Category: Concealed Illusions

This time last week: Performance Reflection..

Samantha Mckenzie / / Audience, Concealed Illusions, Development, Evaluation, Uncategorized

This time last week my group and I had shortly finished our final performance piece. We were performing a piece of site specific drama in a gallery room in The Usher Gallery. Our piece aimed to highlight the similaritys betweeen idealised art and idealised people and how through the use of Instagram and makeup application we idealise ourselves.

The Performance

We were extremely pleased with the outcomes of our performance, and were happy to see the many faces who came to have a look. I found it challenging to continue doing something so repetitive for that length of time, especially because of the impact it had on my sore, stinging skin. Coming up to the performance date we did all discuss how painful our faces will be during and afterwards but felt there was nothing we could really do about this without changing the piece entirely. We did not want to change it because we thought it is such an aesthetically powerful piece which delivers a more intense atmosphere because of the gruelling and perhaps painful process. We did however choose to involve moisturiser as part of the routine between each section of makeup removal to look after our faces. I do not think this alters the aim because applying moisturiser is something that I inparticular do anyway before applying or removing makeup.

Another difficulty was staying in particular positions for a durational amount of time; it was uncomfortable to sit with crossed legs for 20 minutes but I feel it looked affective and as if we were possibly sitting on our beds applying makeup when we were young. We wanted the change of posture and position throughout to reflect how it is a routine but something we do at home in our bedrooms as part of an everyday process. Also, because we were sat in the positions that we were, spread around the bench, it gave the audience opportunity to see all of us. A lot of the audience members chose to walk around us so they could see each of our faces. However we were interested in how some of the public entered the gallery initially but once they saw us they chose to leave; perhaps they felt we were invading their space where they enjoy to look at the art work. Another interesting observation of mine was the choice some of the audience made to stand around the outside of the room or at the doors. One particular audience member spoke to me afterwards and said she did not want to come into the room because she felt as if she was invading our space, she found it odd that people were coming in and and looking so closely. It was interetsing to hear different people’s perspectives. In a way I would like to think they were intrigued enough to come a little closer but also it is pleasing to know they thought of the space as ours which was one of our aims. We wanted to recreate a space such as a bedroom where you would get ready for the day or a night out.

Our preperation began a few hours before the performance and admittedly I was nervous to set up the projector and see how the whole thing looked because we had a limited amount of time in the process to organise a practice set up. Thankfully there were no issues and the sound we had recorded also sounded great in the space and created the right atmosphere. A couple of last minute additions to our piece which I have not mentioned before are the use of an alarm clock, a bed sheet and the removal of our t-shirts.

The clock- As we were only supposed to be performing for two hours we needed an end point to our piece. We chose to use an alarm clock because it is something we perhaps have in our bedrooms, it is also an indictation of time and once more reiterates that applying makeup is a durational process which is part of a set time routine.

The sheet- We decided to use a bed sheet the lay over the centre of the benches we were performing on. This created a similar appearance of the makeup covered t-shirts which portrayed large versions of makeup wipes and also prevented any makeup spilling onto the surfaces. We also thought this created a bedroom affect.

The removal of t-shirts- The t-shirts we were wearing throughout the performance eventually appeared like the dirty makeup wipes which we had dropped on the floor. We decided that it would be an effective end point for us to remove them once the alarm clock sounded to show that they are something disposable. We removed our makeup and then our t-shirts also asking the questions- you wouldn’t go out without your makeup on, but would you go out without your clothes on? Is there a link between the covering of our bodies with clothing and the covering of our faces with makeup? Are they sometimes both as important as each other?

Overall I was extremely happy and relieved with the outcome. I felt that our piece delivered the exact message we had hoped for and also triggered some very important questions amongst our audience. The whole process has been very rewarding and also made me rethink how I present myself and how I want people to see me.

 

Another angle..

Samantha Mckenzie / / Concealed Illusions, Experimentation, Research, Uncategorized

After some group evaluation of our process so far, we started to discuss the first things we think the audience will pick up on when they enter the space. We wondered whether we needed to add anything else. Is our piece too static? Too silent? We asked. We began to think of all the different perspectives of our piece. One thing we have discussed as part of the process has been the links we can make between our piece and Sexism. As Tom is drawing us while we apply the makeup, aesthetically you could say it appears as though the application of make up is for him, or for all men in fact. Perhaps we should question why any girl puts on makeup and ‘improves’ her usual look. Is it for men? Or Is it for everyone in society as a general? There are so many pressures coming from a variety of different places to be this idea of perfect, The ‘ideal’. Something idealistic is in my opinion something which does not exist, it is a false expectation.

