About me!

Hi! I am a third year Student, majoring in studio art, and minoring in french and business. Growing up I always wanted to do something creative for my career, for the longest time I wanted to be a hair stylist and I actually ended up doing several professional gigs with hairstyling, including working as an assistant at a hair salon for a year in high school… which confirmed I did NOT want to work at a har salon! Just wasn’t the right environment I was looking for, and I felt I needed a job I could bring more variety to everyday, it just felt too repetitive! I always loved visual arts and had it as a hobby I would experiment with every once in a while but I got really into it in grade 12 when I could finally fit art into my class scheduling. I ended up applying to a variety of art, film, and business programs at different universities, but the studio art program at the University of Guelph really appealed to me and excited me! I also loved the campus! Now Guelph is my favourite place ever, and I am so happy with my program choice, I was definitely meant to explore art more in my life! Something that has also always brought me joy is working with children, although I denied my whole life that I would be a teacher because that’s what both my parents are… of course thats all I ended up wanting to do! Having a variety of art and french courses both excite me for my future career as a teacher, as I would love to have art as a big part of my teaching style, and my love for french will also be beneficial for getting me a job (hopefully). My roommate and I have a dream to open a school one day, run with my interest in business, with a focus on outdoor education, the arts, and helping children with special needs!

Marina Abramovic

1. My first impression of Marina Abramovic’s works was how shocking it was, the level of commitment she had to her work. When she was preparing the actors and herself to be performing 6 days a week, 8 hours a day, for 3 months, I couldn’t believe it was physically possible to accomplish the specifically demanding tasks their bodies had to endure for that long. Especially with Marina’s main sitting performance work, what seems so simple is what I thought would maybe be the most challenging for me. As we were watching the documentary I started getting uncomfortable and had to keep switching my positions on my reasonably cushioned office chair, all because I had been sitting for an hour and a half maximum. I couldn’t imagine the level of commitment it took her to sit with that level of stillness, for that long, constantly. The commitment she had to her work drew me to her as an artist, as I admired that she fully dedicated herself physically, mentally, and emotionally to her works, to the maximum degree anyone could possibly imagine dedicating themselves to something, which is something almost no one can do. However this also simultaneously set off some red flags in my head, as she ended up having an immense audience, people who idolized her and even started copying what she did. There were parts of the documentary where spectators were shown staring at each other, as if to recreate her work on the sidelines, which is a really beautiful and interesting thing to happen with engagement, however I do worry that people may copy the not-so safe portions of her work as well. I find that demonstrating triggering topics need to be done so carefully and sensitively, especially with art, as it is one of the most inspiring things in the world, but it can inspire/influence people positively just as easily as it can inspire/influence people negatively. The idea of fasting and self-harming that is involved with many of her works did make me question if it was something to advertise, and if she approached that properly.

2 . A feature about Marina’s performance art that stood out to me was the intensity of eye contact. I learned that this is a very effective feature, as it sparks discomfort in the viewer, but that discomfort is what really draws people in and evokes a reaction in the viewer, which is typically the goal of performance art. Whether Marina was making eye contact with spectators as a sole method of communication, like she did in “The Artist is Present”, or making eye contact with another actor in her performance work, like she did in “Imponderabilia“, the feature of eye contact was crucial to intensifying the experience for herself, the actors, and most of all the spectators, also creating a sense of intimacy that she successfully incorporated into her works. Her quote “When you perform it is a knife and your blood, when you act it is a fake knife and ketchup.” really allowed me to realize the intentional realness she brings to all her works, and how reality is such a key feature to her works being successful. What I think Marina understood is that when people watch a horror movie, or an uncomfortable scene in a play, this will obviously evoke a discomforting feeling, however spectators can always have a level of reassurance that it is all fake, its just special effects, makeup, fake blood, or a camera working behind actors who will get along as friends after the scene is over. With performance, Marina ensures that people understand she is completely devoted to the experience people receive when watching her, and part of that is knowing that what she is doing is 100% real. They watch her in real time, doing very real things to herself, or with others/ other things. This not only makes it that much more shocking for the viewer to see and understand, but it leaves a deeper impression on the long lasting effects spectators have after seeing the performance.

3. I believe the main way performance art resists many museum and commercial artworld conventions is the idea of the present moment. Performance art erases the concept of “historical pieces”, or “modern pieces”. There is no added value to performance art of how old or new it is, it is always happening in that moment, and cannot be saved in the archives of a museum, waiting to be shown again. A lot of artwork carries meaning based on what was happening during the time it was created this can be a good thing, as we can keep it in the public eye for as long as we feel necessary, or re-introduce pieces that remind us to revert back to certain practices, or remind us not to repeat certain practices. However with performance art, there is no imagining what happened years ago, or thinking about how we should mold our work to be fitting in the future, it is designed to impact the viewers who are present there, in that moment, and all that will stay in the future from it is the impact it had on people. Performance art needs to be so impactful because it is purely memory that carries on its impact. Abramovic interestingly recreated her works, which is how she made a compromise with this idea of reminding viewers of what they have already seen. I believe by creating an entire exhibit solely based on recreating her past works, it did draw more attention to her as an artist and an icon, and I think that throughout this process she became more idealized and famous, which did bring more attention to her impactful artwork, but it also mostly drew attention to her, which isn’t necessarily bad, I just don’t see it as necessary to the impacts she was originally trying to make with her works. I think this may have undermined the ideas at play in her work, as people seemed to end up coming not to be influenced by art, but to come see something famous.

Km assignment!

1 Km of LIFE

My work 1 km of LIFE has several goals: Firstly to inspire people to be more present in their everyday lives, and to have more of an understanding of the people around us, whether we know them or they are strangers to us. It’s meant to make people think twice before being rude to their waiter, honking at someone necessarily, or loosing their patience on a complete stranger. This work is a way to remind us that everyone has a unique live they’re living, and we have no idea what that includes, unless we know them personally, and even then people hide a lot more than we believe.

I think about this concept every time I am stuck in traffic. It’s beyond the capabilities of my imagination to picture the individual lives that are being lived so close to me, all down the highway, yet I will never know what these people’s stories truly are. I have no way of knowing if the family in the car next to me are anxiously waiting for the traffic to clear because they are heading to Canada’s Wonderland, or a funeral. I try to always treat people with compassion and kindness, because you really never know how your behaviour may impact them, and I think the world needs more of this mentality. With this piece, people will realize just how much goes on around them that they would never consider, in only a km.

The process I went through to complete this work definitely felt experimental, as my original plan was to go on a km walk, interview everyone I ran into, and make a movie about/with my findings. I was completely disregarding a big issue: the winter. Not only did I have to go on several walks before discovering an area that actually had people walking in it, but once I found a good area, people were then bundled up in their winter gear, looking straight down, and walking as fast as they could to get from the grocery store to their warm car. Needless to say, I quickly ruled out the idea of asking people if I could film them answering questions about how they were feeling that day in the freezing cold. I am very glad this didn’t work out however, because I believe my final product was a way more successful way of attaining my goals.

I decided to record voice memos as I walked, sharing my observations of each person who walked by me. I recorded whether they made eye contact with me or not, what colours they were wearing, if they were alone or with other people, did they have air pods in or not, did they seem happy, frustrated, sad, etc. I made a few conclusions with my findings. First of all, people who had colour in their outfits were more likely to make eye contact and smile at me, they also just looked happier in general. The same went with people who were not alone, except for one couple who were barely acknowledging that they were together, let alone noticing that I was there. All of these things of course led me to wonder why they made the choices to wear colour that day, or what was going on in their lives that made them seem happy or sad.

I chose to use chalk pastels for my final work for several reasons. I loved that chalk pastels are supposed to spread, just like they way we appear in public rubs off on other people without us noticing. The flaps I made to show the people I ran into are black silhouettes to represent the fact that without looking up and intentionally noticing, people are nothing but faceless, lifeless, “NPC’s” around us, but with the smeared pastel colours underneath, what was truly underneath them could shine through, and when you lift up the flap you can read the details about what was really going on based on my observations. I used this concept of smudged “energies” in pastels all over the map, where things would be shown in colour or black and white based on how bright or dark their energy seemed to me, affecting the energy of everything around them.

^^My tentative plan after having to rethink my original one

Katja Heitmann article

1. 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?

Something very unique about the works of art that are discussed through this article is it’s reliance on other people’s participation, people who are not the artists/dancers. One challenge mentioned is that the donors started to consciously or subconsciously act differently than usual because they wanted to “do well”. The whole purpose of these studies were to observe the subconscious habits people have without paying attention, so when they are being studied, and aware that they are being studied, it is harder to achieve this goal, keeping everything “natural”. The positive side of working with people for these pieces is that it ends up being so meaningful. This study has such a unique gift of being able to cary on the memory of people who aren’t even here anymore. We may be able to look through old photos or letters or objects that our loved ones left behind, but there is no way to see them live, in action again. This study makes that possible by focusing on movement.

1. Discuss one or two examples of movements in the article – what strikes you about them?

One dancer woke up in a specific fetal position one day, which was a gesture she had adopted through an older study of a 40 year old woman. This stood out to me because it proves how embedded these practices and studies are in the dancers. We may be reminded of physical artworks over the course of our lives as they resurface occasionally, however with this movement piece they are written in the dancers physical bodies, which they cary around them forever. If this dancer still was showing old studied habits even when she was asleep, completely unconscious, this shows just how deep these memories resonate.

Another example that really stood out to me was the instagram duck faces. This is a gesture that people picked up on as a trend, however there was no particular reason for it. It is interesting to me because it shows just how quickly we pick up on each other’s gestures, even when its is the facial expressions of complete strangers online.

1. 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?

My grandmother and her brother both have a habitual gesture of putting their hands clasped together with their pointer fingers sticking up sort of in a gun shape, and tap the tips of their fingers over their mouths while they are concentrated. Their faces sort of look a bit zoned out, as they listen carefully, looking like they are really seriously pondering over the story being told to them, even when it is not that serious. What I find interesting about these movements is that both of them do it, which makes me think that they picked up these gestures from each other, or even maybe my great grandparents. If this is the case, it is really a cool thing for me to experience, because although I have never met my great grandparents, I am witnessing their presence through the gestures of my grandmother and great uncle. It also implies that they must have spent enough time with each other or with their parents to pick up on their habits, which is a really special thing.

My mom always makes this face when she is listening to me tell a story that is at least somewhat alarming and it makes me laugh every time. She doesn’t realize she is doing it, but her mouth makes this huge downwards grin, showing her teeth while her eyebrows go up and her eyes grow big with concern. The best thing is that this face starts to appear even if the story isn’t that bad, you can just tell she always has this concern in her, which definitely speaks to her as a mother and person. Usually I laugh at the fact that she makes this face so often, and then she laughs because she doesn’t even realize she is doing it, then I imitate it which makes her laugh harder, but because I imitate it so often, I have found myself starting to do the same face when I am listening to a concerning story. This further shows how not only do we have our own habits, but we each have the same habit of picking up on each others habits.

My roommate shakes her hands sometimes when she is feeling overwhelmed or anxious. It’s almost as if she is literally shaking off the bad feelings, or trying to reactivate her body and ground herself, because I’m sure that just like everyone, her anxiety has a tendency of having physical effects on her body. Usually she also takes a deep breath in as she does it, opening her eyes up wide. This really does look like a complete reset, that she of course does subconsciously, but it is a way that I can pickup on her feelings, and know she may be anxious. This is interesting because I think the more observant we are, the more empathy we can have, as we pickup on each other’s tells that something is wrong, we can easily then know to ask if things are okay, etc.

Toronto field trip

Onsite Gallery

Memoryforms

Memoryforms by Sarah Friend is a collection of spiral graphics combining colourful ink and text. Each “memoryform” reflects on a dead NFT-based entity. Some of them would go against the typical very digital, straight to the point, almost scientific language that most of them had. These ones were more emotional, more creative, and seemed more personal, less robotic. I found these very interesting, because they still had the “note taking” quality to them, however it felt more like word vomit of the artist’s thoughts. As someone who journals, I find the meditative act of just writing everything down that comes to mind as it is in the moment a very interesting and captivating practice, and I tend to be drawn to this approach in my art practices as well. In my KM project, I used this strategy to document my thoughts as I walked by strangers to observe them, they displayed these words that came to mind in the silhouettes of people on a visual chalk pastel map. Memoryforms really reminded me of my KM work as the colours behind the texts seem very similar to the idea of the “aura” that shone through the black bodies silhouettes in my KM assignment, and in this case, the black, very digital and emotionless text overtop of it. I think they both speak to the idea of showing the deeper meanings, memories, and associations we have behind very mundane, unfamiliar, and seemingly meaningless subjects.

Fall/Chute

Fall/Chute by Dianna Landry is a mechanical mural that replicates the movement, imagery, and sound of a waterfall in Quebec, using 60 motorized flip books. I was very drawn to this piece for several reasons. The first reason being how interactive and participative it was. The movement of the piece was triggered by the viewer’s presence, which really made the participator (me), feel like I am a part of the piece, I was experiencing something, not just looking at it. It also combines auditory and visual aspects, making this a multidimensional piece. I was inspired by this as I am very drawn to incorporating audio into my artwork. As a video editor, I am very particular in the songs, sound effects, rhythm, I use. I admire how creative Dianna Landry was with her use of audio, as there was no speaker playing recorded sounds, she had to experiment with materials to see what would mimic the sound of the waterfall she was trying to portray, while also making sure the materials made sense in the visual context.

Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery

Murderers bar

Merderers Bar by Lucy Raven is a video installation of a dam removal shot with drone and underwater perspectives. This piece was my favourite I had seen all day, and it inspired me in so many ways when I thought about my own art practices. First, it taught me about the effectiveness of a soundtrack. I have always valued music and sound effects when it comes to video editing, however the intensity of this video really reinforced that importance for me. Additionally, the grandness of how the video is presented is also something I realized is very important. Showing a video on a small computer screen vs showing it on a giant, vertical, warped, high quality screen makes a large difference. Even the volume of the speakers was critical to the effectiveness of this video. These aspects reminded me to think more about the presentation of my work, and not just the completion of the work itself.

Frei Njootli

Frei Njootli displayed several pieces in the Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery that involved the documentation of beadwork. However what I liked about their work is that it was less focused on the visual art the beads came together to make, it was more focused on the metaphorical aspect of labour in cultural belongings. All methods of displaying and capturing the work done using beads were specifically displayed with methods that point to long-lasting effects. For example, the bottom left two images were done on metal plates that deteriorate overtime. This material is strong, long lasting, and resilient, however the artist was not afraid of it showing the fact that parts of it will undergo destructive processes, which is symbolic of the meanings behind the works (cultural belongings). The same goes with the visible mark of the beads on skin, showing the physical effects of the labour in beading. my favourite part was that the artist spread beads throughout the whole exhibition, and they either gathered around their works, or filled in the cracks of the concrete. The millions of these tiny beads will likely take years and years to completely clear out of the exhibition, so even after they take down their installations, people will still be finding the effects of these works in years to come. I love this notion of a long-lasting effect of art and I think it can align with many different meanings. This inspired me to. think beyond the viewers experience of my art in the present moment, how can I ensure that the meanings behind my works remain after the viewing.

