Translation Exhibition Proposal

My work deals with the idea of futility and useless labour – the idea of working “harder, not smarter” (as opposed to the other way around) as a way to overcompensate for feelings of uselessness. I will make something in a medium that requires both time and extra learning.

Aesthetics

In my last tutorial, I was asked why I would bother considering aesthetics (e.g. cutting and rearranging the fabric so that the title was the right way up) if the piece were supposed to be purely about filling time. I have decided that I'm still going to rearrange the piece when it's done and make it look "finished." This is because I'm not trying to communicate the idea that futility justifies apathy;* the idea is more that the inconsequential nature of human lives makes it equally valid to consider any activity to be a "good" use of time,** and this can be reflected in the way it's displayed - neatly and on a wall, as if it's an achievement.

*I would probably have chosen a different medium (crayon?) if this had been the case.

**This is not exactly what I mean to say. I think I might be repeatedly flip-flopping between "everything is useless" and "no of course that can't have been what I meant."

EDIT: What I meant to say is that I'm not trying to communicate futility; I'm trying to communicate the illusion of utility. This makes it more appropriate to properly "finish" the work.

Things I Am Not Doing

I think I'm reaching a point in my work where I'm starting to clarify that existentialist angst is not what I'm making work about. I feel like counting down to death has been done before, and can only be done so many times before it's just repeating the same point. This is because it almost seems to be the default way of seeing "life" once someone slips into a place where the concept of enjoyment is foreign and unknown.

From the point of an atheist,* life has no intrinsic meaning. From the point of an atheist capable of enjoyment, life does not need to have any intrinsic meaning; they enjoy it, it feels worthwhile to them and there is no need for it to have any kind of objective, measurable value or "mean" something other than what it is. An atheist who has stopped enjoying things will be more likely to fixate on life's "point" or "meaning." Life as it is just seems like a series of events that cause other events until the end; it is all inconsequential in the end. This is where that statement comes from - the one that confuses happy people everywhere - "life has no meaning." If someone has not experienced any kind of enjoyment for a long time and has forgotten about it as a possibility, or remembers the concept but feels it is impossible, life does not only have no intrinsic value; it has no "point" whatsoever. If the "journey" has nothing at the end, and we can't or don't enjoy the journey, what's the journey for?

This thinking seems to basically be the default for someone experiencing lack of fulfilment, at least for the first time. This can include anyone from people with depression who have stopped feeling pleasure to people who have just started their first nine-to-five job and are not enjoying it ("I studied all these years just to go to work and come home over and over again every day until I die").

Since I see this as a default way of thinking for people in a certain situation, it is not something I want to repeat when it has been done so many times before. I've already realised that the piece I'm working on is ridiculously similar to several On Kawara pieces (the work I was familiar with was something else - the "I Got Up" series mentioned below).

On Kawara - I Got Up - 1970

Martin Creed - Work No. 223 - 1999

(After repeatedly venturing back and forth from the state of mind where "life feels meaningless" to the state of mind where "life needs no intrinsic meaning if you're gaining fulfilment," going back to the former point of view is no longer frightening; life FEELS meaningless. It's all just perspective and it's enough to notice that other people are still enjoying it to no longer feel terrified.)

I think the next few things I make will clarify that I'm not making art about counting down to death or about life being futile, and I think maybe people will stop calling me a nihilist. (I might be talking about FINE ART DEGREES feeling futile, and I might also be being hyperbolic.)

*I am only mentioning atheist points of view as non-atheist points of view go into "life after death" as life's "meaning," and this is irrelevant to my point.

Disobedient Objects (Victoria And Albert Museum)

 

(Bread and Puppet)

(Guerilla Girls)

Questions:

Can we really influence a field that often appears to be based on connections and Emperor's New Clothes-style illusions?

Should we bother?

Why should we bother?

Would I personally prefer to do something entirely different and ignore that weird little bubble called the "art world"?

Do I really want to be a part of a field where someone can create paintings of vague blobs and colours, all with the same explanation ("Oh, they're about dreams and music") and potentially be taken seriously?

Am I ignoring the idea that art is often intended to be visual communication that transcends words (thus making explanation irrelevant and potentially cheating)?

Can I convince myself that anything "communicated" by vague blobs of colour is more than ideas projected onto the work by the viewer that have nothing to do with the artist's intentions except for maybe sometimes coincidentally?

Do I believe that the few interpretations of vague blobs that tend to be universal (e.g. warmth) are actually worth anything (e.g. warm colours = warmth, fucking wow)?

The Pixar Manifesto (Probably Not In Their Words)

Inanimate objects have feelings, so hoard every toy you ever owned as a child, otherwise you will hurt them.

Screw the need for space and a tidy home; you don't want to make your inanimate objects feel unloved.

All your umbrella ever wanted was to find love, and all you do is make it wet and miserable.

You will only ever be a burden to everything around you, even the inanimate objects.

Even in death you will be a burden to everything around you.

Although, after death you will be an inanimate object. It will probably feel more than you do now.

For The Sake Of Saying You "Did Something" Every Day:

(In case showering doesn't count.) (Not to suggest that I HAVE showered, because I haven't.)

First Piece Of Third Year!

I decided that I could arbitrarily choose some "interests" then read some books relating to these "interests" then choose a medium and figure out some kind of explanation for my chosen medium, OR I could just fill the time and call it exactly what it is.

So, this here is a cross stitch piece. I do not care what the Arts and Crafts Movement was. I do not know if that was a relevant comment. I shall not Google it to check.