. provide “room for failure”?

Yes as I said above – for me anyway, failure is part of the process and art making itself. I don’t see the failure as something that will make me feel down instead it is becoming the source of my inspiration and new energy for the creation itself. Like what happens when one is doing improvisation for example.

Page 29 of 43

Kong Yin Ying Candidate Session No: 004130-0007

•

If no, have you ever encountered artists who do subscribe to it? Do you think there are methodologies of a similar nature?

4. What do you think are the drawbacks of welcoming the possibility of Failure?

5. What do you think are the merits of welcoming the possibility of Failure?

As for the question of no 4 and 5 I think I have touched it above. What I mean is that the idea about “failure” is depends on one perspective. When one sees it as a problem than it is becoming a problem but when one sees it as for example source of inspiration or source of creative energy that it has completely different function and meaning to what normally being understood. And the power of creativity will be able to transform what seen as bad to become something good and bautiful! Remember here we are talking about the making of art and its process – not a making of product in a factory!

On the Performance Art Narrative

1. What do you think are the merits and drawbacks of having •

an unplanned performance (a fixed narrative)

•

a planned/ premeditated performance (a variable narrative)?

• •

I don’t think I need to answer this question – there is no merit and drawbacks in art making and its process. Artist is not a businessman/woman – there is no such dualistic parameter as failed and success in creative process. Anyway, I don’t believe in this kind of way and approach in art making. My approach to art making is not about making the end product but about process. Probably there are other artist who has different approach and more oriented towards end product but certainly not me.

• 2. What do you think is the main difference between a planned performance as opposed to an unplanned one? This question also I don’t need to answer – I think I have given the answer above. Because in my work the planned and un-planned usually interweaving – I’m open for possibilities during the process of the making. I’m ready to deal with mistake and failure in a creative way and will always be open for improvisation. Because it is what I will call art, that I don’t see failure as a drawbacks or problem but challenge to be handled by my creativity.

Page 30 of 43

Kong Yin Ying Candidate Session No: 004130-0007

3. Do you think it is possible to have a fully unplanned performance? Why not – this is something quite often happens in my work. Often I created work base on the situation and space that I encounter. Sometimes work just done intuitively. Conceptually an artist could develop a “strategy” that is almost completely un-planned. As also could make it into something completely planned of combination of both. •

If yes, how do you think the artist ensures/ executes this? How do you think the narrative of the performance forms?

• • There is no fix way or method that an artist has to follow – every artist could develop each own way and strategy in making their art. So how an artist execute and making a narrative – is depends on the artist herself/himself. There is no such method and way that one has to follow! One may learn about other artist way and strategy but one doesn’t expected to copy and follow what the other artist is doing.

• •

If no, what elements of the performance interfere?

4. Do you think it is possible for a planned performance to be fully executed as per the artist’s vision?

It is possible – why not. Only the artist knows how to do it. Usually long experience in art making will make the artist able to do the work as planned or not planned. But this doesn’t mean the planned work is better that those with un-planned or improvisation. Sometimes even work with improvisation could be more interesting and lively and more inspiring as well!

•

If yes, how do you think the artist ensures/ executes this?

• •

As I said artist can do her/his work the way they want it to be. If they want the planned work done as exactly like it’s plan – it’s is always possible. Artist have complete freedom to do it as she or he likes. Plan or not plan is not really a big deal it is just a way of expressing oneself. And a creative being will be open for any possibility and find the most suitable way in expressing herself/himself, or idea or message artist want to convey.

If no, what elements of the performance interfere? If there are unplanned aspects, how do you think the narrative of the performance forms?

Page 31 of 43

Kong Yin Ying Candidate Session No: 004130-0007

9.2 Interview with Daniela Beltrani 27 January 2014 2.30pm TCC at POMO

Daniela Beltrani: Jason uses failure in ceramics. Or he has used failure. Those methods or those accidents that occur when – I mean, they will occur sometimes in ceramics – actually, he knows that it’ll occur and he uses this to do something in the bigger scheme of things. So failure in contemporary art can be turned around and can actually become an interesting new beginning or perhaps take a new path. So if one is not to strict and says, “oh God, I’ve got to do this!”… In performance art, you can think like that, but you would find that you can discover more possibilities if you are open minded. So if you say, “I want to do this” but actually some accidents happen, through time, you have the strength and power of actually responding to the failure in a successful manner. So from failure, it becomes success, in a sense.

