These photos weren't intended to be pieces I'd exhibit together, but now that I'm looking at them I think if the bottom one were black and white it could work.
Thursday, 30 April 2015
To Do
- think about repetition
- think about presenting all the work together, since it's about the process rather than objects
- think about how to display it - walls may suggest finished products; tables may suggest an unfinished process
- since it's a process, maybe I should be in the exhibition, still making the work
- alternatively, I could just add to the work over the course of the exhibition so that it changes during the show
- think about the role of excess canvas
- think about the role of staining - embroidery represents working time; tea stains represent breaks
- experiment with various ways of displaying the work
- think about leaving the needle in, or leaving the work obviously unfinished, or outlined/planned without being complete - this emphasises that it's a process and not a set of objects
- think about presenting all the work together, since it's about the process rather than objects
- think about how to display it - walls may suggest finished products; tables may suggest an unfinished process
- since it's a process, maybe I should be in the exhibition, still making the work
- alternatively, I could just add to the work over the course of the exhibition so that it changes during the show
- think about the role of excess canvas
- think about the role of staining - embroidery represents working time; tea stains represent breaks
- experiment with various ways of displaying the work
- think about leaving the needle in, or leaving the work obviously unfinished, or outlined/planned without being complete - this emphasises that it's a process and not a set of objects
Monday, 27 April 2015
Futility, And Colours
I think that while some people have interpreted my work as being nihilistic in a negative way, I see it more as speaking about how the lack of intrinsic meaning/purpose is something that frees you up to make decisions on a whim. I think this is reflected in the decisions regarding aesthetics - decisions that have no justification other than being whatever I feel like. Because it could be handled either way. Either:
- the work is pointless, so putting energy into varying colours is pointless, so don't do it,
or
- the work is pointless, so you are free to make decisions that make you happy such as varying the colours.
Although maybe what I'm communicating has changed; I vaguely remember that maybe at one point my work was about complete lack of meaning/purpose, including fulfillment. Now maybe it's more about lack of intrinsic meaning/purpose as something that emphasises the importance of fulfillment.
Saturday, 25 April 2015
Still Making Dice Pieces
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outcome is determined by dice rolls, so it is random/'meaningless'
certain visual aspects make it resemble a written language
the piece hints at a meaning, but this meaning does not exist
Things To Do
- Finish the series of pieces that have the above caption. Decide on presentation (also means evaluating the role of presentation/aesthetics in this series).
- Analyse the "Unnecessary Labour" piece, especially how it was last presented. What needs changing? How much should it stick to the original plan? In which ways has it evolved from the original plan? Maybe I should take some photos, playing with the presentation.
- Keep going with the pieces whose outcome is determined by dice rolls. This reminds me of aleatoric music, so I'm guessing aleatoric visual art also exists. I will research that.
Thursday, 23 April 2015
Intentional Inefficiency
(Doing things for the sake of doing things - fixation on the perpetuation of cycles...)
- Exercise, e.g. running in circles, picking objects up and then putting them down again (and repeat)
- Having nothing that needs doing, so doing something for the sake of doing it, e.g. leaving the house for a "change of scenery," attempting to learn something to "keep your brain active"
- The cycle of manufacturing objects, convincing people that those objects are things that they need, selling those objects, convincing people that those objects are outdated, making new objects etc. (planned obsolescence, consumerism, buying out of desire)
- Exercise, e.g. running in circles, picking objects up and then putting them down again (and repeat)
- Having nothing that needs doing, so doing something for the sake of doing it, e.g. leaving the house for a "change of scenery," attempting to learn something to "keep your brain active"
- The cycle of manufacturing objects, convincing people that those objects are things that they need, selling those objects, convincing people that those objects are outdated, making new objects etc. (planned obsolescence, consumerism, buying out of desire)
Wednesday, 22 April 2015
Dice Rolls
- If something is random, does it have any meaning?
- Aren't we/our thoughts/our actions a consequence of chains of events that start from a random occurrence?
