skype recap

Hi Liz,

Just a quick recap on what we covered in the rest of the skype sesh - your feedback sought:

Labels: All our names featured on each label

And instead of individual titles for each lightbox work we would just say 'All the cunning stunts' on each label/light box Overall there didn't seem to be any compelling reason, or need from past discussions to title the works individually. We did think titles could emerge from blog posts and yet the blog postings/headings are not exactly collaborative in the same way as the works. It also felt like (unnecessary hard work coming up with titles when we didn't really want them...what do you think?)

The ministry for silly options had the following suggestions before we settled on All the cunning stunts x 16:

Each light box work could be described as:

• 'A+' 'B-' 'F+' etc
• A 100 footer, a 20 footer, a 0.5 footer etc

After this we talked through some of the images and possible workings, and Clare's already posted some new reworkings that elaborate on what we thought might work.

Clare and I talked about liaising with DPOD and that in terms of clear lines of communication with them Clare will be main contact for delivery of files, title and label info etc. After this I will be contact, so that you and I can be called on for any easy fixes regarding proofing/colour correction etc, while if it's in the too-hard basket they can contact Clare if they really need to.

Lastly we talked about the media promotional event and that it would be great for it to open out to a wider community, and to have a similar quality/ emancipatory hedonism as a snog mob event, maybe even as simple a gesture as holding hands, a kind of coming out day...and as you can see from my recent post I dallied with the idea of a girlfriend dance like a screensaver day event...

The gates are open and the horse is out...

Rolling in the Bush

Here is a go at the crowd activator/inexaustable audience motivator:


And a le pair:

PS. This blog is totally blowing my mind with its outpouring of goodies. Right now though, I am going to try and drag Clare to bed.... talk soon folks.

PPS. I am really into the idea that was mentioned last skype, if I remember correctly, of giving each light-box side its own title. The blog labels are really working for me. For example, the following list would make an amazing title:

Title, Image, Sound-Bite and Text

All the Cunning Stunts

All the Cunning Stunts is a multi-voiced collaborative text and image-based work which tackles the confounding intricacies of lesbian subjectivity through objectivity - like a medal-winning swim team.

All the Cunning Stunts is a medley-voiced collaborative exhibition viewable across eight light-boxes in Courtney Place, Wellington. Four New Zealand artists have developed All the Cunning Stunts to coincide with the advent of the 2nd Asia Pacific Outgames and in response to a curatorial brief to address ‘contemporary homosexuality’. The potential of objects, images and language to linger on the seen, unrepresentative, notional, fictional, unmediated, idealistic, real, and confounding intricacies of female same-sex experience, take the lead in the work. All the Cunning Stunts aims to emerge from today’s chlorinated slipstream as a medal-winning swim team.

//---------------------------------//

Good Morning! Great to see all the activity that happened while we were dreaming! I don't want to spend too much more time on this press stuff, as I think we are really close, and trying to make small tweaks between five folks can take perhaps more time than is needed at this stage..... so Clare and I put all our highlights together in one post to get a solid sense of what is accumulating.

Our preferences once seeing it all together would be for:

1. All the Cunning Stunts (has more of an adventurous narrative implied)

2. Liz's image + caption? (seems like the clearest and bestest option to us, and something that parallels our plans for the light boxes in a confident way)

3. Sound bite (MJ's last version!)

4. Longer text (Really love your longer text Rachel -- esp. clorinated slipstream which will be my name of choice when I finally start my death-metal band -- and I made a few small changes which you can see in the text above)

As the deadline for this is while Clare and I are sleeping, we are both cool for Liz, Rachel and Mary-Jane to make a final call about the title/image/sound-bite/text. Preferences as per this post, but both Clare and I are super happy for it to be in your handses.

Alright!

Soundbite II and title

All the Cunning Stunts is a multi-voiced collaborative text and image-based work which tackles the confounding intricacies of lesbian subjectivity through objectivity - like a medal-winning swim team.