Kong Yin Ying: Do you have your own definition of failure?

Daniela Beltrani: Oh! Yes, of course! I mean, this is very much generic in the sense that failure is something that does not follow a certain path. In performance, it could be an intention. Performances can be done in several ways. It can be constructed and therefore, you’ll start from an idea and you just think, “this is what I wanna do”. You can create a performance that’s open, so you don’t know what’s gonna happen at the end. You can create a performance – I mean, it depends how much control you want to have. In reality, I find that, the less control – the smaller amount of control – the better. In my experience. So for example, I did this performance this July, whereby I lay down and I had this glass. This is the one that I presented at the [Making Space, Body as Woman] forum.

Kong Yin Ying: The one with the chocolate sauce?

Daniela Beltrani: Ya. So the one with the big glass and everything. So that was open, ‘cause I don’t know first how long it’s gonna take, I don’t know if it’s gonna work in the sense that, hey, it’s a heavy glass. I didn’t like – If I’d wanted, I could’ve done this before at home by myself. I don’t wanna do that. Why? Because, otherwise, I’m too much in control, and I think it loses the character of authenticity. This is why it’s so different for theatre. If you miss a line, that’s not good, right? But, in performance, if I’d done that at all, it’s okay to get to know your material, to see how it reacts. So, all I did at home. I got the glass and I squirted some of this sauce – treacle sauce – and I just put the glass vertical to see whether it would go down. And it goes down. Okay, it goes down. Wipe it off. And then keep it, like something virgin, like something immaculate, that you don’t touch, and I reserved it for that occasion.

Page 32 of 43

Kong Yin Ying Candidate Session No: 004130-0007

Why? Because I wanted to be authentic. I wanted it to be real. I didn’t want to fake anything, because if I knew, already, how much or how little, I could already adjust it. Because I wanted this authentic character. In that sense, failure is a possibility, but to experience, the artist can handle failure. Failure is something that can be just a new beginning, that’s all. But it is in this context. Of course, in the objective way, something that you actually, you have something you want to do.There are some artists, actually even some bad performances can teach you something, you know, where the artist wants to control. Wants – this is what will happen, and this has to happen. And fights to make that happen. On some occasions, you realise it’s like – “don’t do that, don’t do that! Just let it go! It’s okay!”, right? Now I’m just trying to think the performances that occurred… For example, Andrea’s performance. She’s done that kind of thing before, where she fights, and she struggles, and she fights. That, maybe, is not really prone to failure, in the sense that it’s not about success or failure. It goes beyond, right? It’s more when… for example, the first performance, Malvina. If you think about it, actually those were all failures. All the slices of bread, they were obviously not right. But she used the wrong way of making it because it was an attempt to try something different. Because her husband was doing that for her. So she – it’s almost like admitting failure in try to make – using failure at her advantage to make a point.

Kong Yin Ying: And in your own work?

Daniela Beltrani: In my own work? Okay. In that one, in that performance, I was just open to the fact that it may – something may go wrong. And, at the very end, I turned my face. That was I guess – I mean, I don’t know if you can call it failure – the idea of the drop is the struggle, the drop to go down, finally into my own mouth. Actually that was already refusing, that performance [had] a sense of failure. In that sense, it’s an intended failure to prove a point. I was talking about perseverance, relating it to life. If you give up, that’s not perseverance, right? Sometimes it’s through the negative situation that you actually can reach out to people and engage them. In Singapore, it’s too much about success. I do not believe in that because we are perfect and imperfect. We are perfect in potentiality because we have everything, we are built in the image of God, right? And God is perfect. Although I’m a Christian, I’m not really convince by the sin – like we’re sinners. Okay, yeah yeah, it doesn’t have to be so heavy. So I think in reality, we have the potential to be perfect and we have everything within us. It’s just a matter of different dosages in brilliance. And so, I think, particularly when you’re vulnerable, you can reach out to people more easily, cause… you know, it’s like an animal that’s wounded. Most people would react, you know, feeling – “aww” – like this, right? The same with a human being who – in the authenticity, mind you.

