PROPOSAL
Self-Regard will give participants an opportunity to "curate" their own self-portrait in the galleries of the Walker, by volunteering to wear a small camera for a short gallery visit.
After being fitted with the camera, participants will be invited to wander wherever they like within the permitted galleries, choosing which works of art to look at. The camera will record a medium close-up of their face, continuously and unobtrusively, so within a few minutes their self-consciousness about being recorded will likely fade.
They will be instructed to spend time with the art that speaks to them the most, and at the end of their 20-30 minute visit, the footage will be edited so that only the moments in which they were physically standing still will be retained.
The result will be a unique and intimate glimpse of the participant, "alone" in the galleries, in the quiet moments of contemplating art - moments that all museum-goers have (hopefully) experienced at one time or another, but that have been thus far impossible to capture or share.
They will be asked for their name and an email address, and once the footage is compiled, their self-portrait will be made available to them as a quicktime movie. Additionally I would like to discuss the possibility of showing the portraits as an installation loop, on some of the many large LCD screens mounted in the lobbies. If possible, this public showing will complete the participatory experience, allowing participants to engage with the museum as curators, artists, and subjects of art on the walls, all at once.
PROCESS
The self-recording apparatus has already been constructed, and test footage can be seen here: http://vimeo.com/53715859. So, practically speaking, all that remains is to set the parameters of the project, the where and when, with the Walker staff, and to extend the invitation to participate at the specified dates and times.
I would love to have a broad range of participants, and would include museum staff, personal friends, and the general public in the invitation. I would set up a table in the lobby with appropriate signage, and schedule appointments with volunteer participants during the allotted times. Space would also be left in the schedule for "walk-up" volunteers. I think the ideal scheduling for this project would be during low-traffic times at the museum - but of course I'm open to museum preference on scheduling.
Post-production on the project would be relatively straightforward, and once the video loop has been constructed and formatted, I would need to be in contact with technical staff at the Walker about display on the lobby screens.
hmm... if this link doesn't work for you, feel free to go here:
... control-click on the file, select "Save Link As," let it download to your desktop...
Sorry for the many steps - the internet may be confused by the exotic video dimensions...
]]>A GUIDE TO THE CORNERS
This will be a 4-part set of guides to corners. These will each include a small photograph of the corner, along with text that invites the viewer to participate in a verbal deconstruction of the space. These will include:
1. Musings on a local apparatus of utility, such as a smoke detector or hygrometer
2. A description of shadows cast in the corner, as if they were intentional and well-considered
3. A chatty description about how a forgotten corner might be activated.
4. A guide to things the viewer can see in their peripheral vision while facing the corner.
A WALKING TOUR OF THE CEILING
This will be a self-guided tour of one of the gallery ceilings. Visitors will be invited to lie on the floor in the far corner of the carpeted gallery in the Midnight Party exhibition. When they lie on their backs with their legs up in the air, they will be able to pretend to ramble over the ceiling surface. This tour will begin with a brief reference to the fly Rene Descartes watched move across his ceiling when he invented the coordinate system. Objects and obstacles on this ceiling will be plotted by rough coordinates.
If there is time to do this properly, I will also make a star chart of the Skyline Room ceiling. The Skyline Room on the 5th floor of the addition is made of triangular facets that are studded with small inset lights. This would be a map that gathers ceiling lights into constellations that refer to figures in art history who are represented by the Walker's permanent collection. There's only a small chance I will include this piece in my project.
How it relates to the Walker site
These guides will directly relate to the physical structure of the museum.
Why I'm doing this project
I tend to notice things I'm expected to overlook. This project is an invitation for visitors to share in my explorations of the museum's not-so-hidden surfaces, expanding the areas we normally see. I have always noticed what I'm not expected to see. My photographs have addressed marginal landscapes, tiny signs of disruption and disorder in careful landscapes, and sloppy historical references. I see these Walker guides as continuing this focus. The "prizes" will also use my skills in book making and design.
FORMAT
The tools and tactics I'll employ
I will use simple images and text.
