One of my briefs as part of the course is to produce an academic poster and a 10 minute presentation alongside this to give a way of visually and verbally expressing the key components of what my practise is about.
My poster is set out using a twitter page layout and a spoken word based performance for my presentation as a way of expressing how art, literature and the internet come together in my practice.
Below is the poster itself, which is followed by my notes and script for my performance.
My presentation takes the form of six chapters, much like that of a book or a Wes Anderson movie. In splitting it into six chapters I will be talking about the individual ideologies and thoughts in the way they link together, revolving around what is present on my poster, but not describing it, more of an extension of the content and my practice.
Chapter One | Twitter
Instant, formal, informal, it all depends on the way you use it.
By quoting, sharing, reliving, spreading words, both in and out of context all depends on the way you use it.
Something that transforms to the needs of an audience to keep up with every need, using images and text, keeping it short and snappy for an audience whose life of instant information and messaging through the internet has shortened attention spans.
Used as a tool to spread words,
Self edited
Unedited
Self involved,
Self dedicated,
Self promoted.
All forms of communications all depends on the way you use it.
Personal, yet corporate,
In all that you see, hear and do.
Open to all,
Those who are artists, writers, celebrities cat lovers,even pizza has a twitter account.
Twitter is all of the above and more, as a rising social network in both it's uses and number of members it is important to expand to newer things in order to promote your work and use these tools just like a paintbrush to a painter. I think twitter is the one that speaks to me and my work the most as it was created mainly to share words, and even the character limit is a form of editing as people attempt to express their thoughts, feelings and ideas in 140 characters or less.
It can be used as a tool to promote ones work, promote work and events, communicate with others of whom you wouldn't normally be able to, use it as a form of your work or research and also use it to encourage the participation of others.
Lastly the growth of Twitter and other forms of social networking and web based places has given the possibility for people to hide their true identity and speak their mind to an audience.
This form of internet use reminds me of an Oscar Wilde quote,
"Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask and he will tell you the truth."
If said now this may have been said slightly differently,
"Give a person the internet and they will you the truth."
Chapter Two | Quotes
This brings us onto 'Quotes,' as the text in twitter comes in an quotation like form and also Oscar Wilde is known not just as a writer and poet, but also for his quotes. Being someone whose work I have always admired, been inspired by and in parts influenced my love of writing I felt it was important for him to be present in my poster.
The definition of a quote is
"To repeat or copy out (words from a text or speech written or spoken by another person."
This ties directly into my piece of taking overheard conversations out of context, then placing them within quotation marks, which were printed onto paper and distributed out to a different place, situation and audience. Before these are distributed I would take them through an editing process, choosing and selecting words to be shorted or cut away. These fragments of situations have opened up future possibilities of meaning compared to closed, direct sentences.
The act of editing in writing helps to refine your way of communicating your point, but also a process that helps to remove any mistakes that may have occurred as you write out your thought development.
And now I quote to you another by Oscar Wilde,
"Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes."
Chapter Three | Experience, Exploration, Mistakes
Mistakes are just something you do in life and art, which can inform your next steps.
Ralph Steadman is known for saying,
"There is no such thing as mistakes, only further possibilities."
By removing yourself from the worries of making mistakes, you then go on to creating something new.
My work and ideas have become an extension of that of the work, themes and exploration of the Fluxus movement and specially even more so, the work of John Cage. Through playing with this element of chance that is so often present in the core of Cage's pieces, I have been able to expand my ideas and play with even more ideas around words and interaction. Yoko Ono's instruction pieces are another way of using words as direct instruction for making art, but presenting the words themselves gives further question to the role of words as the art itself.
So are the words themselves the art or is it the idea of the uses of this text?
Chapter Four | Words in Art
The Dada movement is one that embraced all types of creative forms and saw a movement which encouraged collaborations and performances between Artists, Writers, Poets, Performers and so on. In doing so gave a wider consideration for what is art.
Tracey Emin's uses of words are in more of a autobiographical sense that combines these words into her installations.
"I'm not known as a text-based artist, but I should be really. It's my words that actually make my art quite unique."
Words are extremely important to her practice and comes in all forms, such as sewn, neon lights or hand written letters. They communicate almost directly with an audience in a visual way and within installations they can be considered as art.
This brings me onto the work of Kenneth Goldsmith, studied as an artist, known for being a writer, however his methods of working can be considered more as art, even if the results of his experimentation are that of books and spoken word performances.
Chapter Five | Practice as a Writer
Goldsmith's words are usually brought together as a result of collecting on a subject and rearranging, however not particularly edited. His work is influenced by that of John Cage's and uses the idea of chance to gather his words, ranging from recording everything he said to writing down every movement he made. This information is then compiled into a book, as a documentation surround the idea he had.
My work as a writer informs my work, my practise takes my love of words and the social and then in turn form of ways text can be presented.
Spoken word, books, poetry, lists, scripts, quotes, social networking, comments, remarks, scribbles in pen on public toilet walls.
Chapter Six | Interest in Text, Sound and Film
As art is an extension of the artist, so are their interests, passions, life experiences and opinions which in turn also informs their work.
Film has always been an interest of mine, which film processes and ideas can be found within the way I work, the visuals, set up, sound and even the writing behind it. When I found my passion for writing I started to incorporate the two, using words as instructions like a script for a film.
These may not be present all the time in my work, but it stands as the foundation of my practise.
