SART3416

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Assessment 3

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I wish I never did the ___________________. I wish I never _______ when __________ was______________. I wish I never had a ________ featuring ________________. I wish I never picked ____________________. I wish I never had to ________________ at __________________. I wish I never __________ to ______________________. I wish I never _________________. I wish I never learned _____________________. I wish I never picked _________________. I wish I never wasted my time _____________________. I wish I never __________. Now no one wants to _______________. I wish I never ____________ on my _________________. I wish I never be ______________ into _____________. I wish I never chose the _______________________. I wish I never told ____________ to ___________________.

Using the responses I received on my sign, I wanted to further develop this idea of collaboration by creating a ‘fill the gap’ sheet which I would then give to family and friends. Asking them to fill in the gaps with personal responses about experiences they've faced. 

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Day 2: Leaving the sign up for two days, pictured above were the responses I received. 

Day 3: After day 3 I wanted to collect the responses and further figure out how I could push this boundary between public and private. 

The responses to my sign were:

I wish I never did the plastic surgery.

I wish I never spanked my dog when he was growing up. Negative reinforcement never works.

I wish I never had a sex dream featuring Geoffrey Rush.

I wish I never picked this stupid course.

I wish I never had to shit at uni.

I wish I never came to class this morning.

I wish I never knew.

I wish I never learned this course.

I wish I never picked 9am classes.

I wish I never wasted my time writing this.

I wish I never farted. Now no one wants to hug.

I wish I never cheated on my boyfriend.

I wish I never be born into this world.

I wish I never chose the easy path.

I wish I never told her to get the abortion. 

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Asessment 3:

For the final assessment I wanted to further investigate this idea of collaboration. Collaborating with complete strangers in a public/relatively public place allows for the work to become unpredictable.. Putting up the sign pictured above, I wanted to ask a very personal question and question where you draw the line between you public and private sphere. 

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Assessment 1: Viral Image 

For this assessment I wanted to explore ‘first world problems’ as a theme for the work.

Using humour, I attempt to poke fun at the 21st century human existence and try to highlight just how trivial these “problems” really are.

 Using privately sent messages as well as personal conversations….  I began to write down and form a list of first world problems ‘declared’ by friends, family, colleagues, acquaintances as well as strangers in the space of a week.  

 I decided on a recurring theme …..  to use the phrase ‘this wifi sucks’ because it relates to the ‘viral image’ and our constant need for wifi to share and distribute images and information across the internet.

 For the first part of my work, I asked strangers to photograph a “shirt shot” … wearing a sticker saying ‘this wifi sucks’.

 After taking their photograph… I encouraged my subjects to wear the sticker around for as long as they could, ultimately spreading my message by an old fashioned means…..

 By collaborating with strangers, I am attempting to blur the line between public and private or throwing a private concern into the public sphere…. Ie. ‘so annoying…. This wifi sucks’

 For the second half of the assessment, I wanted to contrast it with the first…. by exposing viewers to the images in a –more- subtle- way…….. In other words, no stickers slapped onto my subjects…

Rather…..

I placed a photographic image of the “shirt shot” in a busy thoroughfare…. I wanted to question what makes an image viral and is viral necessarily limited to the online experience??????

 I observed people walking past the image. I sat on the sidelines. The image caught peoples attention and I think the message was absorbed by the passer-by…. Perhaps wondering what it meant….

Does something have to be ‘in your face’ to go viral … can it be more subtle and allow the viewer to decide, take control and interact with it on their own terms.

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Using the images of stickers I photographed on strangers I wondered how I could further circulate/recycle my image. After picking my three best photos, I decided it would be a good idea to place my photos in highly visible areas.

While these images may appear to be in quiet places, they are not, they were actually positioned in a thoroughfare to a major transport hub (bondi Junction train station). Doing this exposed my viewers to the images in a more subtle way, and therefore contrast my first experiment. In doing so I wanted to question what makes a image viral, it is by having images that are constantly ‘in your face’ or it is it something that allows the viewers to take control and interact with it on their own terms.

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What annoys/interests me:

-       Art that provokes/makes fun of something/pushes the boundaries – Ai Wei Wei, Sophie Calle

-       First world problems: My coffee is cold, I lost the remote, ugh, I’m out of petrol, this wifi sucks, I cant find my keys, I have to leave the house because the cleaners here.

-       People who publicly display their entire life on social media.

Why am I doing it?

-       Humour

What relationship do I create between the public and private?

-       By collaborating with strangers, I’m blurring the line between public and private. Giving them something that was sent privately via text and in person by my friends/family allows me to question the relationship between our private lives and our public selves and where we draw the line in regards to what we post/say on social media.

What is my aim?

-       To poke fun and emphasis just how trivial first world problems really are.

-       Challenge to some degree the relationship between making something private, public.

 Why use that saying?

-       I thought it would be a good idea to use ‘this wifi sucks’ in my image as it links back to the whole idea of the online world.

How to circulate it?

-       Stickers > photograph strangers wearing them > use the best image > print that image > place it in public space > photograph it in public space > put it on social media.

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Ed Ruscha