Intended form
Corner Guides: These will be small printed sheets that include a photograph of the corner along with text that addresses an aspect of that specific corner. These will be small signs that function as interpretive labels. These labels will resemble the signs that offer instructions for the use of the wheelchair elevators within the galleries.
Ceiling Guide: This will be a printed sheet that has the instructions for the ceiling tour.
ENGAGEMENT AND DISTRIBUTION
Why this might interest someone
Corner Guides: These are meant to function more as rewards for people who notice the labels. Those people may have already walked up to similarly innocuous looking labels only to discover they were lists of donors or other kinds of unsexy institutional information. These guides will reward their attention but will not solicit it.
Ceiling Tour: This is an opportunity to "move" through a space in a completely new way. When the visitor is on her back, she might be surprised at how the ceiling can offer a new, challenging terrain from which to navigate the gallery space. I chose this particular gallery because it's small and carpeted, but also because it has the Man Ray video up high on the wall near the upside-down Marlo Pascual's photograph that I adore.
Why someone might be curious about it
Corner Guides: If the signs catch their eye, they might wonder if they are real.
Ceiling Tour: If a person never did this as a child, they might wonder what it looks and feels like to stretch your feet out toward the ceiling and pretend to walk on it.
How I will extend an invitation
Corner guides: Is it bad of me to hope not many people notice these? Most people never even notice little institutional details placed around the periphery of a gallery space. I want these corner guides to function as little treats for people who, like me, do notice.
Ceiling Tour: These instructions will be on the floor in the corner. There will be a little sign saying something like "Lie down with me" or "A Walking Tour of the Ceiling" so people might be curious.
How visitors will engage with the project
Corner Guides: These will be simple labels that offer instruction for thinking about a neglected corner in a new way. The visitor only needs to read the text and notice the shapes in the corner. Each of the 4 labels will end with a simple notice that there is a little gift for them at the visitor desk in the Bazinet area. These prizes will be a small number of 3-D pieces that model the corners. When these models have all been distributed, a piece of candy will be offered to any remaining visitors who enquire.
Ceiling Tour:
The visitor will pick up the instruction sheet and lie down on the floor in the corner to begin the tour. There will only be 2 laminated or dry-mounted instruction sheets to limit the number of people on the floor.
Plan B
I don't have a Plan B for the corner guides, but I will lie down and walk through the ceiling tour myself if it looks like no one is brave enough, or if they haven't noticed the guided tours on the floor.
The final project will consist of two parts.
The first part of the project will be based on three works currently showing at The Walker. The project will be based on the work Lutz Bacher, In Memory of my feelings, the Felix Gonzales Torres, Untitled and the Andrea Bowers, Letters. Small drawers will be placed somewhere delicately near the entrance by the Walker cafeteria. The drawers will contain photographs and confessions written by me. There will be text on the wall telling the public about the project and what it is expected from them. The viewer would be allowed to take the photographs, and confessions with them. The confessions will be based on works of art at The Walker, and from my own life experiences. The confessions will be intertwined with fact and fiction. The viewer will be asked to do the essentially the same. Next to the drawers, there will be a box where people can deposit their own confessions and memories mixed with any level of fiction and truth as they wish. Paper will provided where the viewer can either check "I confess...." or "I remember..." and they will fill out the rest and deposit the paper on the box. I am not sure how many people will fill these outs, but I'm hoping that my own sharing will provoke the same. I want them to take those memories and confessions from me, but I would similarly like to do the same for them.
The second part will be the "Will you dance with me?" project.
I will place myself at the entrance of the museum holding a sign that says the above. This will be done on a Thursday night in a heavy traffic day. The only plan would be to dance with no music. I will follow the lead of the person who asked me to dance. This will create a more in person, tactile experience for both the viewer and myself. Dancing is a social activity you usually do in public. The dancing with strangers is not a new thing at all, if you frequent any club. I am interested to see who asks me to dance, what kind of dancing will they choose, how long will they dance with me, and how the context of the museum affects their choices.
