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READING DIARY: Broken Grammar (Bowdidge)

The Cut-Up Method of Brion Gysin

Burroughs’ writing about the cut-up method presents an intriguing way to disrupt the normative approach(es) to writing. The first thing that comes to my mind upon reading the text is the chance operation and the work of John Cage, although I appreciate the distinction made in the introduction between what a random generator produces and what the Surrealists/Burroughs intended for the method. I find it much more interesting to use the random generator as a way to trigger thoughts or access connections that would not otherwise have come to a creator’s mind than to present what the generator has provided as the completed product for dissemination or display. Of particular interest to me is the Italo Calvino quote: ‘It is only in juxtaposition with our personal and social ghosts that randomly retrieved words resonate.’

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Beginning with the summary of points laid out in Tractatus, this reading was very much one that I had to just stick with, hoping that it would eventually ‘click’. While there were snippets that my mind could latch onto in this first section, it took until very close to the end for me to gain a broader understanding of the works implications (and therefore, its value). That said, I find what Wittgenstein outlines to be ‘nonsense’ and ‘senseless’ intriguing, but have a lot of fun exploring what would be defined as nonsense and think it holds great value.

Sections 3.3–6 resonate with me the most. I (quite accidentally) support myself by editing, and ‘meaning as use’, ‘rule following’ and ‘private language’ are all notions that I have contemplated in depth many times prior to encountering this reading. To effectively transmit ideas from person A to person B via words, a delicate balance must be struck between the traditional rule book, the receiver’s rule book and the emergent conventions of the time and place. I also love and loathe how many permutations of meaning a few words can have. But this, as I understand it, is why Wittgenstein views philosophy as an essential activity. In some ways I think I may have been better off reading this piece backwards, as only upon finishing it can I begin to chew on this foundational idea from Tractatus: ‘Tautologies and contradictions, the propositions of logic, are the limits of language and thought, and thereby the limits of the world.’

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Transnational Feminism as a Paradigm for Decolonizing the Practice of Research by Sylvanna M Falcón

In Dr Fernando’s lecture last week, I was surprised to hear that essentially every research methodology I favour falls under the umbrella of intersectional feminist methodology (who has been hiding this from me?), so I was instantly curious to read more. Here, Falcón produces practical principles and criteria to guide a transnational feminist approach to decolonising research. Being extremely self-conscious of one’s positionality (specifically imperial privilege), finding a ‘respectful’ balance between ontologies and embracing multilingualism are the principles set forth. The criteria Falcón proposes all seek to humanise research and depart from the perception of individually created knowledges, acknowledging and reciprocating with subjects to engage in the undoing and rebuilding of decolonisation. Though she acknowledges that research produced of this methodology will not win over those of the objectivist scientific mindset, just the thought of this paradigm being put into practice excites me and I hope it continues to grow in the field.

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Black Faces, White Voices/White Faces, Black Voices: The Implications of "Race Fail" for Community-Based Arts Education by Carolyn Chernoff

Chernoff’s ethnographic research into the racialisation of the rhetoric of ‘community’ in Philadelphia community-based arts organisations reveals a critical failure of much community-based arts education. Starting with the knowledge that many community-based arts organisations are overwhelmingly staffed by class-privileged white people, she utilises several specific moments from observed in research to demonstrate how white people’s desire to do impactful/relevant work in communities of difference can actually reproduce the inequality they seek to address. After detailing several examples of ‘race fail’, Chernoff puts for suggestions for improving community-based arts education informed by the learnings of these examples. This work is extremely aligned to my research interests in race, education and how privileged non-members enter and work with(in) communities. The study addresses a tension that is often played down, and although her recommendations for remedying the tension seem less than groundbreaking, the need for their realisation is great.

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Decolonisation Frameworks: Indigenous Curatorial Practice - Runway

An examination of the role that language plays in reinforcing colonial interpretations of Indigenous art practice. Lopesi looks at three contemporary curators – Léuli Eshraghi, Stephen Gilchrist and Kolokesa Māhina-Tuai – each of whom use language as a powerful tool for decolonialising art worlds and art work critiques.

