About:
Professor Roger Rothman’s ARTH 208 Surrealism to the Present class created their version of the exhibition do it (home).
do it is the longest-running and most far-reaching exhibition to ever happen, giving new meaning to the concept of the “Exhibition in Progress.” do it takes written instructions by international artists as a point of departure, which are then freshly interpreted and locally enacted by members of our campus and community.
do it (home) is curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist and produced by Independent Curators International (ICI)
Exhibited Works:
| Artists’ Instructions (Click on the text to enlarge image) | Response (Click on the image to enlarge) |
 | This work has been interpreted and responded to by: Haley Beardsley Childrens: Willy Loves Everyone Rainbows Are More Than Pretty Colors Girls Like Trucks Too Tom the Tortoise Loves to Cry Goodnight Racism Adults: The Umbrella of Being Queer Why Everyone Needs to Embrace the Rainbow A Green Nursery Can Still = Gender Stereotypes Tearing Down Toxic Masculinity Why You’re A Racist __________________________________________________________________________ While doing the performance, I was struck by two things: the difficulty and beauty of simplifying intricate subjects and the need for adults to learn the same lessons as children. Only hours away from the most polarized election in America’s history, I sat at my computer and pondered what children need to learn early in their development. I thought of my 18 month old and 7 month old brothers, and how we have bedtime story time over facetime once a week. What would I like to read that is instilling a meaningful message into their minds? What do I want them to grow to be? So, as I looked at “Dinosaurs Dance!” and “Where’s Spot?” on my shelf in my dorm, I wanted my titles to mean more. I took on the following issues with my titles (in order): addressing inclusion and being LGBTQ+, the importance of pride, gender stereotypes, the emotional trap of masculinity, and racism. These are all issues that have become complex in today’s world, but I found it beautiful to simplify these issues. It was challenging to ignore all the clutter that surrounds each of these topics, but I was able to boil them down to the concrete principles that all people should follow and that need to be learned by children, like my brothers, to ensure a future of growing inclusivity—there was no politics, or “if”s, “and”s, and “but”s. Moreover, I felt as though I was breaking down walls that surround these issues and allowing (albeit fake) children to see the bigger picture. I was also struck that the titles for the adult books were the same issues that the childrens books were based on. Granted I was on a singular document and a part of me continued with the themes, but I feel like they are still relevant. The adult titles are not simple, but tackle the same issues because we still have not learned the basic principles of love and acceptance that children are meant to be learning in kindergarten. I was half tempted to copy and paste the children titles for the adult titles because I think that adults need the same simplicity. We complicate things beyond necessity and make it difficult to establish personal moral standards. Minimalism and works such as Vir Heroicus Sublimis by Barnett Newman reflect the same beautiful simplicity. As discussed in class and by Foster, Abstract artists claimed to be “making every pure painting the ‘ultimate’ or last work of its kind,” but the minimalist, like Newman, decided to boil art down to the bones instead of creating something that is an evolution of the art before. However by rejecting past art, there is an inherent dependency on the past frameworks in the same way the adult’s titles depended on the children’s titles. Moreover, a child would see Vir Heroicus Sublimis as simply a big red canvas with some lines. The children take art for what it is and I think there’s something astonishing about that quality; meanwhile, an adult will stare at Newman’s work and draw on its rhythmic effects and “beat,” making it more complicated than is necessary. But there are some differences between the minimalist and my conclusions from the DoIt performance. It is entirely possible for an adult to get straight to the principles of the book titles and read them as though they were the children’s books, but I do not think an adult will ever look at a minimalist painting and be able to just accept the art for art. Adults want meaning, they look for it and don’t stop until everything has one. |
 | This work has been interpreted and responded to by: Annie Borin All it takes is focus and a clear mind. Take a step back and breath. You can overcome anything. __________________________________________________________________________ This specific performance had a lasting effect on me and was very impactful. As a high stress college student who overthinks everything and sees all my problems as HUGE, this performance was very helpful. Stepping back from my work and everything else that was going on in my life and taking a deep breath, made me realize that no matter what the problem is, I will be able to overcome it. Sometimes getting so wrapped up in everything that I have to complete and all of the different things I need to finish by a specific deadline can become very overwhelming. Taking a deep breath and clearing your mind can make a serious difference. Getting into a comfortable position and putting all your homework away and taking a deep breath and concentrating on clearing your mind had helped me actually focus more on what needed to be completed. I also felt a feeling of encouragement, as if my mind was telling me, ‘I can do this’. Constantly being busy all day can make your mind all jumbled and confused and make one more stressed, so performing this task helped me have a clear mind and allowed me to take a step away from all of my responsibilities for a minute, so when I went back to everything I needed to do, I was feeling more refreshed and confident that whatever task I was completing, I would do it the best I could. In addition, stepping away from everything to take a deep breath allowed me to see the beauty in the world around me and how when I get worked up about something I forget to enjoy life around me and see the beauty in everything. One artist in particular who believed in living life to its fullest and trying to not let all the chaos in your life blind you from seeing the beauty in life is Yoko Ono. Ono’s specific work of art, The Wish Tree, is symbolic because it portrays the focus on life that everyone should have and living the life that you want to live. “Free from the petty anxieties of conceptual art, the Fluxus score generously offers up its proliferating multiplicity, encouraging us to embrace the chaos of everyday life, with its infinitely repeatable, and irreducible, specificities” (Dezeuze, 30). This is similar to my performance because living such a stressful life can cause one to miss out on the real beauty of life and what is going on around them, which is why stepping back and taking a deep breath can clear your mind and make you realize that you should not let stress cloud the enjoyment in life and you can do anything you set your mind to. One of the artists that I believe my performance does not match with is Tristan Tzara and Dadaism. Tzara discusses how the beauty in art is dead and emphasised the idea of nothingism and his works were filled with disgust. The dadaism movement mostly revolved around the anti war movement and was very political, which is not what my performance is about. My performance is more self surrounding and thinking about overcoming obstacles to make your life more beautiful and self fulfilling. |
