Skeletal Shadows in Absence

Absence is something that people feel in response to death. It is sort of the product of loss, and that void that is created is kind of the only way that people can relate to death. We don’t understand it, except in the negative. This piece was, perhaps, the first time in my art where I have been honest with myself about my intent of a darker subject matter though the process of creating the piece. Consistent with how I think about much of my work, I find both a celebration of the feminine and a discussion of death in this piece.

I had created this feminine skeletal form last semester, and I have constantly been curious about the shadows that this form can cast in different lights. The wrought-iron, feminine-silhouette form purposefully boasts broad hips and feminine curves, while still being a skeleton. I used just black and white and grey to further illicit a feeling of stillness in death. The black chairs faced a black square that blocked out the sun. The lights were also positioned to elicit the idea of a blinding or floating, glowing orbs in elevation.  

Upon viewing this piece, people were hesitant to step over a boundary created by cords and duct tape. I feel this hesitation when working with this type of subject matter. However, once people were able to breech that boundary, they were interested in sitting in the chairs and even moving the chairs. At one point, one person felt the need to switch the direction of the chairs so that they faced the open space, rather than the large, black rectangle. This perhaps invited viewers into the piece more, giving an open seat to sit down, but it did not match the original intent of absence. Nevertheless, the interaction is interesting. Upon creating a space, I give leave for people to interact freely. 

(This piece was also a good learning experience because I worked with Bill Rumley to reserve the space as well as set up, take-down, and patch walls quickly. This was the first time that I had to deal so extensively with the administration. I now have a better understanding of paper work.)

Farsi Lesson- By Jenna M. Montazeri

My husband's first language is Farsi. Mine is English. Although he is fluent in English and communication is never an issue, the idea of sharing something that is near and dear to his heart is always a desire. He comes from a culture that is so deeply rooted in poetry and beauty, and I long to go through that portal of language to understand his heritage more deeply. But, alas, language- any language- seems unattainable and distant. Sometimes the words just seems like sounds with no meaning attached. It is hard for me to remember. Hard for me to let it sink in. And I always end up at square one- usually the alphabet.

In this piece my husband and I sit down for a lesson in Farsi. We both face the individual cameras that are recording us so that it is easier for the audience to relate to each one of us on a seperate level. The frame is tight on our faces, and we interact with each other at times so that there is an established relationship while still feeling isolated in our own frames. With this piece I wanted to explore the playfulness, the excitement, the awkwardness of the sounds, the frustration and the duration of learning this language all at once. I am working on the edits on the piece to make it flow a little better. Your thoughts are appreciated.

Tracing Ireland (From Memory) Documentation

Untitled with Papasan under Tre

I wanted to take a fraction of my personal space and transport it to the public arena without forsaking the feel of the very intimate.  Untitled with Papasan Under Tree is a comfort piece, the type of place that physically makes available a squashy and relaxing vessel and allows the mind to wonder. The space was framed, as if to create a pod, by the chair underneath and the lampshade above, and it was nestled in the nook of a tree. Separation because of the frame and dreamed sense of safety under the tree. Just off a major footpath, the installation was nonintrusive enough to be a proper vantage point. One could observe the daily hubbub and still remain quite removed. This fusion of voyeurism and the ability to escape is the delicious satisfaction I glean from reading a book for pleasure. I chose to include the book Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh because Waugh generates characters whose lives revolve around escaping in one sense or another. One hero of the story is explained: “but  Grimes… was of the immortals. He was a life force. Sentenced to death in Flanders, he popped up in Wales…Had he not moved unseen when the darkness covered the waters?” (270). Grimes was always running, not just evading his past but also thrusting forward into something fresh and unknown. In reading about Grimes hugged by the safety of the papasan, we watch excitedly, but we only live his action vicariously. By placing the installation in reality, with such tangible action so near, the possibility to spring up and join the story persists, allowing the participant to leave the safety behind for another to enjoy. 

@#*$&^!=I'm mad you.

The voice program that I used was the best I could find with some intonation in it.  A Japanese friend had wanted to learn British English versus an American accent, so I had found this program to assist him in pronunciation.

For this project, I was inspired by my Internet friends to create this piece as many Japanese couples don't have children and only have each other to deal with.  There were severals times in particular that my friends would begin arguing while talking to me on Skype or MSN Messenger and try to outdo each other in embarrassing one another.  We saw this material as being appropriate for discussing relationships and married life in American culture.    

My collaborator was also interested in this topic as we had created several other works together in the past. She was interested in the viral aspect of the Internet in relation to "life on the net."  Socializing online becomes another life that is separate from our own.  Our interests and behaviors can adapt and change to virtual space.

While researching another performer, Michael Smith, I was interested to find that his concept was about individuals trapped within a media-saturated society.  At first, I related his idea to the Internet, but was a little surprise to find that he was talking about television.  After seeing the timespan for which he had began creating works, I realized that the Internet was not widely accessible to the public during those times.  I was inspired to see this connection between the influence of television and commercials to the power of the computer in our time.

