Oscar

The Artist is Present

Question #1

My first ever impression of Marina Abramovic was Rhythm 0. I had seen clips of this piece before watching the documentary in class, and although it is still one of her most intriguing works in my opinion, I was also very captivated by Rest Energy which I had not heard of before. In this piece, Marina and Ulay balance an arrow on the weight of their bodies, the arrow pointed at Marina’s heart. The performance lasted four minutes and ten seconds. Microphones were attached to both of their chests so that they could hear each other’s heartbeats.

What I admire so much about both of these works is the tension and danger. I think the risk of the performance is what makes it so enticing to me, anything could go wrong at any second. With that being said, I think this is also what I find to be maybe a little problematic about the two pieces mentioned, and with many of Marina’s other works as well.

“Too Trashy”

My 1 kilometre project!

Reflection

For my 1 kilometre assignment I chose to walk a kilometre by the river near my house and clean up any trash I found along the way. My goal for this project was to see just how much garbage there actually was in only 1 kilometre, and I was sadly surprised with the amount I found as it was a lot more than I had originally anticipated.

I was between a few different ideas related to picking up trash for my 1 kilometre before I settled on the photographs. At first, I wanted to make a turmeric anthotype using the garbage I found, but I moved on from this idea quickly once I realized it wouldn’t be sunny enough. I thought about creating a sculpture or painting, but ultimately I was concerned about where I would put the piece once it was finished, and how it would become much harder to dispose of the different materials properly if they were all stuck together.

I ended up choosing to photograph each individual piece of garbage to make the total amount more obvious, and to make the recycling process easier as well. I also decided to photograph some of the trash attached to my clothes. I was really excited about this part of my assignment because it helped me to take a risk artistically and push the boundaries of my concept. How gross is it really to tape a few pieces of trash to my outfit and pose for a photo when we are currently eating, drinking, and breathing garbage every single day? Doing this helped me to remember that if I managed to collect 36 pieces of litter on a measly 1 kilometre walk, just how much MORE could be lying around Guelph?

If I were to do this project again, I think I would spend a lot more time taking photos of each individual item. I am so happy with how the pictures turned out, but I would definitely prefer if there was a little less dirt on my backdrop!

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