E-tivity 6. Performativity and daily life

I intitially found the Theory cards to be full of generalisation and too tabloid-esque for my liking. They do contain a lot of information on some very big and complex subjects, which may serve to be an useful starting point for a serious researcher. However, I fear that, much like the tabloid reader, this information can be taken as gospel and ‘fact’ much like when a student looks in an encyclopedia. There seems to be wikipedia-factor to them in this sense. Whilst they may be an easily digestible light hearted way to begin research upon key writers etc. I would have to stress the importance of seeking out further information on the subjects. You cannot contain the entire theory of say, ‘Karl Marx’ in less than 100 words. After all has his theory not been misread in the past? However, as I continued to browse through the various cards I found a sense of irony to them, particularly the ’special skills’ etc. section at the bottom. This may highlight another use for the cards; light amusement for the sake of the well read theorist who understands the irony.

As regards my own practice and the theme of performativity and the everyday- I feel this is one of a number of umbrella themes within my work which also includes an examination of time and memory, and the relationship between the mediums of drawing and video. My work is underpinned by performativity. When I film someone no matter how relaxed they may be, they are performing in some manner. When I make drawing from the video I too reflect the performance, which I have begun to examine by further recording this process. I also have another idea for creating footage to work from whereby 3 people will be filmed in an audition style talking from memory. This will involve performing in both the ‘natural’ and acting sense, but I fear dispensing any more information on the internet!

Filed under: Performatitivy and Daily Life, e-tivity06-0708, jim, tiip

performativity and daily life

Some would say that performativity is in everyones’ daily life, we all perform for different audiences throughtout the day in different roles. I certainly do, a lot of my role as a teacher involves assuming a role.

I love the idea of interrupting daily routine but in ways that add to the delight of the day and not to annoy. I dont like art designed to interrupt the routine but love that that enhances, amuses and enlightens. What we notice is difference, when the posters are changed on the billboards, when the tube platforms are polished, when someone smells. Visual information is quickly assimilated into the routine environment. To remain powerful it needs to be changed everyfew weeks. These days it is changed continually, moving in front of us, adopting a rhythm. So do we no longer look at the image but wait for the repetition?

As for the site suggested, I found the use of the cards a good way of indexing and presenting basic information or thoughts around a person but would have prefered active links and more extensive information. Also I would imagine the site would grow as more people submit more unofficial cards. There are certainly many interesting people that need to go on the site.

Filed under: Performatitivy and Daily Life, e-tivity06-0708, isabella , etivity6, isabella, performativity in daily life

Performativity and daily life

The site theory.org.uk is very slick and modern, my problem is I dislike these media type sites which promise but do not deliver. In fact this site illustrates succinctly the theory of one of the subjects within the site. Adorno is quoted ‘ that capitalism fed people with the products of a ‘culture industry’ – the opposite of true art- to keep them passively satisfied and politically apathetic’………he also suggested ‘that culture industries churn out a debased mass of unsophisticated and sentimental products which have replaced the more ‘difficult’ and critical art forms which might lead peple to actually question social life.’ (however because this comes from from a site I have no confidence in, is this true?)
The information in the site including the trading cards is reminiscent of those literary sites which summate the works of Dickens into three paragraphs for the illiterate. I would prefer to profess ignorance than mediocrity and painting by numbers, did the art of reading a book and creating your own understanding die out with the world wide web and Wickipedia? Discuss!!

The second part of the task is interesting, I am not prepared to go public with an example of performativity and daily life in my own practice and I will avoid the obvious example of Mathew Barney and ‘the Cremaster Cycle’.

My preference is to direct to the Chisenhale gallery site Here I both listened to Jaki Irvine speak and saw her exhibition ‘In a world like this’. Her multi-screen installation looks at the world of birds of prey at a sanctuary, here she captures the daily relationships between the handler and bird when at rest in private behind the scenes. Then there are the performances which are for the paying public and here the birds and handlers perform daily, different roles which are front of house staged performances. Her work and the nuances of role play that she delicately handles are subtle and reflect our own performativity in daily life.

Filed under: Performatitivy and Daily Life, e-tivities, e-tivity06-0708, glenda, tiip , e-tivity06-0708, glenda, tiip