Rirkrit Tiravanija - Performance? Art?

This was the piece I was going to show you that wasn't tech-based. Per Wikipedia:

"Tiravanija's work “is fundamentally about bringing people together.” The artist's installations of the early-1990s involved cooking meals for gallery-goers. In one of his best-known series, begun with pad thai (1990) at the Paula Allen Gallery in New York, he rejected traditional art objects altogether and instead cooked and served food for exhibition visitors. He recreated the installation in 2007 at the David Zwirner gallery in Chelsea using the original elements and renaming the work untitled (Free/Still).<sup>"

What do you think? Is this art? Is this performance?</sup>

YouTube Performance Assignment - Due in class Tuesday 9/24

Here is the elusive YouTube performance assignment that I've been asked about!

• YouTube Performance
• Please find a video on YouTube or Vimeo that illustrates a performance within a cultural/political/religious identity with which you identify
• Prepare a presentation in which you set up a contextual introduction for us, and then analyze the performance while you play us the video
• You may play the whole thing and then analyze is or (and this is riskier but perhaps more rewarding) teach us something about the video WHILE it is playing. You may pause the video to point something out, or talk over the video, or perhaps lower the volume.
• Please analyze the following elements of performance:
• Who the performer is
• Who the producer of the content is
• Who the audience is
• What the setting is
• What about this performance is subject to change (i.e. what makes this iteration of the performance unique? What are the varying factors that make it nonrepeatable?)
• What is the relationship between the producer and the performer? The performer and the audience?
• Is there anything that constitutes media here? (I am open to wildly creative interpretations of the term “media”)
• 3-5 minutes in length please (entire performance, not just the video clip)

Lawrence Lessig and the Read/Write Culture

Later on in the quarter when we examine the roles of the audience in performance, we will be reading a chapter of Lawrence Lessig's book, Remix. Here he is talking about how technology has fundamentally changed the way that an audience functions within our culture; since the Digital Revolution, audiences no longer just "read" (or receive), they read/write - meaning they participate and actively try to change the discussion. Watch the beginning to get the context of Sousa, and then 7:19-12:52

"Emergence & Help"

Emergence-The notion of working by yourself rather than with a lot of people has unfortunately been the main idea here in school., We all hate working on projects with a lot of people because of a lack of participation by some, too much work being done by some and not enough by others, and frustration beyond measure. However, in this example of the ox weight  measurements by some random people really showed me that some ideas can come together without even knowing and somehow manipulate the flow of information and how you can ideally place yourself in the right spot, showing that working together can  be very useful.

Help- When I am in dire need of someone to help me, I think about my brother and how he might help me out. I don't tend to think about other resources at all; and after listening to help, it showed me how much of people's problems come from them making it to stressful on themselves. Help really opened up these new ideas of mine that help me think about how I stress myself out when I really don't need to. I really could relate to some of the examples that were given such as the guy who was going through his withdrawal period of not drinking and how he was afraid of what might happen if he drank; the only reason that I can relate to this is because of the way I can psyche myself out if I don't wear my jersey on game day and we loose. I just can't do it because I'm afraid the broncos will loose, even if we have Peyton Manning as our QB! The power of the mind is very intriguing just because it can control every single aspect of your life if you don't know how to control it.

Radiolab

The first radiolab grabbed my attention when it mentioned a community defining itself. Or rather, the analyst asked an uneducated individuals within a community and uneducated answer followed. This was interesting to think about in relation to our class. The class before our radiolabs were due we discussed our code of conduct. It is interesting we began by defining how we want our class or community to be, before we let it play out.
The second part I found very interesting was when they mentioned google. They described how no one in particular decides which search results appear first. However, everyone decides which results appear first based on which results have the most hits.
In the second radiolab, I found the story about Zelda smoking quite intriguing. Her commitment to stop smoking by forcing her friend to withdraw $5,000 from her bank account and donate that money to the KK shows how tough it must have been to stop. She forced herself into a grueling situation with horrible consequences, and was able to come out on top.

