Author: Kirsty Taylor

“The final curtain…performance reflection”

Kirsty Taylor / / Concealed Illusions, Evaluation, Public Responses

Finally, after months of hard work and development our finished piece was performed to the public and overall I am thrilled with the end result. As both director and performer it was a proud moment watching our project come to life in such a beautiful setting and succeed.

Before stepping out of the education room to start our performance I was quite daunted by the prospect of our performance.  As we are dealing with site specific work, not all our audience would be expecting us so we were weary as to how the visitors to the Usher Gallery would perceive our piece and if we would just be ignored.  Because of this and due to the fact our piece is specific to the gallery and indeed Lincoln, there will in turn be, “A different kind of audience performer interaction” (Pearson, 2010, p9). I wondered how different it would be and even if we would have any audience at all. To our delight however, we drew in quite a large audience over the duration of our piece, with a mixture of expected audience, students and those completely unaware of who we were and why we were there. Although many of the viewers were members of the general public and unaware of our purpose, many still stopped and took time to watch our piece, intrigued as to what we were doing and why. Despite some hanging around the entrance to the room and not entering, some did venture inside and walked around our performance, watching the actions of both us girls and Tom and noting the video on the wall and our scattered photographs.

Over the last few months, our performance has developed so much and has grown in the elements which make up our ending piece but finally we finalised each element, using only the ones which truly benefit our piece and are not too obvious to the audience. Because of this, some elements were taken away and replaced with more developed ideas. The main being the use of sticky labels and applying them to each other as the piece progressed. Although it fitted in with our theme, after trying it out and discussing it with each other and our tutor, we all agreed it was too obvious and didn’t leave much to the imagination. Instead, we experimented with the use of voice clips which would be repeated throughout our performance. We researched tips and guides on how to apply perfect makeup and each of the girls read out a few paragraphs stating different techniques which tell women how to look their best:

“Learning how to apply make up properly is a small investment in time that will help you look your best and boost your self-confidence…the ideal foundation must give you the coverage you need for your skin condition, must perfectly match your skin tone, must perfectly match your undertone.”

site voice complete (1)

We also recorded information and tips on painting techniques which we added to the makeup recordings to create a five minute long sound clip. The two different elements worked really well together and at some points it is uncertain as to whether the tips are aimed at painting or the makeup, backing up how similar the act of applying makeup is to the act of painting. The sound clips fitted in with our performance perfectly and added to the absurdity as the piece progressed.  As our audience would be hearing tips on how makeup and paintings should be done, we were performing the complete opposite; Tom hastily sketching our actions without even looking to his paper and us randomly applying makeup without mirrors and no effort in creating the perfect ‘mask’.

The physical part of our performance was also a success, partly due to us having a strict time schedule so we knew how long each part of the process would take. We agreed on spending twenty minutes for the first two times and for our applications to be clinical in the sense of how perfect our makeup would look. The next application we did without a mirror which proved quite difficult. We allowed ourselves fifteen minutes in which to try and get the application as close to perfect as we could but some aspects proved more difficult than others, particularly in getting a smooth application of foundation and trying not to smudge our eyeliner and mascara. After this application however, our process broke down with the application of makeup only lasting five minutes and the makeup becoming messy and unnatural. We also changed position, moving from facing the centre to facing outwards to our audience. It was at this point when more visitors came to watch as they became fascinated seeing us absurdly applying makeup whilst staring out into the space. On our fifth and final application we changed position again, this time becoming even stranger. I laid flat on the floor whilst Sam lay across the seats and Jess slumped against it. This final time we only used foundation and used it to cover our bodies not just our faces. I laid on the floor getting more and more foundation and covered by face, arms and t-shirt with layer upon layer of foundation.

IMG_1669 Image from rehearsal, 22/4/2013

This surreal image accompanied by the sound of how to apply the perfect makeup, make an impressive final image for our piece and worked well demonstrating our point of how masking isn’t necessarily a positive process. Initially, this was meant to last for five minutes and then the sound of an alarm clock placed in the centre of our podium would ring giving us the signal to leave. However, it turned out that the alarm clock had not been set, meaning this last section lasted for fifteen minutes instead until Sam decided to stand and sound the alarm herself. Although not what we had planned, it worked to our advantage and visually looked more impressive for this process to last longer than we intended. It meant our bodies could become more covered and our application could become more elaborate as we stretched our arms up to cover them in a ritualistic kind of way. To bring our performance to a close, we removed our makeup covered t-shirts and wiped our faces with them for the final time before discarded them on the floor and walked out of the room, leaving traces of our performance behind for people to look at.

Another element of our performance was the video of the Brayford painting we originally based our ideas on. Although no longer with us physically, projecting the image above the Venus de Milo pictures worked well. Using Toms edited image of the Brayford which he changed to look as if more realistic and without the idealised mask it has, the original and newly edited image merge over a twenty minute period to show the difference between the romanticised and ‘real’ image and again reinforce how often both art and society feels the need to fake perfection.

worse Tom’s edited image, intended to simulate reality rather than romantacising the truth.

