New writing: On Making + Making a Scene

I have been commissioned to write an essay for the exhibition catalogue for New Contemporaries 2015 which will launch in Nottingham in the Autumn. The text explores the affordances of being an emerging artist in Nottingham. As part of the research for this text I have been involved in a series of conversations with various individuals -  Matt Chesney (Director of Backlit); Niki Russell (artist, Programme Curator at Primary, co-founder of Reactor), Candice Jacobs (artist, co-founder of Moot and One Thoresby Street), Tom Godfrey (director of TG, resident gallery at Primary, co-founder of Moot), Joe Rowley (artist and co-founder of Hutt Collective, resident gallery at Primary), as well as current fine art students (participating as studio-assistants in Summer Lodge, a 2-week residency in the NTU fine art studios)

The catalogue will be published for the launch of New Contemporaries in Nottingham (September 2015), but in the meantime here is an extract of my text, On Making, Making it and Making a Scene:

“[...] Focus on making, rather than making it. Make time; make do; make believe; make light of; make light work of; make the most of. Make up one’s own mind. Make one’s (own) way. Make tracks; make sail, make waves. Make a difference. Make an entrance (however small). Make ends meet. Make a virtue of necessity. Make a day of doing, but make haste slowly. Make some fun, for all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Make great play of, but don’t just make the right noises. Don’t just be on the make. That inroad or advance made is often at another’s expense. Remember, as you make your bed so must you lie. Heed that empty vessels often make the most sound; that one swallow does not a Summer make; that hope deferred makes the heart sick. So, make a go of it. Make oneself conspicuous: make mischief; make the dust fly. Make heads swim. Make hair stand on end. Make conversation. Make friends not enemies, for many hands make light work. Make common cause. Make something out of nothing. Make it worthwhile. Make no apologies. Do what makes you tick. Make the scene. Make a scene.” Full text below.

Research Publication: Process in artistic research

Choreo-graphic Figures: Beginnings and Emergences, a collaborative research article reflecting on the first year of the project Choreo-graphic Figures: Deviations from the Line (a collaboration between myself, Nikolaus Gansterer and Mariella Greil), is now published in the online journal RUUKKU: Studies in Artistic Research, in the forthcoming issue on Process in Artistic Research. 

About the issue: Process in artistic research: Various processes are an indistinguishable part of the practices of art and research. Ever since the 1960s when works of art evolving in time or transforming in shape were presented to viewers, listeners, and participants, ‘process' has been one of the magic words within contemporary art. Repetition, variation, and works based on interaction are examples of compositional methods that underline happening and change, instead of the complete, monolithic, and intact work of art. Comparing variations and analysing transformations are common methods of artistic research. In performing arts process is essential since the skill and knowledge of the artist are accumulated in a corporeal manner. Understanding is developed in interactions between musicians, actors or dancers; we can speak of encountering unknown layers or, in line with Michel Foucault, an archaeology of skill. Opening up and articulating artistic processes is considered one of the main tasks for artistic research. At the same time, developing new interactive processes is one of the societal duties of contemporary artists and artistic researchers. 

Research residency: Choreo-graphic Figures: Method Lab II

The interdisciplinary research project Choreo-graphic Figures: Deviations from the Line, a collaboration between artist/performer Nikolaus Gansterer, choreographer Mariella Greil and writer-artist Emma Cocker is in residence at the AILab - Innovation Laboratory, Vienna from 13 July - 14 August 2015. In dialogue with a team of international critical interlocutors including Alex Arteaga, Lilia Mestre, Christine de Smedt, Werner Moebius, Joerg Piringer and other guests, Method Lab II extends the sharing of practice and working methods around the Notion of An/Notation &l An/Notation of Notion, towards the development of experimental Radical Scores of Attention. In cooperation with ImPulsTanzFestival Vienna two public openings of the Method Lab at AILab (Franz-Josefs-Kai 3, 1010 Vienna) are scheduled: 25 July 2015, 15:00 - 19:00 and 10 August 2015, 15:00 - 19:00. 

A paper related to this next phase of this project can be downloaded here. 

Research project: Choreo-graphic Figures

From 4 – 7 June, I was in Vienna working with Nikolaus Gansterer and Mariella Greil within the context of our collaborative research project, Choreo-graphic Figures: Deviations of the Line. Specifically, we will be working together to develop a page-based contribution to be submitted to the forthcoming issue of Performance Research Journal, Vol. 20, No. 6: ‘On An/Notations’ (December 2015). Co-Editors: Scott deLahunta, Kim Vincs and Sarah Whatley (Deakin University [Motion.Lab] AUS & Coventry University [Centre for Dance Research] UK).

