14, December, 2004
An Attempt At Blurring The Boundaries Between Life And Art
After taking a seminar on Public Art I have realized how much influence public art has had on my life. Throughout this paper, I will follow the evolution of public art within the context of my own projects (six in total). I also recently discovered the dominant reason I feel the need to interact with the public. My father was an alcoholic and left our family at an early age. I kept in contact with him for awhile, but we were never close. I haven't spoken to him in almost five years. I am not completely conscious of all the effects this lost connection has on my life. My father was also an artist, which brings me back to why I make art. Art has become the vehicle that allows me to try to make up for the lost connection with my father.
I think this is why I am so fascinated with audience interaction and participation, which, at a root level, is about blurring the boundaries between life and art. As human beings, we have a tendency to focus on the most disruptive events in our lives. More often than not, those disruptive events have something to do with a lost connection with someone about which we care deeply. These disruptions are problems that we can all relate to because we have all had them. This ability to empathize with one another allows for the possibility of a common understanding among all of us.
The first project I will discuss is the "World Peace Prayer Fountain," which I worked on in the summer of 2000. My friend's dad was commissioned for this project, which was installed at the new Fayetteville, Arkansas, Town Center. The fountain is a bronze globe, 10 feet in diameter, that "floats" on a reflecting pool. On the surface of the globe, sculpted in relief, is the phrase, "May peace prevail on earth," translated into over 100 different languages. Having the opportunity to work on this project was exciting because it was a massive outdoor public project. I felt as though I was contributing to a cause bigger than the personal projects I was working on. After working on this project I became hooked on the idea of public art. I felt as though this was art that had real purpose. It was about putting something positive back into the world, and about giving something back to the community in which one lives. With this idea in mind, I started reconsidering my own projects, but I knew I couldn't just jump into public art. I had to ease myself into it. As every artist must do from time to time, I had to reevaluate why I was making art.
The next project I would like to discuss is one of the first successful installations I ever did. It was the final project in an installation art class. I had a project in mind when another one of those disruptive events happened; I had lost a connection with a close friend. When certain disruptive events happen in life, it is hard to focus on anything but those events. So the project I was working on came to a screeching halt. I didn't know what to do as the final rapidly approached and I couldn't come up with any new ideas. I approached my teacher with this dilemma and she gave me some good advice: why not take the thoughts and feelings I was having, and turn them into a project of their own. So that's just what I did. The title of my installation was "Where are you?" Within the piece I had a video projection of myself looking around for something or someone. Through my facial expressions I tried to convey a sense of loss and anxiety, which can be more difficult than one might think. When viewers approached this piece, they were presented with the video projection, along with a cube made out of mirrors. Inside this cube was a video camera that recorded the image of the viewer. The video camera was connected to a projector in order to project the image of the viewer into the same space I was in. Even though the viewer was now existing in the same space that I was, I still couldn't find them. This relates to the fact that I had lost a connection with someone who was still present in my everyday life; in fact, we would see each other quite often, but were no longer able to interact the way we had before. In a sense, I was no longer able to find the same person I had once known, hence the title "Where are you?" One could consider this installation existing in the public realm, for it was in a space that was free and open to the public; however, its accessibility was not the best since it was on campus in an institutional setting. Most of the people who interacted with the piece were probably situated in the academic setting. Conceptually, however, I think it was a public piece because it addressed issues of private versus public, and the integration of the viewer into the piece. It was no longer about the physical art object and was instead more focused on the experience of interaction. This installation needed to be placed in a more public space so that could be accessible to more people, but that was not possible at the time.
After working mostly by myself, I decided it was time to collaborate with other people. For awhile, a friend and I had had an idea for a political dance party, the name of which would be taken from a popular interactive video game-Dance Dance Revolution (DDR). But all we did was talk and nothing was happening about it. Finally we decided to get our act together and execute this project. After enlisting the help of a good friend, we started to work out the details of the event. Performance and audience participation were our main goals. As advertised on our flyers, there was a discount for attending the event dressed completely in black and red. The color combination was an aesthetic choice that stemmed from the political concept behind the event to create a uniform look. The motto for the performance was "a party for the party." Although the political views behind the concept were not completely defined, we appropriated a revolutionary socialist stance. As a performance, people who attended the event were encouraged to dance with the help of "enforcers." During the night we had three video projections running, one of which was a dance propaganda video we had all made together. The sole purpose of this video was to inspire people to dance. The other two projections were live video feeds of the dance floor itself; in other words, people could see themselves dancing on the projection screen. By coming to the event and dancing, the audience was unwittingly able to participate in a performance art project. Without the help of people coming and dancing, this performance would not have succeeded. In short, the focus of the concept was centered around the experience of others coming to this event and dancing. In that aspect, I would say this project was much more public than the previous installation discussed. For one, the setting was at a bar, which seems more like a public space than a university gallery. However, there was still a limited audience we were catering to, which was those who like to dance, are over eighteen, and who possibly lean towards the liberal side of politics. This of course does not mean there weren't exceptions. Not everyone who came danced. However, I do think almost everyone who came had a good time, and at the core, entertainment was an important goal. We wanted people to come, have a good time, and for a brief moment, forget about all the problems in their lives and simply live in the moment-carpe diem. We were never too serious about the political aspect. We were more interested in the absurdity and humor of combining dancing with a political revolution.
