jwilsonbbbwc2019

[jwilsonbbbwc2019]

Project Proposal

My piece for Beyond Black Box White Cube titled; I am a Law-abiding citizen, will consist of me performing abstract movements for the state, within the frame of a CCTV camera, illuminating that I am in-fact a law-abiding citizen. The piece aims to depict how the government's insistence that we should all be under constant 24hour surveillance, as to encourage us to regulate our behaviour to their standards, infringes on one's personal ability to pursue individual freedom and be anything more than their puppet. The performative aspect of the piece shall take place outside the Edward street campus for 24-hours, split over two days, and will be shot on the CCTV camera that looks down onto the road from its position on the first floor. The footage of the performance is to be viewed live, during either of the 12-hour sessions, in a constructed setting that resembles an office where a security guard would watch the feed, but can also be observed in person if the spectator ventures to the location revealed by the camera. 

The piece itself is a political development on the 1971 film, by artist John Baldessari, titled 'I am making art.' In the film, Baldessari performs a variety of movements while declaring aloud that he is, in fact, making art. Baldessari's piece was a continuation of a statement that several radical, conceptual artists in the 1960s were making; art was not just that which had traditionally been considered to be art but was, in reality, anything created by an artist. This meant all people, including Baldessari, could create whatever and it would be deemed as art. Where my piece expands upon this idea is through its collaboration with the postmodern theories of Michel Foucault. Foucault's work methodically deconstructed the relationship between knowledge and power and where the systems of our society have begun to abuse them. In his book, Discipline and Punish, Foucault discusses' in length how the penal system has become deceptively more inhumane as it has implemented new types of crime prevention. One such Inhumane tool of crime prevention is the mass introduction of state-owned CCTV cameras. In Foucault's eyes, the government ran CCTV camera is no different from the hypothetical prison system, designed by philosopher Jeremy Bentham, The Panopticon. This type of prison system isolates its detainees from their detainers, using pervasive power through representations of state force, instead of actual state presence, to encourage prisoners to regulate their behaviour. While this regulative system is arguable in its use on convicts, it is downright disturbing in its use on the general public. It assumes that we, the public, need to, like those who have committed crimes, be encouraged to behave under threat of punishment. This infringement on personal freedom is often met with the saying "if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear," but this statement, and those who say it, miss the point. The judicial system states that we are all innocent until proven guilty, not the converse, and so a government that oppressively regulates the public to "behave" has already concluded that we are all already guilty of something. This is why, for my piece, all actions performed, for the eyes of those in power, shall be met with the statement "I am a law-abiding citizen." A reminder that I am, in fact, a law-abiding citizen. And not dissimilar to how Baldessari's actions are followed with the statement "I am making art." 

My artistic intention is to use the collaboration of CCTV and the medium of video art to illustrate the absurd nature of such state presence, and the performative response most make when caught within the eye of a CCTV camera. The reason I decided upon the subject matter of state oppression and individual freedom, is not only because of my current reading and interest on the matter but also because I noticed recently that an overarching theme in all of my pieces is that of control, or a lack thereof. In previous works, I have discussed the theme in a more personal sense. My lack of control over another's perspective of me, my lack of control when it comes to my mental health, my lack of control when it comes to someone I love's well being. But with my last piece, the collaborative project, I ventured away from the personal to discuss the global phenomenon of lack of control when it comes to our planets well being. Discussing such universalities is, of course, personal, but creating art that isn't so self-centred allowed for a deeper connection with the audience and that bought with it a new sense of purpose for me. I do not wish to create art to please everyone, but I would like to create art that can speak to anyone, not just those with similar experiences. And so with this current project, I intend to achieve just that by discussing the surveillance intense world that we live in and how we have begun to normalize the use of pervasive methods of force in our day to day existence. 

The way that the audience interacts with my piece is by performing the role of the state. They, hidden from my view, watch a live feed that displays my performance so that I never absolutely know if I am being watched, justifying my act of self-regulation. This is then a similar response to the desired effect the panopticon has on prisoners or the desired effect CCTV has on the public. This implies that the audience's interaction with my piece is essential regardless of their presence. If they chose to watch, then I am performing for them the role of a law-abiding citizen, and if not, then I am regulating my behaviour just like they the state have asked. What I hope the audience gets out of the piece is a realisation that they have normalized an unnecessary, and ultimately absurd thing, that demolishes any chance they have of ever being their true, individual, selves.

