divergentpractisemartharitchie

[divergentpractisemartharitchie]

Evaluation

Throughout this research project I feel have been able to conduct a deep dive into the idea of commodification within the art world and how this effects the type of art being produced. Through theoretical and practical exploration I wanted to investigate whether non-commodifiable art work could exist in our modern day era. 

Overall, what ive discovered is that creating non-commodifiable artwork is quite difficult and more complex than I initially thought. Given the society that we live in, there is a want to commodify anything, then someone will find a way to do so. 

Through this project I was able to experiment with new materials i had not previously used including; beeswax, salts and bioplastic film. I developed my skills in creating bioplastics and rug-making. There was a lot of technical learning involved with some of the projects such as the vinyl version of Commune, that took a lot of trial and error before I managed to create something as I envisioned it. 

There were a few projects such as the disintegrating prints in the street which i wasnt able to develop fully because of limited access to a printer due to lockdown restriction. Also I found it demotivating at times having to do so many photoshop mockups of how I’d imagine works to be displayed instead of real world trials. However, these limiting circumstances encouraged me to think develop ideas such as the Temporary Community drawing series and participation series which I found to be so rewarding working with other people to create a collaborative body of work. 

All in all, I am pleased with this body of explorative theoretical and practical research and think I was successfully able to create some thought provoking conclusory works. 

[divergentpractisemartharitchie]

Final Outcomes

I've collated my final outcomes for this project over on my website in an attempt to move towards a more professional practice and way of presenting my work. 

Temporary Community Project can be viewed at: www.jelliedemotions.co.uk/temporary-community-project

Commune Installation can be viewed at: www.jelliedemotions.co.uk/prints

Inflation Rate can be viewed at: www.jelliedemotions.co.uk/prints

[divergentpractisemartharitchie]

Selection of entries from the Temporary Communities Letter Exchange Project, all entries can be viewed at: 

I asked all participants to take a picture of their letter before sending it so that i can collate it onto a website, allowing for everyone to view all the work created as part of the community. 

Im so pleased with the outcome of this project, not only is the work that created is amazing but also ive recieved such positive feedback from the people involved in it saying how much catharsis and fun they got out of it, which is even better than the final art outcome! Some people from the project have began sending letters to eachother outwith the project, furthering the connecting and creating another sub-community which is just great. Really really pleased with the outcome. 

Why I thin this peice is non-commodifiable: 

1. It is based outwith the gallery within the community, therefore sidesteps the need to generate money or be commodified. 

2. It is based on trade system, everyone gives and receives something in return.

3. All of the work is open source, it belongs to everyone, it is not my project, i am the faciliator, but we all own the collaborative project and community created.

I would say this piece is close to being entirely non-commodifiable, this is mainly down to its collaborative and community based ethos. There is no need or want to commodify it so managed to escape it. It is based on the trade of goods of equal value within a community. 

However i think when this type of work exists in the real world is is seen as community based art and not “fine art”. I want to dispell that notion and bring socially engaged participatory projects into the realm of fine art and see them on equal footing with more traditional forms of art. 

[divergentpractisemartharitchie]

This is the email i send to those who responded to the previous email send out. Of the 17, 13 people agreed to take part in the project. 

I asked each participant to send me their address and send them an address to send their letter off to. I decided to keep the letters anonymous so that the product created could in a way be to anyone and everyone. By making it nameless, it allows the letter to becomes applicable to the human beings in general, which i quite like, it furthers this idea of connection and community even beyond the one created. Also anonymity allows for people to be more free and vulnerable in their expression i think. 

I really like having the role as facilitator, i love facilitating this connecting between people, especially now when feeling connected is really important. 

[divergentpractisemartharitchie]

I have feeling a big disheartened with the pandemic situation. I am really excited and enthused by this idea of creating a temporary community through participatory installation and it feels a bit lacking only being able to realise this on photoshop 

So ive been thinking about how I could realistically create a temporary community at this point in time. I came up with this idea of having a letter exchange project in which each participant writes a letter to another. 