Notion of Notation & Notation of Notion

Drawing on findings from the first year of the research project Choreo-graphic Figures: Deviations from the Line (specifically from field-work undertaken during a month-long research residency within ImPulsTanz [Vienna, July – August 2014] & within the context of a one-week residency/workshop working with researchers at apass [Centre of Advanced Performance & Scenography Studies, Brussels, Feb, 2015]), our intent is to share & put pressure on our recent explorations around both the ‘notion of notation’ & the ‘notation of notion’, exploring the format of a page-based annotated performance score, itself a diagramming of the multiple & at times competing forces & energies operative within artistic collaborative practice. We propose to investigate notation (& its related technologies) through two concepts: figuring & (choreo-graphic) figure: (1) The Notion/Notation of Figuring: We use the term ‘figuring’ to describe a state of emergence or experiential shift, the barely perceptible movements & transitions at the cusp of awareness within the process of “sense-making”, asking what different systems of notation can be developed for cultivating awareness of & for marking and identifying the moments of “figuring” within live investigative action? (2) The Notion/Notation of Figure: We use the term ‘figure’ to describe the point at which figuring coalesces into a recognizable + repeatable form, asking how might the performed ‘figure’ be a system of notation in & of itself? Our shared quest is both for a system of notation for honouring the process of figuring (as a live investigative event) & for “choreo-graphic” figures for making tangible & communicating these significant moments within the unfolding journey of collaborative practice.

Publication: The Italic I (Studio as Gymnasium)

The Italic I (Studio as Gymnasium) – a 'thought experiment' produced in collaboration with Clare Thornton – has been published in Drain Magazine, in the issue on Athleticism.

Abstract: The Italic I (Studio as Gymnasium): The Italic I is a practice-based collaboration between writer-artist Emma Cocker and interdisciplinary artist Clare Thornton, for exploring the various states of potential made possible through purposefully surrendering to the event of a repeated fall. Within our artistic investigation … the studio or gallery is approached as a gymnasium within which to practice falling; however, the purpose of practicing is not towards a telos, the perfection of a given move or some future performance. Rather, falling is repeated in a move towards deeper understanding, for becoming more sensitized to the experience, more attuned to its risings and falls, its intensities and durations. In these terms, the athleticism inherent within the activity itself becomes a means for increasing one’s capacity (as it is practiced), for producing unexpected forms of embodied knowledge and augmented subjectivity.

About the issue Athleticism: The word ‘athletic’ derives from the Greek, athlēō (‘compete for a prize’). In this schema, the ‘prize’ is the thing competed for, but this can be defined in many ways: as a gift, a kiss, a drop of blood, or a ribbon. We are often told that the prize is not important but participation is. The athlete models subjectivity, the body, desire, social relations, matter and chance in order to achieve a measure of success, recognition, mastery, the deferral of death and emptiness, a place in history, an apotheosis of self-love, among other things. How can artworks, essays, thought experiments, interventions, social events and encounters allow us to critically analyze and even undo the habitual idioms, rules and expectations surrounding athleticism as a measure or even as an outcome? Is it possible to create a differently dispersed athleticism that shows us what a body can do, what a care of the body can mean, or indeed, arranges new relations between bodies in order to attain a hitherto unimaginable prize? In what ways can we think through/work away from/deconstruct the fascistic tendencies of the ‘competitive spirit’ in order to arrange new rhythms and durations, participative networks and subjectivities? Can athleticism be situated within a more radical play of performances and acts that involve unanticipated outcomes and risks? Put in another way, how can a radical undoing of the telos of the athlete lead us to redefine what is worth struggling for?

This issue of Drain presents Rachel Rampleman as the Feature Artist; a selection of work from her Body Builder series explores subjects like gender, artifice, and spectacle through the tinge of a very American lens. The work is accompanied with text by Alex Young and David Mitchell. Critical essays by Joel Nathan Rose, Ira Halpern and Victoria Wynne-Jones address and examine aspects of sports, youth, masculinity and addiction. The Thought Experiments section, for shorter critical works, includes evocative pieces by Emma Cocker and Clare Thornton, Sandy Gibbsand Sarah Stefana Smith. The issue also features reviews of the recent exhibitions; Germaine Koh’s League by Louise Rusch, while Sarah Walko reviews the works of Craig Drennen. There is also an extensive Creating Writing section, which includes works of poetry and short fiction by Joseph Ramelo, Germaine Koh and Nathaniel Sullivan. A compelling selection of artworks and projects by Brandon Bauer, John G. Boehme, David Cross, Robert Ladislas Derr, Henry Gwiazda, Amelia Johannes, Cheryl Pope, and Jean-Michel Rolland variously engage with notions of Athleticism, sports and contemporary culture in this issue as do interviews with David Cross by Cameron Bishop, Anna Wittenberg by Joshua West Smith and Matt Hern by Elizabeth Spavento.