Transmedia Research Proposal

8/6/2019 Transmedia Research Proposal

1/27

RESEARCHPROPOSAL

___________

LIFEPERFORMANCE

The role of artworks is no longer to form imaginary and utopian realities (sic),

but to actually BE ways of living and models of action within the existing real.

(Nicolas Bourriaud Relational Aesthetics)

Musical sound and noise (customarily divided) are really one; so are art and life.

(Allan Kaprow Art as Life)

4.333 words \ study list

Sven Goyvaerts 1TMPAPER 2008-2009


2/27


3/27

LIFE PERFORMANCE

For the last two years I have been asking myself: can a live performance bedocumented in a truthful way? Should this document have a performative

quality - keeping the ephemeral, bodily and interactive element intact?By overcoming the conflicts between live performance and the documentaryI came to realize that they are much alike and also largely dependant oneach other. Live performance achieves recognition though its documentation,while re-enactments are being performed on the basis of the record that hasbeen kept. The documentary material in turn of course can not exist withoutthe performance taking place, which raises some fundamental questionsabout its authorship. During capture, the documentary filmmaker can alsodecide to behave in a performative way; by actively participating in theperformance or by re-performing the piece himself in front of a camera.So once we stop to think about the differences between documentary and

live performance, but rather about a combination of both a documentaryperformance it shows that they cn exist in harmony. But then, what isthere left to find out? One issue remaining is: where does live performanceend and life begin? Why are such distinctions made, between live art and lifeitself? What if one tries to overcome these formal differences? Is it possiblefor me to approach my everyday life as a documentary performance? I feelthat this question may lead me into uncharted territory. The end of art aswe know it perhaps? Or the beginning of a more conscious way of living?

Concerns

For a year I will turn living my life into a documented live performance artpiece. Will I (still) be able to function in society? How will all this affect meand the people around me? Will people be inspiredby this? Will they beoffended? But more importantly: who am I? And is there anything that Ican or would like to consider my workand my work alone?

Aim

Inspired by the work of performance artists such as Tehching Hsieh and NG1,I will submit myself to a strict weekly planning for 1 year and document

my everyday life as Sven G, a fictional persona alternating between 12 sub-characters, all revolving around my default, perhaps even non-existent, selfby the name of Sven Goyvaerts2. On the next pages I will give a descriptionof my default self (0) and of the 12 sub-characters of Sven G (1-12).

1for more information on these artists, please refer to my TM Studies paper (on Hsieh)

and to the blog entry The Model (pt.1) on svengblog.blogspot.com (on NG)2

to find out how I got to this point of fictionalizing myself, please read The Model (pt.2)


4/27

0.

1.

2.

default self

This symbol defines my old everyday

self, caught in a web, so to speak, often

uncertain in situations and also quiteneurotic. I wear my trusty glasses and

I am called Sven Goyvaerts. The symbol

looks like the well-known drawing of the

Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci and

resembles the barred-S-sign representing

the Lacanian subject; the subject which

is irrevocably split between the

conscious and the unconscious.

business self

Together with my father I run a family

company where I am in charge of the

audiovisual branch - Sven Goyvaerts

BVBA - as director, cameraman and

editor. My services have to be marketed

and advertised. The intention is to make

profit. This icon also refers to dealing

with money in everyday situations.

working self

I work from 9 till 5 under a boss or at

the service of a customer. I prepare my

lunch in the morning. I save money to

go on a vacation.


5/27

3.

4.

5.

6.

musical self

I play drums in two bands and in some

other projects. We rehearse next to myhouse and make recordings there.

transmedian selfAs a Transmedia student I research my

subject area, prepare presentations andattend seminars.

loving self

Being in a relationship means spendingtime together, having sex and caring for

each other more than anything elsein the world.

sleeping selfResting is somewhat frowned upon in

todays society, but it is very important.This means going to bed early and

staying in bed late, sometimes.


6/27

7.

8.

9.

feeding self

Most of us eat three times during theday. I am not much of a cook, but Iintend to change that. If there is one

thing I can enjoy more than anything,it is a fine meal in good company.

clean selfWashing myself, going to the toilet,

taking a shower, that kind of thing.

imaginative self

This character is key to the Sven Gpersona. The G-force represents the

gravity pull of my desires and mostprimal impulses, fears and imaginations.

All of this is directly related to mysubconscious, manifested in dreams.


7/27

10.

11.

