17.12.20 Combining the 3 strands of my practice
I have recently been researching the work of Nick Cave, who is a multidisciplinary artist. When Cave is asked whether he's a sculptor or a performance artist he says he's 'just an artist...that really finds the means necessary to support the idea.'
I have naturally been analysing my practice recently as I prepare my Practitioner Position Presentation for this module, MF7004. I consider myself to be a maker and facilitator but also recently am conscious that performance is becoming more significant in my practice. Being able to select any one of these 3 strands to embody an idea is fabulously thrilling...but juggling them can also be difficult. For my last module I began to see that it might be possible to synthesise them as well in Parts of me for MF7003) These assemblages incorporate sculpture and performance. The steel bodies are informed by stills from my performances with my Body cocoons. Might it be possible to also add participatory or socially engaged elements? Is that necessary? Or like Cave, should I be content to choose a discipline appropriate for the concept I'm working on?
I was excited to find the artist Steven Cohen who does seem to combine sculpture, performance and social engagement successfully. Or does he? Put your heart under your feet and walk is a spectacle. He has shown his work as a live performance in a theatre (sculpture, performance, video) and also as a more static exhibition in a gallery. iBall is part performance, part sculpture and part participatory art. But is combining all 3 strands of my practice possible or practical with the current restrictions of the pandemic? It worries me that I'm setting myself an impossible task, but surely a proposal is just that; a research question. I want to find out whether it is possible to combine these 3 aspects of my practice but maybe it won't be possible. It will be interesting to try!
I have also been looking in detail at Marcus Coates' work, specifically his shamanistic work in the tower block. He combines performance and social engagement and also uses objects as props eg the deer skin. Interestingly, he also uses sound (drumming) to set the scene. How could I incorporate sound in my work?
I have naturally been analysing my practice recently as I prepare my Practitioner Position Presentation for this module, MF7004. I consider myself to be a maker and facilitator but also recently am conscious that performance is becoming more significant in my practice. Being able to select any one of these 3 strands to embody an idea is fabulously thrilling...but juggling them can also be difficult. For my last module I began to see that it might be possible to synthesise them as well in Parts of me for MF7003) These assemblages incorporate sculpture and performance. The steel bodies are informed by stills from my performances with my Body cocoons. Might it be possible to also add participatory or socially engaged elements? Is that necessary? Or like Cave, should I be content to choose a discipline appropriate for the concept I'm working on?
I was excited to find the artist Steven Cohen who does seem to combine sculpture, performance and social engagement successfully. Or does he? Put your heart under your feet and walk is a spectacle. He has shown his work as a live performance in a theatre (sculpture, performance, video) and also as a more static exhibition in a gallery. iBall is part performance, part sculpture and part participatory art. But is combining all 3 strands of my practice possible or practical with the current restrictions of the pandemic? It worries me that I'm setting myself an impossible task, but surely a proposal is just that; a research question. I want to find out whether it is possible to combine these 3 aspects of my practice but maybe it won't be possible. It will be interesting to try!
I have also been looking in detail at Marcus Coates' work, specifically his shamanistic work in the tower block. He combines performance and social engagement and also uses objects as props eg the deer skin. Interestingly, he also uses sound (drumming) to set the scene. How could I incorporate sound in my work?