A Series Of Obsessions (Part 4)

'Doors I Have Not Walked Through'

A Series Of Obsessions (Part 3)

'The Healing Process'

Helena Almeida

After our study of Bruce Nauman I am reminded to include a post about Portuguese artist Helena Almeida who is often seen to play with the notion of the 'shifting ground' in her visual art. Although she primarily works with photography and mixed media she has a recurring motif of herself as a 'falling' model. It is debatable whether she is purposefully working alongside the ground or struggling against the pull of an exterior gravity. Either way, both Almeida and Nauman experiment with this gravitational pull, one that is not necessarily vertical. 

'An Experiment of Falling' 

(On participants found in the International Building of Royal Holloway University of London)

Inspired by the work of Bruce Nauman & Samuel Beckett

A Series of Obsessions (Part 2)

 

Travelling Feet

A Series of Obsessions (Part 1)

"I've Started Taking Pictures Of The Sky..."

Part of wider project: 'A Series of Obsessions'. All entries are to follow a similar visual format.

WRIGHTS & SITES
A useful company that work in the realm of site-specific theatre:
http://www.mis-guide.com/

GEORGES PEREC
An excerpt from 'Species of Spaces and Other Pieces' with reference to 'The Street'.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNpVpDp_Grc

I have become increasingly interested in the idea of the 'stroller' as a stalker of the city.
Often when working on site-specific projects you must first familiarise (and sometimes de-familiarise) yourself with the surroundings in order to approach them in new ways. Often it is useful to start small and work your way up. Georges Perec notes how we can start with the bedroom, to the house, to the street, to the neighbourhood, to the city and so on.

This week, as in the post below, I have transcribed the background audio conversation from a video I had from my time in New York this year. The visual part of the video is a shot looking out of a hotel window on the city at night, the unconscious narrators are unaware that their conversation is being recorded. The dialogue is quite faint, as they are situated in a separate part of the hotel room. The conversation is not deliberate or constructed. It is simply transcribed in part.

NY CONVERSATION

ARCHIVED VIDEO TRANSCRIPTION. NEW YORK CONVERSATION 2012

SARAH

Don’t really (.) look up

LINDA

(.h) Mmm

SARAH

The full height. (.) So you don’t get the (.) um.

[A phone beeps]

SARAH

Impression of it (.) quite like (2)

LARRY 

(.h) You’re in (.) you’re in canyons all the time (.) /

SARAH

       /Yeah

LINDA

       /Mmm

LARRY

/you know (.) in these (1) tall things (.h)

[4]

LINDA

But it’s always good (.h) to look up I mean ev- (.h) (.) even in Cambridge if/

SARAH

       /Yes it is (.) you see things (.)

      

LINDA

       /if you look up you see lots

SARAH

       /yeah

LINDA

/of good things (.) on the (1) sort of (.) especially on the (.)

SARAH

/yeah you do (1) nice

LINDA

you know in Cambridge on the (.) on the old buildings you see all the (.) extra little bits

SARAH 

       You do.

[2]

LINDA

       (.h) Yeah (.) D- (.h) Ummm (1) I (.) I emailed Dave

[Video is cut]

(Video footage to be uploaded of 'A Pint' version 1)

'Paranoia' 

Handwritten text on a saucer. 

Video: '14.46'

'14.46' 

(Multimedia video compilation)

Burr Tillstrom's "Berlin Wall"

This is the relevant hand ballet video I mentioned in class in response to Laurie Anderson's use of gesture in 'O Superman'.