What is a Happening?

      ''A happening is a performance, event or situation meant to be considered art, usually as performance art. Happenings take place anywhere, and are often multi-disciplinary, with a nonlinear narrative and the active participation of the audience. Key elements of happenings are planned, but artists sometimes retain room for improvisation. This new media art aspect to happenings eliminates the boundary between the artwork and its viewer. Therefore the interactions between the audience and the artwork makes the audience, in a sense, part of the art.''

I have become interested in the idea of happenings as an element of my project and have begun to consider the posibility of exploring performance art, events or situations, which aim to break down barriers between myself artist and the audience. I like how they can potentially encourage the audience to be as much a part of the work as I would be, and that people could take part in interacting with and helping to make my work. Happenings generally do not have a plot like a play or a performance and are called this as the outcome is what 'happens' due to the way the audience interacted or not. It may be difficult to have less control over my work however I am excited about possible results.

http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/blogs/performance-art-101-happening-allan-kaprow
http://www.artlyst.com/articles/robert-r-mcelroy-documentary-photographer-dies

Gillian Wearing

'I decided that I wanted people to feel protected when they talked about certain things in their life that they wouldn’t want the public that knows them to know. I can understand that sort of holding on to things—it’s kind of part of British society to hold things in. I always think of Britain as being a place where you’re meant to keep your secrets—you should never tell your neighbours or tell anyone. Things are changing now, because the culture’s changed and the Internet has brought people out. We have Facebook and Twitter where people tell you small details of their life' -Wearing

http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/exhibitions/gillian-wearing

I find Wearing's working interesting as she tries to draw out thinks people do not usually reveal. This act of drawing things out is something I want to explore further, this create an element of social interaction even if its just for a moment. Wearing technique is also very simple however extremely effective, by simple asking people to write something about them and hold it up and allow her to take their picture holding up the what they wrote. Wearing says you get to a point and wonder why you are doing this until you have a break through, she says her break through in this work was when a smart man in a suit wrote 'I'm desperate'.  I think this image is really powerful, that fact the Wearing got this man to draw something out that you would not expect is extremely intriguing. Everything in this image adds to the strong juxtaposition between the man and his words, including the location he is in and the slight smile on his face and how the image is light. This detail is something I would hope to carry on in my work. I idea of people writing their own message is also something I want to explore further.



After briefly looking at Wearing works, I went and asked people to write anything on a piece of paper and let me take their picture, these are some of the out comes.

Although this out come looks aesthetically effect, and very similar to Wearing's work it was not effective in drawing out things about people, which due to more research I found out was Wearing intention of her work.

After doing some more research, a when out again and asked people to write a confection on a piece of paper and to let me take their picture. This was the out come that I created. I understood Wearing's process more. Her process was very simple she asked people to 'say what you wanted to say not what someone else wants you to say' and simple write in down and let her take their picture hold it up. This creates a moment of interaction being the artist and the participated I think this is something that interested Wearing as well, further more I would like to explore this connexion for a moment between the artist and the participant or audience.

After asking everyone to write their confection of anything they wanted on the paper, I then asked them to write a wish this brings in my ideas that I was exploring by doing Yoko Ono's style wish tree. In was interesting to see the difference between how people acted when I asked the to write a confection and how they acted when I asked them to write a wish. Most people seemed to be more comfortable to write a wish and seemed to pose more for the picture then when I asked them to write a confection, and the confection they all stood very tall and smiled less. Unlike my first attended I wanted to keep the back ground more simple as this would lead to more focus on what is written on the paper and the expecting on peoples faces.

At the time of Wearing doing this piece 'say what you want to say not what someone else wants you to say' it was a time of heavy ruling, Margaret Thatcher had enforces harsh laws about people, and changed peoples life's debated for the worse. I think Wearing was trying to break free of this by creating this piece, and wanted people to think about what they truly wanted to say and express how they truly felt. I think Wearing was extremely effective in achieving this. There was a lot of things wrong with the country at the time and I believe Wearing want to create that moment of social interaction almost to pause everything which was going on around them and context with people again. I think Wearing's work is extremely powerful due to its simplicity, this is what excites me about her as an artist.

http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/wearing-im-desperate-p78348

Another piece of Wearing's work which I found interesting was the way she informs people about her work. Wearing adverts her work in loads of different ways, such as tiny little notes in obscure newspaper, along side big posters and word of mouth, this is something that I would try and create in my work. Wearing pacifically did this in 'Self Made'


Trailer for Self Made

Yoko Ono Wishes

After doing my Roy Lichtenstein response I found the technique of doing around my local area with a board and asking people to write everious things very effective. Therefore I through I would be interesting to see what people wrote if I walked around and asked people to write their wishes in a bubble. It was interesting how people took a lot longer to think about what they wished for than what they thought (Lichtenstein Response) I also found it interesting the diffecne between the wishes people wrote on the wish tree and the wishes that the wrote in the bubble. It seemed that people wishes for a lot bigger things when they knew they were getting their picture taken with it ('I wish for a REVELUTION') this is unlike the wishes on the wish tree ('I wish for good grades') 

After looking a Gillian Wearing, I though this outcome also reflected similar things to her work. Like Wearing I had to have a social interaction will all these people who I spoke too, this interaction between myself the artist and them was as interesting as what they wrote on the whip broad. It was interesting to see how everyone reacted so differently to being asked the same question. Also like Wearing I did not want to infurence what they wrote on the board, I wanted them to feel free to write anything they wanted to. This also links back Yoko Ono's cut piece as I as an artist did not have control over what they wrote, which is similar to Ono not having control over which piece of her dress audience members cut off. 