Page 33 of 43

Kong Yin Ying Candidate Session No: 004130-0007

9.3 Interview with Lee Wen (following prior conversation in October at COSMOS exhibit @ 8Q, Singapore Biennale) 24 January 2014 3.30pm at the Independent Archive and Resource Centre (IARC), Kampong Glam Shop Houses, 67 Aliwal Street, S(199942)

Lee Wen: To me, people always ask me how do I gauge performance art. And it’s very difficult because it is a very individualistic language, so every artist is very different. so it’s very hard to have a general way of judging good or bad performance. I have a way of categorizing them in four different [categories] – I told you about that right?

Kong Yin Ying: The good good, good bad, bad good…

Lee Wen: Ya, so I don’t need to repeat that.

Kong Yin Ying: Ya, but I think I’m also looking at the smaller failures, for example, Arahmaiani’s work. She wanted silence in her work. But there were all those camera flashes and clicks that kind of disrupted that feel, so…

Lee Wen: She could have requested for no sound.

Kong Yin Ying: She requested right at the start, but for documentation’s sake, that happened.

Lee Wen: You can always tell them not to do it if you want.

Kong Yin Ying: Ya, but, from that [failure], my schoolmate and myself – we created a work in “attack” of the photographer. So, in that sense, that failure became like –

Lee Wen: A new work.

Kong Yin Ying: Ya.

Lee Wen: Ya, I mean it depends on how seriously you want to observe the silence, you see. I mean, for me, if I absolutely demand it, I would ask them to stop, even though I start[ed] my performance. Because, if you really need it, you just don’t want to perform with that… There was an English couple

Page 34 of 43

Kong Yin Ying Candidate Session No: 004130-0007

in China. They were very upset with all the documentation going on, so they actually asked everyone to switch off [their] cameras. So, it’s up to the artists, whether they want to insist or not. I think performance is very much depend[ent] on the artist, what kind of conditions they feel is most suitable for what they want to do. So, if some people are very puristic about no documentation… Actually, sometimes it’s also because of the sound, the noise, the movement that distracts the artist, so they don’t want that. Because, once people are starting to move around, nobody is concentrating on what you’re saying, so it’s very [un]conducive to attention in what you’re doing. And a lot of artists take themselves very seriously, so they don’t want people to think about doing other things while they are performing. I mean, failure, it depends on what you mean by failure. I think, sometimes you go into performance as if [it’s] like a science experiment. So you have objectives, what is it, then you talk about how you do it, you have all the materials you need, and then within certain time span, you do a sequence of things, and then at the end of it, you say success or failure. But I think, to me, I used to write that way also, because I come from a scientific background. But I start to think that sometimes it’s very restrictive, and it dictates our way of working and thinking as well. So I try not to work that way nowadays, because I’d rather work in a way which is more who I am, you see. But lately I find it that I’m becoming a bit too – what do you call [it] – not able to reach my target time – time frame.

Kong Yin Ying: Target? Time frame?

Lee Wen: Ya. Because everything has a deadline nowadays. By certain date you have to produce certain things. Not because we are not doing it. You know, sometimes we need it to push ourselves to do it. Like school homework, ya? That kind of thing. I mean, I’m over with that already, because, I mean, in school we used to do it because by certain dates we have to do it, because we had to hand up the homework. And in our daily life nowadays, because you’re so busy, and a lot the things are things we have not done before. Although, you know, we have done similar things, each time you do is always different, you see. The conditions are different. So, sometimes we underestimate. A lot of times, almost all the time, we underestimate how much time it takes to do one thing. And then, you cannot reach the deadline. So, by the deadline, you still cannot make it. In terms of deadline, it’s hard to achieve what is required. Then it’s a failure not because you cannot execute it; it’s just because the time given to you is not enough. […] That’s why sometimes it’s good to work [with] a scientific method, because you are able to judge according to how much time you have. Your risks are less because you’re calculating them. Whereas, in the organic way, sometimes you’re too loose, and then you lose track of time, and that energy that is required. You underestimate it, and then you cannot hit the target time. So, it’s a very difficult thing to balance between the two, because, on one hand, I don’t like to work in such a methodical way, because it spoils my freedom of imagination – because, like, sometimes people ask me why do I still draw like that (gestures to his drawings around the room), or use [my] hand to draw. You can always somebody to do it for you, because nowadays we don’t

