The Flame

Sitting there in the flesh knowing I am representing innocence and youth as I stare at the flame thinking it defines naivety and precariousness. One could say the same sentence but flipping the adjectives and it having relevance as well. Sitting there in the flesh I am representing naivety and precariousness as I stare at the flame thinking it defines innocence and youth.

Youth is defined as the time between childhood and maturity.  When does it end one would ask as it could be physically and mentally different for everyone?  The flame does not last forever but that is based on the amount of the substance that makes the fire? So I ask again when does youth end? Well, the law says 18 and in the astrology calendar it says 27-30.  At first, I felt that being called “the boy” in a performance-based artwork was contradicting because I have reached the end of my youth. But, as I sat there the theoretical thought behind youth does not contradict my description at all.  I fit in the astrological definition of youth as well as I tend to approach my work and viewing others from a youthful place.  Meaning, that I relying on my present knowledge and curiosity as a starting point to research in hopes of defining a concept.  Allowing intuition to lead me to a conclusion on work instead of starting with the answer gives me an innocent approach and allows me to follow Victor Turner’s theories of play. That’s what I do when sitting on a park bench staring at the flame in the middle of a gallery.  I am researching!

 I don’t see the onlookers as the performance can only possess it’s beauty in performative if I am un-distracted and contemplative. I feel my nakedness is to give me a non-descript look and to represent purity. I see the flame in the same way as a raw and naked source of purity, an element.  At one point when performing I realized we share pigmentation and energy. There was a moment when I resistant to shave my moustache in preparation for the work but now I feel its appropriateness.  My identity is taken away so I may be the representation of a greater community, the youth. 

So, what relates me to the flame? This is compounds and tension; as the artist is extremely interest in chemical substances and what these compounds create.  The work is what happens from the chemical reactions and/or the tension of the reaction to its spectator. But what is the similar thing that each of his works create? I think it is life. I must mention here that this perception is based on my own experience and judgements, being within this work and viewing other pieces by him, as the artist didn’t explain to me his perceptions of this or other works.  But, when substances are mixed and create compounds they create life such as when the sperm meets the egg.  From this a child is born and it is passed on the tools of language and motor skills.  At this point the child enters youth to be explorative and to experience lessons that he will use in his next stage of life, which is maturity. The flame and me are that moment passing from one stage to the next using tension, energy, and contemplation to support, one watching over the other.  As I step off the bench and the ropes are removed you are left with an object that might be plain and easy to pass by with out a thought but it does holds memories and moments.  And I think that the tension is still visible in its absentia allowing that object to be perpetually youthful or fragile. Which is perfect that the visitors are prohibited to sit on the bench as it is reserved for only the flame and the boy. 

Within/Spaces

Within / Spaces

This exhibition is a presentation of the visual and audible experience following the result of a curated concept on the question of the figure in space and the presentation of a researched idea. I have developed a series of videos that are laid out in the order of editing to show the progression of this research of informed looking. Simultaneously, it was an exploration of London to find places that were interesting and off the beaten path as a way of weaving myself in to a community and understanding the country I presently live in. This follows the trend in my work about the development of a community and humanistic relationships between the performers.

At the beginning of this research and development project,I set-up a ritual practice of improvising everyday for 40 days in spaces throughout London and Spain, while on holiday, as well as documenting the spaces and/or areas around them through photographs. The premise was to seek out a location, make a response, perform, and document it all whilst leaving room for an intuitive development and outcome based on observation and speculation. What became apparent to me, was the first question or response; the act of looking. I began to speculate about what it is I am doing and what is the material I have collected up to this point. I began to think about the videos and how they will become useful either by creating a phrase or just material to make a response about. The first idea and starting point of developing this research was to put several videos next to each other on different tv’s which spawned the first video Rocks. Rocks is a documentation of the moment of a site specific improvisation paired with a video of the space. I followed this formula to develop a second video which followed the same theme of the improvisation and the space it was created in. After completing this second video Factory it became clear that this project was about the interest in spaces and a figure within that space. How does one react, reflect, and be motivated to move (or not move) within these spaces. Pondering the appropriateness of the figure and the reasoning to why he is there? I looked at the space as a frame for the figure and in some case the figure connects areas within the space together.

