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[sculpture-workbook]

VENN Exhibition

Framing Experiences, 2021. Sticky coloured cellophane.

Class Critique:

used this window - as it has frosting and it works well with the colours

overlap - clear space between the forms - negative space becomes important

works well with frosted glass - not looking beyond the glass

space - playing with the architecture well

rolling around - nice sense of movement

the southern cross reference is not clear - the circles are too big in proportion to the cross/crux - the scale doesn't work - read each one as an individual constellation

good that it doesn't look pictorial

choice of colour - nod to stain glass but doesn't exactly look like it

use of material in an appropriate way

looks much cleaner in finish than previous attempts

Light effects:

in an attempt to show how the cellophane material affects natural light coming through the window I used parts of it on a sunny window space

this is how the work Framing Experiences was supposed to impact the room it was in but due to overcast weather and the type of glass it was on it did not have this effect on the space

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Further Planning

Constellations & Colour:

after class discussions I decided what would work best for the space of exhibition would be to use the sky light itself. I didn't want the work to be one sided by being too similar to Shannon Novak's work by using colourful geometric shapes of clear cellophane to mimic his vinyl installations on windows

after revisiting my research on the two artist I came back to their common use of natural light but had to figure out how they use the different shapes in the works - Holt using circles and curves; Shannon using geometric shapes

Holt's work consistently carried the theme of constellations and the cosmos

Shannon's work was very colourful

The Crux Constellation:

the southern cross or Crux constellation has four stars = the path between the School of Music and School of Biological Sciences has four paths

the constellation can reference Holt's works and coloured cellophane cut in geometric shapes can reference Novak's work

https://www.universetoday.com/85158/southern-cross-constellation/

Star drawings:

mare the stars bigger so as to cover more surface area and impact more of the light coming into the space

will have to see if the light comes through with the colours vividly

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Experimentation and Drawing

Initial drawings:

Initial drawings and plans for the work

Watercolour with ink

Glass drawings:

first experiment on glass

attempt to mimic stained glass

materials used: craft glues (clear and white), acrylic paint, watercolour paint, food dye

Critique of results:

I liked how easy it was to apply

didn't like how flat it turned out - I wanted the texture of stained glass

only the food dye mixed with clear craft glue successfully worked with the light

the colours lacked opacity

Further drawings:

drawing plan of how to make the work more 3D

watercolour and ink

the idea is to break the glass into a 3D object that looks like it's falling out of its frame this was to do it a little differently from Novak's window works

then have coming from the bottom of the frame to have a roll of paper 50m long with facts about the site written down the middle like Holt's concrete poetry works

Critique and feedback:

it was asked whether there was a need to keep the frame

how can the work be pushed even further beyond the frame?

also this idea still keeps both the artists separate

Glass objects:

second experiment on glass

attempt to move away from flat form

materials used were: coloured cellophane sticky book covers, coloured transparencies, glass, and aquarium glue

Critique of this experiment:

while cutting the glass some of the cuts broke the wrong way and this changed the forms of the objects made

the objects made were interesting in form and I really liked that

I didn't like the way the glue used to fit the pieces together dried - it's very messy even after being trimmed

I really liked the colours that came through them

I didn't like the look of the coloured transparencies - it looked tacky and didn't change the colour of the light as much as the cellophane

in the first object I made the mistake of attaching the cellophane and transparencies after glueing the glass together and this made the edges look very sloppy

also with the first object I made the mistake of trimming the glue after it had cured which didn't turn out as smoothly as I thought it would

with the second object I made sure to attach the cellophane and transparencies before glueing the pieces of glass together and this allowed for cleaner edges

I also smoothed out the glue while it was still wet which made it look smoother and cleaner, but this made it spread out and cover more of the edges which is not what I wanted

I also tried covering the transparencies with the cellophane but this was not as clean and smooth a finish as I wanted

the biggest problem with these objects is that it has to be near the light source to cast coloured light and this wouldn't work in the space it would go in, as I wanted to use natural light like the two artists I am referencing, and the only source of natural light in the exhibition room is the sky lights. for the objects to work I'd have to hang them which is not what I want to do with it. I want it at eye level