Page 35 of 43

Kong Yin Ying Candidate Session No: 004130-0007

believe in technical skills so much. But to me, I still enjoy doing it for one thing. On the other hand, of course I can understand the conceptual artist point of view. And a lot of my work, although it’s craft, or technically still requires my hand to put the effort to make the things… It’s not just about going back to a primitive method, but along the way of making it, beside[s] enjoying it myself, we also get new ideas, you see. The action of making it – somehow there are connections in the brain that you don’t realise. Because if you ask someone to do it in a mathematical way, or in a computerised way…

Kong Yin Ying: It’s already set.

Lee Wen: It’s not say set. The brain works differently that way.

Kong Yin Ying: You work within a boundary that you set before?

Not say that. It works differently. Actually, it’s a different way of using the brain. I don’t mind that, but I’m not like that. I don’t enjoy using the computer in that way. Because there are people who use [the] computer to draw and paint. They can do equally well as a human, or even better. So, some people prefer the hand, some people prefer the computer. One way of working, or the other way of working… I’m not against either way, actually. I just think that it’s different, and I enjoy using it myself because along the way I always discover new things, and it gives me new ideas to work on. So, it’s more about preference. Because, the people who use computer, I think they are more methodical and they think things before they make it. Some when they are making it, it’s all about mathematics already. So they already conceive the idea and then they use the mathematics and the engineering to fulfill it. Whereas, I’m half fulfilling along the way and also searching for the next thing to do. And in terms of failure, every failure to me teaches me something, so I don’t see failure as failure. You know, like in the old days there’s the saying: Failure is the mother of [success]. Kong Yin Ying: 失败是成功之母。

Lee Wen: Ya. So, this is something that… I enjoy it. So, to me, failure is always something good, not a bad thing. Like my current project at the Singapore Biennale. It’s not finished. The time that you came (28 Oct 2013) was just telling you the beginning – that I want to do this. But it doesn’t mean that [it] will happen. I told you, it could fail. In fact now we expect it to fail already, in the sense that, the lantern cannot really fly, and we don’t intend to make it anyway. So, it’s just a dream that we know will not work out. So, what to do with this – in the sense that, I will talk about it. And to me, the failure is there but, it gave me a chance to talk about the burning of a million pounds. And that is the main thing, actually, for me. To disseminate the information, and to let people think about it, and to let people know that I feel very strongly about that work. So, to me, it’s not a failure in some ways. The failure is

Page 36 of 43

Kong Yin Ying Candidate Session No: 004130-0007

in terms of making the object. If people expect that biennale is about making an object, or exhibition is making an object – then I fail. I agree that I fail. But, to me, it’s not a failure because the objective in this work is actually to talk about the burning of a million pounds – and not just about the burning, but to question about the value of art making. So, to me that is still not a failure, but a lot of people see it as a failure, because they took my statement – the one, two, three about what I’m going to do – too seriously. Whereas, to me, those are the things that I set out to do, not saying that I will succeed in every one because I set it out. Because, this is like a science experiment, in the first place. Actually, the science experiment has no such thing as failure. What you only prove is that there’s something that you want to do, but it did not happen. It failed in terms of what you did try to do, and you didn’t expect it but it didn’t happen [as per] what you expect. So that’s the only thing. It’s not like a failure. You’re actually asking a question to be answered ‘yes’ or ‘no’, that’s all. So sometimes you receive ‘no’ as an answer, sometimes you receive ‘yes’. Then you go on to the next step already. So, to me, there’s no failure in art – in science, also.

Kong Yin Ying: Would you consider your work to be embracing a possibility of failure? Because, the way I see it, failure…

Lee Wen: Actually… I don’t talk about success and failure. You see, success and failure [are] the question of modern society, in the sense that we are always asking for success. We wish people ‘eh success!’, you know. But to me, it’s always success, in the sense that, as long as you continue your work. You know there’s this thing about infinite games and finite games. Did I talk to you about that?

