Thursday, 11 December 2014
11/12/2014
I think it's difficult trying to make something that moves on from the first piece I made this term, because it says exactly what I wanted to say. And I think the point was that I had nothing else to say. I might recreate it without mounting it, since it's about the action of making it. I think it needs to be presented while it is being made, or giving the impression that it is still being made.
Saturday, 6 December 2014
Ideas
- first piece - remake without mounting, leave needle in - make it clearer that it refers to the process of its creation, possibly display sitting on a surface so it's clear that it's a piece of fabric from afar - essentially this piece worked best if you saw it while I was making it, so mounting it and making it look flat and finished detracted from it
- dates piece - remove embroidered "title" and replace with something else that hints at the need for "productivity"
- Translation show piece - needs to be more polished and/or elaborate, make it clearer that time was invested
- dates piece - remove embroidered "title" and replace with something else that hints at the need for "productivity"
- Translation show piece - needs to be more polished and/or elaborate, make it clearer that time was invested
Wednesday, 3 December 2014
Shower Log Idea - Practical Problems
- I was intending for it to count as a "yes" for the day even if the shower was technically after midnight.
- This would have been the same even if it were several hours after midnight, as long as I hadn't gone to bed yet.
- This presents a problem: today I have decided not to go to bed since it's starting to look too daytime-ish.
- I guess I'll have to count things between whenever I've decided the day should start/end, so a day ends when I go to bed for the night (regardless of whether or not it's still technically night-time), and begins when I wake up. Naps do not end or start a day. A new day begins if I decide to scrap the idea of sleeping.
- However, I'll run into a problem if I get tired too early today from the skipped night of sleep, and as a result have a nap which ends up being long enough that on waking up I decide that I should treat it as a new day. This will confuse things, as it will be ambiguous - does that nap count as a night of sleep or a nap?
- I could log sleep AND showers, but then the work starts to drift away from my original intentions.
- I could just log the showers based on the actual date, but then it feels inaccurate if I shower a bit past midnight then go to bed (it will count as a skipped shower).
- I could start my log again and plot it on a timeline.
- A timeline would be less appropriate since it is not about number of showers over time, or about how spread out they are. It is more "all-or-nothing." Did you shower? Yes, you win, or no, you fail.
- Conclusion so far: if I decide to finish my day and I haven't showered for that day, I tick "no," and if I have, I tick "yes." This is the case whatever time I decide to finish the day and whether I decide to finish it by sleeping or by deciding not to sleep. I will just have to record this over a period where my "days" do not get dramatically out of sync (i.e. my sleeping pattern can be shifted badly, but I won't have six twenty-eight-hour days instead of seven twenty-four-hour days).
- This would have been the same even if it were several hours after midnight, as long as I hadn't gone to bed yet.
- This presents a problem: today I have decided not to go to bed since it's starting to look too daytime-ish.
- I guess I'll have to count things between whenever I've decided the day should start/end, so a day ends when I go to bed for the night (regardless of whether or not it's still technically night-time), and begins when I wake up. Naps do not end or start a day. A new day begins if I decide to scrap the idea of sleeping.
- However, I'll run into a problem if I get tired too early today from the skipped night of sleep, and as a result have a nap which ends up being long enough that on waking up I decide that I should treat it as a new day. This will confuse things, as it will be ambiguous - does that nap count as a night of sleep or a nap?
- I could log sleep AND showers, but then the work starts to drift away from my original intentions.
- I could just log the showers based on the actual date, but then it feels inaccurate if I shower a bit past midnight then go to bed (it will count as a skipped shower).
- I could start my log again and plot it on a timeline.
- A timeline would be less appropriate since it is not about number of showers over time, or about how spread out they are. It is more "all-or-nothing." Did you shower? Yes, you win, or no, you fail.
- Conclusion so far: if I decide to finish my day and I haven't showered for that day, I tick "no," and if I have, I tick "yes." This is the case whatever time I decide to finish the day and whether I decide to finish it by sleeping or by deciding not to sleep. I will just have to record this over a period where my "days" do not get dramatically out of sync (i.e. my sleeping pattern can be shifted badly, but I won't have six twenty-eight-hour days instead of seven twenty-four-hour days).
