I am currently thinking of a proposal for a sculpture park here in New York. Socrates Sculpture Park. And my project has an audience feedback aspect to it, but I think I want to start that feedback/interactive aspect before I even start the project. please help me make this idea even better. let me know anything you think would make this a stronger project.
oh yes, I have to submit this on monday, january 24th.
So my project is about treehouses.
I want to build 1 or 2 connected treehouses in this sculpture park, document me building it and broadcast that on the internet.
it has 3 main elements:
the performative aspect of the creation of the treehouses,
an audience participation/feedback aspect through online interaction, and
an environmental/educational aspect
(and as fourth element, personal exploration
the performative aspect
I will create this sculpture over the course of time, most likely in time blocks that could be considered performances. I am thinking of having weekly or monthly "build days", where I invite artists and non-artists to help me, creating a collaborative performance, this could go from a mime fucking around while I build stuff, to someone sharing knowledge of relevant topics like architectural advice or environmental building ideas.
This performance could then be video taped (in a pretty artsy way, maybe as collaboration with video artists, but also educational, I want every "episode" to teach something) and broadcast on a weekly or monthly basis. "home improvement show" meets "art 21 intros", "roofing" shot by michel gondry.
the audience participation aspect
I will have this project online, basically from now, before I submit the proposal, until I take down the treehouses. In the initial stage, before I even build, I want to create a forum for people to suggest ideas and work together on a blueprint for the best treehouse design. This way this project is an international collaboration between artists and non-artists. this could be a positive form of crowd-sourcing. I might also invite people from the forum to join me in the interactive performances, making the interaction between artist and audience a more personal one.
the environmental/educational aspect
I will build and teach green techniques, from warm water generation, to farming, or dealing with grey water. this will happen through the actual exhibit, being an object that documents alternative building methods and life practices, and through the weekly/monthly performances and video casts. I would like to involve local non-profits to do workshops (maybe as paart of the "performance"), or even companies to come and demonstrate the use of their product as long as they demonstrate something that can also be achieved without the use of their product.
These would also be featured on the web presence. where all the video pieces/how to's can be viewed at any time.
personal exploration
this not really being its own aspect since personal, and not really making the piece stronger
but I am interested in exploring...
the use of resources (tangible and intangible) that are available to us - for free
alternative building methods
tree architecture
anthropological ideas
the use of audience participation with a determining role in the creation of art
showing a positive use of contemporary information technology
the line between educational filmmaking and video art, and how to combine the two to make both stronger
...through this piece
ok, now participate and write me a comment with some feedback/suggestions/critiques
see: Avatar
ReplyDeleteI would recommend reaching out the Arch Reactor group (they're having a fundraiser event TODAY at 7pm).
ReplyDeleteHackers, builders, roboticists, customers, etc. Lots of neat folks work with Arch Reactor.
http://archreactor.org
(sorry, fixed the link)
ben, thanks for the tip, planning on doing this is New York though. But I'm glad St. Louis has a hackerspace, I'll definitely hit them up when I do my show at the RAC in August.
ReplyDeletegreat idea
ReplyDeletesounds cool Alex..tree houses and video art are never far from my thoughts...picked up a book yesterday at the library " the small house book"...not just your regular show and tell architecture book...it actually has step by step on how to build a tiny house and other useful tips...do keep me informed on the progress...and let me know if there's anything a st. louisan can do to help
ReplyDeleteI love Treehouse, I know you are trying to keep it deliberately unstructured to leave room for folks to contribute how they see fit but I wonder if adding some kind of structure around the process and criteria for participation would help the idea become more focused. So I am thinking back to that Guy Bennar piece he did for Documenta building the Ikea trea and it kind of reminds me of that except the piece had very specific constraints. If you do keep it open, I would suggest creating some kind of operational foundation by which to target participation, this will help you create something that has a more targeted conceptual and aesthetic focus and so has a stronger impact, otherwise you just end up with a tree house which you built while hanging out...
ReplyDeleteIdeas for better operational focus:
* use of certain materials specifically or certain dimensions
* Having participants flow through some kind of consistent process that produces and artifact that can then be linked to that persons participation other than raw video... IE a form or release stating compliance of intent
* Recruit someone to stream a play by play narration
* Insist on a empty space to structure ratio, for example, walls should not impede someone's line of site through the structure
* let people on this blog submit proposed conditions or acceptance criteria for the structure almost like assembling a Home Owners Association and letting them tell you what you can and cannot do... for better or for worse.
@M: yes! love the Home Owners Association idea. I will most definitely employ that. Bringing the application in within the next hour, I'l keep you all updated.
ReplyDeleteI like that model alot. Will the space be inhabitable/usable as space by people within the sculpture park? At some level I like it better if it isn't, or if the space was made for specific usage like a band stand, a bird watchers roost, or a place for anthropologists to observe artists in their semi-natural environment.
ReplyDeleteI also Like M's suggestion of a Home Owners Association as a way of engaging the audience and actually fulfilling the second aspect in a way beyond just remote viewing.