IPP research [H2]

1. Trinity

I don't even know if this can be considered as an art work, but I found some interesting connections with the last hand-out (the cycles). The film is called "Dexter" and he is investigating a killer who commits a cycle of murders: he kills 3 people every year in the same location, in the same way, as a ritual for those who he has lost many years ago. His sister was killed in a bathtub, her mother jumped from the top of a massive building and his father got beat to death. The ash of his family motivates him to do this ritual and to choose his victims according to his dear and lost family and to kill them in a simmilar way, in simmilar locations, so that he accomplishes a full cycle every year: firstly he kills a young girl in a bathtub, than he pushes a married woman who has 2 children from the top of a building and then he beats a father of 2 children untill he dies. This is his code, his ritual, the expression of his feelings, his "art work". The art is considerated as a NEED, not a luxury, but a need that may haunt and push someone to non-existent boundaries.
The stucture of his work is progressive and the theme and the variation are very obvious. I looked more attentive to his movement while making his ritual and I can say it has a natural pattern, progressive rhythm and it definately has a narrative.
2. Species

 I was looking more carefully at Gemma's piece's structure. The creative process that I have been through is more easy to understand now that I have the hand-outs about the structure. I enjoyed the way we all developed the movement from little gestures, we amplified it and the addition process is more clear for me now. The narrative was not clear, or maybe inexistent, but there was definately a very interesting collage of ideas in this work. Saying out words with no sounds, moving from the heart, using all senses, climbing walls, being up-side-down and moving like a creature- all came out from a simple observation of some tarantulas.

3. Salsa

 My third piece of art is the salsa culture. This week-end I have been researching about how salsa came to life and it is incredibly interesting. It is actually a fusion of manifestiations of different african sclaves that have travelled from their tribs ( Yoruba, Bantu and Efik) to different places like: Cuba, Dominican Republic, Miami, Ney York, etc. This dance represents different rituals toward many Gods that belong to old religions like Santeria. It keeps changing by adding intruments, by playing with rhythms and by repeating some lyrics/words/sounds. The duration of any song is for about 3-4 minutes and it has a clear narrative, as the lyrics talk about love stories. During my research I have noticed the development of this culture, the way it travelled and what transformations it had suffered, its relation to the gods and people. The slasa is danced all over the word by people who don't even know each other but they use the same language: dance.

Ipp reflections

Fiona- Even if we both chose a scarf and a source of light, our experiences were so different. The first thing that came up to my mind was the interesting way that you have embodied the scarf. You also found very intelligent images to work with and your amazing focus just captured me into your movement. I am glad that my light source helped you and I think as well it offered you a larger variety of ways to explore the duet: movement-light, actually the trio: movement-light-scarf, actually (sorry for that) the quartet: movement-light-scarf-me. (if that makes sense). Your exploration was very inspiring to watch and wellllll done:)

 

Julia- What a special light source!!! in your movement I could see the fact that there were a lot of memories and feelings for you within the Christmas lights. Very strong images came to me watching you decorating yourself with those lights, maybe even making them a part of your body, you can even develop your work by using more lights and making more connections between the lights-your body-audience. I loved the way you have created the space and turning them on and off was the surprise ellement of you work. Working with the wall is also an intelligent choice as you had the chance to explore shadows. I also enjoyed your dinamics when you turned them in the air, it was the explosion moment. Really nice and natural "performance". Welllll done:)

 

Joana- You really showed me you din not like your scarf, you body just refuses to come in contact with it. I enjoyed the way you played with the idea of scarf as transport tool, you are always creative and funny. At the beginning you were far away from your objects, but at the end of your little piece you actually were in contact with them, so in life it always takes a little while to get used to be in contact with materials (even people, attitudes?) that you don't agree or like, but the close exploration of it makes you become larger as an artist as well as a human. Very nice exploration Jo! wellllll done:)

 

My own experience- I was very attracted by the little candle and by working through my senses. Today (Friday) I went back into the studio and explore this play and a lot of ideas came into my head, so this is surely the idea that I want to keep exploring and see what comes up from it. I also felt a curious relation to my audience (maybe becase we are all so close). Here you find my score for my exploration:

                   Fall up and down through the breath

                   Find moments of stillness on the floor or in the air

                   Breath...

                   Use the voice and the material

                   Turn off one of your senses and find the fire...

                   Allow the warmth and the light to caress your skin...

                   Breath and enjoy...