Kong Yin Ying: I don’t think so…

Lee Wen: Ok, there’s a book. I think maybe you can write down the name. The author is called James Carse. C-A-R-S-E. And I always recommend this book because it’s one of the main – what you call – working principles for me. It’s a book called ‘Finite and Infinite Games’ – I don’t know whether it’s the other way [a]round or not. It could be ‘Infinite Games and Finite Games’. He talks about how life is like, can be seen in terms of a finite game or a infinite game. Finite game is about success and failure, about winning and losing, about achieving and not achieving. There’s a goal to it and there’s a competition involved, and then one team wins against another team. So, that’s a finite game, because when one team wins, it’s the end of the game. But then there’s the infinite game. And life is actually an infinite game where it’s made of finite and infinite games. But the greater picture of all – when you look at the whole thing as a whole – is always an infinite game. Because it’s offered to us that we live and we die, but then it goes on and on. So, actually it’s infinite. But human beings and every entity inside it is finite, because we are limited, we are mortal beings. Whereas, actually, the higher spiritual levels is infinite. But, he talks about it in Game Theory. Like, for example, football. Football has four sides, and

Page 37 of 43

Kong Yin Ying Candidate Session No: 004130-0007

then there’s eleven players to one side, and then the idea is to play one team against the other to shoot the most goal and then one team will win and the other team will lose. Or it’s a draw, and then you go again and again until one team wins. So that’s a finite game because it’s defined that way. But you can make it infinite also. You can perhaps make the boundary change shape, or you can increase the number of players, or you can have three, four or five balls inside, while they are playing. So, if you change the rules of the game, you can make it infinite. And, that’s one of the reasons how I got the idea of the ping pong table.

Kong Yin Ying: The circular one?

Lee Wen: Ya. Because, it’s in a way, kind of opening up the boundaries. But of course I didn’t define it clearly, but it’s something to do with this idea of infinite games. So, in life, if you look at finite and infinite way[s], it’s a larger picture of things. So, when you ask me whether I look at success or failure, I do also – I do. I also want to win. But if I lose, I have no problem. I go for the next game. It doesn’t matter, because the main thing is to keep on playing. The idea is to keep on playing. It’s not that we’re winning or losing. Winning or losing is just to know how to play this game, at this moment, in order to win this game. But you know that this game is not the only game. There will be other games.

Kong Yin Ying: Then, would you consider that your works are looking into the infinite? I remember you mentioned your Hannover Expo, the 2000 work – the one with the trolley bag and the flowers? You went in right in the morning with the materials.

Lee Wen: Ya. Unprepared.

Kong Yin Ying: Ya. Unprepared, unexplored. […] You banged it around and then you opened it.

Oh ya. The bag. Ya, at first I just put all the flowers inside. It was full. It’s like a trolley bag full of flowers. But it’s not compact. So, I didn’t know what I was going to do with it. I just thought that I’ll just bring it there. But before I opened it up and used it, I was throwing the bag around. And just playing with the bag as if it’s an object for me to play with. Of course I pulled it in first as a trolley bag, as normal as per normal like a tourist. And then I start to climb up – because there’s some ladder there – I climbed up the ladder, then I [threw] the bag down. To just do something with it. So the actions actually – moving the bag around and throwing it around and all that – makes the flowers come together and become very compact, in the centre. When I opened [it] up, it was like a cube. A cube of a much more compact, entangled flowers together. When I took it out, it was almost like a cube of it. And slowly, I played with that. In a way, it was a surprise for me. It was a nice surprise, because I didn’t expect it. When I opened it, it was like ‘wow’, you know. It was something new to me. It is that

Page 38 of 43

Kong Yin Ying Candidate Session No: 004130-0007

kind of thing that – it’s good that – it’s an accident in the sense that I didn’t expect it. And it’s not that I look for it, it’s just that it’s by chance. This is what they call chance happening. But I guess, when you know about physics well enough, you could have suspected it, if you [thought] about that. But it’s just that I didn’t think about it. That day I was just very happy that I found my material, ‘cause the day before, I told you I went two days earlier, they didn’t even let me see the space.

Kong Yin Ying: Until midnight, right?

Lee Wen: Ya, until midnight. Then the next day, morning, we had to go and perform, so I didn’t have time to find materials.

[…]

Kong Yin Ying: So, to you, how do spontaneous and unplanned things–

Lee Wen: What is the difference is it?