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Documenting Site

Documenting sounds along the way:

bird songs

leaves rustling

foot steps - over crunching leaves - on hard concrete and padded grass

wind blowing through trees

truck engines

students/people talking

cars

motorbikes

bicycle whizzing by

water moving in a water bottle

phone conversation (one side of conversation)

car alarm signalling unlocked

car door closing

sneezing

skate boards

Documenting smells along the way:

air conditioner

fresh air

vehicle fumes

women's perfume

leaves

freshly cut grass

wood and tree sap

shrubs

Documenting textures along the way:

smooth

bumpy

rough concrete

soft vegetation

grassy grip

jagged groves in bark

dusty surface

flaky surface

spindles

grainy

spikes

matt

hard

fragile

Documenting sensations along the way:

warm & cosy hug by the sun

blinded by light

anxious - through crowd

calm & peaceful - walking alone

cautious & hyper vigilant - walking through car park

heavy & jarring - running on concrete

happy

shocked - almost tripped

headache - being in sun so long

cold - walking into shaded area

lost in thought - caught up on focusing on one of my senses

"When I exited the school of biological sciences I felt warmed by the sun and emotionally felt hugged and then realised I was being blinded by the light. I moved into the crowd of students on the path and felt anxious, but then, I left the more traveled path to follow the mapped route and a calm and peace came over me. This calm turned to caution and hyper vigilance as I walked through the biology car park. Then as I was crossing Forestry Rd a car came around the corner and I felt heavy and my knees felt the jarring sensation of running onto concrete. Then I saw a Pacific Islander across the road and felt happy and as I recorded this feeling I almost tripped and got a shock. As I crossed Arts Rd I began to feel a headache and realised I had been in the sun too long but then I suddenly walked into a shaded area of the route and felt cold just as suddenly and I missed the feeling of the sun. As the journey came to an end I felt lost in thought thinking about how the experience captivated me."

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Researching the site

Colour matching:

Nancy Holt: non-New Zealand artist - Dulux colour range

Shannon Novak: New Zealand artist - Resene colour range

Both artists merged - Dulux Colours of New Zealand, Sarah Maxey edition

Matching colours from fan deck to colours noted along the way - whatever colours stand out or catches my eye on the mapped route.

Matched colours - Dulux Colours of New Zealand, Sarah Maxey edition:

5. Mt Aspiring Quarter

8. Mt Aspiring Double

18. Glinks Gully Double

28. Lyttelton

29. Lyttelton Double

35. Cardrona

36. Cardrona Double

47. Mason Bay Double

54. Rakaia Double

55. Ohai Half

58. Pukaki

59. Pukaki Double

60. Rangitikei River

65. Piha

69. Glenbrook

72. Norsewood

74. Terrible Billy

75. Mt Inaccessible

77. Te Pupuha Point

78. Herald Island

79. Darfield

80. Waihi

81. Kaipara

82. Red Post Junction

86. Colombo Street

87. Kaitaia

88. Porangahau

89. Port Hills

90. Moorehouse Street

91. Kerikeri

93. Port Ohope

95. Waipawa

96. Lochiel

97. Brrokby

98.Matauri Bay Double

99. Te Puke

100. Cuba Street

101. Devil's Pool

102. Was O Take Bay

103. Gracefield

104. Katikati

112. Mission Bay

114. Selwyn

116. George Street

118. Purple Top Hill

119.Akitio

120. Hight Street

121. Napier

[Please note that the numbers correspond to the colours on the fan deck.]

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VENN - Finding the middle

Finding a cross between the two artists reflected on

both artists did not start out with fine arts, Holt studied Biology and Novak was a pianist.

they're works are mostly site specific, with Holt's earth works and Novak's augmented reality works.

The idea in progress

find the mid point between the School of Music and the School of Biological Sciences;

could do a concrete poetry work - which is something Holt does and add colour and/or music referencing Novak's work.

