In "Among the Inept, Researchers Discover, Ignorance Is Bliss" Erica Goode recounts a study done by Dr. David A. Dunning at Cornell University. In the study Dr. Dunning finds that the more incompetent a person is at something, the more likely they are to think they are doing well. He finds that the ability to judge our own abilities is linked to our knowledge.
This reading is completely relevant to my own work. As I was saying in a critique last week, we are all ignorant of our own ignorance and our subconscious has the unique ability to fill in our ignorance with half formed information and relay it to the conscious as absolute truth. I was saddened that someone argued the point even after reading this article. The subject of "What we don't know about ourselves" is the main crux of my work. Sifting the mind for the context by which it relates information to events. Also the judging of abilities, personality traits, and knowledge and how our self perceptions do not always stem from truth but sub-conscious fabrication. This reading was custom tailored for my work.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Slavoj Zizek
In Zizek's article "Rumsfeld's Unknown Known, or Iraq's Initiation into Democratic Practice" He writes about the torture at Abu Ghraib. He relates the incidents not to modern torture but to hazing rituals and American cult phenomena. He states that the it is an induction into the dark underside of American Democracy. An inclusion into the First World. He sites that Bush's defense instead of totalitarian cover-up as an empirical difference.
My own work deals with the darker sides of self and has a level of parallel with this reading. His description of the events as opposite sides of the same coin as opposed to exceptions is interesting. I do feel that in my work, exposing the darker sides of my psyche is just as important as the brighter. One informs the other.
My own work deals with the darker sides of self and has a level of parallel with this reading. His description of the events as opposite sides of the same coin as opposed to exceptions is interesting. I do feel that in my work, exposing the darker sides of my psyche is just as important as the brighter. One informs the other.
Flash Mob, Belgum
In this video a flash mob begins to dance to the song Do, Re, Mi from The Sound of Music. Over two hundred people begin to form rough lines and more pour in as the song progresses. I find the idea of flash mobs interesting. Although it is funny to me that they seem to be predominantly at train stations. The idea of people coming together for a brief time and then returning to their lives is a nice concept. Although that is not truly the case. It is only spontaneous to the viewers. The performers have practiced this routine for some time and the "spontaneous" is actually a well choreographed and planned out event. The actors are not taking a break from their daily lives. This duality is the more interesting content. As irony and duality are a big part of my work I can appreciate this although in my case it is intentional and I don't believe that this irony is intended in the work of flash mobs.
Research
My research this semester has been internal. I have explored as many ways as I can of self discovery. There are two types of research I have been doing, self analysis and external analysis.
Internal
Journals
*Daily journal broken down as follows
1) Events | Emotions | Intellectual Responses to the Emotion
2) Events | Thought | Emotional Response to Thought
I alternate these Journals daily so as to get a better understanding of the synergy between my thought process and my emotional process. These journals will not be available for viewing but the content will be reinterpreted into kinetic sculpture.
External
*Interviews
*Interviews of people that know me at this moment.
*4 to date, roughly 7 will be conducted.
*these will be incorporated into sculpture work.
*Questionnaires
*These will be single question and will be used directly in performance work for my senior show.
*One completed, two more will be conducted before the show.
*Professional Analysis
*I have finished my first round of sessions with the Physcologist and will begin with a Psychiatrist in the Spring semester.
*These will be displayed directly. Being spoken in a performance for the senior show.
My research is coming along very well. The process is excruciatingly tedious and long. Breaking down a persons mentality into the smallest common denominators is not a quick one, but the results are interesting and will make for work that does not leave room for dismissal as half-assed. It is very important to me that in my work, people see the depth of my analysis so they cannot dismiss it on the grounds that it was not through. I want people to be taken aback at the level to which I excavated my subconscious.
Internal
Journals
*Daily journal broken down as follows
1) Events | Emotions | Intellectual Responses to the Emotion
2) Events | Thought | Emotional Response to Thought
I alternate these Journals daily so as to get a better understanding of the synergy between my thought process and my emotional process. These journals will not be available for viewing but the content will be reinterpreted into kinetic sculpture.
External
*Interviews
*Interviews of people that know me at this moment.
*4 to date, roughly 7 will be conducted.
*these will be incorporated into sculpture work.
*Questionnaires
*These will be single question and will be used directly in performance work for my senior show.
*One completed, two more will be conducted before the show.
*Professional Analysis
*I have finished my first round of sessions with the Physcologist and will begin with a Psychiatrist in the Spring semester.
*These will be displayed directly. Being spoken in a performance for the senior show.
