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August 24, 2005
Pathological Narcissism
In a fantastic article in The Listener a few weeks ago Steve Braunias accuses Adam Parore of pathological narcissism.
It made me think about my research, or 'Practitioner-led' research more generally, and being Schon's "reflective practitioner". I am at once interested and repelled by this . . . it is 'what' I'm doing . . . I guess I'm really engaged by the idea of 'practice' over 'problem-solving', but I must admit to feeling some anxiety over the extent to which it feels like I'm researching myself.
At what point does my research become pathological narcissism?
I'm mentioning this here because I'm considering embarking on a relatively large project to 'map' my relationship with my girlfriend.
Posted by Luke Wood at 04:42 PM | Comments (6)
August 22, 2005
Writing and/or Working
Sitting down trying to write four monstrous manifestoes is proving to be a lot harder than I had originally anticipated. I think this is good in that it evidences some kind of complexity in the exercise that I was perhaps afraid wasn't there!? I've been itching to make some work/images, and I'm thinking perhaps I'll work on each map [image] and manifesto [text] at the same time . . . I had thought I'd write each manifesto and then let the work manifest itself from there, but I'm wondering if it might make more sense to be writing and designing at the same time?
The image above was supplied by Emilie's dad. It's an egg of some sort that's been illustrated with a map [top] and guy who transforms into what looks like a werewolf [bottom] . . . not sure what the date is? I'm starting to look around at different ways monsters appear in maps . . . also wondering about using crashed cars a my monsters?
Posted by Luke Wood at 05:14 PM
August 20, 2005
Otago talk
Been busy last week putting together a talk for a small conference at Otago Uni. Stashing text here for future reference . . .
This talk relied heavily on the images, which rolled over quickly, and often related more or less obliquely to what I was saying. If people weren't familiar with the image they wouldn't have known what it had to do with what I was saying, but I think it went ok. I had a lot of people come and talk to me afterwards so I think I at least aroused some curiosity in my work. The topic of the talk was really nostalgia, for two reasons; 1. the conference was about the "past, present, and future" of design in NZ, and 2. I was able to mine my earlier research (and article for Prodesign) for material. The monster does come up though .. . I touch on it as a way forward, esp. in relation to Elvis. This was an interesting exercise in this respect ó putting my old topic into my new topic and seeing where it's come from and how it still fits.
Posted by Luke Wood at 09:44 AM
August 05, 2005
Sam's Zombie
These are images of Sam Eng's recent installation in the old Echo Records building in High Street. In it Sam is a zombie, stumbling around and smacking into the glass repeatedly (with appropriate sound) in classic Romero style.
I stood outside it with Sam on the first night and watched people walk by and respond. Sam mentioned that he'd noticed that most people would glance briefly at it and keep moving, not stopping or even slowing down. We talked about the possibility that people were wary of it being some kind of advertising, which I found interesting ó that passers by wouldn't stop to engage with something like this anymore because it's probably just another fucking Vodaphone ad. In this sense, do monsters ó as disruptions of our assumptions and expectations ó even work anymore? Reminded me of something that came up at my last review ó what's really obscene is that nothing is obscene anymore (Cameron maybe? Sounds like him). Of course this made me think about my 'one week poster project' and how many people actually engaged with the public gestation of the image?
Also, in the text for the catalogue (see extended entry here) he talks about fear of public embarrassment, which of course reminded me of my 'poster surgery' performance . . . I think I mentioned that I felt uncomfortable doing this because I felt "like a bit of a dick".
Fakes, Coercion, and the Boogie Monster: the Malevolence of the Everyday.
Who is the Boogie Monster?
Sam Eng - Window Slap
3min 40 sec DVD loop rear projection
in the window of the vacated, Echo Records building
235 High street, Central Christchurch, 2005
I can remember as a child having dreams about getting up and going to school, only to become horrified when I realised that halfway through the morning I was still in my pajamas.
