In the following, I will lay out
some of the experiments and thoughts made during MA SODA
Context
-The figure of the clown as a figure out of context, out of the contemporary, out of the present moment: the clown is an-in-between figure that operates within the gap between what is conventionally perceived as expected, desirable and adequate for the circumstance and what happens in fact.
-The clown only exists in relation to the others, to the present moment but its responses are misplaced, out-of-place and its reactions are informed by a different timing and rhythm, out-of-time.
-Our interest lies in the gap between possible meaning or reading of this two terms. Contemporary as being in a present, and clown which is always out of it, not belonging to it, misplaced and doesn’t know how to deal with the reality of the present moment.
- The clown is full of ambiguity: Its relation with normativity is problematic, it is regarded by others with a mixture of marginalization and admiration and sometimes fear.
-The figure of the clown or clown-like has a long tradition in history, since at least the pantomimes in ancient Greece and it is also cross-cultural as some figures in the japanese kabuki seem to point to.
-It is a very popular and accessible figure that contrasts with the so many times far-fetched and hermetic discourse and aesthetics of contemporary performances.
-We are interested in the aesthetic and conceptual clash that might result from the displacement of a sign (red nose) from one wide recognizable performative context to a very different performative one.
-Influenced and inspired by Jeanine’s proposal in its relation to a consistent practice that infiltrates art in the daily life and vice-versa blurring out conventional boundaries.
We want to explore the potentiality of the in-betweenness, of creating a practice that operates in the gaps, between movement, perception, language, normativity and contexts.
We call this practice contemporary clowns and it is part of a research project therefore it is in an embryonic state which we acknowledge to be very fragile and needing of a continuous investment and further exploration.
Research Project: Comtemporary Clowns (2nd semester)
-Consists of regular studio practice of Contemporary Clowns as well as daily usage of a red nose in the context of MA SODA. (we will take the responsibility to frame the project to any lecturer or newcomer inorther to avoid misunderstandings)
Very important to clarify is that we wont play the rôle of the clown, we will carry the sign of the red nose and we will function as mirrors to each other, in other not to detached ourselves from the experience.
There are 3 main reasons for us to want to use it only in this context:
1-because it is a context related with performing arts, and so the displacement of the sign is from one performing context to another performing context.
2-has to do with exposing the same people to this experiment which will allow us to follow up and assess more effectively the progression and transformation of the results.You (colleagues and tutors) are crucial part of this project because we will need your on going feedback and support.
3-The third reason resides in the fact that we consider this a protective context, to experiment and take risks, with the possibility of failure.
This research project intends to explore the following aspects:
1.Representation issues (representation in the quotidian, representation on stage)
The construction of personal and artistic indentities.
We are interested in seeing how this sign will operate when people are exposed to it for a long period of time. In that terms it is a kind of durational performance.
Will, this element, be eventually assimilated and accommodated trough time?
How will it sift our perception of ourselves as individuals and artists ?
We want to raise the questions are we always performing ourselves to some extend (social roles), are we performing even when we are not aware of it?
2.Decontextualization of signs
Confrontation with the normative.
We have awareness about the fact that this can create a disruption, but our interest is not focused in this. But rather in the construction and deconstruction of identities, in the space between signs and perception. Can the long time usage of this signal detached from its context transform its perception and meaning, and how does it reflect on our identity?
Propriocetion and perception that others have on us as contemporary clowns.
3.Deterritorialization and Expansion of Choreographic Practice
Interested in relation between life and art, and the practice that doesnt confains itself to the studio, but it expands beyond the space that is usually atributed as a working space of contemporary dance.
We want to understand how the perception of ourselves and the perception of the others will change (or not) by the usage of this sign.
Where is the practice here ?
The practice is not in us as subjects, but in a relation to the context and the way the context preceive and responds to us. So the practice happens in between , in a relation to the other.
We hope you are doing good. Here Dragana and Ana aka Contemporary Clowns :)
Since we are finishing the first phase of our research project, we would like to have your contribution.
Your answers and thoughts are most crucial and beneficial to the continuation of this project because the practice happens in relation to the other and his/hers subjectivity. We would like to guide your commentaries by proposing some questions:
Did the practice of wearing the red noses changed the perception of us as subjects?
Yes, it made me think about what you want us to see in you when you say the things you say
Did the usage of red noses interfered in the relation and behavior towards us? If yes, please describe how.