Together, the projects will be about intimacy, vulnerability, and bravery. These concepts relate to the work I already make.
Research:
I have spent hours looking at the work at The Walker, and trying to figure how my work could best fit the space. I have used works of art currently showing The Walker to inspire my project ideas. I am looking for work online that is confessional, also performance art that includes dancing. I am also looking for artists that have done similar projects.
How does this project address the goals of the final assignment?
The final assignment consists of doing a project using the context of The Walker. The project needs to be conceptualized around the experience of the visitors; along with combining my own practice and concepts. I believe both projects address those expectations. By using the works of art as inspiration for the project, and by using The Walker as a space for the performance and Its visitors; this uses the context of The Walker. The ideas of intimacy, vulnerability and bravery are heavily correlated to the work I already make. These same concepts are being used in this final project, thus combining my own practice and concepts to the final project.
How does this project relate to the Walker?
The project relates to The Walker in the sense that not only was the project inspired by work currently showing at The Walker, but I am using the space and the visitors that come to the museum to realize this project. I am creating a work that I feel will be of interest to the audience of The Walker. The dancing project will hopefully invite people of all ages to participate.
Plan/ Personal Time line (How are you going to make this happen):
I'm going to do the dancing performance first.
This will happen next Thursday November, 29th.
The performance will be filmed and photographed.
The memories/ confession piece will happen December 6th.
During the next two weeks, I will print photographs, I will write the confessions based on the works at The Walker. I will gather materials, such as outfits for dance performance, drawers, box for viewer's collaborations of their confessions and memories. I will figure out a finalized location for the drawers.
Intended Audience:
The intended audience for the dancing performance is everybody. I think the participation is an open ended invitation to whoever comes through The Walker's doors. I think the most people see other people dancing, the more they will be willing to participate on the performance.
The fabricated memories piece will probably invite more people to take the photographs, but I assume less people will be willing to share their own memories and confessions. I am hoping that by explaining the mixture of truth and fiction that is in memories, it will take the pressure and vulnerability that is to share something that might be too personal to share. I am hoping that intimacy provokes intimacy. I am hoping that by keeping their confessions a secret to the rest of public, it will ignite their participation.
]]>Divining the Extra-gallery Walker is an non-traditional exploration of the Walker. Visitors will be encouraged to wander the Walker's various public spaces and wonder outside of the galleries. Participants will be equipped with an Instrument of Divination and instructions with which they will explore the Walker's extra-gallery spaces. {see mission below}*****
Research (Please share some of the key research that is informing this project):
1. I have been evaluating the potential of the spaces available for divining (lobbies, lounges, rest/coatrooms, hallways, and corridors via maps, wandering, and conversation.
2. Various museum maps to galleries and spaces:
Smithsonian- http://www.mnh.si.edu/panoramas/
Louvre- http://www.louvre.fr/en/visites-en-ligne
MOMA- http://www.moma.org/interactives/destination/#
Toyota- http://www.toyota.co.jp/Museum/
Walker- http://newmedia.walkerart.org/aoc/index.wac
3. Divining resources:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Super-Cool-Dousing-Rods/
the official dowsers.org- http://www.dowsers.org/conferences/national-convention
4. e-flux "Do it" - I am thinking my instructions will be short like many in this book...see content section for my instruction ideas.
5. Krystal Krunch- how are they phrasing their projects? presenting them? facilitating them?
How does this project address the goals of the final assignment?
-Utilizes my artistic methodology
-Engages Walker and visitors
-reflexive for participants and viewers
-explores the space, content, context of the Walker
How does this project relate to the Walker?
People will be wandering/wondering about the space of the Walker thoughtfully/playfully exploring its extra-gallery space.
Context (Please illustrate the broader context of your project):
This project uses art objects as tools in conjunction with artist instructions to engage gallery viewers in an interactive exploration of the space within a museum outside of the galleries. Participants will be prompted to explore the space in search of an array of things, words, concepts, and emotions.
