Head/Space: a proposal

MA: Arts in a Social Context

Introduction to Action Research

Lisa Temple-Cox
2009
 “…one inhabits the tension of dualisms.” Carl Einstein

Abstract :

My proposal is to explore and evolve a methodology which might combine two apparently

diverse strands of research, the one being a way of encapsulating and reflecting memory

via built structures, the other being an exploration of the head as a social construct, and a

reflection of same.

Both explorations embody a certain amount of auto-ethnography, both of myself as an

artist, and the divers societies of which I, as person of mixed race, am a product of. I hope

to explore the “cultural identity and displacement that arise from a … post colonial system”

(Reed-Danahay).

My line of enquiry will be to explore the ways in which the construction of a building such

as a hut or shed, traditionally a structure that is built out of found materials and is unique to

its creator, might mirror in some way the development of the face as a social construct that

is built upon, but emotionally distinct from, the head.

“The face is a structured spatial organization which covers the head, while the head is an

adjunct of the body…” (Deleuze)

I intend also to garner responses from the viewer – or myself - when faced with these

various notions, and feed them back into the artwork, introducing a self-referential element

into the work and thereby creating a sense of the uncanny: ‘…making the familiar strange’

(Clifford)
Background to this proposal in terms of previous work:

Recent projects include a residency in the Benham Gallery at Cuckoo Farm, during which

time it was my intention to build a structure which would simultaneously embody the notion

of a displaced psychogeography – the spirit of a place, in a different place – and explore

ideas of the dissolution and displacement of memory. I was hoping to effect a kind of “lieu

de memoire”, a monument to something so ethereal it could not easily be physically

memorialised.

I had meanwhile also been considering the vanitas, and via a number of processes this

had begin to manifest as a series of experiments using the head as matter in a jar,

dissolving or otherwise interacting with a variety of liquids. Materials for this line of

research revolved around what is excreted and what may be ingested: food, symbolic or

allegorical materials, waste. These experiments were taking the form of quasi-scientific

immersions, and the process of decay, dissolution of the features of the face, change, and

re-growth was recorded on camera.

During my residency - the building of the installation, a building within a building – I began

to realise that this project was not entirely dislocated from the vanitas/head experiments.

As the structure grew, so did my conviction that this was not so much a building or

monument, but an allegory of the head: as the new, inner-shed came to represent the

unformed meat, the ‘becoming-animal’, so the outer shed, created from old, used doors,

with their visible history, came to represent that ‘structured spatial organization’ or social

construct, the face.

In fact, as the residency began to draw to a close, I came to realise that the most

interesting part of the installation was less the sheds, and all that they represent or imply,

than the gap between them: the gap “between art and life”. (Rauschenberg
Rationale, Aims and objectives: including proposed outcome:

Having effected a certain amount of research, both practical and critical, I am now

considering the best methods of continuing this. It seems that the larger part of my interest

lies in containment, whether of the body or a part thereof, and to this end I intend to

continue my practical experiments with both heads and small structures made of found

materials.

The outcome I envisage as an installation of some kind, but whether it will consist of a

building or a series of heads is unclear at this stage. It may possibly be a combination of

the two, with both embodying concepts of decay and reconstruction. This is not unrelated

to the notion of the lieu de memoire: memory may rest in a place, a person, a city; or, in

the case of Boltanski's “Missing House”, in the absence of a building. It also develops, is

considered, changed, stored, and brought forth from the head, or to be more precise, that

non-place or “zone of the indiscernable”, the mind.

Methodology: practical, critical, and self-reflexive:

Practical: continuing experiments in studio, and utilising the resources available,

including the skills of tutors and peers. I intend to pursue my experiments on a small scale,

using small hand-built heads of a number of materials, and immersion in liquids of varying

types and properties. At the same time, I intend to continue to look into the methodology of

casting ones own head. I shall be looking into the acquisition or creation of jars or

something similar that would be large enough to contain a life-sized head, and the liquids it
may be dissolving in. Scientific or laboratory suppliers may be of use here.

I am also interested in continuing to learn to use new media such as video and sound,

having begin experiments in these: initially as a response to the difficulty in making a

record of a piece of work which has sound and requires the viewer to walk round or inside

it, but latterly in order to use the sound and projected images as part of the work.