Fear of public embarrassment is still a very powerful motivator, and is utilised by many promotional medias as a means to engender a very coercive if not absurdist agent for the promotion of an idea or product.
As the personas of anxiety or embarrassment present situations that confront us, we try and maintain our distance from them, and yet at some level we become affected by them. How should we respond?
We could try to employ denial, as the protagonist in ìShaun of the Deadî does, when he assumes that the strange zombie like behaviours of the members of his community are merely the uncomfortable social reality of contemporary life. Or we could rail against it in nervous laughter, lash out at our surroundings with fists or lips. Either way, like Shaun we must face up to the reality of dealing with the stimulus of the world around us, however it might be presented.
In the environment of ever-increasing habituation to shock in promotional and recreational medias, embarrassing acts like smacking into a pane of glass have are suffused with the cynicism of a media saturated world.
It is this notion of misplaced or even lack of anxiety or embarrassment and the nature of how we respond to this situation that is of interest to me as an artist.
Posted by Luke Wood at 10:54 AM | Comments (4)
August 04, 2005
Being systematic . . .
This is getting back to the last GRC and Cameron's suggestion that I need to become much more systematic in my research (that I'm moving around too much ñ taking pot-shots, shooting from the hip). He also pointed out that a more systematic approach would 'fit' the mad scientist analogy . . .
To this end I'm thinking this:
1. Loosely define/locate 'types' of monsters.
2. Write a manifesto for each type.
3. Methodically apply each type/manifesto to the 'same' material.
At the moment I'm really interested in following up this diagram/map of my relationship with Anna . . . but have also been thinking about going back to the Elvis Presley Project and applying these, as yet unwritten, manifestoes to it.
So . . . potential 'types':
1. The Hybrid
2. The Grotesque/Freak
3. The Mistake/Failure.
or perhaps I might use existing Hollywood types:
1. The Zombie (dead brought back to life, ref. nostalgia)
2. The Vampire (parasite lives off the blood of others, ref. appropriation)
3. The Werewolf (hybrid being, the hybrid artefact)
4. The Alien (out of 'place', wrong context)
This approach, being metaphorical, interests me more. Actually this last one's new to my monstrous thinking ñ the Alien is important I think, especially in light of my metaphor being one of familiarity and its transformation. Obviously these different categories will overlap. One fundamental aspect of any monster is its ability to avoid easy categorisation . . . however my fabrications are in the name of Research!
Posted by Luke Wood at 11:18 AM | Comments (2)
August 03, 2005
Carte du tendre
Here is the "carte du tendre" I was telling you about. It is a topographic/allegorical representation of the "love country" where the lover has to find his way to the heart of his "lady" from the city of "new friendship". :-) This is actually funnier than I remembered. It wasÝcreated collectively by a group of "precieuses" gathering in the salon of Madame de Scudery during the years 1653-54 and she included it in her novel "Clelie, histoire romaine". It's just a funny thing, if you want the cities, lakes and sea names translated you'll have to shout (?) me another coffee ;-).
Emilie sent me this today in response to me telling her about my idea to diagrammatically 'map' my relationship with Anna.
I've been thinking about old maps that contain monsters as warning signs (sometimes put there by traders trying keep a particular route secret). Diagrammatizing my relationship with Anna started as a joke in an email I sent to Lisa . . . I had been thinking about maps more specifically in relation to our upcoming research trip in November.
Posted by Luke Wood at 11:00 AM
August 02, 2005
Ghost paper
Found this copy of the NZ tabloid "Sunday News" in amongst a pile of 'good ones' at the supermarket last week. I'd been kinda keeping an eye out for interesting tabloids in relation to the manifesto I'm thinking about writing/designing. Obviously this caught my eye due to it's being a 'freak' . . . a kind of natural monstrosity. What surprised me was that each paper on either 'side' of this one had printed perfectly, it wasn't like the ink had run out and the job had begun to fade. Things were fine . . . and then boo! Ghost paper.
Posted by Luke Wood at 02:05 PM