 | This work has been interpreted and responded to by: Eliza Cohen For my Do It (Home) assignment, I chose to interpret Nairy Baghramian’s score to sit with my back on nature. Her words immediately interested me because I greatly value nature and I already saw the potential behind what could be gained from sitting in contact with it. I began this pursuit by seeking different spots around campus where I could sit or lie down with my back touching nature. My first spot was grass right outside my dorm (Swartz Hall). No one normally is seen sitting on this grass, so I already felt a little unsettled being different and outside of the norm. It was pretty chilly outside which made the experience less enjoyable, but aside from that, it was reassuring feeling the grass against my back and looking up at the sky and trees. It cleared my mind, and for a moment I forgot about what the people walking by may have thought about me; Instead, I was focused on my fascination and appreciation for the beautiful fall foliage. My next and final spot was to sit against a tree trunk. This experience was overall less enjoyable than the grass, as it was uncomfortable and made my back ache. I wasn’t able to stay there for long, and instead of feeling the clarity I had felt previously, the thought of wanting to leave flooded my mind instead. Regardless, this experience taught me that nature can be very influential on the mind, and sometimes it can be grounding and pure to appreciate it to the full extent. My experience exposed to nature can be compared to Villeglé by Lothar Wolleh because of the clear similarities and differences in human experience. In my experience, I felt very connected to my thoughts, as I was forced to pay close attention to the natural world around me while also physically feeling it. However, Villeglé represents a mindset that is very opposite. The man, in solitude, standing in the middle of a train station, represents formality, dissatisfaction, and routine. It can be assumed that this man is on his way to his job, in the capitalist world, worrying about the exact opposite of what I was thinking about while performing Baghramian’s score. “The passionate adventure of the real is perceived in itself and not through the prism of conceptual or imaginative transcription” (Restany, 725). “Realness” can be achieved with little imagination, and with help from the real, natural world. It can be assumed that this man is unhappy because of how dark the piece of art is. Although we both approached each of our experiences in solitude, I felt an overwhelming sense of liberation and individuality, while this man looks as though he’s feeling quite the opposite. He is part of an everyday routine that many others also experience, while I was feeling more in tune with the world and my thoughts than before. |
 | This work has been interpreted and responded to by: Tryston Craft The score that I chose to act upon by David Lamelas (2012) regards the act of clearing my mind of all thoughts and saying the word ‘moon’ while making and holding a perfect circle with my lips. The first step is very important to me because I am one who usually attempts to meditate but struggles to fully clear my mind of everything. Especially when I am going to sleep, I find myself failing to enter that state of clearness; it is very difficult to stop thinking. However, focusing on one-word aids in freeing my mind and all of my thoughts. I remember that my mother used to tell me to concentrate on one thing and only that one thing until I fall asleep. It definitely made a difference in my ability to control my body using this notion of liberating my head. After saying the word moon once, I kept my lips in the same position as the word O. By doing this I had a fascinating reaction in that I found my whole body in a pause. This pause was immensely still and relaxing. My body completely stopped and I entered a perfect meditative state. After the performance, I felt worry-free with no anxiety as I forgot about everything in life besides what I was acting: focusing on my lips and saying the word moon then doing nothing. This act was extremely helpful towards the calming of my mind and my limbs making me tranquil. There are several comparative works of art and quotes from the class that contains similarities to this performative act. Rob Gonsalves’, The Sun Sets Sail (1990) relates to this because of its aesthetically pleasing imagery of an optical illusion. The painting makes me feel calm, looking at the transformation and blend of the arcs and the sky with white clouds morphing into an enormous sailboat. It gave me similar tranquil energy that is beautiful to look at and mesmerizing in which relates to the performance. The quote: “That is why he has so much esteem and so much admiration for the states of mind which we call madness” (Dubuffet 194) consists of a small yet impactful similarity. I believe that our minds do indeed cause madness, making us overthink and stress out over the little things. One way to avoid this madness is by performing this act of releasing all thoughts and all that madness to finally achieve serenity, a break from real life. The pause from our constant racing thoughts is crucial to re-energizing and re-collecting yourself. This is all possible through complete meditation. The act of stopping everything, including thoughts, movements, and feelings encompasses this idea of releasing madness. To conclude, The Sun Sets Sail and the quote from Dubuffet exhibit an equivalence with this performance due to the theme of tranquility through the meditative process with imagery or the alternative meaning derived from the text. |
 | This work has been interpreted and responded to by: Nina Duffy It struck me how relatively simple this performance was. In relation to the performance art we studied in class, such as the complex Fluxus scores, this performance entailed simple peace and quiet. An audience member would likely be bored. This is quite similar to meditation – observing the self, looking inward, and letting go of judgement. However, I found instruction #6 about the ego confusing to act out. I’m not sure how to allow contraction and expansion of an entity that is apparently invisible, but I alternated between putting my attention on myself and putting my attention on my environment, almost like a wave. I ended the performance feeling really calm and light. As a work of performance art, this piece differed greatly from the performance art we have studied from the sixties and seventies. Art is obviously influenced by the environment around it, and the juxtaposition of this piece and the Fluxus scores shows just how different the world has become in fifty decades. At the height of Fluxus compositions, the art world was moving even further away from traditional art forms and the “randomness” and “shock” (Dezeuze, 25) of performances were prioritized over any possible rational benefit. The scores can at times feature bathtubs, toaster ovens, pianos, dance, spoken poetry, and many other miscellaneous elements that compile a brand-new work of art. Now, in the fractured atmosphere of 2020, the stillness and inner compassion that Untitled provides is sorely needed. Fluxus artists saw themselves as cutting-edge innovators, and in a post-WWII world, this lightheartedness and spontaneity, likely stemming from the anti-establishment movement, makes sense. In the most uncertain year that most of us have ever lived through, we naturally move away from spontaneity and unpredictability and gravitate towards a nourishing and gentle piece of performance art. However, despite the differences, all performance art shares a certain kind of escapism as its appeal. Yoko Ono wrote, “At this point, what art can offer (if it can at all – to me it seems) is an absence of complexity, a vacuum to which you are led to a state of complete relaxation of mind. After that you may return to the complexity of life again, it may not be the same, or it may be, or you may never return, but that is your problem” (Ono, 739). Both Fluxus scores and this piece offer a sense of tranquility that is usually not accessible in daily life. Fluxus, with its randomness and hilarity, offers a return to a child-like world in which everything offers the possibility for play. Arca’s piece temporarily leaves the world and focuses all the attention inward, providing stillness and simplicity. Both are welcome breaks from a complex world. |
 | This work has been interpreted and responded to by: Caltie Eckna For my performance I chose to show the daily force of masks and the impact of COVID on daily life. I captured a photograph of a mask, which has become the new normal in our society. There is a constant effort to remember to wear and bring around a mask when interacting with others outside of the home. I chose to have the mask look untouched to signify the dream of going back to pre-covid times. People all over the globe are wishing for the past, and hoping for a future without covid. Personally I have become more and more used to wearing masks, yet I still feel somewhat uneasy while wearing one. The constant fear of Covid has wrapped our world for the past months and the dream is to revert back to normal life. Life without covid was so different then today, there are many times in which I find myself thinking about so many events and interactions that spread germs so quickly. I find that wearing a mask is a current daily force, and I often dream for a better future without the fear of not wearing a mask in public. There are many daily forces that people endure, like the routine to wear a mask, and go to work. In Lothar Wolleh’s Villegle a man is shown on his way to work. The photograph captures the idea of the common man heading to the standard job everyday. The man is waiting for a train to transport him to his job. “Based on this deficiency – through exhaustion – of traditional means, individual initiatives, still scattered in Europe and America, confront each other; but they all tend, no matter what the range of their investigations, to define the normative basis of a new expressivity”(Restany 724). This quote shows how photography of reality was a new movement in the art world. It proves that this photograph portrays an everyday person to emphasize the reality of current events and issues. This work is similar to my performance in that it shows the current events in hopes of evoking action and thought about ongoing phenomenon. I chose to show the normalization of masks in modern day society, and Wolleh presented a photo that showed the constant work cycle of the common man. The main difference in the pieces is that mine shows the dream of what could be. I created a photograph that not only shows the daily force, but also the hopes and dreams of many about this force. Wolleh’s photograph does not show the desire of many people during this time period, and only shows the reality. |