Radio Lab: Emergence & Help

I found the stories in "Help" to be the most interesting and adaptable for others to take away from. All of them essentially focused on some sort of problem they were trying to overcome and a strategy they used to do so. Whether it was quitting cigarettes, writing a story or curing alcoholism, they all were relatable and could be appreciated by many. What I found most intriguing about each of these stories was the psychology behind all of them that made them work. The most interesting one to me was about the "torpedo" in Russia that doctors use to treat alcoholics. At first the narration makes it seem like there is no legitimacy towards it at all but a scientist does come on the interview to explain how it does work to a degree, just not quite exactly how the doctors the prescribe it say it does. Even though it only technically lasts up to a week, I think the fear behind experiencing the pain from the drug would scare someone enough never to test it. It's almost as if the scientist who refutes drugs power does so only technically. I think for some a placebo effect may even take place if they really believe something horrible will happen.

The Emergence podcast was another interesting story but on a very different topic. It was not surprising to me to hear that as a collective people are more accurate and function better together rather than by themselves. I think that is a fairly obvious conclusion if you think of all of human history and that fact that it was created by billions of people working in unison rather than separate individuals. I was surprised though that for a random group of people, who would likely have had no idea the weight of a bull, were able to create a mean guess within one pound of the true weight. That was absolutely astonishing and I think it would be interesting to see how people will use this information.

"Help!"

After listening to this broadcast and hearing the different stories, I was so amazed at the power of the human mind and the variety of different strategies people have for dealing with their inner demons. I was actually quite shocked when I heard about the "tic tac torpedo" in Russia, this little pill that is inserted inside patients who are battling alcoholism that makes the person feel very, very sick-almost like they are dying- if they drink alcohol. And I think its really kind of extraordinary, and disturbing, that people would subject themselves to this in order to help themselves get over a mental block. However, what resonated with me most was the part of the segment with Elizabeth Gilbert. I've read her book Eat, Pray, Love, and I really connect with her outlook on life, as a person and I writer. Gilbert referenced a conversation she once had with Tom Waits during which she realized for the first time that inspiration  was an "it," that it was its own separate entity, a living thing. And once she did that, she was really able to harness its power and energy and make it work not for her, but with her. And I think that's the best kind of mental power there is.

"Emergence"

What I think is most interesting about this segment was the idea of the collective whole and the power for potential. We saw this demonstrated with Sir Francis Galton and the ox-weighing contest, in which a large group of sort of low-brow, average citizens each took guesses at how much an ox weighed. When Galton added the averages together, he found that it was only one number off from the actual amount. And this surprised Galton, who was quite the elitist and went on to be known as the father of eugenics, or the study of or belief in the possibility of improving the qualities of the human species or a human population,especially by such means as discouraging reproduction by persons having genetic defects or presumed to have inheritable undesirable traits (negative eugenics)  or encouraging reproduction  by persons presumed to have inheritable desirable traits (positive eugenics) (definition taken from dictionary.com). Galton's findings went against everything he knew because these people who individually may not have been the brightest bulbs in the box, so to speak, were collectively much more intelligent. We also see this same type of collective power with the Internet and what allowed Google to become the search engine giant it is today. This was done by linking, in which those pages that had more people pointing to them had more positive endorsement, and therefore more highly valued. And I just think this really encompasses the whole idea behind the saying "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts." 

Radio LABs from Week 2

It wasn't until after I had finished listening to the Radio Labs that I could relate the ideas and topics discussed to performance. The Emergence Radio Lab allowed me to grasp this concept of togetherness and how two individual things can benefit the newly created whole. If I step back, I find it difficult to imagine a situation where something becomes a solo performance and is successful. Yes, you can have a singing solo or a speech, but often times the audience is present and I believe the one receiving the performance has an important role in the overall execution. This deals with the situation from the Radio Lab where they discussed the search rankings on Google. The factor that came into play was how many hits a website received from those searching the specific content. Without this form of audience there would be no significant numbers.

