Response to Michael's Personal Space...

I thought you took this project in a direction that none of us considered. Nearly everyone in the class took the project guidelines and interpreted them in similar ways, doing strange things in public as to attract attention from the general public. You, on the other hand, brought your own (perhaps exaggerated) personal issues into others very personal space, rather than into a public sphere. Bravo!

weekly art show...

This week, I treated the viewing of the various Personal Space Projects as my weekly art show. It was quite a strange transition from being the performer (or artist) to being the viewer in a matter of a couple days. Whereas when I was performing my piece, along with Danger Dane, When people would give us strange reactions, it would seem super lame to us...it made me think that they were pretty stupid for not being able to make the connection that  we might just be doing a project, rather that standing around, "forgetting to take our meds" or something. When seeing the works of other students from other sections as I went about my daily business, however, I found myself jumping to similar initial reactions that my own viewers must have jumped to. Rather than immediately placing the bizarre girls sleeping in blankets on the side of the bike-path in the "artistic" category, my mind would quickly skip the rationalization, and move straight to the confusion, and misunderstanding. Not that I could see my own face, but I could have sworn I made the same strange facial expressions while passing the other art students as I received while doing my project. After passing a couple projects, I made the connection shortly after, and made an effort to backtrack and take a closer look, as to not just be another uninterested passer-by. This change in positions, from "artist" to viewer, wade this project quite interesting.

Day 68: LINKS TO WORKS...

PUN: http://thecircadianchronicles.blogspot.com/2011/04/week-one-project-documentation.html
NEXUS (TRUTH/FICTION): http://thecircadianchronicles.blogspot.com/2011/04/breaking-news.html
ALTERED ACTIVITY: http://thecircadianchronicles.blogspot.com/2011/04/day-10-switch-up.html
CONFESSION: http://thecircadianchronicles.blogspot.com/2011/04/week-four-project-     documentation.html
NARRATIVE / SEQUENCE: http://thecircadianchronicles.blogspot.com/2011/05/day-39-free-for-allnarrative.html
ACT OF KINDNESS:  http://thecircadianchronicles.blogspot.com/2011/04/day-27-random-act-of-kindness.html
AlTERNATE IDENTITY: http://thecircadianchronicles.blogspot.com/2011/05/alternate-identity.html
PERSONAL SPACE: http://thecircadianchronicles.blogspot.com/2011/06/weekly-project-documentationpersonal.html

Day 67: RESPONSE TO FEARS / CONCERNS...

In the second post of the quarter, I wrote about my fears and concerns as follows... http://thecircadianchronicles.blogspot.com/2011/03/day-2-concerns-fears-hopes-for-this.html

I believe that all of the fears and concerns I initially had for the class were completely justified, or rather, turned out to truly apply to the course (which I could have fully predicted considering I write this post after only one lecture), however, I think that my main concern, that is, that the course would seem fairly convoluted, proved to be why I liked the class as much as I did. This "messy-ish" nature of the class is what made it so enjoyable. It became a break from the heavily regimented and outlined properties of most other courses one might experience at a university level. My initial fears shape-shifted into what were my favorite aspects of the class, and for that, I am quite surprised.  The last fear I expressed in the aforementioned post revolved around my worries of over-interpretation. I found however, that the class didn't really ask for me to do this, but instead, offered a platform for more free-form examination.

Weekly Project Documentation:PERSONAL SPACE

Danger Dane and I set up our project on the running trail on the shore of the lagoon nearest to Manzanita Village. We recorded an audio loop of crunching bones, chewing, swallowing, roaring, and burping noises, and played it through a speaker hidden in the bushes on the hillside opposite the lagoon, across the running trail. Just in front of the speakers hiding spot, we placed a sign with warnings posted all over, including an eye-witness sketch of the lagoon monster itself, as well an LA Times article with two new headlines reading "Lagoon Monster attacks campuses nationwide", and "Monster Strikes one Victim so Far". Closing off the running trail, we tied caution tape from the lagoon's fence to the sign. To top off the visual aspect of the piece, we laid a real cow Femur (nice and disgusting with pieces of meat and tendon intact) in the bushes, easily visible, as well as carved claw prints into the dirt trail, leading from the lagoon to the bushes. As people passed, we stopped them, and warned them of the risk in passing, and suggested that they stay away from the bushes, keep moving, keep their limbs away from the bushes, and to leave their food if they decide to pass. Most people didn't ask any questions whatsoever, and followed our instructions, obviously weirded out by the creepy sound effects. The funniest reaction we got was when an older woman walked by...listened to our warnings...and as she was walking away, stopped, turned, and asked; "Art department?". I guess it was that obvious...
Overall, I think our project received some great public reaction!

Here is a slideshow documenting the photos Danger Dane and I took of our Personal Space project, inlayed with the audio recording we had playing from behind the bushes. Enjoy!

Day 66: CLASS INTEREST?

I think both the "Beyond the Studio" and the "Artist As Activist" classes seem extremely interesting, and would be into taking both of them. I also think these two classes would work extremely well together, for the majority of "activist action" takes place in the public sphere, not within a studio, crossing over into the realm of taking art outside of its conventional boundaries. I've always been very interested in political graffiti, and in the course description, it mentions that the art activism class would include workshops in stenciling and poster making, both closely related to this, and both of definite interest to me. I feel like poster making would be extremely useful in the future, even outside of a strictly "artistic" setting.
I hope you get these classes Desiree! I'm on Board!

Day 65: FREE FORM

For this free form, i thought I'd share this photo...This is documentation of the FIRST time I've ever successfully done this...Im pretty damn proud of myself.