 | This work has been interpreted and responded to by: Alex Fehnel This was actually a really interesting experience for me. When I first started recording my hand froze, partly because I think I thought that my work needed to mean something or be good in some way. After my timer of 99 seconds began to count down I decided that I needed to reset it. In the process of resetting my recording and timer I glanced out of the window. At the time I didn’t think seeing the falling leaf “inspired” me in any way, but the first thing I started to draw was a pumpkin. This then led to to draw the tree with the falling leaf. Another interesting process was that originally when drawing I had no plan to show the progression of the leaf falling. It was just multiple leaves, but as the time started ticking down I found myself drawing the dotted line as if it was the same leaf getting caught in the wind on the way down to the ground. I loved having this progression of thoughts being so clear in the video of my hands. Although I don’t consider my work a demonstration of modernism, I do believe that the ideals relate to those of Georgia O’Keefe. O’Keefe’s work primarily contains crisp, clean lines. These lines are perfectly thought out and meticulously drawn. Although this is quite the opposite of my 99 second drawing I do think her mentality and “her methodical discipline in paring down sunrise imagery to its most elemental forms” (Zilczer, 194), does relate to these instructions. Within a 99 second time period, there is no way for someone to add detail, or even plan how one wants to construct a piece, thus one is forced to use elemental or very reduced forms, if they are hoping to convey a particular object. For example when drawing my leaf there was no time to observe the exact shape of a leaf, leaving me no choice but to reduce its composition to an oval-ish shape and a line, hoping that the elemental forms would still provide enough detail to convey its identity. The only way to truly approach these instructions is to use the mentality that Georgia O’Keeffe embodies, drawing attention to the basics i.e. line and shape. |
 | This work has been interpreted and responded to by: Maggie Hunter To meet the expectations of the above task, I decided to fulfill my civic duty as a citizen of the United States of America by voting in the 2020 presidential election. Although it is true that I was certainly going to vote regardless of the task I chose, I believe that Lippard’s instructions align fairly well with the concept of casting a ballot. I was a freshman in high school during the last presidential election- too young to vote myself, instead resigned to watching the fate of our nation take a turn for the worse. At only fourteen years old and feeling my personal freedoms slipping through my fingers, I began to look forward to the day that I would be old enough to participate in democracy myself. Because of the anticipation that has been building over these past four years, one can imagine the sorts of emotions that overcame me when the moment finally came; the mix of excitement, hope, and fear that coursed through my body. I made special note of the meticulous way I shaded in the bubble next to Joseph Biden’s name, the shaking in my hands as I sealed the envelope, and the pride that warmed my heart as I handed the envelope to the post office employee. I would hope that readers would be able to conjure this mental image in their mind- the excitement that stemmed from years of anxiously waiting my turn, the pride of finally getting there, and the nervousness of awaiting the results. I find that throughout this course, we have often examined art in comparison to democracy, the civic duty, and political expression. I was particularly stricken by the similarities between Joseph Beuys’ theories about creating art for social impact. In his 1973 writing “I Am Searching for Field Character”, Beuys writes “Only art is capable of dismantling the repressive effects of a senile social system that continues to totter along the deathline” (929). Although casting a ballot may not at first glance be considered to be creating a work of art, I believe that it decidedly is so. Afterall, I believe that art and life are imitations of each other. By casting my ballot, I was doing my part in “dismantling the repressive effects of a senile social system”, and creating parallels between life and art for social change. In my writing that examined Beuys’ claims, I likened his theology to Norman Rockwell’s The Problem We All Live With (1964). However, I actually think his 1944 painting Which One? (Undecided; Man in Voting Booth) may be more relevant to my interpretation of Lippard’s task. The work, as the title suggests, depicts a man in the voting booth clutching a newspaper with the title “Which One”, referring to the race between Franklin D. Roosevelt and Thomas E. Dewey. Ultimately, although the political landscape has become arguably more divided than ever before, elections do boil down to this one moment: standing in the poll, the anticipation of making the first mark, and the uncertainty of the decision. Although this race hopefully is more decisive than others, Rockwell’s painting captures the undeniable truth of American politics, no matter what era they are operating in; the most important person in the race is not either candidate, but the voter. The power that each American citizen has upon reaching the legal voting age is one that must be exercised- it is a civic duty. It is an act that although may be seemingly small, has immeasurable implications for the fate of our nation. It is an act that, as Lippard would say, is “something that will change the world”. |
  | This work has been interpreted and responded to by: Anna Huntley-Robertson Look Straight. Don’t See. Where do you live… 2) Virtually: iPhone 8 7) Mentally: here 4) Philosophically: stable 0) Physically: tired  I struggled with this project. I lay down on my bed and stared straight at my ceiling for a while. I didn’t see anything mentally, philosophically, or physically, except my ceiling, and that wasn’t what I thought I wanted. So after a while, I got bored and went on my phone. I scrolled through Instagram, sent some snapchats, checked my email, looked at photos, and did that repeatedly but not in that same order. Again, I didn’t see what I wanted, didn’t see anything at all. I didn’t think while scrolling through my phone either. It was a reflex that has been ingrained in my day to day life when I get bored. I opened the score again to stare at it for a while and see if anything came to mind. I thought about today and where I had been virtually, mentally, philosophically, and physically. Virtually, I was on my phone. I went into settings to check to see what my screen time looked like and to be honest, I was embarrassed. I had picked my phone up 173 times the whole day and spent much more time than I would have liked to on it. Philosophically, I have no idea where I am. I had to look up the definition. I’d say I am pretty stable? Not questioning any fundamental struggles of existence or battling nihilism or existentialism. Physically, I spent the day in my mod and had gone for a run. With lacrosse being on pause, I wasn’t too sore or that physically drained. But I still felt tired. It has been a long semester. But then again, I always want to be moving and doing something. I think it’s this pulling between keeping busy and sitting still. So that leaves where I am mentally. Today, I’d say it was a good day, and mentally I was here. I had a productive day, got work done, and had fun. I’m not going to lie and say I don’t have bad mental days, who doesn’t, especially during times like this. However, mentally, I am here, in the moment, in my body. Overall, this score was almost therapeutic, like a journal entry or therapy session. I think that was what Shilpa Gupta wanted