Overall I am really happy with our end performance and how our rehearsal process developed. We successfully put across our intentions to our audience after feedback from those who watched which is particularly rewarding. Our performance is not a closed one; it is a piece which could be developed even further if given time. It has been a vast learning process and it has been interesting creating a piece which if moved from its initial location, would lose a lot of impact and importance. We hope we have changed the way people view art and people and that perfection can still be achieved without having to create a mask.

 

Works Cited

Pearson, Mike (2010) Site Specific Performance. UK:Palgrave Macmillan

“The perfect application?…”

Kirsty Taylor / / Concealed Illusions, Development, Experimentation

In our last rehearsal we put all our elements together and tried out our idea in full. Dressed in white and with our makeup and drawing pad ready we started a trial hour long performance. As we had discussed in our last rehearsal, our application of the makeup changed over time as Tom’s drawings became more and more frantic. At the start our makeup is reflective of our usual make up routine.

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However, as the drawings become more frantic, so do our movements. The application becomes messier and quicker until eventually we apply without even looking at a mirror. This is turn creates a more grotesque image as the lipstick becomes smudged and our eyes are covered with messy eyeliner and mascara. This process in addition to the scattering of used makeup wipes will hopefully reinforce the concept of our piece; that masking is not necessarily perfection whether in art or society. The connections between the paintings and society (or indeed women) as art, is something we really want to express through this process and hope it will be received and understood by the audience. To add to this performance we also tried our new idea which was discussed last week. After each application and removal of makeup we would write a word describing ourselves with and without make up and stick it on each other. Words included:

-filter                                                                                                                     -no filter

-concealed                                                                                                          -revealed

-fake                                                                                                                      -real

-beauty                                                                                                                -different

-illusion                                                                                                                 -truth

 

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This progressive element will mean that by the end of the performance, we will be covered with words expressing the views of objects and women with and without a mask. The fact that the drawing of Venus de Milo has been incorporated into our performance gives our actions stronger meaning for we are strongly questioning what beauty is, whether that be in art or in women.

“A twist of fate…”

Kirsty Taylor / / Concealed Illusions, Development

Our group was left slightly perturbed after we discovered the recent rehanging of the collection meant that our focal painting of The Brayford had been removed. This was initially very worrying as we wondered as to whether our piece still had relevance and made sense in the space despite our original stimulus being missing. However, after this panic, we took the time to look at what had taken its place and to our relief realised the drawing hanging in its place had in fact a lot of relevance to our piece. It is a drawing of the statue, Venus de Milo. This sculpture depicts Venus, also known as Aphrodite, who is Greek Goddess of love, beauty, and fertility who also represents affection and the attraction that binds people together in marriage.

Instead of now removing our makeup in front of the painting of the Brayford, the image is that of beauty, meaning we could now be seen to be making a statement on what ‘true beauty’ really is. Considering the nature of our performance, it has allowed us and an audience to interpret our actions in a different way and by incorporating an event from the real world,

“In effect the work becomes not only the original concept or piece, but any significant public or official response to it, or any further variations which the work may take as a result of its engagement with the world at large.” (Burnham in Kaye, 2000, p194)

Here Burnham explain how by using an action which people are aware of and can relate to, like we use the application of makeup, it allows the audience to respond to it in another way which they see fit. Is it covering girls’ faces with makeup to fit with society’s vision of perfection, just like artists often mask or alter their art to please the public? Will our audience see the link between art and society masking itself to create unnatural perfection or even make a new connection of their own? Wearing makeup has become an accepted and often expected part of society for women. This natural need to wear makeup has become embedded into our daily routine, the need to put on a mask to please the people we will meet. “It was revealed that women wore significantly more makeup when they anticipated an interaction with a highly attractive target, irrespective of sex.” (Regan, 2011, p563). We will take a personal act usually done in the private of your own home and instead use it as a performative act.

Developing from this further is the visual image of a male drawing three females which is the main visual of our piece for the audience. This evokes ideas regarding the male gaze and the deeper reasoning behind females desire to cover and conceal their faces. We are currently experimenting into the different ways in which Tom can draw us and if his sketching should match our application of makeup, almost as if he is controlling our movements. We will experiment with the speed and accuracy of his drawings so the more erratic they become, the hastier and less accurate our makeup application will be. This will make a bold statement on the idea of the male gaze and hopefully make our audience question their reasoning behind their own daily beauty regime.

This change of stimulus has developed our ideas in ways we hadn’t first thought about but in turn gives our performance deeper social meanings and connections into how beauty is portrayed in art and in life.

