Melbourne Conservatorium of Music - Theses
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ItemWhat's wrong with your voice?( 2012)The research component of my project investigates voice as a vehicle of meaning and voice as an aesthetic material but also an understanding of voice as an object, as a lever of thought. The main impetus of the paper is how the voice operates after death and the consideration of reattaching my disembodied voice to my dead body in the future event. The works of John Cage, Samuel Beckett, On Kawara and Mutlu Çerkez (among others) inform my current investigations into the position of voice. Situating the voice as a material within a sculpture and spatial practice, my project investigates the voice as it stands between body and language, between subject and other: afterall it is the sound of the voice that will remain as a trace and resonate our absence.
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ItemIn the realm of phobia: exploring the duration of repetitive schizogenesis and ambiguous morphs( 2012)This research explores the ‘in-between’ as a field of encounter, collision, penetration and fission in visual art practice. I accommodate my own phobia and its power as the main discourse to traverse the gap between the conscious and the unconscious, and to retrieve latent memories along with emotions and sensations. By examining how fear influences me, and triggers paranormal phenomena in perception, I acknowledge fear as a predominant impulse in making art for it constantly reaffirms its significance within my work. I have referred to Freud and Jung’s ideas about the function and meaning of dreams in order to adequately inform my metaphysical and psychoanalytic approaches to investigating the ambiguous mind, thought processes and the recursive nature of fear. I have drawn on discourses by Bergson and Deleuze for my commentary around transitioning between psychical and physical manifestations of fear. This is followed by an exploration of Kristeva’s theory of the abject to highlight the subversive terrain of the ‘in-between’. Thus as a metaphor for unnameable frailty or want, which is to be faced and overturned, then acknowledged in its indispensability, I spit out my own phobia through the process of spontaneous thinking, making and becoming. My thesis accompanies a set of drawings that are made with combination of unassuming and conflicting materials; charcoal, shellac, paper and aluminium, in order to achieve unusual or unexpected phenomena that perturb mundane thoughts. Through the repetitive process of (de)activating the materials’ natural properties, I ultimately experience a contemplative state of mind that embraces transcendental memories. In this arena I explore the possibility of art making as a pathway to understanding the self. I have gained a deeper understanding about my practical processes in the studio, and the prevailing psyche that motivates, drives and informs my art. Hence, this research has allowed me to explore what has been overlooked in the continuum of my daily life, and to revisit things that were sacrificed over the course of obedience to social or cultural standards, values and conventions. Furthermore, my investigation around the process orientated approach to creative work has reassured me of the liberating force and cathartic potential of making art.
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ItemPebbles, shattered glass, plastic, metal & dried grass: a research project on ritual action, experience & the everyday( 2012)This masters thesis is a reflection on two years of making, playing, walking, talking, looking and reading. I address the question: “How can I develop a project that encompasses daily activities and rituals, recognises minor phenomena, brings me into an encounter with people, objects and animals and that frames lived experience?” In addressing this question I define the artistic process as both a method of framing and as the creation of the new, a force which effects my experience of the everyday. This is influenced by the writings of Elizabeth Grosz. In my project, I employ daily rituals as a means of encountering subjects for my work. Walking is a primary strategy I use in collecting objects, images and events. I describe my methods of framing as a shifting, searching process. I describe activities and works where I have incorporated conversation into my methodology - using formal meetings as a way to create potential accidents and alliances with others. I discuss the text Profanations by Giorgio Agamben and weave it in to many aspects of my argument. In particular I relate his notion of play to my process of sculpture and performance making. I draw links from the works of Alexander Calder, Richard Serra and Gabriel Orozco to the strategies of my own project. In particular, I respond to Calder’s lightness of forms and Orozco’s engagement with transitory moments in urban/suburban environments. This document augments the presentation of my creative work. This work is an installation of materials combined from the broad-ranging activities I engaged in during the project. It includes a configuration of videos of actions and encounters, and sculptures made from steel, glass, wood and generated from material collections. It also combines elements of a more arbitrary nature, like text, photographic works and other residue from the project.