Critical Analysis = BLECH!

Ok bloggers! Wow it has come to the final piece of ‘exploring creative arts’, and just for all you crazy kids out there it is (I have to admit) the coolest piece yet!

So quick recap:
Did a presentation on Sustainability during this semester and then the teachers were all “It’s awesome … make it better” (this is a couple of weeks later by the way and it was part of an assessment so all was cool). Now I had originally done my sustainability project on solar panels … I know, snooze fest right?! … So my first thought was “how the hell am I going to spruce this up??” Then it hit me! The week previous we had watched these gruesomely awesome vids of this guy ‘Stelarc’ (look him up if you have never heard of him … especially the thing about the ear) who as part of his art exhibit would hang by his skin from hooks as a display of Sustainability for the body, and it just so happened that a friend of mine was into doing the exact same thing. Now I had always questioned how someone could put their body through that amount of turmoil, was it a medical thing? A fetish thing? A crazy in the head, psycho nuts kind of a thing? I had no clue! So I took the one option that was available to me … I asked! (With a camera on in the background) And, o boy, did I learn some heavy stuff. Lauren (that’s the lady) went into some depth about why, where, how and even showed me a couple of her hooks – they are seriously sharp! – She took me through some history and explained her reasons behind doing this crazy form of art.

Now obviously the Sustainability project itself got way more interesting, going from boring old solar panels that are so last season, to this art form of the body and how different people look at what makes ‘art’ – don’t get me wrong, I am sure there are plenty of folks out there who think solar panels are the coolest! I personally find people shoving hooks into their backs to hang by their skin just a tinsy bit more fascinating – Also I did end up with a wicked documentary instead of another PowerPoint presentation, which has lately become my go-to project of choice. All in all, I learnt a massive amount of what defines art and how what we view can also be classified in to the same field.

A brilliant end to the semester, with some gore to fill in the cracks between the madness.

Stop. Listen.

Last week, if you had of tried to talk to me about ‘Fluxes’ or Yoko Ono’s ‘Pamplemousse’ I would have thought one of two things. Either you were trying to convey that you were choking and having a stroke at the same time, or, I would have thought you were practising your baby speaking skills. After all what else could those two words possible mean?

After a week of intense schooling however, I have finally come to learn what these two words actually entail and I must admit that I have come to love them both, and find them equally interesting and artistic.

When reading ‘Fluxes’ poems and stories, you can almost hear the author speaking, taking a breath, pausing to allow a certain element of the poetic words to sink in. Now generally speaking when a piece of writing is engaging enough these components are essential, but sometimes the story can be about nothing and go nowhere; as is the case with ‘Lecture On Nothing‘ by John Cage that was printed in ‘Incontri Musicali’ – August 1959, but there is a certain beauty to the words anyway.

So after enjoying this style of writing so very much, I decided to try writing my own.

This is what I came up with …

Stop                    ,                    Listen                    ,                    No really                  just listen                    .                    Do you hear that?                                        Musical isn’t it                    .                         It does not matter where you are                    ,                    be it a city with bass notes                     ,                  a country town with harmonic chords                    ,                    or a forest and bush land full of high treble bird calls                    .                    It is musical                    .                    This world is musical                    .                    It’s just          a lot of the time                    people don’t stop to listen                    .

Ok so that was my first go. It wasn’t much I know, but I hope that at the very least it did two things, the first being that it made sense, the second that it made you pause and listen. Even for just a moment. Sometimes we forget the small things and it’s healthy to just …

Stop

and

Listen.

 

 

 

References:

Cage; J, 1959. Lecture On Nothing. Incontri Musicali.

Ono; Y, 1964. Pamplemousse. L’OEIL DU POETE

Politics nae Art … Politics vs. Art?

‘Art’. We all know that it can take many forms – Painting, Drawing, Singing, Interpretive Dance and Yodelling just to name a few – but can ‘Art’ in its various musings be categorised into other factions?

                Take ‘Politics’ for example. A droll and dreary subject that everyone seems to have an opinion on, but let’s be honest, it’s a bit of a snooze fest. However, when you throw in a pinch of passion, a dash of ingenuity and a googolplex of ‘Art’ into that political sphere, you can have yourself a recipe for thinking, for talking and; dare I say it, for radicalism.

“Well what’s your example?” you may ask, in fact I believe you’re asking it so determinedly that your question is coming clear across the invisible plains of internet land. Luckily I can appease your curiosity, because as it happens, I recently attended an even that is a perfect representation …

‘The Government Inspector’ former ‘The Inspector General‘ was written by ‘Nikolai Gogol’ in 1830. I am not nearly close to 200 hundred years old however, so I went to see the much adapted (yet not less classic) version directed by ‘Bob Pavlich’ at this years (2014) La Trobe Student Theatre & Film MOAT Festival.

‘The Government Inspector’ is a fantastic tale of scandal, miscommunication and hilarity. ‘Clarisse Bonello’ who played the lead character ‘Natasha Khlestakov‘ was exceptional, I must say. ‘Bonello‘s’ portrayal of a pissed off, womanising activist in need of a good meal was a knockout. Her energy on stage kept the audience engaged, even during those long monologue(y) bits.

Before, I mentioned ‘Politics’, and this theatrical play certainly delved in. A lot of the media this year has been centred on Russia’s anti-gay stance during the Olympics as well as ‘Putin’s’ control. ‘The Government Inspector’ danced around these issues (sometimes literally), invoking some laughs. Not to make light of the controversial topic but to bring in awareness through the best form of communication … comedy.

Ok, so to finally intertwine the two very different genre’s (Art and Politics … just in case i lost you somewhere along the way), ‘The Government Inspector’ uses many different forms; human movement, dance, song, theatricality and verse. All these simple/alternate forms of ‘Art’ are to aid the audience in understanding the political basis running undercurrent to the plays light hearted story line.

Now, I’m not too sure I have answered the question of whether ‘Art’ can be categorised into other factions very well. The fact of the matter is, don’t be daft, of course it can!

Don’t believe me? Go out and have a look around, ‘Art’, is in everything!

 

 

References:

Nikolay Gogol (Russian writer) — Encyclopedia Britannica. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/237143/Nikolay-Gogol.

La Trobe Student Theatre & Film MOAT Festival (2014), Program.