First year exhibition research – Bee symbolism

Bees are often considered a symbol of the Goddess or Divine Feminine because they are ruled by queens. In particular, they are associated with the goddess Venus because part of their labor is the indirect fertilization of flowers, all of which come under the dominion of Venus. Without bees, many species of flowers would die out, and so the bee may justly be considered a handmaiden of that goddess.

In the sacred tradition known as the Qabalah, the planet and goddess Venus are associated with the Sephirah Netzach. This Sephirah is also called “Saykel Nesether”, or the “Occult Intelligence.” Two of the potencies of human consciousness that have their root in Venus or Netzach are creative imagination and desire. These are two sine qua non of occult development. Without knowledge of the right use of creative imagination and desire, the aspirant makes little progress.

Site venue exhibition finale visit

We spent the day attending the second years site venue exhibitions that saw us trekking from uni to three doors up and then out to Cardiff made.

The works on show were very diverse and the first piece that was of particular interest to me was the dunce library. The viewer was tasked with wearing a dunce hat and entering the sombrely lit library to confess ones sins. Although the instructions were to mull over any of our actions that we were particularly ashamed of, myself, and the group I entered with took it upon ourselves to openly discuss and confess our shameful acts with one another. This then resulted in quite a meaningful and cleansing experience (apart from Han’s confession that he ripped a live fish in half just so he could attend its funeral) simply unforgivable. : (

Moving on to Cardiff made, a piece that I found of particular interest that also feeds in to some of the work I am currently producing was ‘Kusama’s room’ by Michalis Theodosiou. The piece was constructed from what seemed to be a small shoe box and was a reproduction of large scale immersive room constructed by the aforementioned Yayoi Kusama which featured her trademark spots. Similarly to Kusama’s piece, peering into the room played with the viewers depth perception, an aspect I am currently attempting to incorporate into my own prints and paintings.

Material project – Intro to performance (Final piece)

Following on from my previous live online performance that explored ideas regarding digital audiences, bee symbolism and the adult entertainment industry I decided to construct a multimedia installation that explored and built on those established ideas.

Over the course of the project I had constructed an array of paintings, sculptures and film pieces that explored these themes of which, I selected my preferred works and made the conscious decision to show them as a holistic installation as I feel there was a definite interplay between the chosen pieces that was able to more accurately portray the symbolism and iconography used to inspire the project.

The focal point of the piece was a film in which I was dressed as a bee keeper and performed jumping jacks in a ritualistic manner with a backdrop of kaleidoscopic and hypnotic flowers. To most, the jumping jack is simply a warm up exercise or something we practice as children but having delved into bee symbolism it would seem that like most esoteric ritual and practice, it is covertly laced within society as a harmless exercise not the ritualistic practice. To further play on goddess symbolism I used editing techniques within photoshop to give the illusion of having eight arms, referencing the goddess shiva.

Additionally I chose to present two paintings that were constructed using the same influences, albeit in a much more ambiguous manner. I feel these then complimented the audio visual aspects of the installation.

It was my initial aim to be physically present within the installation and be escorted on a lead by the bee goddess, switching the roles of power to the matriarchal from the patriarchal and further playing with the pornography and bdsm aspect, however due to the limitations of the space I installed the piece this was not possible. An Idea I do intend on utilising within the final summerative assessment and exhibition.

Material project – Intro to performance (questionnaire and final tasks)

We were given a final task which included a large list of questions as well as numerous tasks that ranged from redesigning a rainbow to making a scatalogical piece or art.

I worked my way through the questions and decide on two tasks which were to redesign a rainbow and create an alter piece. I would create a film piece that would accompany a live performance that will include the above tasks as well as the alter stones I have assembled over the course of the project.

The piece explores societies addiction and connection to electronic devises and the God that is technology.

Material project – Intro to performance (Audience pack and artists)

The audience pack was a very useful exercise as I was introduced to a large body of interesting artworks and artists I had no previous knowledge of such as Hemann Nittsch, Ian Breakwell, Annie Sprinkle and Carsten Holler.

An artist and piece I found particularly interesting was ‘Undiscovered Ameraindians’ by Coco Frusco. The work sought to cast light on the history of abuse, captivity and exploration of the indigenous peoples and I feel the work definitely achieved this. What was so interesting about the work was that it was shown within a zoo type setting as to confuse a number of viewers and have them believe that this was an actual zoological exhibit and not a piece of performance art. I will use this piece as inspiration going forward as I think about creating a final piece of live performance for assessment.