One Feat, Three Ways

KEEP UP

Audio Assignment

Seasons

For this assignment, I knew I wanted to demonstrate how my breathing changes based on how I am feeling, what I am thinking about, what I hear, and what is happening in my life. I originally wanted to make an audio piece that rhythmically edited together different clips of my breath, pairing it with the sound of guitar plucking moving at the same pace as my breath. The problem with this was that the sound of quick guitar picking typically makes me calmer and happier, so it would not have heightened the anxiety inducing sound of my quick anxious breath, and the calm of my slow, controlled breath. With this in mind, I remembered that I had hundreds of voice memos on my phone of my happiest memories that I’ve been collecting for years. In these voice memos is a recording of my family friends and I playing Betty by Taylor Swift on the guitar and harmonica which are both very nostalgic sounds for me. I decided to start playing this recording over my breath to trigger the beginning of my calmer breaths. I then went through the rest of my voice memos, saving parts that sounded the happiest and most meaningful to me. Audio editing was certainly a challenge for me, trying to layer the sounds in a way that was not too overwhelming but also in a way that created a great montage that sounds like a memory. As more and more memory sounds are integrated, my breath slows more and more. Each recording were different volumes, so I also struggled with balancing those out. However, I did feel that I successfully accomplished all of my goals: to maintain the intense sound of my breath when needed, and lose the intensity into the mix of joyful sounds, each blending together, offering listeners a sample of how my thoughts might sound while calming my anxiety. During critique it came to be that my piece reminded me of a lot of people about happier times in the summer. I then realized that almost all of my audio clips were from the summertime, which makes sense given I do suffer from winter depression. This whole assignment was inspired by the fact that I have needed to do several breathing exercises throughout this winter to regulate myself, and one thing that never fails to calm me down is watching videos I edit of my summers, or looking through photos of those times, thinking of the people I get to see then.  

Pauline Oliveros

I believe that we all have gotten so used to sound and often take it for granted. Most of us have constant music playing in the background while we study, drive, etc., or we have gotten used to the sound of our roommates and family talking in other rooms of the house, the ambiance of the buildings we often go to, or the sound of our loved ones voices while they tell a story. I love the intentionality in Pauline Oliveros’ concept of deep listening, and I very much agree that we should be more intentional in our listening practices. This concept is what motivated me to start taking voice memos of certain moments where the sounds around me felt happy, or had a positive association that I would want to be able to revisit, such as the sound of rain hitting our tin roof at the cottage, or the not so harmonious sounds of my family friends singing at the top of their lungs on new years eve, or my grandparents voices as they tell us their classic jokes and stories that they have told over and over again, but I have to record them because I never want to forget what they sound like. When I am at a concert I like to close my eyes and feel the vibrations of the loud speakers and people jumping up and down to the rhythm of the music, so I can feel the sounds in my body as well as just listening with my ears. Hearing is so much more than one of our 5 senses used to pickup information. When we are intentional with our hearing, it can also produce physical feelings. Approaching sound through research, especially in this assignment made me have an even greater understanding of how sound is more than just a listening experience, it is a catalyst for connection, feeling, and memory making. To me, when we have a conscious awareness of sound in the way Pauline Olivero studied, we notice that hearing is one of the most important sounds, as it can be used to heighten or calm emotions we might be feeling, and also physical symptoms that go along with them. It gives us validation, and a deep sense of appreciation for the presence of the people and environment around us. 

Conceptual portrait

Proposal

My conceptual portrait will be of my Oma, who has had Alzheimer’s for most of my life. She has been in a home for a long time now, only needing the necessities there, so a few years ago my Opa laid out all of her old clothes and jewelry for her three granddaughters (my two cousins and I) to look through and keep. We each took several items and cherish them very much, her jewelry is especially special to me, even though they aren’t pieces I actually wear. A few years ago I cut one of her bracelets and used the beads to make special charms for my cousins and I. I wore that charm on my everyday necklace for several years, until just a few months ago when it broke, and I have been meaning to remake it with the leftover beads I still have. I love wearing her bead around my neck as a memory of her, which is where I came up with my idea for this assignment. I want to make a stop motion video of another one of her bracelets I have and never wear being cut, and the beads slowly making their way onto one of 13 strings laid out in the shot. Each string will represent one of my 13 family members (not including her) who’s memories of her grow fonder as her memory slips away. As she loses her memory, my family members have become more invested in the tangible things she has left behind, whether that be old photos, sweaters, decorations, clothes, jewelry, nicknacks, etc., holding onto evidence we still have of who she is/was. She will still be represented in the remainder of the bracelet, the few beads left, not added to the other strings symbolic of the little bit we have left of her when we go visit her in her home. I am also considering making this as just a display, instead of a stop motion video, with the necklaces and beads spread out hanging across a stick, with the original bracelet hanging just like the others, although clearly lacking the rest of it’s beads. If I do make a stop motion video, I would like to maybe have an instrumental version of an ABBA song playing in the background, because she has almost no memory left and can’t speak, but when we play her ABBA she will still sometimes be able to sing along to some parts of it.

Artist reference – Félix Gonzalez-Torres

“Untitled” (Portrait of Ross in L.A.)

meowmeowmeowmeow

Hello loves, my name is Becca Venter!

I am a second year studio art student. I chose this program because I would like to be a high school art teacher.

I attended southwood secondary school in Cambridge — the smallest school in the WRDSB — and my art teacher changed my life. I hope to do the same for students in the future.

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Hello! My name is Claire and I am in my fourth year of studio art. I grew up in Toronto and love trying out new hobbies, especially arts and crafts. When it comes to art, I always try to find new ways to push myself out of my comfort zone. I am interested in making more comedic art that pushes social boundaries. I was recommended to take this class by some of my peers who thought it would be right up my alley.

KM Assignment – Rotating While We Rotate

“Rotating While We Rotate” is a video of me somersaulting that loops 365 (rounded up from 364.5) times. Each summersault is nine feet, meaning the total distance rolled is one kilometer. My vision for this project was for viewers to watch a sped up version of me summersaulting back and fourth from one end of the screen to the other. I intend for it to look silly and bring smiles to people. Initially, this was the whole premise for the project, however, after doing the math and coincidentally needing 365 summersaults I decided to expand on this. Earth rotates around it’s axis once a day and rotates around the sun once every 365 days. Each somersault represents a day in a year. My hopes are that this video reminds viewers that no matter what we’re doing (whether it’s productive or not) we are always moving.

Marina Abramovic

1. What are some of your first impressions of Marina Abramovic’s performance works, based on the documentary? Use an image/example of one or two works to describe aspects you admire, and aspects you might agree are problematic?

My first impression of Abramovic is that she’s very bold and likes to push viewers comfort zones. I admire her ability to connect and expel so much emotion out of her audience just by sitting still in “The Artist is Present” and how she was able to continuing month after month giving every volunteer the same amount of attention. I admire her stubbornness to continue even though it was taking a tole on her mental and physical well being, not once considering quitting as an option. I also admire her dedication in “The lovers” walking for three months straight on the Great Wall of China. However, I do see some problematic aspects to Abramovic’s performances, particularly in her Rhythm 0 (1974) series where she repeatedly whips herself and in another performance cuts herself. I think these performances could easily be misinterpreted as glorifying/glamorizing self harm.

2 . What have you learned about features of performance art based on Abramovic’s work? Name a few key features according to her examples. Include an image to illustrate. Consider her quote, “When you perform it is a knife and your blood, when you act it is a fake knife and ketchup.”

Abramovic’s performances have taught me that the key to performance art is keeping it raw and authentic. During the documentary it was mentioned how David Blaine, a famous magician at the time, was interested in performing with Abramovic. Ultimately they decided against it because Blaine was an illusionist and Abramovic’s persona was being raw and genuine. Lots of her performances also contain aspects of making people feel uneasy. She achieves this by making many of her performances interactive. Whether its by making the audience walk within close proximity of naked models, by maintaining one on one eye contact or inviting them to touch her with various objects.

3. Discuss the ways performance art resists many museum and commercial artworld conventions. How does Abramovic solve/negotiate some of these challenges, and do you find these compromises add to, or undermine the ideas at play in her work?

Typically museums and the commercial artworld holds a preference for physical and/or digital pieces of artwork, for example a painting or film. Something that can be easily accessed anytime from almost anywhere. Performance art resists this by being more of a one time experience, being limited in the number of times an artist is able to perform it both physically and financially. This makes performance art more exclusive. Abramovic solved this in “The Artist is Present” by performing all day, everyday for three month straight, this made her performance much more accessible. For example, the documentary featured a man who was waiting in line to experience Abramovic’s performance for the sixth time as well as a woman who had travelled from across the world to see her.

Video Assignment – Jolly Jumper

I think we did a 10/10 job on this project. We came up with an unique idea and executed it through smooth camera shots, a clean backdrop, and sharp editing. Together we solved every problem we encountered, for example, how to get a good camera shot without the wedgie being covered by a second individual standing in frame. The first video starts angled at my feet and pans up towards my underwear that is synchronously being pulled up. This shot was

“Jolly Jumper” tested my comfort zone. I had never been in front of a camera in such a professional manor, let alone in provocative clothing. Luckily my crewmates were supportive and created a safe environment while filming.

Field Trip – AGO & OCAD Exhibition

Mandatory: Create a FIELD TRIP blog post illustrating, describing and responding to two art works. How are these works relevant to your own research interests and practice? What did you notice, learn, or take away from the experience of the works in the gallery?

Audio Assignment – $17.60

Self grade-

I think I made a 9/10 audio for this assignment. My audio clip is very abstract. It is made of two sounds, the repetitive sound of a dishwasher turning and the screech of the dishwasher tray being pulled out. My intention was for the dishwasher to sound as if it was crying throughout this repetitive and laborious job. This was to symbolize the silent suffering of minimum wadge workers who have no option but to work through pain and exhaustion just to get by. This assignment would have been a perfect 10/10 if I was able to make the repetitive dishwasher turning sound clearer.

Make a Kilometre

For this project, I conducted a plant species index of every plant I could discern in one kilometre of urban green space.

I live near the Eramosa River Trail, a foot/bike path that runs along the Eramosa River between Victoria Road Park and the Gosling Bridge. I used Google Maps to map out exactly a kilometre of the trail from the end of my street to a nearby park.

I walked this kilometre in each direction on Sunday, January 11th from 3-4:30 pm, taking notes on the notes app on my phone. It was interesting to rely exclusively on stems, bark, seedpods and dried leaves as ID features instead of foliage and flowers.

Species list, heading west:

Highbush cranberry
Crack willow
Manitoba maple
Vitis spp. (wild grape)
Canada goldenrod
Cup plant
Bittersweet nightshade
Red oak
Burdock
Pagoda dogwood
Rosa multiflora.
Eastern white cedar
Tamarack
Mystery maple
Motherwort <3
Red maple
White spruce
Black cherry
White pine
Clematis
Buttercup
Zigzag goldenrod
Mystery grass 1
Mullein
Bull thistle
Mystery viburnum
Rumex spp. (dock)
Black raspberry
American basswood
Ninebark
Japanese barberry
Plantain
Mystery grass 2
Wild currant
Wild cucumber
Buckthorn
Aster

Heading east:

Red cedar
Staghorn sumac
Chicory
Queen Anne’s lace
Catnip
Red osier dogwood
Canada yew
White ash
Teasel
Mystery spiky tree
Black walnut

Total: 48

FEAT

Sequence

Animation

Conceptual Portrait

The prompt for this assignment, to consider representing a person not by what they look like, but by what they make or do, made me immediately think of one of my best friends. byron is an outdoor educator, wildlife tracker, and artist, and one of the most intelligent and curious people I know.

byron’s built an incredibly deep and broad body of knowledge of the natural world through self-study. An essential tool in this journey has been what he calls a “question book.” Spend five minutes outside with byron and he will inevitably start to wonder about something he notices. A tiny, battered notebook emerges from the breast pocket of a well-worn canvas jacket, and the question is scrawled inside. What’s impressive about this practice is that he actually follows up on each question, answering most by consulting his extensive library of field guides and natural history books, and online databases of scientific journals.

For the past decade of being dear friends and colleagues with byron, I have seen many question books come and go. A committed archivist, byron saves them all. I thought it would be interesting to create a portrait of my friend through documentation of the question books, by scanning or photographing them and presenting them alongside data like dates and major events in his life. These images and text could be installed in a gallery space in chronological order, creating a timeline of this period in byron’s life.

My artist reference is Kelly Marks’ In and Out (1997-ongoing). I was inspired by Marks’ documentation of the repetitive action of showing up to work as an artist, which to me echoes byron’s commitment to his vocation as a naturalist through the ongoing and rigorous work of curiosity and research. Whereas Marks is archiving and gesturing towards her artistic labour under capitalism, byron’s question books archive the expansiveness of his knowledge.

Hi my name is Rylee! I am a student in the batcher of arts health and wellness program at guelph university!

The Artist Is Present – Movie Questions

1. What are some of your first impressions of Marina Abramovic’s performance works, based on the documentary? Use an image/example of one or two works to describe aspects you admire, and aspects you might agree are problematic? One aspect I admire is her fearlessness, particularly in Rhythm 5, where she lies inside a burning five-pointed star. The act is visually very powerful. At the same time, some of her work feels deeply problematic, especially performances involving cutting and self-inflicted harm, such as Rhythm 0. While the intent is to expose audience psychology, power, and violence, the escalation into physical injury raises ethical concerns. The line between artistic exploration and self-harm becomes blurred. I believe self harm shouldn’t be normalized as an art form because it’s using the act itself as an art form when realistically it’s a world problem that needs helping. You don’t have to do the act and abuse yourself publicly for it to be moving. That just seems emotionally harming to the artist and audience experiencing somebody go through this real pain. Rather than inviting reflection alone, these moments can risk normalizing or sensationalizing harm in the name of art.
2. What have you learned about features of performance art based on Abramovic’s work? Name a few key features according to her examples. Include an image to illustrate. Consider her quote “When you perform it is a knife and your blood, when you act it is a fake. knife and ketchup.” In my opinion this quote clearly shows that a performance uses real materials, real pain, and real consequences. Nothing is staged or pretend. Performance art breaks through the barrier of art not being a reality and only an act or simulation representing something, it is not an act you are in it and feeling the presence of the message being voiced through this art. Performance art involves genuine risk. The outcome is not fully controlled, which creates tension and makes the audience aware that what they are witnessing could go wrong. Viewers are not just observers. Abramović often invites or allows the audience to participate, making them partly responsible for what happens during the performance. so whats going on itsint all planned because nobody can predict what the observers will do. Performance art, as shown through Abramović’s work, collapses the distance between art and life. It demands presence, confronts discomfort, and forces viewers to recognize that what they are seeing is not representation. Its a reality happening in front of them.
3. Discuss the ways performance art resists many museum and commercial artworld conventions. How does Abramovic solve/negotiate some of these challenges, and do you find. Do these compromises add to, or undermine the ideas at play in her work? Performance art resists museum and commercial artworld conventions because it is temporary, embodied, and experiential, rather than object-based. It cannot easily be owned, sold, or permanently displayed, and it often involves real risk, unpredictability, and direct audience engagement, which conflicts with the controlled environment of museums. To me, it almost feels like a social experiment, testing both the artist and the audience. Giving people the choice to participate or respond in real time pushes the boundaries of what we usually think art is. In Abramović’s case, she works around these challenges through documentation, re-performance, and working with institutions so the work can continue to exist after the live moment. Even though this reduces some of the raw danger of her earlier performances, I think it adds to the work by making it accessible to more people and by highlighting the tension between lived experience and institutional control.

