scheuklappen

'Die Tanzerin Palucca is leaping free through the forest, Marinetti's Feet can be seen below the shrubs, Emmy Henning's 'Dancer' is strangling us to death, Hugo Ball can't stop screaming at us from behind the trees: 'Why must we restrict ourselves to minimalism?!!!' 

With playful irreverence for these mythologies, and the traditions of a certain past, we broke down the fourth wall a long time ago. We are not illusionists. We are searching through the rubble for possibility. What impedes individual and collective expression? Is there freedom within form? Can we utilize stricture to apply clarity to chaos with sincerity?

scheuklappen: models as restrictive guides (2010)

felt, adhesive, straight pins

work in progress

I am working on a process based research project. Its shape will evolve through gesture, drawing, video, and sculptural methods. I am gathering information that entails a dialogue with my colleagues concerning their various backgrounds, relationship to art history, and theoretical concerns. I want to know the underlying philosophy behind each persons practice. I will construct a series of blinders, from felt and transparent adhesive. These objects will be designed specifically in response to the personal information gathered, and tailored for each individual. The intention is to produce models as restrictive guides. We will then take time to work independently of one another, wearing our separate blinders and experimenting with productive sensory restriction. After this period of research I will adapt these individual scheuklappen into a whole to form a collective soft sculpture. Together we will wear the resulting object as we perform various tasks. Together we will take a walk in the woods, we will trip over each other's perspectives, we will drink our morning coffee, we will have a discussion while we sip our nightcaps, and we will see what this accumulative monster produces. The documentation (video), sculptural elements (material processes), mind-maps (drawings), and theatrical events (Gesture) will provide the foundation of the project.