Contextual Statement as of Year 2

“A human body grasping at its limit of potentiality is typically understood within the domain/dialectic of sport. To excel athletically, a body must suspend its tendency to be slippery, chaotic and imprecise. It is a technical challenge that sporting excellence is usually framed by both the amplification and the reduction of ways a body may move through space.” ¹

A passion for sport and fitness has merged its way into my multi-disciplined

art practice which - like sport - allows for play, experimentation and failure.

The body’s boundaries are pushed physically, through both sport, and within my art practice, by advancing on the limitations of my materials. This may equate to failure in myself or in the materials. Because of this, play becomes a very important way to create.

I am interested in investigating into material activation and tension, questioning how these concepts play into action.  An exploration into a potential for movement within stasis results in a provisional engagement with my materials.²

This provision adds to the conversations between the materials and the spaces I place them into. My practise also borders the boundaries of precision and temporality through the use of gravity and makeshift support structures.

Physical co-dependence is something that I create between objects, or between objects and body. I enjoy the honest relationship that occurs between elements. Without one, the other cannot be.

¹ http://www.laresakosloff.com/text.html#art1

² The possibility to create potential for movement within stasis. Stasis being defined as: A state of stability, in which all forces are equal and opposing, therefore they cancel out each other -  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stasis

Link to ACCESS - an interactive art installation by Marie Sester

Just came across this video on youtube while thinking about how my final work (photos up soon) ended up becoming quite interactive... not what I intended but what can you do. I hadn't expected people to walk over my work, but when I got to the opening I saw footprints all over the piece of wood on the floor. And by standing on it, the whole work was falling down and breaking the painted clay weight. I heard that this happened over and over again during the opening and people then set it back up the best they could. I wish I could have witnessed someone doing it, would have been amusing. 
So final work wasn't something that I was that pleased with but ended up having funny interactions with some of its inquisitive or oblivious viewers.

In the clip linked above there is a comedic element to the voice and the effect it has on the people in the space. Some try to out run it, jump out of it or a pair danced in it.

Bruce Nauman - 'Walking in an Exaggerated Manner around the Perimeter of a Square' (1967-1968) and 'Art Make-up' (1967)

Watching some of Bruce Nauman's video works on youtube, I came across his 'Art Make-up' (1967) video and was able to sit and watch the whole ten minutes of it. 
It is an beautiful video to watch and it makes you so aware of his own body and its movements. It just allows you to watch him without feeling the need to look away, that it is ok to watch this even though it is semi personal.

Nauman's 'Walking in an Exaggerated Manner around the Perimeter of a Square' (1967-1968) was shown to me by Andy. I had been to scared to attempt any type of performance art because  in my mind it was done in front of an audience, the artist/performer made somewhat of a spectacle of themselves and above that there are so many contexts and so much history to performance art that I felt a little overwhelmed. Felt like to much to tackle. But the simplicity, the fact that 'Walking in an Exaggerated Manner around the Perimeter of a Square' (1967-1968) is made for the artist him self and is not trying to shout some sort of statement to it's viewers; made performance art a lot less scary!

Link to Bruce Nauman 'Art Make-up' (1967)

Link to Bruce Nauman 'Walking in an Exaggerated Manner around the Perimeter of a Square' (1967-1968)

Laresa Kosloff quote

"A human body grasping at its limit of potentiality is typically understood within the domain/dialectic of sport. To excel athletically, a body must suspend its tendency to be slippery, chaotic and imprecise. It is a technical challenge that sporting excellence is usually framed by both the amplification and the reduction of ways a body may move through space." 

(http://www.laresakosloff.com/text.html - Art #1, Wangaratta Exhibitions Gallery, Victoria 2010, Curated by Hannah Mathews , Catalogue essay: Olivia Barrett)

I like and connect with this quote in respect to my practice. It sums up the things that i'm interested in, both inside of my studio practice and in my job and life outside of uni. It connects with my job and training as a gym instructor, with my passion for sports - at the moment triathlon and the ways in which I like to interact with materials. 
I used this quote to start off my contextual statement as a way in to my own work.