My Cafe Morte Week

Growth, Decay, Dispersal and Disintegration

The title of William Basinski's 2001 composition 'Disintegration Loops' might refer to the rolling course of corroded magnetic tape from which the audio was made, but it also reads as a statement. Disintegration loops: the growth and decay of the world is cyclical. This theme held up throughout our discussion as we spoke of ageing and the body, the poetics of human hair and how bodily materials become relics. I let Basinski's piece play as we spoke.

The week before, as she was saying goodnight to me, my Granny had mused something that I couldn't help referring back to as it was such a stark comment about the body dismantling itself in age. Granny commented that by the time she's taken her glasses off and her hearing aid out and her false teeth out, there's not much of her left. Terrifically bleak and characteristically random, to me her observation had a compelling connection to my recent work involving contact lenses. I have been curating pairs of my old and damaged contact lenses in museum style displays along with captions such as 'Six Months of Sight'. Echoing Granny's question, what would I be without those small, now redundant circles of plastic? A curious point was raised about how glassses, contact lenses, hearing aids and false teeth are all 'identity objects', personal in their intimacy with the body, in their particularity to a person, and in their conservation of aging and changing identities.

I've always had a fascination for and a sensitivity towards decay, whether in small everyday encounters or in an awareness of the Earth's impermanence. While away at university, and only seeing family infrequently, the changes that occur on a human scale have become more evident to me. When I do go home, everyone is that slight bit older, that slight bit slower than my memory had them preserved. These changes were magnified this year when my mum was diagnosed with lymphoma and began chemotherapy. Mum herself suggested I use her hair, which she had collected as it fell out, for an artwork - it was perhaps some comfort to us both that this loss would not go to waste. The topic of hair seemed to resonate with many in the group, and we discovered that there is a vast amount of ritual and myth concerning the subject. It was suggested to me I look at other artists who use hair, including Annette Messager and Alice Maher. We discussed how women's hair is particularly charged, and how there are many poignant connotations to it being cut. If I were to make an artwork with my mum's hair, the material will therefore always transcend the personal story and take on other associations.

The conversation moved on to how bodily objects are kept and displayed. We spoke about Victorian mourning jewelry, made from the braided hair of the dead. It was mentioned how religious relics are often kept in extremely intricate protective cases; the more covers and layers of concealment, the more important the object. This resonated strongly with my investigations into how to display objects to 'elevate' their value. How might I display my mum's hair meaningfully and respectfully? I posed the question to the group about how to deal with making very personal work because there is a lot of pressure that accompanies ideas so close to the heart. Is it always the right thing to do? Is it necessary for the audience to know what the work is about? How to manage this proximity seems to be one of the key inquiries to which Cafe Morte discussions return. This time we came to the conclusion that it is very important to wait until the work feels right to make, and that when it does it is a very valuable thing to do.

I recently read that new born babies cannot see properly until they are at least 12 months of age, and that as adult eyes grow old they gradually return to this state of obscure and imperfect vision. With all the inherited sincerity of my lovely 89 year old Gran, I might observe that this growth towards and then detachment from the world is another example of how life and death and disintegration loop.

'death: the human experience' at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery

Despite being a bold title 'death: the human experience', in all of the exhibition's branding, omits the use of capital letters. Perhaps this is a nod towards the universal nature of death and its (nonhierarchical) relevance, which is very much the focus of the exhibition. 'All eligible, everyone welcome' a further subheading might read. Alternatively, it is an invitation to review the word 'death' without the established connotations that accompany known and capitalised nouns; familiarity is dismantled and interpretation is set free. There is certainly the sense of the open-ended and unresolved to this exhibition, compelling to an extent, but at times leaving me floundering.

The exhibition contemplates five key human experiences of death, each with its own space and display style: symbols of death, stages of death, attitudes to death, human remains and science and ethics.  It is a comprehensive survey, objects and images relating to every aspect of the subject are presented alongside engaging interactive features and a selection of thought-provoking quotes. The curators have been careful to warn visitors about the sensitive nature of the exhibits and I am gently informed as I enter that there are human remains in one room that I might choose to avoid if I wish.