too. Her score makes you evaluate where you are and think deeply about yourself, so you don’t just say, “I’m in my dorm at school. Looking at a blank wall”. It makes you express yourself the same way an artist expresses their thoughts in their artwork. Artists express what is going through their head onto their canvases or sculptures, and each artist does this differently. Two artists express themselves in drastically different ways, Jackson Pollock and Robert Rauschenberg, but I feel I connect with each painting. On the one hand, Rauschenberg’s work is organized in sectioned groups with minimal paint strikes throughout. I relate to this work mentally because somedays I am organized and have times here and there where my mind drifts, like the strikes of paint. In contrast, Pollocks work, Number One, is made up of jumbled lines going everywhere creating a unorganized, messy look. This is also what I believe my mind is like sometimes. So many different thoughts going through and I can not focus on one thing. Both art works represent a different feeling from the artists, like in surrealist work where it “includes disconnected fragments of visual images, speeches, and even bits of unmodified thoughts” (21 Freud). It is the expression of the fragments of images, speeches, and thoughts which represent what is going on in the artists mind. |
 | This work has been interpreted and responded to by: Caio Jordao For my “DO IT HOME” assignment I decided to perform the score Study for Time (1969) by Cildo Meireles. For this project, Meireles’s instructions told me to go to a beach or desert, dig a hole, and wait by until the wind has covered the hole back up with sand. After this I was supposed to go to any place of my choice and with my eyes closed establish the sounds and space around me. After analyzing the sounds of the area around me, I’m expected to have fasted for 12 hours and then proceed to drink half a liter of cold water out of a silver jug. In the making of this project I had to go over obstacles in the instructions such as finding a beach or desert, and interpret them in my own way. Since I could not find a beach or desert like the instructions asked for, I decided to do this part of the art work in a beach volleyball court, it was a nice day out and the breeze and sand in my fingers felt just like I was at a beach back home in Miami. For the second portion of my artwork, the instructions told me to sit with my eyes closed and pay attention to the sounds that define the space and environment around me. This part of the project reminded me a lot of meditation techniques that I am very fond of, where the aim is to sit down with my eyes closed and feel the presence of every smell and sound that is defining the area around me. This part of the project brought me much peace as it reconnected me with this technique that I have lost a bit of touch with since being back at school. For the final part of my DO IT HOME assignment, I was expected to drink half a liter of water, which after looking up on google I found out is just about 16 ounces of water. After a little more research, I found that a basic red solo cup holds exactly 16 ounces of water, so I filled a solo cup with water, and poured it into my silver mug to drink out of as the instructions asked. This part of the project was also fun for me because it made me use my silver mug that was a gift from my dad last christmas, so much like the meditation I was able to reconnect with a part of my past that is synonymous with joy. Performing and interpreting this project for the DO IT HOME assignment reminded me a lot of the Kaprow reading and the ideas and movements surrounding Robert Rauschenberg. During my interpretation of this project, I realized how different the end goal with this is from the traditional ideas of what art is that have been present for centuries. Much like the movements Kaprow described in his essay, this project defied the original way it is thought to be made and exhibited. This project did not require any creation on my part since I was following the instructions, so in reality this work could be argued to not be truly mine, but what matters here is the making process of the artwork and the way which I interpreted a general set of instructions and applied them to my creative process in my own unique way. Kaprow says about traditional and current art movements that, “Traditionally, it is supposed that art is born entirely from the heart or head and is then brought, all shiny and finished, to the showplace. Now, however, it is less and less conceived that way and is instead drawing its substance, appearances, and enthusiasms from the common world as we know it; and this, without any doubt, is a hint of how vestigial the gallery-museum situation is” emphasizing the idea that recent art movements like the DO IT HOME project challenge traditional ideas of art and artmaking and propose and new way of thinking of the art world as it changes around us. |
 | This work has been interpreted and responded to by: Kallie Kocinski What struck me about this particular “Do It (home)” score was the simplicity and openness of it. As an art student, I am very used to painting according to a prompt given by another person or with the purpose of creating a cohesive collection. These larger projects, oftentimes, can overwhelm my creative space and take up all of my time. This score allowed me to set those traditional works aside and just paint for the sake of painting. I chose watercolor paint, because that is what was sitting on my desk at the time. As far as color choices go, I just picked what I liked in that moment with no precise direction. I added some salt on top of the paint as I went along, as it sucks up some of the color, thus creating some fun and unpredictable designs and textures. I dripped paint and splattered paint and honestly just made a mess. However, when I was done with the first layer, it felt incomplete. What I was left with was this loose square shape, so I took that geometry and I ran with it. The end result is nothing like what I normally make (hyper realistic watercolor painting is my current vibe), but I enjoyed the therapeutic quality that painting freely brings. While I was creating this piece, I found myself thinking about Sam Gilliam’s hanging fabric pieces. In his article he states, “My work is not that conscious. It is not directed toward specifics. Sometimes my work is funny. Sometimes it is very serious. Sometimes it is romantic. Sometimes it is all the things that make up the whole of life” (Gilliam, 203). I think the openness of the score I chose allowed me to think more deeply about painting unconsciously. His application of the acrylic on canvas has the soft feeling of watercolor similar to the color blends of my doodle. The thinness of his paint texture also creates a dripping effect that I also included in my work. Where our art differs is in the squares I chose to paint on top of the more blended area. I think my inspiration for this element came more from Mondrian and other more graphic, cubist works we have looked at. |
 | This work has been interpreted and responded to by: Mirah Koota For the Parreno, Philippe Do it (home) I was fascinated by my inability to be completely arbitrary in my answers and how the object imagined in my head continuously evolved. The Do it (home) task instructed me to play a game of 20 questions with a friend and randomly answer yes or no to their questions. As the game progressed, the instructions asked me to make sure that I was not contradicting any of my previous answers. In the end, both my friend and I would conjure up an image in our heads that fit the criteria developed throughout the question/answer period. The way I interpreted and decided to execute the task was taking a screen recording of the text messages exchanged between my friend and me during the game. This ensured that I would be able to look back at her questions and my responses to make sure I was not contradicting myself. I also cut off the screen recording before I had my friend guess so that whoever views the recording next can try to conjure up an image themselves. I think it would be very interesting to see what other people imagen. The challenge with this task for me was making my initial answers arbitrary. After reading my friend’s questions, I could not prevent my mind from wandering and conjuring up images of what the answer “yes” would lead to and what the answer “no” would lead to. Thus my answers to her questions still maintained some form of bias towards the direction I wanted her to go towards. For example, I remember thinking “I don’t know a lot about animals. I better say no to that I don’t have to try and think of different animals.” This statement also reflects my instantaneous thought processes, because after I answered “no” I thought oh I could have