Make a Kilometer

Meaning: My kilometre represents an ongoing pattern in my life. Avoiding something I need to do because it feels overwhelming. I often feel stressed when I have to focus for long periods of time, especially when I’m studying. Instead of staying with that discomfort, I choose movement. Walking feels productive, but for me it can also become a form of procrastination.To me this kilometre is not just distance. It is time… specifically, time spent avoiding something that feels mentally difficult. The 1km walk becomes a measurement of my psychological resistance.

This kilometre is recreated by representing:

• lost time
• emotional tension
• avoidance disguised as productivity
• a measure of psychological resistance
  The distance becomes more than physical space. It becomes a way of measuring how me being overwhelmed affects my behaviour.

measurement of 1 km:
I measured exactly 1 kilometer using my Apple Watch in indoor Walk mode. The walk was continuous and uninterrupted. Although the video does not show the tracking screen at the very beginning, the Apple Watch recording provides a precise digital measurement of the total distance travelled. At the end of the video, I show clear proof of the 1 km and 13 minutes

Conceptual connection: This project connects to Marina Abramović’s work, which often asks the viewer and the artist to remain present with discomfort. Abramović’s performances are about endurance, stillness, and resisting the urge to escape difficult feelings. In my case, the discomfort is not extreme or dramatic, but it is personal and real. I was recently diagnosed with ADHD, and I’ve become more aware of how strongly my body reacts when I’m required to sit still, stay focused, and complete a task that feels overwhelming or mentally demanding. When I’m studying, my discomfort shows up physically with restlessness, tension, irritation, and the constant urge to do something else. What makes studying especially difficult for me is the moment I hit a problem that isn’t easily solvable. When I don’t understand something right away, I feel frozen. It’s like my brain locks up and I become unbearably stuck, and the longer I sit there, the worse it feels. That feeling is awful because I’m still “trying,” but nothing is moving forward. It’s mentally exhausting and it creates pressure, shame, and frustration all at once. I start to associate the desk and the work with being trapped inside that feeling. The kilometre represents my habit of using movement to escape that stuckness. Walking feels like relief because I’m no longer frozen I’m moving, I’m doing something, and my body feels like it has an outlet. It gives me immediate comfort and a sense of control, and it feels productive because it’s healthy and measurable. But even while I’m walking, I’m thinking about what I should be doing instead. I’m mentally rehearsing the work I left behind, feeling behind, and trying to justify the decision to leave my desk. That creates guilt, and the walk stops being purely relaxing, it becomes part of a loop. I feel relief in the moment because I’m moving, but the stress returns as soon as I stop, because the original task is still waiting for me. In that way, the kilometre becomes both a physical distance and a psychological pattern of avoidance disguised as productivity, followed by pressure, guilt, and the need to escape again.

Self-assessment: I would give this project a 9/10 for combining precise measurement with a personal and experiential understanding of distance, and for using video effectively to communicate the emotional experience of time and avoidance. I think the strongest part of my work is the personal connection behind the concept, and how clearly the kilometre represents a real pattern in my life. If I could improve anything, it would be the video execution. After filming the video I came up with additional ideas that could have made the final edit even stronger and more intentional. However, I still feel like the piece successfully communicates the tension between avoidance and productivity, and the emotional cycle behind it.

Feild Trip

One Feat Three Ways video project Critical Reflection

Conceptual Portrait Proposal:

A Receipt of Life; Installation piece

• Inspiration/ system like Kelly Mark, In & Out (from lecture)
  • Yoko Ono Music of the Mind (2024) -> in the Tate Moder

Never Ending Thoughts: Audio Art Assignment

Pauline Oliveros: Deep Listening

Reflect on your own experiences of listening — to sound, to others, to your environment, or to yourself. How does Oliveros’s idea of deep listening challenge the way you typically give attention? In what ways might listening through your whole body, or approaching sound as a form of play and research, change your understanding of connection, communication, or creativity?

• I have always been very attuned to the noises happening around me, the blowing fan, a ringing of the alarm system, etc. So hearing about Pauline Oliveros’s approach of Deep Listening really resonated with me as it was something I was in some respect already doing. I have always been very aware of the noises I create by just existing too, how heavy I walk, my breathing patterns, and the tapping of my fingers on a keyboard.What really stuck with me was the idea that she creates these beautiful and whimsy pieces out of noises that have grown up annoying me. I think Pauline gives way to the thoughts of truly taking the time to listen and experience the noises you are hearing to how they weave together. I think that approaching sound as beautiful and expressing it by using everyday sounds creates a connection that can resonate with everyone and makes a collective experience for everyone to enjoy.

Stella, Ella, Ola: One Feat, Three Ways

Stella, Ella, Ola: Repetition

Stella, Ella, Ola: Edited

Stella, Ella, Ola: Loop

A Journey of Time: Travel a Km

The Artist is Present, Marina Abramovic: Discussion Questions

1. During the beginning of the documentary, my thoughts about Marina Abramovic’s work were very much centered around confusion and trying to understand what kind of deeper meaning there could possibly be, as we were just seeing the flashes of her work. As the video continued on I gained respect for her and a great understanding of her work/ messages. I think the way they set up the documentary was very much telling of her life story, there was something one of the interviewers said about how you’re looking at many different Mariana’s and how she is a product of both of her parents. I think that line is very impactful as it gives us a deep insight into the history of her and how her mind wraps around the deep ideals of her artwork. Understanding the juxtaposition between her parents and her grandma and how she felt a sense of safety or love from this spiritual figure instead of her own parents, who were the opposite of comforting, really sets the tone of the documentary from early on. I admire her dedication and willingness to be so open to us as the viewers and as she talks about this idea that art should be a shared experience of the artist and their performance, kinda reinforces how personal and vulnerabile you have to be to interpret her works and truly work towards understanding the bigger picture. I would definitely agree that some of her pieces are pretty problematic, I find the ones where she is in a constant state of harm to herself, harder to watch as she is putting herself in these situations but it’s scary to see it repeated over and over with almost no emotion put into them. 
   
2. I learned how personal performance work can become, I mean this in the sense that when you give your soul to your performance work it shows. When she sat in the museum, not saying anything but just staring, I could only imagine what it would be like to be in the other chair. Something about the way she gave every person almost a part of her soul was so heartbreaking and the way she almost turned into a reflection for people’s inner self was so breathtaking to watch. Even though I wasn’t in the chair, I could feel her emotion through the documentary and it’s almost like you have an inner dialogue with her in the chair which almost creates questions that only you yourself can answer. Her quote inspires the idea that you have to give everything your all, putting your heart and soul into something will translate through if you let it. 
   
3. For as long as art spans, there has always been an idea of perfectionism and that to create art is to create almost divine pieces that reflect perfection. I think performance art especially really speaks through this idea and a few people always come through when I’m learning about past artists, people like Mariana and Yoko Ono, who create this incomparable work meant to set itself apart in a field of perfectionism. She talks about questioning the idea that “Art must be beautiful” (11:07) and that artists have to be beautiful and I think this isn’t true at all. Art is meant to be raw and true

Hi, my name is Paige 🙂 I’m a second year studio art major with a minor in marketing. Last semester I took painting 1 and truly fell back in love with art and physical media. When I graduated high school I was super uncertain about what I wanted to do in university and the job field. Visual arts was always my favorite course in school and I was encouraged to pursue the path into university, however, during last year and last semester I truly fell back in love with creating art. My current future plan is to become a primary school teacher but also get my two teachable’s to become a visual arts teacher. I am excited to continue learning all the different forms of art through this class and others, and explore all the different forms art has to offer. 

Hey,

My name is Nicole Engada Manumbas. Born and raised in the hot islands of the Philippines, but grew up in the harsh winters of Canada. I’m a third year Studio Arts major in the Bachelor of Arts. I was not born an artist, nor was I raised as one. It was neither an option or even a thought for a young Filipina girl being raised by a single mother. It was not until I had the privilege to take art classes in high school that I truly understood why people create art. When the time came to decide our pathway in life, I could only think of one thing that was not going to make me completely miserable. It was art. Drawing, painting, photography, I enjoyed it all and I wished to experience more. Now I’m here, hoping for this chapter of my life in this program to give me the exposure I need to love all that the world has to offer.

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Art Account

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Table of Contents

Page 1

Introduction

Nicole Manumbas

Page 2

Artist Discussion

Marina Abramovic

Page 3

A Kilometre

A Grain Per Day

Page 4

Artist Discussion

Katja Heitmann

Page 5

One Feat, Three Ways

Keep Up

Page 6

Gallery Reflection

OCAD Gallery

Page 7

Audio Art

First Word

Page 8

Artist Discussion

Pauline Oliveros

Page 9

Conceptual Portrait

My Name Is

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Meet The Artist:

Hi, I’m Leah and I’m in my second year of Studio Art. I enrolled in this program, for I always knew I wanted to pursue art as a career, and I was particularly fond of the size of this program and the tight knit and supportive community it offered. I love exploring mediums and creating pieces inspired by conceptual ideas. I have recently been trying to allow myself to create work based on the process and not the outcome, aiming to further develop my practice and how I am connected to it. Sketches and smaller pieces have been a big part of this experience, but I am excited to apply these goals to bigger pieces throughout this course!

Existing Work:

The Artist is present, Marina Abramovic:

My initial impression of the works by Abramovic tends to fall towards the prevalence of nudity throughout her pieces, which generates a shock factor, especially for people who are not artists. As artists there is a sense of comfortability for the majority with nudity and the human body, but for many people this unavoidable acknowledgement must be given towards the presence of nudity and this often generates a feeling of discomfort, which seems to be a prominent theme of her work.

One of the main factors of her performance that remains the most prevalent to me is the discipline, which functions as the foundation for her pieces. Her pieces are often very demanding both physically and mentally, and that tends to be a very important aspect of her work, for the required discipline allows viewers to be both shocked and uncomfortable. Her discipline allows her to perform through reality, for she forces herself to be physically uncomfortable, which really allows the audience to feel the sacrifice she is making, generating a strong viewer impact.

Rhythm 5, Marina Abramovic, 1974

Abramovic challenges museum conventions through the confrontation she pushes upon audiences, for often it is expected that a person would simply wander around a gallery or museum space casually viewing paintings or sculptures, yet Marina works directly against that. She forces the viewer to acknowledge her work directly through the physical presence, creating uncomfortability, for this is not the norm, especially in reference to traditional artwork. Performance art and the body as a medium is very confrontational and forces the audience to directly interact with the piece, yet Abramovic works to create even more uncomfortability within the nudity and jarring discipline in her work, which is what make her pieces so memorable.

762.5 Breaths: One Kilometer

762.5 Breaths: One Kilometer, Leah Tipping, 2026 (paper, matches, jar)

For this piece I decided to measure a kilometer of breath. In order to measure this I had my roommate hold a match and see the furthest distance in which I could blow the match out from, this ended up being 1.3 meters. I then did the math to determine how many times 1.3M goes into 1 kilometer, giving me my final number of 762.5 breaths. 

To create this piece I lit and blew out a match to represent each individual breath, and then used the previous lit end of the match to create a tick on my large piece of paper. This allowed me to create a large tally chart, which is equal to 762.5, following me drawing with the match I dropped the burnt match into a glass jar, which I also presented. 

My motivation for this piece was my current journey quitting smoking, and how my personal lung health generates a unique amount of breaths for myself and my health. This number is also reflective for me, allowing myself to consider how I am preventing this number of breaths from continuing to grow by quitting. I chose to create a tally chart in addition to just presenting the matches, for the tallys remind me of an incarcerated person counting the amount of days they have been in jail; representative of the inescapable hold smoking has had on me and my life. 

I aimed to encourage myself to allow the materials of my piece to more deeply connect with my work for this piece; instead of just picking a medium that I think would be the most appealing visually. I believe that using the matches as my main material has been very productive to my work, and has created depth in my work. Furthermore, this material choice has also further connected my creative process to peace and the motivations behind it. The act of actually sitting down and blowing as hard as I could 762.5 times was powerful, allowing myself to actually physically blow one kilometer. This repetitive motion almost felt like an inverse of smoking, reminiscent of my previous habit of repetitive inhaling, now juxtaposed by this repetitive practice of exhales.

Something I wish I was able to encorperate into the process of this piece is actually blowing the matches out from a consistent distance of 1.3 meters. I think that if I had more time I could have organized having another person assist me with the entirety of this project, having them hold the match at a distance for me to blow, yet th turn around time was unfortunately too short to accomodate this. I considered trying to create a setup that would be able to hold the lit match at the proper distance for me, yet I could not come up with a way to achieve this utilizing the resources accesible to me without creating a fire hazard. Since this was something I could not do, I resorted to blowing as hard as I could in order to still allow my breath to travel the 1.3 meters even if the match was not able to be at that distance.

Portion of process, timelapse

Turning the Gestures of Everyday Life into Art:

Although the performance work that exists within this concept may appear to be easily copied through the real-life human examples that they are able to pull from, the work is actually highly demanding on the performers due to the difficulty of properly conserving these movements. The gift that resides within this concept is the way in which a person’s life can be captured and preserved within their movements, allowing the performers to carry a piece of another person within themselves and their behaviours.

Turning the Gestures of Everyday Life into Art, New York Times (2025)

I find true beauty within humanism that is present within the associations that are made with certain behaviours, allowing memories to be struck up in relation to movement. Examples of this include dancing in relation to ecstasy and twirling your thumbs in relation to boredom. In addition to emotions being connected to movement, specific memories are able to be preserved within these emotions; like dancing in the kitchen with your friends when you had a sleepover that one time or when you were twirling your thumbs when you had nothing to do because your partner broke up. Although these memories may not all be positive they are still an important part of our lives and experiences as humans.

I also have people in my life that have certain ticks or movements that remind me of them and memories I have had with them.

1. My father: Who always taps his pointer finger and thumb together, resembling crab claws, whenever he wants to have or try something somebody else is eating
2. My boyfriend: Who always paces around a table whenever he is overstimulated or gets fidgety 
3. My younger brother: Who always twirls his hair whenever he is watching tv (something he has done since he was a child)

AGG Gallery Visit, Body Language (Queer Print Project):

Although this is actually a show that a piece of mine is featured in, I think that the other works within this show are something that has actually really inspired me and my practice at this moment. The curators for this show have been a huge inspiration to me for how they work in increasing the accessibility to art and printmaking; as well as working to cultivate a safe space for queer, trans, and gender non-conforming people. These spaces are especially important considering the current political state of the world surrounding these communities, but also pushes me to want to work to create these spaces in the future after personally feeling their impact.

