Performative Sculpture Part I (structural study and motion)
My initial idea came from this kind of ear-ring/stud.
Normally its leg is a circle, and when putting it up or down, one needs to twist half of the circle 90 degrees and then spin it into the ear. So my idea for the structure is to have the axis which extends from the motor twisted in different directions. And then change the circular rotation into vertical back-and-force motions. Because the axis is not in one plane vertically, the horizontal lines would not move together in order, plus there are different radiuses for each part’s rotation, the transformed motions show a bit of randomness.
I also happened to see one piece of work “kiss” by Feng Zikai, a Chinese painter in the last century. I saw a kind of abstract and graphical metaphor for love from this painting and the two teapots.
Zikai Feng, KISS
So back to my project, I want to insert similar things into the motions. By putting two structures facing each other, I intend to show people’s longing, pursuit and engagement for love.
Wet wipe packed as a condom -> the package and its relationship with what has been packed inside
Interestingly, I later found that similar packages – square, with zigzag edges, just exist everywhere in our life with various sizes. Then again, why should some people be obsessed with the condom’s appearance and make such wet wipe products indicating harassment? The packaged pillow is the representation of what has been packed, association with sleep, sex and “wake up”. There’s no need to be over sensitive with such package and make products carrying harassment meanings.
Something like “so good to have this feel of wet”, “can we have once?” etc.
Initially I only wanted to use some transparent paper(green or no color) to wrap the pillow. But when looking for materials in 823, I also discovered the laser filter paper, and think it’s good to show variety and a dreamy feeling. So I ended up making the package a bit like collage, which was made up of different paper and packages. The edges were covered by food packages, which seemed a bit distracting in some people’s eyes. I felt like there’s a contradiction. While the three aspects of life are somehow connected to each other, including them all in the package makes this work a bit overwhelming with info. If there’s another chance, I might try simplify the outlook yet clearly convey the ideas.
Growing up in Suzhou and spending college life in Shanghai, one thing I have noticed many times outdoors is the construction sites. Fences in the middle of the road, annoying noises… In the meantime, I do enjoy the convenience in life that construction brings such as the metro. And I also ran into such strange but beautiful patterns formed by construction materials.
This really amazed me. It’s even a bit sci-fi and futuristic. I started to think about the art of these cold constructions.
Sex and physiology
From about high-school, I have noticed how my, and many peers’ life, lack enough sex education and started to this issue seriously. Personally, I was once disturbed by gynecological diseases and didn’t wear bras with the right size before college. And I also saw more peers, especially girls, experienced, or are experiencing these things just because we don’t have enough awareness to confront, discuss, and not to mention, appreciate sex along with physiological knowledge that follows. Therefore, I always want to ask: what on earth does sex mean for people, beauty, enjoyment, or fraud, suffering? Why are people sometimes oversensitive to sex?
Starting from sophomore year I began to have sex life. Luckily I have been enjoying it. This is not arrogant, but I think it’s interesting to observe through a girl’s experiences and development of mind in sex and physiology. But meanwhile there are still improper understandings, news or even crimes regarding sex happening. So it’s important for me to explore and form even better understanding of sex and physiology, and, tell others about it.
Happiness/humor
My interest for this subject matter aroused when I saw something on social media where an old artist-like man saying all art comes from dark experiences in life. “People with no suffering don’t produce real art.” I read out this strong claim and fell into thought. Can’t happy people generate art? Do negative feelings always have a stronger impact than positive ones in artworks? At least so far, I recognized myself as a positive person with good “subjective-well-being” in everyday life. So I kinda want to disprove what the old man was saying, which is to show that happy people also produce real art.
Discuss your first project based on the reading, research on other artworks.
Traditionally, we see art works as a kind of expression of the artist’s emotions, with clear authorship. However, what Marcel Duchamp and his readymade work like Fountain brought was “irrational” art with less clear meaning. By using pre-existing objects which the artist has no control over, the work of art is not about one’s psychological space, but rather, pushes forward “the curiosity of its production” (Krauss 76). The object I chose was a wet wipe packed as a condom. I have seen such wet wipe more these years, with clear sexual undertone. Some art critics claims that Duchamp’s Bottle Rack has sexual undertones by its shape.
1959 replica, on display at the Art Institute of Chicago
But these ideas are all based on the viewer’s “answer” to the work. So, despite the condom shape of the package, it depends on the viewer whether or not to attach meaning to the object and what meaning it is.
One crucial point is that there are some changes made to make the original objects art. For example, physical repositioning for Fountain and deflection of geometry for Brancusi’s work. According to Krauss, this physical act also reminds viewers that this very object has been transferred from our ordinary world to the realm of art (77). That is to say, changes that remove the object’s original function plays the bridge between the two realms. Similar repositioning happened in Tracey Emin’s work My Bed.
Tracey Emin, My Bed, 1998
On the other hand, Brancusi’s deformation seems more like a kind of aesthetic reform that explores a matter’s placement in the world. Either way, what stands out is the position of objects and the narration behind it. Like Krauss remarks for The Beginning of the World, “placement is all.” (86) Therefore I was also thinking about the effect of “repositioning” for my wet wipe. I finally decided to hang the package up, both for removing its function even more and highlighting its emptiness.
“Wet Wipe”Sketch 1
In addition, it’s worth mentioning that I did identify different ideas viewing other readymade projects. First, although Tracey Emin used pre-existing objects for My Bed, the arrangement of objects was originally done under quite strong emotions, and more or less leads people to guess her feelings expressed. Also, different from the unclear context in Duchamp’s work, some work of Ai Weiwei, such as Forever, implies the big pattern of local culture and history in China.
Ai Weiwei, Straight, 2008 (response to the 2008 Sichuan earthquake)Ai Weiwei, Forever, 2003
For my work, I do think there are cultural clues hidden behind, but I’d like to let people think freely as long as the package has a big “Wet Wipe” marked on it.
Sketch and write out the project concept, what changes you would like to make to them and how you think you can make them (using what tools and etc.)
The object I chose was a wet wipe packed as a condom (or with other regular wet wipes). Starting from a certain time years ago, disposable gloves or wipes packed like condoms emerged in our life especially in delivered food. Some even have vulgar and bad words on the surface. One can tell they are designed deliberately to let people make associations. For this certain object, its function is purely to store a piece of wet wipe aside form the sexually suggestive shape/appearance.
“Wet Wipe”
This sets me to think about the relationship between outside packs and things inside. What if the package contains something else or nothing? What does the serrated-edge package really contain, cleanliness, dirtiness, guarantee, offense, human desire?
So, the first change I want to make is to split the packs and take the wet wipes out. Then hang these empty packages under a wood stand, by white or transparent thread. This underlines that the pack is empty. The stand will be made using the bandsaw and sanding machine. I need to be accurate with the stand’s shape to make sure it will stand steady. More adjustments by the sanding machine should be expected.
So far I’m still considering whether to hang one or multiple packages. It seems hanging a single one highlights the object and avoids different packages’ messy colors.
