Taking my face for a walk on the heath (and a recap of my 'Frosted Face')

Since before I had my face cast, I've been planning a series of photo of my face in different natural settings - the aim being to replicate the grief feeling of wanting to sink into the earth and be 'quenched' by it - to sort of sleep forever without actually dying as such. The plan was to use the mould to cast faces in natural materials. However, I decided to have a trial run using a plaster cast.

I felt surprisingly self-conscious walking over to the local heath carrying my face in my pocket. I probably looked dodgy as hell - a middle-aged man with something heavy wrapped up in his pocket, staring weirdly around... However, once I actually got the thing out and started exploring places to photograph it, I quickly relaxed - so much so that I carried it home by the nose, dripping mud, and nobody batted an eyelid...

Actually testing out quickly highlighted a few problems:

• As I've discovered before with my frosted face (Oh! I forgot to write that up!), it's quite difficult to position the face in such a way that it looks like it's actually coming out of the ground, and not just placed on the ground
• The white plaster looked blindingly and unnaturally white against any background
• Related to the above, the photos are often 'washed out' with no detail on the photo because it was so bright, despite plenty of detail being visible to the naked eye
• Water looks great, but any depth of murky water makes it hard to see the details of the face

So since I forgot to write-up 'frosted faces', I'll quickly say that I left my wax face cast outside on a particularly cold night, and the next day took some photos:

As noted above, these worked best when the angle and position was such that the face appeared to be coming out of the earth - basically where the edge of the mask was hidden. I was really pleased with them, and got lots of positive feedback too.

Coming back to the heath, these are the best of the shots I took:

Immersing the cast in water for the third image made me realise that getting the cast muddy helped it to blend, hence the last shot! I made sure the cast was good and muddy, and took it home still caked in mud. The idea being to clean the mud off when dry to maximise the staining, but actually the drying mud made for one more great image:

The pattern made by the mud is amazing!

Overall I was really pleased with the idea, and can see obvious places to try next - broadly I want to better blend the face with the natural environment - I think that means having another with the plaster face now that it's muddy, but also experimenting with casting new faces in natural materials like leafs (ok, more like paper mache than casting!), mud, etc

Synthetic Birdsong

I went along to the Virtual Ecologies lecture "Within Perception" last night. I am always a bit leery of going to stuff in the evenings because it messes with my daughter's evening routine, but Roz recommended it, and I really enjoyed it. 

The lecture was a presentation by a neurology researcher, talking about the effect of 'nature' on the brain. It was interesting as there was a lot of discussion about how to measure what elements of 'nature' actually make a difference - is it the colours? the sounds? the space? This makes sense since from a scientific point-of-view, understanding this gives further insight into how the brain works, but also further insight into how the benefits could be best deployed to help people. 

What I found more surprising, was the seeming push towards synthesising these effects. For instance, could VR be used to simulate a natural environment? Does listening to recordings of natural sounds help? Clearly, 'real' nature has some limitations for some people in terms of access, and even feeling safe, but for most people, it seemed strange to rush to deliver a synthetic version when the 'real' thing is so clearly beneficial in other ways.

Being who I am, I made the comment that I could image a dystopian future where we are all kept in pods, and played fake birdsong to keep us happy... To be fair, my actual comment was a bit less pointed, but that was the gist... 

However, the reference to birdsong led me back to my discussion with JK about AI, and my assertion that simulated art was of equal value to 'real' art - that people don't care if that heart-felt poem was written by a real person, or written by an AI. The problem being, I realised that for birdsong, that's not true. I DO care if the birdsong is simulated, even if it's indistinguishable from real birdsong.

So why? Why would it be true for the bird? I think that what I care about is not the sound, but the knowledge that there is a real bird, singing it's little heart out, that it's a tiny vulnerable thing, making this incredible sound that seems to defiantly advertise it's location.

So if I care about that for a bird? Why don't I care about that for a person? I THINK the short answer is because I'm wrong... I DO care about it for art - yes my Insta feed is filled with art-slush that is made by AI, or looks like it was... But actually for the art that I connect with, that I care about, that I am moved by, I do connect with the artist, not just the art. I care that Tracy Emin is a real person, because I care about her art, and I care about her art because I care she is a real person. If Tracy Emin turned out to be an AI, would I feel the same about her art? Probably not (and would I feel the same about AI afterwards? Probably not!)

