10C2D: Private Viewing

We hosted the private viewing for 10C2D on the 29th of April at 5:30PM. The viewing lasted until 7:45PM, and which point approximately 50 people had come to view our exhibition. Overall, the exhibition came across as a success.

Some of the works I had presented includes my "Priorities," and "Priorities 2" shoes. Using Michel Foucault's focus on the object and how it is represented, I wanted to communicate the idea of labour that people like Filipino maids undergo in South East Asia. Through "Creating Priorities" (my video piece) the act of creation and labour becomes the focus as the video runs for 61mins.  By placing this all next to a portrait of Imelda Marcos, "Steel Butterfly" then helps bring forth the historical connotations of Filipino politicians and gives the shoes more relevance in the exhibition space. 

Within my exhibition I also presented my "The Dinner Party" performance pieces on a TV screen. This TV Screen was then surrounded by my "Germanino" and "Philippines" flags, whilst layered with broken plates from "The Dinner Party Part II." Patel and I eventually found that all together, the works created dialogue about the inbetweeness of cultural hybridity. 

Quite a number of our viewers were extremely impressed by the works that were displayed at 10C2D. Eight different people made it a point to tell me how they "would had done the rice shoes. [They] would have covered the shoe in glue, and dipped it into a sack of rice." It's nice to see that my viewers are actually acknowledging the work it took to glue the individual grains of rice to the "Priorities" pieces.

All in all, the exhibition was a successful display of our group's works. I felt that as a class we managed to put on a show that was aesthetically stimulating and slightly less traditional than pinning up our works on a wall. This definitely taught me the significance of presenting my work in a gallery space, where my works gain a certain level of authenticity.

Working as a Group

Below are some examples of the discussions and dialogue we've been having as a class on our Facebook page. The majority of our posts tend to be in regards to our exhibition and preparing for it:

10C2D: Dialogue Between Works

On Monday the 28th of April the entire class came into the James Hockey Gallery to set up for 10C2D. The majority of the morning was spent with Grant trying to set up which pieces created the best dialogue with the other, whilst Vanisha and I were trying to take out our TV screens to set up.

It wasn't until much later did I realise the significance of some of the pieces and the dialogue it creates between them. One example was M. Dodd's "You're a Cold Hearted Bitch," alongside my "Steel Butterfly" piece. It was rather strange that my work didn't relate as much to Patel's, even though we both worked with the idea of cultural hybridity. The ironic factor comes into play when I used to tell Melissa that "I didn't know how to collaborate with her because I'm not sure how our works relate."

Within the works I have created I have found that my "Priorities" pieces would work best alongside Imelda Marco's portrait, because of the biographical connotations. Where ever "Steel Butterfly" was location, I wanted to see "Priorities I & II" next to it. 

Lastly, V. Patel and my works were best combined in a massive installation. The first question was a matter of how we were going to present our screen, in comparison to all the other TV screens being used by the other Arts & Media students. Based on this we decided to break up the space by presenting the screen on the floor. By doing this we are putting the TV screen on the same surface where the plates broke in "The Dinner Party Part II." It helps that we shot on a grey background. 

Afterwards, Grant decided it would be wise to cover the surroundings of our screen with our flags to take away from the straight edges. That way less focus and attention would be drawn to the fact that we are using a TV screen, whilst more focus goes towards the performance piece. From this point we scattered the broken plates to present the results of the performance piece. 

By combining approximately six pieces of works together, Patel and I were able to create a massive sculptural piece that represents the general ideas behind cultural hybridity. It was quite interesting to see works create connections with each other under careful curation. 

Rice Shoes: Priorities 2

I decided to create a second pair of rice shoes called "Priorities 2" because I wanted to continue with the idea of redundant and slave labour, especially from Filipinos. Though it is technically ambitious I would ideally have a massive collection of shoes created with a rice coating. This is technically ambitious because an individual shoe takes me approximately 10 hours to create, considering that I handle it with individual grains of rice and tweezers.

What came out of this project was an accidental discovery for a new texture. It seems as though the rice coating seems like a strange form of reptilian skin, when glued together with PVA.

