PROJECT MINE
“Project Mine” aims to reinforce the existence and significance of private spaces within a public space, and stimulate awareness and curiosity within the intended audience. Through a series of prototypes in accordance with these objectives, I will study audience reactions.
When we were at the stage of exploring new domains for this assignment, I was fairly head
strong on creating within the realm of ‘Installation Art.’ Somehow, I thought this needed a
little extra something, and began to merge this idea with the dimension of ‘Performance Art.’
In support of this, I believe there is nothing better than being part of, or participating in your own art. Being a student of ‘Theatre arts and studies’ for six years, made me confident to fit myself in this piece. After conducting extensive research in titling our final projects, I was exposed to the field of ‘Conceptual Art’, which I saw as a vital part of this puzzle. To justify this conjunction between the two forms of art yet not ignoring their individuality and significance it is best described in, ‘Some relations between Conceptual and Performance Art,’ by Frazer Ward. “For further argument, Conceptual Art might be considered as work that emphasizes the underlying conditions of aesthetic experiences. Performance Art, on the other hand, seems relatively straight forward to define, ‘as a form of art that happens at a particular time in a particular place where the artist engages in some sort of activity, usually before an audience.” Blending these similar forms of art, naturally lead to an artistic production that also found its place in the expanse of ‘Public Art.’ I was happy to see this growing territory of where my piece would lie.
I soon found my project being part of this eclectic mix of domains I was exploring, which could pave the way for a novel creation. Considering I had employed various forms and concepts of art, it brought me to discovering the significance of the term ‘Intermedia.’ In the article, ‘Intermedia,’ by
Dick Higgins, he says, ‘Much of the best work being produced today seems to fall between media. This is no accident. With examples of the idea, that paintings are created with paint on canvas, and sculptures that are painted. ”
There is an incessant dispute about marrying different disciplines to create art, wherein the art piece/artist is sometimes considered confused. In defense of this argument, in the article, ‘Comments on Sculpture, Theatre and Art performance: notes on the convergence of arts,’ the writer Steve Durland says, “If we use his information to make the ‘expansionist’ artist aware that his/her work has precedents outside of a chosen discipline, we are furthering the purposes of creative research. If we use it to produce a greater understanding of expansionist work for the viewer we are furthering creative education.”
ARTIST STATEMENT
“As an artist you’re looking for universal triggers. You want it both ways. You want it to have an immediate impact, and you want it to have deep meanings as well. I’m striving for both. But I hate it when people write things that sound like they’ve swallowed a f***ing dictionary,” says Damien Hirst, in the article ‘Performance Art as Progressive Education’, by Jenny S. Spencer. The two elements I first look for in my work are the ones mentioned above. It might be hard to describe the artist in me in fancy words, but my work is the product of my passion in the field. I create with simplicity and for self-fulfillment, however there are reasons behind it. It is my personality, beliefs and originality that I throw light on in my work. I do not choose to term it overtly controversial, but I definitely strive to make a statement and a forceful one through the piece I create.
There were several issues in mind that lead me to such a study. They might be mixed I caliber but all boil down to the same idea of private/public statements.Through “Project Mine,” I want people to understand their rights over their individuality in society, and that everyone has a certain space they are entitled to. As the outlook on society is changing with progress in time and variations in culture, the line between what is private and what is public is being blurred.
I arrived in New York only four months ago. I come from a city called Dubai, which is prominently dominated by the religion, Islam. However, like New York, it is a cultural melting pot. For instance, comparing to the two cities/cultures what is considered private in Dubai is definitely not understood as private in New York, the simplest example being, kissing in public. This clash of cultures has sparked the dispute between what is public and what is private. Keeping in mind social norms and acceptances people are cautious of their behavior in public/society.
Most obviously, what brought me to address this theme in society is the fluctuating acceptance and respect of private space in a public area. There is an awkwardness that is usually created among strangers in society when it comes to intruding private spaces of each other, while sometimes this it is completely ignored. For example, when you might enter a cinema where only one or 2 people are sitting, you will never go and sit right next to them, for it might be queer. Employing the idea of surrealism and absurdity, I was eager to create my private space in a public area to see how people react.
CONCEPTS
Before launching the prototypes I wanted to test with, I looked into various segments I needed to research. Commencing with the questions I was seeking answers to,
• What defines Public spaces?
