THE DENATURED OBJECT/IMAGE

Experiment

After the last experiment in Detroit, I was still working through prodigality which resulted in thinking about expenditure and how to define that in a practice. This led to the use of something I had of excess for consumption.

For this experiment I cleaned my barn/workspace of all the excess waste left over from previous projects (which was of abundance) and burned it, leaving behind ash.

Now I am left working from refuse and will see where that takes me.

New Diagram

1st Experiment

1st experiment.

I ran up this hill 10 times. Each time I only made it 1/4 up the hill without sliding/rolling/falling down.

Throwing, dragging, flailing

For this experiment I used the following tools:

Paint water, wood stick, my moving body, tree branch, tennis ball, old bathing suit and a sock.

I completed the following actions:

1)Put my hand inside a sock which contained a tennis ball. I then laid down on the pavement with the tennis ball as my new hand and moved.

2.) I threw the soaked tennis ball on the ground.

3.) I soaked the old bathing suit in color water and tied it to my leg and at

the same time flung the stick (with soaked cloth tied to it.)

down on the ground.

4.) I rolled the soaked tennis ball

down the slope of the street.

Diagram

These are my beautiful Diagrams that I bought from Kate and Siglinde in Detroit. This is my new practice.

SNOWBALL EXPERIMENT

THIS WAS THE SNOWBALL THAT

WAS MADE DURING OUT SESSION WITH PETIA. WE WERE GIVEN AN HOUR IN DETROIT TO PUT OUR DIAGRAMS INTO ACTION

Diagrams

Diagrams!!

This was the flow chart I was sold:

This was the beautiful diagram:

And this is my appropriation of it (still incomplete)--I added another z axis, kind of like Justin's, to include the action of homeostasis, brought up by MSR:

I completed another experiment, and wrote a little about it, so there's more to come...

Inverse practice / diagram

X/Y diagram - abstraction

Loop/ feed back diagram

Update Diagram 1

First diagram of my practice

Abstraction of an Unpracticed Model

This sounds far far more negative than it actually is. but it is a recap of how things were perceived to be and how they came to be. without the coupling of the two, one would have no context for the other. Detroit goals included recording some cool sounds and some cool people using ideas and practices relevant to my practice. i guess this was an assumption, which i have been informed i do a lot, and is unacceptable. soon discovered that it was not my practice that i would be working in, but a recrafted practice based on a presentation of my own. then it was discovered that we weren't actually going to use these to create work, but to create abstractions that would enlighten us to ways of finding beginnings with unknown/unassumed ends.

PREVIOUSLY:
step 1. define your process (making of audio)
step 2. give presentation
step 3. audience recrafts your process (frankensteining audio ~ hybridization & appropriation)
step 4. present your recrafted process as your new process

TODAY:
step 5. abstract step 1 of new process (what is static?)
step 6. test abstraction (field recording)
step 7. report (recognizable sounds discovered to not be static)
step 8. test abstraction again in new way (record unknown sounds ~ send recorder with another person, sealed in a box filled with foam to create a filter to distort sounds further ~ sound as alien)
step 9. report (static assumed to be discovered)
step 10. abstraction of phase 2 discussed. static needs value to proceed further based on vocabulary assumed in practice (steal) ~ or change vocabulary of a practice never before used, thus vocabulary not properly understood. Or be open to a fluid practice. Practice articulated by students is gameplan. gameplan is informed by step 1. gameplan thrown out window. practice irrelevant)
step 11. frankensteining never approached, as one (not necessarily me, despite it being my practice) can not steal something of no understood value. and can not assume value. and can not assume it to be my practice.

previous discussion:
make to think.
reality: think about every single word painfully before even getting close to making. make in tiny increments. think lots about each step in retrospect and each upcoming step strategically based on previous step's findings.

previous discussion:
field kit development
reality: never need field kit. one can not assume what one needs. not open to fluid practice.

previous discussion:
create work based on artist practice
reality:
dissect step 1 of practice and never make anything relevant to own work, but only relevant to the  understanding of the philosophies of 'making'.

paradox:
how to steal something of no value as alien with no understanding of its assumed potential. assuming potential is unacceptable anyway, and must be determined in some way by someone other than alien. alien left holding static with no way to proceed.

result:
philosophies uncovered
abstractions of process created
abstractions of audio created
no work relevant to own current practices(objects/audio) created

tomorrow (final day):
present this to undergrads.