12.

heroic self

The Superman logo stands for my

conviction to do good, to make theworld a better place and to have greatpower, to help someone in need and to

overcome evil. These ambitions are alsorelated to politics and religion.

laughing self

I dont take anything serious really,aside from humor itself. In the words of

Milan Kundera: The comic brutallyreveals the meaninglessness of

everything.

immanent selfI means that I do meditative long-

durational performances, in which Iattempt to question the nature of my

very existence. Who am I? I dont knowwho I am. I am part of this world, a part

that wants to be invisible, immobile,one with everything, infinite, immanent.

Arent we all one? In response to a blogentry of classmate Filip Daniels I gave a

more in-depth analysis of this crucial I:

(The icons were taken from several internet-sites.)


8/27

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Identity (excerpt svengblog.blogspot.com)

In his book Tarrying With The Negative (1993) Zizek expands on this topic

of the subject as a void:

p.40: everything that I positively am, every enunciated content I can

point at and say thats me is not I; I am only the void that remains, the

empty distance towards every content.

This idea of the human subject as a void is definitely a Lacanian concept.

The Real truth about ourselves is something which is forever out of reach,

which cannot be captured or understood by the appearances produced by

the so-called Symbolic order; the way we look, talk, act etc. Or THINK, for

that matter. We cannot even think of ourselves as a subject with a specific

identity, because we are only I insofar as we are unable to think of

ourselves as an I!

This is, in some ways, the death blow to Descartes motto I think,

therefore I am. Because: to automatically associate the I with theThing that thinks is already an assumption.

Zizek states on p.15: The paradox of self-consciousness is that it is

possible only against the background of its own impossiblity. () I cannotacquire consciousness of myself in my capacity of the Thing which thinks.

So the next logical step would be: if we cannot find out who we really are

(because the extent in which we can NOT think of ourselves is precisely

the thing which defines us as human beings) then we might as well inventa fictional version of ourselves (which we have been doing all along,

actually).

Earlier in the book, p.11: Today, even the mass media is aware of the

extent to which our perception of reality, including the reality of ourinnermost self-experience, depends upon symbolic fictions. () Suffice

is to quote from a recent issue of TIME magazine: Stories are precious,

indispensable. Everyone must have his history, her narrative. You do not

know who you are until you possess the imaginative version of yourself.

You almost do not exist without it.


9/27

To provide a more theoretical foundation for the complete Sven G personaI refer to another blog post of mine:

Saturday, February 21, 2009

The Model (pt. 3) - Way of Life (excerpt svengblog.blogspot.com)

I have created 3 groups that cover a grand total of 10sub-characters,

some closely related. Often these characters overlap. Sometimes they

could also belong to one of the other groups, depending on the context.

But for the sake of argument I have put them where they are now, for the

time being. All but one of the characters reside under the name of Sven G.

I will start with the one exception to the rule: my everyday self, by the name

of Sven Goyvaerts. I would call this my 'default' self, symbolized by the

crossed-S icon which is shown above. This side of myself can also bereferred to as my EGO.

The Sven G character is essentially the amplification of my everyday self.

Since I happen to work fairly multi-disciplinary, I find it easiest to divide

myself in different characters; one more business-minded, one more

concentrated on making music, one concerned with helping out a fellow

man, etc. Each of them belongs to one out of 3 categories, which are

inspired by Freudian theory: SUPER-EGO, ID (or ALTER-EGO) and LOSS

OF EGO. In my case SUPER-EGO stands for the pressure exerted by our

Western society to become a wealthy and successful individual - to presenta product, make money with it and to be a participating consumer. ID is the

melting pot of my subconscious drives and desires; feelings which are

being repressed, under normal everyday circumstances, but which can

potentially be adopted by the ALTER-EGO. Finally, LOSS OF EGO is

(what I would describe as) my own will to nothingness; an urge to become

one with the whole universe.

Instead of using such Freudian concepts, I could also turn to the 3 stages

of reality according to Lacan: the SYMBOLIC, the IMAGINARY and the

REAL. Symbolic: the world which is generated in front of our eyes,

constructed by artificial means, such as language, tradition, morality

and ideology. Imaginary: the reservoir of our wishes, fears and our

imaginations. The Real: the true dimension of reality, which will forever

transcend or escape our awareness; a void, a gap, a cut into the fabric of

the world as we symbolically perceive it. (continued on next page)


10/27

Symbolic level - Work, Money & Performance. Appearance: new glasses.

MARKETING & EARNING MONEY SUPER-EGO

Imaginary level - Art, Music & Performance. Appearance: lenses.

CREATIVITY & TECHNOLOGY - ID or ALTER-EGO

Real level - Existential, Social & Performance. Appearance: unrecognizable.

