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.

Yoko Ono Cut Piece Responce

After looking a Yoko Ono's work I wanted to explore similar themes to what she did cut piece. Ono invited members of the audience to come and cut pieces of her dress off, she was aiming to explore feminism in a way which people felt comfortable with. Ono was the core of the interaction and lead people to interact. I tried to explores this as well.

By sitting in a dress I made out of white fabric, I invited people to draw and write on, by simpling saying 'Hello, would you like to write on my dress?'



Some people asked me questions about what I was doing,
Some people asked what to write,
Some people simply wrote what they wanted and walked off,
Some people talked to each other but not me.

It was interesting to see how different people interacted differently and the things that they said. Like Ono I wanted people to feel comfortable but allow them to express them self with out feeling forced, allowing for a sense of freedom. Like Ono I did not have control on what people wrote on my dress and wearing, Ono did not have control over which pieces of her dress people cut off. I think this is an exciting concept and is something I would hope to be able to explore further.

However from this I have learn that the more people that come to a 'happening' the much more effective it would become. If I did this again I would ether, promote it more as an event and make sure more people knew about it. Or do it in a more public spaces, as the footfall would be greater, there is more of a chance of lots of random people stopping and writing on my dress I think would make it a lot more developed and more interesting to see the responses.

Depending on your compture the video may or not play, if it does not play please click on the link below.

http://vimeo.com/6577929

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pt27GavvKc

New York City

Depending on your computer the video may not play, if not please click on the link below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKTqJVmHfnU

When I was in New York I was still unsure what area I would like to explore in my final piece, this is why I just wanted to absorb as much of the new and exciting enviorment. And collected as much different kinds of things when I was there. I wanted to do a lot of drawing to capture moments and things that I found significant and well as talking pictures and videos. Also collecting objects such as maps, newspapers, leaflets and notes left behind. I think also taking in the space around me and us, as a group of people was very important.

Balham Triangle

The Balham Triangle Project was about picking a square from the triangle shaped grid of Balham and exploring this area in complete depth. As my theme is social interaction I chose the train station.

The first time I went there, I just sat and draw people as they where leaving the platforms and walking through the barriers. Here I was most succesful in creating interaction even through it wasn't interional. As I sat and drew people came up to me and asked what I was doing, asking about my art and wondering about derections. I found this very interesting and exciting so it lead me to go back and do it again however this time film as much of it as I could to document the ineraction. However this was unsussful and it was eariler in the day people just rush pasted me and did not want to interact at all.

After looking at artist such as Yoko Ono and listening to her talk about her work, and seeing how her being part of the work is what create interaction gave me the idea to ask people questions and film their responce. This would lead them to ineract with and maybe with other people on the platform. I tried this over the course of three days at different times of the day and over all only one women lets me film my conversation with her and two men let me talk to them but did not want it to be filmed. From the footage I did collect I created a short film.

Depending on your computer, the video may not play. If not please click on the link below to watch it on Vimeo

http://vimeo.com/65803576

Proposal and Brief

Proposal and Brief

I am aiming to explore social interaction. I’m interested in the way people interact in different places and different situations. This idea originated from my trip to New York. It was remarkable to see the lack of interact between people in social spaces. It is also interesting to see the amount of interaction in non-sociable spaces.  I decided to continue this by looking at social interaction in London; sitting in extremely busy places and documenting that way in which people interact.

I particularly wanted to look at the lack of interaction in the masses of people and how people live their lives so close to each other however have minimal interaction with each other. I am also interested in the little glimpse you get of peoples lives. It is also interesting how people interact differently in different spaces. I want to answer questions like, what leads people to interact? Why do people interact in particular spaces?  What parts of people lives do we see? What stops interaction? -and how can we change that?

My chosen pathway to explore is installation and film. I think this will be very effective in exploring my theme of social interaction. This is due to instillation art being as much about the interaction between the audience and the artwork itself. I also want to look into film as I think film is an extremely effective way of documenting work, especially instillation. I would like to try and combine them together in some way, possibly by creating an instillation and filming at the same time. I also like the idea of simultaniously filming the audience’s reaction and interaction to the piece. I think this will reflect my theme of social interaction extremely effectively.

I would hope to exhibit my work in a social space. For example if I do use film, I would like to play the film in a tube station. I think this would be interesting and then I could further look at social interaction. From playing the film I could see if this makes the public interact more and less, in a space when they’re in normal minimal interaction between people. Therefore I would like my client to be the general public, in the hope that I could create the opportunity for there to be interaction between the public.

Yoko Ono

Lennon called her "the most famous unknown artist in the world."

Known for her dada inspired 'Avant-garde' work in art, film and music, bringing feminism to the front of all these art forms.