• What defines Private spaces?
• What are peoples reactions and preferences in both spaces?
• How to differentiate/draw the line between the 2 types of spaces?
• What is considered Controversial?
What are the reactions of the audience?
• What are the different ways I can build a private space in the most public areas?
As for my motivations, I wanted to be part of my art and be the prototype. Even though I was aiming to create a private space I hoped to establish an interactive experience through triangulation. Evoking curiosity in my audience was extremely important to me and, most obviously I wanted to clearly define public and private space.
Similarly but in concise form, my goals were, to reinforce the existence and significance of private spaces within a public space and,create awareness and increase curiosity within my audience.
In addition, there were many concepts I researched and was introduced to for the first time.
I then made a chart of all the keywords, jargons and concepts:
RELATED WORKS
I was surprised to discover that many artists had explored this realm of private versus public space.
Four out of twelve examples are illustrated below.
In ‘Seed bed.’ by Vito Acconci, Acconci lay hidden underneath a gallery-wide ramp installed at the Sonnabend Gallery, masturbating while vocalizing into a loudspeaker his fantasies about the visitors walking above him on the ramp. One motivation behind Seedbed was to involve the public in the work’s production by creating a situation of reciprocal interchange between artist and viewer.
‘My Bed,’ by Tracey Emin, generated considerable media furor, particularly over the fact that the bed sheets were stained with body secretions and the floor had items from the artist’s room (such as condoms, a pair of knickers with menstrual period stains, other detritus, and functional, everyday objects, including a pair of slippers. The bed was presented, as it had been when Emin had not got out of it from it for several days due to suicidal depression brought on by relationship difficulties. ‘My Bed’ has very quickly come to symbolize a certain kind of art, usually referred to as conceptual art, which is appreciated by much of the art world.
‘Soap:’ A Happening, by, Allan Kaprow is a performance, event or situation meant to be considered as art. Part of the Fluxus Movement where performances were usually brief and simple performances meant to blur the lines between performer and audience, performance and reality. The Happening is performed according to plan but without rehearsal, audience, or repetition. It is art but seems closer to life.
In storyboard form this is how it looks and was performed:
•1st morning: (clothes dirtied by urination)
•1st evening: (clothes washed)(in the sea)(in the laundromat)
• 2nd morning: (cars dirtied with jam) (on a busy street), cars cleaned (in a parking lot)
in a car-wash)
• 2nd evening: (bodies dirtied with jam), bodies cleaned by the tide
‘Cut Piece.’ by Yoko Ono,was a protest for peace, during which she sat on stage and invited the audience to use scissors to cut off her clothing until she was naked. Cutting the clothing would be an act that destroyed the social protections, and symbolic of a rape. Ono was an explorer of conceptual art and performance art.
What I learned from these precedents are the extents to which artists have gone to make a statement
in society. Most of these art pieces were dominated by the ideas of surrealism and absurdity. These are elements I have been interested in collaborating with my main theme. These are strong viewpoints of artists and what is important is that they have been successful and accepted in the design realm as well as achieved their standing in the social world.
METHODOLOGY
During the process of developing my prototypes, I deduc ed that it would be most effective and efficient to divide the various types into categories. Hence, I broke them up into four divisions, which are, Actions, Objects, Different Media and Creating curiosity and absurdity.
When creating prototypes under the ‘Actions’ category, I selected a few generic activities that I,
or any person would naturally conduct in a personal/private space, and used these to base the prototypes on. For example, I chose to sleep, read, sit or work. At first I thought that if I placed myself in public and sat or read or did homework, makes it a private activity. In collaboration with
this category, I conjugated these ideas/acts with an object from the ‘Objects’ category. For example,
a lounge chair, a carpet, a bed or a toilet. I assumed, taking these objects, which are expected to be within the confines of a home, on the street might create curiosity within the audience. Two ways
of looking at these prototypes were, one where I would sleep/sit or do an act, with the object for example sleep on a bed or sit on a toilet on the street or the other way wherein, I only install the object as an installation art piece. As in, implementing both, the ‘Actions’ and ‘Objects’ category together or just the ‘Objects.’
