Performance Art Workshop Monday August 9 - Friday August 13
arrivals on Sunday August 8
kunstwirkstoff ( www.kunstwirkstoff.de )
and T.a.T. Performance Art Workshops in Jerxheim Bahnhof
T.a.T. means pure action
Each workshop is an introduction into the serious play: the relationship of body, space, object and time. Space becomes part of the idea of the world during live experience of action and observation. Creative life, and the process of making art and being the artist are seen as conjunctive and inseparable from every day life. The concept combines various ways of individual perception and states of awareness. It is an introduction to the shifting of personal perspective.
The liberty of moving in time and observing the body in space creates a larger picture which becomes the image. In conventional terms this Art Practice is defined by ‘motion sculpture’, happenings, elements of installation, cultural representation or in the formal presentation of film and video, drawing and photography. The means of production are negotiated individually and experienced in later stages of the workshop. Movement in space is action and this ‘image in motion’ can be presented live during a specified situation and the event of the kunstwirkstoff – Openday in Jerxheim Bahnhof following the August Performance Art workshop.
The house of kunstwirkstoff offers many different rooms, which function as work studios or locations to develop individual ideas. It is part of workshops content to develop individual idea processes and be productively engaged in the making of objects and creating situations. Tools can be used in two work areas. The ambience of the house and garden provide space for tranquility relaxation and retreat. Meals, which are being provided in the evening offer a platform for discussions and reflections. It is necessary that participating artists prepare a small talk and images (CD/DVD) about their previous work practice. Consultations can be arranged during the week of the T.a.T workshop with Dagmar I. Glausnitzer.
The Performance Art workshop is intended to approach the creative process at the core: participants are encouraged to consider the location and situation where ideas take place versus the location and situation where ideas are thought about and materialized. It is a holistic approach to Fine Art Practice emphasizing professional presentation and documentation. This includes skills in philosophical thought process, individual methodology and collaborative practice.
The training involves exercises, which investigate the body being in the present, as well as ideas concerning ritualism, witnessing and the awareness of conditioned behaviour patterns. In close observations by group members and during short discussions, the workshops explore definitions, manifestos and the idea of language. The approach towards authenticity is emphasized in movement as the body is making an original ‘mark’. One important aspect of the artistic process is invention of method with the combination of traces left in space. They may be material or ethereal. Another is the temporal position of the artist identifying a new context of the moment. This includes the consideration and the use of different media and different ways of presentation. The idea of T.a.T. (meaning pure action in art) is to create a relationship between conscious awareness of the process of idea development and the idea of ‘self’.
Content overview:
- T.a.T. pure Action, preparation and identifying materials
- Moving with the object
- Mover and witness
- Towards authentic movement
- Language, image and text, understanding the paradoxical relationship
- Documentation and presentation
- In-situ, spaces and location understanding methodology
The body is the medium of creative fluids reaching the world. Each participant explores the body’s independent notions and in close observation risks to disembark from known, conventional behavior patterns. The workshop opens possibilities for different interpretations and points of view. A so-called identity can be left behind.
The practical experience starts with identifying a moment in time and an action taking place in it. The artist /student learns to become ‘Ambassador’ between the world of materials, objects and the source of his/her own ideas, influences and interventions. Performance as art is not a medium or a style, it is a situation where the artist is aware of the material relationship of cause and effect but with the focus for a non-reflective ‘self’: . . . it is a paradigm, the relationship between transformation and translation (Boris Nieslony, 2002).
Thematic examples of the workshop structure
- The ability to expand and to create images
The workshop’s exercises concentrate on ways to experience a material expansion and mental expansion in relation to spaces or locations. The combined presence or absence of body and space already establishes a certain image to the viewer. It is the aim to gain full consciousness and observe how this image is being transmitted. Most familiar aspects of personality and understanding of ‘self’ can be observed and analyzed. Therefore the sense of ‘self’ can be objectified releasing spontaneity and unplanned action. The physical and mental body expands.
-in-situ
The viewer of the Performance Art Action (free from theatrical implications) in the public field is fixated towards ‘the reading’ of an image and to make 'sense' according to known conventional situations. However the created images of the artists reach the frontiers of familiar faculties and provoke different questions.
It is important to learn and to inquire how the action can take place. The meaning of locations and places have to be re-interpreted.
Some key words:
- space and limitations, unlimited approach
- Architecture and buildings
- Specific locations and their meaning, attributes
- Meeting, assembly, gathering
- Information
- Traces and found objects, found situations
- Depiction of the Action Location
- Gathering of objects and installation
- Position of the viewer
- Performance Art has nothing to do with street performance or theater
The objective is a sensitive fusion of individual, inner-images and awareness, which is being transpired through the action.
This is the place for dialog.
