Tehching Hsieh

    I chose to research the performance artist Tehching Hsieh; I became attracted to his work when I took Thrasher's 2000 class when we looked at his piece with Linda Montano. After researching his pieces I appreciated his work even more because of how much thought went into each one. His pieces aren't just about discipline and focus; when looked at as a whole, his six performance pieces are an evolution and progression of time. His idea is that time becomes the main thing; how he passes his time isn't his main concern. It doesn't matter what he does, he simply passes time.
    In an interview Hsieh was once explained that the sense of loneliness and difficulty of survival that many of his viewers take from his pieces is only part of his work. He explained that we don't really look at survival that closely. "We pretend to smile. We are taught to say that everything is OK, we are in control, even if we are not. There is a need to be positive in public. But art is not doing that. We try to tell the truth in some way to touch part of it, to not be so typical." His kind of work is not about suffering; it is about existence. After reading this quote, I had one of those "YES" moments inside of my brain.
   I often feel isolated, and so I decided to up that feeling by not talking for 24 hours. It was a simple idea, yes, but even for a quiet person such as myself it became more of a challenge than I had expected. In Hsieh's "Cage" piece, he also did not talk, but with his piece he didn't communicate in any way. Since I had work, I had to be able to communicate somehow with the people I work with, so I chose to write down anything I had to say on notecards. While at first I thought that it would take away from the isolation of my piece, I soon found out that it may have emphasized it. In many cases at work I did have to write things down, yes, but there were also numerous instances when I chose not to because I felt that it wasn't important enough. By not talking I also became more isolated because for those who simply said a hello while walking by and didn't get to read my notecard explaining my project, many of them became sort of angry at me or thought that I was mad at them. Others talked really loud at me, perhaps thinking that because I couldn't talk I couldn't understand, pushing me farther from my normal self. My piece made me question how involved I am with my life. After a while it became pretty easy to not talk, to take a step back and listen.. to simply exist. It made me question how I would be if I got the chance to fully replicate Hsieh's piece and fully isolate myself for a year, and also made me appreciate his work even more.

Tehching Hsieh

I am researching Tehching Hsieh. When I took Thrasher’s 2000 class I learned about Hsieh’s work, particularly his piece with Linda Montano. For one year the two artists were tied together by an eight-foot rope. They weren’t allowed to touch each other throughout the duration of the piece. The artist statement they both provided before and after was amazing, because it really showed how much the two grew together over the course of the year. At first they had fights; they didn’t always get along. But in the end, both had an enormous amount of respect and admiration for the other. Hsieh even made the statement that even after the rope comes off, they will still always have an emotional connection, an invisible rope, binding their lives together. This really attracted me to Hsieh’s work because while outsiders might see his pieces as a sort of punishment or quest to torture himself, but I believe there are deeper meanings behind each piece. Since the timeline for each of his pieces is so long, his meaning and purpose for doing the piece grows over the course of the year and allows him to really develop his idea, even if it is just through simple actions like punching a time clock or being in a cage. Since my timeline to complete my piece is much shorter than Hsieh’s I find myself at a standstill. Many of Hsieh’s pieces put him in harsh conditions, such as the cage, living outside, or being tied next to another person. My idea for a piece would take longer than the time period given to see any real progress. I originally thought about limiting what I eat each day to one can of chick peas and drinking only water, monitoring my weight, but I don’t think I would have enough time to see results. Because of work I can’t do a piece that would require me to be in a cage or outside for 24 hours.

I am making art

This piece is a reenactment of John Baldessari's 1971 performance piece "I am making art." I chose to also incorporate another series of pieces that he became famous for by putting a dot over my face. Baldessari came to fame by questioning what art is through his work. He created pieces to make people really think about what art is, if it really has any concrete definition. Today we have endless technology that allows us to make art in countless forms, and we are no longer constrained to painting pretty pictures. Aesthetics have lost their power. While a piece can be pleasing to the eye, some are meant to scare or even make us feel uncomfortable. Others are created to raise questions. I chose to recreate Baldessari's piece because I question myself as an artist. Can I really claim to be one? I'm an art student who is assigned projects and then I do them. But when I think about genres such as performance art, I can't help but to also ask myself if I am making art without even thinking about it. Performance art can be private. So how I get ready in the morning could be considered art. The way I walk, is an art. Reading about and watching Baldessari's piece, "I am making art" flipped on the switch for the lightbulb in my head that art doesn't have to be some intricately detailed drawing, sculpture, or painting. Art can be simple. Art can be art because I say so. So this video is me.. it's me making art.