Technology does tend to make things more difficult as our previous sessions had went more smoothly.  The delay and length of the piece both need to be shorten.  As I see, most performance artists who use deadpan humor, I think keeping the performance brief is key.  With shortening the piece and adding a structured outline and punchline for the piece, I think it would become a funny commentary.  Overall, I wasn't feeling very creative that week, so being able to break through and work with this performance was very inspiring.

The Breath Beneath

The Breath Beneath. I have decided to leave all extra music out at this point and would appreciate your thoughts on the new version. http://www.vimeo.com/16443523 This piece is one that explores the past, present, and future and how the memories from the past are held in our bodies influencing the present and the future. I find this understanding displayed through images of being under the surface and moments of being above as well as the few moments that the camera allows the viewer to experience both simultaneously. I really enjoyed the sounds that the camera makes and was playing with the edits to create the sound score simultaneously. I feel in someways I used Yann Tiersan as an additional element that could connect the piece together and it is possible that I didn't need that. Given my dance background I tend to rely heavy on the music and find my self in my video work doing the same. It is helpful for me in the editing process but just as I like to used music to choreograph I also like to change or drop the music all together for the final version. It is interesting to see how choreography crosses over into editing as well as the editing process into choreography. I think it is spellbinding how most thought the footage was 8mm and how everyone assumed the old footage was actually of my family. I used an underwater digital camera for the footage of myself and all other beach footage was found. I did find myself drawn to moments in the found footage that reminded me of my family and so in some ways I was still maintaining the spirit of my personal memory through anothers actual experience. The moment when the mother realizes the camera is on her she tries to hide herself and that is something my mother would constantly do if she realized she was in the shot.

a novel

With one book and VHS tape, I wanted to test limiting my materials while combining a performance within an installation.  The overall intent of my piece was to relate what I see as abstract layers of obsolete materials and feelings through the death of self, technology, and language.  Hard copies of books and tapes are becoming obsolete with the advancement of digital technologies.  I associate the same feeling while studying literature.
The book used within the piece was Natsume Soseki's Kokoro, which is becoming more and more a fragment of the past.  This is becoming especially apparent when the image of this prized author was removed from the front of the 1000 yen banknote in 2004.  In accordance, a performance is only temporary.  It is subject to becoming obsolete in a quicker process than a painting or drawing.  The remnants left behind serve as the nostalgic essence of that performance and a new work.  Additionally, this obsoleteness carries into and hides our insight into our past versions of our self and their perceptions.
The question I wanted to explore is if we are able to break into that trap and reveal what is hidden or does that information simply corrupt with the passage of time.
For future pieces, I would like to explore this relation and create new pieces through different combinations of my previous works.

  

De-escalating Anger Management (DAM)

The skeleton of of the DAM theory is simple yet very complicated and although extremely beneficial to those who practice, not something to be taken lightly. I believe that I have been chosen to share this knowledge with you all in hopes to bring understanding to your lives. I have a special gift from God that allows me full confidence in my ability to teach the DAM theory. In order to understand the DAM theory one must first go to the pyramid. I bring up pyramids because looking back at history we can all agree that it is through the pyramid we see the birthing of many great things. So if you can imagine a pyramid or what others think of as a triangle, an up side right triangle with three corners, the bottom left corner is where the (D)De escalating sits, the bottom right corner is where (M)Management sits and the tip top of the pyramid is where (A)Anger sits. In this pyramid ANGER is the ruler. So say for example . . .you ask the hostess if you and your significant other could sit at the bar and eat breakfast and she looks at the bar and says, "If you can find a place." Already you don't like her tone. You are looking at the bar and yeah it looks crowded but you could probably squeeze in somewhere. Your starting to get furious because this hostess doesn't want to help you. You take it very personal. She is supposed to help you. You deserve her to treat you well. STOP, in this moment I step in. I am not here to validate if you are right or wrong in feeling anger. I am here to invite you into your anger and allow you to fully experience what this anger would look like. In this moment of fully experiencing your anger you take your hand and make a gun like gesture and pretend you are going to cap her. In the middle of the first cap you draw back you start flapping your arms getting faster and faster. You are halfway to safety, you have just made the first step in transitioning your anger into an animal. From here you fully embrace the animal by pulling out all your bird sounds and continue jumping and flapping your arms. Then inspired to create by your anger you turn your animal into a dance move. Your bird begins to transform into a side slide allowing your arms to continue going out and in as you slide side to side and suddenly with out effort you begin to smile. You crossed over from (A) Anger through (D) De escalation to (M) Management. It is real and it works!! You now find yourself thanking the anger for bringing you to this new enlightened place through movement. This my friends is how the DAM theory works. Please take note. . Coming soon. . www.thedamtheory.com My website will offer great advice as well as some spellbinding animal moves derived from deep seeded anger gestures (i.e the punch or the high kick to the face) that can lead into great dance moves. Also be on the watch for personal success stories. I must say these stories continue to inspire me and validate me as a human daily as I continue to access the DAM theory on an hourly basis.