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VENN

Shannon Novak:

Born 1979, Plymouth NZ

Background as a pianist

Has a Bachelor of Applied Systems, Master of Education (Hons), & an MFA (Hons)

Spearheaded the Safe Space Alliance Project

Practice Encompasses:

Painting

Sculpture

Installation

Augmented Reality (AR): an interactive experience of a real-world environment where the objects that reside in the real world are enhanced by computer generated perpetual information, sometimes across multiple sensory modalities, including visual, auditory, haptic (relating to touch), somatosensory (relating to sensation), & olfactory (relating to smell)

Key Concepts/Themes:

Contemporary issues in the LGBTQI+ community around the world

The interrelationships between sound, colour, form, time, space, & social context -> focusing on geometric shapes

Medium/Materials:

Paint on canvas

Large scale installations

Augmented Reality

Some of Novak's works:

Gordon, 2018. Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin, New Zealand. Duration: 3 min 2 sec. Producer: Iain Frengley. Collaborator: Nick Young (Visualisation Engineer). -> When the Artist told viewers the name of the work a lot of them began interacting with it verbally like it was a person - I find this response to the work very interesting and I wonder if this is because the world we live in at present is so immersed in technology that it seems like a living being/entity. -> Geometric shapes in AR that appears like a physical installation in reality where up close it is bigger than from a far off, and can be interacted with by moving around it and gaining different perspectives as with physical installations. https://player.vimeo.com/video/272776142?app_id=122963&wmode=opaque

Modulation, 2017. -> 16-panel installation in Courtenay Place, takes its title from the idea of a shift or transformation. In acoustic music, this can be as simple as a performer or composition moving from one key to another

Supertonic responds to the work Modulation Courtenay Place Park, Wellington, New Zealand, 2017. Duration: 9 min 33 sec. Producer: Evan Williams. -> I think it's cool that a choir responds to his work and that it emphasises the concept of making musical notes physically visible in this work. https://player.vimeo.com/video/213050122?wmode=opaque&api=1

Nexus, Pataka, Wellington, New Zealand, 2018. -> Shannon Novak has synesthesia, enabling him to see specific colours when he hears certain sounds. https://pataka.org.nz/learn/school-trip-programmes/nexus/ -> the work was then incorporated onto classroom work that young students could attempt having a further reach in interactiveness which is creative and inspiring

Limb II: Shannon Novak responds to 360-degree video content at Pataka Pataka, Wellington, New Zealand, 2018. Duration: 2 min 30 sec. Producer: Andrew Strugnell. -> Novak plays the piano sitting in the atrium next to the full height windows that his work Nexus covers with a head set on which he watches a video that he responds to through playing this piece -> Again the connection to music is reiterated with a musical response to the work https://player.vimeo.com/video/272242585?app_id=122963&wmode=opaque

The Expanded Gallery Central Installation, 2017. Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin, New Zealand.

"While the novice senses a beautiful idea the imperial astronomer elaborates a vision of a celestial physics come down to earth in the form of music. The notion of the music of the spheres, passed down from Plato to Pythagoras, Boethius and Kepler, continues to pattern the imagination and various artistic practices that snag its rhythms and proportions." Gregory Minissale wrote of the work.

Again the window and light coming through it in this space is transformed in turn transforming the space and the view looking through the windows

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VENN

Venn diagram: (noun) a diagram representing mathematical or logical sets pictorially as circles or closed curves within an enclosing rectangle (the universal set), common elements of the sets being represented by intersections of the circles.

Nancy Holt:

05/04/1938 - 08/02/2014

Born in Massachusetts

Married artist Robert Smithson

Majored in Biology at Tufts University (Massachusetts);

Key to Earth, Land, & Conceptual art movements;

“How we understand our place in the world”;

Key concepts:

Vision

Memory

Perception

Time

Space;

Natural environment = medium and subject

Used drawings as a medium to articulate concerns -> careful detailing to mathematical calculations & full rendering;

Body of works encompass:

Concrete poetry

Ephemeral gestures

Audio, film, & video

Photography

Artist books

Major public sculpture commissions (US & Europe);

Some of her works:

Sun Tunnels:

Nancy Holt, Sun Tunnels, 1973-76. Earthwork & Sculpture.

> 9ft tall concrete tunnels > Following the summer & winter solstice line

Nancy Holt, Drawing for Positioning of Holes in the Perseus Constellation for "Sun Tunnels", 1975. Works on Paper.