I have just changed my mind and prefer 'All the Cunning Stunts' - although it doesn't look as nice typographically as 'All Cunning Stunts' but whatever the consensus is, I'll run with it.

This is a great soundbite - I have just tweaked it slightly by adding a dash and editing out 'set to'. Loving the sporty language!

Now where are we at with the postergirl image? 

Title: to 'the' or not to 'the'

Great to arrive at a title. Over the last couple of days I have had one question about it, whether it should it read:

All the Cunning Stunts

or

All Cunning Stunts

So, what is more cunning ...with 'the' or without 'the'?
My thoughts are that by removing the article from the title, it suggests action versus object or objectification. Without 'the', perhaps the title can also refer to something more inclusive, than referring to a separate group of people or actions ...in turn suggesting a statement more pluralistic and inclusive group of people or actions surrounding the light-box context ...of womenhood? ...of social action?

TITLE!!!!

title..... green house.... fireworks.....contemporary lesbian - what does it mean to position ourselves as artists in public space as lesbian artists, authors? a character that's being tested in this context - she was never gay untill 2 days ago when she came out on the blog..... community voice.... the doubling of the gay.... everyday grapplings, dealings..... homosexual shroud..... prescribed single multi dimensional space... gay shroud.... all the cunning stunts!!!!

More title suggestions

Trawling the blog I thought I would throw in some more title suggestions in case Cunty Place gets thrown out...

an overflow of affection

the lesbians had to stand

and the tragedies of impersonation

any visible body

a shared kind of caring

the falling for a pair of hands

the falling for a pair

a community of objects

anecdotal sex

today the women are on their way somewhere

the other woman notices me

no more than a shadow in a space

three times a lady

best friends throughout history

All that flirting for nothing

(what do you think of the above for a title?

Could our works open out 'All that flirting for nothing' in ways both humorous, serious, poetic, aggressive, inside-outside, her's as well as a little his, affirmative as well as critical?)

1.

When Beatrice Krill's best friend came out to her folks they took her to Disneyland. Beatrice's parental unit (consisting of one parent who did the job of the two or more standard units) had ceased with the holiday thing a long time ago, but Beatrice's own coming out lent the no-holidaying policy a far more imposed air. In fact, this air possessed a quiet aggression that would slip in and out of subterfuge, often taking Beatrice's breath away. While this was going on, Beatrice became much closer to her aunt. Her aunt seemed to understand that every person on the planet had a sexuality and did not assume that Beatrice was the only one afflicted. Beatrice's parental unit on the other hand seemed to conflate her 'predilection' for the same sex with something that resembled a conglomerate - part wolf, part irreverent glossy red eye - and not in a good way.

2.

What is it about best friends that makes them so sexy? Eva says as she flicks her cigarette at Sam accusingly. People who know stuff have traced the predicament back even farther than the Ancient Greeks, Sam says. Experts have so far shown that the best friend thing was born out of the effing dance of a particle and a wave; alien forces incapable of acts that didn't in some way correspond. The wave and particle talked, if you will, across space and time in a tedious, um, gay way, and they often had to shout as each shoplifted (Sam picks up a pair of pantyhose and conceals the packet beneath Eva's coat) at alternate ends of the Mall, I mean, universe. One night they discover that in the body is a muscle-listener, tenderness, a tongue tinned, quiet with lowly oxygen. Another afternoon they see that in this observance bells are cast, pores ring, temperature is right and favourable conditions melt to music. Their laughter goes on to show that life, without bells or hands to warm them, is lost in thought, or hope – anywhere close.

This is the cover I am projecting towards/forwards for my next collection of writing/visual what's-it (Marnie, you will recognize z image) . I quite like the idea that 'friendship' between ladies in all its many forms has a place in this show. In a way it already has a place and I'm just shining a bit of coloured refracting and idiosyncratically-tinged light on it...