- Does a piece of "art" which has been created out of randomly chosen elements have any more meaning (in the eyes of the viewer) than one that has not? Especially considering that most contemporary art is intentionally displayed without some sort of description, and a large amount of it does not explicitly or literally illustrate its intentions - art nowadays often acts as a blank canvas onto which viewers can project their own ideas, and any specificity that comes from the mouth/hands of the artist is dismissed as being an attempt to "force an interpretation." If it is in the form of background information, then the viewer states that it represents failure to communicate through the work alone. If it is the work itself that provides specificity, then the viewer states that it is too literal. In that case most abstract art could be just as easily replaced with randomly generated images.
- Can something created without purpose serve the same function as something created with a purpose? (Probably.)
- Where there are no meanings, we invent them. Are these worth more, less or the same?
- If our existence does not come with a meaning, what is the difference between the life of someone who has invented their own meaning/purpose, and the life of someone who is also carrying out a series of actions, but without having assigned a meaning/purpose to these actions?
Labour/Work/Effort (Unfinished Brainstorming)
"The ideal situation is one where everyone does an equal amount of work in terms of the amount of energy used over the course of their lifetime."
- This would mean that it is not okay that people can inherit or relatively easily acquire assets and then profit off those assets in a way that means they do not have to do as much work.
"The ideal situation is one where everyone does an equal amount of work in terms of the amount of energy used per year/month/other."
- This would mean that it is not okay that people can inherit or relatively easily acquire assets and then profit off those assets in a way that means they do not have to do as much work.
"The ideal situation is one where everyone does an equal amount of work in terms of the length of time spent working over the course of their lifetime."
- This would mean that the importance/impact of a person's work was irrelevant.
"The ideal situation is one where everyone does an equal amount of work in terms of the length of time spent working per year/month/other."
"The ideal situation is one where the work is split in a way that is proportionate to the amount of work that each person is capable of doing - everyone ends up making the same amount of effort."
"The ideal situation is one where everyone does the amount of work that makes them happy."
"The ideal situation is one where everyone does the amount of work that leads to a feeling of fulfilment."
"The ideal situation is one where the total amount of work carried out is the smallest amount possible."
"The ideal situation is one where efficiency is valued, but people are willing to do more work if it leads to increased quality of life."
"The ideal situation is one where everyone does the most work possible."
"The ideal situation is one where the work a person does benefits only themselves and those they intend to help (i.e. no one ends up doing any work that benefits those they would not choose to help)."
- This suggests that ideas such as socialised medicine are not 'fair.' Some people believe this to the point where they would be a lot less happy in a country where they were paying taxes than in a country where they felt like they only had to pay for themselves and their families - even if the total amount of tax would have added up to a lot less money.
"The ideal situation is one where people's preferences (regarding type of work) are considered relevant to what is considered 'fair' distribution of work."
"The ideal situation is one where work is assigned to each person based on aptitude/abilities rather than preference, leading to greater efficiency."
"The ideal situation is one where each person does their share of every type of work."
- This would mean that it is not okay that people can inherit or relatively easily acquire assets and then profit off those assets in a way that means they do not have to do as much work.
"The ideal situation is one where everyone does an equal amount of work in terms of the amount of energy used per year/month/other."
- This would mean that it is not okay that people can inherit or relatively easily acquire assets and then profit off those assets in a way that means they do not have to do as much work.
"The ideal situation is one where everyone does an equal amount of work in terms of the length of time spent working over the course of their lifetime."
- This would mean that the importance/impact of a person's work was irrelevant.
"The ideal situation is one where everyone does an equal amount of work in terms of the length of time spent working per year/month/other."
"The ideal situation is one where the work is split in a way that is proportionate to the amount of work that each person is capable of doing - everyone ends up making the same amount of effort."
"The ideal situation is one where everyone does the amount of work that makes them happy."
"The ideal situation is one where everyone does the amount of work that leads to a feeling of fulfilment."
"The ideal situation is one where the total amount of work carried out is the smallest amount possible."
"The ideal situation is one where efficiency is valued, but people are willing to do more work if it leads to increased quality of life."
"The ideal situation is one where everyone does the most work possible."
"The ideal situation is one where the work a person does benefits only themselves and those they intend to help (i.e. no one ends up doing any work that benefits those they would not choose to help)."