> Constellation is exact - done in collaboration with astrologists -> cast light on the tunnel floors - like walking on the constellation/stars

Nancy Holt, Preparatory Drawing of "Sun Tunnels", 1975. Works on Paper.

> 12 photos of horizon line corresponding to 12 different angles of sight -> cardinal direction > Lines radiating for centre mimic sun’s rays > Photos frames limit views of the landscape constructing a different experience of it

Nancy Holt, Sunlight in Sun Tunnels, July 14, 1976. Photo works.

> 30 photos - suns movement inside tunnels every half hour > “Photographs of the work are memory traces, not art.”;

https://holtsmithsonfoundation.org/sun-tunnels https://ocula.com/artists/nancy-holt/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSS1tbaLfW8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6koPeWqrYho

2. Stone Enclosure: Rock Rings:

Nancy Holt, Stone Enclosure: Rock Rings, 1977-78.

> 10ft x 2ft (H x W), inner wall - 20ft (D) - outer wall 40ft (D) > 14k hours to erect > Looking out through potholes = tunnelling effect > Looking in = telescopes out/flattens depending on shifting sunlight > Gazing up at night you see the Polaris star and when the other star move through the night sky the galactic clock mechanism can be recorded a.k.a space-time > Material used - local metamorphic rocks quarried 65miles from site and dating back to the Triassic period > Iron sulphide presence in rocks used will quicken the decomposition of work rapidly (ephemeral) > Work was born out of a need to look at the night sky

Nancy Holt, Stone Enclosure: Rock Rings, 1978. > Entrances and exits located on a true North axis calculated from North Star Polaris (used for navigation purposes);

https://www.moma.org/collection/works/117286 https://holtsmithsonfoundation.org/doubling-down-nancy-holts-stone-enclosure-rock-rings

3. Up and Under:

Nancy Holt, Up and Under, 1987-98, Pinsiö, Finland.

> Sand, concrete, topsoil, grass, water > Mound: height ranges from 11 to 26 ft. (3.5 to 8 m), with a length of 630 ft. (192 m); Tunnels: length 241 ft. (74 m), with a diameter of 10 ft. (3 m) > 1 vertical tunnel & 7 horizontal tunnels align with the North Star Polaris > Surrounding tunnels is 3 reflective pools of water > Earth underfoot is collected from across Finland;

https://holtsmithsonfoundation.org/and-under

4. LOCATOR P.S.1:

Nancy Holt, Locator P.S.1, 1971, The Institute for Art and Urban Resources.

> Steel pipe, black paintOverall dimensions variable > Locator Height: 60 in. (152 cm); Width: 12 in. (31 cm) > Indicate the concept of constructing a new experience of the environment the viewer by framing a particular view changing the perspective they once had of the view -> the distorted circle becoming whole;

https://holtsmithsonfoundation.org/locator-ps1

5. Stone Ruin Tour:

Nancy Holt, Stone Ruin Tour, 1967, Little Falls, Cedar Grove, New Jersey.

> 126 format black and white photographs and typewritten text > Incomplete, sparse, and seemingly vague instruction make up the text that directs the tour. > Viewers are new sightseers filling in the blanks of the instructions with imagination and creating individual experiences -> going beyond the boundaries of the museum and art institutes walls;

https://holtsmithsonfoundation.org/stone-ruin-tour-i

6. Sky Mounds:

Nancy Holt,

Sky Mound: Sun Viewing Area with Pond and Star Viewing Mounds, 1985. Nancy Holt, Sky Mound: Moon Viewing Area, 1985. Nancy Holt, Original Site Plan for Sky Mound,1986. Graphite on paper and colour pencil on blueprint. I-A Landfill, Hackensack Meadowlands, New Jersey, USA

> Overall: 57 acres (23.1 ha); Height: 110 ft. (33.5 m) > Designed for site reclamation that would serve to mitigate environment damage and make a sculptural observatory > Design was never fully realised - only the pond at the site was finished -> but the drawings and plans look amazing > Gravel paths were designed to follow the solstices, while a large granite sphere surrounded by a moat would represent the moon. -> her fascination with our solar system and night sky has been a repeated theme yet she has brilliant ideas that she executes differently with each project.

https://holtsmithsonfoundation.org/sky-mound

Some of her concrete poem works:

Concrete Poetry: (n) poetry in which the meaning or effect is conveyed partly or wholly by visual means, using patterns of words or letters and other typographical devices.