Working with projections

My Reflections

A session with Amy Voris and Christian Kipp

Student: Oana Rotariu

• Working with projections represents a new type of work, that I have enjoyed to work with and it opens a new variety of possible performances for my final work.
• During the session I felt that working with the main light off turned me into a more active body (rather than making me feel sleepy), maybe because I was very excited about the session.
• While moving I was looking at relations between the projections and the body moving or being still, and I have played with near and far. I also noticed my interest to my shadows, I even started to "haunt it" or to "hide it" (if that makes sense).
• I also found an interesting play with the idea of me allowing the wall/body to capute the images, sometimes I was generous, but sometimes I just needed to take within my body the whole image and to see what happens with me as a "new entity".
• The fact that we were 2 bodies moving brang to my head the idea of a trio and be aware what relation is there and how we interract.
• I also found interesting the large range of materials and colours of our clothes coming in contact with the projection and the idea of "chameleon" came up to my head. By witnessing my colleagues I noticed a very strong embodiment of the image into the their bodies and it was relevant for me how this fact changed/affect their movement.
• By playing with my shadows I felt a frustration because this is when I came in contact for almost 1 hour with my shadow (a 2^nd Oana) and I didn't feel comfortable having it all the time there, next to me, following me, it felt like someone was copying me, even killing my individuality. But reflecting about that I started to accept the idea of my shadow as a "part of my body", just like my limbs, voice, etc...
• This session was a special one for me as I have been introduced to a new discipline and it raised my interest to explore the relations between projection and body.

While researching I found this amazing picture!!!

Imagine 5 different ideas for cross-disciplinary performance based works which are inspired by historical events/ figures.

1. The Trojan Horse

I have always been interested about different historical events, that have happened in a very far past and that represents the basis of the civilization who is living today. Even those times, the art was explored by using a range of techniques, but there is a certain art work that draw my attention: The Trojan Horse.

The Greeks constructed a huge wooden horse and hid a selection of 30 soldiers in its belly, 2 spies in its mouth and then they pretended to sail away. The Trojans pulled the horse inside their city as a victory trophy. During the night The Greeks came out of their “secret rooms” and destroyed the city of Troy, decisively ending the war.

Even if this impressive horse was made by wood pieces, it was very smartly designed as many soldiers could hide inside of it. My first idea is to bring into an art gallery a such a massive horse, but paying a special attention to what happens inside of it: human bodies, with heavy armor taking different shapes to place themselves on different levels of this "hidden room". Some of them could hang on the walls of the construction, some others could be lying on the basis of the horse, some of them could even curl their bodies to take strategic shapes. There is a very interesting and playful image of these bodies holding their weapons and being ready to attack- image that a possible audience would like to experience.

2. In the early days of July, 1908, a young Italian archeologist has made a remarkable discover- a terracotta disc with a range inscriptions on the both sides of it. What fascinates me about this disc is that it hides a mysterious message, maybe sent to the following generations, and its symbols talk about the relationship God- human. The most important aspect of this art object is the technique used to create it, as the disc is printed using multiple seals. There is a range of interpretations of this disc, based on cryptology experts, and there is even a song representing this art object.

3. My third performance will be called “Incognito” and will bring into a gallery space a range of old documents , books, a pack of old cards, scripts, letters, pictures and recordings that were traveling around the world heads during the World War I as well as The Cold War. In a second room there will be the recipe with instructions showing how to make the invisible ink and I am sure that the audience will be surprised by the materials used to make this liquid. Next to this recipe will be exposed the fake documents, books, cards, pictures, letters and recordings that reveal to people the hid messages behind this two main world wars.

This idea is inspired by a

A possible performance could take place in between the ruins of a city, by bringing together all signs of the disc (that represent every-day things, such as fish, insects, people, birds, boat, etc) arranged in their original shape. In addition I am thinking about reproducing this signs by using the movement and a sound scape, even working with materials, such as: clay, earth, water, sand and gravel.

The public will witness an original ritual and they might be invited even to take part of it only by following the performer's path...and just by allowing themselves to really live and enjoy the moment.

book called “The Code Breaker”and explains how the leaders used the codes and ciphers to hide the nature of their activities. For example one message deciphered by the Verona cryptanalyst at the end of 1946 listed the names of the scientists who had worked on the Manhattan atomic bomb project.

4. My next performance is inspired by a natural disaster that took the lives of thousands of people: the furious tsunami that hit Japan .

Through my work I want to emphasize the gravity of this situation and I would like to encourage people from all over the world to help people in need, thousands of children without family, without a home or food. My project is based on creating a large miniature by wood, paper, foam, paint and spray, that capture the most grave aspects of this tragedy, destroyed homes, cars swallowed by the earth, dead bodies, etc.... The point of this project is to bring into the people's awareness the difficult moments that Japanese people had pass through and to raise the idea of solidarity by helping them with food and clothes donations.

