Taking my bunting out to the public

I was really apprehensive as I had never displayed my work in an open, public area. I was concerned about how it would look, the response I would get and whether anyone would object to me setting it up. After putting the bunting up on the four posts and taking some images, I was approached by a police officer, who told me to take it down . I felt really disappointed as I did not get enough time to see if people would walk into the space and interact the way I had hoped. I had also planned to film the experience and the public's response. However, after studying the images I had managed to take , I do feel that the bunting alone works as a piece of art. I had created my own situation, an attempt at rejuvenating interaction , yet the space was empty and I feel this is extremely poignant and ironic.

 

Experimenting with public art has been quite a nerve racking, yet beneficial experience because I feel I have developed as an artist. Despite feeling disheartened after being made to take my bunting down, I felt liberated that I had taken on such a challenging and different approach with my work. I also do not want to let this single experience put me off and therefore, I intend to try and get my bunting displayed again and continue with my plans to film the viewers response.

As this project was so far removed from the art I am used to, at times I did question which aspects of this project could be classed as Art, if any at all. For example, could it be the documentation, the bunting itself ,the interaction between people or, in this case, the lack of?

Rirkrit Tiravanija states, ' It is not what you see that is important, but what takes place between people'. This quote is something I need to consider very carefully as I feel, I need to decide if I am happy to compromise the visual quality of my work in favour of relational aesthetics.

Below are some images of the bunting displayed on The Moor. I only had a limited time to take the images due to being moved on by the police.

 

 

Bunting progress...

Really excited about how the bunting is coming together. I am looking forward to seeing it hung up in Falmouth and the response it gets.

 

 

Below are some images of further progression with my bunting. I am now ready to get my bunting displayed somewhere in Falmouth. I plan to take the bunting out and experiment with possible places as soon as possible. I would like to tackle the large, central area on The Moor and have contacted the Town Manager regarding this but did not get a very positive response.

With this in mind, I have been considering different ways of how best to get my bunting out amongst the public. I have thought about displaying it in empty shop windows, but I do not feel this will show my bunting to its full potential, nor create the social experience/ reaction I am hoping for. I have also been thinking about making my own posts to attach the bunting onto and then positioning the bunting where I feel works best. These are all ideas and factors I need to keep considering.

 

I have been working in the workshop creating four posts for my bunting. I am now ready to get the bunting out into Falmouth Town. I am still considering the best way to arrange the posts and bunting. Currently, I am thinking that if I were to create a space with the bunting by placing the posts in a square, it would effectively encourage people to come into the space and look at the bunting. Consequently, this will bring people together in a closer environment where conversation may be sparked. I could also use the space as a place to talk to the viewers about their views on community spirit in Falmouth and perhaps, recieve some feedback on my project.

 

Below is an image of the posts I plan to use.

 

Examples of newspaper clippings and images I have collected and intend to include within my bunting.

Falmouth Carnival, no date

 Falmouth Diamond Jubilee celebrations, 2012

 Falmouth Street party, no date

 

Falmouth Tide Race, 1970

Falmouth Spring Festival, 2012

Creating the bunting

I have been taking a lot of time searching and collecting newspaper clippings and images which demonstrate Community Spirit in Falmouth. I have been quite selective with what I am putting onto the bunting as I want my message to be as clear as possible.

Above is an image of myself searching The Falmouth Packet archives using Microfilms.

So far, I have newspaper clippings with headings such as, ' It is inspiring to see what can be achieved when we work together', 'Well done boys for saving our carnival!', 'Choir mark the start of town's Christmas', 'Flagging up Community Spirit', and 'Smiles during Tide Race'. As well as images of street parties, the annual tide race, the Falmouth carnival and photographs of people walking and socialising in the town. Reflecting on my progress so far, I feel that the photographs of people minding their own business in town, are not really getting my intended message across. But instead, the images of events such as, The Tide Race and The Carnival with a more communal feel about them seem to work.

-Here are some examples of the images which I feel do not work. However, I do think the mono-print technique has an interesting, crafted effect that I believe will draw people in which is obviously an important factor for Public Art. I think a combination of both photo transfers and mono-prints on the bunting will work really well.

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Doherty, C (2009). SITUATION. London: Whitechapel. ISBN 978-0-85488-173-4.

