My book is a parody of the images from The Body: Photographs of the Human Form (1994). The images were dominantly white people, specifically sexualized photos of white women, perpetuating them as soft, sensual, and angelic, and upholding the ideal, the innocent, and the vulnerable perception of women through racist, colonial, patriarchal values. Additionally, this book was exceedingly ableist and presented many colonial values, dehumanizing people through their photographs, and capturing people and cultures as if they were test subjects, animals, or monsters. All and all, this book is really messed up. The Body successfully captures the white man’s view of what “the body” is, its potential, worth, ‘differences,’ sexuality, formation, mutilation, and decaying. Exploring a single narrative of what a body is functions to silence any other view or experience of “the body” outside of the perception of a white man. The Body universalizes our bodies to the point where few can relate to the images contained within the book.
As a queer, transmasc person, I couldn’t relate to hardly any of the images that were intended to be universal. My relation to my body didn’t fit within the narratives portrayed, leaving my experience silenced and disregarded. In return, I acted to reconstruct the images to authentically relate to my experience and relationship with my body, how I perceive my body’s worth, sensations, sexuality, formation, reformation, dysmorphia, and origin. Ripping pages, cutting, stapling, and drawing on top of the images, I worked to disrespect the book and honor my lived experiences with my relationship to my body.
I recommend everybody do this, it was very cathartic. To physically take the single narrative and dominant view of “the body” and critique and remix it to represent you and your experience allows you to reflect and feel seen. Feels good. (from Anna’s/Andi’s blog post, 2023)
Lecture: Artist Books – Collection and reading together in class
Discuss book design/concepts
ARTIST BOOK ASSIGNMENT: A BOOK ABOUT A BOOK
Pop Quiz By Dave Dyment About the project: A near comprehensive collection of all of the questions posed in pop songs from the artist’s music collection. 360-page softcover artist’s book 5″ x 8″ Edition of 500, numbered and signed by the artist (each with unique handwritten question) $50
Experimental 2/3
ARTIST BOOK PROJECT: A BOOK ABOUT A BOOK
Note on Schedule: 1. Book design workshop with Nathan
2. WORK IN PROGRESS due for discussion
3. ***Final works uploaded and submitted for printing deadline****
4. Works will also be discussed in progress during class.
Consider a book. Use any book you are interested in – a novel, a textbook, a book of essays, a field guide, a book of maps, a self-help book, an instruction manual, a cookbook, a memoir, a monograph… the possibilities are endless.
Choose one book as the point of departure for a print-on-demand artist book that you will develop and design in class. Like examples of artist publications discussed in class, your artist book will emphasize image over text and be an artwork in its own right. It can be any length or size available on Blurb.com under a budget of (total) $28 including taxes.
Your work can be about the book, use the book’s images, respond to or engage the book in any way. Consider content, text, meaning, and image in your work. The original book may or may not be visible or obvious in your finished work – but the artist book will represent your own version of the ideas in the book, and your own responses. The work may be discursive and legible, or it may be austere, formalized or abstract.
Strategies and motifs you may consider:
Scanning and photocopying from books
Using found photographs from the internet
Taking photographs
Working with appropriated text
Using text as image
Making a book from the past into the present
Focusing/repeating one detail in a book
Exploring visual references in the book
Responding to cover art, diagrams or illustrations in a book
No class meeting in lieu ofFIELD TRIPFriday Sept. 27th – 9:30am – 6pm
Due: FIELD TRIP BLOG POST
Note: You may work with your partner in the arboretum and use equipment to shoot videos on site.