Of course, this feeds back into my wider wondering about the role of the artist in the piece. I have always asserted that the piece should stand alone, independent on the artist, but surely that's not true?

Open Casket v07

   REMOVED

ADDED/AMENDED

Motivation

The over all idea is to create an impression of sadness, mixed with humour and tranquillity - people should feel at rest with the 'body' not disturbed

Effigies are designed to be viewed, and to be a tribute to the deceased (or to invite prayer for the deceased). That doesn't feel right - I want a sense of intrusion and examination - dissection of life in death.

I think then, that this WAS a burial, but that burial has been disturbed and placed on show for the viewer's consideration (and perhaps in some senses, gratification). No crime has been committed, so I think this is more akin to a museum piece or an archaeological find. What is on show then, is in the spirit of a reconstruction of something found 'in situ', not the original condition.

Aesthetically, this pushes me towards more of a spartan look - this is not a sumptuous burial, but the slightly 'cold' display of one. It pushes me towards more of a 'scientific' look - harsher lights, designed for examination. It suggests that the elements should be display in a more simple 'frame', against the idea of an elaborate 'casket'. It suggests glass, and dark victorian wooden frames. It suggests, perhaps, in extremis, some form of pseudo-scientific paraphenalia, like moist monitors. It suggests broken and fragmentary and pieced together.

Shroud torn open to reveal elements inside? Like it has been forcefully revealed for study

If this is about 'interring' myself (always thought that word was 'interning'!), what better than to actually 'lay in state' at the PV while my plaster sets, and then leave the cast as my final piece.

Do I want some element of 'decay' over time? Should the piece change over time somehow? Break down somehow? Be buried somehow? Either through the materials or through audience participation?

A theme of my work is finding joy through the acceptance of the inevitability of death - could I somehow incorporate a participatory element through this? Maybe invite people to complete some form of 'note' (like "Wish You Were Hear") e.g. "If I died tomorrow, I wish I had..." or maybe more powerfully "If I died tomorrow, I'm glad I...". Could they be notes that fill the 'coffin'? Or hang on nails? Or maybe even get written onto the 'body' like "Undeliverable Letters"?

 Base

• A box? Or flat? Really want people to have to peer in so maybe a box? But weight will be an issue again
• Shaped or rectangular?
• Solid or mesh?
• Covered in something in the shape of my body? Spines of some sort?
• Shallowly moulded to impression my body (somehow? Weight!) - I'd really like to do this - but how? Some form of foam? Needs to be light, stable, cheap, and ideally environmentally friendly. Considered corn starch foam, but would have to experiment to see if it's suitable
• What the hell is the background going to be?? Becoming a limiting factor! Maybe look at real archeological displays of skeletons? Doing so, suggests something very plain - a board with some sort of backing, together perhaps with 'sides' and/or a sheet or perspex raise up as a lid

Life Casts

• Face, hands, and feet
• Face deformed in some way? Skull? Partial? Too much!
• Make sure to cast wedding ring, and guild it afterwards

Body fragments

• Fabric casts - Swags over key areas (e.g. chest, thighs, ankles, neck etc) or more fitted 'garmets' like a shroud? 
• Cast entire body as part of a performance on-site?
• If I make thin casts of enough of my body, do I need the fabric casts? Maybe fabric casts for the trunk, thin life casts for the limbs? Do I want to deliberately break any of the casts?
• Definitely want to keep them white and unstitched (e.g. no actual clothes)
• Some form of 'rib cage' - more interest, and a clearer message that this is a 'body'. Could also bring natural elements in if made from sticks
• "Wear" ribcage over ribs while taking fabric casting so it sits over the 'ribs' but also has the shape of my body
• Build an entire 'skeleton' out of found sticks?
• Lily's fist in epoxy as a 'heart'
• Hole over the position of the heart, as those it has been torn out, but also to allow the epoxy "heart" to be seen
• Threads or wire binding together? Nimbus of thread from back of face? Fragmentary face? Fabric background, with faded outline? Stitched into body?
• Should the body elements (especially the trunk) be sheets of fabric? Or string with a backing like 'holey face'?

Grave Goods

• An acorn in one hand
• A book of Time Management under the other
• Flowers on head?