From there, a separate thread of research questions about the presentation of this archive sprung out of this work. Returning to the idea of looking and reflecting on the material I had, I decided to make this exhibition as a way of seeing the progress of my research and the reflection on the material being presented. Each video informs the next and by the time I came to the final work Untitled I had started filming with the idea of how to use the space in the way that would motivate the capture of the moment and would start the editing process whilst filming. I also found that to fully let the space motivate me I needed to do less and have fewer choices within the spaces. The final two videos Arches and Untitled, I stripped away traditionally label dance movement and responded only to the space through pedestrian gesture in a way of thinking “What is the appropriateness of the figure in this space?” and “How would the improvisation documentation be edited later on?“

Untitled is the final video within this research question. The cinematic quality of the space and its subject matter in the improvisation, I think, is a resolution to this process. To me this space seems to inflict a sense of nirvana and waiting. The work has become a score for a live performance piece entitled, Lay Me To Rest which will took place in the crypt gallery at St. Pancras Church. Responding to the fashion photography and sensuality of the exhibition Lingering Whispers whilst enjoying the cold and dormant environment of the crypt the performer hopes to provide a blend of these in a ritual of passing on and looking at pondering abject and death.

The common theme in this exhibition is the idea of absence and presence as well as distance; either visually and/or audibly. The work is presented in a dark space to heighten the acuteness to the senses and to give a feeling of solitary. The final video Tralfagar I-III is a response to the information learned from this research. It incorporates information whilst taking on a new step towards looking at editing and phrasing with movement.

The music in this video follows that same idea of duality with the usage of Bach’s Inventions which is a composition of dual melodic lines that relate but weave in and out until they resolve together. There was play between the images and the dual melodic line that influenced the editing of this series. The movement was a response to the historical background of the space and its function which motivated me in exploring the idea of posture and decorum amongst the ballroom and other drawing rooms. Again the idea of absence comes across as the figure is presented against vast landscapes of tall ceilings, long rooms, and a red curtain that separates one side of the ballroom from the other. As the figure stands alone the social event intended in this space is in absentia and is only resonating in the figures movement and interactions.

This exhibition would not be possible with out the artistic help, collaboration, support and editing by James Haswell D’Arcy. Thank you for your endless hours

I also would like to thank Shaun Boyle, Anna Kingston, Nina Kov, Amanda Prince-Lubawy for filming and the Trafalgar Pub and The Wapping Project for letting me film in their spaces.

I want to recognise my work

When you spend time looking you then notice detail.  Looking is a major part of how I make work. 

“Yet, although every image embodies a way of seeing, our perception or appreciation of an image depends also upon our way of seeing.” (Berger,1972, pp. 10)

 My eyes are like a movie screen with borders, as they don’t have an infinite peripheral.  So I use what I see from edge to edge as the viewable image, I don’t want to move my head from side to side when looking at the canvas as I might miss something.  I have this idea that you can walk in to a space and know it is my work your about to experience.  I think artist have a look that could be un-describable by them in words at that moment but it is their look. But I speak about this with naivety because I can’t explain my work fully as I am in that moment of discovery in my career.  This is why I spend time looking at what I make or what I am interested in. 

A series of events happened to me yesterday that made me think about my image.  I am very concerned in how we view the figure and more importantly how, where and what mode that figure is presented.  I was at the gallery that is showing my exhibit Within/Spaces yesterday afternoon around 1pm.  I was in a very celebratory mood because my first exhibit in London is a reality now.  Walking through the space experiencing my work as it is designed, I watched a visitor delicately vector her way through the series. Then, she returned back to the center of the exhibit to sit on the bench and observe one particular video again.  I found in the first presentation of the exhibit many observed the 7 videos in order and then returned to one to observe one more time.  This was to work through the feelings of nostalgia that a particular video had been saying something to them.   Different videos call to different people for one reason and or another.  After leaving the gallery I went to a meeting about my work with a colleague.  This was to work out what I was doing and how I would move forward.  In this meeting many topics came up about what is it I am looking for and what is my image.  This was a necessity for me to take myself serious as an artist.  After my meeting, I return to the gallery only to find my exhibit had been altered. 

I wanted to examine the idea of why I felt violated and I have come to this conclusion:

I am serious about attention to detail and a clear image.