- This suggests that ideas such as socialised medicine are not 'fair.' Some people believe this to the point where they would be a lot less happy in a country where they were paying taxes than in a country where they felt like they only had to pay for themselves and their families - even if the total amount of tax would have added up to a lot less money.
"The ideal situation is one where people's preferences (regarding type of work) are considered relevant to what is considered 'fair' distribution of work."
"The ideal situation is one where work is assigned to each person based on aptitude/abilities rather than preference, leading to greater efficiency."
"The ideal situation is one where each person does their share of every type of work."
Tuesday, 21 April 2015
Abstract Things
I'm starting some abstract pieces to do with the ideas of:
- repetition
- mindlessness
- working like a machine (this does not refer to quantity of work)
I may create some where visual aspects are determined by dice rolls.
This relates to the idea of futility and the instinct to be "productive" without necessarily having a purpose, or the instinct to invent a purpose and then work for that purpose (since people were not put on Earth with a set of goals).
- repetition
- mindlessness
- working like a machine (this does not refer to quantity of work)
I may create some where visual aspects are determined by dice rolls.
This relates to the idea of futility and the instinct to be "productive" without necessarily having a purpose, or the instinct to invent a purpose and then work for that purpose (since people were not put on Earth with a set of goals).
Friday, 10 April 2015
Unnecessary Labour And The Phrase "Creating Jobs"
The phrase "creating jobs" sounds like it refers to creating work that did not particularly need to be done: unnecessary labour. It sounds like a way of saying, "We'd like these people to get the money that they need to have a decent standard of living, but we don't want to feel like they're not working for it." The term seems to refer to deliberate inefficiency. "Let's not find a way to spread the existing work around. Let's make it feel equal by creating more of it. Let's create more factory jobs and retail jobs and other repetitive things. The people who already had jobs won't have any less work but they'll be okay with it as long as the other people are being put to work somewhere too."
"There are two babies and three nannies, so we'll get the third nanny to carry a bag of rocks to make it 'fair.'"
"Let's make products less hard-wearing so that we can keep being paid to make things."
"Let's make people forget the difference between need and want, so that there will be an everlasting amount of labour that feels compulsory."
As we're told, the cycle goes "work, buy, consume," ("die," if you think about it, is not actually part of the cycle at all, so let's not be needlessly morbid) but we probably don't need to cycle so fast; if we slow down the buying/consumption, we can slow down the working (whether this means personally consuming less so that you need less money, or on a larger scale - everyone slowing down so that companies/countries/other are not having to work more and more to compete).
But then, even if we do not have financial problems, we're conditioned to feel guilty about not being "productive." Often people seem to feel a certain level of regret if they sleep in, or relax a bit "too much," regardless of whether or not they actually had something else that they intended to do. And people who feel they've escaped the so-called "rat race" and are providing for themselves without working excessively are dismissed as being "country bumpkins."
Ignoring the financial side of things, there's probably a balance to be achieved between feeling useful/fulfilled and feeling relaxed. It's just a shame that people often mistake the need to do something productive/fulfilling for the idea that relaxation is something to feel guilty about.
(We're all assigned an arbitrary length of time on earth anyway, so why would that amount of time specifically also be the amount of time that we would "need" to fill? That implies filling the time for the sake of filling the time, not for the sake of getting something necessary done. See, unnecessary labour...)
"There are two babies and three nannies, so we'll get the third nanny to carry a bag of rocks to make it 'fair.'"
"Let's make products less hard-wearing so that we can keep being paid to make things."
"Let's make people forget the difference between need and want, so that there will be an everlasting amount of labour that feels compulsory."
As we're told, the cycle goes "work, buy, consume," ("die," if you think about it, is not actually part of the cycle at all, so let's not be needlessly morbid) but we probably don't need to cycle so fast; if we slow down the buying/consumption, we can slow down the working (whether this means personally consuming less so that you need less money, or on a larger scale - everyone slowing down so that companies/countries/other are not having to work more and more to compete).
But then, even if we do not have financial problems, we're conditioned to feel guilty about not being "productive." Often people seem to feel a certain level of regret if they sleep in, or relax a bit "too much," regardless of whether or not they actually had something else that they intended to do. And people who feel they've escaped the so-called "rat race" and are providing for themselves without working excessively are dismissed as being "country bumpkins."