The aim of the letter is to communicate with the other person who you are as a person at this moment in time. Whether that be sharing quotes which are meaningful to you right now, that brownie recipe you've been perfecting, letter raging at the world, a piece of art, a peom, a haiku, a song. 

I wanted the form of communication to be entirely open allowing for the individuals experience to shine through. 

I want to through the project to create my own temporary community of people exchanging experiences during this moment in time. A small group of people from all over the country, unified by this project, unified by this pandemic, unified by their vulnerable expression of their human condition. 

I put a call out on my art instagram and have 17 people interested, above is the email i send out to people outlining the rational of the project. 

[divergentpractisemartharitchie]

ON KAWARA 

The theme of impermanence, or more exactly mortality, is focally featured on one of Kawara’s most poignant series.  Over several years, Kawara sent telegrams to friends boasting “I am still alive.”  As with his postcards, we don’t learn about the content of his life, but about it’s persistence.  Pure being, one might say.  

Kawara continued delivering this message of persistence through the internet.  He opened a Twitter account in 2009, and he began to post tweets saying “I AM STILL ALIVE.”  These continued to appear daily without further comment or elaboration for years.  On the day of his death, another one of those ordinarily reassuring missives appeared, and then again the day after.  Kawara’s Twitter posts were evidently machine generated; either that or he is communicating with us from the other side.   Either way, the message is true.  Kawara is here to stay.  His obsessive documentation of time’s passage has left an enduring mark in the history art

I absolutely love On Kawara’s work. is it is so simple yet it really makes a comment on the human condition. Asserting his presence on the earth in such a humble and pure way. Seeing each act, each moment as a work of art, noteworthy. 

[divergentpractisemartharitchie]

Art Collective

Along with Astrid and another artist we decided to create an arts collective based in the east end of glasgow where we live back in early 2020

The east end doesn't really have a lot of creative spaces like galleries or a large creative community, like for example the west or south of glasgow. We decided to make a creative hub for east end artists with an aim to put on exhibitions, promote artists work, have monthly meet ups where artists can hang out and discuss ideas.

Really we wanted to create a space which we couldn't find within the community with a strong DIY ethos.

Over the past year we have run various projects including a chain mail project and also regularly featuring glaswegian artists on our instagram page. Through this we have managed to gather a small following of artists in the area, in a way we have created a community. 

Im realizing that the idea of creating community is a long running theme in my art practise. It is really important to me to connect with people through my art and pushing this forward, to get people to connect with others. 

[divergentpractisemartharitchie]

Currently i think Antony Gormley’s uk wide art project is creating a temporary community across the country. Taking part in project and seeing other peoples contribution as you go about your daily lives not only brightens your day by seeing some art, but also i think gives this sense of togetherness which is crucial during the current global climate. 

[divergentpractisemartharitchie]

Experimented creating the ‘Commune’ installation piece but water filled vinyl pockets. This peice has the same concept and aims as the textile Commune peice, just exploring it in a different material make up. 

This was inspired by the playfulness of Ernesto Neto, i still wanted to have a floor peice that could be laid on but really push forward that sense of fun! The peice would be made of vinyl, with each section filled with colored water, giving the feeling of being on a water bed when lying or walking over the peice. Another sensory experience different to that of the rug Commune version, perhaps less comforting but would still evoke the idea of creating a temporary community and also would link more into Neto’s idea of thinking about other people’s bodies as you traverse the installation. 

Maybe this would have a stronger impact in making people think about the other people they occupy space with at different parts of the day, because they are forced to think about how their movements over the installation is going to effect and is effected by other peoples movements? 

This idea reminds me an installation at the Venice Pavillion at the 2019 Venice Beinalle. The installation was a water tunnel in which the audience could walk through, walking on water. 

[divergentpractisemartharitchie]

Trial and error in attempting to create a version of the Commune installation using vinyl pocketed segments filled with water. 

Luckily I first tried out using clear vinyl which was then sealed using mini heat sealer, which worked really well at keeping the fluid inside. I found that a thick seal was essential as the pressure of the liquid would eventually burst thinner seals. I tried using some evo stick glue to act as a watersealant but this didn't stick. 