Such is the presence of death in society that metaphor and connotation are unavoidable, but maybe this one should have been avoided... Walking into the first, corridor-shaped room of the exhibition is like entering a huge and gaudy coffin. Luxurious pink material drapes from the walls with a pronounced but distracting opulence. In front of this magenta mass, exhibited in glass-domed displays are objects symbolic of death: a taxidermy vulture, a funeral wreath of white lilies, the fragile orange and brown frame of a Death's-Head Hawk Moth and the exquisite, delicate skeleton of a small Horseshoe Bat. Here, and throughout the other rooms, the exhibits range from recognisable articles, commonplace in British mourning ritual, to the more obscure and unfamiliar objects of other cultures and ages.

One glass cabinet of familiar objects catches my eye and I am met with an array of traditional and popular 'grave goods' that are left with the dead in British burials. Cigarettes, jewelry, mint imperials, letters from loved ones, dancing shoes and other favourite items are among the displayed, together with a mobile phone. I am intrigued and slightly unsettled to read the accompanying quote:

'Requests for mobile phones to be added to the coffin are common, and often come with a comment about "at least they can get in touch if they aren't dead". I hear this fear in a lot of my work. The phone is a bit like the Victorians putting a bell in family mausoleums, just in case. I have had families who make sure it is fully charged so it will last as long as possible and regularly text the phone after burial.' (Su Chard, independent celebrant, 2015)

As someone wary of the most escapable of enclosed spaces, the thought of being buried underground unnerves me to say the least. There is also a poignant sense of futility to this tender, almost hopeful act. In my opinion, highlighting these very personal and very human responses to death are where the exhibition is most successful. It poses the question to the viewer, about what we would wish for our own death and burial. How do others see us, and how might this be summarised in the objects left with us when we die?

One further explanation for the title's lowercase type is the associations it has with learning. When a child first encounters the alphabet they begin with the simplest form of letters possible and build on their understanding from there. It makes sense to assume from the information describing some of the artifacts, that the intention of the curators was to present a simple and essential insight into death. One caption, positioned alongside a small model of a black hearse, reads:

"A hearse represents death and funerary rituals because it's seen at the time of a funeral. Even an empty hearse is associated with death". 

It is at points such as this within the exhibition, that it feels necessary to question the purpose of museums and the intentions with which they display their artifacts. Aside from collecting and cataloguing, the most obvious function of the museum is to impart knowledge; while this display is certainly educational, it is with a sense of something lacking. As many of our Cafe Morte members make work involving found and made objects, the notion of conceiving death through tangible artifacts seems very relevant to our collective research. Our upcoming show 'Lost for Words' could likewise be titled 'death: the human experience' and we are likewise exhibiting objects and images with a broad and encompassing scope on the topic of death. However, where I feel art may have more of an emotional and meaningful impact is the freedom it allows viewers to interpret the matter with their own sensitivities and experiences. Where the museum is informative to the point of being problematic, the art exhibition illuminates with the bounds of the viewer's imagination as its only limit.

Words Relating to Darkness (Cut Up)

Ironwork cracked belly night black brown portage noir black velvet black nut bone black blue jungle black travelling inkwell kitty dark black jet mocha night black inkwell spot kitty room night chevron tie silent mouse blue bone tone obsidian blue date black raven sea night tiefschwarz night copy jet black volcanic black grand shift all black dark cenema diamond chocolate old kitty mineral portage black sea pluto blue night hague moonlight gold black street mineral black shift hague black black jet napoleon piano nut street deep night pitch black raven hague black métal vivid black of heavy black forêt chimney portage nut grape black dark jet sayward cloak ebony graphite carbon black chevron w/ grand galaxy cape downing silent deep jet tiefschwarz black bay midnight tuxedo black kitty mill onyx w/ black hotel black black midnight black / blue midnight mill engine agate grey blackout jewels blue dark glitzy opulent black leather kitty ches blue perseids bronze galaxy kitty schwarz mineral black tie galaxy noire hague black onyx ink montego sea grey black black black black galaxy napoleon ches black tricorn jet piano portage smoking noir brown black piano carbon top w/ blue ears pitch granada engine black black black tone black licorice moonlight downing chasm pitch blue moss dark magic wine grand blue dark black midnight violet sapphire shift black cat sapphire black all belly vivid night black black montego blue ebony opulent black midnight engine black oxford bay midnight black black

Rudolf Polanzky - Display

I came across the works of Rudolf Polanzky on Pinterest, and was really intrigued by how he displays his work... or rather, the composition of his sculptures, which provoke questions about where the work begins. In many pieces it looks at first as if there is a sculpture mounted on a plinth or stand, but it gradually becomes apparent that the stand is a part of the object itself. In some sculptures, the base is made of solid concrete, in others from less substantial, but equally utilitarian metal bar. It is these functional, architectural materials that link the base with the rest of the sculpture, and draw the elements together. 