Ignoring the financial side of things, there's probably a balance to be achieved between feeling useful/fulfilled and feeling relaxed. It's just a shame that people often mistake the need to do something productive/fulfilling for the idea that relaxation is something to feel guilty about.
(We're all assigned an arbitrary length of time on earth anyway, so why would that amount of time specifically also be the amount of time that we would "need" to fill? That implies filling the time for the sake of filling the time, not for the sake of getting something necessary done. See, unnecessary labour...)
Tuesday, 7 April 2015
Thoughts On Decorative Crafts
Purposes include:
- "filling time," the implication being that there are no necessary tasks left to do (e.g. gathering food, creating shelter) - to what extent do MOST actions resemble this? are most of our actions meaningless? or is it wrong to suggest that actions that are not strictly "functional" are useless? (probably - no part of existence is compulsory, and fulfillment can be seen [by those who do not believe in an afterlife or a similar idea] as the only purpose of living)
- showing off wealth: person A has spare money; person B needs money and has time; person B invests the time into the creation of a decorative object; person A trades money for this object - to what extent is this a little bit sadistic? does person A effectively have a chunk of person B's time crystallised into a decorative trophy? is this less appropriate an observation now that a person buying a handcrafted object is not necessarily richer than the person making it (in the Western world, anyway)? (and yes, probably)
- "filling time," the implication being that there are no necessary tasks left to do (e.g. gathering food, creating shelter) - to what extent do MOST actions resemble this? are most of our actions meaningless? or is it wrong to suggest that actions that are not strictly "functional" are useless? (probably - no part of existence is compulsory, and fulfillment can be seen [by those who do not believe in an afterlife or a similar idea] as the only purpose of living)
- showing off wealth: person A has spare money; person B needs money and has time; person B invests the time into the creation of a decorative object; person A trades money for this object - to what extent is this a little bit sadistic? does person A effectively have a chunk of person B's time crystallised into a decorative trophy? is this less appropriate an observation now that a person buying a handcrafted object is not necessarily richer than the person making it (in the Western world, anyway)? (and yes, probably)
Monday, 6 April 2015
Post-Formative Review, Part 2
After reading the feedback:
- I need to evaluate whether or not the fact that the "unnecessary labour" piece is unfinished actually adds to the work or says something that is worth saying, as opposed to being a flaw I need to correct.
- Striking a balance between: 1) an amount of labour small enough that it doesn't feel like "labour," and 2) an amount large enough that it is impressive and doesn't seem "unnecessary," seems like the best way to communicate the point, but I will experiment further.
- I should "revalue futility" / question views on labour and futility.
- I need to evaluate whether or not the fact that the "unnecessary labour" piece is unfinished actually adds to the work or says something that is worth saying, as opposed to being a flaw I need to correct.
- Striking a balance between: 1) an amount of labour small enough that it doesn't feel like "labour," and 2) an amount large enough that it is impressive and doesn't seem "unnecessary," seems like the best way to communicate the point, but I will experiment further.
- I should "revalue futility" / question views on labour and futility.
Habits To Kick
More stress:
more time spent trying to split the workload into tasks, remind self it's all okay, make sure all pieces of work are listed somewhere so they won't be forgotten, make sure there isn't anything I'll forget to do,
less time spent getting stuck into work.
more time spent trying to split the workload into tasks, remind self it's all okay, make sure all pieces of work are listed somewhere so they won't be forgotten, make sure there isn't anything I'll forget to do,
less time spent getting stuck into work.
Friday, 3 April 2015
I Should Write Fortune Cookies
Cross-stitching is like life; it's too hard to keep going because of the fear of making a mistake.
Kerning
While embroidering a text piece, I realised that I wasn't sure whether to measure the spaces between the letters as being between the very edges of each letter, or ignoring the 'overhanging' bits. I was doing the former (I figured it was fine as long as I was consistent), then remembered that the latter was probably what 'kerning' was, and that I should probably look that up. The former option seems more consistent, while kerning looks more consistent. Consistency is important to me, so it's a dilemma.
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