Well, it was not really a problem.It was short, It felt a little aggressive, a little sympathetic and a little timid.It was not really apparent how this experiment could allow critical distance beyond the the simple demonstration of how social interaction conventions work also within academic structures.I found it to be a mixture of cute and tedious and simplistic.
In the period of this two weeks was it possible for you to abstract this sign from the meaning(s) that it carries from its original context?
What does it mean in its original context?It was not clearly a red clowns nose.If that is what it was then yes.I could separate it.
Do you believe this sign is affecting the construction of our identity and the way we relate to this context?
No,but the action becomes history and history is used to frame the present.In this way it has become”the kind of thing you do” and goes towards the building of your identity in my perception of it.
Dragana and Ana
*answers by Rhys Martin
ǝɯɐƃ s,uǝɹpןıɥɔ ʎuɐɯ ǝʞıן ןɐunɯoɔ ǝɥʇ ‘ǝɔuǝıɹǝdxǝ ‘ʇɥƃnoɥʇ ‘ʎpoq ‘ǝƃɐnƃuɐן oʇ ‘uoıʇɐןǝɹ-uı-ƃuıǝq ɟo ʎɐʍ ǝʌıʇɐuɹǝʇןɐ uɐ sǝsodoɹd ɹǝʌoƃuıƃuɐɥ
ʎɐpoʇ ɟo sʇuǝɯǝɹınbǝɹ ǝʌısɹnoɔsıp ǝɥʇ oʇuı ǝɔuɐp uı pǝsn sɔıuɥɔǝʇ sǝןɔʎɔǝɹ ɹǝʌoƃuıƃuɐɥ
sǝɔuǝnbǝsuoɔ ɔıƃoןoɥɔʎsd puɐ ןɐɔısʎɥd uʍouʞun sɐɥ ɹǝʌoƃuıƃuɐɥ
ןooɔ ʎןןɐǝɹ ʞooן ɹıɐɥ ɹnoʎ sǝʞɐɯ ɹǝʌoƃuıƃuɐɥ
ssǝןǝsuǝs ,ǝuıɥs ʇ,uop uns ǝɥʇ ǝɹǝɥʍ, uoıssǝɹdxǝ ǝɥʇ sǝʞɐɯ ɹǝʌoƃuıƃɐɥ
puǝıɹɟ ʇsǝq ɹno ʎʇıʌɐɹƃ sǝʞɐɯ ʇı :ʇsıunʇɹoddo sı ɹǝʌoƃuıƃuɐɥ
(under
construction)
Q&A
PRACTICE SHARING FOR INTERFRÊNCIAS- COLLABORATIVE PLATFORM
PRACTICE SHARING FOR INTERFRÊNCIAS- COLLABORATIVE PLATFORM
13.06.2011
Starting
point
What
is your motivation/interest/desire?
How
do you enter your work?
Is
theoretical research necessary for your work?
What
importance has the starting point during the process?
First,
I'll state the obvious, this text does not mean to 'carve in stone'
my statements or positions this(coming from an awareness that it will
be printed and published) it is a product of a specific moment and
state of mind. I will change perspectives in relation to what it's
expressed here or how it's expressed and yet I will also always stand
by it in reference to its context.
Currently my interest in
contemporary art in general and performance making in particular
resides in the shift from the production of the fascination with
aesthetic objects and experiences to the construction of a space for
the production of knowledge that aims towards the emancipation of the
maker(s) and the beholder(s). The question remains: What kind of
knowledge can art practice/making produce versus the mere
reproduction of preconceived perspectives, assumptions or trends
products of the dominant power structures? In other words, how can
art take part in the production of other possibilities of existence,
other ways of imagining, doing, retro-projecting the future?
Each work has it's own
integrity and therefore starting points, methods, strategies and
approaches change each time, dependent of multiple factors (context,
collaborators, urgencies, irritation, fascination, boredom etc) and
this is the kind of development I am interested in. How come?
Precisely because it does not confirm me or my artistic identity, on
the contratry it reflects a process of constant differentiation from
oneself, pointing to a moving constelation of relations rather the
making of products.
The articulation between
theory and practice is perhaps my main focus at present.
Paradoxically, the distinction between them seems to be a mere
convenction, I am practicing while reading a book and thinking when
I am dancing.
I like to read philosophy
as a children's book or as a novel, not trying to find the
connections or usefullness but instead allowing them to emerge and be
imprinted on my awareness.