Notes On Next Piece
- log of whether or not I shower each day
- overemphasis of certain rituals
- rituals as having an impact that is larger than just the obvious physical consequences
- rituals which have temporary consequences being seen as significant to the point of having consequences that are not temporary (if I do not shower today, the physical consequences such as discomfort stop existing if I shower the next day, but the idea of "being a person who does not shower every day" matters to some people)
- overemphasis of certain rituals
- rituals as having an impact that is larger than just the obvious physical consequences
- rituals which have temporary consequences being seen as significant to the point of having consequences that are not temporary (if I do not shower today, the physical consequences such as discomfort stop existing if I shower the next day, but the idea of "being a person who does not shower every day" matters to some people)
Perfectionism/Cataloguing
After my birthday, I felt a compulsion to photograph and log the presents I received (along with the food etc.), but instead I decided to fight that urge because I realised it was a response to my inability to feel happy on my birthday despite the efforts of others (I was very sleep-deprived), and the guilt associated with that. Instead I wrote the following in my sketchbook:
"perfectionism and cataloguing as a way of coping with lack of fulfillment
lack of fulfillment leading to feeling of lack of 'meaning' for events
perfectionism becomes the new 'meaning'
cataloguing is a way to feel as though the events have consequence
cataloguing and recording birthday presents: 'these people are putting effort into making you happy - why are you not happy - record everything that these people are doing for you'*
very little sense of fulfillment -> replace general fulfillment with something else which becomes your new goal -> actions are limited to those which work towards your goal"
On researching Sophie Calle for my dissertation, I found something relevant:
"Calle has created elaborate display cases of birthday presents given to her throughout her life."
"Calle further decided she would not use the gifts her family and friends brought for her, but would display them in a glass-fronted vitrine for a year, as a tangible token of their affection. After each birthday, the previous year's gifts would be stored away and the new ones displayed. In The Birthday Ceremony Calle exhibits all the gifts accumulated between 1980 and 1993, her 40th birthday, when she terminated the ritual."
Luckily, the more I read, the more relevant to my dissertation this seems; I suspect that since my mind is easily blown by tiny coincidences, I would have probably tried to force this shit into my dissertation either way.
*Usually I try to stick to a more detached narration of my thought processes, but in this case I felt it would be most efficient to just spell out exactly what my brain seemed to be whining.
"perfectionism and cataloguing as a way of coping with lack of fulfillment
lack of fulfillment leading to feeling of lack of 'meaning' for events
perfectionism becomes the new 'meaning'
cataloguing is a way to feel as though the events have consequence
cataloguing and recording birthday presents: 'these people are putting effort into making you happy - why are you not happy - record everything that these people are doing for you'*
very little sense of fulfillment -> replace general fulfillment with something else which becomes your new goal -> actions are limited to those which work towards your goal"
On researching Sophie Calle for my dissertation, I found something relevant:
"Calle has created elaborate display cases of birthday presents given to her throughout her life."
"Calle further decided she would not use the gifts her family and friends brought for her, but would display them in a glass-fronted vitrine for a year, as a tangible token of their affection. After each birthday, the previous year's gifts would be stored away and the new ones displayed. In The Birthday Ceremony Calle exhibits all the gifts accumulated between 1980 and 1993, her 40th birthday, when she terminated the ritual."
Luckily, the more I read, the more relevant to my dissertation this seems; I suspect that since my mind is easily blown by tiny coincidences, I would have probably tried to force this shit into my dissertation either way.
*Usually I try to stick to a more detached narration of my thought processes, but in this case I felt it would be most efficient to just spell out exactly what my brain seemed to be whining.
Monday, 1 December 2014
Re-thinking The Piece With The Dates
I'm thinking that since it's about a continuous action/process, maybe it makes sense to leave it slightly unfinished (i.e. not mounted), because otherwise it's just slightly confusing text. I'm also not sure why I didn't think of leaving the needle in it; it makes a whole lot more sense to leave the needle in this piece than in the Translation Show piece.
I'm also wondering if, since it was mounted and finished, the first piece ("I'm just trying to drown my indifference...") actually made it clear that it was referring to the process of its creation. Reading it while it was still in my hands being made was probably the most appropriate time to see it, in terms of most clearly making its point.
My next piece will be less about the process of its creation, so I need to evaluate which medium will be most appropriate. If I decide on cross-stitch, I won't display it with the others at any point. This is because the others refer to the cross-stitching process and this one will not, so it would be confusing.
I'm also wondering if, since it was mounted and finished, the first piece ("I'm just trying to drown my indifference...") actually made it clear that it was referring to the process of its creation. Reading it while it was still in my hands being made was probably the most appropriate time to see it, in terms of most clearly making its point.
My next piece will be less about the process of its creation, so I need to evaluate which medium will be most appropriate. If I decide on cross-stitch, I won't display it with the others at any point. This is because the others refer to the cross-stitching process and this one will not, so it would be confusing.
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