Journaling Project #2

              へ            ╱|

          ૮  •   •)       ( •   • 7 so....the author dies?

          /   ⁻  ៸          、˜〵

    乀 (ˍ,  ل         じしˍ,)ノ 

          へ    yuh.     ╱|

     ૮  -   ՛ )           ( •   • 7  

        /   ⁻  ៸              、˜〵

 乀 (ˍ,  ل            じしˍ,)ノ

.∧ ,,, ∧              *🫧.•

(  ̳• ｡ • ̳)         .🫧°. 🫧*

/    づ/̵͇̿̿/'̿'̿ ̿ ̿̿ ̿̿ ̿̿ °🫧+.🫧.°

erm anyways...

After another read through of Barthes ‘Death of the Author’ I think a massive quote that stuck out to me was

“..by refusing to assign a “secret”, an ultimate meaning, to the text (and to the world as text), liberates what may be called an anti-theological activity, an activity that is truly revolutionary since to refuse to fix meaning is, in the end, to refuse God and his hypotheses-reason, science, law” (pg. 147)

The reason this quote struck me was because it made me realise that I’ve never truly put my art, or more specifically photography, in the fork of the road that is leaving it up to the audience or purely stating my direct intentions. I feel through the process of photography, especially for my project, I want something, but I think for once I’ll just let the word ‘bed’ speak for itself. For me, the bed isn’t even a major happening, as we’ve seen examples of more extremes, I think for me as I work on ‘bed’ I’m finding so many meaning that rather than try to pin or dissect each one, I’ll just go with the flow and see what works for my mind's eye, that’s not to say I’m being careless with my decisions, but instead I am trying to work towards a final product that has no fixed meaning.

Here is some of my process btw:

I sorted negatives out for printing, and I made a physical show-and-tell piece for class!

I’m trying to be mindful of documenting myself DURING the process rather than just finishing something to prove work was done.

I also wanted to add that despite being a creator myself, and so badly wanting to make sure that I am credited for stuff (while I’m alive that is), I do think that if my art or artist statements (for text) have to be sacrificial to a future work, I don’t think I mind that idea, but also I'm dead so who can really say. I just imagine my sacrifice or death as a forest fire, if I never “die” I’ll crowd what little room is left, but if I “die”, then from there the soil is new and another person or idea can come along to settle roots. I mean, I’ve been inspired, 

Haven’t you?

       

Jiayi artist talk 🖥️🐟

I felt Jiayi’s artist talk really spoke to my documenting-loving soul. As soon as I walked in I had goosebumps at hearing the clicking of the data and I was in awe at the sheer size of all the installations Jiayi had brought in.As she talked about her life I felt it was very interesting that her study of Physics was what orbited her back around to art courses like painting and printmaking which then lead to her career now in installation work. (Also, I didn't know about the warmed up bench…it is now noted!)

Another portion of her work as a whole that I was interested in was how she was making something almost invisible (aka data) into something tangible and that takes up quite a bit of space. I loved the tracking project that utilized drying racks. I didn’t note if that was the ultimate choice for the presentation, but I found it interesting because when I walked in I found myself gravitating towards the project. 

Jiayi’s goal for her works also seemed to revolve around archives for the means of accessibility. I don’t remember which work specifically, but I have noted that at some point she said she wanted one of her works to be accessible in a public library for anyone. This is what brings me to her work with the molds of the Nasa moon fragments: documentation and outwardly valuing the art process.

As I looked up close at the different mold stages and the prototypes laying across the ground or in their cases, I fell in love even further when I realized that the odd security cam looking footage on the far back wall was actually her photo gallery documenting her whole project. I wanted to note here that I did ask about the 3-4 digital photos of what was the ice molded into the rock and it reminded me of the artist who created the ice block structures MADE to melt. I say this because she was just experimenting, whereas the prior artist was creating experience. I’m so interested in how Jiayi was able to both give us as an audience a tangible “end” but continuous image of her work, but she also had the process surrounding her work to document the actual process we were given.

I loved her usage of different materials, and I’m not sure if this is the word to use but I felt the word “multi-media” really gathers everything she was hitting both in the motivation of her work and the message she was putting together. I found her interest in detail super exciting coupled with the fact that for every mold she had, she knew the process to get there, and if she didn’t she found answers to her questions.

Unlike other artist talks where the visiting artist is either crowded around or whisked away after the talk, I actually got to have a conversation with Jiayi about her work, but more specifically about her usage of documentation. I will admit here I was a huge fan, but I did say to her that I loved that her archive work was more a route for accessibility than it was isolated preservation. She shared how the documentation work she did in a way related to that of Marcel Duchamps with his box reproductions and how even years in the future he wanted his works to be understood in a certain way. I loved chatting with her and hope to incorporate her thorough methods of documentation into my work.

I also still hear the faint clicking sometimes.....

Barthes and My Art?

 

I think when attaching Barthes ideas to a project like mine, I feel more lost on what exactly a possible assumed message may be. I’m not sure I can argue that my representation of the bed as an object is a “message without a code” (pg 36), because every bed I’ve encountered says something, whether that is it saying visually that it is unmade, or if the person is a clean freak. In terms of planning for my project, I was thinking of text, but as I drafted ways to write on the cyanotype paper, I found myself leaning towards using a white posca pen, but this then made me think that my audience could see my cyanotype magazine as a blueprint/ or instructional vs. the mock-magazine that it is, due to the ques given with the blue of blueprints and that of cyanotypes. plus the usage of diagram like images. 

Another interesting thought I had was about Barthes secondary idea of a collection and its signifiers. As much as I am focusing on a singular object: aka the bed, the bed itself is more of an idea of where we sleep and rest, rather than what exactly creates the idea of a bed as a structure. 

Ultimately, as I dissect Barthes in relation to my project, I’m finding that my idea to create the anatomy of a bed is more about communicating a relationship between body and object, than it is to advertise the object like the Panzani ad

My update for my project is just earlier in the week I secured my Nikon camera, and this weekend I will be doing my rounds and taking at least 10 pictures of my friends’ beds that way I can start planning out the magazine type format for my magazine.

Int. New Media Project Ideas! ‧⁺✧(˶´u`˵)⁺‧

 Hello Everyone!!! 🫧🐟