 

Works Cited

Burnham in Kaye, Nick (2000) Site Specific Art: Performance, Place and documentation. London:Routledge

Regan, Pamela C. (2011) “CINDERELLA REVISITED: WOMEN’S APPEARANCE  MODIFICATION AS A FUNCTION OF TARGET AUDIENCE SEX AND ATTRACTIVENESS”, SOCIAL BEHAVIOR AND PERSONALITY. May: 563-576

“Cleansing the idea”…

Kirsty Taylor / / Concealed Illusions, Development

After weeks of development and idea forming we wanted to think about how we would be involved in the performance and more specifically how we would look. Initial idea’s included ‘bring the painting to life’ and dressing as if we had come from the painting, however as our thoughts have progressed and changed this is no longer relevant. Then from discussions with the public and the realisation that our focal painting was indeed an idealised image, this brought the idea of somehow masking our faces as a reflection of the masking of reality. The obsession with beauty has become more and more important in society over time and has also been particularly important to art, “What is beautiful is felt to be perfect, exquisite, the finest, and the most harmonious; there is always a quality of the ideal with beauty” (2012, p177). There has always been a desire for perfection but who decides what is perfect or not and is it really necessary?

Although at first we thought using actual masks could be used, we soon found using other less conventional ways would work more to our advantage and complement the piece much more. To emphasise our idea’s on the development of art and how now society and people have become idealised and perfected, we decided on the idea of makeup. To incorporate this into our piece, we came up with the idea of applying and wiping away makeup throughout the process of our piece. This which would show the transgression of idealised art from hundreds of years ago to the perfection expected of people and society of the twenty-first century. Our faces will in turn become a canvas which we will repeatedly paint and then remove to reveal the reality of the human form and thereby removing the idealisation of society. Because of this process, we will be left with make-up wipes full of dirty makeup which we leave around the space to emphasise the negativity of some art which masks and conceals the reality of what was painted. Sam then came up with the idea of the makeup wipes being a basis for our costume. We will start the piece all in white and then as the piece progresses and we repeatedly remove makeup, our outfits will become progressively dirtier like that of the wipes. At some points we will even use our costume to remove the makeup from our faces as well as the wipes themselves. The result will hopefully be very striking and highlight our aims and thereby remove the ‘mask’.

IMG_1036End result after makeup is removed.

To end our piece, I thought it would be quite poignant to move into the opposing room which holds the model of the dead body. As a group, we all agree that despite being modern and quite shocking, it is in fact a more accurate representation of life as the actor has not tried to hide reality or idealise death. It is honest and raw and so we feel it would be appropriate at this time to remove our makeup for the last time. Often, modern art is criticized as nowadays anything displayed in the right way can be interpreted as ‘art’. It has changed drastically from the traditional paintings which the usher gallery displays and is often misunderstood. Will our performance shed a more positive light on a new age of art?

 

(2012) ‘Psychophantic Relations With Art: Analytic Romanticism and the Problem of Perversion’ Contemporary Psychoanalytic Studies. 15, p175-208

“Breaking the Silence…”

Kirsty Taylor / / Concealed Illusions, Public Responses, Space

At our site in the art museum, each building has its own environment and focus which stays constant each day. The Collection focuses mainly on educational exhibits for schools, however is adapted to cater to a wider audience range from young children to adults. Because of this, the space is loud, vibrant and full of voices both from the visitors and the sound wall stretching the width of the building.  In contrast to this is the Usher Gallery where we intend our performance to be based. The building has the feel of a ‘typical’ art museum set in a beautiful manor house with traditional paintings and artifacts being the central focus. Here, the atmosphere is much more hushed and serious. Even in the room holding more contemporary art, visitors still keep their voices to a whisper whilst the sound of footsteps and music echo through the rooms. In the room holding the paintings, this is particularly amplified with silence feeling naturally expected of you as a visitor.

Bearing in mind this natural urge to be quiet and respectful in the gallery, how would visitors feel when this traditional silence is broken by our performance and what impacts will it leave on the space? Considering the nature of the space we are to work in, as actors we will have to consider, “the possibility of the audience member moving through or past the performance“(Randle, 2001, p86). The nature of a site specific performance means that our audience will be much more involved than with a typical theatre based performance and so will be forced to acknowledge what we are doing and question it. However, considering the kind of people who are attracted to art galleries, I believe they may be open to new ideas about art through performance as when questioned, they are willing to talk about art and don’t shy away from seeing different interpretations of the art surrounding them. Some were interested in what the reality of our focal painting of the Lincoln Brayford would be by stripping away the idealised image. Hopefully when this is put into action, we will leave a lasting impression on the space and change the way in which paintings are viewed by the public. This will reflect Artaud’s idea to “fuse art with life” (Randle, 2001, p86) and also challenge the stereotypes and boundaries of what kinds of ‘art’ can be shown in a traditional gallery.

 

Randle, J (2001) ‘Theatre for the Interactive Age: Participatory Site-specific Productions’, International Journal of the Arts in Society, April: p83-93