Dissolve into the Site// Nai’ya
Dissolve into the Site //Nolan Schoenle
Question: When I enter a site, are the movements that I make dictated by the site, or by what I want to do in the site?
It’s difficult for me to understand what it might be like to do what the tree, hallway or bush tells me to do instead of me entering a location and just moving how I want to move in the space. I’m not sure how I feel about the idea of having no agency in dancing, or even day to day life, if all that I do is just determined by the location that I’d be in. I suppose it makes sense for certain opinions that I may have, but with dancing, something where I feel complete control over my body, it makes me feel uncomfortable that I am bending to something else’s will other than my own. I may move how the space guides me to; for example, I fixated on the metal panels on the ceiling and danced within those boundaries. However, I could have done other things with them, like stayed outside of them instead of inside. The space does not dictate my movements, though it may suggest some. I still have my own body under control and can move it however I like even though the location gives certain expectations.
Zoe Fruchter
Jacob Leder
Jin Chang
Today’s exercise reminded me of this scene in Big Hero Six where Wasabi talks about his perfect system and another member of the group takes his object, so he screams “You can’t do that! This is Anarchy! Society has rules!
I particularly thought of this scene because of the professor that came out and told us we were being disruptive. In our particular scenario, the experience was disruptive because our rule breaking made loud sounds. Other rule breaking in the space did not elicit this same response. So when Anjali climbed the lockers, I moved the clock, or Naiya climbed into the recycling bin, no sound disrupted the space. That being said, in the Big Hero Six scene, the rule breaking was not about sound; rather, Go-Go simply messed with an organizational structure. This reveals that a given space has a hierarchy of rules. The basement of bucksbaum mostly cared about sound disruptions, but in Big Hero Six it was about organization. Knowing what rules a community values happens when we immerse ourselves into an environment. This makes site specific work that does not take the history of space into mind problematic as they may very well be breaking vital rules in the space. This is not to say we should not break rules; rather, when we break rules what is the purpose? Are we doing it to critique a system or to simply break rules? Art may necessarily be disruptive, but disruptive is not sufficient for progressive.
Kaya Prasad
Notes from exercise in class:
Notes from exercise in my apartment:
Naomi Worob
This is related to this afternoon’s dissolve into the site through a series of tangents. I am just questioning some things about dancing in public spaces. This is in no way comprehensive or extensive.
Why is that one person dancing in a public space is an artist, while another person doing the same is mentally ill? One person is to be watched and another shied away from? How is site specific work asking me to change my own responses to people who do things in their own way in public spaces?
Notes from this afternoon:
Cassidy Christiansen
My documentation is in video form in the following link: https://www.wevideo.com/view/1253413292