1. 10 Billion Barrels of Crude Oil:

Nancy Holt, 10 Billion Barrels of Crude Oil, 1986. Ink on paper. 14 x 8 1/2 in. (35.6 x 21.6 cm).

> This wasn’t the kind of work she had been expected to when the Visual Arts Centre of Alaska invited her -> she chose to bring into focus the impacts of crude oil extraction on the beautiful landscape - an uncomfortable topic rather than simply focussing on the beauty of the landscape > Map-like -> makes the viewer more aware of how much our human actions both directly and indirectly impact the environment - that being our immediate environment or another part of our planet;

https://holtsmithsonfoundation.org/10-billion-barrels-crude-oil 2. Hometown:

Nancy Holt, Hometown, 1969. Ink on paper. 11 x 8 1/2 in. (27.9 x 21.6 cm).

> Key concept of the intersection between language and place > Map-like - mirrors physical location using names of places on paper -> mapped out places she lived and/or moved to;

https://holtsmithsonfoundation.org/hometown

3. Making Waves:

Nancy Holt, Making Waves, 1972. Ink on paper. 8 1/2 x 11 in. (21.6 x 27.9 cm).

> Charts 3 different ‘selves’ in her day from 4am-10pm -> feminist -> artist -> mystic > Characteristic method of thinking in systems that makes the invisible tangible;

https://holtsmithsonfoundation.org/making-waves

4. The World Through A Circle:

Nancy Holt, The World Through A Circle ca. 1970. Typewriter ink on paper. 11 x 8 1/2 in. (27.9 x 21.6 cm).

> Sun, moon, water, sky, earth, star > Alludes to the cosmos - something that comes up in a lot of her works mentioned above > Fits her most influential concepts within the confines of a circle -> again the use of the circle.

https://holtsmithsonfoundation.org/world-through-circle

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Abstract

One Place After Another by Miwon Kwon

In chapters one and two Kwon discusses and explains site-specificity and the development of it. Though she writes using chronological order to list the developments of site-specificity she claims that it did not develop this way nor was it linear. Kwon begins by discussing how initially site-specific works were made especially for a particular location and to remove it from this site was to destroy it. The site here, is considered to have an identity unique to itself and to remove the work from that particular location was considered destroying it because the relationship between the work and the site is paramount. To illustrate this Kwon uses the artist Richard Serra and his work Arcwhich has not come out of storage since being removed from its site as the artist implies it cannot be installed elsewhere as it is now destroyed without the site it was made for. The writer goes on to discuss how site-specificity was a critique of institutional parameters, for instance, it challenged the problematic way in which art institutions have created a space that impacts the way art is created, consciously or not, presented and received by society. Stating that it also challenged the notions of public and private space and claims that art shifted from being a noun or object to a verb or process which engaged the viewer in thinking about the conditions of their viewing. Aesthetic and traditional approaches to practice was not the concern of site-specificity but rather the main concern was issues of the everyday that were more universally understood. It did not mean that institutions, not just art institutes, and parameters of a place become irrelevant to site-specificity but that such parameters did not have to be followed. Kwon states that though this literal approach redefined the way art is presented to the world by changing the spaces art is encountered in it has been criticized as problematic in that it was very limited in adaptability, such a critique led to it becoming mobile again. Here while being moved from one place to another the site becomes the mode of transport it is carried in forming a mapping system that links different sites. Kwon uses On Tropical Natureby Mark Dion as an example of a mobile site-specific work where the artist transported specimens from the initial site to the installation site of the work with the transportation site being the link. Kwon points out that from here site-specificity became more expanded in definition to include social issues and universally faced crisis. This is where the site was no longer used for only physical locations. To illustrate this Kwon used the artists Tom Burr and John Lindell whose works were presented in their most dematerialized forms. Kwon builds on this in chapter two discussing how the development of works went from placing itself in physical context to more social contexts.