EYE CONTACT & GROUP DYNAMICS LOSS OF EGO

All of the Sven G characters are being documented and all of them are (at

the fundamental level) live performances, I would argue. I have carefully

ordered these different characters in a time schedule - a calendar - which

repeats itself every week. My purpose is to stay true to this planning,

although I consciously put in some counter-measures, allowing me to

switch between almost any character during the day, whenever I see fit.The schedule should serve as a solid foundation. Nonetheless, changes

will certainly be made to it over time.

The second revision of the weekly calendar, accompanied by a shortdescription for each day, can be found on the following pages.


11/27

On Monday - the first work day of the week for most people - I plan to do alive performance each time, in the morning, to put a smile on peoples facesor to draw attention to the banality of what they are doing. I get up early andrecord the dream I had into a diary. I do not eat and I make preparations forthe performance, which can be anything really. Under normal circumstancesI perform for 5 hours. By the end of the piece I gather documentation at thescene and have a talk with the witnesses that are present. In the afternoonI cook diner at my girlfriends place and in the evening I arrange my stuff forthe next days work. Before I go to sleep I review the documentary materialof the morning performance and post it on the internet.


12/27

Tuesday means I start working, either by going to school or by doing workfor my company. After I shower I prepare a lunch box. When I get backhome after a days work, or school, I have diner and finish off any homeworkthat is left. Sometimes we rehearse in the evening. If not, I have got sometime to spare. Chances are I go out or I go to bed early.


13/27

Wednesday is pretty much the same as Tuesday. In the evening we rehearseand after we are done I upload the raw recordings we made and send themto the other members of the band. As soon as that is over with, I go to sleep.


14/27

The final work day of the week for me is Thursday. Same as the previous twodays, except in the evening I either practice drums or stay at my girlfriendsplace, in which case I permit myself some leasure time.


15/27

Friday is entirely dedicated to making music; practice in the morning, recorddemo material in the afternoon and rehearse after diner. After sending therecorded files to the rest of the band I go out or move to bed.


16/27

The weekend I kept more open. Saturday means basically I am free to dowhat I like or to do what I hate: catch up with work, spend time with mygirlfriend, shop, study for my drivers license, and so on.


17/27

On the seventh day, I rest and make sure I recover some sleep. I restrictmyself by not eating for a day as I take time to re-evaluate the past week.I do not fast because of any religious convictions, but because I perform for5 hours straight the next day, which requires concentration and an assurancethat I would not need to pay visit to the restroom during that period of time.


18/27

The idea of keeping the calendar is not only that I would slavishly follow it,although it does remain my initial starting point. Equally important will beto see how my lived life will actually differ from the schedule I have set out.More than anything, the calendar will provide me with a reference to which Ican compare my timed performances, to find out if I am failing to reach mypreset goals or if a sudden intervention forces me to let go of and re-configure some of my plans. As one famous man once said: Life iswhat happens to you while you're busy making other plans.

LIST OF TERMINOLOGY

GET UP & SHOWER & dress myself, brush teeth

DOCUPERF assemble documentation after performance

GROCERIES shop for cooking ingredients

MISE-EN-PLACE arrange ingredients in kitchen

WORK AT DESK do homework

EVALUATE review recorded material of performance or rehearsal andupload files

TM(L) Transmedia or The Movie Lot (agency I work for), depending onschool agenda or job offer

REHEARSAL rehearse with band in practice space next to my house

SDB Sombra De Bestia, band I play in

PRACTICE practice drum parts and do exercises

SILN Swimmers In Loch Ness, band I play in


19/27

Objectives

Aside from the assignments outlined in the daily descriptions and in the listof terminology, my objectives include a few other specific ones, relating todifferent characters:

- give a lecture every month on the progress of my life performance

Because I resent the idea of exhibiting documentation of my life performanceas work in itself, I propose to organize lectures on a regular basis in which Ishow the documentary material, talk about my personal experiences andopen up a discussion to the people attending. I intend to invite guests to

participate in the debate every so often. These persons include philosophyteacher and psychoanalyst Marc Verminck, fellow students Peter Verwimpand Catherine Oldenhove, members of my family, performance artist NG and- I can dream, cant I? - Marina Abramovic. As specified in the Transmediahouse rules, presentations should preferably be held on evenings between5 pm and 7 pm. In my case, Tuesdays or Thursdays would suit best. Precisedates would be notified in advance through the transmedians website.