With the Help Radio Lab, I took away the idea of the amount of power one has over themself and the conversations that go on within oneself. I feel that this totally relates to performances as we all have to deal with the nervous moments before we perform. I know I definitely talk to myself and try to pump myself up. In the Radio Lab I noticed these people were giving themselves some form of an incentive in order to accomplish the work that needed to be done. In some cases I think this could aid the performance, just not to the extreme level of committing suicide if one fails as mentioned in the Radio Lab. I see it as a way of rewarding yourself for putting yourself out there.

Week 2

I though both RadioLabs were really interesting. From the Sir Francis story, I definitely took away from it the interesting aspect of working with a group to retain better results. I had a sense of how Google worked, but this was a really articulate way to understand just how much we, the people, have decided the popular content on youtube. Incidentally, it seems almost inevitable that poeple would use this system against itself to make money.

"I flipped a coin, and lost my life" might have been my favorite-attrbuting the the funny boys, and I got goosebumps when they both got lucky leaves. It was really interesting to see the change in Dennis. Iv heard it takes 17(?) days to build a habit. It seems like this habit actually turned into something Dennis loved. Regardless of Dennis wanting to do it or not, the tea leaves spoke his true fate. I don't think Dennis is wimpy in any sense. I think he needed a bigger entity to himself to show him he was making the right choice.

Obviously I wrote this before the Elizabeth Gilbert Segment but I just want to add something about the importance of only receiving one percent inspiration.

I really have gotten a really interesting set of perspectives pertaining to the 'human condition' and I am led to believe even further that every interaction is a performance. We are so concerned and in-tune with the other party and their reactions, as well as often attempting to avoid conflict. All of which result in individuals making deals with themselves and others in a way of taking a level of control. It seems like the power of ourselves is the most powerful. For some, this is literally the last restort in terms of making a real, internal change. 

Radio Lab! 09/17/13 Class

Radio Lab: "Help!" discussed intriguing, yet slightly disturbing, concepts about how to gain control over 'forces' within you. A woman, an avid smoker of 30 years, failed to quit smoking despite trying almost every technique there is available. Then one day she made a pact with her friend, a reformed smoker, that if she smokes another cigarette she will give 5,000 of her own dollars to the KKK--a thought that absolutely disgusted her. This worked. She never smoked again. Every in-the-moment craving for a cigarette was squashed with a more intense in-the-moment disgust at the thought of giving money to the KKK. It was a way of internally communicating, or performing, within yourself in order to get another part of you, an unhealthy part, under control. Internal communication is incredibly important for healthy living, growth and self-awareness.

Also, another type of more internal communication discussed later in the podcast was one about discourse with your muses. Creativity was being described as something more external and a person was merely a channel or medium through which these muses funneled their ideas into the world. The podcast said that if you were facing some sort of creative dilemma or rut, to just talk to the muses directly. This can be very therapeutic and is an excellent way of communicating with yourself.

Radio LAB

Radio lab Emergence: Steven Johnson stories about how work as an individual can lead you one way while, when u take the groups ideas and find the middle you get close to the answer. An example is for the ox story when every one guessed a number the middle number of all the numbers guessed was very close to what it is. So performing, as a group can be more efficient and which aids to successes through teamwork and collaboration. Also his blog, and how he helped Google with people posting advertising his blog got more and more hits making it higher on the list, of what comes up first. So he didn't become number 4 on Google search page by what he wrote, but by the visits he received and the comments that made him popular enough to be seen. So between both of these things nothing performs solo except the physical thing itself, but it can’t be put together without the help of others.

Response to Radiolab "Emergence"

The story of Sir Francis does a great job of giving an example of what this class has been talking about lately. Since we are studying people's performances, the community's average guess adding up to being what the ox weighs shows that a communities' performance can represent its culture (in a way). This may not be exactly accurate, but the story shows if a community performs together then it can be a successful community, at least within itself.

Blog participation

Just a quick note that I've decided that since so much of our class is dependent on in-person participation, if you feel disadvantaged in participating within the context of the classroom, you may receive extra participation points by commenting on blog posts. This pertains to both my posts and your fellow students' posts.