Left vs. Right (Cumulative Acts Project)

We live in a right-handed kind of world. It doesn't seem to matter much that ten percent of us are lefties. Every day the left-handed people are forced to accommodate to many gadgets and items that were strictly created for the vast and domineering right-handed power. Spiral-bound notebooks, 3-ring binders, ball-point pens, can openers, and the old-fashioned desks in the art history room make life difficult and frustrating. The problematic items mentioned are only a few from the vast list of everyday materials. It’s saddening to know that because many items are made strictly for right-handers, multiple studies have concluded that lefties live up to nine years less than their superiorly numbered counterpart. This fact unfortunately aids the numerous oppressive names lefties have been called over time and perhaps sheds light as to why the dictionary is against the southpaw population as well. The Oxford English Dictionary defines left-handed as meaning crippled, awkward, clumsy, inapt … doubtful, questionable, ill-omened, inauspicious, and illegitimate. As stated earlier, we live in a right-handed world. Now that I've explained the background a bit, here is my proposal. Every day, for five to fifteen minutes I will teach myself how to write right-handed. Since I am a student, the problems I face with pesky binders, notebooks, pens, and even pencils (due to the unavoidable fashion statement of graphite on my hand) seem to be the most prominent obstacle I face because of my handedness. Starting March 22 and ending April 22, I plan to write the alphabet (Aa Bb Cc etc.) during my set time interval. As each day passes I hope to not only improve my ability to control how neat my writing appears, but also to be able to write faster. Ideally by the last day I will be able to pass myself off as a right-hander and be able to write with my counterparts. I will document each day by writing the date in the upper right-hand corner of each piece of paper I use. I will time how long it takes me to write the alphabet one time to see if I get any faster as each day passes. For presentation purposes I will have photographs of each page as well. In the end all of the sheets of paper will hopefully show a gradual progression as I practice writing more. My proposal deals with process because each day I will focus on what I am doing that day; every day I want to make my handwriting look as best as I can.

use your imagination..

I can't be the only one.. everyone goes through a period where their creativity is just, well, nonexistent. Unfortunately for me, this happens pretty much every single time I'm assigned a project. I get all worked up racking my brain to try and just think of something.. anything that isn't going to end up stupid or boring. Pretty spectacular, eh? Something you've never heard of before.. an artist (or in my case most times, a wannabe) trying to come up with an original idea. Who'da thought.. So, after thinking and thinking and thinking about what to do for this assignment, and after recording numerous amounts of pointless footage, I found my idea by simply looking at my notebook. "Use Your Imagination." That isn't always easy.. but seeing those three words sparked my thought process. I decided to create a scene in which I'm assigned the dreaded open-ended assignment. Sometimes I really hate artistic freedom, hah. My short film shows me sitting, fidgeting, and thinking about what I could possibly do for the vague assignment. I come up with a possible idea (one that I had thought of back when I took 3-d art for a possible diorama idea) that ends up being ridiculous because I don't have the means of doing it. I get frustrated and want to give up until I glance down at my notebook and read the words, "Use Your Imagination." This signals the lightbulb inside my head and I have my idea. The film ends with the words, "go create" as an inspiration to all of us who struggle to simply let our imaginations lead the way.

close your eyes..

For my sound project I chose to create the classic nightmare of being chased. The scene is supposed to be in a sort of mystified area, perhaps a creepy forest with mist rolling across the ground. The person is walking along, already nervous about being alone, then proceeds to run, breathing faster as the tension rises. An unfamiliar voice calls/screams out, making the person run faster, until she is grabbed and her neck is broken. Its a bit of a, well.. dismal ending, but dying in a dream has always been one of my least favorite of nightmares to have (if there is such a thing as categorizing them :s) Also, for a change of perspective I went back and forth from the girl's view to the scenery around her..

sound preview --turn it up..