In the vein of collaboration, the next event I want to discuss is the "Red Balloon To-Do," a multi-venue art walk staged in Lawrence, Kansas, in September 2003. This project was definitely one of the largest events I have ever helped with. The concept behind this event was to get as many people out to experience as much local art as possible. We had six different venues: two art galleries, three houses, and one studio. In order to draw support and attention, those who attended were asked to donate one dollar, which bought them a red balloon that they would carry to each venue. We all felt that a bunch of people walking around with red balloons would draw the kind of attention we were looking for-and it did. In total, the event represented over 120 local artists. As part of the promotion for this event we organized a "balloon mob" that descended upon Kansas City's First Fridays, which is another art walk that takes place once a month. First Fridays were probably what ultimately inspired the Red Balloon To-Do. The balloon mob consisted of a group of us walking around downtown with a large number of red balloons and flyers. It was quite an effective way to advertise, especially since it was basically a public performance that was advertising a public art event. As an event I feel it was definitely more public than the Dance Dance Revolution. The Red Balloon was more accessible, there was no age restriction and you didn't have to dance. It was free to those who honestly couldn't afford to donate a dollar, and it was downtown and in local neighborhoods. Dance Dance Revolution didn't have any of these qualities, and so I view the Red Balloon To-Do as more public than DDR. Overall, I felt the Red Balloon To-Do was a successful event, because a large number of people came out to see local art, which was the goal!
After my involvement in these collaborative projects, I decided to focus more on solo projects. The Red Balloon To-Do inspired me to do an interactive installation that involved balloons. This installation took place at the Grimshaw Gallery in Lawrence as part of an art show. I started playing around with the idea of projecting on balloons. Aesthetically, I was fascinated with how a projected image looked on a three dimensional surface. Reflecting back on "where are you," I also wanted to use a mirror somehow. I wanted my installation to be simple and easy to interact with so I used the cliché "red button," which when turned on by the viewer, controlled five white balloons and caused them to rotate. When turned on, the spinning balloons would just barely touch a wall of more white balloons, causing the whole wall to jiggle slightly. Projected on this wall of balloons and the rotating balloons was a video I produced using Red Balloon footage mixed with found footage of blimps and other balloon-related material. The wall of balloons was set up in the window of the gallery in order to attract people walking by to come in and see the art show. The final touch was a large mirror that was angled behind the balloons in such a way that it allowed the video to be simultaneously projected on the ceiling and the balloons. There wasn't a strong concept tying this piece together. It was more of an experiment focused on audience participation and the aesthetic of projecting on balloons.
This brings me to my last major project, which is called simply "connections." I had come up with the idea for this piece and was trying to decide where and when to execute it, when I realized that the second annual Red Balloon To-Do in Lawrence was coming up. This event would be an ideal setting because it was already planned to be a large public event. The first dilemma I encountered was that the event was rapidly approaching and I would have to work fast. The second dilemma was, that I was not completely familiar with the technology I needed to use. Fortunately, I was able to sort through these problems and everything worked out. When deciding where to install this piece I really wanted it to be as public as possible, because that is what the piece was really about. I decided it had to be outside of the gallery, on the sidewalk where anyone walking by could participate. This presented a bit of a problem though, because anytime you place something in the open, especially public art, you have to give up control over it. I became more acquainted with this problem when someone decided to break part of my installation. Fortunately, this happened right after I finished the performance and was cleaning up. I guess some drunk guy came by and decided he wanted to destroy something. I'm not sure why he did it but perhaps it was because he wasn't able to understand what I was trying to do. When people don't understand something they tend to become frightened. So maybe this guy was simply reacting to his own fear, not to mention the drunkenness factor. These are all risks one must take when participating in public art.
In this piece, pedestrians were presented with a mannequin that had a plexiglas face. Projected on the face was a live video feed of my own face, which was transmitted wirelessly (for practical purposes). In front of the mannequin was a microphone and a pair of headphones, which were also wireless (again for practical purposes). I was hidden back in the Olive Gallery so that people would not know where I was. I also had headphones and a microphone which allowed me to communicate verbally with the corresponding set outside. Furthermore, I set up a spy camera so that I could see the people outside. The whole purpose of this performance was to connect and collaborate with the public. The inspiration behind this piece was a combination of the realization I had had about my father, and the public art history course I was taking. I wanted to stage a performance that allowed me to connect with people on a tangible level. I was again trying to move away from the art object and focus on a specific ephemeral experience. Since one of the inspirations behind this piece was taken from the shaky relationship with my father, I decided to distort the video and audio transmissions within my piece. The video of my face had lines going across it and the image would cut in and out occasionally; furthermore, the audio was a bit quiet. I did this because I wanted the connection I was making with the public to be a little shaky in order to tie into my own personal shaky relationships. Everyone has lost important connections in their lives that ultimately have a lasting effect. The common experience of this loss provided the underlining link that connected me with the audience. This idea might not be understood at first glance, but I believe that it is there, hidden in our subconscious. And since it is probably in our subconscious there is no way to be sure that it is even there, so I think our minds simply have to make that leap.
After examining these works as a whole, I begin to see the similarities between projects. I mentioned the first project because it was my first hands-on experience with public art, and I think it influenced my progression as an artist. Reflecting back on these particular projects, one can see how there is a common thread that runs through all of them-audience participation and interaction. After studying public art, I can see how there needs to be interaction with the public in order for it to be a successful endeavor. Otherwise public art becomes removed from its audience and no longer has the same impact. This concept reminds me of a quote I recently discovered from Mary Jane Jacob: "This art is dependent upon a real and substantive interaction with members of the public, usually representing a particular constituency, but not one that comes to art because of an identification or connection with the art world...This work deals with the audience first: the artist brings individuals into the process from the start, thus redefining the relationship between artist and audience, audience and the work of art. This work departs from the position of authority over and remove from the audience that has become a hallmark of twentieth-century Western art. It reconnects culture and society, and recognizes that art is made for audiences, not for institutions of art." I came across this quote right at about the same time I was playing around with these ideas in relationship to my artwork. This serendipitous timing seemed to bring everything into focus and ultimately allowed me to realize the "connections" performance. And now I know the artistic direction I truly want to pursue: interactive public art.