said yes and just made up an imaginary animal. The other fascinating quality of this task was that I had to maintain a list of characteristics that the final object had to have, and I had to decide what a “contradiction” consists of. Meaning, if I said that what I was thinking was not an animal, does that rule out all food that has meat in it? Basically what I was imagining was constantly changing because of my friends’ responses and trying to figure out what she would classify as a contradiction. Overall the experienced required me to make random decisions while compiling a list of characteristics, and the act of trying to consciously be random and organized at the same time produced an image of a stuffed artichoke for me and eggplant parmesan for my friend, which shows how our processes of thinking were similar and different. My friend thought of something that she thought I would think of, while I thought of something I knew my friend would never guess, but we both ended with vegetal based Italian food. The Parreno, Philippe Do it (home) set of instructions can be interpreted as a Fluxus score similar to the ones used by Yoko Ono to establish mental clarity. In Yoko Ono’s Cut Piece, Ono left instructions for the audience to cut pieces of per clothing. Ono sat on the stage while members of the audience cut away at her clothes. Each member of the audience interpreted the instruction in a different way, some cut modest pieces while others cut away her shirt and bra. She stated that, “It is nice to abandon what you have… as many mental positions as the physical ones”(739). For her, the act of abandoning was letting the audience take her clothing, and the mental clarity she created for herself involved not caring about the clothing that was being taken because she was focused on the sounds of the crowd. The Parreno, Philippe Do it (home) is a set of instructions that I interpreted to be using 20 questions to focus my mind on a particular image. In comparison to Ono, as I was accumulating characteristics based on the questions and answers, I was also abandoning an even larger amount of characteristics, and thus reaching a sort of mental clarity as I zoned-in on one image. For example, when I replied “no” to my friend’s questions “is it an animal,” I abandoned an entire category of characteristics that are almost exclusive to animals (how animals move, breath, make sounds, and physical traits). The difference between my performance and Yoko Ono’s is that I, as someone interpreting Parreno’s directions, am also providing instructions of my own to my friend. Thus I am creating my own Fluxus score as well. Overall, both sets of instructions, Ono’s and Parreno’s, serve as fluxes score to help isolate our thoughts, but Parreno removes himself from the performance while Ono is the center of hers. |
 | This work has been interpreted and responded to by: Kyle Lionetti When performing my act, the aspect that struck me the most about it was how simple and how direction oriented it was. The piece I had to do was simply following directions, that seemed rather specific. In all reality, while creating this piece, I took the literal interpretation, and followed the steps word by word, using a pen as it instructed, drawing the correct amount of centimeters as it instructed, following everything to a tee. All in all, the whole thing took me about 1 minute to create. I went, grabbed the printer paper, got a pen and ruler, and followed the instructions. While reading the instructions of the piece, I felt as if there wasn’t much room for interpretation at all in reading the instructions and creating the piece. The only clear things that could have been different if someone else were to create this is that they may have used a pencil instead of a pen, they may have used a different pen color, or they would have interpreted drawing backwards as drawing to the left, rather than drawing over the line that had been previously drawn. Furthermore, when I was creating the piece I was mesmerized how the line I started with ended up being directly above the line I concluded with, making a straight line up to connect the two lines. When seeing this I realized that this was one of the few things to come out of my interpretation of the piece, which made me feel slightly better about the way I chose to create it. Moreover, while looking at this art I had created, I realized the importance of the line width, and the lines in general that I had created. One thing that was specific to my piece was the way I had chosen to make the lines. The way I had chosen to make them go down and up, the thickness and thinness of the lines, and the strokes of the lines. Overall, through this creation I really learned the importance of what the line looks like to an individual’s work. After examining the lines I created on my piece of art, I related them most closely to the work of Henri Matisse. Although I do not use color in my creation, like Matisse would, I find that there are many connections between my piece and the piece The Dance by Matisse. Although Matisse’s work is obviously much more complex than the work that I have created, I find that the importance of lines in his piece is just as important as the lines in mine. In Matisse’s case, the lines he used are to create the gender and form of the figures he painted. This is a very important aspect to his piece, because it allows the viewer to understand that the figures are in fact people, and they are women as well probably. This relates to my piece because the lines in my piece are also important, but in a different way. Whereas in Matisse’s his lines were used to specify gender and that they were people, the lines I have chosen to create are unique to me. When looking at the lines I have created, they would understand that this is my piece, my interpretation, thus why the lines are drawn in that certain way. So although the lines I used and the lines Matisse used are made to show different things, lines are an important concept to art. A quote from Matisse that shows the importance of this can be seen when he states, “Composition is the art of arranging in a decorative manner the diverse elements at the painter’s command to express his feelings” (Matisse 73). This quote from Matisse further shows the impotence of these creative lines that Matisse uses. He states that these elements are important to the artists, and most importantly, he states that these elements are unique to the creative ability of the artist. This quote in general made me feel better about the art I had created, because where I originally thought my work was just one created by the machine of the instructions, I now realize that the lines I have created are unique to my interpretation, and my creative ability. |
 |
This work has been interpreted and responded to by: Gianna Macones There is nothing more I love to do than let loose and dance, and when I had the opportunity to dance for an assignment I was thrilled. In doing this dance and recording it in my dorm room at nine o’clock in the morning, performing this act gave me a fresh start to my day. I had the opportunity to start my day on a different note, and this performance was a clear reflection of that. There were a multitude of ways in which this act could have been performed. The details of my own performance provided a reflection of the life I live, and the person I am and the person I used to be. There was nothing more nostalgic to my childhood than dancing in my room in my pajamas to a black eyed peas song in the morning. In college sometimes among all of the busy tasks you have to accomplish in a day, and the constant worrying about grades and hitting numbers, I hadn’t realized just how far I lost sight of the simple pleasures in life. Just simply waking up in the morning, staying in my pajamas, and letting loose and simply having fun in the name of homework. The most striking element of the performance is the humanity in it. There was no element of surprise or any deep thought provoking incentives. It was simply a college girl reliving the beauty of a carefree morning for the first time in a very long time. It was freeing. Due to the quick time lapse of events and the lack of sound, it leaves the element of surprise to the viewer. As the artist, it loosened up the pressure of interpretation. I didn’t feel like I was so closely being judged and evaluated, but rather just livin in the moment. The freedom of expression most admirably expressed reflected a fundamental aspect of fluxus score readings. The most admirable element of fluxus scores and open performances is the ability of the artist to take their own life into account. “The many homages or dedications from one Fluxus artist to another within their scores are not only testimony to a mutual respect and admiration, they demonstrate the ways in which Fluxus scores encourage readers to go off and write their own scores,” (Dezeuze) In reading Dezeuses reflection on fluxus scores, he often talked about the performances that encouraged each reader to go on into their own life and create their own interpretation of the fluxus score. This fluxus score was a reflection of my own life and who I am as a person. In my opinion, the lack of depth in this performance was the key point of the nostalgic childhood aloofness. The score opened up a blank space, just as many other artists had done in their lifetime. I was inspired by yoko ono’s dance performances. I had always looked at dance as a form of dance, but not as a form of art. I was allowed to dance, and let loose to the beat of my very own likings and to the beat of my own drum. It encouraged me to find the beauty and the art in the simple pleasures in life. Simply dancing in the morning in a turmoiled election year. Taking a second for yourself, and letting loose of the constant stress and demands as a millennial woman |