5. My last idea is more personal and it represents one of my frustrations: the fact that Romanian authorities do not accept the art phenomenon, but they try to eliminate any attempt to develop the art by not allowing artists to show their work. This performance involves going back to my country, and making a massive protest by asking everyone to come in front of the Parliament.

The funniest aspect of my work is the way that people will show up in front of the Authorities: by using crutches, by bandaging parts of the body (an arm, a leg, an eye), by putting tape on the mouth, etc. All these expressions bring forward the idea of artists being mutilated by the lack of support and involvement for art projects. The Authorities actually determine artists to leave their country and to go somewhere else, where the art is appreciated or they are forced to quit making art, which means destroying their future and a possible proliferation of the art.

Herbert Art Gallery & Museum

Today, Ioana and me decided to visit the Herbert Art Gallery because we wanted to find out more about Egyptian culture, myths and secrets. We could observe about 200 original objects, including a giant statue of Ramsses II, a rare sculpture of Queen Nefertiti and a preserved mummy of a young woman called Perenbast. The Egyptian legends tell us that every human has a physical body and a spirit, called "ka"- life force that ebdurs even after death. This "ka" should be maintained even after the physical death, so all intern organs were places in big recipients, in the tomb, and the body was fold in wet bandages, and then dried, so the body shape and size remain the same. The reason of this process was to make sure that the body will meet the "ka" to achieve the eternal life.

While observing  the real mummy one small idea dropped into my soul and head, that could help me for my IPP presentation. As my grand- grand mother was a unique human being, her wonderful traits deserve to be conserved and I admit that some of them are present in myself as well. It's interesting to observe how the traits are inherited generation after generation and the feeling when I find similarities between myself and my ancestors.
Tomorrow I'm going in the studio trying to express some of them and see what happens in my moving body as result of these emotions about my grand-grand mother. I would like as well to record some specific sounds and to make a projection of that picture on the wall during my solo.

References:
http://egyptmanchester.wordpress.com;
www.wikipedia.com;

Razvan Mazilu

This is Sunday morning, and I'm looking for artists that can inspire my IPP presentation.
I found something very interesting about Razvan Mazilu, who had a simple, but interesting idea. He made a labyrinth of long sheets of paper and he asked the audience to visit this maze, but while visiting they should write on paper words that can describe the artist, who had to transpose them into movement. I enjoy the idea of involving the audience to the performance, so the audience can play with the boundaries, quiet, or explosions...

This work is related to my presentation because I am interested as well of public's involvement and responses to my performance.

Reference: www.evz.ro.

Apetruscai Marioara: o femeie inalta, cu parul carunt, prins in coc, uscativa, un suras cald. O femeie simpla de la tara, care a crescut in mare parte singura cei 8 copii: 6 baieti si 2 fete. Sotul ei a murit dupa primul razboi mondial. Este educata in spiritul muncii, a cinstei, a respectului fata d cei din jur. Nu stia carte, a invatat sa scrie si sa citeasca la batranete...urmand cursuri de alfabetizare, era modesta, sfioasa, cu mult bun simt, mereu cu zambetul pe buze... Niciodata nu a aruncat cuvinte grele, jignitoare la adresa cuiva. Pentru fiecare avea doar vorbe bune. Torcea, tesea panza din care facea camasi pt copii, facea curatenie prin casa, ordonata, curata, si spala rufele la rau. Fierbea rufele cu lesie, le ducea la rau, le clatea cu maiul, be o banca pusa in mijlocul apei. A muncit din greu pana si'a vazut baietii mari, care apoi au inceput sa o ajute in gospodarie.Pe toti i'a trimis la scoala si au invatat diferite meserii. Mereu ganditoare, cum sa le asigure celor 8 copii un viitor mai bun .
Nu avea curent electric, torcea la lumina lampii cu petrol pana noaptea tarziu. Toate vecinele din jur ii sareau in ajutor, pentru bunatatea ei, sufletul ei.Casa era modesta, decorata cu covoare de lana tesute in casa.

This is a short description of my gand-grand mother and I will take some time to think about it. I'll choose some scores from my IPP presentation and then I'll write again what I take from this description...

IPP Presentation

That picture...

This picture...is like my  shadow..I even can say it harasses me...this woman is wearing a white material, she looks so pure, but so sad ... The idea of feminism can be a part of my IPP presentation...

How quick things change!!!

