Video observation:
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Absence and Presence
"Wherever I am, I am what is missing" - Mark Strand "You know that its happening when you're no longer bored by the absence of the spectacular" - Robert Hughes "Fundamental equation of our lives is absence and presence" - Maria Relka absence · [ab-suh ns] noun 1. state of being away or not being present 2. period of being away 3. failure to attend or appear when expected. 4. lack; deficiency 5. inattentiveness; preoccupation Is it really a deficiency or a lack of something? The space which is absent is sometimes as full or even more occupied than what is actually present. Whatever is not there at that moment is absent, but it still holds the memories, emotions, history, motion, and presence of the past. We can't see it physically, but we can sense it sometimes even more so than what is actually present. presence · [prez-uh ns] noun 1.the state or fact of being present, as with others or in a place. 2.attendance or company 3.immediate vicinity; proximity 4.the military or economic power of a country as reflected abroad by the stationing of its troops, sale of its goods, etc. 5.Chiefly British. the immediate personal vicinity of a great person age giving audience or reception 6.the ability to project a sense of ease, poise, or self-assurance,especially the quality or manner of a person's bearing before an audience 7.personal appearance or bearing, especially of a dignified or imposing kind For our second destruction/construction/rearranging of the room, we took our organized chaos and transformed it into a strict and linear space with chairs in rows, color organized, and everything in its place. The room became the “art court” with tables stacked together and the stairs leading up to the “court panel”. It completely transformed the room – did not even feel like the same space, really – which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing…just different. It became what it was missing, filled in the “missing” spaces that were previously filled with chairs, tables, and other objects. The room will never be the same at any given time. A chair will shift, the air will circulate differently, people will walk in and out, leaving dirt, footprints, their scent behind. Each second it is changing, even the air itself is different. If we hadn’t changed the room at all, the space would have still been transformed. When we completely destroyed/rearranged/altered/transformed the classroom space today, the entire emotion and flow of the room was changed. The room before was stuffy; chairs which were continuously in the same place – a traditional circle where we would all sit for class. The windows were covered with incredibly dusty and suffocating covers, which not only muted the room, filtering the source of light coming in, but also simultaneously added to the coldness of the room.
The first step we took in changing the room was to throw all the chairs in a pile – chaotically and haphazardly placed – they looked like they could fall at any moment but also were beautiful in the sense that each had a spot that not only allowed it to maintain its stability but supported the structure as a whole and all the other chairs that were a part of it. We also attacked the walls with blue painter’s tape. Stars, horizontal lines, body outlines, urinals, and words were created on the walls and floor which helped merge the separation between the two. Tables were also shifted and chairs taped to the top. There was a sense of chaos and destruction, yet also of creation and beauty. Everything was placed with a purpose rather than just being thrown into a convenient place or what was considered a “normal” configuration for the room. Even the air space was utilized with a bucket hung from a string. All elements served to unify the space into one cohesive plane rather than a fragmented three dimensional space. The space we live in affects us all differently – whether our mood, our inspiration, whatever. Examples of space: Feng shui || “balancing the energies of space”
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December 2014
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