The
starting point has always already started and my job is to cultivate
the attention to notice it, to allow myself to look at and identify
it, what is already there, maybe to demystify it or deconstruct it,
maybe to dive in completely, it does not matter, I guess what
matters where it comes from.
A
sort of necessity, a sort of curiosity, a certain kind of desire.
Authorship
Do
we create or make?
How
does collaboration question authorship?
Is
it possible to erase the author from the work?
Who
needs an author?
What
is your style, how does you signature establish through it?
How
do you relate to stealing?
Are
you acknowledging how your background has shaped you?
What
has happened to us has happened to us or to everyone
else;
if to everyone, then it's no novelty, if only to us, then it wont be
understood
Fernando
Pessoa
I
have an acute interest on repetition, which I can connect here with
the so called post
modern conception of identity and authorship that undermines the
ideal of the author as a self-determined, illuminated genius and that
instead, reinforces the idea of creation as a re-organization, a
shuffling and a reshuffling. In short, a kind of repetition which
enables differentiation of rules, sensations, language, knowledge,
experiences and so on.
What
fascinates me is simultaneously the inevitability and impossibility
of repetition.
Even
if strategies of copying/stealing/appropriation take a political
stance that puts into question notions of identity, unity and market
values, it seems to always remain a resistance of human subjectivity
towards repetition. Even a coca-cola bottle is never the same
coca-cola bottle.
Perhaps
the potential of performance derives both from the repetition of
conventions,
codes and values reflecting upon a particular cultural site and
historical moment and from the citation of the different, which has
the power to transform codes and signs into an undecidable ground of
possibilities. To allow unexpected mutations, understood as nonlinear
transformation that might open ground for the possibility for
something else to emerge.
I
am well aware that I am gathering, ruminating thoughts
that were/are thought and rethought many times. Being-in-language is
already repetition in itself but in this process of repetition,
differences might be generated in relation to processes of
subjectivation.
In
collaborative processes I'm interested in strategies that use a kind
of 'response mode' that I've been calling Joint-Creations. A joint
is the location at which two or more bones make contact which
enables articulation and I am interested in the idea of articulation
of practices or creative processes in opposition to the idea of
definition or identification with practices or creative processes.
This
kind of approaches seem to facilitate the dialogue between different
positions, creating an interdependency yet alowing space for
autonomy. This kind of procedures seem to create a distance that
mediates communication and that ultimately can facilitate processes
of shifting perception and displacements of each other subjectivity
How
does space (architecture and social context) influence your work?
When
does work become political?
Can
art go beyond its cultural context?
Do
you use an external eye during the process?
Does
the knowledge of who your audience is influence the way you work?
How
does your economic circumstances effect your work?
What
is your relationship with the modes of production in which you
develop your work?
What
are the implications of nomadism?
In
which art field do you position your work?
How
does art influence a broader context?
I
believe that the awareness of the contexts or frames in which I'm
operating, from the micro to the macro, is crucial to having an
understanding about what I am trying to do and what my choices are.
Have
you not experienced an assignment of values to both the work and
yourself which is constantly changing from process to process, to
one set of conditions to another?
I
like to look at context as the frame.
A
frame always shapes the interior as well as the exterior – the
frame of a photo that points to who/what is in the picture as well as
to everything else which is not the picture or is not represented in
it.
Who
or what is included, who or what is excluded and what is revealed in
that process?
Context
can be percieved as a certain organization of elements in a given
space in time.
Choreography
can be percieved as a certain organization of elements in a given
space in time.
Contextography
points to the place where things happen: what is made visible and
what is made invisible, how and why.
What
are the assumptions behind a given organization of the sensible?
The
organization of the words I am writing are products of the
interaction between myself and the contexts inside which I have been
choosing and being chosen to take part in. Who/what is producing and
who/what is being produced? Maybe production is not the good word
here because an interaction is always a relation and relation always
a process, never a product, an end.
How
to then articulate this uroboro effect without falling into utter
paranoia?
What
can be the meaning of autonomy? A frame within a frame within a
frame within...?
Perhaps
the chiasma autonomy-interdependence can be a place where the
emergence of creative tensions, shifts and mutations of the
perception of the possible can occur.
Regarding
nomadism and the flow of information disseminated via the 'new
media', social networks, open source initiatives etc I find myself
thinking that I am where my attention is and at the same time I
suspect that (more than I would like to admit) my attention is
constantly being commodified, my emotions owned by facebook.