Kong Yin Ying: How there’s always some part [of the work] that is unexpected. Like… it doesn’t occur as you envisioned. […]

Lee Wen: Like I said, I’ve been working in performance art for nearly thirty years now. Or even more, I can’t remember when. But anyway, more continuously in terms of seriously doing it as performance art, per se. It’s been like thirty odd years. So nothing is new to me anymore. And, even though it may be new, it’s quite predictable in some ways. A lot of things, we kinda “can guess what’s gonna happen” kind of thing. But, still I would think that being a performance artist, we can still make it a performance based on the attitude we have. We’re not trying to repeat what we know from before. Every time we perform, it’s always new in a sense that we let it happen, and we watch what’s happening, and we respond to it like a real life situation. Although we plan in terms of A to B – I’m walking from here to there – but even when we know that, we must let it walk naturally by itself, not like every step of the way you think until like [you] know? Then it becomes very unnatural. Or natural in the sense that it’s theatrical. There’s a lot of difference, you know?

Page 39 of 43

Kong Yin Ying Candidate Session No: 004130-0007

9.4 Interview with Lisa Bauer Via email to lisa.k.bauer@gmx.de 26 January 2014

On Failure 1. What qualifies as Failure in Performance Art to you? There certainly are different kinds of so-called failure. ('Failure' in some ways has a rather negative connotation to me.)

* the once where a task is set, that cannot be achieved, because of obvious physical limits

I here first do think of a performance by Canadian artist Julie Andrew T., that she did in 2009 in Beijing at the 10th International Open Festival. She had prepared a carpet hanging from the ceiling of the gallery. In the performance she â&#x20AC;&#x201C; in order to reach the ceiling where she would write the word 'sky' â&#x20AC;&#x201C; started climbing up the carpet by cutting 'steps' into it. Physically it seemed hardly managable as she was also wearing pretty high high heels. She failed once or twice before she managed the task, she obviously set herself in advance. I think what could be described as failure here is that it was obvious, that she nearly couldn't make it and very probably hasn't tried in this way before. I loved that 'failure' as it made the rather prepared performance very 'real' and I, as audience, could physically feel it.

* failure that happens because of the way the performance is planned (or not)

Talking of a performance I did myself in Beijing 2012 at the 'Beijing Live â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Love and Pain'-Festival, there I think where two failures. One I still regret (although it seems noone else noticed) and would therefore call a failure in the traditional meaning. Another one there was, that was good that way it happens. The first was that I left the scissors I would need towards the end of the performance on the floor. I should have taken them in my hands, because I planned to cut my braid which was tied to a string that went through a hook on the ceiling to my mouth. So once I started I couldn't get them anymore. I resolved it in letting an audience member help me. I 'ate' the string piece by piece, so that my braid would slowly stand up in the air. In the end I cut the end of my braid where the string was tied to and kept on chewing so that the piece of my hair which

Page 40 of 43

Kong Yin Ying Candidate Session No: 004130-0007

looked like a fish's tail (well, at least that was my thought behind it), would slowly go up but was still connected to me. I wanted to keep on chewing until I would have the hair in my mouth, but then – and that's what I consider the second failure – I felt very sick and noticed I wouldn't be able to finish the way I planned it. So I just found a way of stopping there, as I didn't want the whole performance to go to a limit. The first failure I'm still angry about ;)... the second one was good as the performance already went on for some time and I noticed the audience getting a bit unconcentrated. If I hadn't felt sick, I'd probably would have gone on the way I had planned it. That way the audience maybe wouldn't have given me the great response I got...

Another failure happend in a performance I did in 2009 in a river with a fellow performer-friend as part of a project of art on the river. We had build a kind of box out of wood and plastic which was as high as the water level of the river. The original 'plan' – or maybe you should see it as the utopian idea behind the performance – was to empty the box. Of course, that's impossible, water is too strong and heavy, one m³ of empty space in water is equivalent to a ton... so when we noticed (in planning the piece of art) that we wouldn't be able to do it the way we'd like to, we thought of doing it as a performance, in which we would face the impossible task of emptying it. So, of course, the performance was a 'failure' in itself in some way. The two things that happened that were different to what we had expected it to be, where that, firstly, the group that performed on the flowing river was much slower than we (and them) suspected, so that in the end we spent three hours in the quite cold river. Secondly, our plan was to take buckets and empty the 'box'. Of course it would start swimming and in the end it drowned. This last part – the box disappearing – we didn't expect. But then it was the perfect end of the performance. So in this performance I see both failures as perfect. Although the first one of course gave us a hard time, it made the whole thing very interesting and we had time to really really get into the situation. Especially as we worked in a pair, which probably is so much harder than on your own. The second one was just the perfect ending which otherwise would have given us a bit of a hard time.