I walked into the space and examined its details and how I can take it into account.  I spent time thinking about the white space; to the first on-look one would think it is a blank white canvas room as all galleries are.  But further attention, I start to examine the height of the ceiling, the 6 rectangled shape pillars, and the entrances and exits of the space.  From there, I looked to the flat walls in contrast to the textured pillars, as well as the gaps between the ceiling and the walls put up.  I followed the cords attaching the lights as they ran across the ceiling and into the walls making their way to a back room to plug into one power socket.  I got closer to those cords and notice the painted white tape where the wires had been attached so all lights work on one source.  I then looked into the flooring that had been painted white with wall paint and how it chips with a wrong step of heeled shoes.  This was discovered through exploring and looking at the space not for a few minute but actually hours.  You can never look at something too long if you continue to consider it and question it.

Now I am at the place to install my exhibit.  I am faced with a challenge of using the idea of the exhibit and its position in the space (the gallery).  I was supplied with small tvs that had been sprayed painted white with mixed match grey and black DVD players.  The exhibit explores the idea of improvisation in public spaces, the idea of looking and being informed by that information, and sound (the individual videos as well as all videos together make one soundscape).  Especially because of the height of the room I wanted the sound to swarm the space and the viewer to be drawn into each video.  I made a conscious choice to put the TV’s and DVD players on the floor to consider the sound and space.  When further laying out the exhibit I realized that there is a choice I am always faced, because I explore ideas of research as a product, is the materials I use.  There is no hiding the amount of cords, technical devices and overall set-up.  I like to structure the raw.   The exhibit is laid out so you see the cords run to the DVD player and into the TV in an almost minimalist compulsive disordered fashion.  But this is my style; order to the disorder or beauty of the raw.  And I recognise that in my work and this is why I never use professional cameras, sleek equipment, and designed costumes.  I like real and attainable situations because I take what I see and I "consider it part of the performance." (Vincenzi, S. 2010)

Eliminating ignorance

“To me Production was a true example of populace.  The work took on a community that centered around knowledge which was shared through conversation, emails and blogs (that shared theoretical text as well as responses to the work and labor).  We constantly discussed the conceptual idea of discussion and in the inertia of it all we came out without any idea that makes a product but many exchanges of knowledge, cultures, and fits of expression.  I don't find it necessary to describe particular experiences because these then hold in our minds as moving sculpture, tangle products, but I think the overall tone is the path that choreography can take in the future.”

The above text is a response not to my own work but a work I am have been participating in for the past 4 months and it a/effects my own practice and how I see the spectators role in a performance.  I have been participating in Xavier Le Roy and Marten Spangbergs “Production” which was commission by the Hayward Gallery for the Move: Choreographing You exhibition. The work (if you have not experienced) draws the spectator in so they become an active participant in the performance which then alleviates the spectator all together.  By doing this the goal has eliminated product as spectatorship sets a formula that 1+1=2 (Performer + Audience= Performance which = Product which= commerce) 

What does this do for my work? I have not stop making work that eliminates the spectator but in a way I have actively consider where the spectator is placed in the performance.  And that spectator is an active participant not “ignorant people” sitting in a seat for entertainment.  I took on the approach to present research as a product so I can ask my audience to think and by thinking and diving into their memories and senses they are actively being entertain. (this being enjoyment or recalling an uncomfortable experience; all valid entertainment)  I have a passion against 3D for this exact reason; feed me feed me feed me and I have consumed without thinking, leaving me supposedly full but still hungry) I won’t digress anymore, but will explain what I mean.

“The theater is a place where ignorant people are invited to see suffering people.” (Plato)

He goes on to speak that these suffering performers are diseased and theater is the transmission of that disease.  I consider this a fine line to travel on in my work as I try not to use the theater as a therapeutic session but a place that connects humans with each other as equal bodies that have similar emotion.  I don’t ask for ignorance but for a quest by the spectator to tap into their own experiences to devise the answer to what is being laid out in front of them.  I found that the experience in Production of eliminating the spectator is similar to the experience I am doing by eliminating the passive spectator therefore eliminating ignorance.