This piece is new to me in its collaboration of performance and observation, not to mention duration. I have performed in my own work before, stripping down for my documentary module piece, but I have never performed the role needed for my film in public, able to be seen by all. That and I have never created a piece that allows the audience to come and go as they please, as most, if not all, of my films, have been confined to their existence on the screen. Even in the collaborative piece where the screen was torn to the ground and destroyed. These ventures outside my regular method of practice are, however, exciting. I have admired many performance art artists; Joseph Beuys, Vito Acconci and Carolee Schneemann, to name but a few, and so I find it only natural that I too go onto utilizing performance to create new and innovative work. Going forward I see this piece giving me the courage to try other art practices, while also being a platform for me to explore performance art further. I also Believe that this piece could very well be my first, well informed and conscious, piece of art. Able to be held in high regard, by myself and perhaps others, within my portfolio of work.

[jwilsonbbbwc2019]

Self Evaluation

When reflecting on the BBBWC module it's hard to not recognise the unforeseen and just plainly odd circumstances that affected the way the project would conclude. I had, just as COVID-19 arose, finally settled upon my idea for the project and was about to embark on its creation. However, due to a sudden cough, my plans were put on hold and I instead embarked on a 12-day self-isolation which lead to unexpected mental health associated issues. Then, of course, the university shut down and I travelled home to self isolate further. This has not, however, now that all things are well with me, deterred me from eventually creating the piece as intended. This module and my idea for the piece have had me knee-deep in excitement to work, due to the excellent teaching of the course and my overall interest in trying my hand at performance art.

As a filmmaker, working in any way without an isolated cinema screen feels perculiar, but I am certainly enthused to try my hand at other mediums. No point being a one-trick pony. I considered two sculptures throughout the module but decided upon a performance piece that inevitably collaborated with film to some degree. The reason I chose against the monolith and the cage concepts was not that I felt they were weak ideas, but were, in contrast, weaker than the CCTV performance art piece. I feel as though the philosophical and political message behind "I am a law-abiding citizen," is both clever and interesting, not to mention overly informed, while also paying homage to an artist who has inspired me so much to pursue art in the first place.

If circumstances had been different and I had completed the piece three or so weeks ago I could have perhaps developed it further. One development I did have in mind was to do the same performance for several local CCTV cameras in Brighton, as to actually perform for the government. The footage could then be taken and turned into a collage depicting the absurd amount of surveillance in Brighton alone. Another development I had was to gather together several people who would perform for different CCTV cameras with me to illustrate that we are all under surveillance and we have all normalized it.

I look forward to completing the piece when the world is a safe place and everything is back to normal. Although ironically not being able to go outside means true escape from constant surveillance.

[jwilsonbbbwc2019]

Concept 3 - I am a Law-Abiding Citizen

Inspired by John Baldessari’s film “I am making art,” which is the documentation of the artist's actions as he deems them allowed to be art, concept 3, in the same vein, entails myself performing similar actions for a CCTV camera whilst declaring allowed that “I am a law-abiding citizen.” The piece’s context is inspired by the writings of Foucault, who discussed in great detail how governments use tools such as CCTV to oppress the public into regulating their behaviour to government's standards, and Jung, who in his book The Undiscovered self discusses how the individual cannot pursue individual freedoms when oppressed by the states objective opinion of what freedom is. My performance shall be restrained to the frame of the CCTV camera and my actions shall be deemed, by me, to be law-abiding as to represent my self-regulation for the state's benefit. 

The piece will be 12hours and will be presented live on a direct feed to a TV so that I may not know if I am being watched, but shall regulate my behaviour “just in case.”

[jwilsonbbbwc2019]

Concept 2 -  The Price of Freedom

The structure, two segments built from a metal frame with clear plastic lining divided by a steel mesh wall with a letter box-shaped hole in the middle, is built to be a physical representation of neoliberal economic theory and its ethics. That is to say that the cell allows two people to enter, which regulates their ability to move but deregulates and encourages the passing/trading of goods between the two participants via the slot in the dividing wall. The concept comes as a response to Brexit which was a vote to deregulate the country's market whilst also regulating the movement of migration in and out of the country. My aim with the piece is to highlight the absurd nature of the vote by enabling people to have a literal experience with what the vote entails. You may move your money, but not your self.

[jwilsonbbbwc2019]

Concept 1 - Monolith

Most notably used as a symbol of advanced alien intelligence in the film 2001 A Space Odyssey, the monolith, exists as a structure defined by its obscured reason and brutal presence. In the context of my work, discussing one's lack of personal freedom when constantly surveyed by the state, the monoliths’ effects, when encountered by a person, resemble greatly the effect the state has when using methods of public control such as CCTV and public displays of power. Both are alien symbols to the public that display force, towering over people, both physically and metaphorically, creating a sense of unease and reminding people of their position in the hierarchy of society.  