 | This work has been interpreted and responded to by: Blake Martin In this “do at home assignment” I was able to appreciate an aspect of life I often take for granted. That is nature. The criteria for the assignment was to make silent music with specific objects that would flow well with a violin. I decided to use logic pro, a recording software on mac, to make an ambient synth sound with high pitches. The high pitch sound comes from an alchemy plug in on logic. To compliment the soothing music I decided that the objects I was going to use would consist of the different nature surrounding my house. The wide variety of living organisms that keep our planet alive sit in front of us every day, and it is often overlooked. Silent music’s intention is to grab the attention of the audience in the objects rather than the sounds. The fall weather currently brings out countless colors in each plant which gives it uniqueness. The empty chair looking on at the horizon is supposed to be a representation of society’s appreciation for nature. It has never not been fascinating, we just fail to appreciate it as often as we should. This assignment reminded me a lot of not necessarily the content of the works we’ve analyzed but more the thought process. Many surrealist and renaissance artists had something that they were bothered from in society. In this sense I am the artist who wants the viewers of my assignment to take in our world more. To appreciate all living things. In A Tour of the Monuments of Passaic written by Robert Smithson he talks about society’s failure to be focused on the future and the disappointment of architecture developments. I believe that this assignment brings out the beauty in nature, and would compel people to soak it in more often. |
 | This work has been interpreted and responded to by: Sophie McQuaide For the Do It (Home) assignment, I chose to do Etel Andan’s “(Almost) Instant Artist” prompt. This prompt particularly stuck out to me as I do consider myself a (developing) artist. I saw Andan’s prompt as a challenge to my already established notions of art making. I’m very used to the idea of creating outside-of-the-box art, as in class we are challenged to think creatively about prompts and concepts. I saw this Do It (Home) assignment as a confrontation of this idea that art needs to be this obscure, ingenious thing. Instead, it presents a very inside-of-the-box approach to art making. Andan makes art much more accessible to everyone with this prompt, and that notion of accessibility really pulled me in. The actual act of following the prompt, however, left me with very mixed feelings. I started off the project very enthusiastic, and found the process of measuring out the squares, picking the color pattern, and methodically coloring them in to be rather meditative and therapeutic. However, as I neared the end of coloring in the many, many squares, I definitely encountered the feeling of frustration, or weariness, that Andan addresses at the end of her instructions. That being said, I think that these feelings I got were not necessarily bad, but rather a symbol you are supposed to challenge yourself artistically. It is so easy to get comfortable in one style of art, and this prompt really showed me that it’s a good thing to be uncomfortable in your art making, because that is where growth is. After finishing this I actually was really proud – while I’m not a huge fan of the colors in retrospect, I really did open myself up to a new field of creation, and I might explore with this bold, abstract style, as well as the meditative, pattern-like quality of art-making, later on in my work. The aforementioned pattern-like quality of Andan’s prompt shares similarities with the work Morning (1965) by minimalist artist Agnes Martin. Morning, much like the work I created, is a delicately hand-drawn grid made from graphite on a 60 x 60 inch canvas. While it is arguably much more complex than the 9 x 9 grid I made on an 18 x 18 inch piece of paper, they are similar in the sense that they both rely on the artist’s ability to be methodical and meditative in their art making. While I found difficulty being calm and meditative while making this, Martin has reflected upon her experience making Morning, saying, “I was painting about happiness and bliss and they are very simple states of mind I guess. Morning is a wonderful dawn, soft and fresh” (Agnes Martin Morning, Tate.org). However, despite my difficulties, I do think that Andan was trying to have the performers of her instruction achieve a similar feeling – one where making art can be simple, blissful, and easy on the mind. Morning, despite its visual similarities to my work, does differ in that it is a minimalist work of art, and Andan’s instructions are conceptual. Minimalist art, as stressed by Foster in section “1965” of In Art Since 1900 “ hoped not only to cancel composition but also to eliminate the other aspect of the a priori, namely the sense of an idea of intention that exists prior the making of the work in such a way so that it seems to lie inside the object like its motivating kernel or core” (495). This idea of art existing only on the surface level is in opposition to the Do It (Home) assignment. This assignment is highly conceptual, meaning that what is important about it is not the finished product, but rather the process and the experience that the artist went through while creating the work. The a priori plays a role in this work, as I did go about creating this with the intention of challenging myself creatively. While the medium is the idea in minimalism, the idea is the medium in conceptual art. |
 | This work has been interpreted and responded to by: Juliette Morris My score instruction was to watch television with the sound turned off for one hour. I sat in front of the television, got myself a big bowl of popcorn, muted the volume, and watched “The Office” for one hour, in silence. This immediately felt bizarre and it wasn’t long before I got bored and confused. I tried to guess what the characters were talking about, which wasn’t too challenging considering that I’ve rewatched the entire series of “The Office” five times. During this hour, I thought about how much I valued hearing and began to think about what it might be like not to hear voices or music. Everything in my life would change if I couldn’t hear and my views might change as well because my perception of events would be different. I thought about this class and how we speak about non-traditional artists. This method of watching television was untraditional to me because there was no sound. The untraditional nature of my score reminded me of Robert Morris’ Three L Beams (1965) because the interpretation of the work was up to me, the viewer. Three L Beams emphasized how perception changes based on an individual’s point of view. “For it is the viewer who changes the shape constantly by his change in position relative to the work” (Foster, 493). My point of view was from a deaf perspective, so the show was completely different than normal. It was no longer a comedy that made jokes about each character. I made up a story in my head about what was occurring that totally changed the show. Another piece of artwork that I thought of during this task was Yoko Ono’s Cut Piece (1964) because it presents a similar idea. Ono left the meaning of the piece up to the viewer. Her work was a performance where she gave her audience a pair of scissors and they were allowed to cut off a piece of her clothing and keep it. She wanted to get people thinking about their imagination and creativity. She admired the infinite possibilities of meaning that were possible when the interpretation of the piece was left to the viewer. The difference between Yoko Ono’s piece and my score was that all five of the senses were allowed to take in Ono’s score; while with mine, my hearing was not involved in the process. This makes me question how important each of the senses are when viewing and understanding art. |