One piece that especially stuck out to me is the silk screens displayed within this show, incorperating the process into the gallery space. I think the process is especially important in this context, for the purpose of queer print is heavily process focused in allowing people to produce work in a safe and supoprtive community. This has acrually allowed myself to further consider how my process appears in my works, and contemplate when this can actually lead the viewers to use this as a way to more deeply connect with my concepts.

Another aspect of this show that really impacted how I view artwork and my own practice is the buttons displayed throughout. I have made pieces in reference to protest before, but I really enjoyed the presence of functional works. I also really appreciate the comedy that is incorporated within many of these buttons, especially one that says “I’m not out of the closet… I’m in the living room with my feet propped up”. This feels very similar to the type of jokes I tend to make in relation to my own personal experience and trauma, highlighting a way that many queer people cope with the social difficulties that come with being queer.

Bananas Are Berries:

Bananas Are Berries, One Shot, Leah Tipping, Becca Venter, Alaina Coles, 2026 (Video)

Bananas Are Berries, Edited, Leah Tipping, Becca Venter, Alaina Coles, 2026 (Video)

Bananas Are Berries, Animation, Leah Tipping, Becca Venter, Alaina Coles, 2026 (Digital Animation over Video)

For this piece my true intention was to actually have as minimal intentions as possible. Although I have assumed that themes of sexuality and gender would surface due to the choice of bananas and their phallic-like resemblance, I did not want to make this the main focus when creating this piece. Instead, I wanted to allow the work to be unrehearsed and try to avoid pre-determined outcomes. Our one shot does have a flow to it that may come across as rehearsed, yet that was only developed through the many takes this piece required in order to create a technical execution that we were happy with. The only real idea we had going into this piece was prompts of what we would do; (two people eating a banana, eating banana with peel, eating banana with a knife and fork, etc.) avoiding intentionally working to dramatically enhance our reactions, allowing the piece to be raw and human.

When creating our edited piece we knew we wanted to incorporate a variety of variations, but we did not have an exact vision for how we were going to edit them together to create one coherent video. We then had the idea to morph the videos together using human ticks or actions that occurred within multiple of the variations (gagging, biting, etc.). I am really happy with this decision for I think it really highlights the original intention to allow ourselves to perform in a way that was human, focusing on the natural reactions that stem for our humanism. Furthermore, I think these transition choices cultivate a piece that is unpredictable; not always allowing the viewer to know what is happening again. This. really plays into the uncomfortable nature of our work, which was one of our other intentions going into this.

If I were to re-start this assignment again I think I would choose some variety in shot types, for I think some closeups could play further into the unknown as well as the grotesque nature of this piece. I also think that could enhance the technical quality of this piece, allowing our technical choices to be just as interesting as our conceptual ones.

Process of figuring out how to break the banana together, video

Pauline Oliveros:

Pauline Oliveros works to expand sound into more than just an aural experience, but encourages viewers to accept this as a full body experience, engaging people in their entirety. This way of listening allows people to find emotion in sounds, encorerating our surroundings, physical bodies, and our psyche (memories, emotions, experiences, etc).

Pauline Oliveros, Playing the Accordian, Photo

Oliveros’ work really inspires me to continue experiment with audio work, and allows me to further reflect on the connection sound often has with memories or emotions. This could be a specific sound (such as yelling) being linked to my own personal trauma and other non-traumatic memories, or the way sounds enact my own emotions. Although this is something I have already experienced in my life, Oliveros allows me to enhance my conciousness of this occurance, leading to deeper connections that can be made to sound; by either reflecting on the past or aiming to make listening a full-body experience throughout my present and future.

Frequencies of Intimacy:

Frequencies of Intimacy, Leah Tipping, 2026 (Audio)

This assignment I really wanted to challenge myself to portray a concept without the use of tangable language. Although I believe language can be very productive in inacting a viewer’s empotions, I wanted to see if it was possible to create a flow of different emotions without directly utilizing language that makes the intended emotions obvious. I also thought that this goal could allow the viewer to enterate aurally triggered emotions in a way that is personal to them; not feeling persuaded to feel a specific way.

My concept stemmed from a stim that my partner often does where he likes to get me to hold a random note and them harmonize to whatever sound I make. Although this just began as one of his stims, this experience has actually grown into something that makes us feel very connected and in tune with one another.

Although the place in which my idea stemmed from already has themes of connection present I wanted to encorperate a more general intention of utilizing layers and different notes in order to create a flowing, changing sound that could cultivate a variety of different emotions. This string of emotions is aimed to speak to the phases in a relationship, for relationships are not stagnent, but are constantly changing. I wanted to include a variety of different emotions (both positive and negative or uncomfortable), for each relationship experiences all kinds of emotions; not just positive ones. My partner and I holding these notes together also speaks to the importance of relationships, for even through the more uncomfortable emotional notes we are still holding them together; even if unsteady. This speaks to a crutial part of relationships, continuing to support one another, especially when things are hard.

I think this piece was very successful in acheiving my goal of portraying a variety of different emotions that are intertwined with one another. I was also very happy with the process of creating this piece, for it was not my main focus or goal in this assignment, yet it ended up fitting really well into my concept. The experience of recording the audio clips with my partner acrually turned into an experience that really allowed us to connect with one another, for he has never collaborated with me in my artwork, but I think this collaboration actually allowed us to further deepen our connection to one another.

I normally like to reflect on things I would like to do differently or that I could improve on, but I am honestly so happy and proud of not only my final piece but my process, and I wouldn’t change anything.

Conceptual Portrait Proposal:

For this assignment, I was originally planning to create a piece that incorporated my previous audio assignment as a portrait of the connection between my partner and me. My goals were to make this into an installation piece that could be interactive with the viewer, incorporating more levels of connection into the work.

I originally planned to make a large-scale installation that would be floor to ceiling with lots of fabric and potentially stuffing in order to be comfortable for the viewer to hug and interact with. I was planning to utilize these audio sensors by Playtronica in order to connect them to the fabric utilizing conductive paint, which would complete the circuit, allowing the audio to play if you were to interact with the work.

Although I began to think that is going to be too labour-intensive, considering the amount of time that we have, and my other problem with this was that I felt that the overall figure of the installation didn’t necessarily have a purpose, except for the fact that it is encouraging physical interaction.

I have now decided that I’m gonna go with more of a ready-made, utilizing a bed with a blanket or comforter on top that I will make conductive by either using conductive paint or copper tape. This applies further to the portrait of me and my partner, where, as I mentioned before, the basis of my piece was inspired by one of his stims, which is often done when we are sitting in bed together. Furthermore, the idea of a ready-made is obviously much less labour-intensive, and overall gives me more time to work on the utilization and figure out the sensors to ensure that the concept is actually able to occur.

Hi! I am in my second year, majoring in Studio Art and minoring in Creative Writing. I am someone who has always loved art from a very young age, consistently getting into some sort of supplies and going wild. Not only do I get to write about the creative flares that come to my head, but I also get to visualize/create them via drawing as well! Originally during my 12th year of high school I was going to go into the animation field, however, with the rise of AI I was concerned about the future of animation. This of course made me worry…for months, but after some time I thought ‘what is something that I can do for work that can still be art focused’ and the grand idea of teaching popped into my head. Which is why I am here now! This campus not only stood out to me from its looks, but also because my visual arts teacher from high school (who I deeply look up to) learned here as well. I want to be the type of teacher who is able to branch out into a array of mediums in my classes, which is where Guelph’s differing artistic options help to aid in my future endeavors. (I ALSO LOVE MY CATS!)

The Artist is Present Marina Abramovic

1. My first impressions of Marina Abramovic’s performance work is that she loves to create a sense of discomfort in the viewer. Her work has a sense of unconformity with ideas never before seen in the artist world. Many of her performances show her harming herself or placing her body / mind in danger. For example, her flaming star performance, or her use of razor blades on her own flesh. While I can admire her intense dedication for her craft, I can’t help but seeing some of her aspects of self harm being problematic. Her work can be extremely applaudable and strong, especially in some of her later pieces but her ease in harming herself is worrisome.

2. Abramovic’s work is very person oriented, with seemly all of her installations including people, and herself. She has been said to ‘challenge’ her audience, seeing what makes them squirm and all for the name of art. Many of her performances include the nude, see how far people will go, and whether they will back out or accept it and continue forwards. Performance art requires training in a sense, readying the body and mind to become ready for the piece rather than just simply creating it without thought. With her quote she elaborates that performance art is putting yourself out there fully, no curtains, no masks, simply who you are, when in comparison when you pretend you are someone else.

3. Performance art resists many elements of certain conventions in the artworld. For example the use of live nude models, along with Abramovic herself in many of her performances (even though it could be quite dangerous with growing popularity) is breaking the mold that the world is comfortable with. The idea of a nude body to the regular non artsy person can be a touchy subject, as the idea of being nude is something quite personal. However, with performance art, there is a breaking of this mold, as Abramovic makes it almost impossible to ignore her exhibits of live actors. Not only that, but the idea of being a constant hour(s) long exhibit is something that many would flat out refuse to do, simply for the exhaustive labor of it all, however, Abramovic took it face on 7 days a week as an installation.

“A KM” Assignment : Marked in Measured Petals

Concept

The concept that I chose to focus on for representing a kilometer was through the process of crocheted flowers. During a trip to Florida I went on recently there was an abundance of flowers that Canada was deeply lacking due to the cold weather. The sheer amount had caught my attention greatly, resulting in myself being inspired for this project. As someone who loves flowers in their many varieties I thought that this project would be a perfect outlet to not only show my interest flowers, but also start a passion project of faux crocheted flower garlands to decorate my room.

Precision of Measurement

The use of measurement was relatively easy to figure out considering my idea. I chose to divide 1000 by 20, 1000 being the total amount of meters in a kilometer, and 20 meters being the ‘length’ of each individual flower. The result of 1000 divided by 20 equals to 50, which is the total amount of flowers withing my project. Originally, the first idea that came to my mind was crocheting 1000 flowers! However, given that each flower takes roughly 3 – 4 minutes to complete, that wouldn’t be entirely feasible given our timeframe.

Materials

The media I chose was something that I enjoy doing in my spare free time, the media itself being crochet (as stated in the paragraphs above) . I had alternated between baby pink and baby yellow yearn, not only for its pretty colours, but also because of how soft it is. The colours themselves are also most commonly associated with spring and flowers, enhancing the project itself and it’s aesthetic.

Turning the Gestures of Everyday Life into Art : Katja Heitmann

1 . Katja Heitmann’s work is quite straightforward, as she aims to capture everyday actions and moments for her exhibit. Many of these actions would include hugging, kissing, sleeping, etc. While she has more toned-down things like standing or walking, the more intimate and personal things create a stronger response from the viewer. Heitmann’s work is able to preserve these moments of vulnerability of the person(s) shes capturing, and while this is a gift for some, it could be harder for others who view this work. This could very well challenge or inflict emotions on viewers who feel as if they are missing these ‘everyday’ actions in their lives.

2 . A certain movement I caught onto immediately was the consistent act of hugging that was littered throughout this article. Heitmann used multiple figures of all ages; for example, mothers and daughters were very prominent within many of the pictures. I thought it was quite cute using multiple mothers and daughters of all ages, as it can show that no matter how much you grow, you’re never too old for a hug. It also adds a beautiful contrast, as many mothers will say that no matter how old their children get, all they can see is their babies when they were younger.

3.

Eye/Nose Twitch:

The first person that I will be talking about is one of my very long-term friends since the 2nd grade. Since we’ve grown up together, I’ve noticed many things about him over the years, and two prominent things that go hand in hand with each other are his eye/nose twitch. It would happen fairly randomly, however, quite often, at least a couple of times a day. I found it so interesting when I was younger, and while it doesn’t happen too often now in our adulthood, I will notice it time to time whenever it happens, especially if he’s explaining something that annoys him. I haven’t run into anyone else where that happens, so I associate that movement with him as it is so uniquely his. This shows that when observing those around you, you’ll figure out things about them that many would miss. 

Knuckle Cracking:

The second person I will be talking about is my other long-term friend/roommate. There is one thing that she will do even without realizing half the time (as she goes to do it again 10 minutes later and be confused as to why there’s no sound), and that is cracking her knuckles. She will start with her further knuckles and slowly but surely make her way up her hand to her smaller knuckles. She’d be blank-faced as she did it, as if it wasn’t even happening, which I was initially confused by. When I told her I’d be writing about her for this post, she stated, “I don’t do it that often”, midway through cracking her knuckles again, before I had even said anything (she laughed after she realized). This highlights that while people have their own unknowing habits that are basic in regular day life, those moments can have bits of comedy.

Tapping Fingers Rhythmically:

The third and final person I’ll be talking about is my younger brother. I have watched my brother grow up and have picked up on random habits of his over the years. My brother, who is almost 10 years younger than I, has had many random quirks; however, one that I’ve noticed within the past couple of years is him rhythmically tapping his fingers to whatever music he’s listening to. He’ll, of course, lip-sync the lyrics and individually tap his fingers based on the lyrics or the beat of the song. Funnily enough, he is not the only one who does this, as I’ve done the same since I was young. Whether he picked it up from observing me, or if it’s some sort of sibling bond, it’s so cool to me. This shows that siblings will tend to have similar traits to one another, whether it’s how they talk, express themselves, or simple things like random hand movements.

Field Trip

Unfortunately, due to a midterm test being scheduled during the same time as the field trip, I was unable to attend. However, while I couldn’t go on the trip, I can certainly still talk about two other artworks outside of this trip that I have visited. While these are galleries I have visited in the past, they couldn’t help but still catch my attention, resulting in me picking these two specifically for this post. 

Justin Favela: Cardon, After Jose Maria Velasco

This piece is something that has captured my attention for a while now, the bright colours, composition, texture, etc. Colours have always been a very important part of my art, especially within my digital art. Without proper colouring, things can feel plain and boring; however, Favela blows it out of the park with his saturated colours. His work, which had massive amounts of colour, was absolutely fantastic. Many of his pieces, while using the same medium, all still looked unique compared to one another, each having its own colour palette and composition. I believe that a lot more galleries should have pieces like this with saturation and colour. Many galleries will tend to follow the same formula of old historic oil paintings, and while this is amazing, it does unfortunately get boring after each gallery is the same over and over again. Most gallery paintings will be monotone, dark, and too similar to each other; with added variety, it would make it more digestible. 

Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience

While this is something I visited a couple of years ago now, more specifically in 2022, I couldn’t help but include it in this post. As we are in our video unit, the Van Gogh immersive experience reminded me so much of this class and other example videos we had watched in previous lectures. As stated above, I am one big sucker for bright and saturated colours, and our dear Vincent Van Gogh seemed to love colour as well. Van Gogh tended to use contrasting colours within his pieces, which is especially prevalent in one of his most famous pieces, The Starry Night. This kind of experience, I find, I could possibly see myself doing in the future. It was enchanting to see in person, and I was deeply inspired ever since. I feel that if more galleries across the world had more immersive experiences like this, it would go over very well with the public and the future of gallery attendance. 

One Feat, Three Ways: Good Soup

PART 1 : THE ONE – SHOT

PART 2 : THE SEQUENCE

PART 3 : THE LOOP – ROTOSCOPE ANIMATION

Concept

The concept that Emma, Ahana, and I decided on was the act of spoon-feeding. We wanted to instill unease into the viewer as they are made to keep constant eye contact. The idea of eye contact while eating in general is already uncomfortable to most people; however, the idea of it never ending makes you want to look away, but can’t, in case something happens. There wasn’t an intended meaning while we were creating the video, rather, keeping it open for viewer interpretations.

Materials

Materials were quite simple to obtain, as Ahana and I had brought multiple varieties of spoons, for example, a tbsp/tsp set, regular spoons, ladles and even a pot. Additionally, I had also brought the bowl (and got some water from the fountains) while Emma brought the food colouring for the water inside the bowl. Other items consisted of additional lighting and, of course, the DLSR camera. 

Process

Filming itself was a quick process as Emma and I had set up the camera, lighting, location and supplies while we waited, so no unnecessary time was wasted before class. We decided to angle the camera in a certain way where the main focus would be on the person receiving the spoon, while the feeder is only seen from the side. With this, it ensured that the viewer’s attention would not be taken away, and the eye always leads back to the spoon.  In the end in terms of work distribution, Ahana was the main subject of the video, Emma was the Editor/second subject (arm), and I was the Animator/Videographer. After filming was completed, Emma had moved to the editing process (with additional work of adding foley), while I had moved to the animation. While I cannot speak much on the editing process, as Emma had taken the lead on that portion, I can, however, speak about my work on the rotoscope animation. I immediately gravitated to this part of the project, as I had previous experience doing animation before. I had quite a few ideas at first, but I couldn’t quite decide what I wanted to do. I did, however, know I wanted to make it eye-catching. After pondering for a while, I was reminded that I had been playing quite a bit of Just Dance recently, which is where I was sparked with the perfect idea. The use of blocked out bright colours was perfect for this kind of assignment, as it would be able to easily achieve my desired movement. I had separated each moving part/colour on different layers, like how you would for tweening animation, and went on from there, moving the sections based on the original video until it was completed.

Audio Art : Echo’s of Home

Concept:

The concept for this project was to focus on aspects of my early childhood. I really wanted to inflict emotions and nostalgia not only on myself but also on other listers. The main idea was to include the people most prominent in my early years, and of course, my younger self, around the age of 2-4.

Materials:

There weren’t many materials to use in this project, aside from the editing program, the USB drives, SD cards, and files containing all my home videos.

Process:

The process of obtaining all of the content necessary for this project was certainly long. To go through all the files took days, with each session of me sitting consisting of hours each time I sat down at my parents computer. While the process of getting the content was slightly painful (especially for my back), it was certainly rewarding, as I got to see memories that had been forgotten over time, as well as a side of myself I just simply wouldn’t be able to remember. After obtaining all the needed content, I switched over to the editing process of coupling clips where needed. Partially through editing, I had the idea to add another thing that was deeply a part of my childhood, which was a music box containing the song “You Are My Sunshine.” I thought this would be perfect to put in my audio piece, as not only is a music box something many associate with childhood, but it’s something very important to my memories.

Pauline Oliveros

I myself am very prone to listening, especially when it comes to music. Anything that relates to music, I will find myself listening to, without realizing it or not. I thought that Olivero’s idea of deep listening is quite endearing. There are always things that one is listening to, even if very small. Olivero brings sounds to life that one wouldn’t necessarily notice otherwise. There are multiple ways that someone can listen, one way being through their body. You can hear many things from your body, such as the cracking of bones, your breathing, and even your heartbeat. Many people who are hard of hearing will hear vibrations, for example, through their body, learning to listen that way. Understanding that listening can be done in many ways allows for so many more avenues of communication and creativity to spark.

Proposal:

Idea: My idea for this project is to use something quite personal to myself, that being my night terrors. Since the beginning of October I had decided to start keeping track of my night terrors as they had started to occur more frequently. The tracking consists of my notes app, containing the day, time, and what happened during that moment. As for actually portraying this as a portrait, I was thinking about using a video format, using the ticking of a clock with the stated times highlighted as well as the moon phase from that night as a additional visual aid.

Artist Reference: One of the main pieces that helped to spark my idea was the In & Out contemporary piece by Kelly Mark. I thought it was as excellent portrayal of dedication of her work and I thought this sort of “keeping track” motif would be a perfect inspiration for my Conceptual Portrait.

Hi everyone! My name is Keira and I am a second year student in the Creative Arts, Health, and Wellness program! I am from Windsor Ontario and my favorite art form is painting. I chose this program as it is a balanced mix of my passions and academic interests. I plan on going to teacher’s college after I graduate! I am excited about this class as I love conceptual art and thinking outside the box. I can’t wait to see what my peers and I make.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Make a Kilometer

“a lonely six”

For this project, I took a 1km walk and took a picture of every tree I saw on my left. I was expecting quite a lot of trees, yet there were only 6 trees for the entire 1km stretch. This made me reflect on how many trees may have filled that 1km stretch 50, 100, or even 1000 years ago.

I wanted my documentation of 1km to be something aesthetically pleasing because I relate nature walks to calmness, simplicity, and refreshment. I wanted to evoke that feeling through my display. my only materials were paper, a canvas, and my pencils. I wanted to use only paper to keep it very closely related to the trees.

Tree Pics + Proof of kilometer

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Create a FIELD TRIP blog post illustrating, describing and responding to two art works.

How are these works relevant to your own research interests and practice? 

I was really interested into this entire series of works, but this one “Lifeform #98” connected to me the most out of all of them. Firstly, I am a big fan of using words and poems in visual art as I think it is effective to use two different languages to share a message through your work. Secondly, this words themselves “it was fun while it lasted” stuck out to me as I am someone who dwells on nostalgia a lot and the idea that once something is done and over, the only thing we are left with is a memory.

The moving rocks were really stand-out to me because of how surprised I was when I finally witness their purpose in the gallery. When we walked on the employee told us not to sit on them, but I never suspected them to move on their own. This work is really relevant to me as I like to believe that all natural forms on earth have a life and soul of their own, and the rocks gliding across the floor with no one pushing them made it seem very alive and sentient.

What did you notice, learn, or take away from the experience of the works in the gallery?

One thing I was exposed to that I wasn’t familiar with before was visual art that embodies movement and physical life. The majority of the art I have created or consumed is simply inanimate with no signs of life. Not only this, but a lot of the work we saw was incredibly minimal with some pieces being made up of a single object, yet every work clearly spoke its own unique story and feeling. The Video art portion of the gallery was really compelling specifically because of the shock factor of the sound and score. That piece made me want to explore with shocking sounds in my audio art.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

One Feat, Three Ways

stella, ella, ola

• now where did it go……
• swore i posted the project here forever ago!

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Audio Art

“feed for me. do for you.”

My project “feed for me. do for you” is supposed to be an unsettling audio experience that is inspired by the harm of AI. I was first inspired by the sound of rushing water in a drain. The only two samples I used were the robotic voice and the water which I then edited to create many disturbing and unique sounds. This piece is intentionally uncomfortable, messy, and unpredictable, which I wanted to highlight with the abrupt and sharp ending.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Conceptual Portrait

Proposal

1. My current idea is to represent either my family or my Mum on her own through the amount of medication we/she takes.

• As a family full of chronic illness, especially my Mum, our health and routine heavily affects our daily lives.
• Unsure of how I want to document this, but I am leaning toward a method that showcases a large quantity or an extensive amount of days, with the same pills every morning and night.

2. Felix Gonzalez-Torres inspired me with this piece. I like how he uses one single thing, candy, yet when its in a large quantity it carries a completely different message.

Hi, my name is Julia! I’m a second-year studio art major with a minor in English. I started in the Bachelor of Arts general program last year and decided to declare my major in studio art after falling in love with the program. However, by the end of high school, I was pretty certain that I wanted to do something with studio art, but it wasn’t until a few months in that I realized that this was what I wanted to do. My goal from this is to become a high school teacher and be able to express my love of art to other people ( and hopefully inspire them as well).

Documentary – “The Artist is Present” By Marina Abramovic

Questions:

1. What are some of your first impressions of Marina Abramovic’s performance works, based on the documentary? Use an image/example of one or two works to describe aspects you admire, and aspects you might agree are problematic.

My first impression of her work was that it was very intense. As much as I love art, I cannot even think about sacrificing my entire life for it. For that, I admire her strength, perseverance, patience, and confidence that she brings to all her work. However, I do agree that various aspects of her work are controversial. For example, both images ( and most of her pieces) in a way risk her health, and there comes a point where you wonder if it is worth it to risk your life for the sake of performance, potentially. Along with everyone who is included in her performances as well.

1. What have you learned about the features of performance art based on Abramovic’s work? Name a few key features according to her examples. Include an image to illustrate. Consider her quote, “When you perform, it is like a knife and your blood, when you act, it is like a fake knife and ketchup.”

I learned how interactive and personal performance art is based on watching the documentary. For example, the importance of actions in relation to presence and time. I feel like that quote represents how she is performing reality, opposed to illusion, which is then part of the way she uses art to convey emotion, I think. Having the realistic element to it makes people think more about it and feel more.

Performance art resists many typical art world conventions in multiple ways. I feel like one of the main aspects of performance art that challenges this is the fact that performance is not a physical object; without video, there’s no record of it. Performance art becomes a moment, not a piece. Abramovic negotiates these challenges by performing in a way that creates an impact/ reaction, maybe? Her interactions with her audience, for example, create an impact both on the audience and whoever participates, making it memorable. Which, in this case, can become more of an artwork, or just as much as a typical, conventional artwork found in museums.

Km Assignment – Mind Exercise

For this project, I wanted to compare walking to typing to emphasise the automatic process that both hold and how they are a part of our daily lives.

To do this, I walked a Km, which ended up taking me 10:50 minutes, and I then typed for the same amount of time.

I find that when I write, I often reach a state of mind where I can type without thinking about it (when I have a good idea, when I have to do a repetitive task, etc.), and I reach a point where I can just keep typing. Another example could be typing out notes in class. I find that often I’m typing but not really retaining anything I’m writing down.

Which could be seen as just as much an exercise as walking in a way (and could often be just as productive, just mentally, instead of physically).

During this time, to emphasise my point about being able to reach this robot-like state of typing, I decided to write my stream of consciousness:

One Feat, 3 ways Video Project – Stella, Ella, Ola

Stella, Ella Ola – Video one – unedited

Stella, Ella, Ola – Edited

Stella, Ella, Ola – Animated

Turning the Gestures of Everyday Life Into Art – The New York Times

1. Describe the work discussed in the article and the unique challenges, as well as the unique gifts that come with attending to the archive’s personal movements

Katja Heitmann collected the movements of others by holding auditions to collect “donations” of gestures. In doing so, she essentially created an art installation based on everyday gestures through the process of unconscious gestures and remembering. While watching other people’s movements and recalling them, I think it’s interesting how the dancers overcome the challenge of remembering them. Through the actions of the dancers reinterpreting others’ gestures, it also reveals something about their personality.

2. Discuss one or two examples of movement in the article – what strikes you about them?

One example that stood out to me was the dancer describing how over a year ago she was surveying the actions of a 40 year old Ghanian women, and she noticed she was still copying her actions unconsciously in her sleep. I think that really goes to show when you’re with other people so consistantly you start to pick up on their habits and actions, along with how it is often something that is done without thinking. Which also could relate to how you not only pick up on others’ movements but also their personality and interests, which I think is also interesting. Another example that stood out to me was Tjan, and how he discovered that he tended to try to make himself take up less space as a result of this installation. I think it’s interesting how other people can discover things about you that you don’t even know. I also like how, with the discovery of this, he actually worked to overcome this by making small adjustments in his life.

I also like the idea of none of the movements being photographed or filmed and how it goes along with the quote, “In our current society, we are trying to capture humanity in data,” and how, in doing so, it creates something that is missing. Making the concept of the art almost counteracts this and brings some of the missing movement back.

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? How does the body type inform the movement? What do these examples of small movements imply?

My sister often twists her legs ( picture below its hard to describe) in a way that looks unsettling or uncomfortable to most people. Either when she is standing or sitting down. She usually does it when she is comfortable/ relaxing, or focusing. Which I can tell because it is usually when she is zoning out as well. I think it also has to do with her body type, as she also has long legs, and it could maybe be a way to confine space? This is something that I also do now occasionally, usually when I am standing, though. My brother rubs his ankles together, which is also something he does when he is deep in focus as well. For example, he is playing video games right now and has been for a while. Which means he could also be doing it unconsciously for movement when he lacks it. One gesture that I catch myself doing is fiddling with my necklace or earrings (which is something that I notice when I am not wearing either). I usually do this for several reasons, I think. However, it is usually because I’m either anxious or excited about something. For example, when I’m having a conversation with someone, or when I’m writing.

Field Trip!

Catherine Blackburn – sKIN

Lucy Raven’s “sKIN” work particularly stood out to me in the way that it is presented, but also the deeper meaning behind it. The work displays the scars on the back of a Caribu placed by a parasite ( a warble fly ). The stitching is made visible in order to honour the caribou’s endurance and the intimate knowledge of the Denesuline lifeways (who are known as the Caribou people). Which leaves the presence of the marks to mark their shared resilience of adaptation to the factors of population decline. I like the way that she portrayed this concept and how she turned the scars into something beautiful through illumination and intricate beadwork. I think that it brings a more powerful meaning to the message she is trying to convey.

Lucy Raven – Murderers Bar

Lucy Raven’s “Murderer’s Bar” also had a significant impact on me as well. To start, I think the way that it was portrayed was quite effective and important in grabbing my attention, with the large screen, a dark room, and loud speakers. It made me feel like I was actually there (which made me a little motion sick as well). I really liked the use of camera angles and sound effects to survey the area. It makes you able to view it in a way that you wouldn’t be able to see otherwise, which I think is really cool. Some specific parts of the video that stuck with me were when the drone was flying over the edge of the dam. To me, it felt very suspenseful and more alert, which I thought was interesting. I also thought the drone going in and out of the water was unique as well, especially how it felt like it was never-ending and almost uncomfortable. which is also why I liked the image on the left, because I finally felt some kind of relief after the drone left the water.

Audio Assignment – Are You Still There?

Description:

Looking back at an old video, I made the realisation that as a child, I used to sing a lot (and be more outgoing in general), and now I don’t (or can’t). Which made me wonder why this is?