I would aim to construct a cement Monolith and position it in a public space, intimidating the public as if it were the state displaying their power to the people.

[jwilsonbbbwc2019]

Mona Hatoum - Roadworks

Multi Media Artist, Mona Hatoum, in 1985, following the Brixton riots and subsquent increase of state oppression, walked through the streets of Brixton bare footed with a pair of black boots tied to her ankles, like a ball and chain. The boots were symbolic of the states boots and how many had been made to feel vulnerable by the rising prescesnes of police. The message, whilst quiet in contrast to a riot, spoke loudly to the oppressessive force used by the goverment at the time. An unncessary time.

ROADWORKS (1985)

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Bruce Nauman

Another artist, working with a smiliar manifesto in the 1960′s that dictates that any and all things done or created by a self proclaimed artistist should be refrered to as art, was Bruce Naumen. In 1967, as the New York conceptual art scene was booming, Naumen created several pieces, seen below, that he, having been created in his self described artstic space, deemed to be art. The pieces all utalize the workspace/envrioment the artist was in/owned as a means to convey the theme that he, as a producer, souley creates art. And that anything created within this space was, in fact, ART.

WALKING IN AN EXAGGERATED MANNER (1967)

DANCE OR EXERCISE ON THE PERIMETER OF A SQUARE (1967)

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John Baldessari - I am making Art

The man who made “no more boring art”, born 1931, is perhaps the most known and aclaimed conceptual artist to have conceptually created art. Ever. Baldessari redfined what it meant to be an artist and what an artist could be know for creating, but all that is best described in the short film below. 

I AM MAKING ART (1971) 

“I am making art,” one of Baldessaris’s most know pieces, is as exactly as youd expect. It is Baldessari making art. Preforming movements that he, the artist, has deemed to be art. “If the artist calls it art it’s art.” I personally see this piece, and its message, as the clearist star in Baldessaris’s catalouge, the truest signifier of his artisitic motivations and deepest desire, the want for true Freedom. 

[jwilsonbbbwc2019]

Control: A reflection on self

I descovered through my research for this project that my work seems to have one over arching theme and that is Control. No piece is alike in their examination of this theme, however, all do discuss it and its realtionship in my life.

For example my first piece for the course, Grain Against Match, is about my Girlfriends Sonje’s expirence of anguish whilst home for christmas. The film sees Sonje reflect of her lack of control, and subsequent discomfort. But the film also examines my relationship to Sonje’s experience and how I lack control when it comes to her feeling this way. All I can do is observe.

My third film, My prospective of your view, again explores my lack of control in realtionship to how I am viewed by my family. Both films, from my first year, take a more personal approach to the themes discussion. However the type of control they discuss differ and we can see this pattern evolve even into my latest pieces like Minecraft, in which I discuss how a simulation provides greater freedom/control for the self over reality, found it a previous post.

I feel asthough this study of my realtionship to control continues as I disccuss things such as Metaphysics, the philosphyies of Michel Foucault, and Neoliberalism. This means that control is clearly an importat topic for me and so through this acknowledgement I will intend to create a piece that perhaps embodies the theme.

[jwilsonbbbwc2019]

BREXIT MEANS BREXIT

I need not describe Brexit as I have, in previous posts, already talked about oppressive, abuses of power, by those who have no intrest for the lifes real people. All that I may say is that Brexit is the granting of movemnt for the 1% and the denying of movement for 99%. It is in fact a wall that requires a very specific key to pass through.

[jwilsonbbbwc2019]

Neoliberlism

The capitalist ideology, Neo-liberalism, is defined by its prioritising of freedom of movement in the market. Those who can subcribe to the economic ideolgy utilise the state to deregulate and create new markets, doing things like privatising public services, as to increase the 'individuals' aka their chances of accumulating greater wealth. A Neoliberalist supposes that personal freedom means the accumulation and spending of said wealth and that all can obtain. In her book, Heavy, Helene Shugart summarises the ideology like so; "Neoliberalism ascribes virtually all responsibility for personal and social welfare to the individual, which is further articulated as crucial to individual liberty under the auspices of choice... Importantly, this individual choice is tightly linked with consumption to the extent that individuals are expected to choose with their dollars.”

