I tried to make it look like it was holding the cups up which I felt was sucessful in doing so and altho asthetically it looks good it doesn’t fit with the context of the project.
Looking at different ways to display the Covid monster made me wonder if prehaps it should have different ‘forms’ in which it appears almost like Jame’s Macavoys character in split with his 9 different personalities or IT the Clown?.What if the cute covid enticed people in but the intimidating one appeared once they had caught it.Or when people tried to leave the house when their flatmate has it?Prehaps cute covid appears when the virus is still ‘hosting’ int hem and spreading to other people?
I liked the way it moved but it was hardly threatening!
I decided to experiment with what would work best.I felt that no1 was too ghost like and no2 was too ‘cute’ and ghost like,when covid was meant to be ominous,lurking in corners,threatening.I spoke it over with other people in my studio when one of then had mentioned that I should try it out on a mannequin (which I had previously looked at to buy but were too expensive) Then another person said there was one wedged underneath the stairs…
He was a bit like Frankenstein with his arms and legs stuck on with tape but he was ready for his glow up…Intimadation.Fear.Ominous.
Instantly there was a difference.The braod shoulders of the male manequin gave it quite and intimadating stance.The folded arms under the gown gave the classic ‘bully like’ image and intimadation.
The difference it makes without the necklace is crazy,there is no shape to the head and it looks like some creature that you would almost instantly feel sorry for.Unsure as to whether I should keep the ‘murder board’ up or not or is it too much alongside the rest? I was considering having the Covid monster video play alongside aswell but I’m not overly pleased with how it has worked out and it may need some work done to it first.So I belived this was going to be my final ‘installation’ at that point in time untill my last min revelation.It works well as almost a ‘movie set’ with the covid monster lurking in the corner the same way that a ‘murderer/enity’ would be imagined.
The Babadook in the movie and in the book they read allways seemed to lurk in the corner of the room.
Final installation!!hurrah!!
So,I had a last minute realisation that the covid monster being there and the poster made everything too ‘literal’Every idea held is within these cups and they have an overwhelming importance and also stand alone really well as a sculptural piece aswell as a prop.The cups conceptualise all my ideas and by making that final edit I am now happy with just this finished piece.I was going to get rid of the Covid style murder board on the other wall but I think that it stands as a strong piece of development aswell as the red tacks making that visual ‘connection’ to the red cups.
This week I played around with a couple of ideas for my installation.And greated a champayne tower using red cups.I was hoping to buy more of the small cups that i had used previously but this turned out to work in my favour as the size of the cups made a fantastic sculpture when glued together.I decided to stick them together in two lots of 3 due to three being seen as an ‘unlucky’ number.I also pondered as to whether the cups should be glued together in a chaotic way but then I realised that the mucus is the chaos and that the uniformed stacking of the cups should be the ‘calm’ in a way.
To start with i was going to use a bigger plynth but then I realised that the small plynth worked perfectly in creating the perfect ‘fragility’ of how this tower could be knocked over at any moment and cause even bigger chaos.How these cups resembled the lives of people living togehter the slime the covid and tension bubberling over.
Plynth showed the fragility of the situation.Slime was created using pva and paint,I added more and more pva in the top cup untill it overspilled.There was something really therapeutic in the calmness of this chaos.The watered down solution had much less effect.Height used for intimadation,red for warning and the bundled together cups the people living/partying in close proximity with someone who may be infected.The overpouring slime is the tension building up to boiling point as with Taylor’s case.
Some reactions to the cups have been that of wonder ‘wow,how are they balancing?’ As alot of people didn’t realise they were superglued together,I just hope they hold up with the weight of the slime in them particulary the top one!But even then it may look better if it falls through.I’m really pleased and pleasantly suprised with how this has worked out.
From the book ‘Marina Abramovic the artist is present’The balancing of the cups on the plynth was made to look like an illusion,due to the fargility of the plynth itself and the way the cups look like there carefully balamced on top.Covid embodied is surposed to be an embodied illusion who interacts with what would normally be seen as an every day household item but which is given much more importance due to the context around the cups and the performance itself.
From Marina Abramovic’s book ‘the student body.’ I love this prop which gives the notion of ‘illusion’ like a magic trick our brain’s are ‘tricked’ into believing otherwise.Lurking about the studio…
Thinking back,I think i would of been better off doing something like this but using room 610 (a room free to use for anyone)Untrimmed and unedited.It would of been could to of used the tower for the green screen (well deffinately a blue screen if i was to go back and do it again)
I thought that what would bring the installation together would be a Western Style ‘Wanted’ poster,If Covid was a person what would people do?I plan on printing off more of these and sticking them around the uni and various other places.I think it would make quite a good graffiti stencil too.
This week I started the group project,it was something I had been dreading as I don’t often work well in groups and I usually end up clashing with another member or I feel like my ideas aren’t being listened to.But this group project as deffinately changed my outlook on group work/collaberations and instead has shown me the power of working in group projects and how a small group of people with determination and their heads in the right places can work as a total and utter powerhouse that can achieve anything.Next is a day by day account of our actions.
