Spring Visiting Artist #06->Trevor Paglan

When talking about visualizing the invisible Trevor Paglan began to compare the act of trying to see the secret operations of our government to trying to see where black holes are by looking at the structure of a galaxy. A method he said “made possibly by the contradiction of the invisible… the landscapes produced must be created with the same stuff as everything else”, and therefore is visible can be seen through its absence or its affect on it surroundings. This statement reflects his multi disciplinary approach to this study of the invisible aspect of the government. I found this interesting and refreshing because as you study an issue from many perspectives you become more informed and can express your concept in ways that many people can appreciate as well as being a source of new ways to visualize the same thing.

            The most important element is Paglan’s work is his quest to visually represent or capture the things that reveal the invisible. This seems to be the intention that connects his work, both literary and artistic as well as the massive amount of research behind them. Artistically this urge can be seen in his electromagnetic images of the landscape where non-existent bases and building are located there often capturing the energy put off by these headquarters of the logistics behind these secret operations as he cannot get close enough to take a standard photograph. It can also be seen in his meticulous collection, study, and documentation of military patches and insignias of all kinds from the secret units who are involved with classified projects… decoding the words, symbols, and traditions of the secret societies. Lastly in his vast landscapes of the stars he states he is capturing “the whole secret landscape in space” as he tracks the paths of satellites across the sky. I can’t even comprehend the amount of concrete research and footwork he has done to back this work and in the name of trying to find visible physical evidence of the acts, group, and people involved in this unseen world of government and military action.

            I learned a lot from this lecture but it was nothing general it was the details revealed in his research and practice that I had not thought about. I have long known there is military and political activity that is not released to public. I also knew there is a mass of beauracracy and logistics involved in backing all actions of these institutions as my family has multiple generations involved in the military. I just had never realized that the tracking of these supportive systems and structures necessary for these classifies operations as a ways to make an image or visual representation of something that is otherwise purposely illusive. It is all the details and connections revealed in his research to create these images and videos, and support his concept that I was unaware of. In addition his innovative way of capturing these bases and action reveal a lot about the nature of these operations I never thought of.

            The body of work that became compelling to me after I heard him speak about it was his documentation of the patches, rings, and other insignias of these groups who participate in these covert operations. When I first saw them, I didn’t appreciate them. I saw them simply as photographs of things I am familiar with, military symbols and jargon. After he spoke I realized he was preserving and studying them with the intensity of an anthropologist or scientist seeing these objects as precious items that reveal some new truth or discovery making them all the more important. They became the proof and visual result of his intention of showing the concept that the invisible cannot be completely untraceable… that there will be some trace of it that will be able to be seen because both the visible and what is intentionally made invisible in this case are made of the same materials as everything else and needs the same supportive structures around it. 

Spring Visiting Artist #05->Karina Aguilera Skvinsrky

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Spring Visiting Artist #04-> Laurel Nakadate

The phrase that Laurel Nakadate used the most in her lecture was citing her interest in the ridiculous and futile. This interest can be seen in most of her work. Her performances often seem to have no set statement or intention behind them. She seems to simply go out to interact with people in different ways fueled by her need to interact with people and meet strangers or acts out pointless or absurd situations and rituals pushed by her urge to commit to the ridiculous. Her films have scenes planned out and have a loose backgrounds like that of the story of six quietly depressed teenage girls and their lonely lives that play out, but the actors are untrained, the setting depended on these actors, and the plot though somewhat planned was an organic process informed by the participation of actors.

            An important element and practice of Nakadate is her inclusion of ritual, whether it’s an intentional creation of the ritual, or her performance becoming a ritual in the end. She creates rituals with others asking to interact with her at times in varying forms of ritual from the mainstream birthday cakes and etiquette of the treatment of a dead body to one’s she made us just for the performance, like in Celebrations where at one point she asks stranger to try and help her raise a bird from the dead calling them the quiet strange rituals we don’t even think about. At other times she commits herself to perform seemingly senseless rituals for set periods of time. For twenty-four hours, in her performance of dancing all day and night at her childhood home honoring what happened there calling it ridiculous but necessary. For days at a time, traveling across the country in Where You’ll Find Me where she reenacts crime scene photographs in a macabre memorial finding empathy for the embarrassment of being found. In Love Hotel, she takes the vacation she was supposed to have with her estranged boyfriend and performs the act and ritual of making love to a ghost or memory in the end turning her performance into a therapeutic exercise acting out something we all do just in our minds not in reality. Finally in relation her yearlong performance of crying everyday of 2010, she spoke of really committing herself to something that has no point finding out even with no purpose the ritualistic act became an important part of her life.

As I learned about her work, I found that there is a purpose and therefore intention behind her work even if it’s the dedication to the irrational. I find this speaks to ritual on a large scale. Rituals only have meaning to those who participate and understand the meaning behind the actions. Some people may go through the motions of a ritual but until they understand the meaning behind their action they are not going to comprehend the meaning behind the ritual. An outsider may find a ritual from another culture or religion is pointless or even wrong but to those involved it is a continuation of heritage or praising the divine. In reference to the rituals around death Thomas Lynch stated, “You only have to blur your eyes to see absurdity of what we do for the dead”. The everyday ritual is the most apparent ritual with no purpose other than to soothe ourselves.