I just thought that there are as well 'cultural failures' in the sense, that messages can not be read or the artist isn't thinking of what a certain material or action might mean in another culture. Those definitevly aren't 'good failures' , they create a horrible atmosphere: I once saw a performance of an Chinese artist in China who asked to people of the audience to stand next to the 'stage' wearing a kind of hat. In the end, this hat was something that looked exactly like a cucluxclan-hat/mask. The American artist, who had (unknowingly) agreed to be part, felt horrible wearing it... (maybe that's not the failure you are talking about, but I just thought it might be interesting or important, too)

Page 41 of 43

Kong Yin Ying Candidate Session No: 004130-0007

3. Do you personally subscribe to the methodology of “welcoming the possibility of failure”? •

If yes, how do you execute such a methodology, i.e. provide “room for failure”?

•

If no, have you ever encountered artists who do subscribe to it? Do you think there are methodologies of a similar nature?

Yes, my performances are never thoroughly planned and there is always room for something unpredictable. In my performances I start working from an idea. Of course, I am going to try if this idea works at all and what it looks like, visually. So I try it in front of a mirror or by using a video camera. But I never have the whole performance planned completely. On the one hand I want to have room for feeling how the audience would react and how I do feel in the space. So I have material and an idea on how I'm going to use it and what I want to express. Although that might sound like a very thoroughly planned performance I think it's not, as every performance still has a lot of small unpredictable parts, e.g. feelings between audience and performer, etc.

4. What do you think are the drawbacks of welcoming the possibility of Failure? You might suddenly be at a loss, when the performance doesn't work the way you wanted it to, for example if the audience shows no reaction at all. In doing a performance I want to follow my feelings insted of my thoughts and plans. So if I am suddenly faced with such a situation I might be forced to think a lot which is not how I feel I ca perform at all.

5. What do you think are the merits of welcoming the possibility of Failure? I see performance as a kind of practice, which isn't finished when the performance ends and which also starts before the performance. Seeing performance from this perspective, failure just becomes a natural part of the performance practice

Page 42 of 43

Kong Yin Ying Candidate Session No: 004130-0007

On the Performance Art Narrative

1. What do you think are the merits and drawbacks of having •

an unplanned performance (a fixed narrative)

•

a planned/ premeditated performance (a variable narrative)?

An unplanned performance is more lively – and more possible boring. I think it really depends on the performer. Not every performer is made doing planned performances, not everyone can do unplanned ones.

2. What do you think is the main difference between a planned performance as opposed to an unplanned one? Where does a planned performance ends and where does an unplanned one starts? Is the reperforming of a performance in every case a planned one?

3. Do you think it is possible to have a fully unplanned performance? •

If yes, how do you think the artist ensures/ executes this? How do you think the narrative of the performance forms?

•

If no, what elements of the performance interfere?

No, I don't think it's possible to have a fully unplanned performance, as every thought on executing the performance already is a plan, therefore not having a plan also is a kind of plan.

4. Do you think it is possible for a planned performance to be fully executed as per the artist’s vision? •

If yes, how do you think the artist ensures/ executes this?

•

If no, what elements of the performance interfere? If there are unplanned aspects, how do you think the narrative of the performance forms?

No, it's not possible, as there is an audience who will react. There always is an environment that should be considered. Or maybe let's say it this way: It is possible, but personnaly I don't really like performances like that, as they seem to be more like theater performance than performance art. For me performance art's strong point is this reaction on whatever happens and not just an execution. Although I don't like the separation of performing arts and performance art as belonging to visual arts, I think the difference just lies in the unplannedness of performance art, where it meaning might lie.

Page 43 of 43