#WEEK7 Tracing to create multiple circles on hard metal sheet.
The results are disc-like form. It took me almost 2 hours to cut and polish the rough edges.
Attaching the individual discs into the big steel circle. I made 12 discs and arrange them as in hours 1 to 12 of an analog clock.
When I was making this form, I thought about the grouping pattern or “constellation of stars”. Every time my family and friends go camping here in Australia, we sit together around bonfire. In the middle of stories, games and laughs, there’s this beautiful moment when we suddenly pauses to look up the sky and gaze at those shining bright stars. We form patterns, everyday objects like mixing spoon, hat, walking sticks etc. When I was young I used to do this as well with my siblings and cousins in Philippines. We share our hopes and dreams while gazing up the sky. We always wonder what’s beyond.
These thoughts led me to wonder more and ask questions:
In what basis that our ancestors, philosophers, scientists, or spiritual myths created a specific star constellations? How can they grasp the meaning of such formations?
Constellations are not real objects. They are just patterns as seen from our observation point on Earth. The patterns we see are for the most part just by chance. I realise that I can present how I see constellation through my own perception to others. I don’t need to prove it, people will know and feel the truth in their own way through their experience.
For me, people are like stars. We form groups through finding our common grounds and interests. We become connected in such a way that we create meaning by existing around one another.
This work resembles a round table. It was because my original plan is to make a drinking table - something that I can use in a performance. I’ve been saying this since I was in 2nd year. I wanted to strain the rice and give to people to drink. I thought that by making this object, I’ll have a reason to do the performance.
I’ll be sitting on the floor right at the middle of the circle and serve people with a drink made from burnt rice. The discs will serve as the holder for drinking cups. At the start of the performance, the 12 participants will enter the room like visitors and I, being the host will welcome them showing hospitality. We will exchange stories while I make the drink, then do a toast as a sign of celebration. The purpose of this performance is to make a work that will encourage a face to face interaction between people. We are now living in a world with new technology and social media, and I think we need to enhance and retain the sensibility of physical interaction.
I suddenly wonder how I will approach my performance. Will it be spontaneous, random or otherwise carefully planned?
I was looking at the contemporary artist Rikrit Tiravanija who set up a kitchen in the gallery and serve pad thai to people. I guess what made his work to be considered seriously as art is the fact that it’s been performed in a gallery. Rikrit believes that the art is the “experience” of cooking and eating. The act or experience become the object of display, under the direction of the artist - therefore the possibility of art being performed in private or public space can also be considered as art.
All these ideas fluttering in my mind makes my stomach flip. A fellow visual art students that I spoke to lately have said, that it’s a bit annoying that I am just doing this type of aesthetic just now, I should have done it from the beginning and she thinks that there should be a special unit course only focused for Relational Aesthetics. She thinks that it’s a very broad topic to explore and requires a lot of experimentation. My thought about that is - it’s because, I myself is undergoing a process within my state of being. I cannot fully realise the idea of sharing with others without my deeper reflection about myself and my subjective stand in my art practice. It’s a transcendent experience that happens to people because it takes a lot of responsibility to reach out, perform and gather people. It’s like giving unconditional love, the process of understanding those who cannot grasp and taking them to the level of your own understanding. It’s also about engaging in a common activity that will make people see things in a different perspective.
Like what Bourriaud is trying to say in his book, we live in the time where people is going back to the sensibility of one’s self. It is true - we are living in a time when we check our phone every minute of the day, watch Netflix nonstop because all seasons is already programmed on tv. We send hi and hello’s, birthday greetings through internet and people are becoming lazy to have real catch ups. I feel like we are losing the communal aspects of life where people sit together and interact by doing something together.
So ok, I am a late bloomer but I believe that everything is an ongoing process. Not everything in this world is a race, so for now, I want to focus in this work and I’ll see how it goes.
What if I create an idea of a fully instructed performance? I’ll sit in the middle and act like the hands of the clock. I am the time that dictates and control what is about to happen. I will place different objects on top of the disc and give instructions to the participants sitting behind it. So the moment the clock points to a certain time, the participants will eat the hamburger, drink coffee, check their phone, read emails, put make up on etc. The participants will be like robots because they perform their actions on a specific point in time. They become slaves of time.
This is how I feel when I’m consuming a long period of time meticulously building a work of art in my private space. As much as I love to paint and create objects, I sometimes feel isolation - the process of making gives me a delightful feeling, a quiet moment to reflect about myself and the world around me but most of the time after a long tiring day, I always feel the guilt of not being around my family. The regret of the time lost when I was not there spending time with my daughter, family and friends. I want to enjoy the moment of togetherness. I was longing to extend my practice in creating work which will involve people. The idea of sharing, the celebration of making art as a fruitful activity for everyone.
I always wonder why my thoughts quickly shift from one thing to another. I’m seeing a lot of things in different ways. I fondly say that “I got the artists’ bug” It’s like the condition that once you open your brain into it, you will never stop thinking and things will never be the same as it’s used to be.
Like this image of my work along with another visual arts student (Megan Thomason) Her work kind of asking me to create a 2D works that I can also hang on the wall. It suddenly gave me the idea of making a charcoal-like monochromatic drawing using burnt rice and probably draw a bright night sky with it’s beautiful constellations of stars.