Material project – Intro to performance (daily journal)

We were tasked with performing a daily ritual which was could take any form from written journal to collecting objects. My piece derived inspiration from the ritualistic practice used within various religions such as catholicism and paganism (as well as others) in which portable altars would be assembled for use in personal, easily transportable or smaller places of worship. The parcels would usually consist of either sections of a saints clothing or religious paraphernalia in catholicism or within paganism; items that hold particular spiritual significance would be collected from nature representing the elements such as stones, feathers or sticks.

This type of practice was adopted in the assembling of ’42’ stones which were collected whilst upon a meditative pilgrimage and each stone was then individually bound and wrapped with varying scraps of printed material and attached was a repressed or negative emotion, thought or memory that arouse and was then recorded over the duration of the project.

These altar stones and the accompanying note were then assembled in a symbolic fashion and sacrificed to the altar, signifying the acknowledgment and removal of these negative and restricting aspects of my psyche.

Material project – Intro to performance (green screen performance)

Using the fragments derived from the groups individual private performances, as well as ideas derived from Molly Soda, online platforms and my own interest in esoteric knowledge and symbolism, I started to construct a narrative for the next performance task which included the use of green screen, something I had not encountered prior.

After a very helpful tutorial on how to utilise the green screen and use it to fulfil my idea with Neil Pedder, I was able to

Put my idea into practice.

Within my own research I had been delving into the Bee symbolism that permeates both contemporary and ancient cultures, picking up on some of the themes present within Scotts private performance such as the use of honey and then the use of online networking and communication platforms from my own, I decide to show my piece on a cam sex website. This was to also play with the idea of audience and live performance in a digital age.

Meg plays the feminine goddess of fertility and creativity Artemis, while I, the bee keeper and masculine patriarchal counterpart, symbolically burst her colourful balloons that symbolise the many breasts/ eggs of the Devine goddess and her creative powers, with my dualistic phallic stick, thus ambiguously commenting on the patriarchal nature of the porn industry as well as society in general.

Material project – Intro to performance (private performance fragments)

As the performance I had been given relied heavily on having an audience to interact with, as well as the fact the ‘beast from the east’ had well and truly set in here in Cardiff which meant I was more or less confined to my flat, I decided to utilise the internet, specifically online web chat rooms.

The online web chat rooms would allow me to access an audience in the confines of my own home, even if they may of been slightly unwilling and probably more interested in watching each other masturbate. (From previous experience)

So I set out on the random chat site and over a period of time, was confronted with a varied array of audience members from bored house wives to fiercely masturbating old men. I found that attempting to delve into such a deep convo as asking them aspects of the life they’d wish to forget was pretty unanimously I’ll received and the pair of flamboyant female sunglasses I was wearing as my given object didn’t seem to help matters either.

In the end I had a lot of laughs and some interesting responses but not a single meaningful conversation.

Material project – Intro to performance (artist research)

MOLLY SODA

As I had decided to utilise the internet and contemporary forms of communication and networking in my previous piece, I decided to research other artists who use or exploit social media, the internet and online networking platforms. This line of enquiry led me to some of Amalia Sotto’s otherwise known as ‘Molly Soda’s’ works.

Molly Soda is a Brooklyn based artist and online celebrity who utilises and works across a variety of digital media and platforms from producing YouTube videos to creating online zines, Gifs and web based performance art.

I found her works of particular interest due to how she utilises these online platforms to interrogate and pose questions regarding contemporary societies dependence on these applications and need for acceptance from a completely artificial online populous. She has cleverly used the phenomenon of online celebrity to both comment on social issues as well as to further the reach of her works.

Material project – intro to performance (week 2)

The group were led through a series of tasks that would employ memory, association, collaboration, words, objects and research.

Upon the completion of these tasks, each of

us devised a private performance for another.

I was given a performance which was quite

rigidly layer out and that involved me having

live audience and asking them a deep

question, which was a memory they would

like to forget. My object was a pair of

flamboyant sunglasses. We would deliver this

performance over the week and bring in

fragments of it to share with the group.