Cunty Place the left hand of darkness

In the spirit of Risk, of boldness. Although I like Cunty Place standing alone I see the desire for something more poetic too. So a tie-in to the over-sexualised after dark culture of Courtney place bars (like El Horno - is this self reflexive??) with the c-word - which projects an aggressive stand on (non-gendered) female sexuality. There is a suggestion of a sinister side to the street - risk for who? Cunty place is an off-hand colloquial term, an insiders outsider joke (or an ousiders insider joke?) but also reclaims and represents an objectifying term (in the good ol post-fem way).

Or not? Am I being simplistic? Is it too Dao Wow perhaps?

tit titl title

Hey the pressure is on for me to produce the title for the installation by midday tomorrow!!! What are the chances?? How are things progressing in that department? I can't see anything definitive in recent posts...

The other pressure is the sound bite - I think I can probably come up with something that I will run by you today/tomorrow.

And the other other pressure is an image. Marnie and Sarah are the poster girls at the moment, and we can continue to use them if you like. But any chance of an image?

Eve also wants to have the images selected by 22 November - it was formerly the 29th November... how is that looking?

what do you think of the title as effing short (accurate fiction) story?

"I started writing the one-sentence stories when I was translating Swann's Way," she recalls. "There were two reasons. I had almost no time to do my own writing, but didn't want to stop. And it was a reaction to Proust's very long sentences. The sheer length of a thought of his didn't make me recoil exactly – I loved working on it – but it made me want to see how short a piece of fiction could be that would still have a point to it, and not just be a throwaway joke."

- Lydia Davis

Some random attempts in this direction:

she’s been hanging around her a lot lately

the events of Wednesday night made her question whether she did in fact have an injury

all the boys and girls they abandoned that time in the heatwave

she fully questions her motive for following in its wake

no chairs were available which meant the lesbians had to stand

we have moved beyond a merely reactionary response to industry concerns with balls

in a small part of the country a rumour is substantiated by its small claim

marvelous inconsistencies that included a wolf and an irreverent glossy-red eye

bury me next to Cynthia, her shadow had dignity

we nap in preparation as others have done before us

blind anticipation and subsequent training

the athletic heart, a quarterly digest

the door is in her chest and someone has been knocking on it for several hours

the sea comes in all directions, sometimes a wind of miniature anchors drifting on her skin

Title Title II

I did some digging through the posts for a brainstorm-starter thread of sorts...

'accurate fictions of self ' tolerances in alignment

‘where it might be taking the left hand of darkness’ Veils
'bedroom as whitely lit stage' Utopic blank stage-sets for re-staging the image
'action around the edges' Douglas Crimp

Any potential beginnings of titles here or potential titles not on here?
Do these excite or generate new titles?

$14 dollars in his pocket and Duchamp's phone number

So AWEsome talking to you all the other night! I will post here the schedule we decided:

04th Oct - 20th Oct: Keep sharing ideas and works via blog

Around 20th Oct: Second skype with Marnie, Liz and (Me myself or I) in NZ and Clare in Netherlands. The aim of this is to brainstorm and work towards establishing a boundary line of interest, both visual and philosophical - towards the firming up of a production schedule.

In the meantime ideas for title are circulated: I like Clare's thought that the title might suggest arrival and departure - within the lightbox context and the work itself - which relates well to articulations in these blog posts - hyperbola, lenses, accurate fictions, and effing dykes use of narrative and web images, which suggest a virtual elsewhere, whilst also participating in the here/now of her blog.

I also find that I'm very much still pondering to what extent (this came up when you were talking Marnie about a Gay Pride march that you and Clare had been to (eek, I can't remember where it was?!)) that a certain public-ness doesn't involve risk. Where does this perception come from, who thinks/prompts it into being, and where is it leading? The good the bad and the ugly of such an assumption...

Oh, and how about that Batrider crew...want to get their albumz fast

And the new effing dykes post is pretty great - about Les Obsession.

And something to sign off with...


Sometimes I would dream that I was adrift in a forest that rose up out of the water already dead and hung as if the stumps were great poles lowered from the sky, the sky itself desperate to be free from the water and the pump of the night in the rain as it fell upon me, the only man there. All around was the burden of the water reflecting a blue and purple sky. My friend in the flood didn’t need to save me, or I him, but his presence was a kind of savage reassurance.