I have been trying to think of ways to display works such as the 'Teaspoons of Darkness' on glass, and I intend to draw on the materials Polanzky uses to create stands or supports that are modern, minimalist and very functional. I don't want to create displays that pretend to be better made, or more expensive or 'professional' looking, because it will be a lie and probably turn out a little tacky. I have found this by using perspex as a substitute for glass - you can't pretend it is something that it is not.

 

Words Relating to Darkness

Coal Black Black Coal Black Black Diamond Granada Black Black Sapphire Black Magic Forêt Noire Panther Black Silver Mocha Marine Blue Jet Black Chevron Blue Black Gray Skin Tone 30 Black Soot Print Aubergine Tiefschwarz Schwarz  Schwarz Ebony Midnight Blue Date Nut Brown Terrace Jack Black Chocolate Colour Jet black Black blue Graphite black Moonlight Black Dark Vivid Red Maroon Deep Onyx Black raven Smoking Montego Black Midnight Blue Midnight Wine All Black Blackout Chimney Sweep Tricorn Black Inkwell Black of Night Blue Jet Night Moss Amazon Jungle Black Kitty Kitty Bay Blue Graphite Grey Britannia Bronze Black Midnight Black Oxford Deep  Black W/ Glitzy Gold Outer Space Onyx Black Pot Belly Stove Black Leather Crayola Black Black Ironwork Inkwell Travelling Ches Heavy métal Fonte Noir Tricorn Black Caviar Black Magic Pitch Black / 256 Hague Blue Black Blue Portage Ink Spot Crow's Head  Bone Black Galvanized Hotel Room Jet Black Velvet Cloak Black Wenge Black Top Beluga Obsidian Stone Mineral Grey Pluto Grand Piano Opulent Violet Black Dark Secret Black Mica Black Night Carbon Dungeon Kitty Kitty Grand Piano Perseids Black Cat Licorice Smokey Grape Agate Cracked Pepper Night Shift Tuxedo Tie Kookaburra Licorice Sayward Pine Old Mill Mouse Ears Galaxy Black Cenema Star Contessas Cape Black Dark Engine Black Cab Cat Black Black Night Volcanic Black Silent Sea Anthracite Dark Secret Black Mica Night Jewels Black Magic Napoleon All Black Chasm Black Sea Downing Street Black Jet Black Carbon Copy

Conrad Shawcross Notes

Conrad Shawcross - all architects trying to work out what an object does. Rope metaphor for time, starts to fall down when you try to define each element. Limitations of our language - unless physicists can only understand these things through metaphor. Each rope run for a year so you can find a moment in time on the rope - records a tangle. Analogy of time, history of the world. Failed time machine  makes a much more interesting artwork. More words there are the more meaning because they start to define each other, like musical notes, like people in a room. Trying to unseat and something by taking into different mediums, like analogies. Ada lovelace,  number not just quantity but entity.  'From which that it came' mother and child, one born d from the other. How to represent molecules...something we will never see but need to represent. Molecular aeathetics/neuro aesthetics. Artists needed by scientists to represent invisible.

Chord, 2009

The Nervous System [Inverted], 2010

From That Which It Came, 2012

Editing the Contact Lens Photos

These are the stacked images of the contact lenses - amalgamations of 20-25 images each. I think they're looking really exciting, although of course I still have an awful lot to do, editing the backgrounds to matte black, making sure the colours are how I want them and chnaging the composition of them in the image. I am looking to make portrait orientation images - I think this will look better but also has the connotation with portraiture, which is fitting as they are such personal objects. 

Thank goodness I just did a photoshop course or I would be very, very lost at how to edit them. I am already finding it difficult to know how to do things and doing it to an acceptable quality. One thing that I am finding really hard is the decision making - I have never, ever had any instruction about photography or what theoretically makes an aesthetically leasing image so I am floundering a bit and wondering if my choices are the right ones. I am a little anxious that I will think that the image looks fine on the screen but when it is printed it will look completely different because I don't really know how that kind of thing works. I think maybe I will try and get in contact with the photoshop tutor and ask her to check it for me first.