Passivity - An Ecocentric Paradigm for Collaborating with Natural Processes by Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's article described the ever-widening gap between humans and nature and the efforts of different artists to try and bridge that gap. Through a process known as "Passive Collaboration," artists such as Andy Goldsworthy and Giuseppe Penone literally collaborate with nature to create works that embrace natural processes. These works are impermanent and do not alter the natural landscape in any way; they exist in harmony with their surroundings.

Clarke mentions land art- a movement started in the 60's and 70's. Early land art didn't necessarily embody the idea of passive collaboration however, and artists such as Robert Smithson contributed to the tarnishing of this ideal. While passive collaboration was an effort to move away from egoism and the idea of art as a commodity and return to the basics, this did not always happen.

Andy Goldsworthy, a notable land artist, is also mentioned- his intentions somewhat opposite of Smithson's. He temporarily manipulates aspects of nature to create impressive, painstaking works that leave no permanent trace on the landscape. Goldsworthy seeks to work with the cycles of nature and changes of state; one can think of the life cycle of a tree- change, decay, regeneration. Like nature's changes, Goldsworthy's work is silent, thought-provoking and steady. His pieces require an innate connection and attentiveness with and to his surroundings. Passive collaboration is necessary to understand, appreciate, and preserve the ever-changing natural world.

Experimenting with Sound and Loops

Looking through the Prelinger Archive, I came across quite a few old, cheesy horror/sci-fi films that I thought really revealed a lot about the culture at that time: what people were scared of, entertained by, what they took seriously, etc. Most of all, I was struck by how absurd and poorly produced they were. I wanted to play on that absurdity with this assignment and use the loops to emphasize that.

I'm a little disappointed however, with how it turned out. I'm happy with the footage but I feel like the sound loops aren't very rhythmic or interesting to listen to. There is almost a disconnect between the three different soundtracks when they should all be working together. The point of a sound loop is to change the meaning and create a new one altogether with the repetition and abstraction. Marlee's video, for example, was successful with that. I wish I had gotten a little more feedback with the sound but luckily I can still go back and fiddle with the length, levels, etc.

Approaches to What?

This excerpt from Georges Perec's Approaches to What is like some sort of Buddhist manifesto in which he urges readers to measure their lives by the every day, not just by the spectacular. The every day, writes Perec, is so important yet so often overlooked and dismissed as tedious, uninteresting, monotonous. It is in these moments that we should look for meaning and truth in life; this is when we should feel truly alive.

Perec wants his readers to see the world with a child-like curiosity that is so often absent in modern society. Its a great point sure, but reading this made me wonder if humans have ever approached life with this kind of appreciation and wonder. We should appreciate the little things but is it really part of human nature? The more I think about this, the less sure I am of where I'm going with this argument.

Documentation and Depiction

After ruling out several ideas that I discovered did not work, I ended up doing prints of my face sweat. Sounds strange!

Running is a sort of release for me. It is a relaxing yet physically challenging activity that changes the way I think of time. It also has an effect on my body that changes over time. Like most people, I sweat. And I sweat a lot.

I ended up going for a run for one hour with a roll of six pieces of paper and a drawing pencil. I stopped running about every ten minutes and pressed paper up against my face.

My sweat created very interesting, ever-changing prints on the paper. As soon as I removed the paper from my face, it began drying so my job was to capture the original marking as fast as I could. I traced it with a drawing pencil then rolled it back up with the others and continued running...felt like I was on some sort of a mission. Papers looked like a baton and I was entirely consumed by the project. I had to shake off my first impulse to wipe all the sweat from my forehead and just let it drip. I also became more aware of the weather-how humid it was, how breezy. The breeze I created while running cooled my face off a bit but as soon as I stopped, I instantly became three times as sweaty.

In-class listening exercise

Although the two spots I chose were quite different, a lot of the sounds I heard were actually quite similar. My first location was an interior space that was unfamiliar to me- the sanctuary of the Elon Community Church. I was expecting the experience to be very peaceful and restful but because of construction outside, it was difficult to stay present. Everything echoed and sounded powerful and important. Every few minutes a banging/scraping came from above the altar and I could hear beeping from vehicles outside the window. I opened my eyes a few times because I got startled by a noise...it was almost creepy being in there alone.

My second location was an exterior space with which I was familiar. When I go running, I almost always have to stop at the crosswalk by the Kangaroo, the corner with the big, brick 'Elon University' sign surrounded by flowers. I sat in the grass by the corner and heard a lot of the same construction noises that I heard earlier...much harder for me to pay attention at this spot, probably because it was so busy and it was technically my third location. (The first being at Arts West). I heard a squirrel shaking the branches in a tree above me which made me feel awfully nervous...half-expected a little creature to land in my lap.

Also heard:
-Car doors slamming
-Occasional snapping of twigs
-Backing up of construction equipment
-Bits and pieces of conversations
-Rumble of car engines
-Breeze shaking trees and grass

Documentation and Depiction: Brainstorming

Even brainstorming for this assignment caused me to pay more attention to my surroundings. I noticed my own repetitive actions such as constantly checking my mailbox, watching my shadow while walking, thinking about certain activities or people.

Several ideas came from this:

-Keeping track of how my shadow changes while walking to and from Arts West throughout the day

-How the movement of the sun throughout the day (maybe every hour) effects where people sit/stand/flock to...take photographs of a certain spot every hour

-Sit in one spot for an hour and count how many people I see checking their phones

Drawing is my favorite medium so I'd like to incorporate that in addition to photography.