Tag Archives: Imagination

Three Things That Have Caught My Imagination…

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An Abyss To Fall In

ABYSS

On Monday 26th January we were set the challenge to perform a subtlemob. We were given a list of instructions and included in this was to find ‘an abyss to fall in’. My interpretation of the caption is the photograph that I captured. An abyss can be perceived as an unknown quantity of space. I believe the photograph also has the power to portray this. The picture captures what is above the hole yet the space or what is behind it is left to our imagination.

Adrian Howells

During Wednesday’s seminar we briefly looked upon Adrian Howells work. Instantly, his work grasped my full, undivided attention. After the session I decided to investigate further into his work to gain a clearer knowledge and understanding of the performance techniques pursued. I discovered that Howells usually worked extremely close with the audience. The performance methods used present the audience making a show of themselves, urging for self-reflection by leaving them to question how they present themselves to the world. The aesthetics of the piece would derive from a personal one to one therapeutic session with the spectator; carefully enabling them to open up. Howells’ practice represents and demonstrates that “theatre is not just something to be consumed but a shared act” (Gardner, 2014) leaving us to appreciate the artistic value as a joint effort on equal parts.

An example of Howells’ most famous work would be Foot-Washing for the Sole, which he performed in multiple places around the world, exploring different cultures.

Link 1 (Foot-Washing for the Sole interview with Adrian): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9PPEbAU5z8

Link 2 (Foot-Washing for the Sole Mini clip): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_a8PDfErtA

 

Site Specific!

As opposed to Howells’ work Foot-Washing for the Sole which categorizes under site generic work, site specific work is designed and created with one place in mind. Site specific performance links a close relationship between art and site, the particular location is completely necessary for the structure of the piece. “site-specific performance engages with site as symbol, site as story-teller, site as structure” (Pearson, 2010, 8)

After my first week and a half of being introduced to Site Specific performance I now feel more eased into the subject and have grasped more of a clearer understanding of it. I believe that keeping an open mind to the subject will allow me to appreciate the full beauty of it.

Pearson, M (2010) Introduction in Site Specific Performance. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Kilkenny Arts Festival (2010) Adrian Howells Interview | Footwashing For The Sole | Kilkenny Arts Festival. [online video] Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9PPEbAU5z8 [Accessed 2 February 2015].

 

TPAM (2012) TPAM 2010 (15 of 17) Adrian Howells. [online video] Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_a8PDfErtA [Accessed 2 February 2015].

Now you see me, now you don’t!

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The first lesson of Site Specific Performance was pretty daunting to me, especially with the given tasks of understanding such a broad subject. A subtle flash mob was first on the agenda, and the last thing I expected, during which I became less conscious of myself and more aware of what, where, how and who was in my surroundings.

A particular quest took my attention during my time, in what I thought was a familiar space. ‘An escape to the roof’. I began looking for ways in which I thought my small body could clamber up to what I first envisaged as safety. I looked for a stepping stone pattern, a secret stair case (in case I hadn’t noticed one before!) and objects that I could move towards the walls to make me tall enough. I drew a blank. I gave up and went on to take a picture of ‘an endless horizon’ which made me look at edges and lines of buildings where the sky met them. Suddenly through the camera lens everything changed, the Library that seemed so tall and void to my project became a miniature playground for my NEW legs… my fingers! The escape to the roof was no longer about being safe, it was about having fun. Without my camera perspective, who would have known?

escape to the roof

The outcome I was so busy looking for was right under my nose, and arrived through divine intervention. In The Place of the Artist Govan explains that ‘Within contemporary performance, site-related work has become an established practice where an artist’s intervention offers spectators new perspectives upon a particular site or set of sites.’ (Govan, 2007, p.121) which was thought provoking; an artist’s intervention doesn’t simply have to be showing someone a new way of looking at something, it can be made through suggestion, timing and a sort of planned, hopeful coincidence of recognition.

A new found perspective can be continued through art. A new found favourite, and relevant, artist in mind is Slinkachu. Slinkachu is an artist that creates everyday tableaus of life size backgrounds with miniature people, here’s a few examples to enjoy!

lochness-slinkachu

slinkachu-damn-kids-01

http://slinkachu.com/little-people

Govan, E. Et al (2007) Making a Performance: Devising Histories and Contemporary Practices London and New York: Routledge

 

 

 

 

The Imagination

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The first lesson of site specific as a whole opened my eyes to not only my own but others imaginations, how one persons perspective can change in an instance when seeing how another person views certain buildings, people, instructions, etc.

When you walk you walk in your own way, with a unique quality which helps represent who you are but also how you are feeling at that point. If you take a minute to observe others as they walk, look at their shoulders, their facial expressions, the speed in which they walk or how long their strides are, even what they are carrying you can create a story or an interpretation as to what they are thinking and feeling at that moment in time. Look at the surroundings. Is it dark? Are you outside? Will these surroundings have an effect on how someone is feeling?

Take a minute to step into their shoes and feel how they feel, be in their ‘site’ that they are in and you will start to understand the difference between how one person feels and how you feel. Open up and explore the differences to extend the paths that you can take in different sites.