WEDNESDAY
Discuss field trip:
Rave Chacon – Three Songs (2021) is a three-channel video installation that explores a history of Native resistance and questions the myth of an uninhabited American West. In the video, Indigenous women appear singing in their languages and playing instruments while they occupy historical sites of massacres, violence, and the forced displacement of tribal peoples. The work features Sage Bond (Diné), Jehnean Washington (Yuchi) and Mary Ann Emarthle (Seminole) who sung in their native tongue a history of resistance on the Trail of Tears, the Navajo Long Walk, and the forced expulsion of the Seminole. (From TBA website)
In Sonnet of Vermin, a legion of unwanted creatures related to the Mesoamerican underworld attempt to syntonize with one another and with the dead in the midst of a planetary cataclysm. The vermin are unspecific animals who are asociated with negative aspects, damage or destruction. A bat broadcasts frequencies from a tomb with the help of a funerary bundle/radio. A group of frogs/children are paranormal cyborgian amphibians who have adapted to toxicity and they demand another fix of cyanide. A twisted scorpion is a bad omen who claims for the right of infection. A snake sheds her skin while she announces the transformation of the cycles. A telluric alligator devours all what she finds on her way. A brigade of arms insists on raising from the earth. All of them seek for a subaltern solidarity and queer relationality as a form of re-existance within the ruins. (from the artist’s website)
Leila Zelli (@leila.zelli) is a Montreal-based artist born in Tehran whose work explores the relationship that we have with the ideas of “others” and “elsewhere” and, more specifically, within the geopolitical space often referred to by the questionable term “Middle East.” She creates in situ digital installations using existing images, videos, and texts often found on the Internet. With the resulting visual and sound experiences, she creates an opportunity for viewers to reflect on the state of the world, their relationship with the Other, and the actual effect of our actions on humanity. Leila will be presenting Pourquoi devrais-je m’arrêter ?(Why should I stop?) (2020-21), a video installation shown on two screens. The work pays tribute to the resilience of Iranian women who defy the ban on practicing Varzesh-e Bâstâni in public, a traditional form of athletics. (from the Toronto Biennial of Art)
Discuss field trip
Video editing refresher demo
Editing and consultations in class
Show footage/work in progress
Video shooting in Arboretum if needed.
REMINDER:
VIDEOS DUE OCTOBER 9th/16th – sign up for critiques
Aatooq means “full of blood” in Kalaallisut, Laakkuluk’s Greenlandic mother tongue. In this film, we explore the spirit of blood – how we ingest it, create it and emit it. We honour blood as our life force.
Ikumagialiit ᐃᑯᒪᒋᐊᓖᑦ (those that need fire) is a performance art band with Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory, Cris Derksen, Jamie Griffiths and Christine Tootoo. The Ikumagialiit quartet is egalitarian, bringing together four strong women from different disciplines, across generations. Ikumagialiit’s premiere show was a part of Abadakone at the National Gallery of Canada and also played at the Harbourfront Centre in Toronto before the pandemic. Aatooq is the quartet’s newest work, where the four women pushed themselves to be creative and collaborative despite living in lockdown in three different communities.
Iqaluit, Kangiqlliniq (Rankin Inlet) and Tkaronto (text from National Gallery of Canada)
Work time with group
Arboretum maps/tips/references and advice
Book equipment, demos from Nathan, development of production schedules.
Artist examples – relevant to research interests.
WEDNESDAY
Work time on site in Arboretum together during class time – meet in the classroom for equipment etc.
One Billion Years [Past and Future], Dave Dyment A collection of books pertaining to the past and future, arranged chronologically from One Billion Years Ago to The Next Billion Years. 2012.
In your own home library/bookshelf, or the home library bookshelf of someone you know – make three book stack sculptures and document them with their phone cameras, or cameras from our class equipment selection.
Consider how the books are arranged to make the titles, or colours, or shapes you would like to highlight most legible to a viewer.
Consider how the stack might create a portrait, or tell a story, or create an image that alters, exceeds or expands the intentions of the materials on their own.
Avoid distracting from the books and their titles/colours by creating a plain background, and clear bright lighting. Be resourceful in how you solve this in a non-studio environment.
Post your three best images to the blog with a short description of your ideas and processes to make them.
DUE for in-class discussion from your blog page next week – see schedule for details.
Demo on using cameras/phones at home for shooting/high res.
Demo on using home lighting, being resourceful with available light.
Terrance Houle, from the Urban Indian series, 2004.
Based on research on environmental themes, and the approaches of artists discussed in class – you will create a work of video art up to 5 minutes in length with a partner.
Use a COSTUME for one or several performers – as a way to activate a site in the arboretum. You or your partners and friends may activate the costume in a simple gesture/ series of gestures.
We will go to the Arboretum together for a class visit and activity. And we will also have independent work time in the arboretum with our partner. Be prepared for any weather, and work time/consultations during class time.