While
questioning the relationship between politics and art, there's a
question that has been intriguing me particularly:
If
capitalism has the ability to absorb criticism and adapt to new
circumstances, is there not a paradox in the so called critical art?
By
absorbing exceptions, do we end up confirming the rules?
Points
of Exit
What
is a point of exit?
When
do you see the end?
What
ends and what starts when you finish a work?
Is
the product more valuable than the process?
How
do deadlines influence the process?
What
do you leave behind?
There's
no way out?
I
suffer from a sort of delay, I guess. I have the impression that when
I do a performance or when I see one, the
process
really starts after the presentation. Product before the process.
There's
the intensity of the consumable here and now experience and then the
traces: what stays? what are the underlined questions? How does it
affects? and I'm not talking documentation here or critical analisys,
I am talking washing the dishes or conversing with someone about
nachos and by looking away from art realising something about it.
I
am interested in proposals that work at different layers of
engagement and ask for a certain kind of (in)completion both from
the maker and the beholders, a sort of continuation that is not
linear.
In
this sense, the point of exit does not make sense to me, it's
ungraspable, ongoing.
I
guess I am thinking performance as a means without ends.
Of
course we operate within the demands and constraints of a certain
production modes, they are intrinsically part of the work we do.
Then, to entertain a creative dialogue with those conditions, using
them, twisting them, acknowledging
them, is as part of the job as putting our sweat pants on.
Contemporary
Clowns
Collaborative Research
from Ana Monteiro and Dragana Bulut
-The name of this
presentation is Contemporary Clowns, the combination of the
concepts Contemporary and Clown presents a friction that we are
interested in exploring.-The figure of the clown as a figure out of context, out of the contemporary, out of the present moment: the clown is an-in-between figure that operates within the gap between what is conventionally perceived as expected, desirable and adequate for the circumstance and what happens in fact.
-The clown only exists in relation to the others, to the present moment but its responses are misplaced, out-of-place and its reactions are informed by a different timing and rhythm, out-of-time.
-Our interest lies in the gap between possible meaning or reading of this two terms. Contemporary as being in a present, and clown which is always out of it, not belonging to it, misplaced and doesn’t know how to deal with the reality of the present moment.
- The clown is full of ambiguity: Its relation with normativity is problematic, it is regarded by others with a mixture of marginalization and admiration and sometimes fear.
-The figure of the clown or clown-like has a long tradition in history, since at least the pantomimes in ancient Greece and it is also cross-cultural as some figures in the japanese kabuki seem to point to.
-It is a very popular and accessible figure that contrasts with the so many times far-fetched and hermetic discourse and aesthetics of contemporary performances.
-We are interested in the aesthetic and conceptual clash that might result from the displacement of a sign (red nose) from one wide recognizable performative context to a very different performative one.
-Influenced and inspired by Jeanine’s proposal in its relation to a consistent practice that infiltrates art in the daily life and vice-versa blurring out conventional boundaries.
We want to explore the potentiality of the in-betweenness, of creating a practice that operates in the gaps, between movement, perception, language, normativity and contexts.
We call this practice contemporary clowns and it is part of a research project therefore it is in an embryonic state which we acknowledge to be very fragile and needing of a continuous investment and further exploration.
Research Project: Comtemporary Clowns (2nd semester)
-Consists of regular studio practice of Contemporary Clowns as well as daily usage of a red nose in the context of MA SODA. (we will take the responsibility to frame the project to any lecturer or newcomer inorther to avoid misunderstandings)
Very important to clarify is that we wont play the rôle of the clown, we will carry the sign of the red nose and we will function as mirrors to each other, in other not to detached ourselves from the experience.
There are 3 main reasons for us to want to use it only in this context:
1-because it is a context related with performing arts, and so the displacement of the sign is from one performing context to another performing context.
2-has to do with exposing the same people to this experiment which will allow us to follow up and assess more effectively the progression and transformation of the results.You (colleagues and tutors) are crucial part of this project because we will need your on going feedback and support.
3-The third reason resides in the fact that we consider this a protective context, to experiment and take risks, with the possibility of failure.
This research project intends to explore the following aspects:
1.Representation issues (representation in the quotidian, representation on stage)
The construction of personal and artistic indentities.
We are interested in seeing how this sign will operate when people are exposed to it for a long period of time. In that terms it is a kind of durational performance.
Will, this element, be eventually assimilated and accommodated trough time?
How will it sift our perception of ourselves as individuals and artists ?