Day 1
Today we met for the first time,I was really anxious and not looking forward to it much.Myself and Katrina were the only people that had Idea’s.I spoke about prehaps doing a performance piece based on something I had done in a performance based workshop in the past where each person is frozen to the spot and there hands/legs etc are moved by another person.Kristina came forward with pretty much a fully written out proposal suggesting that we do a charity walk to raise money for Ukraine walking from Dundee to edinburgh.She had calculated the distances between towns and where we would stop over.Due to having really bad bunions I soemtimes struggle to even walk to college so I said i wouldn’t be able to do the walk as such but could work hard behing the scenes with fundraising/media etc.Kristina had friends who were still over in Ukraine so felt like the war there had really effected her.Alyssia had suggested that as part of the walk she could ask the scrapyard near her if she could paint the ukrainian flag on one of there crushed cars.I was really bemused by this suggestion and had to advise her that this would be highly insensitive and that you need to really think about the art and actions that you do when it comes to such a sensitive subject.I also advised the group that we need to think carefully about who we give money to,as having worked paid for the Red Cross for a few years I am understanding of the fact that they do good work but often the money can be spent in the wrong places because they are such a big corporation who’s CEO’s are making an incredible amount of money for pen pushing whilst there front line workers are often facing a humanitarean crisis themselves by being paid pennies.Kristina said she had been told by friends of the best charity to contact.
Day 2
Decided to allocate myself the position of external communicator.Contacted DUSA in regards to getting a stand for ribbons etc.
Day 3
Emailed Newspapers about the fundraiser.I also asked DUSA if they could advertise via social media and emails what we were doing (no reply which is the typical standard from DUSA).Emailed Victoria Edwards who sent an email out to all the students about the walk and the fundraising stall.Looked at the prices of ribbons on Amazon etc and decided that they would take too long to arrive for the stall as DUSA had agreed we could have the stall for Friday 11-1.I had decided upon these times as we would hopefully be able to catch the most people whilst they went to grab their lunch.Victoria Edwards also posted our email out to all students.
Day 4
Decided I would present them on the inside of my broken sewing box lid and that way if it was windy they wouldn’t blow away!
Benchmark as we had raised £320 before the walk had even taken place and the Dundee Courier had emailed me back in regards to media coverage.I told him Kristina has connections in Ukraine so I arranged a phonecall for 4pm between Kristina and the reporter then arranged for a photographer to come to the uni for 11 for photos.Went to Hobbycraft,collected ribbon and made only 18 ribbons from 3 metres of ribbon!The shop assistance mentioned that alot of people had been in buying ribbon to do the same.
Day 5
Today was the day of the stall in the foyer.Myself and Alyssia turn up early to paint our faces etc.Became a little worried as we hadn’t heard from Kristina and Taylor.Kristina showed up just before 11 but Taylor didn’t.I went down to reception to collect the photographer and the receptionist made a fuss saying i would need ‘a press release’ in order for the photographer to take photo’s of us inside the university and that he wouldn’t be allowed here anyway as no visitors are allowed currently due to lockdown restrictions.I advised her several times that the photo’s were going to be taken outside in the foyer area.Went away to ask Anita Taylor’s permission but she was about to go into a meeting then asking another pen pusher who said we would only be allowed to get photo’s taken outside the building.(Which is what i had told them we would be doing in the first place)The receptionist even commented that she ‘hadn’t seen anyone doing fundraising in a while’ well no wonder when everything is made so difficult!!
Photoshoot took place on the grounds with us posing beside and walking beside Katrina.Holding the poster and ribbons up.
No sooner had I spoken to the receptionist the Vice principal (or someone of some kind of importance) decided to send out a really feeble emailing saying that the uni ‘stood in solidarity with Ukraine’ and that in order to show this the chaplaincy were organising for people to meet up on the ground to show this.Absoloutely no mention of our walk which was actually going to make a difference unlike the universities pathetic all talk no action as per usual.
DAY 5
Today our story made it into the paper and on the online paper also.
Reporter had made up that myself and Alyssia had said things which we hadn’t.(He hadn’t even spoken to Alyssia) Had written that we were all doing the walk (which we weren’t).The online article had more photo’s etc but the link wasn’t very clear at all so it made no difference to our donations because people clearly didn’t know where to click.So we ended up making more money through our stall.I think what I hated about this the most is that we couldn’t be in control of the outcome of how it would be written or look in the paper and that we just had to trust that the reporter would do his best to raise awareness but upon reading the article Kristina stated that she could of written it better herself and English isn’t even her first language!They also mentioned the university in the post alot which I thought the university would make a fuss about but so far so good.
In other news…
I finally finished off the headcage for the red lady.The technician finally agreed to let me tack myself (as i had never done this type of welding before) I actually found it alot easier but my tacks were visable compared to the parts he had done as it was too fidderly to get the hidden the way he managed and as he said ‘it doesn’t matter aslong as you have managed to join the metal’
You can visably see the top two tacks compared to where the tecnhician has neatly hidden his on the bars below.
Very pleased with the outcome altho the cage it’s self weighs a ton and falls alot lower on my body due to the sheer weight of it.
Artifact no6
I had brought in the rusty bolt I had found at my front door in the hope it could be used for this piece but the technician advised that it would need to have a pretty big hole made for it and it would be better just to blow torch a new bolt to make it look old.
Hammering a hole into the Artifact caused the debris from the bottom to come away but I soon sorted this by glueing it back on.The bigger issue became that the top once attached was too heavy for the metal strip and would bend it if you didn’t support the top when picking it up.I think I may consider re-inforcing the rod with a strip of metal somehow attached underneath it altho this may ruin the asthetics.
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