As a child, you are usually unaware of what is expected of you and what behaviours you are supposed to obey, which means that there is little fear about what other people think of you, leaving you to feel more free.

Eventually, you become aware of how you are supposed to act. In my case, I felt like this meant I had to be quiet and listen all the time. I let this affect my life so much that now, as an adult, I feel like I’m unable to express myself fully. Especially in terms of voicing my opinions/ ideas/emotions, or simply being able to sing.

In this assignment, I wanted to express my concept by showing how this pressure has affected me, and I thought that the best way to do that would be through my own voice.

Through the recording, I begin with the sound from a video of me singing in my kiddie pool from when I was three. In this video, I was aware I was being watched, but I didn’t mind; there were no feelings of embarrassment or thoughts that I was being too loud. I was just happy to be able to dance and sing because it brought me joy. As the video goes on, I wanted to show how being consciously aware of what others expected of me made me feel like I was too much. This ultimately made me feel small and like I should not try to take up space. In doing so, it made me lose the ability to be able to express myself. By the end of the video, I wanted to portray how, even now that I am fully aware of the effects this has had on me, I am still unable to break free from this fully, and that, as much as I try to, I can’t seem to reach the same level of confidence and ambition that my younger self had.

Pauline Oliveros – Deep Listening

Prompt: Reflect on your own experiences of listening – to sound, to others, to your own environment, or to yourself. How does Oliveros’s idea of deep listening challenge the way you typically give attention? In what ways might listening through your whole body, or approaching sound as a form of play and research, change your understanding of connection, communication, or creativity?

Pauline Oliveros’s idea of deep listening made me realise that the amount of attention that I typically give to my surroundings is nowhere near enough. Even if I think I’m paying a good amount of attention to someone or some sound, my mind is still usually partly elsewhere. I think that I think too much; I’m never fully in a moment, even when I want to be, which ultimately restricts me from being fully open to my surroundings. This made me realise that the only time I am fully aware and present is when my body breaks down from the stress of moving too quickly, forcing me to pay attention. Usually, only then do I take the time to slow down and pay full attention, and listen. I always feel way better after I do, but I also feel like I get too busy to do it more often. I think that when I do, though, listening through your whole body is the only way to truly understand and learn (and make connections) anything about other people and even yourself. It’s amazing how much you can learn and connect when you just pay full attention for even a few minutes.

Conceptual Portrait

Concept idea:

I would like to buy a pair of high heels and cut off the heel (maybe glue the heel back on) in order to represent how I think I am viewed in society, as well as other girls who are taller than average. As I think it is probably fair to say, my height is typically the first thing that people notice about me.

There’s a pressure (especially from men) that makes me seem like I should be smaller. Especially in the stares tall women get, the uncertainty that is produced by them, the way I’m treated, and the various comments about my height that I get. I want to show how this sometimes makes me feel, and how it can change my appearance. By cutting off the heel, it shows how something that was once practical (fine the way it is) turns into something ugly and useless. I also want to express that this is not the way that I view myself, but the way I think other people view me and how that infiltrates my thoughts.

Jenni Granholm

Jenni Granholm is interested in the invisible struggles that everyone faces. She creates images that reflect the emotions that come with the pressures that women face living in a society where it seems like we are bound and living under the weight of expectations and demands.

She often hides her face in images to express this, but uses soft pastel colours to hold onto a feminine quality.

I am a third year student in the arts and science program, with minors in biology and studio art!

I decided to take this program because it allows me to study all my areas of interest. I’m hoping the result of this program is strong interdisciplinary skills and diverse career path options.

Marina Abramovic

The Artist is Present

1. What is your first impression of Marina Abramovic’s performance works?

My first impression of Marina’s performance works was shock by how confrontational and extreme they are, with each work testing the limits of both her and the audience. Specifically her work, Rhythm 0, which involves inviting the audience to use various objects on her in whatever way they wish, including knives, scissors, and a gun. From this work, I admire how it reveals the uncomfortable truth of how quickly people will become violent when given permission. However, I think it can be problematic to have this level of danger in a work, and risks aestheticizing this type of violence.

2. What have you learned about features of performance art based on Abramovic’s work?

Abramovic’s work taught me about several key features of performance art, including the use of the artist’s body as a medium in the work. Her quote, “when you perform it is a knife and your blood, when you act it is a fake knife and ketchup,” emphasizes the importance of including real life risk and consequences which cannot be achieved with traditional materials.

Duration is also a key feature, with most of her work lasting for prolonged periods of time, it demonstrates her commitment and endurance. Audience participation is also crucial, as the viewers inevitably become part of the artwork creating art through interaction rather than observation.

3. Discuss the ways performance art resists many museum and commercial artworld conventions. How does Abramovic solve/negotiate these challenges?

Performance art resists traditional artworld conventions because it is not an object to be sold or collected, it is an ephemeral experience that cannot be permanently displayed in an exhibit. Abramovic negotiates this by documenting/recording her performances to be viewed afterwards and occasionally repeating performances. I think this adds to her work because it broadens the audience as well as further conveying the value she places on endurance. This negotiation involves her work enduring a transfer into a system that is not built to house it, and I find it impressive that the intensity of her work can still be communicated through the documentation of it.

“A kilometre traveled in other realities”

Make a kilometre

For my “make a kilometre” assignment I didn’t want to treat the distance as something physical to measure, instead, I wanted to represent it as the mental and emotional distance I travel when reading. I chose books as my medium because reading is the way I experience movement without physically going anywhere. There is an aspect of escapism when reading books, specifically fiction, and I wanted to translate that into a kilometre.

To calculate a precise kilometre, I measured the length of each book in inches and multiplied it by the number of pages to determine the overall distance of that book. I continued adding and measuring books until I reached the distance of a kilometre.

This ended up being 13 books, 39,374.2 inches, and 4,732 pages. To others, this may just look like a stack of books, but to me this stack represents the hours of attention I devoted to these books.

The process of completing this project and the discussion during critique made me reflect on how I value the use of my time. As I was choosing which books I wanted to include, I picked ones that were meaningful to me, not realizing that they were all fiction. While reading fiction could be considered less productive than nonfiction, these books have all taught me something and changed me in some way. So I view my time spent reading them as valuable because time spent doing the things I love is not time wasted.

This kilometre was accumulated by pages rather than steps, marking a form of distance that resists visibility. With this kilometre I am highlighting that internal movement should be recognized as real, even if it is more difficult to justify.

Gallery Reflection

Fall Chute, Dianna Landry

Dianna Landry’s Fall/Chute immediately stood out to me in the gallery. It is a mural of motorized flip books that simulates the movement and sound of a waterfall in Quebec. What I found most appealing about this work was how it was activated by the viewer’s movement in front of a sensor, creating a direct response to the presence of the viewer. This made me very aware of my interaction with the installation, which is something I want to start focusing on in my own art. I’m currently brainstorming concepts for my next sculpture project and this piece has influenced me to incorporate some form of active engagement from viewers.

Greenhouse, Camille Jodoin-Eng

What stood out to me most about Greenhouse, by Camille Jodoin-Eng was the self reflection aspect of it. As I got closer to the piece, my reflection became distorted and fragmented. I enjoyed this type of quiet self awareness, as well as the use of discarded trash alongside the delicate glass which strengthened the shrine-like quality of the piece. Greenhouse made me consider how interaction with works can be psychological and symbolic, responding to the viewer through reflection and light. I left the piece thinking about how my own practice might incorporate this sort of inward reflection, where meaning emerges through the stillness and personal interpretation.

One FEAT Assignment

Amelija Le Moine, Grace Salsman, Nicole Manumbas

“The only failure is not to try.”

One-Shot

Sequence

Animation Loop

NYT: Turning the Gestures of Everyday Life Into Art

In the article “Turning the Gestures of Everyday Life Into Art,” choreographer Katja Heitmann describes her project, Motus Mori, meaning “movement that is dying out”. The work involves collecting the unconscious habits and gestures of people and preserving them through live performance.

There are some unique challenges to this piece, such as the ephemerality of having dancers being the living archive of these movements, which risks disappearing when the performance stops. There is also the challenge of authenticity to the original movement, with the dancers having to replicate someone else’s unconscious movements without distorting them. Unique gifts associated with this project include the resistance of the modern impulse to reduce humans down to their data. As well as the emotional response it can raise from grieving families as they see their loved one’s gestures performed, which becomes a way of remembering.

Mahat Arab’s “Anxiety Hands”

Mahat Arab cracks the knuckles of his left hand during anxious moments. What strikes me about this movement is how ordinary the gesture is, but in this context it becomes a signature of himself. When the movement is performed by the dancer, it becomes isolated and prolonged, almost becoming a nervous tic. It shows how a gesture tied to anxiety can become empowering when it is acknowledged rather than being hidden. I think this stuck out to me so much because I’m aware of my own gestures when I get anxious, and it makes me wonder what mine would look like if it were performed in this manner.

Habitual movements of 3 people I know

1. When my partner is trying to focus on something, he spins his ring around his finger. The movement is subtle, his thumb and index finger rotating it slowly, sometimes faster if he is deeply concentrated. His eyes narrow slightly and his body becomes very still, isolating the fidget to one small point. He is a very grounded, calm person, and this gesture doesn’t feel anxious it feels centering. The motion seems to anchor his focus, and reflects his controlled, present, and composed personality.
2. Every night before bed my seven year old niece goes into every room to hug each person before she goes to sleep. This hug is different from her usual quick hugs during the day, she sinks into it more and holds on longer. Her whole body relaxes and her arms wrap tighter, she always lingers as if she doesn’t want to let go too fast. The gesture feels intentional, suggesting a need she has for closeness and connection before she goes to sleep for the night.
3. My best friend and I work together as baristas, and I’ve noticed she always twirls the cup in her hands while she waits for espresso shots to pull, shifting her weight from foot to foot. She holds the cup in her left hand and uses her right hand to spin the bottom of the cup, sometimes pressing in slightly so it dents and springs back. She is an anxious person and very rarely stays still, so the movement feels like a release for her nervous energy. Even in a moment of pausing/waiting, her body still resists stillness, a gesture that suggests restlessness and constant mental motion.

Audio Assignment

“Rupture”

For this project, I wanted to explore sound as a way to express an internal experience rather than a straightforward story. This piece was inspired by a recent period in my life where I was forced to face the consequences of pushing myself too far and ignoring repeated warnings from the people who care about me. Instead of recreating the literal events that took place, I chose to focus on the emotional space of hindsight and what it feels like to sit with the words that I once dismissed.

My process involved recording myself reading out text messages I had received, as well as some verbal advice. I structured the audio so it shifts from the clear, external notifications into a layered, overwhelming space that represents a headspace where these warnings were distorted, fragmented, and replayed. The echoing, panning, and reverb was intended to create the sense of entering that internal mental space that experiences a gradual buildup of emotional and mental pressure, eventually reaching a point of rupture.

The very faint clock ticking at the end is meant to reinforce the presence of time, symbolizing the moments I lost due to this experience. For this, I recorded ambient noise in the living room of my house that has a large clock on the wall, which I spent a considerable amount of time listening to as I was recovering after leaving the hospital.

This is not meant to dramatize my experience, but to examine the psychological weight of hindsight and the human tendency to delay care. I chose this subject matter so I could sit with these messages and reflect on my experience so I don’t make the same mistakes again.

Deep Listening

Pauline Oliveros

I spend a lot of time commuting from Guelph to my hometown, and I always play music in the car. After watching the Oliveros video in class I started noticing how the song playing can affect my driving quite a bit. Faster/louder songs make me feel more energized, and sometimes less patient. Whereas calmer songs make me feel more relaxed and focused. This made me realize that listening is not just something happening in the background, it greatly affects my mood and attention.

Pauline Olivero’s idea of deep listening makes me think about how sound influences my body and behaviour. Instead of playing music automatically, paying closer attention to what I’m hearing could change how I experience the drive. If I treat listening as something intentional, it might help me become more aware of how sound shapes my mood and connection to the environment around me.

Conceptual Portrait – Idea draft

“Almost Twins”

My portrait is about my brother. It will be an installation consisting of two plates placed 11 inches apart on a white table cloth. On one plate is a pomegranate my brother peeled for me, and on the other is an orange I peeled for him. With the fruit peels, seeds, and juice remaining as evidence of the act.

Growing up, my brother and I were often treated like twins. We are eleven months apart so we shared birthdays, gifts, friends, classes, etc. When we were children, our Mom used to peel fruit for both of us, and now that we live together for school he peels a pomegranate for me when he meal preps on Sundays. In this portrait, I mirror that gesture by peeling an orange for him.

The system is based on gestures of care that mirror how we were cared for in childhood, evolving into how we care for each other in adulthood.

The two plates are meant to reflect our relationship as “almost twins” as we are similar but not identical.

My thinking for this piece was inspired by Untitled (Perfect Lovers) (1987-1990) by Felix Gonzalez-Torres. An artwork that consists of two identical wall clocks set to the same time, that eventually drift apart over time.

This piece inspires me because, like the clocks, my portrait uses paired objects to show similarity and difference in the place of literal portraiture. Both pieces rely on simple paired objects with minimal presentation to communicate ideas of shared time and the subtle difference between two people.

I am a second-year studio art major with a minor in media and cinema studies. I have always been interested in the nuances underlying art and the reaction a work can provoke so I planned on attending a University in the arts field but wasn’t sure where.

Guelph’s campus and community is what convinced me to enrol in its studio art program. I want to continue expanding my knowledge of art mediums, especially in the digital landscape, which is what made me take experimental studio.

Assignment One: A Kilometre+

To represent a kilometre, I decided to go on a kilometre walk and document every advertisement that I came across. My original idea was to collect receipts and sew them together to measure out to a kilometre, however, time and material become major restraints.

Consumerism has been a growing interest of mine, certainly due to the landfills most trending items find themselves in. So, building off my previous idea I decided to explore the role and impact of advertising on over consumption within real life.

When I think of advertisements my mind immediately resorts to digital marketing (commercials, pop-up ads, sponsorships, etc.) since ads predominate the digital realm. I wanted to challenge myself and see how many I can find in a mere kilometre.

Process/Measuring

I used a pedometer app to measure the precise kilometre I walked and displayed the advertisements posted alongside. I decided to walk through the town I grew up in, it yielded a lot more results than a section of Cambridge & Hamilton I did because more stores were condensed in a smaller area.

Materials & Presentation

I digitally recorded my findings but decided to physically create a document of the walk to give the piece both a digital and physical essence. I used my phone camera, paper, cardboard, glue, and staples to make the work presented on the left. By presenting the physical advertisements, physically despite capturing it all digitally I wanted to juxtapose my predisposed ideas of ads, which are digitally crafted and presented yet seek to sell physical commodities. By doing this I hope to promote discourse regarding the influence, and influx of advertisements, as well as, it’s harmful role in consumerism.

Results/Thoughts

I had a great time documenting and creating this work, I believe the display encapsulates my ideas most accurately and clearly. Nevertheless, if I were to do it again, I would make the presentation look cleaner and test out a variety of areas/walks to compare and contrast the density of advertisements in different areas.