Some approaches and motifs to consider with your costume and your gestures on site:
Curiosity and experimentation where you don’t know the outcome
Acts of resistance
Acts of submission
Blending in or standing out
Forms of communication with things in the natural world
Collisions of culture with nature
Rituals and ceremonies
How language meets landscape
Playing with perceptions of scale
Playing with perceptions of time
Identity and the culture of nature
Trying to relate across species
Works will be evaluated considering all of the following criteria are met:
Presentation of research and ideas in context of artists discussed in class
Showing work in progress, seeking support when needed
Working effectively during class time and managing production to meet deadlines
Using professional recording and lighting equipment effectively
Original and compelling subject matter
Thoughtful conceptual approaches
Focus and rigor in performance
Effort and effectiveness of costume
Considered video processing and editing to convey feelings/ideas central to the work
Considered video presentation and discussion for critique
Blog post with finished, revised video, and concise artist statement to describe ideas, research, and artistic references in the work.
PRODUCTION SCHEDULE:
Research and brainstorming: Research an aspect of the arboretum/environment with your partner. Topics might include: Native trees, rare plants, seeds, flowers, birds, migration, weather, ornamental gardens, raptors, reptiles, mammals, “invasives”, clouds, astronomy, fungi, seasons, insects, conservation, camouflage, forest fires, drought, climate change, floods, maps, walking, bird calls, birders, nature guides, wind, swamps… etc. Discuss approaches to video artmaking in relation to strategies used by artists discussed in class.
Develop a BLOG POST including research and ideas for your video to share with the class: Be as specific as possible and create a short blog postwith information about your topic, artists that have inspired your approach, and ideas/sketches for your own video. What would your costume/s be? How would you activate it on site? Where is the best location for your idea? How would you frame and record the action? Post production ideas? Etc. Be prepared to discuss variations and open to alternate strategies in a class brainstorming discussion.
Record your videos in the arboretum: Edit and finish your final videos with feedback and support in studio.
Post your final videos to the blog: Include a title, a short description of the work, and brief relevant notes about your ideas and process.
Be adventurous, but SAFE and RESPECTFUL at all times. See below:
As with all student projects and activities in Experimental Studio and while a student at the University of Guelph you should never do anything illegal, unethical, or that can harm yourself or others in any way. And dangerous/hazardous materials and tools are not allowed on campus or in the studios.
By agreeing to participate in this course you must adhere to these guidelines.
You must discuss your idea with your instructor if there can be any question about the safety of your projects. Students who do not follow this process will receive 0 on assignments, in addition to facing any other academic or legal consequences.
Be careful, be safe, use good sense, and be considerate of others always. Thank you!
Visit to the copy shop in the UC – explore timelines for printing commercially
Discuss projects in progress
Work in class
THURSDAY
Discuss projects in progress
Work in class
Note, participation grades can change before final submission of grades – attendance and presence for discussions, critiques, work in progress, and supporting your community matter. Please join us!
Critiques begin on TUESDAY next week – sign up for dates in class.
RECOMMENDED MEDIA: Posters, post-cards, T-shirts, mugs, a set of stickers, banners, matchbooks, artist books, modified products, small sculptures or other commercially-printed or mass printed media.
Since the 1950’s artists have been making accessible works in a series/edition intended for wider distribution than an expensive “original”. They would undermine the idea of precious/one-of-a-kind artworks, and be related to everyday objects and operations.
They have been made as prints, small manufactured sculptures, pins, artist books, magazines, postcards, t-shirts and other commercially reproducible media.
Artist multiples are sometimes playful and mischievous – exploring new and surprising manifestations of commercial goods – for example they are personal, satiric, highly conceptual, queer, alternative to mainstream ideas etc. They can also convey activist messages intended for wide distribution.
Students will create a playful artist multiple in a form intended to be made in “multiple”. You can create one or more of your multiples, or a few items in a series – and consider the ideal “edition” size when you show your work in critique. Your work should be finished like a product in a store, and this may include packaging to finish the work.
Consider artist multiples by some of the following artists:
Hiba Abdallah
Sandy Plotnikoff
Dave Dyment
Yoko Ono
David Shrigley
Kelly Mark
Adam David Brown
Roula Partheniou
Paige Gratland
Micah Lexier
Jessie Eisner
Tracey Emin
Piero Manzoni
John Baldessari
Fiona Banner
Germaine Koh
Jenny Holzer
Fluxus (various)
Students will document finished works at the studio with a backdrop/or in action for addition to the blog.
Two “commercial” style photos of your multiple must be posted on the blog with a title and short description by the end of the day at least one week after the last class to receive a final grade.