My research is coming along very well. The process is excruciatingly tedious and long. Breaking down a persons mentality into the smallest common denominators is not a quick one, but the results are interesting and will make for work that does not leave room for dismissal as half-assed. It is very important to me that in my work, people see the depth of my analysis so they cannot dismiss it on the grounds that it was not through. I want people to be taken aback at the level to which I excavated my subconscious.
Grad School, Residencies, Grants
I am 32. I have a stable life with many responsibilities. At this time in my life it would be impossible and irresponsible for me to go to grad school or attend a residency. I believe that it is important for me to start making work and putting it out into the world. Of these application process, I would be willing to try applying for grants. Unfortunately, not much information was given on where to find lists of grants, or the differences between applying for those versus grad school. We were made aware that of the things to apply for, these were the hardest to get. I will be submitting proposals for public works pieces in the spring semester and hope that although they are not on the list they fulfill the professional practice requirement of application submission.
thesis hypothesis
My thesis and the passion of my work now and in the far conceivable future is on internal change. What motivates us to change ourselves. How we perceive ourselves and how that is different from how others perceive us. How to gauge the validity of the perceptions of others and even the authenticity of our own self perceptions. I am taking a thorough journey through my own mental process in an attempt to understand how my mind reacts to the world. How my subconscious takes thing in and skews them without my own conscious awareness.
My work has solidified into the use of vague symbol and visual metaphor. The theory of universal symbolism has been tested and dismissed in the 60's and 70's but I believe that there is still untested waters. To use a metaphor to explain my use of metaphor. When presented with a cryptogram, the first symbol can mean any of twenty six possibilities. But it is not alone, it is placed next to other symbols, narrowing the list of possibilities. Finally when placed in a particular order the list of possibilities diminishes to one. In this way I use symbolism and metaphor, not as universal symbols but as vague ideas. It is in the context of other metaphors and symbols in proper order that narrow the possible interpretations. This is far from an exact science, but it is a very tangential way to speak to people visually.
This use of "Cryptographic Symbolism" is vital to my self analysis. By giving a very understandable representation of my inner self, I lay myself completely bare. If it were not as clear it would be less profound. By placing my mind in front of the viewer, I essentially remove myself from the artwork. I let the viewer identify with me and then to BECOME me. I let the viewer join in my analysis, placing themselves into it and asking themselves the same questions I am asking myself. By letting the viewer begin the journey as me, I open the door for people to begin to look at themselves without their ego defenses being raised. By tearing down my own walls, I am at the same time tearing down the viewers walls. I can bring about a willingness to look. And as I have found in myself, once we are willing to really look, we become willing to change.
My work has solidified into the use of vague symbol and visual metaphor. The theory of universal symbolism has been tested and dismissed in the 60's and 70's but I believe that there is still untested waters. To use a metaphor to explain my use of metaphor. When presented with a cryptogram, the first symbol can mean any of twenty six possibilities. But it is not alone, it is placed next to other symbols, narrowing the list of possibilities. Finally when placed in a particular order the list of possibilities diminishes to one. In this way I use symbolism and metaphor, not as universal symbols but as vague ideas. It is in the context of other metaphors and symbols in proper order that narrow the possible interpretations. This is far from an exact science, but it is a very tangential way to speak to people visually.
This use of "Cryptographic Symbolism" is vital to my self analysis. By giving a very understandable representation of my inner self, I lay myself completely bare. If it were not as clear it would be less profound. By placing my mind in front of the viewer, I essentially remove myself from the artwork. I let the viewer identify with me and then to BECOME me. I let the viewer join in my analysis, placing themselves into it and asking themselves the same questions I am asking myself. By letting the viewer begin the journey as me, I open the door for people to begin to look at themselves without their ego defenses being raised. By tearing down my own walls, I am at the same time tearing down the viewers walls. I can bring about a willingness to look. And as I have found in myself, once we are willing to really look, we become willing to change.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Zizek
In this video Zizek says that the movie The Sound of Music actually glorified the Nazi's as the Jewish cosmopolitan and denounced the Austrians as the uptight Fascists. I can see his point and the point of the writer who says that it was always the intent of the Nazi's to emulate the Jews. The hard part is allocating intent. It is almost impossible to see whether it was the intent of the writer to create this role reversal, the director of the film, the costume designer or even Walt Disney himself. Or if the intent was there purposefully at all. These are questions that I do ask myself in my own work. What do I WANT it to say, what does it ACTUALLY say, which opinion is the more valid, and do they digress or coalesce.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)