Assignment Four: Conceptual Portrait+

Micah Lexier, A Portrait of David, 1994

Along with the Perfect Lovers clock piece, Lexier’s collaborative visualization of self intrigued me the most among the pieces we viewed. They made me reflect on the singular moments and years which construct our lives but also how moments merge together to create a unified picture.

Approaching this assignment, I wasn’t sure who I would represent or how and began thinking about my connections with the people in my life. My sister and I were incredibly close growing up but don’t get to see much of each other anymore. One way we remain connected to going to concerts together of our favourite artists, music has always been our primary bonding device, and I thought utilizing that connection for this assignment would not only accurately represent who she is but our relationship to one another.

I often associate past times or people with the music I listened to during them or with them, hearing or seeing those songs years later carries memories along with it. I want to represent that through my conceptual portrait; however, I have two ideas to approach it in particular:

Idea One: burn a cd with 23 songs: each representative of a year of my sister’s life

Idea Two: place my sisters cd collection in order of first purchased to most recently within a cd holder, and have the collection be the piece

What are some of your first impressions of Marina Abramovic’s performance works, based on the documentary?

I had seen Abramovic’s performances of The Artist is Present and Rhythm 0 on social media years before watching this documentary, specifically her performances of endurance: sitting in silence with strangers and, in Rhythm 0, allowing them to do whatever they wish to her. They always stayed with me because of their unique and revealing nature of humanity. The documentary allowed me to discover her oeuvre, and despite its violence, I found myself admiring her dedication to her art. Her work walks the line between art and shock value, sometimes stepping to one side or the other. For example, in her work Rhythm 5, she carves a pentagram into herself, a rather grotesque and uncomfortable sight, which I do not believe was a necessity to convey the meaning of the work. Nevertheless, Rhythm 0 was a novel work that showcased people’s capabilities and destructive tendencies, despite likely causing Abramovic more pain than Rhythm 5. I can understand why people would see it as unethical and problematic; however, her work has pioneered performance art, and when presented in the proper context, it can be incredibly moving, inspiring, and almost unbelievable.

What have you learned about features of performance art based on Abramovic’s work? Consider her quote, “When you perform it is a knife and your blood, when you act it is a fake knife and ketchup.”

Performance art requires as much physical exertion as mental effort; it takes immense confidence, strength, courage, and determination to build a career in performance. Viewing Abramovic’s works changed my perspective on what performance art is and can be. For example, her work with Ulay Relation in Space felt pointless and harmful when I first saw it. However, as I kept watching and learning about the medium and her works, I realized it captures life in a way no painting could. The art is as alive as the audience; everything that occurs may be more real than life itself. The audience and their provoked emotions become a component of the art. It transforms the viewer through a unique experience, exemplified by some of the people who sat across from Abramovic in The Artist is Present. When interviewed afterwards, many told the documentary that it altered their lives, showing that it is distinctly different from conventional art media.

Discuss the ways performance art resists many museum and commercial artworld conventions. How does Abramovic solve/negotiate some of these challenges, and do you find these compromises add to, or undermine the ideas at play in her work?

Public art is generally expected to remain in a single spot, be available for most of the day, and be static, allowing museums to display a variety of work consistently and efficiently. Performance art disobeys all previous conventions of art; it has no monetary value, is limited, requires performers, requires more space, and can be unpredictable. Having an exhibition as a performer would not be possible, since each work requires the performer at all times. To address this, Abramovic’s exhibition at the MOMA included earlier performances of hers that used other performers to execute the works. Seeing the same performance with different performers separates the artist from the art, making the meanings feel more communal but also less of an experience. What is unique about performance art is that an audience is together viewing and thinking about the same work, and being in a gallery setting makes them assume a gallery mindset. The viewer does not put as much thought or attention into works that would otherwise have the whole room’s eyes.

 Turning the Gestures of Everyday Life into Art by Zoey Poll 

Reading & Response

1. 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?

2. Discuss one or two examples of movements in the article – what strikes you about them?

3. Describe the habitual movements/unconscious gestures of 3 people you know well. How do individual body parts move, and how does the whole body interact? What about facial expressions and the emotional valence of the movement? How does body type inform the movement? What do these examples of small movements mean and imply?

Toronto Galleries

The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery

Murderers Bar by Lucy Raven left the biggest impression on me of all the pieces we viewed in Toronto, in which a vertical screen sits opposite a set of bleachers for audiences to watch the release of the Klamath River after the removal of four hydroelectric dams. I was surprised by how many emotions it managed to provoke in me through the various sequences of the river flowing, particularly how the camera’s perspective can influence the interpretation of events and meaning. The play between the aggressive audio and peaceful visuals encapsulated the pressure and institutional tension perfectly, conveyed through an approach I would not typically understand and a form I do not usually enjoy; it made me appreciate the practice more. I do not know why I overlooked it initially. I have a passion for film because I love the combination of audio and video to portray human complexities. Video art does the same thing through diverse techniques. The experience gave me a greater passion for producing video works while teaching me new storytelling techniques.

The Onsite Gallery

The concept behind Becoming (in the light of the miracle) exhibition at the Onsite Gallery truly caught my attention. With the normalization of AI technology across all electronic media, exploring the influence of technological advancements on culture and society was insightful and informative. Sarah Friend’s series of memory forms transforms NFT identities by representing each with thought-like text, overlaying soft circles of colour. I had almost completely forgotten about NFTs. When they initially rose in popularity, I disregarded them because they seemed useless. Seeing them again in this context made me realize how many digital trends almost disappear after the next popular thing, how many digital creations were left to die. Framing them in a way that nearly humanizes each identity gives their demise new meaning. It was such a unique perspective, seeing them as their own entities rather than creations of man, that it made me reflect on the relationship between man and machine, as well as on how I incorporate digital aspects into the works I produce. I find that visiting exhibitions helps nurture new ideas for creating and expands my interests and pursuits. Additionally, I always leave feeling inspired or motivated to make something of my own that evokes the same emotions as the works I previously viewed.

 Pauline Oliveros: Deep Listening 

Reflect on your own experiences of listening — to sound, to others, to your environment, or to yourself. How does Oliveros’s idea of deep listening challenge the way you typically give attention? In what ways might listening through your whole body, or approaching sound as a form of play and research, change your understanding of connection, communication, or creativity?

 I recently wanted to lay down for a nap, which I often did in my first year on residence, and found that the car engines and motion sounds of people which I hated so much at the time was all I wished to hear. I think I often find myself too overwhelmed or distracted by sounds to give them enough appreciation. Reflecting on Olivero’s idea, I initially thought of how I constantly listen to music when walking or working alone in public. I constantly try to ignore the ambient sounds around me. Similarly to the NYT article we read on gestures, I think I try to avoid making too much noise or speaking to others because i’m scared of saying the wrong thing and therefore, give more attention to providing the best response instead of simply listening. Furthermore, I spend too much time mentally configuring my thoughts and ideas rather than actively sharing and listening to others’ ideas.

Approaching sound as a form of play and research diminishes the fear I feel to speak and allows me to deeply listen. It removes any pre-determined reaction I may have to a certain sound or interaction and encourages me to experience the soundscape around me. I believe deep listening will strengthen my connections and ability to connect with others around me, because it reframes the way I view interacting with others and my environment which much of my creative inspiration tends to stem from.

About Me!

I am a second-year, Bachelor of Arts Honours student. In elementary and high school, I had my entire future planned out, surrounding dental schools and orthodontic specialties at schools out of province. Nearing the end of high school, barely passing my chemistry class, spending all of my time crying in an art room to my teachers, I finally realized that reaching my goals PROBABLY shouldn’t make me so miserable. My art teachers told me I should seriously consider a pathway in art, telling me about their experiences in University (most of them went to Guelph!). I decided I’d consider it, but I hadn’t spent years planning to be an art teacher, so it seemed impossible. Two of my teachers allowed me to take student teacher positions in their grade.9 classrooms and I immediately knew teaching was a much better fit than what I’d been working for. I am from Guelph(ish), and when it finally came down to choosing schools, I was in a place where I couldn’t imagine (or afford) leaving home. I am so lucky that the most convenient school for me is one of the greatest, both in regards to the art program aswell as the community.

Marina Abramovic

1. My first impression of Marina is how incredibly strong and brave she is. She creates art that she knows will bother people. She knows many won’t understand her. She knows it takes a specific headspace to feel what she is portraying, but she continues to create. I think that this speaks to her passion to create for herself, and for a specific audience, rather than to “succeed” or receive recognition. Her undeniable endurance is incredible. Rhythm 5 (1975) was briefly mentioned in the documentary. This piece began with a large wooden pentagram being lit on fire and Marina tossing pieces of herself (hair, nails, etc..) into it, she then threw herself into the flames. This performance was incredibly dangerous, and Marina lost consciousness during it, but she continued to perform despite harming herself and receiving backlash. Despite controversies, she is a very admirable woman and artist. The pure emotion people feel simply by sitting across from her speaks to the impact she has.A quote that stuck out to me was “with Marina, she is never not performing”, I feel this is displayed fantastically with her endurance piece The Lovers (1988), where she and Ulay walked from opposite ends of the Great Wall of China, for 90 days, to symbolize the end of their relationship.

2. When discussing preformance art, state of mind was mentioned multiple times within the documentary.

“it doesn’t matter what kind of work you’re doing as an artist, the most important is from what state of mind. preformance is all state of mind.”

How an artist can take an audience, of any demographic, and move them to feel things, and enter a similar state of mind to which the artist is in is a beautiful and important ability.

“you have to create your own charismatic space” “for most pieces, people stop and look for 30 seconds. People stay here all day”.

Preformance art considers so much more than just how ‘cool’ something will look. It is about changing a space, and untimatly changing people. Creating something that doesn’t just change a headspace for a moment, but becomes something that people look back on and reflect on those feelings many times.

3. Preformance art is constantly resisting what is commercially considered art, even as art styles change. When preformance is how the art is being communicated, the medium is the body, this is directly challenging the viewer. The art we see most frequently is created to appease an audience, it’s familiar and safe, the mane goal is to look pleasent. With preformance, if you are not willing to feel the emotion, you won’t understand the art. That is incredibly challenging to market to an audience, as many people simply do not understand, or wont LET themselves understand. Just based off of what I saw in the documentary, I didn’t particularly notice Marina compromising to fit in to these social ideals, although I could be wrong, if I am not I consider that incredibly admirable.

1 Kilometer ; The Cost of Going Nowhere

A trend in my art style is creating based on what I’m currently passionate about.

To me, a kilometre has so many meanings, but in my current headspace, I knew I wanted to make this about travel by car. As a commuter student in a long-distance relationship, and someone whose car is my most prized possession, there were a lot of different ideas flooding through my brain. I reflected on what an overarching theme in all of these concepts was: I pollute our planet, A LOT! 

To briefly summarize my ‘performance’, driving one kilometre is such a minuscule act in our minds; it’s a couple of seconds in the car. We all know cars are not good for our planet, but do we really know just how bad they are? Do we really recognize the magnitude of one kilometre?

Most of us are ‘environmentally conscious’, we don’t use plastic utensils, cups, straws, or bags. 

My “muse” for the math in this project is my dad’s Dodge Ram.

This truck burns 0.2L (200mL) of gas per kilometre. If I gave you a jar with 200mL of water in it, that would not make an impact.

Burning 200mL of gas produces roughly 500g of CO2. 

Producing 1kg of plastic emits roughly 2-6kg of CO2.

That means the emissions of 200mL of gas is equivalent to 0.5kg of plastic. 

300 plastic straws

30 plastic lids

18 plastic forks 

15 grocery bags

9 plastic cups

Using this amount of plastic would eat up our conscience; many of us would never use these things, it is incredibly immoral.

The production of each of these emits the same amount of CO2 as driving just one kilometre. Driving across campus is a task we view as insignificant, but that is equivalent to using nearly 100 plastic forks. Why are we so woke when it comes to using a straw but not driving down the street? 

I wanted to make everyone as angry as I was. I want us all to reflect on whether driving one kilometre is worth avoiding that 15 minutes of exercise. If you wouldn’t use 300 plastic straws in one day, why will you drive that one kilometre?

One Feat, Three Ways

Paulina Oliveros Notes

Before learning about Pauline Oliveros, I thought of listening as something mostly passive, just hearing what’s around me while doing something else. I don’t notice the sounds around me as I focus on my phone or even on the people around me. Oliveros’s idea of Deep Listening challenges that habit by suggesting that listening is an intentional, embodied act, centred on presence. When she describes listening as a spiritual path and an embodied practice, it makes me realize how rarely I listen without preparing a response. Especially in conversations, I often listen to reply rather than to understand. If I listened “through my whole body,” I imagine I would notice tone shifts, silence, rhythm, and even my own physical reactions. Listening would become like a relationship instead of a transaction. Her idea that “play is the greatest research tool” also reframes sound as something exploratory rather than controlled. Deep Listening suggests that connection begins with attention, and that paying attention fully is both an ethical and creative act.

Audio Art

Introduction to Me

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

I chose to walk for a 1 km and show how the person becomes smaller with each passing time. In this busy chaotic life, we find few people we want forever in our lives, but destiny sometimes have other plans. I wanted to convey that by walking away from the camera and not looking back.

It was quite a task to film this and make it look as I want. I did not really realise how stretched 1km actually is until I deliberately made sure I walk exactly that even after the recording got stopped. I went at that exact same location twice but different days and by then the weather had changed. That made me realise how a person’s mood changes with their surrounding and how I felt two completely different emotions walking that same distance at the same place. This assignment has a very unique title- 1KM. My video does not necessarily show exactly what I wanted to but while working on it I have had unexpected realisations which made me learn more about life. (Helped me on a good cardio session too!)

I will attach a failed attempt in a different location because I am not afraid of failures.

title- I hate you?

About Me!

Hello! I am in my third year in the studio arts program at the University of Guelph, and my main focus is painting. I grew up surrounded by art; my family was divided 50/50, half engineers, half artists, but I didn’t start taking my art seriously until the lockdown. My high school art teacher really encouraged this path for me, and I have stuck with it. Outside of art, I really enjoy swimming and hiking!

Walk a Kilometer In Someone Else’s Shoes

The act of “putting yourself in someone else’s shoes” means to experience things from their perspective and to learn about them. The way we walk is something so personal to us that isn’t often represented. There are many aspects that make an individual, the way we hold ourselves, the way we write, the way we express ourselves. Walking is a small part of that, one that is often overlooked. Each person has a different one, some drag their feet, some walk on their tiptoes, some favour one leg to another. The different shoes brought different conditions aswell. Some were muddy, some had a heel, some were only meant to be worn indoors. Each variation creates different marks which are reflected through the different rips and crinkles in the paper. 

What’s the Rush?

Pretty

Animation

1. 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?

This article is about collecting  people’s small, everyday movements, like cracking knuckles, raising eyebrows, or hiding their thumbs. Katja Heitmann believes these tiny gestures are part of what makes each person unique. Her project is called “Motus Mori,” which means “movement that is dying.” Instead of filming or writing the movements down, her dancers memorize them and perform them in slow dance shows. The project turns ordinary movements into art and helps preserve what makes each person different.