As a response I think this was very effective as it brought my key artist together, in a very simple and effective way. I think this idea of not being in control as an artist is the main thing I'm going to take from this and I think this something that I really want to explore strongly in my final outcome. 

Yoko Ono Wish Tree Responce

After looking and understanding Yoko Ono's ideas and thoughts behind her wish tress and how she applies them differently in different exhibitions so that they apply to their location. I decided to create a wish tree in a class room in my school and invited people to add their wishes too it.

I chose to create a tree made of willow sticks, as they went with the setting of the room and where a similar colour to colour of the wood in the room. They also looked very natural and clearly signified a tree to the group of people I asked to add wishes too. I also decide to intertwine pieces of natural string to make it look more delicate. The string also allowed the wishes to seem more part of the tree as I made them with the same string. I tried to create the tags on things what were also made of things that had very natural colours as this was they look I was going for.


I invited a group of young people to add their wishes to the tree, and then left a box of tags for people to continutly add their wishes to the tree. It was interesting to see how some people wrote their wishes straight away and other took almost an hour to think about what they truly wanted to wish for. It was also interesting to see how and where people placed their wishes and what this means about them and their wishes.

I think this outcome was successful due to the amount of wishes, and allowing people to break down barriers to revel something a bit more about themself, it also lead to people talking creating interation between each other. If I did this outcome again, I would invite more people to write on wishes and do it for a longer period of time in a more public space. I like the nautrelnes of all thr colours and how they worked together. It was intresting to see what people wrote on their wishes -especally beacuse once they have tied the wish on it was annoimuses. I think these lead people to feel more free out what they we're writing. 

Roy Lichtenstein/ Gillian Wearing Responce

After going to the Litchenstein exhibitions, I found his work looking at peoples thoughts extremely interesting. I wanted to think of a create and effective way in which I would I could capture peoples thoughts and create some sort of social interaction. However this outcome also strongly links to Gillian Wearing, who talks to people and asks them to write down and hold up things about themselves on pieces of paper.

I came up with the idea to walk around my local area and ask people to write their thoughts on a whip board with a thought bubble on.

Here are some of the responses that I had, I think the proses of people writing it down made them think what what where they thinking about. This technique was very simple, like Wearing's, but worked very effectively in completing what I set out to do. I think as an outcome this was very successful as it broke down a barrier between myself the artist and the audience, this lead to a moment of social interaction between us. It was also interesting to draw things out which you may not know from just looking at them, like Wearing does. The uses of a speech bubble was very effective was it is a universal simple and needed little explain which to do.

Roy Lichtenstein

Lichtenstein was a leading figure in the pop art movement, originally focusing on comic book strips then still in his same style moved on to capturing emotion and work of landscapes.

Two things interested me about Lichtenstein's work, firstly the way that he capture a moment of interaction, many of women. his pop art style and use of speech marks unlike other artist gives an incite to the people in the work. Being able to capture a moment of social interaction is something I would like to explore further. The bold pop art style makes his work extremely accessible to a wide audience. And his comic book style on capturing a moment support this accessibility. The ascetics of his pictures are clear and simple, this is why I believe so many people are fans of his work.

Also the amount of controversy that is work created lead to huge amounts of social interaction, his work got a lot of negative press this lead to split opinions and interaction between public opinion, critical opinions and what Lichtenstein was trying to create. Although this was not his intention of his work I think its extremely interesting how much interaction this work created.

After seeing his work in real life at the Tate, I was blow away by the size of his work and how sharp everything was. The precision of the dots and brightness of the colours really makes his work stand out from other artist.

http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/lichtenstein?gclid=CKqt2af6zrYCFVMftAod_nsALQ

Lichenstein was working a a time of great Revelation, in 1960's was a a time great freedom and the sexual revation. All forms of art were coming a lot more free, bold and powerful, I think this is clearly reflected in Lichenstein's work. However this was a time of empowering women, due to women being able to control getting pregnant for the first time due to 'the pill' it could be argued that Lichenstien's work empowers women due to them being the fores of some of his most famous piece. Alternatively it could be seen as objectifying them. Lichtenstien create an image of the idea women.

