Locations (groups assignment)

Apart from the balloon work based on the concept of filling up half of the air in the room with balloons, I did not appreciate Martin Creed's work. It was overly simple and dull (in my opinion). However the balloon work was very interesting. It interacts with math and physics,or even just 'earth' or 'being'. It is a very metaphysical peace as it deals with a very fundamental part of our existence; the air we breath and the space we live in. I enjoy contemplating such things and would like to create a piece based on something similar but true. Simplicity can be the best thing sometimes.

For the group assignment we where thinking of using one of these bridges and creating a tunnel. 

This would be an interesting painting. The geometric shapes and the idea of 'heading somewhere' comes to the mind... 

I have always been fascinated with reflections. Whilst at a family lunch, I spend some time observing the reflection in the kettle. It was curved and bent like I was in a dream. It reminded me of a Surreal painting. I felt like I would get soaked into it if I stared at it for too long. This thought made the family lunch more enjoyable.

I am interested in the idea of 'moral imagination'. I saw a video of Obama speaking about it...it is the ability to step into another persons mind and think about what the world would be like from their perspective. An example he gave was 'a mother in Cambodia'. I have been playing around this idea in more local terms. Different ages or genders is a good place to start.  

Performance Art: No Shoes

Today I conducted a subtle social experiment: not wearing shoes. I know it sounds trivial but let me try and convince you 'why' this changed my day and the way I thought.
I was thinking about the idea of 'conventions' ...

Is wearing shoes a social convention?

Yes- because we don't really NEED shoes (in the circumstance of going to uni/town). We didn't have shoes when we where cave-men and we still don't need them. It's not crucial for survival. I spent a whole day walking around with no shoes and apart from getting a bit dirty, there weren't any problems at all. In fact, I really enjoyed the feeling of the earth under my feet. I was using senses on my feet that weren't usually engaged in feeling different textures on a regular basis (as I am always wearing shoes). So I enjoyed this new phenomenon and I'm sure my feet enjoyed having a new experience. Also in terms of  the 'internal experience', by not having shoes my mind was focused on the 'the current moment' rather than hypothetical situations(worrying about the future) which personally was great for me as I am very much a worry wort these days. This exercise allowed me to focus on the 'now' because when I was walking I was focused on not stepping on glass or any dangerous obstacles rather than made up crap in my head. But anyway that's just me. This ability we have of perceiving the current situation, hypothetical situations and imaginary situations is quite amazing if you think about it... some people just have a problem with dealing with this exquisite ability humans have.    

In terms of the external environment, I don't think many people noticed. One man came up to me in David Jones and told me I need to have shoes in case of glass, but he was just doing his jobs. I had some admirable looks but that might just be in my head I'm not sure. Perhaps they thought I was a 'hyppy' I'm not sure. I felt very liberated.

Also another interesting point- when I looked at the shape of dirt on my feet I saw that we only use the outside section of the foot to walk...this is so obvious if you look at foot prints but I never thought about it until now. How do we even balance such a huge body on two small spaces like that. The body is pretty amazing.



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