"Priorities" focused on the priorities of Imelda Marcos: shoes - and the agricultural priorities of the Philippines: rice. The first pair of shoes were school girl shoes because it combined the "lack of priorities" my grandmother had for my mother's education as she asked my mother to drop out of school to work in the rice fields. These flip-flops are now the next pair in the production line because they are now the types of shoes she would have worn out in the rice fields. By presenting these types of shoes besides each other I hope to create a narrative about my mother's childhood, hopefully the use of the rice would make the relationship between the two shoes more apparent.

The Dinner Party: Part I & II

The performance piece with V. Patel was inspired by our shared fascination for cultural fusion. During our pop-up exhibition "Traditional Hybrid," we thought that the idea of serving tea at our exhibition was rather stereotypical. It is almost expected of domesticated women in both our European and Asian cultures to be attentive hosts. Whether or not this is a bad or good thing, we are unsure of, which is why I wanted to bring forth Derrida's idea of questioning the Western way of thinking.

According to Derrida, Western thinkers like to perceive life through its polarities (i.e: good vs. evil, black and white, etc). To continue the dialogue found in Derrida's idea, Patel and I wanted to create a performance piece that displays the in-between of these polarities because it can be seen as a metaphor for cultural fusion. Please see the following screenplay:

 THE DINNER PARTY - PART ONE

          TWO EUROPEAN-ASIAN WOMEN with black clothing walk in to a
          gray background.

          The TWO WOMEN sit cross-legged as they prepare the layout of
          the plates on the floor.

          ONE WOMAN pours rice in the middle of their workspace.

          TWO WOMEN then align rice along the design of the plate.
          This continues until each of the plates are finished. The
          TWO WOMEN have to finish at the same time.

          When both plates are finished, the TWO WOMEN move the
          finished plates off frame. 

THE DINNER PARTY - PART TWO

          Plates are being dropped (with the rice) and broken.

          Alternatively, plates are being dropped (without the rice)
          and broken.

In Part I of our script, Patel and I will be performing on screen as neither the host or guest, in a situation that is neither enjoyable like a dinner party or laborious like a sweatshop. These actions will hopefully act as an allegory for the cultural betweenness we both live through, on an everyday basis. In order to avoid culturally-influenced visuals, Patel and I had worn all-black costumes with our hair tied back. The actions in which we performed shows that "The Dinner Party" is neither something to be enjoyed like a social gathering, or dreaded like a workplace for the performers.

In Part II of our script, Patel and I are smashing the plates which we worked with in order to reinforce the idea that the plates were not the priority. Instead, we want to make sure that it is the act behind the performance piece that upholds the attention of the viewers, especially when our performance artists are placed in a situation full of in-betweeness.

I decided to ask A. Lamlum and J. Dixon from second year BA (Hons) Digital Film and Screen Arts to be our camera operators; that way Patel and I could focus entirely on the performance piece. Filming took place in B27 on the 9th of April, where we could set up a grey backdrop. Grey was an appropriate colour as there are so many shades of it between the black/white tonal spectrum, which is just a visual demonstration of not belonging to any polarity that Derrida talks about. Technically speaking it was also visually appropriate to use grey as the plates were white while our costumes were black.

We used two Canon EOS DSLRs to record the visual aspects, whilst using the H4N Zoom to record our audio for Part II. We were able to collect a good amount of footage and cutaways during our two takes. In total we wrapped up after 1.5 hours of set up and 30 minutes of shooting.

In post-process, I edited everything together using Final Cut Pro 7. You can view "The Dinner Party: Part I & II" here:

Paris February 2014

Le Louvre

During our trip to Paris our group decided to visit Le Louvre because otherwise it would feel like a missed opportunity. Initially we decided to visit on a Tuesday but we hadn't realised that Le Louvre would be closed. We came back the following day and was pleasantly surprised that admittance to students was for free! This certainly saved us the 12 Euros it would have costed us for normal admissions. 

