Turning the Gestures of Everyday Life Into Art Questions
- Describe the work discussed in the article and the unique
challenges – as well as the unique gifts- that come with attempting to archive personal movements?
The work discussed in the article is about recording a multiple individuals everyday gestures and turning them into an art piece where they then stage “five-hour dance installations open to the public”(Poll, 2022) During this performance they act out the many volunteers gestures making their body an archive as stated in the article (Poll, 2022). The unique challenges I would say the artist faced were people trying to improve there gesture’s movement because they were now being watched. As one volunteer admitted “they wanted to do well” (Poll, 2022. This can be difficult as I am sure the artist wants this to be a authentic performance piece which if they improve there gesture it makes the artwork unintentionally in-genuine as it could come off as fixed. Which I assume is not what the artist wanted. Moving onto the unique gifts attempting this work created I would say being able to read/understand these individuals better was a gift to the artist and being heard was a gift to the volunteer. The volunteer being able to share with someone is very helpful to one’s well being as we humans shouldn’t bottle up our emotions as it sometimes leads to chronic mental problems in the future, so the artist allowing time to listen to the volunteer most likely made them feel heard. Something every human has wanted for eternity. The artist does not leave empty handed in this situation either as after listening to the volunteer they may be able to engage with their work more adding additions that could make the work more meaningful. It also gives the artist an insight of why the person might do this gesture that they are giving to the artist.
2. Discuss one or two examples of movements in the article – what
strikes you about them?
The first movement I would like to discuss is the older man in the plaid shirt grabbing his shoulder. This is interesting to me as it’s a gesture of partly stretching with added elements which is an action I see lots of elderly people doing when I am casually walking around. This makes me think more about why they do that movement. Thinking on it now made me realize it might be to avoid pain or to relieve some pain they might have as I have heard a few elderly people I know talk about there chronic pain. This makes me think more about what the little gestures people do and what it might tell them about them without me even bringing it up.
Another movement I like to bring up from the article is the kid standing on there tippy toes this strikes me because it reminds me of when I was a kid and couldn’t quite reach the high up item on the counter, but when I stood on my tippy toes I was able to reach it and whenever you did you got this sense of pride that you did it yourself without an adult helping you.
3. Describe the habitual movements/unconscious gestures, tics etc. of 3 people you know well. How do individual body parts move, and how does the whole body interact? What about facial expressions, and emotional valence of the movement? How does body type inform the movement? What do these examples of small movements mean and imply?
The habitual movements/ unconscious gestures of some people I know includes a family member, who rubs there forehead usually in a back and forth motion using there hands with one arm raised about chest height. The body doesn’t really move other than possibly the shoulders dropping a little lower than before possibly out of relaxation. There facial expressions remain mostly neutral from my account. I think these examples of small movement represent in this case tiredness or stress.
Another habitual movement/unconscious gesture I have noticed is in a close friend is he will periodically pat his pockets with his hands usually tapping his pockets twice. He would usually pause when walking out of nowhere and then do the motion while I think looking at the floor not sure because his head is usually tilted down doing this motion. His face shows a little tenseness probably because I believe this gesture is to check for his wallet and phone as he even told me before, when I asked what he was doing. Body type doesn’t really play much of a roll since its the upper half of his body and he is pretty skinny.
The third habitual movement/ unconscious gesture I noticed in a friend is one of my friend’s from high school. He will scratch the back of head when confused and often makes a confused face during the motion. When he does this movement he raises his right arm (dominant hand) up and goes behind his head and scratches for a brief moment while having a confused face. I think he also leans (puts all weight) on his right leg while he does the motion now looking back. His facial expression is confused as previously noted (This is I pick up on that he is confused). He raises one eye brow slightly, and squints the his eyes. His body type informs this movement by putting all weight on one leg. As I said before I believe he does this movement when he is confused as usually what follows is him saying I don’t know, I’m not sure or what.
Poll, Z. P. (2022, November 21). Turning the Gestures of Everyday Life Into Art. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/21/arts/dance/gesture-archive-art.html
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