Artist statement

“By assigning a fixed material form to memory- which is something essentially unstable- the memorial freezes meaning and relieves the public from the obligation to remember.” -Uriel Orlow

This artwork is a documentation of an installation that took place on USYD campus. The ice installation is a memorial to the lives lost during Covid-19. It questions whether one can materialise grief, how people should commemorate the ones who have never crossed their paths, and whether assigning meaning to a monument evoke or replace grief.

The crystal clear ice allows the spectators to see through, creating a sense of pervasiveness and nothingness. The melting ice evokes counter memory of the pandemic and becomes the representation of an ephemeral existence that is meant to decease. It draws spectators' attention to life and memory, as they both can be slow, silent, pervasive, free flowing, ephemeral, malleable, and are constantly evolving/devolving.

Through post production, the relationship between the public and the monument is explored. Passersby have the freedom to interact with the installation in whichever way they please. This is an archive of the public's reaction to 'some ice on the stairs', yet when the installation is granted with a function, meaning and musicality, some may experience a sense of melancholy. This artwork challenges the conventional way of 'remembering' by documenting the deliberate 'forgetting'.

some documentation

optimum angle:

but it’s too high up :/

Waterfall (artist statement &video)

“By assigning a fixed material form to memory- which is something essentially unstable- the memorial freezes meaning and relieves the public from the obligation to remember.” -Uriel Orlow

This artwork is a documentation of an installation that took place on USYD campus. The ice installation is a memorial to the lives lost during Covid-19. It questions whether one can materialise grief, how should one commemorate the people that he/she has never met, and whether assigning meaning to a monument evoke or replace grief.

The crystal clear ice allows the spectators to see through it, creating a sense of pervasiveness and nothingness. Though it leaves traces, eventually it goes back to nonexistent.

“Counter-memory designates a practice of memory formation that is social and political, one that runs counter to the official histories of governments, mainstream mass media, and the society of the spectacle. It involves the memorialisation—a collective practice of relearning - of forgotten, suppressed, and excluded histories...” - TJ Demos

The melting ice creates something different than the mainstream representation of the pandemic and becomes the representation of an ephemeral existence that is meant to decease. It draws spectators' attention to life and memory, both ephemeral, malleable, and constantly evolving/devolving.

Through post production, the relationship between the public and the monument is explored. Passersby have the freedom to interact with the installation in whichever way they please. It is an archive of the public's reaction to 'some ice on the stairs', yet when it is granted with meaning and musicality, some may experience a sense of melancholy. This artwork challenges the conventional way of 'remembering' by documenting the deliberate 'forgetting'.

2:55 !

chords

the bass player progression:

I i6 ii7 IV

secondary dominants:

IV V V6/vi vi

Epic progression:

I bVI V

minor change:

IV iv I

https://monumentsinhistory.wordpress.com/2017/09/25/counter-monuments-interpretation-and-interactive-memory/

16 nov class

Paul Klee
Kandinsky and miro

pedestal somewhere else

cracking of ice caps

Waterfall

“By assigning a fixed material form to memory- which is something essentially unstable- the memorial freezes meaning and relieves the public from the obligation to remember.” - Uriel Orlow

The ice cuboids will be installed on USYD campus, on the stairway next to Fisher Library, where most students would pass by when they go on campus. They will each be around brick size (15cm x 10cm x 7cm)

Counter monument- can we materialise grief? Does monument relieve the public from the obligation to remember? What exactly is the public remembering? The crystal clear ice allows the spectator to see through it, creating a sense of pervasiveness and nothingness. Though it leaves traces, eventually it goes back to a state of not existing.

Counter memory- a transformation of history into a totally different form of time (Foucault)

“Counter-memory designates a practice of memory formation that is social and political, one that runs counter to the official histories of governments, mainstream mass media, and the society of the spectacle. It involves the memorialisation—a collective practice of relearning - of forgotten, suppressed, and excluded histories...” - TJ Demos

The melting ice creates something that is different than mainstream representation of the pandemic and becomes the representation of an ephemeral existence that is meant to decease. (satirical?)

The artwork documents an ephemeral memorial and through post production, the relationship between the public and the monument is explored and investigated. (foley, environmental sound, sync with movement?)

Vaporwave and hauntology

Counter memory

Michel Foucault describes approaches that constitute “a use of history that severs its connection to memory, its metaphysical and anthropological model, and constructs a counter-memory—a transformation of history into a totally different form of time.” Foucault, Language, Counter-Memory, Practice (New York: Cornell University Press, 1996), 160.

TJ Demos: “Counter-memory designates a practice of memory formation that is social and political, one that runs counter to the official histories of governments, mainstream mass media, and the society of the spectacle. It involves the memorialisation—a collective practice of relearning - of forgotten, suppressed, and excluded histories, which then becomes an act of political subjectification. Recent examples include the Occupy movement’s collective learning around the struggle for anti-corporate globalisation, social justice and equality; and the Arab uprising and its reanimation of memories of the unfulfilled promises of past decolonisation struggles.”

http://animateprojectsarchive.org/writing/essays/tj_demos

test 8 Nov