From Critical Practice Chelsea
Roaming Discussion of 1916 with Neil Cummings
March 18, 2010 - Triangle Space, Chelsea College of Art and Design
In attendance: Neil Cummings, Kristen Lovelock, Scott Schwager, Maria Christoforatou and Me
- This "informal critique" was not structured like the classic "the artist doesn't talk" variety. (As, for instance, in Show Not Tell Seminar Series.)
- Recurrent theme - what it means to focus on one's "subject" (the subject of an artwork) - for example, Kristen's concern with co-habitation - should she or shouldn't she move in with her boyfriend? That's the focus. The references to surrealism and holidays confused this focus - They may well have be a focus in their own right (which was my initial reading of the work) - they just weren't the artist's main focus in this piece; nor were they working in the service of her focus...
- Lots of discussion around the frame of the gallery and the power of this frame - there's a tendency to:
- Make stuff that looks like art - for example, how the bathroom paintings were hung - they went from being on a shelf (in a real bathroom) to being in a gallery
- To indulge in "creative" installation - the artist forgets to become installer - or the installer plays at being an artist - the result: the hang is aestheticized in non-essential ways.
- To insufficiently consider the power of the gallery - Maria's painting should have been bigger or smaller - as it was, its domestic scale wasn't working in the weird space that is the Triangle Gallery.
- Scott's seesaw is provocative - fun and absurd...The artist is interested in the balance of power and engaging with the seesaw enacts this idea. But as Neil observed, this one was weighted in the middle - the balance issue wasn't literalized in the artwork. And yet, I know that I, for one, felt self-conscious about my own body when riding the seesaw - I looked for people who where about my size to ride with...
- Conversing while riding this seesaw...(playful) physical activity allowed/encouraged a different kind of engagement. Embodied approach...
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Kristen Lovelock - part of Should I move in with him |