Plan/ Personal Timeline (How are you going to make this happen):
Week 11/18-24: Develop tools and supporting materials. Clarify logistical goals/possibilities
Week 11/25-12/1: Finish tools and supporting materials. Establish/verify logistics.
Week 12/2-12/8: Finishing touches/Carry out project/documentation.
Week 12/9-12/14: Finalize presentation of project.
Intended Audience:
Any willing WAC goers! Possibly...probably Thursday Nighters.
Content:
- What is your underlying concept?
The application of a non-traditional exploration of space within an art institution.
Participants will use the tools I made to seek.: (below are instructions for cards)
seek space
seek energy
seek meaning
seek searching
seek wonder
seek wander
seek conflict
seek wealth
seek emotion
seek space
seek curiosity
seek laughter
seek sadness
seek intellect
seek comfort
seek humor
seek wishes
seek fear
seek excitement
seek red
seek white
seek blue
seek yellow
seek gold
seek black
seek hope
seek love
seek desire
seek corners
seek questions
seek answers
seek transit
seek hate
seek peace
seek piece
seek peas
seek wall
seek floor
seek ceiling
seek this
seek that
seek there
seek here
seek up
seek down
seek north
seek south
seek west
seek east
seek under
seek over
seek ...
- How does it relate to the specific site of the Walker?
"The Walker Art Center is a catalyst for the creative expression of artists and the active engagement of audiences. Focusing on the visual, performing, and media arts of our time, the Walker takes a global, multidisciplinary, and diverse approach to the creation, presentation, interpretation, collection, and preservation of art. Walker programs examine the questions that shape and inspire us as individuals, cultures, and communities."
-Walker's Mission
"Divining the Extra-gallery Walker is a catalyst for the creative expression of artists/participants/viewers and the active engagement of the audience. Focusing on visual and performance elements, Divining the Extra-gallery Walker takes a multidisciplinary, and collective approach to explore the Walker's creation, presentation, interpretation, collection and preservation of the space which encompasses a contemporary art gallery. Divining the Extra-gallery Walker examines the questions that shape and inspire us as individuals, cultures, and communities."
- Divining the Extra-gallery Walker's Mission*****
- Why are you doing this project? (i.e., how does it speak to your practice and interests?)
I made, cast, forged, fabricated, and modeled art objects to be used for exploring an art museum. Art demands something from viewers and this piece is the most demanding piece I have yet to make. It is an extension and exploration into a more performative and engaging environment/context. I am building this concept because I have found myself in a mirror museum and have been offered this opportunity to explore a process unfamiliar to me. That can be exciting.
Format:
- what are the tools/tactics you'll employ?
Divining rods and pendulums.
Instruction cards.
pamphlets?
persuasion/begging/guilt tripping.
- In what form(s) will your project manifest?
Art objects on display
Art objects in conjunction with visitor performance
Cards with text (commands/instructions)
documentation-photography/video
Engagement and distribution:
- Why would someone walking into the Walker be 1) curious about your project, and 2) interested in participating/engaging with it? What will be your invitation?
want to play with art?
want to perform with art?
want to explore with art?
assuming they are in the Walker to explore contemporary art and space and energy. this is that.
- How do you anticipate visitors will engage with your project? Note--if your project is leaning towards relying on participation, think specifically about how you'll successfully solicit participation. What will be your Plan B if you don't solicit participation?
Option 1. Lovely Walker employees offer divination tool checkout at desk(could be before/after?) This will include instruction.
Option 2. Me offer checkout or guided tour - "Hi, I am with the International Center for Museum Divination. Would you like to take part in a non-traditional exploration of the extra-gallery space of the Walker? I will let you choose which Instrument of Divination you prefer and then provide you with instruction. *must be 42" or taller to ride." [This would be great if I did it on a Thursday]
Option 3. Free For All table with instructions, instruction cards, and Instruments of Divination
Option 99. Explain I am a desperate grad student in need of help...
- How will your project circulate, at the Walker and otherwise?
ICMD pamphlets
Facebook
Walker Website
Posters
Walker Employees
Word of mouth