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Notes From Critique

Initial Responses

sense of disorientation between photographs and video

sense of a journey

read of ancestors > images > displacement > not belonging to one place

respond more to video and passageway

on knees on concrete > reference pain

questioned the kneel

act of kneeling down referencing penance > Christianity

strain from the kneeling > references not minding the pain to allow other Pacifica students to have the same opportunity

problem with split screen > takes away from the performance

Tulo > means something different in Tongan > used to welcome

feels like you have to explain everything all the time > you don’t 

space is problematic > the bridge > ancestors here > something that is not connecting in the two words

Pacifica wear is problematic > because you don’t come from all these places > real New Zealand view

smile at the end of film takes away from the journey and the emotive performance you’re showing others

read the head piece as cook island

head pieces are different in different Pacifica cultures

smiling at the end of film is a different work > doesn’t relate to the journey of the work > intention?

volume > intentionally low to draw viewer in but was too low > wanted to know what the sound was > if there was a sound? > audience has to go so close to it > too quiet to be engaging

even though the live perfomance didn’t go ahead documentation and framing of intentions are very important considerations

images feels disjointed

questioned

reads better without the last image (to the far right)

reads as a jouney

images could have been bigger to relate and engage viewer more > more immersive

feels like we’re coming on the journey with you

you are political > typical to be humble but trying to make a statement with your work > just do it > don’t be subtle > don’t be afraid to confront these things

work is too polite

find a way to harness feeling from the performance in the work

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Documentation

Monitor installation for Turo’ Turo’ Turo’.

Installation shot of Turo’ Turo’ Turo’.

Close up detail of installation for Turo’ Turo’ Turo’.

Installation shot of Pave the Way.

Installation shot of Pave the Way.

Close up detail of installation for Pave the Way.

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Conceptual drawings

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Site specific works & artists

site-specificity was initially about works being purely a physical response to the location or space - the bond between the work and the site was key and if broken, by moving the work, the work is destroyed.

Josheph Beuys, I Like America and America Likes Me, 1974.

it was. a one-time experience. not meant to be repeated elsewhere

anti-capitalist aproach as it is not transportable

but the idea is transportable

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIU0Sx6ijhE

use this concept in my work!

Kazu Nakagawa, Showcase, 2008-09.

a shift in framing that changes the way the works are recieved

something to think about in the framing of my works

Andrea Zittel, High desert test sites:

try to be immersed in the site to better understand it

http://zittel.org/work/high-desert-test-sites.html

Firelei Báez, The Modern Window, 2018.

from the context of key figures from Haitian history who have been forgotten

think about context and how I can represent it in my execution of the works

Neil Dawson, Moon Illusion, 1985.

he uses principles of perspective to create these works of illusion which draws our attention to how we perceive spaces

what do I want to draw attention to? - the representation of Pacifica students at SoFA

how can I execute this in a way that draws attention to the concepts I wish to convey?

Matt Pine, Line Circle, commissioned 2016.

use of minimalist ideals to emphasise the space around the work

consider ways to present the works that does not take away from the space itself or over power it in a way that it misses the point of site specificity

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Site Specificity:

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Development of concepts

“the performance will not be of the ‘duck walk’ used in Tahitian and Hawaiian dances because it does not cover all Pacifica cultures instead li fu ag ak (walk on your knees) will be the performance”

Concept Board:

Prop Pieces to use:

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Plan of action

find out how many Pacifica students were there over the last 10-25 year from SoFA

decide on props to use for performance and photographic series

research these props

design and make a dress for the performance and photo shoot

find a photographer to shoot the performance and the photographic series

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Class discussions and development of work

The observation of white walls and white spaces - can this be linked to cultural difference? Another observation that can be made is that there are no Pacifica students apart from myself in these spaces.

Angela Tiatia - performance artist

http://www.angelatiatia.com/work#9 

performance work on the historical ties between Samoa and China

“investigate the representation of Pacifica students at Ilam and maybe think about a performance that represents this.”

“maybe the part of tahitian dance where they sort of duck walk in their dances.. to mimic the struggle of being here alone?”

Tautai pacific trust

https://tautai.org/about/

Nina - artist in residence

Cook Islander - went through Ilam