The next category, ‘Different Media’ with the prototype namely ‘Photo stand’ is where I planned to take large life size pictures of myself, not a headshot but a whole body shot of me sitting on a chair for example. I would then place these life-sized studio shots at different location in the city to interpret the private space I occupy in the social world.
The last category is, ‘Creating curiosity and absurdity’. In this there are three proposals I had to order. To start with, the first idea was the creation and installation of a plexi-glass box. I assumed it would be a size big enough to cover me when I sit down. It will have walls on all four sides including the top, so at time of installation I would need someone to cover me with it. The reason I chose this material was because it is transparent and signifies the physical walls I am aiming to create between me, and the public. I liked the fact that it was transparent so that the audience and I can still maintain eye-to-eye contact. I was hoping to carry this box with me to different locations, and implement it in similarly every time but in different locations; this lead to the extension of two similar and fundamental ideas.
First being the Chalk-drawn box. For this, I wanted to draw a box with chalk, on the street for instance and sit in it, refraining anyone from stepping inside my box. I predicted it would create some interesting responses. Lastly, the cardboard box was a branch of the plexi-glass box, except when I sit in it, my head would be exposed and not covered, so people will still be able to see me.
These prototypes intended to have symbolism of creating physical barriers between me the performer, and society, in the literal sense yet being visually interesting.
Later, I allotted these prototypes to the important triangle to measure and justify in what realm these prototypes exist. Essentially, I was looking to implement those that feel at least somewhere near the ‘Integration’ area, (the center).
IMPLEMENTATION
Iteration 1 – The Cardboard Box (Union Square)
Initially, I was seeking to set up my piece in a busy location in New York City. I imagined it to be in an area with high pedestrian flow and increased traffic. However, I realized that it was unnecessary to do so; as, the core of the project was to study and document audience reactions and the project’s impact on different locations in the city.
The first location I chose to test was Union Square, the area opposite Whole Foods. It was a Monday at noon, and highly populated where people were in an out of the subway station, some strolled around and were involved in their shopping at the vibrant but temporary stalls put up for the season, while the rest lounged, reading a book and sipping on their coffee. I assumed it was a great environment and noticed that there were several kinds of people about to be exposed to this absurd piece of art.
The first prototype was simple and primitive. I purchased a brown cardboard box and, chose a spot on the site with speculation, while a friend captured the entire process of the performance on video. Setting up the box close to the stairs of the station, I also made it close to the frontal entrance on Union Square. In terms of the implementation process, I unfolded the box and made the set up part of the performance. I then sat myself in it, and waited for people to pass by. I continued to do some homework and surf the net. The duration of this performance was approximately three hours. Within this period of time I received a multitude of comments and people had different interpretations of what I was trying to say. Some of them being, “Love your space,” “Cool Spot!,” “Love the package,” “Why are you building these walls around you?,” “Am I disturbing you? Sorry!” And, “Am I intruding? Is this your private space? Shall I leave?” Majority of these comments were spot on and went hand-in-hand with the concept of my project. I received great response, even though this was my first experiment. Several people stopped by to look and actually made the effort to talk to me. Hence, I seemed to have achieved both my goals here; one, to create curiosity and triangulation and install my private space in a public area.
Iteration 2 – The Chalk Box
As for this prototype, I conducted this at Union Square as well and on the same day, however, I decided to move to another location. This time I moved to the side of Union square, and on the street along the row of shops and restaurants, like American Eagle and Heartland Brewery. I made it to this site around 3pm. Here, I was able to document only two responses but they were spot –on. While I was drawing the chalk box, a man stopped by an immediately asked me if I was “Drawing a private space?” Another, woman waited to talk to me and asked me to “Get out of the box and Go and enjoy life!” However, many people stared but no one made the effort to stop buy and talk to me as much as during iteration 1, considering the fact that there were lesser people compared to spot inside Union Square. However, the concept I was trying to relate was successfully interpreted and comprehended.
Iteration 3 – The Cardboard Box (Grand Central Station)
I implemented this prototype on Monday as well, in the interiors of Grand Central station place around 4pm. The reason I chose this location was because, I was eager to set up and experiment by creating a private space within a private space. However, people treated the station as an obvious transit lounge and not many stopped by to interact with me. In this case, I had to encounter the NYPD and was bound by many restrictions. I wanted to install the box in the middle of the station which I was not allowed to do due to security reasons told to me by the station masters. Most of the time I was covered by the police standing around me, hence, people couldn’t really see me in the already dim lighting. Here, there was high pedestrian flow however, I cannot say this was successful due to the restrictions I had to consider as well as that people were rushing rather than standing around even though they were being entertained by the light and sound show.