2. Discuss one or two examples of movements in the article – what strikes you about them?

1 that stood out to me in particular, was the older man. The older man is interesting to me because he is situated face to face with the younger woman in the other box, almost as if he is using her as a mirror. They are the only act situated towards each other as if they are looking at eachother. I find the parallel between their ages and genders interesting because it suggests they are different though similar. I also think the way he seems focused on his own movement while she watches him is interesting, it almost feels like the idea of surveillance, having your little habets watched and recorded by people.

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?

Habitual movements are interesting because they are something I know very well about someone, but I’m not sure they know of themself. The first thing that comes to mind for me is my mom; she has a habit of tapping her nose when she figures something out, a habit I have adopted as I get older. If we’re doing a puzzle together and we figure something out, she will point at me, then tap her nose and point again. We asked her about it once, and she said she thinks of it like “I know it” which translates to ‘I nose it’ subconsciously. This movement always comes when she’s relaxed and happy, and is something my family associates with having fun. Another one that comes to mind is my girlfriend has a habit of twitching as she’s falling asleep. They only come in that moment between sleep and awake, and have become a measuring point for me to tell when she’s getting tired watching a movie or lying in bed. The minute she is fully asleep, they stop, but it is a sign of relaxation for her

Hi, I’m Audrey a second-year studio art major on the varsity fencing team. I love doing sports like swimming or skiing also I have two cats.

Why did you decide to take this program? What do you hope it helps you do or become?

The reason why I chose Guelph’s program is firstly because it was recommended to me to several people, one being my high school art teacher and an artist I know who went here and told me I would be a good fit for me. The program allows me to continue pursuing art along with other academic studies like history which I find is necessary to gain a more well-rounded education but also just because I like learning different things. Additionally, although there are programs like Guelph, I could have gone to I found the community like atmosphere I felt from this place which I found welcoming. I hope this program eventually allows me to get a better understanding of what I want to become in the future and to get a BA, so I have more options for my future.

The Artist is Present Documentary

What are some of your first impressions of Marina Abramovic’s performance works, based on the documentary? Use an image/example of one or two works to describe aspects you admire, and aspects you might agree are problematic?

Some of the first impressions I got from the documentary on Abramovic’s performance works made me uncomfortable and I felt several of her works made me feel sick. A large amount of nudity is a part of her performance art which makes me feel uncomfortable seeing but the part of her art that makes me feel the most uncomfortable is the violence and harm she puts herself through. The acts of violence that was shown being done to Abramovic to herself and by others makes me feel extremely disturbed at the actions. While it’s definitely admirable that she’s tough enough to even do any of this stuff showcasing human endurance. One of the pieces of Abramovic that I find worrying is her performances in the Rhythms (1973-74) where these specific pieces brought physical harm to herself to do. In Rhythm 10 she plunged a knife between her fingers only stopping after cutting herself 20 time while in Rhythm 5 she lay in a wooden star that was set in fire where she eventually passed out due to a lack of oxygen.

In Rhythm 0 Abramovic laid out 72 different items for the members of the audience to use any of these objects. Some of the items provided were items like a pen, bell, rose, bandages which are relatively harmless but other items were chains, saw, axe, and a loaded gun. While the beginning of the performance started relatively tame though still something I find to be inpatriate it quickly turned more and more violent,

“When a loaded gun was thrust to Marina’s head and her own finger was being worked around the trigger, a fight broke out between the audience factions.” – Mc Evilley

What have you learned about features of performance art based on Abramovic’s work? Name a few key features according to her examples. Include an image to illustrate. Consider her quote, “When you perform it is a knife and your blood, when you act it is a fake knife and ketchup.”

To me this quote means that what Abramovic work is the real connection between the audience and herself as well the real pain and discipline she uses to create these performances. That performance art should be real no using fake blood or knives like in acting where the audience knows everything is performed. While in performance art it’s supposed to bring out a real sense of discomfort that the Abramovic is could bring real harm to herself in the process of the performance. I think a really good example of this is the pain Abramovic had to endure for The Artist is Present performance where people were able to genially connect with her in a real way that wasn’t just superficial and performance.

Discuss the ways performance art resists many museum and commercial artworld conventions. How does Abramovic solve/negotiate some of these challenges, and do you find these compromises add to, or undermine the ideas at play in her work?

Performance art pushes the boundaries of what has been considered art. Usually art is something physical that can be displayed in art museums however with performance art usually requires immediate interaction with the audience which questions the conventional way art has a physical object. Performance art asks the audience to sometimes even become a part of the art which can be seen in performance. Abramovic is able to do this with her audience, challenging them to interact with her art even when it makes audiences uncomfortable. However, she also is able to work with these museums by documenting her performance art through videos allowing a much wider audience able to experience her art.

1 Kilometer Project

The Kilometer Hunt

For this project I wanted to focus on something that I could do physically, and my initial ideas were sports related or perhaps to make something physical. But I decided that my ideas to make something physical would be too expensive and there would just be not enough time. I didn’t really like my initial sports ideas very much and could not think of how I would execute them. The idea I eventually decided to do was a kilometer walk of wildlife. Basically, the original idea was to look for animals and take pictures of them. Due to it being winter the chances of finding and spotting animals lessened, so I decided to look for any traces of life in the winter.

The process to actually execute my idea involved me to actually be able to see any signs that animals were there, which meant I needed to go to a place that is abundant with animals despite it being the winter and involved me having to be more observationally aware on my kilometer walk. I decided to walk in the arboretum which is known to be a haven to wildlife and offers a diverse range of habitats for these animals. Initially I blindly walked through the Arboretum and didn’t really have a plan taking pictures of trees and videos of noises I heard but soon found it to not be what I wanted as my final piece.

To increase my chances of finding wildlife I decided to use some methods that hunters will use in the winter to hunt their prey. Firstly, I went to the part of the arboretum with lots of wetlands that would eventually lead me to a small lake, as all animals need food and water even during the winter. I thought that would be my best bet for finding any wildlife in winter and on the way, I was actually going to look for signs of wildlife using the fresh snow to look for any animal tracks from walking around in the snow. As a way of showing the wildlife I found I decided to document these footprints by taking pictures of them as I didn’t want to destroy the tracks by touching them. What I wound up with is that the animal tracks were in fact more concentrated where any water was.

To track my walk while looking for signs of wildlife I used the Strava app to measure my walk in the arboretum to exactly 1 kilometer and to help me not get lost. At the end of my walk, I had found a variety of different animal footprints from rabbits, birds, and other wildlife like foxes.

My final piece was created after gathering up all the photos I took on the walk and decided to use the best-looking ones to me and make them into a sort of collage or quadriptych to show the different places the animals where and the variety that were there. Initially I thought to make all the photos black and white but decided to go against it to emphasize the idea that life still persists even in the winter rather than it being bleak and gray.

I chose this idea of finding wildlife specifically because I wanted to really challenge my observational skills to spot these tracks and not mistake them for just water that had warped the snow. To see if I could really pay attention to the environment around and that even in the dead of winter life still lives on even if it might be harder to see.

Final Image for the Kilometer Project

Then in the end I choose my 4 favorite images from the photos I took and using the Strava app I overlaid my own trail on top of my images to show my own path on top of the animals. If I were to ever show it in a gallery, I would most likely print the work as it is to hang it up.

Blog Questions NYT article

1. 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 is a collection of people’s individual movements from how they walk to how they stand, basically a collection of people’s mannerisms. The artist behind this work, Katja Heitmann, believes that everyone has a movement that’s exclusively theirs and her project Motus Mori relies on a group of 10 dancers to record these individuals’ movements through copying them. As Heitmann decided against photographing it or filming only having one card per donor which leaves the dancers to record the movements through muscle memory. The entire challenge that seemed to have come up through this art is that people volunteering their movements to Heitmann were sometimes tempted to perform their ideal selves by sitting up straighter and not being truly authentic to themselves. One of the unique gifts that seemed to have come out of this piece of artwork is that these dancers would get to understand the volunteers so well that they would sometimes subconsciously imitate their mannerisms in their own lives.

2. Discuss one or two examples of movements in the article – what strikes you about them?

One example of movement in the article comes from Tjan who discovered from the dancer that interviewed him that he hides his thumbs in his palms which made him realize that the way he moves his body is to take up less space around him. To make himself more seen he has decided to change his wardrobe to be brighter and more colourful so you can’t miss him.

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?

My mom has the habit of when she takes off her glasses, she’ll poke herself using the end of her classes on her forehead. For myself, a habit that I often do, usually when I’m happy or I win something I will lift my leg behind me in what I’ve been told is cutesy. You can actually see me doing this pose in one of my photos in the blog. While one of my dad’s mannerisms that I’ve noticed is that he will make an odd face sort of like a surprised face at odd times. To me what these mannerisms imply is that my family is very odd and although not stated I feel a lot of my mannerism we get from each other.

Jan 30th Field Trip

How are these works relevant to your own research interests and practice? What did you notice, learn, or take away from the experience of the works in the gallery?

Fall/Chute by Diane Landry

One work I found rather interesting was Fall/Chute by Diane Landry who made a mechanical mural made of motorized flipbooks that recreated a waterfall. The piece would be triggered by any movement which would bring the waterfall to life. The idea of bringing life to something mechanical is something I find really interesting, but what really intrigued me was the idea of water as a legal and spiritual entity.

Murder Bar by Lucy Raven

The second work that I thought really stood out to me during the trip was the Murder Bar by Lucy Raven. Here the artist uses aerial and underwater cinematography to record the river flow after being released from a hydroelectric dam along the Klamath River. During the video we get views of sediment being moved around by the water then lifting out of the water again and again. This interests me specifically since I’ve always had a fascination with the environment and especially water related stuff. What I learned from this is that video art can be really impactful.

One Feat, Three Ways Video

For this assignment my group came up with several ideas but landed on doing wedgies as our feat. We thought it would be a funny thing to do for our feat. Initially we didn’t really know the way we were going to go about filming it but eventually settled on keeping a serious face to contrast against the absurd feat we were doing to emphasize the absurdity. 

Practice/Test Shots

Initially we thought I could wedgie Claire without also being in the shot. One idea was to have Claire face me as I wedgied her from behind but that was quickly dismissed, then we thought we could have me and Claire sideways as I stood off screen and wedgied her. We tried other positions like an aerial view or have Claire wedgie herself however we decided to use a pulley system to do the wedging.

Video 1 – One Shot

In the one-shot video we decided to do a panning shot that started at Claire’s feet and slowly went up until we got the wedgie in the shot. Since we didn’t want me to awkwardly be in the scene, we initially thought that Claire could wedgie herself, however it was hard to do that for a minute. The solution we came up with was to use a pulley system to give Claire the wedgie. Either Claire could wedgie herself with the pulley system or I could, we eventually decided for me to do it. To get the shot we used the stairs, using the railing as the pulley system with me standing at the top of the stairs and Claire underneath with a white backdrop behind her. I then edited the video to add the credits and the title which we named Jolly Jumper as in one shot the pulley looked like a Jolly Jumper.

Video 2 – Edit

In this video we used different shots of Claire being wedgied in different and even some absurd positions. One example being Claire being wedgied as she is spun around as if she were not on the floor.

Video 3 – Animation

This feat we did for the project personally reminded me of a musical that I really like called Nerdy Prudes Must Die by Starkid where one character Ruth Fleming is killed by the ghost/zombie of Max Jägerman who bullied her. Jägerman had died after a prank gone wrong resulting in Ruth and her friends hiding his body to cover it up. Ruth after being finally free from her bully finally starts dreaming of her future and aspirations in the limelight. However, Jägerman comes back to take revenge on Ruth by killing her he does this by wedging her to death.

Ruth’s Death

Just For Once – Nerdy Prudes Must Die Starkid

To me both the musical Nerdy Prudes Must Die and this feat’s video use wedgies as a comedic tool. In our Jolly Jumper videos, we used the idea of a wedgie while Claire kept an emotionless, serious face, to contrast the absurdity of a wedgie, which is often used as a comedic trope in film, against the serious nature of when a wedgie is used as a tool to humiliate and bully people. 

Pauline Oliveros

Reflect on your own experiences of listening — to sound, to others, to your environment, or to yourself. How does Oliveros’s idea of deep listening challenge the way you typically give attention? In what ways might listening through your whole body, or approaching sound as a form of play and research, change your understanding of connection, communication, or creativity?

Oliveros’s idea of deep listening is foreign to me personally. They only real time similar to deep listening I experienced is that in high school I had to create a video and couldn’t use copy right music, so I chose to make my own. The basis of it was sounds of rain pouring that I had recorded in front of my house. Usually, I live on a busy street but on that particular day it was really quiet except for the rain. I listened to it a lot, but I also added other sounds on top of it. I approached that sound with intention which is odd for me because I usually like to use music to drown sound out.

Audio Art Assignment

When I was thinking about the project I thought about Pauline Oliveros and the idea of deep listening. Sometimes I will take videos of things I find interesting. One of the many videos I’ve recorded over the years was of a clock ringing its bell. This clock specifically was the Orloj which is an astronomical clock tower in Prague. It is a historical and cultural landmark of the Czech Republic that has a gothic style design. The clock tower has a historic story that is very interesting as well as being an engineering marvel of its time. The Orloj dates back to around the 15th century and according to some legends was created in 1410 by Hanus. Supposedly the city councils at the time, in an effort to maintain the tower’s uniqueness, blinded Hanus so he could not create anything similar. In retaliation Hanus broke the clock mechanism but it was eventually repaired. Whether this was true or not the tower is certainly a mechanical marvel. A more recent historical event for the Orloj revolves around World War II on May 8, 1945, during the Prague uprising against the 7-year rule under the Nazi’s, the clock tower was damaged by the Nazi’s using armored vehicles.  The calendar dial on the clock received severe damage as well as many of the figures. However, three years later Vojtěch Sucharda was able to repair the mechanism and the wooden figures. 

During a trip to Czechia, I actually got to see the Orloj clock in person and was able to get a recording of the clock ringing.

Using that audio for this project I decided to layer and edit different sounds to create an audio piece that depicted the cycle of peace and war. Starting off with a peaceful start of the bell ringing with the sounds of rain and a group of people watching the clock tower. I even added sounds of children laughing to just try and show how sudden war can occur. Eventually the sounds of explosions go off and the audio becomes quieter until it eventually becomes louder and louder as the clock rings. Leading to more explosions until the audio finally ends using the clock tower ringing with people watching. I was trying to bring people into that moment with the added explosions to evoke the history of war and destruction and a return to peace that occurred. 

Test Orloj Audio

Orloj

Conceptual Portait

Artist Inspiration: Kelly Mark

Idea: Show the time I spend at my job last summer use the recording of the time I was there or (ask my employer if the scanner thing that checked me in everyday had took my picture and if it did ask for the images)

Time + Physical Labour = Money