As a group we decided to take our time by approaching Le Louvre through the medieval and egyptian exhibitions first, in order to avoid the massive crowds heading towards the Mona Lisa. We were mistaken in thinking that there would not be a crowd at the Egyptian exhibition because it was one of the most popular in the entire gallery. It was fantastic to reignite my childhood fascination for the Ancient Egyptians, which was inspired by my childhood in the Middle East. However there seemed to be a very uncanny atmosphere in the Egyptian exhibit because the artefacts felt extremely out of place. What fascinated me the most was how the historical monuments of the Egyptian culture was excavated and put on display for the Parisienne viewer to appreciate, as it creates a strange spectacle out of "the other" that is supposedly admired within a gallery space. It created a very interesting relationship between the two cultures, one that supposedly implies inferiority as it "studies" and archives the other.

Needless to say I was disappointed at how small the Mona Lisa actually was.  It was also rather unnecessary that it was protected by a bullet-proof glass and had security of its own. I feel as though the publicity that tourism generates over-hypes the significance of the painting. It came to the point where tourists were not even taking the time to appreciate looking at the Mona Lisa - instead they would rush to snap a photo and leave. 

On a less cynical note, I was absolutely amazed by the Greek exhibition. It is most definitely a very different experience to actually see the Greek sculptures I often study from a photograph.  The very existence and presence of a sculpture in the same room as me brought forth a newfound appreciation for sculpture.  I was actually able to compare my frame to the size of the sculptures, which left me at awe at the artists behind the creation of these pieces. 

Les Catacombs

The Parisienne catacombs was definitely an eerie space to be in. Never before was I surrounded by six million skeletal remains and I don't think I will come across another opportunity that is as beautiful. What fascinated me the most about the catacombs was how someone actually underwent the meticulous task of arranging the skulls into these stunning wall arrangements. The artistry that was required to create these catacombs are definitely demonstrated through the 45 minute walk through the underground tombs. Whilst walking through the space the sense of Freud's the "unheimlich" kept creeping through my brain, as I gradually acknowledge the fact that every single one of these skeletal remains have a lifetime's worth of stories to share. 

Musée du quai Branly

At the Musée du quai Branly the majority of the exhibitions are based entirely on anthropology. Thankfully this gallery was also free to students because initially we were skeptical about visiting. Since we went I wouldn't have minded spending more time there. 

Most of the artefacts were being presented in the same way - on display behind glass walls. This creates a divide between the viewer and the piece to show that there is an elevated sense of respect and reverence when viewing this artefact. I need to consider this in my exhibition in May because I am not sure if presenting my pieces on an "elevated" platform, like a pedestal, is conceptually appropriate. 

What I found fun to do within the Musée du quai Branly was to see whether or not I could identify the cultures that were presented, without their labels. What I discovered by doing this was that certain cultures were quite discreet and unknown, such as the Philippines. Other cultures were obvious through their signature style and visual aesthetics, such as the Maori from New Zealand. What was most interesting to me were the cultures I couldn't identify exactly, because it demonstrates the cultural fusion that took place at some point in history. Perhaps what could be an interesting project to pursue, is to study each of these confusing/fusion cultures and mimic the way in which they create artefacts. That way I could possibly create a hybrid culture of my own. 

Palais de Tokyo

Going to Palais de Tokyo was, hands down, the most exciting gallery space I had been to in Paris. Since reading about Nicholas Bourriard's "The Radicant" it was made my priority to see Bourriard's gallery space for his idea behind "art without an origin." By going to Palais de Tokyo I was hoping to find any demonstration of Art that was just continuous and "radicant," as opposed to "radical." This was to hopefully find some kind of direction with my works based on cultural radicance. 

What I found in one of the gallery rooms was not disappointing. "L'Etat du Ciel" was a massive gallery space with projected video pieces on to the floor, and massive photography prints up on the walls. This space felt as thought it was designed specifically for Arts & Media because it portrayed video and photography in an instillation, whereby the viewer could be completely immersed in the idea of the image. If possible, I would like to take direct inspiration from this space and project any video pieces I may have on to the floor in my exhibition in May. That way my viewers can be immersed in the video piece in a different way, as opposed to a wall-mounted video piece. 

All in all, the Paris trip was absolutely inspiring and a lot of fun with the Arts & Media girls. Would have done it all over again in a heartbeat, and hopefully attend a few more contemporary galleries next time.