Iteration 4 – Dining
This time I decided to explore a different direction other than the box and employ the use of a household object or piece of furniture. In addition to that, I wanted to now experiment on a street rather than at a location in specific like Union Square or the station. I somehow felt this is is somewhat a ‘Real’ location where in there is incessant pedestrian flow where people don’t really stop and hence this would be more of a challenge location wise to make them stop for interaction. As for this, I rolled my dining table from my home to a spot on the street and had lunch with a friend. The reactions for this were extremely positive and people stopped by and thought we were absolutely absurd to do something like that. However, the concept was not as well understood as the box idea overall. Some comments were, “If I didn’t have any of these bags right now, I would join you for lunch,” and “This is so cute! I’ve always wanted to do that! But I couldn’t find anyone to do it with me.”
Iteration 5 – The Workstation
Taking this back to Grand Central station on a Sunday afternoon around 3pm, I wanted to make sure that I tested at two locations at least twice. This time on, I took a different approach altogether to see how audience reactions would alter if I wasn’t involved in the prototype anymore. Hence, I set up a workstation, with my desk, chair and some stationery. However, once again I had to encounter the police and the security at the station, as I was not allowed to set up just anywhere unless it was in the corners or along the walls. Hence, I was hidden and not very conspicuous. This experiment was a total failure as no one was curious about it and people were either in a rush or watching the sound and light show. A man even bumped into and he didn’t realize he did. It was completely alien.
Iteration 6 – The Cardboard Box (6th Avenue)
At around 3pm on a Sunday afternoon, I intended to iterate the cardboard box one last time. Since I had conducted it at Union Square and Grand Central so far, it being so successful I was eager to see how it would turn out on a regular city street. This time on I changed the experiment a bit by adding a little extra feature. I not only sat in the box but I also decorated it like it was my room. I put up pictures of me and my mother and stuck to-do lists and homework on the box. This entire procedure was part of my performance. People reacted as well as before but of course one thing that changed was that because I employed the technique of textual interpretation this time, I lot less people actually spoke to me and in fact read my writing. I had comments like, “What is that? Wow! That’s a cool room,” and “Is this only yours? Haha i don’t think anyone else can fit in it anyway.
RESULTS
Study of Locations
I gathered Union square to be a very versatile location to test in. This was only because there were so many elements and activities that could be conducted in that one single area. For instance, there is a subway station where people transit, there were stalls where people were shopping and other obvious union square traits like people lounging around maybe reading or watching some entertainment show. However, there was high pedestrian flow and because there were diverse activities taking place meaning there were a lot more people who had the time to walk by, I thought this place was too safe it terms of testing my prototype. As for Grand Central station, even though there were many people, they did not have much time as they were on transit between one location and the other. But the reason I chose this subway station because people in here have a lot more time than in other stations due to the entertainment programs and stores that the station has to offer. It is visually appealing which hold people back to stay. It is a private space already and I was interested to find out what could happen there. However, there were many restrictions like, I could not use a tripod or setup at an random location which relatively killed my idea and its impact it would have originally created. On the street side of 16th street and 6th avenue, in my opinion was the most realistic environment, even though people had lesser time than in Union square. I think this was an authentic public place where there was a constant floe of pedestrians, which initiated great responses.
Study of People:
In terms of measurability, I can confidently say that the greater the population on the site, the greater the chance of generating responses and creating interaction. I am content with the result that 98% of people were curious with my performance. People tended to react to the prototype more, when I was actually part of it and not when it was the object alone. I think human involvement was the factor that enhanced human interaction. The general idea was that people did respect private space and no one really tried to invade it except for the ‘Staples’ man, it was easy to establish. I’d say that every time me, and the viewer made eye contact lead them into interacting or questioning me. Or else, they would stare wth a curious look and just walk by, as if in acceptance of my time and space in public. 75% of people did understand the concept while the others ignored it completely. At first people though it was an art piece or a project but most of them thought I was doing it for a purpose or to make a statement, which made the experiment successful. It was really interesting to see the different takes people have on things and their comments to support it. I feel this experiment could be dominated by cultures in the way that it could be done in New York but I am not sure if it would be accepted in Dubai. Lastly, I think it is one of the biggest challenges to me the fact that I made it successful in New York city, for these experiments can be easily misunderstood or ignored for as it has been over done here.
