Author: Bruna Araujo Pereira

Sophie and Bruna

The collage was born out of the idea of depicting our experiences in Berlin specifically through the lenses of the body. Of course the body is an essential part of sensing the world, but more than that, we want to show how bodies that look a certain way (e.g. female, racialized) are also impacted differently by the city and its people. This becomes clear in the piece through the multiple mentions of racism and reflections on gender. On top of that, we included excerpts from academic texts that discuss the psychological impacts of racism/misogyny (e.g. DuBois’ double consciousness), journal entries, and references to the city itself (e.g part of the U+S Band, green landscapes). 

(I forgot to take pictures but I will add them tonight, sorry)

I really enjoy this reading’s analysis of humankind and human history through the perspective of leisure/pleasure and not work. After all, as the author mentions in the text, many societies have spent more time in flow activities than performing labor. Still, I personally do not remember reading something that emphasized the former aspect of life. I think it makes sense to discuss flow because everything else would probably feel less meaningful if we didn’t have a way to enjoy fulfillment in other ways.

• KA 28
• Estranhas Ocupações (experimental music)
• deep listening

• different ways in which sound reverberates according to the material (air, water, surfaces)
• inner sound -> listening to someone else’s inner sounds (that technically only they can hear) -> connection
• antropofagia & eating voices/vocês/vozes
• sing into other people’s mouths
• audio, sound installations/performances can be metaphors for other things (as any art) – perhaps knowing how the sound is made changes the experience

Sometimes I get confused about whether the book is drawing an argument for people who make art in general, or specifically for those who do it professionally as a living. This chapter sounded more suitable for the former group, since it’s clear that, on a personal level, being an artist is a deeply personal process. 

In that sense, I slightly disagree with the idea that (professional) artists don’t have a client. At least based on the ones I have met, artists often have to make the case that their art is relevant for collectors, institutions, funding committees and so on. The general advice for such is to find the right audience instead of trying to make the right art. Still, I think it is fair to assume that at least some of those external opinions, upon which artists depend to survive, will play a role in what type of art is made. In their case, it is totally understandable, and perhaps encouraged, that they care about acceptance and approval to a certain extent.

• revolution on a personal level? trigger uncomfortable or new feelings through unusual experiences (like Undressing Room)
• choreographing historic moments
• use art to subvert the system and tell a different story
• it’s not about the artist as a person -> artist as a channel, not a gifted/special individual
• art not about the beauty, but about power (who gets to make/be recognized by making art?)
• show those in power (e.g. censors) that we’re not afraid
• privilege of living abroad and being able to safely criticize
• guiding questions: who is missing? Am I the right person to do this project”

references that he cited

• Políticas of Touch (Erin Manning)
• Weak Resistance (James C. Scott)
• Queer Art of Failure (Halberstamm)
• Jose Istaban Muñoz
• Weed Principle
• “What is white privilege, really?”
• Mutating Kinship Lab

I continued my idea from last week of recording sounds of “small” things and to make them louder, and decided to take pictures of objects/plants in a way so they look bigger than they actually are.

Kollage Kolective

• communal space – different collectives
• upcycling
• restrictions in terms of materials -> creativity
• learning skills as they become necessary
• collage as an aesthetics

Harshini

• VJing
• projector on body/actor
• active viwers
• poetry as brief starting point to set the scene
• reflexology walk
• after image: shiny dots after you stare at light

Art & Fear Chapter 3

First of all I wanted to say that I really like this book. Now, regarding the third chapter, it was interesting to notice that I feel or have felt all of these fears in my still brief journey of making art.

Perhaps I would add an additional fear that is not directly related to being an artist, but that, once solved (I believe), makes life a lot easier. That is the fear of dealing with our flaws, and things that haunt us. As the book says, we all have what we need to make our best work, which for me involves a lot of self awareness and acceptance that, to be honest, I am still taking baby steps towards. I have had many ideas for artistic work that got overlooked because I did not want to deal with the emotional baggage that they spark on me, like some family relationships, the weird aspects of our sexual lives, the body, ugliness, and so on. Still, I noticed that when I embrace new parts of myself, my artwork turns out better and more interesting for me.