Some curatorial thoughts

'Interlocking Girl Circles' could be a great alternative title to this project...?

And just to throw some other general thoughts and questions out there.

As we have entered this project under the loving mantle of homosexuality, should the project address contemporary homosexuality? How might it do that? As text? As subtext? Does that help generate aesthetics/imagery?

The idea of collaboration has come up. Is that realistic? Possible given distance isn't looking our way?

It would be good to know what/how you are all thinking etc. In general how best to progress this project?

Could we all post about this rather than comment? It's annoying the comments stay buried a click behind - I have tried to change the settings but without any luck...

Interlocking girl circles

Hi there,

Firstly, I get the feeling when I walk past the lightboxes that 'text works' could have a real impact in this location - at the same time as the nature of 'text work' can be elaborated, or truncated and work magic with 'image-based' architectures.

I know that we all have drawing and text elements in our practices, with real performative twists. That's not to say we have to start or end here, I just like the observation when thinking about our different practices.

I think this project presents a great opportunity to develop some ideas together, perhaps in pursuit of a collaborative outcome. At the moment that 'outcome' is one that I'm as yet (naturally) unable to quite imagine or give a diagrammatic sketch of, though I'm very keen to exchange ideas and works in the first instance so that there is a real sense of validity and purpose to the works we present in December. I think it's a great idea to gesticulate about the process, like Marnie is suggesting, through sharing images and thoughts - I like the idea of the finished works having an undulant quality for sure.

In this light I present a short poem - on the abstract side, but trying to think through the body and the thought and how distance and intimacy might spring up or not - I picture a hyperbola - where the body doesn't quite touch the thought but senses it, refocuses it, nominates it for a prize.


Anywhere close

In the body is a muscle-listener, tenderness,
a tongue tinned, quiet
with lowly oxygen. In this observance
bells are cast. Pores ring. Temperature is right. Favourable conditions
melt to music. Life, without bells or hands to warm them,
is lost in thought, or hope – anywhere close.


I also like these lines and the images they throw open:

cold smoke made to return to a deliberate fire
a wind of miniature anchors drifting on her skin
motivational dark matter: $10 per 2L bag

I also have a compelling need to call this found image 'Interlocking girl circles'...

Lets see if a title can emerge from the posts we exchange in the next few weeks?

Over and roger that,

R

Title Title

I thought to start a new thread to talk about the title again -- and this can be a slightly ongoing discussion (without being a never-ending one of course!). Mary-Jane, perhaps you could let us know what kind of deadline we are working towards for the title to be confirmed?

On one hand, I feel like some grounding calls need to be made before we move on anything, and for me those would be: do we feel like this is a project we want to develop together? In which case I think that the 16 (?) light boxes could operate as a thread or undulation of our project. The fact that we are not in the same city to develop the work, could mean a kind of defined protocol or process was needed to both develop and produce the work? For example, the exchange of visual or text-based material that, as it rolls between the four of us, gathers the markings of a collective conversation -- and this could be reflected in the way we work with or shift the serial condition of the light boxes. This could be interesting.... but a starting point is needed! Liz, any experience from working with the diasporic time of TAC in this sense?

If we decide to make a collective work, then I would say that the need to talk about the title is kind of urgent -- and to think about when and how this title might emerge. For example, could we use the title almost as a condition to begin developing the project? Like a brief? Or, is it something we keep in the back of our minds as we start working? There seems like a good chance that this collective work would include text along with visual stuff, and an important thing for me would be to define the relationship any text in the work, and the project more broadly, has with the title text. We could also take the title "Girls' Day Out" as a proposition, and work collectively from there? On the other hand, if we make four separate projects, then I would be happy to stay with "Girls' Day Out" as a title for the group of works.

Urg! A slightly muddled post, but if there is anything that sticks out as something to shuffle forward with, then great!