This anthology, edited by director of 'Situations', Claire Doherty, has supplied me with critical writings surrounding site-specific practice. It has helped me to understand how essential the relationship can be between the work and the site itself.  After learning about projects situated in places such as boat sheds and cemeteries, to building sites and music festivals, 'Situation' has opened my eyes to the challenging and inspiring opportunities which public art presents. It has also highlighted how the experience of public art can, indeed, have a very powerful impact on the viewer, and the idea that my work might achieve this is extremely exciting. 'Situation' has not only further encouraged me to take my current work out into the public realm, but it has also made me realise that, it is not just the ambitious and endless possibilities of public art which appeals to me. It is also the potential for involvement and participation of the viewer, and this is another aspect I am keen to research and explore further.

Unknown (n/d). Daniel Rozin Interactive Art. Available: www.smoothware.com/danny/index.html. Last accessed 18th February 2010.

This website documents the work of interactive, digital artist, Daniel Rozin. It is not the digital, interactive aspect of his work which drew me in, but rather his involvement of the viewer, where they often become part of the content. I am inspired and intrigued by the importance he places on the viewers’ experience and this has reaffirmed my desire to incorporate engagement of the viewer, within my practice.

 

Sona Snibbe, S (2010). Artist Statement. Available: www.snibbe.com/bio/. Last accessed 21 February 2013.

Media artist, film-maker and entrepreneur, Scott Sona Snibbe makes real-time, interactive art pieces which, often, rely on involvement of the viewer for their success. After looking at his work on this website, I find some of his project outcomes a little too contrived and predictable. However, I am fascinated by how he displays some of his installations among the public and one piece in particular caught my attention. This was his large-scale, video installation entitled, 'Transit' (2010), which he installed at Los Angeles International Airport. This installation has encouraged me to find a suitable context when exhibiting my own work. Furthermore, in Snibbe's artist statement on this website, he writes, ‘In social settings, the public works provoke communication among the viewers that… becomes its very essence'. (2010). This is an important concept for me to consider, as the idea of art stimulating interaction is becoming important to my project at present, which is all about bringing people together as a community. This has also made me question, the best way for me to combine engagement of the viewer, with taking my work out into the public realm?

Chayka, K (2011). WTF is… Relational Aesthetics? Available: www.hyperallergic.com/18426/wtf-is-relational-aesthetics/. Last accessed 27 February 2013.

I discovered this website which gave me a brief insight into relational aesthetics, a term I knew very little about. On this site, art critic, Kyle Chayka attempts to explain the ambition behind relational art practitioners, which he says is, to create a social experience that, in turn, becomes the art. (2011). I find this idea extremely exciting, as the resulting outcomes of relational art could be really surprising and unpredictable. This is an area I intend to explore further, as I feel it presents me with the prospect of an entirely new approach to my practice.

Bourriaud, N (2002). Relational Aesthetics. Translated from French by Pleasance, S, et al,France: Les presses du réel. ISBN 2-84066-060-1.

This book by French curator, critic and writer, Nicolas Bourriaud has given me a theoretical understanding of Relational Aesthetics. Bourriaud offers an insight into the thought processes of contemporary artists, such as Rirkrit Tiravanija and Felix Gonzalez-Torres, who regard human relations, in their social context, to be art. Throughout this book, Bourriaud seeks to expand the reader's understanding of contemporary art and its engagement with relational art practice. He defines relational art as, ‘a set of artistic practices which take as their theoretical and practical point of departure the whole of human relations and their social context, rather than an independent and private space’. (2002, pg 113). After learning more about how relational practitioners translate their ideas and concepts, I am now experiencing a personal conflict. I feel I need to gain a broader understanding, before I determine whether I am happy to compromise the visual quality of my work, in favour of relational aesthetics.

Stokes, R (2012). Rirkrit Tiravanija: Cooking Up an Art Experience. Inside/Out [video]. Available: www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/2012/02/03/rirkrit-tiravanija-cooking-up-an-art-experience. Last accessed 27 February 2013.

This website features a short video about Rirkrit Tiravanija's installation, 'Untitled (Free)', 1992, where he serves rice and curry in a converted gallery.  During this video, Rirkrit explains this experience as, ‘you actually are not really looking at something, but you are within it, you are part of it. The distance between the artist and the art and the audience gets a bit blurred.’ (2012).   Likewise, if what curator Laura Hoptman says in this video about the viewer is also true, that, ‘You are the art and you are making the art’ (2012), this would suggest that the viewer is both the medium and the artist. Therefore, as I am currently exploring relational art within my practice, where does that leave me? Will I merely be the facilitator? Furthermore, after watching this video, I am also curious about Rirkrit's decision to hold the event in a gallery setting. Although the gallery was converted into a lounge area, I feel it would have attracted mainly gallery goers and this is something I want to avoid with my current project. I am convinced the participants of an event held outside of a gallery setting would be more diverse and, therefore, the outcome would be more unpredictable and exciting. Analysing this has clarified my decision to execute my project amongst the general public.

