A Paper on the Everlasting

Below is a recent paper on effigies and some ideas on their relationship to a larger understanding of art:

The Everlasting: Art, Death, and Permanence

The effigy is a kind of image that persists through human history. It takes on a variety of forms depending on the culture being examined. These forms may be tombs, shrines, small coins, or miniature sculptures to name a few. Despite the variety, the basic function of effigies remains the same: to memorialize and immortalize the existence of an individual – an existence limited by the corporeal body, but extended by the effigy.

The critique of the Dinner project

Wednesday we discussed the Dinner project. There was alot of good response to this project, perhaps influenced by the way the class all knows each other. People generally seemed to find it interesting that a project like this seems to work so hard to blur art and life. There were references to Allan Kaprow, Rirkrit Tiravanija, and several other conceptual artists that concerned themselves with where “life” stops and “art” begins and vice versa.

Recent Projects

Here are rundowns on a couple of recent projects that have yet to be included in my body of work. I’ll start at the beginning:

First, The Frozen Section. This was a complex, you-had-to-be-there kind of project. It was heavily layered both formally and conceptually. It begins with the memory of my father’s battle with, and death from cancer. During his illness he went blind, couldn’t form sentences, and generally deteriorated.

A Rough Edit of My Ideas

Below is a somewhat lengthy summary of the ideas swarming around my current projects. The next few entries will have summaries of the recent projects.

Andre Bazin suggested that “…at the origin of painting and sculpture there lies a mummy complex. The religion of ancient Egypt, aimed against death, saw survival as dependent on the continued existence of the corporeal body” (Trachtenberg 237). Bazin explains death as something that conquers time, but preservation of the body is something that removes an individual from the persistence of time. Art is one way in which this mummy complex manifests itself, a way for artists and culture alike to have an existence beyond the life of their own body.

Thanatology

I picked up an interesting book called Thanatology: A Liberal Arts Approach, Edited by Mary Ann Morgan, B.N., M.Ed., and John D. Morgan Ph.D from King’s College in Ontario. I read one of the beginning sections called “Living Our Dying”, which was written by John Morgan, the editor. It definitely was written from a slightly skewed religious standpoint, with God being mentioned too many times in a factual sense. However, it was full of good insights into death and culture, and I will list a few ideas I found provacative in the work:

You and That Thing That Happens To All of Us

The new blog project that I recently started is moving along very slowly.  Alot of people I talk to who are considering adding their sentiments say things like “It’s alot to think about”, or “I haven’t actually known anyone that’s died”.  I’m not sure how to remedy this, or if I need too.  Perhaps this is exactly my interest in this conversation, and my projects may need to revolve around figuring out ways to ‘break the ice’ so to speak.  It is a serious, and often heavy-handed subject which is what makes is so challenging to tackle in terms of artistic content.  While I do want to lighten the conversation, I’m not interested in trivializing or devaluing the experiences people do have with death.  I’m always open to suggestions.

The New Blog Project

I have started a new project that I’m hoping will gain some momentum, even if only for a short time.  Since blogs have recently been included as part of my research practice (they’re a great place to catalogue and store ideas), I decided to create one that others can be part of, and hopefully start a conversation.  Surprisingly, there isn’t alot of blog software that is designed the way I would like it to be, where users can sign up directly.  So, instead, they have to email me and then I create an account for them.  So far no one has signed up, so SIGN UP.   It’s called You and That Thing That Happens to All of Us. It’s about opening a conversation about death and dying.  I hope to learn some things about how people deal with the subject, provided people use it.

Back to the Scarecrow, or A Klopotec?

Chris Baker and I have settled upon most of an idea for our Scarecrow Project. After some research on the subject, we have decided to make something referred to as, among other things, a Klopotec. It’s a windpowered kinetic device designed in such a way that when its blades turn, some kind of noise is produced, either through wooden blocks hitting one another, or cams rattling an old, leafy tree-branch. I’m very excited about this, and hopefully we can get going on it ASAP.

Thesis…

So my mind is starting down the course that ends in a thesis – a required academic project that could be viewed as representative of all seven years of my art education, or, as I like to think about it, a report on where I happen to be in my creative process when I’m showing said thesis. I’m struggling with what this is going to be.

A year or two ago I was sure I wanted to make a film, but I don’t think I ever knew what for, or what about. Now I have a ton of questions about art, about what to do with myself, about what kind of time I should actually put into this project, and about all the bureaucracy that spirals around it in academia. This blog is supposed to help me figure this out, and perhaps it is in its own, subtle way. So far I’ve got some very broad ideas and a bunch of projects that need to be re-visited. Here are a couple of kernels I’ve been working with:

Scarecrows, Gardens, and the Digital

Being a student of the Time and Interactivity program at the University of Minnesota, I am certainly interested in digital/new media (the name of which, as you can see, is still poorly defined). One of the reasons I have been so drawn to this area, and interactive media in particular, is it’s ability to thoroughly engage the viewer, in a way that counters the more popular trend of disinterested contemplation, a concept made famous by Clement Greenberg.