We want to raise the questions are we always performing ourselves to some extend (social roles), are we performing even when we are not aware of it?
2.Decontextualization of signs
Confrontation with the normative.
We have awareness about the fact that this can create a disruption, but our interest is not focused in this. But rather in the construction and deconstruction of identities, in the space between signs and perception. Can the long time usage of this signal detached from its context transform its perception and meaning, and how does it reflect on our identity?
Propriocetion and perception that others have on us as contemporary clowns.
3.Deterritorialization and Expansion of Choreographic Practice
Interested in relation between life and art, and the practice that doesnt confains itself to the studio, but it expands beyond the space that is usually atributed as a working space of contemporary dance.
We want to understand how the perception of ourselves and the perception of the others will change (or not) by the usage of this sign.
Where is the practice here ?
The practice is not in us as subjects, but in a relation to the context and the way the context preceive and responds to us. So the practice happens in between , in a relation to the other.
We hope you are doing good. Here Dragana and Ana aka Contemporary Clowns :)
Since we are finishing the first phase of our research project, we would like to have your contribution.
Your answers and thoughts are most crucial and beneficial to the continuation of this project because the practice happens in relation to the other and his/hers subjectivity. We would like to guide your commentaries by proposing some questions:
Did the practice of wearing the red noses changed the perception of us as subjects?
Yes, it made me think about what you want us to see in you when you say the things you say
Did the usage of red noses interfered in the relation and behavior towards us? If yes, please describe how.
Well, it was not really a problem.It was short, It felt a little aggressive, a little sympathetic and a little timid.It was not really apparent how this experiment could allow critical distance beyond the the simple demonstration of how social interaction conventions work also within academic structures.I found it to be a mixture of cute and tedious and simplistic.
In the period of this two weeks was it possible for you to abstract this sign from the meaning(s) that it carries from its original context?
What does it mean in its original context?It was not clearly a red clowns nose.If that is what it was then yes.I could separate it.
Do you believe this sign is affecting the construction of our identity and the way we relate to this context?
No,but the action becomes history and history is used to frame the present.In this way it has become”the kind of thing you do” and goes towards the building of your identity in my perception of it.
Dragana and Ana
*answers by Rhys Martin
ɹǝʌoƃuıƃuɐɥ
pǝɥsıuıɟun-ɟןǝs
uı ʎoɹ ǝן
ɹǝıʌɐx
ǝʞıן ɹo
ןɐɯıuɐ
pɹǝıʍ ɐ ǝʞıן
ʞooן
noʎ sǝʞɐɯ
ɹǝʌoƃuıƃuɐɥ
ןןnɟuıɐd
sɐ unɟ sɐ sı ɹǝʌoƃuıƃuɐɥǝɯɐƃ s,uǝɹpןıɥɔ ʎuɐɯ ǝʞıן ןɐunɯoɔ ǝɥʇ ‘ǝɔuǝıɹǝdxǝ ‘ʇɥƃnoɥʇ ‘ʎpoq ‘ǝƃɐnƃuɐן oʇ ‘uoıʇɐןǝɹ-uı-ƃuıǝq ɟo ʎɐʍ ǝʌıʇɐuɹǝʇןɐ uɐ sǝsodoɹd ɹǝʌoƃuıƃuɐɥ
ʎɐpoʇ ɟo sʇuǝɯǝɹınbǝɹ ǝʌısɹnoɔsıp ǝɥʇ oʇuı ǝɔuɐp uı pǝsn sɔıuɥɔǝʇ sǝןɔʎɔǝɹ ɹǝʌoƃuıƃuɐɥ
sǝɔuǝnbǝsuoɔ ɔıƃoןoɥɔʎsd puɐ ןɐɔısʎɥd uʍouʞun sɐɥ ɹǝʌoƃuıƃuɐɥ
ןooɔ ʎןןɐǝɹ ʞooן ɹıɐɥ ɹnoʎ sǝʞɐɯ ɹǝʌoƃuıƃuɐɥ
ssǝןǝsuǝs ,ǝuıɥs ʇ,uop uns ǝɥʇ ǝɹǝɥʍ, uoıssǝɹdxǝ ǝɥʇ sǝʞɐɯ ɹǝʌoƃuıƃɐɥ
puǝıɹɟ ʇsǝq ɹno ʎʇıʌɐɹƃ sǝʞɐɯ ʇı :ʇsıunʇɹoddo sı ɹǝʌoƃuıƃuɐɥ