20/27

- collaboration: Time & Memory

Classmate Maud Lefever had sent me an e-mail she got from a friend of herswho is working on a project about Time and Memory. Catherine Oldenhove(that's her name) is asking people to provide her with some personal insighton this subject and urges everyone to come up with a unique alternative toour predominant idea of keeping standard time. The testimonies she gatherswill serve as the basis for a theatre play revolving around the image of a kindof clock which has empty picture frames on the side instead of numbers.These frames are meant to be filled in by the participants. I accepted herchallenge and applied the Sven G characters to her model. The clock proves

to be a marvelous representation of my split personality. The minute handcould signify the character I happen to be in at present, while the hour handwould refer to the second most important character which complements thestate I am in. Finally, the second hand, which is always switching from onecharacter to the next, symbolizes the constant alternation between my coredesires, duties, wants and needs. As it turns out, my work can simply beboiled down to a mere dividing and categorizing of time, to keep memoryof a performed life.


21/27

- manage blog

During one particular personal meeting with Jo Huybrechts, Jo pointed outto me that my blog was perhaps becoming part of my work. At first I did notknow how to respond to that. Now I would argue that my blog only becomes

part of the work (1) in the process of updating it, (2) whenever someone isreading it (in which case this person becomes, I would say, the author andrightful proprietor of the blog the internet IS for everyone, after all) or (3)as soon as someone responds to a post - where there is interaction going on.


22/27

- keep documenting the work of performance artist Mikes Poppe

- stay in touch with Marina Abramovic, through e-mail and by attending herupcoming exhibitions in Manchester and New York

July 3rd 19th 2009 : MARINA ABRAMOVIC PRESENTS - Whitworth Art

Gallery, MANCHESTER INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL, Manchester, UK.

March 14th May 31st 2010 : MARINA ABRAMOVIC, THE ARTIST IS PRESENT- MoMA, New York, USA.

Two people active in the field of performance that I would want to keepworking for/with are Mikes Poppe and Marina Abramovic. I call this workbecause a couple of times Mikes has already made sure that I got paid for

filming pieces of his. Going to work for Abramovic is still a cherished long-term goal. Around 2012 Abramovic will open her Foundation for Preservationof Performance, a centre dedicated to her work and to the ongoing debate onhow to exhibit, re-enact or remember performance art as it once was and onhow to keep the art form relevant today. As I put together my resume I thinkit is also time for me to assemble and filter the work I have done in the past.


23/27

- apply for Apple sponsorship

In my capacity as a lecture performer who presents the evidence of hisperformed life, I will showcase quite a lot of Apple products and software:MacBook Pro, iPhone, Final Cut Pro, iPhoto, iCal, etc. These tools help meto organize my work and to make it visible. I would like to thank the Applecorporation for the advantages they bestow on me and ask them to sponsorme in return for the fact that I recommend their goods to other people, as anApple representative. Aside from that, I would ask for their collaboration indeveloping a specific Sven G iPhone application of my own devising thatwould be of great service to me.


24/27

- eye contact

- protest with clowns - Skype

We were asked to write a very brief paper for Christiane on the subject ofsilence and so I wrote about maintaining eye contact with people for longperiods of time. Most of my I-performances have to do with making eyecontact. As stated in my paper, eye contact relates also to my experience ofbeing a clown activist for the Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army. Nextto that, Maud and I are planning on making a piece using Skype, where it isimpossible to look into the other persons eyes. My proposal would be to doa long-durational performance in which we would both stare into the camera.


25/27

METHODOLOGY

Discovering and Recording Research Information

The ways in which I will discover and record my research information

being the practice of living life as art, while documenting it obviouslyencompass all possibilities available to myself as a person: becomingconscious of and using my mind and body, traveling space, recallingmemories, communicating through language in order to comprehendaccounts from other people, reading books, browsing the internet, doinginterviews, etc. TIME however is to be considered the most important toolat my disposal, because I feel that time passing and I hope I am not goingtoo far-out here in fact does not provide me with more information, butinstead reveals my exceedingly limited knowledge and understanding ofthings. This causes me to question the notion of myself as being a self-sufficient artist, or even selftout court.