Evaluation of Prototype Success and failure
In order of rank:
1st – Cardboard Box (Union Square)
2nd – Dining
3rd – Cardboard Box (6th Avenue)
4th – Cardboard Box (Grand Central Station)
5th – Chalk-drawn Box
6th – The Workstation
There are many reasons that lead me down to this order of ranking. The impressive success of cardboard box at Union Square was mainly because of the simplicity of the prototype and the impact it created. Also, the versatility of the location enhanced its rank. It was visually interesting. As for the dining table, I think it was more its absurdity that drew eyes towards it. However, at some point I felt the reason that it triggered lesser responses and compared the box was because the dining table was a little too glamorous in terms of the object employed. It was not considered normal and something common that people would do. The cardboard box at 6th Avenue was highlighted by the performance of decorating the box and adding more features to the iteration. People found this a little entertaining as compared to the others. However, people interacted less due to more textual interpretations. The cardboard box at the station was also part of relative success only because the prototype in itself was effective but the place determined its failure. The chalk drawn box was definitely a too submissive a prototype and definitely not visually interesting for people to interact with. Lastly, the workstation was a complete failure because the location did not facilitate the interaction with the installation at all, and I guess its lack of human involvement added to its failure. In terms of impact, the simplest prototypes turned out to be the most successful. I think this project would make a great exhibition piece and not necessarily be site-specific all though it would be more effective in an open public space. However, if it is a gallery it is important to glamorous the prototype and make sure it is an extensive and exaggerated representation of the statement. For example, Tracey Emin’s ‘My Bed.’
Predictions v/s Observations
Before the experimentation was carried out, I assumed that the concept of my project would not be well comprehended. I was afraid that the viewer might have overlapping ideas and notions if the metaphor was not put across well. As for the cardboard box, I expected people to come and directly interact with the box, for example write on it. The amount of interaction that took place between me, and the audience was an incredible amount as to what I expected. They came they talked and shared their ideas with me, which was very interesting. At first, I thought the cardboard box was not as powerful as it really turned out to be. In my eyes, it looked too simple and not very visually appealing. In fact, I predicted the dining iteration to get first place, but after testing I realized it probably was a bit too glamorous. Anyhow, it was totally unexpected and completely disappointing that the chalk box and workstation didn’t really make it anywhere.
In the future, I have three developments that I wish to iterate to extend this project.
The Plexi-glass Box as mentioned above, as this would be a completely glamorized prototype. I would love to several pillows in it and sleep in there, and install a wall clock on one of the walls of the box.
The Photo-stand: As mentioned above as well, I think this prototype would add a dimension from the field of photography and the picture itself would be a graphical representation of me as a person, which I hope will trigger interesting results.
The Digital Room: In order to incorporate a digital element in my project and study the reactions that it might incur, I would like to project the inside and the happenings in my room while I am in there or not, in real-time and have it projected on the outside of my building on the wall outside my room.
I have been successful in establishing my point and developing private space in a public space in visually capturing manner. In addition to that, I feel like that I have enlightened my audience about feeling a little more comfortable with their identity in the social world and made a statement that it is acceptable and simple to establish one’s private space in a public area.
In conclusion, I believe that this realm of public art that I have explored is rare and encompasses various other art forms that lead to this artistic production. The fact that my goals have been achieved I am confident to say this was a successful experimentation process. I am pleased that the concept of this project was underlying the importance of society. However, this does not end here and there’s a lot more to come. I wish for this to become a trend and people begin to carry their own little boxes around in public. So come build your own space!
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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“Soap,” www.ubu.com/historical/gb/kaprow_recent.pdf
“Seed Bed,” itp.nyu.edu/…/vito_ acconci_seedbed_1972.jpg
“My Bed,” http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/tracey_emin.htm
“Cut Piece,” www.new-york-art.com/ Yes-Yoko-2.jpg