Further discussion led us to wonder whether we should have any audio playing during our piece. The idea was to play something which would encourage the audience to question all of the things we have been questioning through the whole process. However, we did not want to tell them exactly what we wanted them to think, we wanted there to be some freedom for them. It was a last minute desicion for us to do some voice recordings of ourselves reading out passages from fashion magasines which contain makeup advice and instructions on how to apply make up.

‘If you want a dewy, fresh-faced finish then a light, liquid formula is best.  Look for words such as sheer and illuminating and you’re set for a glowing  complexion. I find these liquid bases give a wonderfully moist, glowing look to  the skin which immediately revs up a tired, dry looking complexion.’

We felt this would emphasise how many women place such importance on makeup and looking their best. We were also fascninated with the similiarty between instructions on how to apply makeup and instructions on how to paint. By recording and playing  instructions for both we thought how fitting to reiterate the ever growing links between art and the human form.

After more exploration into how we wanted to place ourselves when applying the makeup, we decided on a gradual change of position throughout the piece. As we wanted to show how this is something which is false but also a routine. Each time after removing our makeup we were to sit in another position, each time something less formal and more comfortable. By the end we aimed to either be laying on the floor or across the benches, expressing boredom. We would also be making a little less effort during each application so that by the end we were simply smearing foundation on our bodies aimlessly. We hoped this would communicate the message of how it is not something enjoyable but a chore; something we feel we need to do. Also, we thought how lovely to have this abstract image of bodies smeared in foundation whilst playing out is precise instructions on how to get the perfect cheek bones or skin tone.

 

Online source

http://www.cosmopolitan.co.uk/beauty-hair/news/trends/how-to-find-the-right-foundation_for_flawless_skin

“And finally – putting pencil to paper…”

Tom Baines / / Concealed Illusions, Development, Evaluation, Experimentation, Research

My role in the performance was to draw the live art in front of me. I was using different shades of pencils and ordinary paper. In an extreme case it is possible that to say that I am drawing a ‘life drawing’. “The representation of a life-model – and the particular choice of a female model – generates socially and culturally specific associations” (Roberts 2012, p70). In this instant Amanda Roberts suggests that having a female model has significance in society. It certainly does in our piece. As I have said before I am the only male in my group and I am drawing a group of girls. Does this have some sort of patriarchal view on society? Or is it men’s eyes that I represent observing beauty and drawing it – similarly to what the artist did when he drew the Venus de Milo.

 

Here are the selection of drawings from past rehearsals and the final performance:

 

DSC_0061

It is clear that as the performance progressed the drawings became more erratic. These drawings are shown at the bottom of the photo. This happened as the girls became more frantic with their make-up. This could show men’s dominance over women or a power in art through live drawings or It could show elements of females able to exploit men’s need for a woman. But of course literally similarly to the artist who drew the Venus de Milo they are copies of beauty. Whether my drawings are accurate is irrelevant because it is quite possible the artist’s drawings at as accurate to the Venus de Milo statue; and of course the statue itself it a copy of the Ancient Greek goddess Aphrodite. How did the creator of the statue, Alexandros of Antioch, know that was what she looked like? The drawings themselves were they drawings of ‘true beauty’?  Or were they drawings of what was there? This of course leaves our project open as said before what is idealisation, the romantic era of paintings where it was painting for aesthetic sake, and what is true nowadays?…

 

 

Works Cited

 

Roberts, Amanda and Howard Riley (2012) ‘The social semiotic potential of gestural drawing’, Journal of Visual Art Practice, 11 (1) 63-73

“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

“Late additions…”

Tom Baines / / Concealed Illusions, Development, Experimentation, Research

Sound was a late addition into our piece and we believed it would help with the ambience of the room and the piece overall.  It was a sound collage consisting of statements written by ‘experts’ on the application of make-up as well as experts on painting. It was interesting how the two were very similar in how they were spoken and the techniques being used.

 

This is the clip:       site voice complete (1)

 

“immersive audio techniques that are often used in artistic sound disciplines offer complex multichannel solutions to enhance the listening environment for an audience” (Lauke 2010, pg1). This point by Lauke beautifully sums up why we added sound to our piece. It gives a depth to the performance space.  As the piece progresses and the make-up application becomes less ‘perfect’ it is an interesting contrast between that and the sound clip of the ‘correct’ application of make-up. It also breaks the silence within the room and allows for the contemporary to be brought into the old fashioned art gallery. It also a nice addition to the contemporary room opposite which is also using an interesting sound collage and our clip, I think, adds to the sound of the upstairs gallery as a whole.  It also adds to the video as of course the primary image of it is a painting and it is interesting how indistinguishable both make-up and paint application is.

 

Works Cited

 

Lauke, Karen (2010) ‘The placement of sound in artistic contexts’ Body, Space & Technology, 9(1) 1-10