So returning to my above statement, I think the path of choreography is to deepen the exchange of knowledge and push the realms of presentation.  Maybe an off topic statement but thinking that price doesn’t quantify quality but maybe the opposite I think.  As musical theater (my original passion and love) becomes more ready made food (jukebox musicals, remake of popular movies, etc) the price will go up and as the economical crisis tries to push arts out the intellectual based performance will become cheaper. (AMAZING! True class separation) I am seeing more and more free performances that were well researched and thoughtfully presented. In a way, I am ok with this as long as the funding is there to support the performers and collaborators.

Meetings Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teRbOg6KL_g

Let me begin with the end of 2010.

A year that was about new ideas and ways of seeing.  I learned to stay still and just observe.  So, what did I see? The research streams pass the books and pass the performances but the context was the important idea.  Living in London is possibly as important to my thought process as reading Berger.  This year I saw places that have put space, time and energy in to real context.  I want to take a moment to reflect upon the places I found this year and why they are important to my development. 


My most favorite place in all of London has to be the Wapping Project because it gives you an understanding of stalled motion.  It is the in between place within breathes.  If you were to elongate that moment this space is a capture.  I find the space allows me to register is intricacies and height.  I inspired to be the energy that makes the machines run again.  But this energy is always hidden in the back.  As you approach a large heavy green metal door you are then transported into a world that is completely inside the head of the presented artist.  There is no detail that is un-thought of and the capacity that it inspires a developing artist like myself to have this thought too.  Completeness.

I remember the first moment I stepped into the crypt at the Linger Whispers Exhibit.  It had this energy that expressed the festivity of death and the Golden Age.  The art create a wind tunnel that sucked you in and though it is a small place you felt hours  pass because of endless wandering in the catacombs of art.  For me this was the most successful exhibit of the year.  A usage of the space that gave relevance to the art within it, which usually is the vice versa in many exhibitions.  I felt the doors had swung open in this crypt and this art was found there.

There is something about summer in London; the temperature is rare and unpredictable.  But when the air is warm and the sun comes out I crave to escape the bustle and find serenity.  The Tow Path is a café coffee shop on the Regents Canal, a place I spent many hours writing my thesis.  But there is something weird when I sit there.  I forget I am in London or in 2010. I had a feeling of time slowing down which is something I feel is a necessity in order to think.  But the contrasts of my life taking on minutes are the bikes speeding by with intent.  The way the Tow Path finds simplicity in its delivery.  Toast comes in a basket accompanied by butter and jams all served on a motley of table furnishings. This gives me a comfort to feel and think. 

Those were just 3 out of many places I found this past year. 

Why touch : I am a single

“The most subtly necessary guardian of my life is the other’s flesh. Approaching and speaking to me with his hands. Bringing me back to life more intimately than any regenerative nourishment, other’s hands, these palms with which he approaches without going through me, give me back the borders of my body.” (Irigaray, L.  An Ethics of Sexual Differences. pp. 187)

Considering the lack of touch in my life I still have the vivid memory of the actions though there is no resonance of feeling. I am researching touch because I think it is now affecting my health.  I found my ability to handle stress or remain calm in desperate situations to be far less than before.  I notice couples more than I see single people.  Couples surround me in different stages in their relationships.  I find myself as an individual and find it hard to think I will share my intimate life again.  This is why I find it important to research touch as my new work.  My work has always been centered on human connectivity and as I find myself losing the sight of populace I don’t think I will understand what I am making work for. 

Movement has been a mechanism for me to connect and share. I am person who feels more comfortable with sharing my interest and thoughts physically with my body than with speech.  My skin is a narrator for my thoughts, interest and opinions.  In the work, I use contact improvisation as my form for exploring touch.  There is not an interest in choreographing the figures because if the movement becomes comfortable than attention and sensitivity is lost and human connectivity is as well.  This would make it a play and not an exploration or true meeting.  The work is entitled Meetings, which happened quite interestingly.  I chose the name for the press kits 3 months ago but as I started to develop the tasks for the improvisations and organizing the work more it truly was variations on the word.  You find the quick interactions that dissipate as quickly as they were formed.  The text is formed in conversations, which resemble arguments and therapy confessions but not inappropriate narcissistic emoting. A timekeeper moderates all these elements, which is the videos projected on the video screens at the back of the stage. Each text or improvisation is cut off by a video interruption.  There is a meeting of the figures on stage with the one on the videos.  The work makes me think about how quick touch comes in our lives and how we can be sensitive to it or brush it off.