Project 1 Art and Architecture Building Installation
Second Level Crosswalk
Barron Hall
This piece began with the thoughts of how a person cannot live as an island. I was looking for a way to talk about the interconnectivity, networks, and relationships that each individual needs to "succeed" in life and how "failure" is also integral to the process.
The piece talked interconnectivity in a couple of ways. The first way in which this piece talked about the building of these relationships is in how interior or the clay part of the installation was built. This part of the project was a process piece. Every weekend I would post a sign on the case and on the website with an installation schedule for that week, then each day at a scheduled time I would build in the display case for 1 hour. I chose an upside down "u" shape or an arch form to slowly fill the case. This form was conducive to building daily by the arch being a strong shape used in construction and by forming the clay in a solid tube shape created a large surface area for the clay to dry somewhat from one day's build to the next. I needed to mix clay once or twice a week to keep up the supply so that I could build the next day. In total I used between 2500 and 3000 lbs of clay. I began building with no specific aesthetic goal. I simply tried to build another layer in the installation from day to day. The clay that begins to take shape inside also begins talking about these thoughts of interconnectivity. The next layer of clay is built on the one from the day before. If the section of clay is not dry enough or connected well enough to the form next to it there is a chance of the new connection to fail. If the clay begins to have a large accumulation of weight on structures that weren't designed or put together well enough to support them, then this too may fail. In the same way if our relationship structures are not well formed or thought ahead they too may fail or have certain failures.
The installation also talked about this relationship building in a very direct and "real" way. By working daily on the piece I cultivated an audience or viewership. This audience came in many forms. One way this developed was direct contact with the viewers for an hour on a daily basis. Many people would approach me daily or weekly to ask my how the piece was going. I would talk with them about my plans for the piece and how they could also keep up with me via the website and again next at the next scheduled time. I developed a few relationships that were personal enough that we would ask about each other's personal life outside of school. This slowly formed interconnectivity into each of our lives. By investing time we now have a vested interest with one another. Many of the direct viewers such as professors, deans, maintenance workers, and secretaries worked in the building so that they were there everyday and had the ability to come by and talk. Another level of viewing came in seeing the case everyday when students, teachers, and others passed by the piece on the way to and from class. I would listen to this group and they would talk about how the piece was growing. It formed a sort of water cooler buzz and many would stop me and ask me about the piece. Still many others could just be heard in passing discussing how the piece looks different today or how much it had grown since they had seen it last. A third way people were connecting with the project and me was through the Internet. Documentation was taken daily during the hour of building. This documentation would go onto www.barronart.net nightly. Friends, family, and others including visiting artists would go to the site on a daily or weekly basis to stay in touch with the project and would encourage me via email and telephone.
When the box was filled I ended the installation. I was worried about the ending and how it would affect the new relationships that had developed, so in hopes of an easier let down I cleaned out and painted the box over an extended weekend but left if in its spot so that it would not be a sudden and total absence. I spent some time at the case the next couple of days and talked with people about the ending. Although I did not know how the piece would end I trusted that the evolution of the process and the use of the specific media would bring to light the ways in which we are connected to on another, how success and failure in our lives depends on our daily interactions with each other, and how we develop relationships through vested interests. Another student and I are looking into taking this process outside the parameters of the school of art. We are seeking a workplace environment to build an installation over time. We hope to become an integral part of this workplace, develop relationships, and to alter the context of this process in a different setting.
Project 2 Art and Architecture Building Atrium
In much the same way that the Island project was extremely obvious and was seeking a relationship with its viewer the picnic tables may be the opposite. In both pieces there was no end game in mind, but instead a hope to learn about how an audience reacts in different ways to the information given or not given.
Over about the same period of six weeks of the island project I slowly raised the picnic tables in the Art and Architecture building approximately three and a half inches. This piece was originally inspired by the fact that when I would sit at the tables I would have to slouch uncomfortably because the tables were to close to the ground. With a four-person crew we would slide black PVC sleeves over the original leg posts, then again in successive weeks. We would do this late at night on the weekend when know one was around to see.
The way people would sit at the tables began to change. After the initial lifting the audience appeared to sit more comfortably than before and now that the tables are much higher than before, the way they sit has changed dramatically. Most people are propping there feet up on the other side of the bench because they will no longer touch the ground. Some are forgoing the original seat and are sitting on the back of the chair with there feet in the seat. Still others are content to their feet freely swinging above the floor.
I am extremely interested in the way the participant's bodies were keenly aware of what was going on, but at the same time they had no idea. The partakers in the process were aware of what was going on as evidenced by the fact that the method of sitting changed. Consciously individuals may not have thought to themselves that the seats have changed, but the muscles in their body were definitely telling them that something was different. What is our physical awareness level? How in touch are we with our everyday physical environment? I will be looking for ways to exploit this lack of awareness, in future works.