On the first Day.
The justification of the project comes from a social concern, the idea of how and why humans accumulate any type of elements. We all have done it, in mental or physical ways. Someone may keep the recording on the letters received from the family , others may have taken photos through their life. Nino Quincapoix recorded the funniest laughts. Is it a hobbie or a human need? If it were just for fun, how you we explain that humans have done this activity since ever?
The origin of the project links directly to a social and even psychological concern. Artists who have worked on this topic try to give different answers to the same phenomenom. Nicolas Nixon´s "The brown sisters" collect the image of these women over the years in order to present the beauty of social relationships, but on the other hand , mankind´s ephemeral existence. Lisa Miroy´s "Greek vases" use old pieces of ceramic as a symbol of culture, and at the same time her final piece is a beautiful, well ordered composition.
As we watched these examples on class we were given the task of thinking on the method followed by the artist for accumilating elements. I become more aware of the huge work of choosing the correct elements and the editing. Sometimes the pieces itself were not made by the artist, but collected from many sources. In these cases, the artist can alter the meaning of those elements with a rigorious editing . Louse Nevelson´s works at Tate Modern were sculptures made of different collected materials. Although she used a huge variety of shapes , she kept those elements within rectangular coffins, and she painted the hole structure on a single color. The order was a decision of the artist. Her concern may have been to present her work as clear as possible in order to ease the understanding of her work to the public.
On the other hand, Lorna Simpson´s message seems to be hidden on the media, rather than directly shown. She presents fragments of a poem, which talk about the beauty of a woman, although this character is photographed from the back (20 Questions, 1986). The message needs to be inferred. A difference in the settings represent a change in the meaning. These artists were succesful in choosing the media that best suited their intentions.
I was previously concerned on the idea that these artists would forget the aesthetic of the final piece and would only focus on the idea, but I realized that the artists knew that the beauty and cleanness of the final piece was essential in order to transmit the concept efficiently. I appreciated the quality of the ordering and the texture of the painting in Nevelson´s sculptures. Simpson´s fragments had a level of wit similar to that of the poetry, and her paintings had a rich management of shades of grey.
I knew beforehand that CSM was highly concerned on contemporary art, and was happily surprised to realize that the importance given to the development of the idea doesn´t struggle with the search of aesthetic pleasure. Art seen as a search of ideas, but never losing in mind the importance of hard work and a firm root.
Collection of gestures.
As homework we were given the task of collecting whatever that catched our interest. I had to take my time in order to think that I may have been collecting already without noticing. I realized I had pictures of crossings and public trasport. I come from Mexico City, and it is easy to see the differences in organization. London transport system is efficient, organized, expensive. It takes time to understand it , but once you comprehend it´s mechanism is a miracle: you may arrive anywhere within an hour. Back home the transport is much cheaper, but less organized, and more crowded. It is hard to find get into an unknown place, and in most situations it will surely take more than an hour.
I´ve been interested in the efficiency of cities since I was younger. So my first idea was to record very specific places that reveal the essence of London´s organizations, like the unnoticed informational sounds ("Please mind the gap"/ Change here for Picadilly Line/ This stop has step-free access), or the crossings with circular headlights for pedestrians priority. Then I asked a friend from Mexico City to record the same places and situations and make a comparison. In this idea, the methodology would be the contradiction. The idea would be to highlight the differences between both cities, but not in order to make a negative critique of Mexico city, but to portray the charm of each place.
On the class we were given more examples of how different artists approached the topic of collection in a variety of forms. Some overlapped pictures from the same building in different periods of construction ,the final piece resembling a spider web . Some others didn´t focused on creating a work to be shown, but only focusing on the act of "doing,"which is the case of performances. Actions happen and end over time without an object to be preserved. One of the methods I liked the most was the homogenization. With a strict methodology and a selective editing some artists have highlighted similarities between events and objects that, at first sight, wouldn´t seem to have anything in common.
When I presented all the collected elements I had to my tutor, she considered that making such a huge contrast between cities would be an interesting project, but it may not be well finished within two days. I also showed her an experiment I made , back in Mexico. I asked my close friends to wear headphones in order to listen to their favourite piece of music. I don´t know what song they listened, I didn´t mind. I only wanted to see their expressions. Nowadays music is an easy way of disconnection from the environment. I listen to music as an attempt to focus on myself without external distraction. When listening to your favourite piece of music, what does it says about your personality?, what do you love about it?, to what extent do you allow yourself to show those emotions on pictures.
My tutor supported me on working with the idea of gestures. Then, I remembered that , back in Mexico I saw Sophie Calle´s Exhibition "Take care" (2007). The artist asked a many women to read and interpret a n email her ex- partner send her to end up the relationship. The homogenization comes from the fact that all women read the same text. Interpreted by women from different personalities and backgrounds, the editing makes the single interviews turn into an unit. Another element that called my attention is that Calle collected gestures and interpretations.
On the project. What am I doing?
The most efficient way to collect gestures was video. I realized that people I recorded tend to change their expressions in matter of seconds. To draw those ephemeral gestures would require me to ask them an extra effort of not changing them, but I want my project to feel natural, I want them to feel free and comfortable.
About the methodology, I want to feel the hegemony of gestures. I may edit them so that , at first I can show when gestures are still neutral, when music has just started. Then I will show the moment in which I notice a change , from the neutral to the emotional, and finally I will try to find the moment of climax in each.
On the sound, as I mentioned before, I wanted to keep the song they listened as a secret. I may not have background sound on the editing, and If so, I´ll try to make it the most homogeneous.