CRITS

Posted byEva WangPosted inFUTILITY (PERFORMANCE)
  • People ignore the objects and walk past it. I kind of expected that people would pay attention to the interaction between people and the objects, although it wasn’t the point I was trying to make. I guess when I chose the locations in public space, social interaction would be automatically especially paid attention to. However, the point I want to make is the action itself, rather than an observation of other people or expectation of interaction, although lack of interaction does add the sense of futility of trying to be used/needed I think. But based on the action of trying to be objects, special attention shouldn’t really be expected/hoped because they are objects rather than humans. The reason why viewers pay attention to interaction is that they still see the objects as humans, which again tells the futility of being objects I think.
  • Stuck compared to surroundings, so still performance. I think this view is still because the objects are seen as humans. But I think the feeling of being stuck is a bit related to futility when I don’t know where to go or what to do.
  • Death vibe, creepy, ghostly. The reason why I use white cloth is that it’s usually used to cover objects when they won’t be used for a long time when the owners are away but at the same time it means they will be revealed. So for the objects, there’s a desire to be reused.
  • Very white cloth taken the identity/life. Absence of person. Same person or different? Is it object? I think the fact that the performer is myself makes the work more convincing because I’m expressing my personal feeling. However, I think the idea still works if it’s a different person. I thought it’s obviously a person trying to be an object so I’m still very surprised that some people would think that it could be a real object. Maybe it’s easier to tell in real life instead of the screen.
  • Invisible and hyper visible. I’m glad that Ekua noticed this, which is the reason why I used a white cloth to cover the body. And I think it’s an important point to tell the status of emptiness, which no one mentioned… So I’m not sure if it’s good work regards to my intention.
  • Battle with oneself exposed. Cry for attention, trying to find people recognizing the objects. Out to people without interaction. Physical and mental to stand. The reaction to social space. Social relationship activated. Alienation among people. Keep people from engaging because so out of place. Pale white, no invitation. I’m happy that Ekua noticed the effort of trying to be objects, which is the key I think in this work as well as the motivation to pay this effort but no one talked about it. Most focus was still on social interaction.
  • Title implies effort on something that doesn’t happen. Contradiction. Put yourself out there and cut yourself out. Lack of social response or putting yourself in position to get engaged. Do what you want to me and don’t come over. I wasn’t really thinking about this but I think it makes sense. The performer’s intention of being an object in public is to get used by others while this action of the performer is also the reason why it’s futile. It’s like to get rid of emptiness, I put myself out in the crowd to get attention/interaction but I myself also decide not to get involved/related in most of the crowd as I don’t feel they fit me.
  • It’s not clear to tell it’s a bin. It’s very difficult to make the shape to my satisfaction although we spent about one hour to get a good one. But because I’m not the one to shape the final position, it may not come out as a best shape.
  • Pretend to be a chair on a chair, something more. I was worried about this object because it’s kind of meaningless to try to be a chair on a chair although the shape came out of my body. As the last two videos were both a bit over an hour, so I expected all the videos of similar length but maybe it’s not necessary.
  • Pretending to be the wall or clothes stand? I thought it’s clearly a clothes stand because of my arms with clothes hanging. But I guess because the other objects are placed next to real objects while the stand not, which makes it a bit confusing.
  • Laptop behind the TV. Mirroring hidden and concealed individual. I actually used my laptop only to play the sound but it’s considered as a part of the work… But I like Olivia’s reading.
  • Viewers of the screens don’t feel awkward. People who actually see it are confused. It’s a good point which I never thought about. I also thought of galleries and museums were such safe places for artwork. But art should exist in life because it comes from life although it’s much more challenging to make it happen in real life.
  • Hide camera. I didn’t really think about it because I wasn’t trying to focus on the interaction. But I guess it also makes sense because now that I chose the scene in real life, I should make the setting more realistic as well.

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