I started the research for IPP by having into my hands some objects from my grandparent's old house...what memories come into my mind when I see those objects? How can I make them alive? Well this special picture is my grand-grandmother....so we have in common so many patterns, habits and things...But does the age when she lived influence me?...or maybe I can be HER!...

IPP Presentation

We had to think about some ideas of a possible performance, and we had as well a discussion about it with our tutor, Katye.
The most representative work that we have done until now during IPP sessions is the portraits work. This helped me to look deep into myself and find different sides of me that I didn't know that exist!
After reading the hand-outs from IPP I start asking myself some questions. First I start researching who I was before this huge change came into my life....what this change bring in my life?
-place(country, home, room);
-language- expressing;
-food, water, juice, fluids;
-values, memories;
-lifestyle, friends, music;
- culture, books, DVDs; etc.....
What kind of influences happened before I start building up my personality, education and who I am?
Working with Fiona made me discover a new friendship; we even created our "hearts" inside our intimate universe and during the whole process we passed trough...
The movie "Avatar" is as well related to this work because I feel that now I'm living in parallel in this new world and sometimes I go back to where I come from. It's interesting to notice how changed is my point of view now and how I look at people that are an important part of my past...
This work made me reflect a lot about myself and even I start writing to myself...It is related to my Body Story also!
The discussion with Katye gave me some ideas: -memory of places where I come from (the beautiful landscapes of the village where my grandparents used to live and the house of my childhood, the animals around us, the forest, the fresh mountain-air, flowers, colors, interesting stories, sounds, alive nature, river, smells...)
Another idea is sending a series of letter to myself, to start looking to different artist that work with this idea and I'm planing to visit that amazing village in April.
The word "intervention"....-who made interventions in my life? and why? Sometimes some people, but sometimes it's just the "destiny"...things just happen!
I found a strong motivation and interest about cultural phenomena!
The idea- experience-expression...what is the source of my performance?
I need to find my boundary...how flexible can be my membrane? I'm afraid not to be broken at some point...maybe it's already broken...

Working with Objects and Memory

My daily life is strong related to different objects, that offer me beautiful memories from my past, or even bad experiences that happened some time ago.
When Lilly asked us to bring some objects that remind us of something special I chose this two things: a picture with a landscape from Spain and my boyfriend's blouse.

Here you can find the first things that came into my mind when I start observing the blouse:

• strong connection and feelings;
• I always smile when I see it;
• when I can't sleep I hug it very strong, sometimes I find myself talking to the blouse;
• specific smell;
• large and comfortable;
• it has 2 sides;
• it is a part of him...now it is a part of US!

Free writing after spending a few minutes with my object

I found new way to put the blouse on me...I tried to show different parts of my body by using the blouse.

It's smell gives me a relaxing feeling.

I expressed my memories -> I was angry (am tarat bluza...a strange noies came out of it...parca striga...it seems to be alive!!! nooo...I's surely alive, because it's a part of us)

What a soft material!!! It smells lovely!

->I felt happy to have this object around me, it protects me, I feel so secure now! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNLwMeoWaXI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8KXnk59ewM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDGv4-m_3yw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdmCfRjyPGk

Reflections after the session

His blouse knows everything about us, all our secrets, mysteries, spirits, even tears (happy tears, or tears of sadness)...our own Universe where we can be strong just if we are together...I don't exist without him, he doesn't exist without me! -> energy, influence, calm, safety, love. [vreau acasa, vreau sa fiu alaturi de el....offf, imi lipsesti enorm!! Ma poti auzi oare? Sunt aici... ]

Rehearsal [ 4.02.2011] IPP

This rehearsal made us discover new interpretations of our work and helped me to see what a strong connection I have with Fiona!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9RJ-GNlUic

•  rolling into a big sheet of paper allowed us to create an intimate space, our bodies were very closed one to the other;
• bringing sides of our personalities together;
• going through a process together;
• our movement depends on each other (if I go one way, she need also to come in my direction => if I make a choice, I need to take the responsibility for the other also);
• this is the process of exploration of the soul, and at the end of it we share our feelings from our hearts.

Rehearsal [ 2.02.2011]

•  Different directions = the effect of different people' influence in my life;
• Running = energy ; I want to learn the best parts of every event and person in my life;
• Fingers = extensions of my body => extensions of my personality;
• Take off all influences from my myself and think about my natural side: portrait number 1;
• My portrait = my own world and I need a "ritual" to prepare myself to get into this individual universe. The other people, are they allowed to be part of my universe? What can be my reactions to this?

Tomorrow I go back in the studio, with Fiona, to find out different reactions and to develop this idea!