In this video Yoko One herself talks about the ideas between her work cut piece
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-radio-and-tv-18959341

Ono's ideas of being part of the work is something that I was particularly attracted to and something which I hope to explore further, as well as letting people have free will in interact in a way in which they choose. Ono performed cut piece again after main years, she says this is because she believe the world is become extremely violence and there is a strong miss trust between people she wanted to break this down by inviting the audience to again cut pieces of her clothing away in the hope that we can truth each other. Ono admits to being scared and nervous about re-creating the piece however felt she should have no protection and hopefully this could inference the world to trust each other, but she says her self the second time doing cut piece was ineffective as there is still lots of violence in the world. Ono originally did this piece in 1964 which was a time a great revolution for women. The contraceptive pill was widely sold, this lead to women having more control. Sex became more socially acceptable outside the strict boundaries of traditional marriage. This also lead a lot more women to pursue higher education as they had a lot more control over their further. It  was also time of the Civil Rights Movement, this gave women a lot more rights than previously further empowering them.  I think Ono is strongly supporting the women's liberation in her work perticually this piece.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBBvlJLYwlE

My first impressions of Cut Piece is that it seem to be extremely empowering with out being over whelming. It was a very bold thing that Ono did, I think her message is very clear this is why this piece is so effective. After hear Ono talk about her work and reading how it was critical reviewed I can see how Ono was wanting to reflects what was happening at the time, with out being too forceful and allowing people cut as much and as little and whatever they want which allows them to feel confitble to be part of the piece. I think Ono is also a leading figure in the forming of performance art as an art form and her bold and brave cut piece is a true example of this.

My responce to Cut Piece http://billiefm.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/yoko-ono-responce.html

After looking at Ono's cut piece, I wanted to take my work into a direction when I am the start or course of the interaction. I chose to link this in with a project I was doing about my local area, Balham. I went in to Balham train station to observe the interaction in this space where people have time to talk as they wait, however there was not interaction between people at all. This could be due to them being there for a purpose however not making the most of this short time. I deiced to go up to people waiting on the platforms and ask them questions and ask to film this. I was shock how only one person wanted to talk to me and did not mind it being films and only one other person let me ask them the question. I think this show how closed off and defencive people in London have become. From the thing I did collect I create a short film.

http://imaginepeace.com/archives/2680

After further looking at Yoko Ono's work I tried to create another response aiming to create social interaction, however more focusing on me as a women, as Ono does. I decided to create a very simple white dress and sit wearing it surrounded in felt tips pens. I wanted to see if people interacted with me, drew on me and what they drew or wrote.

Another piece of Yoko Ono's work which I have been looking at is 'Wish Tree' (1996) Ono invites people to write their wishes down and tie them on to a branch of the tree, this is an on going piece currently on over a million wishes.

“As a child in Japan, I used to go to a temple and write out a wish on a piece of thin
paper and tie it around the branch of a tree. Trees in temple courtyards were always
filled with people’s wish knots, which looked like white flowers blossoming from afar.”
Yoko Ono: “All My Works Are A Form Of Wishing”.

Yoko Ono has used different kinds of trees at different exhibition venues, to fit the particular venue's nature.

Edouard Manet

“You would hardly believe how difficult it is to place a figure alone on a canvas, and to concentrate all the interest on this single and unique figure and still keep it living and real,” said Edouard Manet in 1880

Édouard Manet, the french born painter was one of the first to approach modern and post modern life subjects in his work. Manet explores everyday people in everyday setting. However also drawing great and powerful people of the time. This portayist often looked at the way people interact in spaces, which I am hoping to explore.




This was my favourite piece in the exhibition, this was due to it capturing very normal people, and I found a secne of interaction, I wanted to people able to walk to the people in painting. I really liked the contrasted between the girl standing and the women sitting. I think this could represent a number of things. I think mainly it represents the freedom of being young, where the women has been weighed down by society and what she now knows about life. There also seems to a sense of wanted to break free from the young girl, where as the women has just settled with what life is. It is very interesting the environment in which Manet has chosen to set this piece, the of centre and mysterious setting adds a lot of depth to the painting. It is unclear what is behind the bars, however the young girl still reflects a seance of longing to be on the other side.

Although a lot Manet work is extreemly intresting, when I was at the exhabition in London, the selction of people who had come to see the exhabition excited me more than Manet's work. It was intresting to see how people grouped and formed around verious different paintings and also over hearing aspects of their conversation, which were not only about the art work. I found it very intresting to see the kind of people who came to art galleries in the middle of the day. Also the thing which they spock about was very intresting to me. I treid to capture these through quick fine liner sketches of people.