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In this project we have to work with everyday objects, elements, sounds, even smells that we can find surround us, analyzing and reinterpreting them in order to understand it in ways different from what we are used to and to communicate the new meanings or reflections to viewers.
To achieve this objective there are previous steps to be taken. The first of them is observe and find inspiration in the work of other artists. In this case I found an interesting and remarkable artistic proposals in the following artists:
JANNIS KOUNELLIS (1936 – 2017)
Kounellis was born in Greece and he was a pioneer Arte Povera`s artist. The term Arte Povera can be trace back to the late 1960s on Italy and means “poor art” because it proposed a questioning to the traditional materials, introducing the use of everyday elements that did not reach the level required to be considered as art materials and disrupting the conservative view (Tate, n. d.).
In the 1960s Kounellis started to work in a more physical and environmental way, using organic and inorganic objects and materials seeking to transmit sensations to the viewers and proposing new ways of understanding and relating those materials to each other (Fondazione Prada, 2019).
What called my attention about this artist is how he presents the objects and elements in a way that allow them to exists in a totally new perspective and sometimes, at the beginning, could make non sense for the viewer, however, when a careful and deep observation is made, new proposals about the world and the life emerge and “everything and anything had the potential to be seen, regardless of its aesthetic or perceived use-value” (Thorne, 2019, para. 8).
One notable example of Kounellis work is:
Untitled, 2000 (13 military hospital beds; 11 steel forms; 19 steel plates; 35 military blankets) (Art Basel, 2019).
This artistic installation seems remarkable to me, as it uses two materials that we know what they are for, on the one hand, the beds are for sleeping or resting, and on the other hand, the blankets are to cover the resting persons maybe in a military camp. But the iron is the element that by antagonistic contrast makes me think that those beds and blankets are not for just sleeping, but for the wounded and sick of the war. So makes me feel and think about the brutality of war.
ROSELLA BISCOTTI (1968-)
Biscotti was born in Italy and uses different formats in her work, like sound, film, nature material, sculpture and textile, through which it seeks to question the concepts of truth, knowledge and objectivity (Kadist, n. d.).
What called my attention about her work is how she cross the boundaries of what could be considered as art, taking everyday elements from the past and the present, to transform them in a piece of art with a powerful message that allows the audience to deeply question some concepts that we take for granted.
Rosella Bisconti was mentioned in James Clegg`s Lecture with her art work The Journey (2021), wich is centered on the decision and consequences of dropping a 17-ton Block of Marble in the mediterranean sea. The fact is she didn´t drop the marble into the ocean, but rather she invites the audience to think about what would happen if the marble block has been thrown? This is the starting point for provocation to make people think about the politics and policies related to this sea, the economical and environmental factors and the role of institutions and media (Blitz Valletta, 2021).
Another remarkable work is Yellow Movie (2010), wich consists of a film projection that assembles a yellow frame with an audio work edited from recordings of controversial psychoanalytic sessions, where a psychiatrist used drugs in therapy for trauma patients from the Second World War (Wilfried Lentz, n. d.).
Yellow Movie, 2010 (Single channel video. Exhibition view, Galleria Civica, Trento, 2012). Photo: Hugo Muñoz (Mor Charpentier, n. d.).
This installation mixes color and a found object, the recorded interviews, to invites the audience to listen attentively to the stories in the audios. However, it not only involves listening, but also invites deep listening, as the installation site is dark and the yellow color stands out in the darkness. In this way, the spectator becomes part of the installation, reacting to the audios, the enviroment, feeling and thinking about what he/she is hearing, become part of a performance.
The second step is to find an object. After observing around me I found in the accommodation bathroom an object called Disposal Bag, wich is a little paper bag with the name printed on it and a stamped image of a Victorian lady.
This object caught my interest because I didn´t know about this kind of bags and without knowing them I could intuit that they were bags for menstrual waste. Indeed the bags “are designed to aid the hygienic disposal of sanitary towels and tampons” (https://www.fulcare.co.uk/product/crinoline-lady-sanitary-disposal-bags-pack-of-2000-white-160x440x280mm/).
Analyzing the object some questions emerged: How did I notice the purpose of the bags without knowing them before? Why should I put into a bag my menstruation waste? Is it so that the smell is not felt? Then why don’t we put the urine or excrement in a special bag?
Related to the above questions, the bag has an important detail which it is worth mentioning: the stamped image of a Victorian lady. What´s the meaning of this image? Elegance? Pulchritude? The feminine concept? The real feminine concept? I guess this Victorian lady is a symbol, because a lady like this must show an image in front of the rest and therefore she must hide her bleeding, that would be a shame if someone notice she is menstruating. So,
if you want to become a real lady, keep and hide your menstruation waste in the disposal bag because that is a shame.
After this reflections two concepts emerged:
HIDE
SHAME
Regarding this concepts and the focus of our course, the city, I wonder if there are other elements that make us feel ashamed in our lives and in our cities? What objects or elements the people want to hide because nobody should see them? Disguting elements? Tabu objects? Inspired by the work of the artists mentioned above, it might be interesting to go beyond the limits imposed by the original purpose of the bag by proposing it as a bag to hide any element that embarrasses us.
This leads us to think about the way how I could present this disposal bag in this different way. What format (s) should I use? Some premises to consider are that viewers should be able to identify with the feeling of shame generated by some elements. Then, how the people could be push to think about if they really feel ashamed or are they just embarrassed by the pressure generated by society and the ban surrounding those elements?
In summary, all the above questions and reflections will guide my research this week 3. For wich I will go around the city looking for those disgusting elements and I will think about how to present the bag to the spectators with this new perspective.
Bibliographic references
Art Basel. (2019). Untitled, 2000. Jannis Kounellis. Recovered from https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artwork/85806/Jannis-Kounellis-Untitled
Blitz Valletta. (2021). Rosella Biscotti: The Journey. Recovered from https://blitzvalletta.com/portfolio/the-journey-rossella-biscotti/
Fondazione Prada. (2019). Venice: Jannis Kounellis. Recovered from https://www.fondazioneprada.org/project/jannis-kounellis/?lang=en
Kadist. (n. d.). Rosella Biscotti. Recovered from https://kadist.org/people/rossella-biscotti/
Mor Charpentier. (n. d.). Rosella Biscotti. Recovered from https://www.mor-charpentier.com/es/artist/rossella-biscotti/
Tate. (n. d.). Arte Povera. Recovered from https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/a/arte-povera
Thorne, H. (2019, June 7th). Jannis Kounellis: A Taxonomy of Tired Things. Recovered from https://www.frieze.com/article/jannis-kounellis-taxonomy-tired-things
Wilfried Lentz. (n. d.). Yellow Movie, 2010. Recovered from https://wilfriedlentz.com/work/yellow-movie-2010/