For the insides, I experimented using hair gel mixed with acrylic paint to create. I really liked the feeling of this material, I think it would be so satisfying to walk over, however it began to separate giving a sort of muddy look which i didnt like. Also when creating this sample i tried to create it as one piece, however this made sealing the pockets off to prevent all the gels from mixing with another quite difficult particularly for the middle section.  Images of this can be seen above ^

I really liked the idea of having transparent coloured water underneath to i Made a new series of vinyl segments and filled them with water coloured with paint. I decided to make each section individually to entire a good seal all the way round. The middle section again proved difficult to seal because it was an unusual shape but it was more successful that the gel trial. I really like the look of this attempt, its how i imagined it to be, although i would have preferred a more pastel colour in keeping with the orginal drawings. 

[divergentpractisemartharitchie]

Ernesto Neto: Sculptures to play on

Neto’s works are not concept heavy, instead it is left for the viewer to interpret through physical interaction. His works evoke a perception changing experience for the viewer because it creates a dialogue between the viewers body movement and the piece, we are forced to think about how our body could adapt and react to the space. Neto’s work is an exemplification of artworks injecting an active intimacy between viewer and the artwork through an interactive gallery experience.

He spoke of his work stating, “People are going to interact with the work. But the making of it and the formation of it has also come from interactivity. It contains a collectiveness, a sense of growing something and doing something. So, when this thing is made – the sculpture itself – and the audience comes to interact with it, the interactivity is already felt within the body of the work. This spirit of the work, this collectiveness, and this intimacy, this hand touching, is contained within it.” 

“Visitors are invited to take off their shoes and enter the interior of the sculptures suspended from the ceiling through a slot in a large organic vault. The sheer presence of the viewer within the work leads to its deformation. The observers become part of the sculpture, their bodies are inscribed in a comprehensive organism,”

I love Neto’s playfulness in his sculpture, the piece becomes a playground. The audience is encouraged to act like children in their exploration. I like how its not concept heavy, but instead makes the audience think about their own bodies and how they maneouvre through space. I think this entirely tactile presentation of art is quite refreshing from the complex thought that conceptual art can bring. It fun and primal. 

Also I think his pieces create temporary community bringing together all those playing on the sculpture at the same time; not only do they share the same experience and are thinking about their own experience, but they have to think about other peoples experience and where their body resides on the piece in relation to the persons own. 

[divergentpractisemartharitchie]

Commune (2021) 

Finalized images imagining how i would place the  ‘Commune’ rug installation in a gallery and street setting. 

An entirely participatory textile installation where the audience is invited to lounge upon the rug, creating a share experience, and thus temporary community with other people on the rug. The design of the rug is translated from the infographic drawing ‘12.1.2021′ which is part of a digital drawing series which explores the temporary communities we each unconsciously drift in and out of each day. 

I think the installation lends itself to both the gallery and street environment, its a versatile piece that i think could work anywhere where there is people. 

The aim of the piece is to get people to slow down and stop. Spend time on the rug, and think about the idea of temporary communities they are apart of each day. Think about how all the people they occupy the same space as on a daily basis and how they interact with them, or dont interact with as is the case in our ever increasingly digital culture. 

The idea is to create community as opposed to the individualism that perpetuates our society. 

I would say that this piece is quite non-commodifiable for a few reasons; 

1. It would be difficult to merchandise, prints cannot be made from the piece because the piece isnt complete without the participation of the audience lying on it. I don't think prints of the installation space would be particularly interesting without people interacting on it.

2. Its not very photofriendly, its quite a simple piece, that focuses on the feeling of the rug and being present within the experience of the installation. 

3. Its an experiential piece, the benefit comes from going and experiencing the piece physically. 

4. It would be non-ticketed and free, thus isnt being commodifed in this way. 

[divergentpractisemartharitchie]

Through my exploration of non-commodifiable art making methods I have came to a conclusion that participatory art is one of the most non-commodifiable methods of making art. This is not to say is is not commodifable, in modern society ANYTHING can be commodified if the want is there, but participatory are seems more difficult to commodify than other forms of art making. 