Masonic Adventure

On the Way

Unfinished theater

Lobby

"jazz"

Today was another attempt at getting to the 'making' part of the trip... derailed by over 3 hours at the masonic temple. Like THE masonic temple. Hopefully some of my colleagues will post pictures soon. Though I suspect that there is plenty of architecture in the world that is more breathtaking than this, I would be comfortable in saying that this was the most impressive and detailed work I've seen in the states. The hard part was that it has largely fallen into disuse, and giant giant giant spaces that fall into disuse have a real sour sort of vibe to them. This was no exception. The lodge/ritual rooms and the largest of the 3 theater spaces (yes, 3 theaters in 1 building) were mind-numbingly good though. This was followed by lunch at Prof. Johnson's loft (unbelievable pork stew that saved the day) and a whirlwind lecture on Whiteheadian philosophy that ninja-kicked a semester's worth of philosophy into my brain in about 2 hours. No Joke. This was followed up by about an hour of decompression leading into another gathering at Prof. Johnson's Magical Mystery Loft which would this time include two amazing musicians doing an avant-garde jazz performance. This wasn't just any jazz though. Turns out this amazing man named Marko is an instrument collector with a stunning collection of unique instruments from different cultures. I have never seen any of the instruments he was playing... and that is incredible. After two amazing sessions they invited us to join the music making. Our guide Chris and I jumped in playing the wine glasses, which opened up the door for.... chaos. banging bottles, clanging cans, chopping onions, piano noise, whistling, and all other sorts of sounds absolutely took over the loft. It was magical. But, as one could expect and would be pointed out to us by one of the musicians, the key part to improv is knowing when to stop. Let it be known that non-musical art students might need a few lessons on this.

Second day...

Systems / dynamics

"Conservatory"

Outside empty zoo

In / zoo

Leon Johnson loft / dinner / exchange

03/05/2011

Visual...

First day 03/04/2011

To add a visual dynamic to the comments below….

Rapid Practices Slow Down... or are they just moving too fast?

We set out today with the intention of producing work in our new-found art practices that were crafted out of a multi-phase workshop.. After a long lunch and an improvised trip to MOCAD (Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit) while we waited for another guest to arrive via plane, we got such a late start that we never had a chance to get to the making. But despite the late start, from the delay emerged some amazing conversations and a pleasant insight into the process that MOCAD is currently operating in. Once we realized that there was not enough time to engage in the intended workshop, we resigned ourselves to an amazing wandering of Belle Isle, a small island that rests directly between Detroit and Canada and serves as sort of the green zone for the city, much like Central Park in New York. The Belle Isle conservatory is, I'm quite sure, one of the (if not THE) most amazing places I have ever been to in my life. An amazing glass dome structure provides shelter for an array of the most bizarre, unusual and beautiful plants of all types from literally all over the world. There is some sort of mysterious, magical essence about the place that was almost trance inducing. This activity was then all wrapped up by a return to Mr. Johnson's loft for dinner/presentation/discussion, which was again an amazing and fruitful event. So many bodies and minds who are just so thrilled to be at play in this way.

so that leaves us with a full day of making ahead. we'll see.

New Bodies In Play

I find myself a little concerned with what is happening. Today I found myself wanting to already book a return journey to detroit to help one of our guides rebuild his $1,000 home and plant his garden. I also found myself completely at home with a group of 'strangers', who never felt that way at all. Students at the College for Creative Studies workshopped with us, listened to our presentations and then rebuilt our art practices for us. Sweet kids, just so ready to play with us. I wonder what my world would be like had i had experiences like this as an undergrad. We were then invited to an amazing home with an amazing spread of food for an amazing talk about philosophies of existing, being together with and beside things. Though philosophy is one of my weakest spots, and an area I can more or less not converse in, it's amazing to hear the discourse in such a unique way. This leads me to the realization (see first sentence) that there is so much potential to operate in this way. So I want to play in detroit, and have dinners and make art with great minds, and cultivate some sort of relationship as a connection point between orono and detroit. but, the thing that concerns me, as i stated is... then where? i feel a strange addictive quality to the possibilities of traveling around the world and engaging with people that are ready to play in this sort of radical (is it really though?) way. Though of course, I tend to feel more like a bystander than any sort of instigator/contributor in these conversations. Perhaps over time that will change.

1st Impressions

Post-American is such an amazing phrase for what Detroit is. It's all the remnants of an American city without the people. Between arrival time in 'rush hour' and a spin through town at 9:30 at night, traffic was less problematic than Bangor, Maine. Old brick homes (of the most unusual, ancient (haha) American design) are vacant, vacant, squatted, vacant, beautifully occupied, vacant, occupied, etc. The vacancies are nothing but broken shells with no doors or windows left to keep out the snow. The giant sports arenas, while I'm sure are probably the most vibrant areas of the city when games are actually in swing, are just giant empty facilities, standing out as the most pristine and modern thing among the ruins of an older city. I can see why crime is so problematic here. It feels like the wild west. Like an abandoned world where you can do as you please. 'Don't get gas after dark' is the mantra. check. But while I'm usually overwhelmed by cityscapes, Detroit feels more like a playground than anything else. Let the games begin.

Interesting Detroit Photographs

http://www.marchandmeffre.com/detroit/index.html