 | This work has been interpreted and responded to by: Natalie Patterson For my work of instructional art, I followed the instructions of Okoyomon that consisted of seven steps. The first three steps listed were to write down your fears, fold the paper into a triangle, and set it on fire. As I was told, I wrote down my small fears, life fears, and irrational fears on a torn out piece of paper from my 20-21 planner. At this point, there is no way to plan how the end of 2020 and 2021, and one of my fears is how this year is going to end so the choice felt fitting. Some of the fears I listed included my weird fear of heights, my fear of being late or sleeping through an important event, and being unemployed. Then, I folded the thick paper into a triangular shape when I was doing my homework in one of the study rooms in the Hildreth- Mezdra and decided to burn my triangle using the stove in the kitchen. To make sure my hand did not burn on the stove or catch on fire from the paper combusting, I created a contraption using a small binder clip to hold the paper safely (sorta) from my fingers. The paper started to burn but I feared that the smoke would set off the smoke alarm at 3 am in an academic building so I ran the paper outside as it proceeded to burn. As soon as I got outside, the wind essentially shattered the paper, and ambers flew everywhere including on the carpet of the building and the outdoor terrace. The whole planting the ashes into the ground, steps four through seven, was no longer a possibility. So my art piece was almost causing a fire, something I am afraid of, to let go of other things I am afraid of. |
 | This work has been interpreted and responded to by: Ethan Sales For my contribution to the “class exhibition” collective, I chose Lynn Hershman Leeson’s INSTRUCTIONS, in which I mapped out an impossible plan and attempted to execute it. I initially wanted to be more specific about my personal experience and make a plan to “cure depression”, however the themes and steps were somewhat mature and this is an art history class and not an art class. I chose something more absurdist and funny, to “escape reality”. My main method of escaping reality in this piece is burying myself in a hole and staying there for 10 years. When creating the instructions, I also included Leeson’s instructions within my own, as I considered writing the instructions the most important of the performance. Including my own instructions within hers is also meant to further distance the viewers from their current “real” perspective and confuse them. The performance did not last long, as I could not find a shovel in the garage, and my mother also forbade me from digging a hole out back. I am guessing that I also would not have been able to last 10 years underground without food, air, or water. Because Leeson included her own instructions but not her actual “antibody”, I consider the drawing of steps below to be the record of the performance. For my next attempt at performance art I would like to do something more daring and public, as I felt that this was short-lived. However, in the words of Yoko Ono, “There is a wind that never dies” (pg. 736, To the Wesleyan People) . My enthusiasm for this project while doing it was better than expected, and I am excited to eventually try this artform again, whether through someone else’s instructions or my own. I would like to do something more intense and pertaining to my depression as well. |
 |
This work has been interpreted and responded to by: Amanda Schillinger When I think about the process of painting itself, I think of an ongoing metamorphosis that occurs until the artist is satisfied with the appearance of the colors, textures, and shapes but is also satisfied with the feeling the painting gives them. The instructions for this performance struck me as interesting because they were more or less a description of the painting process. Although I tend not to organize my paints in order by size and my brushes by alphabetical order, especially because they are all covered in paint and are impossible to read, the way the performance description instructed me to paint as a repeated chorus struck me as an interesting way to think about painting. Personally, I am the type of artist who is never satisfied with my work until I’ve gone back and forth picking apart and painting over everything several times until everything about the piece sits right with me. I have never turned in an art assignment on time because of this ongoing metamorphosis process. I found it interesting that the description had no ending, it only said to repeat the chorus of painting and editing the canvas. In this performance, my ideas went from abstract blue, wavy shapes and eventually turned into somewhat of a birds eye view of the ocean with still a very fluid pattern of waves similar to the patterns I started with. I found myself being especially repetitive with the white and blending the greens and blues into lighter colors with the white. While I was painting, creating the flowing, squiggly shapes, I felt relaxed and tried to focus on my brush strokes creating a uniform texture and shape to match the soothing blues and greens. Although per usual, it took a few layers of paint, I finally felt satisfied with finishing my last verse of the chorus when I felt the colors and shapes resembled a peaceful beach. A work that relates to my performance and painting is Blue Poles (1952) by Jackson Pollock in that it represents Clement Greenberg’s formalist ideas about abstract expressionism. Greenberg emphasized the importance of form (shape, color, texture, lines, etc) of paintings and sculptures. To him, formalism in abstract art meant that form should be the basis of judgement for the quality of work. He also thought that this form should be unique for each medium and that paintings should refrain from telling stories because that should be left for literature and that paintings should not be three dimensional because that should be left for sculptures. He states: “I want to repeat that Modernist art does not offer theoretical demonstrations… rather, that it happens to convert theoretical possibilities into empirical ones” (Greenberg, 312). By this he means that abstract should be seen for what it visually looks like, not for any sort of story behind it. The piece Blue Poles (1952) by Jackson Pollock displays Greenberg’s lack of literary content and emphasis on form, which relates to my performance’s focus on texture, colors, and shapes. Blue Poles ( 1952) focuses on colors, which are mostly white, grey, reddish-orange, yellow, and navy blue. This piece also focuses on shape: the navy blue creates pole-like figures that are the most prominent feature of the work. Lastly, this piece emphasizes structure in that it creates a texture that looks like scratchy fabric or a rug. Although my piece emphasizes colors of green, blue, and white, fluid shapes, and a smooth texture, it is also different from Greenberg’s ideas and Blue Poles (1952) because it may be seen as telling a story and turned out to be less abstract than it started. By itself, it seems to tell a story about a peaceful day at the beach, but the performance tells a story about the process of painting as I described earlier. |
 | This work has been interpreted and responded to by: Madi Steckley One aspect of the performance that surprised me was the different paths I could take when doing this performance. I took the action listed very literally, therefore, I simply moved my finger up and down for one minute. There was a creative ability to do whatever I wanted to with the performance and that was liberating. Every time I moved my finger up and down I could choose the speed, the shape created, and the space it moved in. Another aspect of the performance that surprised me was how the performance made me feel. The process was quite soothing actually because I became focused on my finger for one full minute while blocking out everything that was occurring around me. I think this could be something I can continue to do in stressful situations to help me focus. This semester, we discussed Carolee Schneemann and her contribution to performance art. Schneemann was an artist who used her body for representation of a feminist movement for an entire generation of women artists. In relation to Schneemann, Allan Kaprow discussed performance art and how it compares to perfect artwork by saying, “The idea of a ‘perfect work of art’ is not only irrelevant because we do not know what are the conditions for such a phantasm, but it is presumptuous and unreal” (Kaprow, 722). In a way, I can relate to Schneemann’s concept because I literally used a part of my body to create art. This piece wasn’t meant to be perfect, like Kaprow states, and it can be interpreted in different ways by audiences. However, would this movement inspire other female artists? I am not entirely sure because it is such a simple performance, but others may take the instruction in a different direction. I think that’s why this assignment is important for others to participate in. |