 

Helguera, P (2011). Education for Socially Engaged Art. New York: Jorge Pinto Books. ISBN 978-1-934978-59-7.

I have recently started reading this book by visual and performance artist, Pablo Helguera, in the hope that it will help to answer some of my questions and issues surrounding socially engaged art, another new term I have discovered. This book has already provided me with practitioners of social practice, who I would like to explore further, such as Claire Bishop, Grant Kester, Miwon Kwon, Tom Finkelpearl and Shannon Jackson.  It also explores the area of 'Documentation' and the important role it can play in socially engaged practice. Helguera states in this book, ' It is hard to claim to be an author of any kind if there is no tangible product to claim as one's own.'  (2011, pg 73). This notion is something which has been concerning me throughout my current practice because, if the interaction between people is going to be my art, then surely evidence or some kind of reinforcement is needed? This also makes me question whether the documentation, such as a photograph or a video, would then become a piece of art in its own right?

 

Kwon, M (2002). One place after another: site-specific art and locational identity. Cambridge: The MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-11265-5.

The introduction to this book by curator, writer and photographer, Miwon Kwon, gives a brief indication of Kwon's ambition, which is to analyse and discuss the various conceptions of Site-Specific Art.  As the relationship between my own art and the site is important within my own practice, I feel that it is essential for me to read this book further to increase my understanding of the history, theory and debates surrounding site-specific art. I hope that it will also provide me with further considerations and inspiration when thinking about where to site my own work.

Bishop, C (2006). PARTICIPATION. London: Whitechapel. ISBN 978-0-85488-147-5.

I have recently acquired this book, ‘Participation’ by curator, writer and educator, Claire Bishop. This anthology consists of three sections, the first of which offers an insight into the theory behind the participation of the viewer. The second section is made up of informative texts from artists relating to key works of art and the use of documentation. The third and final part is made up of critical debates and analysis surrounding participatory practice. I am hoping that after reading 'Participation', it will give me a deeper understanding of participatory art , in particular with regards to the area of documentation.

The Exposure Project. (2009). Relational Art: Is It An Ism? [video] 2004 Available: www.theexposureproject.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/relational-art-is-it-ism.html. Last accessed 15 May 2013.

I discovered this website featuring a BBC documentary by Director, Ben Lewis who discusses relational aesthetics and whether or not it could be regarded as a new 'ism', alongside others such as cubism, surrealism and minimalism. In his search for the answer, he interviews Nicolas Bourriaud and artists such as Rirkrit Tiravanija and Anna Best, who are all associated with the term relational aesthetics.  Anna Best makes an interesting comparison, during the documentary, between time based art and 'ice cream'. She says ' .. it's got this kind of life to it, where it melts and it's not there any more..I'm really interested in art which isn't an object and isn't there all the time and so it is time based..so, that's like ice cream.' (2009). This is a concept I have been battling with throughout my exploration of relational aesthetics, as it feels alien for me not to create a lasting, visual piece of art. Also, during my current project, I have been concerned that people would question whether what I was producing was, in fact art and at times, even I questioned which part of my work was the art, if any at all?

Bishop, C. Antagonism and Relational Aesthetics. October. 110 (2004) Available: www.marginalutility.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Claire-Bishop_Antagonism-and-Relational-Aesthetics.pdf

I have read this essay by curator, writer and educator, Claire Bishop. Although within this text she refers to Bourriaud’s book , Relational Aesthetics, as, ‘an important first step in identifying tendencies in the art of the 1990’s’ (pg 53), she also critically scrutinises his theories and describes relational art as both ‘scripted and staged’. (pg 52) This essay has provided me with an interesting, contrasting view on relational aesthetics.

Irish Museum of Modern Art. (n/d). What is Participatory and Relational Art? Available: www.imma.ie/en/page_212536.htm. Last accessed 15 May 2013.

Throughout my research, I felt bombarded with new terminology and vocabulary, such as relational aesthetics, socially-engaged art, public art and dialogical art. Therefore, I felt the need to locate a source as a means of gaining a clearer understanding. This website has proved extremely useful as a point of reference.