            The most compelling body of work was her series she created when she documented the performance of crying everyday of 2010. It began simply with a real commitment to ritual of deliberating participating in sadness, which on a basic level has no purpose. Her documents began to evolve from perverse facebook photographs then became more about the individual nature of each act. At the end she began to feel alone because this private act of crying had become a ritual that kept her company… made her feel less alone. This is in a sense what we all do… participating in our personal and sanctioned rituals to keep ourselves grounded… soothing ourselves with our own quiet strange rituals as Nakadate said.

Spring Visiting Artist #03-> Kathleen Hawke

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Spring Visiting Artist #02-> Katherine Kapikian

There were two of Kapikian’s quotes that drew my attention in particular. She introduced the seminar by talking about he churches that she had seen that had collapsed and turned into something new like a karate studio or homes. She also talked about how churches had been revamping their structure into all-purpose spaces at one point quoting a loan officer stating, “If it doesn’t work it’ll be a great gym.” This is a phenomenon that I have seen myself as I travel across the South. Churches are being bought and re appropriated or traditional churches are giving way to the creation of a religious multi purpose space or joining other organization to use one space. She uses this discussion to introduce the concept that church attendance is down possibly because the church is unable to adapt to the modernist world.  One way that the church can respond and move forward by inviting artists back into the church, and allow for individual creativity or aesthetics as not to limit them. This lead to her reminding the church to welcome artists back with the proverb, “Be kind to strangers. Some have entertained angels unknown.” Another quote the interested me was when she stated that the presence of grace is experienced when watching an artist push material past material nature. Kapikian seems to be implying that when art moves past simple materiality the creation becomes a spiritual process. That creative practice and religious ritual are not as separate as they have been viewed.

A practice that is unique to Kapikian’s work is that it is at times community created in that she unites the members of the community to create the piece even if she is coordinating it what she calls participatory aesthetics. She states, “The congregation also discovers a deep correspondence between creative processing and spiritual formation. In every instance of this kind of work, in particular large scale and complex works, congregational life is not only enhanced but also grows in numbers.” At times she works on her own, at others using work completely made by others, but she places them within the space, such as a placement of children’s drawing on a pulpit and made into banners behind it. Throughout her work, especially her community based work, she brings up all sorts of questions. What is the nature of church art and who should be responsible for the art that inspires devotion? Is it better to have members create their own art as a spiritual practice? What is the new iconography of the church? Are icons or symbols still necessary? Why not put contemporary artists in the church like Chuck Close or Wilhelm De Kooning those instill awe even if they are secular (both she cited in fact De Kooning had in fact already created a triptych for a chapel)?

At first I was under the impression that Kapikian was a strictly a Christian artist as most of her work is found in churches and the fact she is the founded of Henry Luce III Center for Art and Religion at Wesley Theological Society in D.C. I was surprised to hear that she works with any community, at one point creating a Hoopa featuring the Psalm of Songs around the top for a local synagogue, and has created many pieces of work for sites that are used by multiple faiths, such as sanctuaries in airports, retirement home, hospitals, etc.

I grew to appreciate these multifaceted spaces she works with. On a basic level, it is already a difficult task to create a piece that can initiate awe and serenity for a range of people in addition to the fact many of these places are meant to encompass many activities that a secular in nature. These places are also often places where people are faced with unknown outcomes or are in constant motion changing continuously making it harder but all the more important to create a space that can be a refuge or at least instill peace during trying times.  I appreciate the necessity of this form of art now.

Spring Visiting Artist #01-> Kathy Rose

In actuality the most interesting quote from the Cathy Rose lecture was when she spoke about her teaching practices and grants. “ Grants are good to force articulation” she then spoke about how she asks her students to write research papers on themselves instead of other artists. I have recently found that writing formally about my work is a pivotal tool, and since have put more emphasis on the creation of an artist statement. I often have several drafts that coincide with the many changes as my concepts changes. I find that writing about your own work creates a conversation with yourself about what you are doing while researching others creates a discussion between their work and your work, it creates a different feedback loop.

            The most important element in Rose’s work is movement. It is present in many layers in all of her work from her own body, setting, facial expression, etc. It is the interaction of the movement in each of these elements that creates the dynamic spiritual space. In video, the backgrounds movement range from static black to ink swirling to full on psychadelic worlds that spill into the real world. Arms, that are often detached, are a constant slithering or rapidly jumping like rabbits at times becoming an abstract background of flowing underwater plants. She composes heads snapping to attention or bobble on a nonexistent axis as they are either detached or superimposed against the figure, at time having lives of their own. The amount of movement increases as Rose progressed through her many performances. In the beginning it was simply comprised of one projection of animation and her body interacting in front of the canvas if her body was not the canvas itself.  The backdrops became more predominant over time often obscuring her, but still it was only one layer of projection and veil. Eventually her movements become limited, and multiple veils with complex projections take over. The multiple veils create different depth even though it is the same image creating a feeling of layers. She places herself between these layers holding an illuminated mask.

            I did not previously know about the influence of Butoh on her work. As I watched her work, I found it obvious she had been influenced by Southern or Eastern Asian dance, but couldn’t place it. She spoke of how it influenced her dance, especially her emphasis on the movement of her head and hands. She follows the Butoh characteristic of super slow moments that accentuates what emotion or issue its projecting as well as the awkward often grotesque positions and stances that make the dancer often look broken and pained like those of the possessed. The use of extreme facial expressions also follows principle of Butoh.

No one work stood out in particular, but her performance held more meaning than the videos. Performance seems to be where she started and the inspiration for a lot of her other work. Her videos have the feel of being an afterthought. Though she is able to create her own world, she takes this power too far, and she loses what originally caught my eye, which was her physical presence and dynamic of her moving body interacting with the movement of the installation.