Week 7

In considering how artists negotiate institutions and the power they possess over cultural perspectives, Lana Lopesi examines several instances where indigenous curatorial practice has won victories towards decolonisation of art institutions. Disruption of the homogenisation and tokenistic inclusion of indigenous art practices is achieved here through examining language that is often taken for granted and interrupting the dominant curation for exhibitions of indigenous artwork. Some examples include Léuli Eshragi’s utilisation of indigenous languages without translation to ‘express multiple ways of being’, or Kolokesa Māhina-Tuai’s rejecting the imposed distinctions between ‘art’, ‘heritage’ and ‘craft’ when examining Tongan art. Another compelling highlight is Steven Gilchrist’s inclusion of a non-Indigenous artist in an exhibition of indigenous artists’ work surrounding generational trauma. In contrast to the wealth of content examining the enormous difficulty of negotiating institutions, this article’s focus on how indigenous curators are creatively decolonising institutions after centuries of fighting for space within them provides a welcome contrast.

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Video games encourage Indigenous cultural expression

A strengthening movement of Indigenous designers and developers is working to show Indigenous cultures, teachings, languages and ways of knowing through video games.

Week 6

Video games can be a powerful tool, inserting the player into an alternative realm and poising questions that demand the player make decisions that will benefit or harm their character and/or environment on the terms of this different world’s rules. In this article. Elizabeth LaPensée posits that while many video games have replicated colonial structures and reward systems, there is great potential for self-determination by indigenous developers and for this medium to transmit indigenous knowledge and values.

Whether in revealing the true dynamics of the colonial–indigenous relationship, sharing traditional stories or ways of knowing that have been suppressed, or illustrating how cultural values benefit communities and the environment, video games do indeed hold promise for indigenous cultural expression. Because most of the video games that I have encountered do little to combat (if not actively promote) damaging value systems, La Pensée’s argument gives me renewed interest in the medium and its possibilities.

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The Artistic Progressions of Ecofeminism: The Changing Focus of Women in Environmental Art by Jade Wildy

In this article Jade Wildy discusses the history and current manifestations of ‘ecofeminism’. With both the feminist and environmental movements gaining momentum in the 1960s, a distinct relationship between their principles emerged and became known as ecofeminism, which in turn has become evident in artistic practice. Wildy articulates the differences between the two branches of ecofeminism – social and cultural. Whereas cultural ecofeminism addresses the connections between women and nature present throughout history and world cultures (e.g. the concept of Gaia or the womb as a source of creation), social ecofeminism speaks to a perceived need for women to be the main actors in environmentalist work.

Highlighting the work of many artists including Ana Mendieta, Agnes Denes, Lynne Hull and Jacquie Brookner, the article develops a comprehensive picture of ecofeminist works, as well as where they are situated in the cultural/social ecofeminist continuum.

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'Nor Are We Just Passing Through': Muriel Naessens, political consistency, and feminist theatre of the oppressed by Kelly Howe

Boal’s Theater of the Oppressed (TO) provides an exceptionally promising framework for enabling oppressed peoples to devise actions against their oppressors through the arts. In the linked article, Howe discussed the TO work of Muriel Naessens and how her decision to use the techniques solely for feminist ends weighed on others’ awareness and perceptions of her as a TO practitioner. 

Howe raises the point that Naessens’ work may not be as well known as other jokers’ that addressed a broad range of topics, and very forthrightly rejects the impulse to categorise activists as the ‘real deal’ or ‘sell outs’. Further delving into this topic, discussion of the relationship between Naessens and Margy Nelson highlights the contention among TO practitioners as to what degree a joker should impart their own political undertakings onto spect-actors. Though mostly positive, Howe’s ode to Naessens provides a deeper perspective into the discourse surrounding the role of joker in TO.

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How the Arts Impact Communities: An introduction to the literature on arts impact studies by Joshua Guetzkow

Guetzkow’s paper examines the existing research methodologies used to measure the impact of community arts, highlighting the shortcomings of existing approaches. Meters of impact are first divided into two categories: those pertaining to individuals and those pertaining to communities. One of the most important questions discussed in the paper is the matter of how researchers define ‘arts’, ‘impact’ and ‘communities’. Does a researcher define who is a member of the community, or do individuals self-identify? He also touches on the intangible nature of many outcomes of community arts.

Though research about research can seem pedantic, the conclusions drawn from arts impact research inform funding bodies and affect what they support. Furthermore, exploring the ways that researchers have determined whether or not a community arts program is impactful provides much food for thought as to what, if any, specific goals one is trying to achieve when conceiving a community arts project.