I want to push forward the infographic drawings and move it into the realms of a participatory installation. Ive been thinking about what community means, what is evokes. I think the idea of community instills notions of coming together, belonging, comfort and safety. I want to create a participatory installation that provides a space for people to come together and congregate and also gives them a comforting experience. 

I experimented creating a punchneedle rug version of one of the infographic drawings. I think the idea of having a large scale rug installation could be really interesting, not only would it be a depiction of a temporary community but it would provide a place where people could lounge and congregate, creating a temporary community with whoever else was on the rug at the time.

Temporary community ontop of a temporary community.  

How to make a punchneedle rug: 

1. Create a frame (I used an large photoframe) and staple hessian material taut across it to create a base to punch needle onto. 

2. Punch needle your design into the hessian using a punch needle tool and chunky wool. Different wools give a different effect but ive found chunky wool to be the best to create that iconic “rug” like texture. 

3. To prevent the wool from unravelling a thin layer of pva should be applied to the back of the peice when complete. 

4. Cut peice off the frame 

5. Using a hot glue gun, glue down the hessian trim to create a neat edge. 

Im really pleased with the final outcome, its exactly how i imagined and wanted it to be, i think the simpleness of the infographic drawing has translated really well onto this rug peice. I love the texture i think it looks cosy and inviting. 

[divergentpractisemartharitchie]

how to make punch needle art/rugs at home🍓

[divergentpractisemartharitchie]

Olafur Eliasson : The Weather Project 

In this installation, The Weather Project, representations of the sun and sky dominate the expanse of the Turbine Hall. A fine mist permeates the space, as if creeping in from the environment outside. Throughout the day, the mist accumulates into faint, cloud-like formations, before dissipating across the space. A glance overhead, to see where the mist might escape, reveals that the ceiling of the Turbine Hall has disappeared, replaced by a reflection of the space below. At the far end of the hall is a giant semi-circular form made up of hundreds of mono-frequency lamps. The arc repeated in the mirror overhead produces a sphere of dazzling radiance linking the real space with the reflection. Generally used in street lighting, mono-frequency lamps emit light at such a narrow frequency that colours other than yellow and black are invisible, thus transforming the visual field around the sun into a vast duotone landscape.

The subject of the weather has long shaped the content of everyday conversation. The eighteenth-century writer Samuel Johnson famously remarked ‘It is commonly observed, that when two Englishmen meet, their first talk is of the weather; they are in haste to tell each other, what each must already know, that it is hot or cold, bright or cloudy, windy or calm.’

In this way the weather connects us to others, its a thing we all experience and can have an opinion about. In this way, talking about the weather breeds a sense of commonality, a sense of community and belonging. In the same way, The weather project also created a common experience for the audience, they all gathered together under the one “sun”, all basking in the same warmth. 

Interested in this avenue of participatory art which looks to create a shared experience for the audience. A temporary community. Collaboration and shared experience has been a great influence in my art practise, especially since the pandemic, when these shared experiences and the feeling of connection and belonging they bring is more important than ever. 

[divergentpractisemartharitchie]

Helio Oiticia: Tropicalia 

Riffing on the idea of Brazil as a tropical paradise, Tropicália abounds with bright colors, flowers and plants, sand, stones, and even tropical birds caged in the installation’s maze-like exploratory. But Brazil’s complex realities are not glossed over either. Two penetrables, small wooden shed-like structures, mark the space, alluding to Brazilian favelas. Conflicting words and phrases fill space: “purity is a myth” (a pureza é um mito) is printed inside one penetrable, while on the grounds bricks, metal signs and cardboard carry handwritten poems by writer Roberta Salgado.

The experience of the work is one of discovery, and of constant reorientation.

Again this installation shows how installations can create a common experience that can be shared by the audience. It encourages a childlike notion of wonder and exploring an unknown environment. Also the subject matter is causing the audience to think and question what they know about Brazil, potentially changing perspectives of the audience.