In 1974 the ERA (Equal Rights Amendment), that meant women and men would have equal rights in the United States, failed to pass in the senate. Those who opposed the bill prioritised traditional values and said that if passed the bill would further breakdown of the family. One anti Era supporter Phyllis Schlafly claimed that “free enterprise was the greatest liberater of women because the purchasing of labour-saving devices would offer them genuine freedom in their traditional roles as wife and mother.” Basically saying that the newest vacuum will make you free. This example, to me, is the clearest case for how a Neoliberalist midset is an oppressive mindset.

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Michel Foucault

Post-modern French philosopher of the 1960s, Michel Foucault, examined and dissected the concepts of power by digging through the past, determining what could be learned or taken from it, to better understand and challenge the present. His work systematically attacked institutes that have been deemed as more ‘humane’ yet are, in fact, more abusive with their power than ever. Foucault’s best and most known works/criticisms concern themselves with the systems that enforce state punishment and the health of the public. Foucault argued that the penal system, for example, isn't meant to prevent crime or reform citizens but exists “to defend the power of the ruling class.” What Foucault is stating, or better questioning, with such accusations, is; when the system fails to achieve its stated goals who benefits from that failure? He believes that the penal system exists to ‘recycle’ the ‘criminals’, turning them from what is not deemed useful into profitable means for the ruling class. An example of this is the rise in the prison population as working-class jobs, and subsequent working-class people, are replaced with technology. By being incarcerated those once working people become profitable again to the ruling class who own and run privatized prisons supported by the state.

To better understand Foucault's theories about the ruling class’s abuses of power we have to understand the mechanisms used and their effects. one such mechanism is the hypothetical prison system, designed by philosopher Jeremy Bentham, The Panopticon (seen above). The Panopticon is a circular building with cells built into the circular walls and central observation tower. From the tower, guards can see into any and all cells, and the prisoners can see the tower at all times, but from within the cells the prisoners cannot see the guards, as the tower is designed with blinds and shutters, they can only see the structure that insinuates their presence. This means that the prisoners can never know if they are truly being watched, but there is a pretty high chance that they are. Bentham thought that this showcase of state force would lead to the prisoners regualting their own conduct because they live in the constant state of knwoing they are visible to the law. 

This idea of pervasive power has now been commonly utilized by states in the form of 24hour survivance aka CCTV cameras. Their existence is there to remind us that the “law”, in any form, is watching. This then establishes our position in the societal hierarchy which we subsequently normalize, allowing the state to continue their allusive oppression.

A concept I am considering for my BBBWC piece is to create a sculpture of some kind that embodies this idea of direct violence mad structural.

[jwilsonbbbwc2019]

Minecraft The Signified and Signfier - 5 Minutes

This small piece is based upon using the absurd and Robert Smithson’s theory that  “The realtion of a Nonsite to the site is also like that of language to the world: it is a signifier and the site is that which is signified,” to discuss how limited we are to presue true autonomy in the physical. 

To me Minecraft is a signfier of the real world. Designed to be a simulation of a real mining expeirence, Minecraft offers players the ability to mine for resources and “create anything they can imagine”. As Minecraft has expanded it has began to resembel the real world greater day by day. It could be argued that now minecraft is even capable of offering an expeirance of life that is more liberating then the actuall thing. This idealistic experience is in my opion the reason for the games success. Most who play find them selfs in ‘control’ of their own lives and their own destiny. This is in stark contrast to how things truly are in the real world where most would argue they feel asthough they lack control of everythging in life due to the limitations of the physical. To explore this I preformed the same act within Minecraft and in real life, dug up two pieces of dirt and traversed the landscape to exchange their postions, attesting that man, no longer restrained by the physical, has more control over himself.

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Replanting -2 Minutes

The notion behind my actions is that taking what is a signified object of nature, turned commodity, a store bought flower in this instance, and giving it back to its original home, showcases that once an object is displaced it is no longer able to be a true representation of what it originally was.

The three locations (left to right). The figure indicates flower location

Preston Park

Blaker’s Park

Wild Park

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Tasks

Dig a hole Dig another hole swap the dirt

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Goto a place Document the place Show people the place

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Buy some flowers Plant them

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Buy some flowers Plant them Dig up some flowers Sell them

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Stand on the land Stand under the land

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Give an object to the earth Take one away

[jwilsonbbbwc2019]

Robert Smithson - Non Sites

By taking objects from the land and displaying them along side a map of their orginal whereabouts Robert Smithson, declares that what is seen within the gallery is the non site and where the objects orginiated are their true site.

 “The realtion of a Nonsite to the site is also like that of language to the world: it is a signifier and the site is that which is signified.”

[jwilsonbbbwc2019]

Prehistoric Monuments