Theory and Practice

This undermining of private intellectual (and subsequent material) ownershipties into five big theories, which support my time-keeping practice. Theseare: Lacanian psychoanalysis, Buddhism, P2P-philosophy (peer to peer) andlive performance arts main dadas: participation and anti-commodification.I will run through these theories as quickly as possible. Made popular bycontemporary thinker Slavoj Zizek, Lacans theory of the human subject asbeing a void has made a profound effect on me. Earlier on in this paper Ialready elaborated at length about this concept. To talk about void is to talkabout Buddhism. According to the Madhyamikas there are no such thingsas inherently existing things, but only interdependent related events.3

This interdependency is threefold: (1) appearances manifest themselvesdepending on causal influences, (2) they are dependent on their own partsor attributes and (3) appearances that are formed in our world of experienceare dependent on the way we verbally and conceptually name them. On thebasis of this illusory make-believe it is very tempting to consider theseappearances, or to qualify them as, self-sufficient things. One calls thistemptation reification and to the Madhyamikas this is a basic hereditarymisconception that opens the doors to all sorts of psychological ailments.Reification takes away the context. Peer-to-peer (P2P) philosophy, master-

minded by Belgian Michel Bauwens, propagates a redistribution of property,made possible by internet technologies and a critical look at currentauthoritarian and centralized social structures. (Wikipedia) And then finally,fundamental components of live performance such as audience participationand its resistance to commodification may facilitate an art world in whichanyone could potentially be an artist. By choosing to pass time and not toproduce any art objects I hope to raise awareness on these themes ofcollectiveness and, most of all, threatening illusions that pervade life.


26/27

Importance of Theory

Threats to society, created on the base of misconceptions, that need to beaddressed are, for instance: individualism, systemic violence (the violencethat is not directly inflicted by us, but the kind that is enforced by thecapitalist system which provides for us), dangers to ecology, poverty,humanism (as in the idea that people are all born good), etc.

But the key reason why I hold to the abovementioned theories is for my ownsanity. I dont think there is anything more important for me than to be okaywith not knowing who I am, which is, if you think about it, probably the mostdefining of all human characteristics. To ignore or repress self-doubt can onlybring harm. In his recent bookAls een gebroken spiegel, Marc Verminckwrites: in a certain sense we are all, if we are not insane, neurotic, if onlybecause there simply are no really good or fitting solutions. But art (or goodart) is not neurosis. () Neurosis stages phantasy on a private level, the art

stages phantasy on a public level. To proclaim my life as a live performance,to document it and to present it in front of an audience gives me a chance toelevate my existential undecidedness from the private to the public sphere.

Process of Experimentation

Areas in which I experiment include:

- talking to people and in front of people - taking pictures

- writing on the TM blog - playing music

- filming and editing footage - doing performances

Tools for Recording

- ZOOM H2 Handy Audio Recorder - video camera

- iPhone -notebooks

- MacBook Pro - other people

- external hard disks

_____________________________________________________________3this section on Buddhism is translated from a book calledBewustzijn, which compiles a

series of talks the Dalai Lama has had with scientists and psychologists from all around


27/27

WORK PLAN

Obviously, my work plan is my weekly planning, which will be evaluated oncea month during the lecture performances. Each month the planning is subjectto change. Leading up to our first years final presentation I will execute a

two-week test period of the calendar. On the day of our presentation I willcommence the yearlong documentary performance. I would imagine to finishmy second year with a live lecture too, but broadcast over the internet also.

(PARTIAL) STUDY LIST

Verminck, M., (2007) Als een gebroken spiegel Psychoanalytischebeschouwingen over het kunstenaarsoeuvre, Gent, A&S/books.

Benjamin, W., (1955) Het kunstwerk in het tijdperk van zijn technischereproduceerbaarheid, Dutch translation from 1985, Nijmegen, SUN.

Montano, L., (1981) Art in Everyday Life, New York, Station Hill Press

Montano, L., (2000) Performance Artists Talking In The Eighties, 2000,Berkeley, University of California Press.

Schimmel,P., (1998) OUT OF ACTIONS - between performance and theobject 1949-1979, London, Thames and Hudson Ltd.

Meyer-Hermann, E. & Perchuk, A. & Rosenthal, S., (2008) Allan Kaprow

Art as Life, London, Thames & Hudson, Ltd.

Kaprow, A., (2003) Essays on the Blurring of Art and Life, second edition,Berkeley, University of California Press.

Heathfield, A. & Hsieh, T., (2009) Out Of Now The Lifeworks of TehchingHsieh, Boston, MIT Press.

Heathfield, A., (2004) Live Art & Performance, London, Tate Publishing.

Dixon, S., (2007) Digital Performance A History of New Media In Theatre,

Dance, Performance Art & Installation, Boston, MIT Press.

Goldberg, R., (2001) Performance Art From Futurism to the Present,London, Thames & Hudson Ltd.

Goldberg, R., (2004) Performance Art Live Art Since the 60s, London,Thames & Hudson Ltd.

Transmedia Research Proposal

Documents

Transcript of Transmedia Research Proposal