Relational Aesthetics

"A set of artistic practices which take as their theoretical and practical point of departure the whole of human relations and their social context, rather than an independent and private space." The artist can be more accurately viewed as the "catalyst" in relational art, rather than being at the centre.

After reading and understand relational Aesthetics, I think it is defiantly something I want to explore through out my theme of social interaction. I think the idea of using the art as a catalyst is something which would be really interesting and exciting to look in further. I also think this links strongly with my ideas of doing a performance piece of work, like Yoko Ono. I would hope to use my art piece as a catalyst to break down barriers between people. I hope I can achieve this to some level in my final outcome, I think through performance art is a very effective way of doing so. I also would like my piece to be set in a social context, I think this would defiantly lead to more social interaction between people. 

Rirkrit Tiravanija

Tiravanija's work “is fundamentally about bringing people together.” 

This installation artist is most famous for a piece called pad thai  in 1990, when he through ar conventions out of the window by creating an instillation where he cooked and served food for gallery visitors.The visitors' participation in the live event was the art work, and after the visitors had gone, the remains of the meal stayed on view as evidence of the event. The food was not the art nether was the making of it, it was just a means to provoke interaction and to allow a convivial relationship between audience and artist.

http://www.marginalutility.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Claire-Bishop_Antagonism-and-Relational-Aesthetics.pdf Pg56 

http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/collections/collection-online/artists/bios/5339

http://billiefm.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/relational-aesthetics.html

JR

'ONE WISH TO CHANGE THE WORLD'

The french born photographer and street artist, self called "photograffeur" 

His graffiti often targeted precarious places like rooftops and subway trains, and he deeply enjoyed the adventure of going to and painting in these spaces. After finding a camera in the Paris Metro, JR and his friends began to document the act of his graffiti painting. He began wondering about the vertical limits, the walls and the facades that structure cities.

 After observing the people he met and listening to their message, JR pasted their portraits up in the streets and basements and on the roof tops of Paris. Between 2004 and 2006, JR created Portraits of a Generation, portraits of young people from the housing projects around Paris that he exhibited in huge format. This illegal project became official when the City of Paris put JR’s photos up on buildings. At the beginning of his projects, JR wanted to bring art into the street: "In the street, we reach people who never go to museums." 

In 2007, with Marco, JR put up enormous photos of Israelis and Palestinians face to face in eight Palestinian and Israeli cities on either side of the Separation Barrier. Upon his return to Paris, he pasted these portraits up in the capital. For the artist, this artistic act is first and foremost a human project: "The heroes of the project are all those who, on both sides of the wall, allowed me to paste the portraits on their houses." Israeli and Palestinian men and women who have the same jobs accepted to laugh or cry, to scream or pull faces in front of JR’s lens. The portraits created were pasted up face to face, in monumental format on either side of the Separation Wall and in several surrounding towns. 

In 2008, JR undertook an international tour for Women Are Heroes, a project in which he highlights the dignity of women who are often targets during conflicts. JR admits to not always understand but feeling and crying because of what they told him. JR chose the locations due to thinks he hear in the media which shocked him. In this project he also wanted to give people their own galleries. The project create a link between the women and the media, as the media had no clue what was going on and had to be far way to see it, however come up close and talk to the women to understand it. This all provoked curiosity. Also JR  created books to give to the community however to get one you had to get it signed by one of the women. This creates interactions between them and strength the community. 

JR talks about his inside out project and his hopes for peace and changing lives... 
http://www.ted.com/talks/jr_one_year_of_turning_the_world_inside_out.html

JR  wants to constantly challenge the perceptions which the media create about people. Whats to make things you make think impossible possible, as easily as possible. He says art can not change things but can change the way you think about this and the way you think about things can change the world. He goes on to say its, what we see changes who we are and all together we can change the world together. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PAy1zBtTbw

Art/Life: One Year Performance (a.k.a. Rope Piece)

Performance artist Linda Montano and Tehching Hsieh blured the lines between what is art and what is life, by tying theself together with a 8foot rope for a whole year! Both artist shaved their hair at the begining of the year. Both artist were together from 6pm on the 4th of July 1983 till 6pm on the 4th of July 1984 they where in the same space the same room but did not touch each other for a year. Hsieh's original idea, the rope represented the struggle of humans with one another and their problems with social and physical connection, however as the work evolved, the rope took on more meanings and futher blured the differents between art and life. The rope became a visual symbol of the relationship between the two artist. As the piece when on and on life and art could not be seperated within their art was their life and within their lifes was their art. Hsieh explained that if the piece was only one or two weeks, it would be more like a performance, but a year, "has real experience of time and life."

STATEMENT

We, Linda Montano and Teheching Hsieh, plan to do a one year performance.
We will stay together for one year and never be alone.
We will be in the same room at the same time, when we are inside.
We will be tied together at waist with an 8 ft rope.
We will never touch each other during the year.

The performance will begin on July 4, 1983 at 6 P.M. and continue until July 4, 1984 at 6 P.M.