Critical: continued artist research, as well as other contemporary practices and issues

current in the contemporary arts. This research includes gallery visits, studio visits, and

library research, as well as visits to other institutions not normally associated with the arts,

such as the Royal College of Surgeons. Also, a continued exploration of philosophical

ideas such as the uncanny, particularly in relation to the notion of “meeting one’s own

image unbidden and unexpected” (Freud), and Derrida’s neologism ‘hauntology’. An

interesting side-exploration might be the physiology of repulsion and disgust, something

which is occasionally brought out in viewers of my previous work, as well as Lacan’s

“object (petit) a”, a post-Freudian concept of desire and otherness.

Self-Reflexive: continuing to use and develop the keeping of an ongoing journal, both as

a record of outcomes and as a repository of new ideas. My intention also is to develop the

habit of reviewing my progress through written work, as currently this process is for me an

internal, mental process of review. While this works perfectly well in one’s studio practice, I

believe a more academic approach to my reflexive process would reflect back into my

studio work, resulting in a practice that is less unconscious and more considered. I am

also making a point of recording the responses of visitors to my studio and exhibitions to

gain feedback on how my work is perceived by others, which insightful process has been

very revealing of the subconscious underpinnings of my practice.

Health and safety:

I intend to examine the likelihood of damage using dangerous or corrosive materials

including glazes, plaster, tools, and thinners: on self, and on others viewing work.

As it stands: risk to self, moderate to high: risk to others, low. However a detailed risk

assessment will be developed as the negotiated research gets under way.

Costs and funding:

Most material costs will be low as my intention is to use, where possible, found or

reclaimed objects, particularly in relation to the construction of any structure I might build.

However, an area that might incur some quite heavy costs is likely to be the receptacles

for my proposed heads. Initial inquiries have led me to realise that I may have to get these

specially made, either by plastic forming or glass blowing.

Once I have begun to research my needs, I can begin to look into the possibility of funding:

either from a grant application or other means. At the moment, I have booked a stand at

the Essex Art and Design show in September, with the intention of selling old work in order

to raise some funds towards my negotiated research experiments and final show.
Action plan and timeline:

• June:

Practical negotiated research, including physical experiments with unfamiliar media such

as plaster and slip casting, and new media such as video and film, as well as continuing

with practical enquiries in studio.

• July:

Enquiries into construction of large containers, and materials thereof.

Cross-evaluation of work: feedback from peers and fellow artists/ teachers.

Tutorial review.

Make mould of own head, and begin casting in clay and other materials.

• .August:

Self -evaluation of own work and processes, via reflection on written diary and own visual

records. Continuing review of contemporary arts practices and theory through gallery

visits, subscription to magazines such as artist’s newsletter, aesthetica magazine, and

cabinet. Conversations with fellow arts practitioners.

Cross-referential critical work, such as visits to non-arts related but relevant forums such

as Hunterian Museum, Royal College of Surgeons, Welcome Collection, and Pitt Rivers

Museum.

Collect found materials for construction of possible structures.

• September:

Continue studio experiments with heads. Begin construction of suitable vessels.

Frame saleable work and prepare stand for Essex Arts and Design show at Cressing

Temple Barns on 26th / 27th.

Tutorial review.

• October:

Begin refining results of both practical and critical work. Consider the work of fellow

students and work with them to design, collate, and curate end of year show. Consider

whether to display experimental or supporting critical work alongside finished piece/s.

• November:

Finish work in progress. Discuss curatorial options with fellow students and staff. Arrange

for printing of accompanying booklet. Begin to mount/display work

• December:

Exhibition deadline 9th December.

Outcome and evaluation:

Often concepts that one associates with the work before one begins change as it

progresses; once made, it becomes its own thing – forces you to re-evaluate your motives.

It moves away from the cliché. The making of the art is where the art evolves, and this I

hope will prove to be the case during the period of my negotiated research.

Lisa Temple-Cox 2009

Word count : 1531

 References and Bibliography:

• Clifford, James: ‘the Predicament of Culture’ (1998)

• Deleuze, Gilles: ‘The Body, the Meat and the Spirit: Becoming Animal’ from Warr,

Tracy (ed.) The Artist's Body (2000)

• Einstein Carl ‘ Negerplastik’ (1915) from Clifford, James: ‘the Predicament of

Culture’ (1998)

• Freud, Sigmund: ‘The Uncanny’ (1919)

• Grosenick, Uta: ‘women artists in the 20th and 21st century’ (2003)

• Kotz, Mary Lynn: ‘Rauschenberg: Art and Life’ (2004)

• Semin, Didier: Garb, Tamar,: Kuspit, Donald: ‘Christian Boltanski’ (1997)

• Reed-Danahay, Deborah: ‘ auto/ethnography: rewriting the self and the social’

(1997)