 | This work has been interpreted and responded to by: Cheyanne Stunger Just thinking of some summer sunsets Some moments that were captured in memory The essence of life on a place that is unlivable The dying of a day But the birth of the night A harmonic melody Filled with all the minors These are just some thoughts that come to mind I think of summer sunsets Like I think of summer memories Maybe I should keep on writing Maybe I shouldn’t But it’s a feeling It’s a peace and a happiness full of fire It’s a balance It’s something that’s passing and I cannot relive until another season comes by And maybe, that’s why I am scared to let it go I am holding on to that fading light But after each sun rest, I have to remember there is a night A night full of more suns And a sky that is debatably more bright This isn’t a closing of a chapter This isn’t the ending of a cycle Just because a day or a season ends Does not mean that it is lost It turns into the night that you carry with you All of those golden moments Glimpses of images and sounds Remind you of the people and places of that season that you so cherish And when you turn your eyes to the sky You know that those summer sunsets can never die __________________________________________________________________________ For the Do It (Home) Project, I chose to complete the prompt written by Christodoulos Panayiotou. In this prompt, I was instructed to apply glitter to my eyelids and glabella, the smooth part of the forehead between and above the eyebrows, and then look up to see the starry sky. Looking at the night sky has always been very meditative and relaxing for me. Performing this prompt could not have come at a better time, since I have found myself to be very stressed and academically unmotivated these past few weeks. When I was young, I would always look out my window late at night and peer at the stars that would be shining over the roof of our barn. If I chose to stay up very late, I could follow the path of the moon across the night sky. During the summer months, laying on the sand and watching the stars became one of my favorite pastimes to do with friends. It is these people that although, I rarely see, I have formed the closest connections with. When I placed the glitter on my eyes, walked out to the beach, laid on the cool sand, and looked up at the stars, it was these moments and memories that I was reminded of. After I laid under the stars and listened to the calming sound of the waves, I felt prompted to write about this past summer, and without taking the glitter off my face, this is exactly what I did when I returned home, and I just let my thoughts flow freely. When reflecting back on my performance, I am first reminded of Pierre Restiny’s writing in 1960, “The New Realists”. The Nouveau Réalisme group was focused on overcoming the gap between art and life and proposed that in order to do this, we must deal directly with reality. More directly, they presented a “passionate adventure of the real perceived in itself and not through the prism of conceptual or imaginative transcription” (Restany 725). In order to bring art and life closer, they used common images and items from the world around them. They would present these objects as themselves and beyond their preconceived notions. An example of this is Arman Poubelles’ Portrait of Yves Klein. This work consists of common objects all placed within a box. There are pieces of newspaper and pamphlets, plastics, folded and tangled fabrics, and swatches of the particular color blue that Yves was known for. These common objects and scraps connect life with art by going beyond their traditional meanings to represent a portrait of Yves Klein. The glitter I placed on my eyes and glabella resonates with the different objects placed in this box. Today, glitter is a common item that is often preconceived to be very messy. Similar to the array of items, in the context of my performance, the glitter goes beyond its known connotation to directly show the scattering of stars in the night sky that would be reflected in my eyes if someone were to look at them. Therefore, when my eyes are closed, you can still see the stars. Where the bits of cloth and swatches of color connected art to life in Arman’s work, the glitter connects my artistic performance to the act in life of looking at the night sky. The accompanying writing I have from the performance further exhibits the ideas of Nouveau Realisme and goes beyond the visual representation of the Nouveau Realist ideas presented in Arman’s portrait of Yves Klein. According to Restany, “Man, if he shares in reintegrating himself in reality, identifies it with his own transcendence, which is emotion, feeling and finally, once again, poetry” (Restany 725). Although the text from my performance does not follow proper poetic conventions, it still flows in a poetic manner. Each step in my performance, the act of applying the glitter, looking at the stars, and finally writing completed my transcendence and allowed me to once again connect with reality. The emotional aspects and feelings from when I turned my glittered eyes to the night sky, resulted in my own form of poetry. |
 |
This work has been interpreted and responded to by: Maya Wadhwa One aspect of this performance that struck me was the use of “personal toolbox” in the instructions. Although I do not really have much to work with since I am in isolation housing (I only brought what I deemed as a necessity), I am not really sure how I would have conducted this if I had all my personal belongings. I still think I would have picked up objects on my desk, but they would have significantly more variety. Further, at my desk at school, I do have objects on it that represent what is important to me such as picture frames, jewelry, letters from my family members, etc. which I think may have created a more interesting toolbox. However, I think that there is some applicability with “personal toolbox” and the snacks I choose to bring, as snacks are obviously something that is important to me, and that I felt I needed a lot of in order to survive isolation. I think the idea of a “personal toolbox” and what I choose to carry with me to isolation housing relates to Dadaism, specifically Kurt Schwitter’s Cherry Picture, because of the idea that scraps can create art. In order to create this work, Schwitter’s gathered objects and scraps of trash which found in the streets of his hometown and then assembled them into the collage. This kind of novel assemblage is best articulated by Tristan Tzara, in the Dada Manifesto. Tzara writes “A work of art should not be beauty in itself, for beauty is dead; it should be neither gay nor sad, neither light nor dark…” (Tzara 253). This statement speaks both to Schwitter’s work as well as my own in many ways. Firstly, Cherry Picture is not beautiful by any sense of the word, both in composition (as it is literally made from other’s trash), and arrangement, as there is nothing too special or eye-catching besides the cherries in the center. I think this relates to my own work, as what I created wasn’t supposed to be beautiful, the instructions weren’t to create something, but rather try to recall things that you already have, which I think is central to the “beauty is the dead argument”. I think that Schwitter’s creative process was very similar to my artistic process when creating this piece because I only have a very limited assortment of items to choose from because I had to pack light when moving. Further, because I was not able to go to the store before I was moved, the food that I do have is things that I found lying around my room, or items which I was able to convince people to buy for me and drop it off. The differences between my work and the Cherry Picture, can not be ignored. Firstly, Schwitter’s work is inherently an artwork since he had to compose something whereas mine was (although being a performance piece), lacking true creativity. Further, I think that Schwitter’s, in line with Dadaism was truly making an argument for the abundance of extraneous material that people carry about them, and the way in which things can be easily discarded and replaced, whereas I don’t believe that I was making an argument at all, let alone one of this nature. Lastly, I do not believe that my performance would be considered “Dadaist”, because of the instructions which I followed and the way in which it is not making an argument, but it also does not, not mean nothing. |