paul 1st session: 'monument' (history, story, memory, tradition)

rough notes: 

20.10.20 Paul first seminar 

working for 40 years in London, fulfilling way of operating as practitioner.. Solution - make books, everything he does these days resolving in form of book. excited about book making. coincidental moodle offers shape of book, happy love for books, previous seminars have turned into books. the lecture seminar course concepts as a potential perhaps virtual book. — table of contents in right of his session page. surrealist technique, exquisite corpse, children play, head, fold over, body, etc. unfold you have this strangely formed creature , good model how seminar can evolve. maybe not monstrous but surprising. 

‘A thing of the past’ small worlds and short stories, framework for students who are in lockdown etc. as summer went on, news, colleagues concerns, passion for history etc might include more people cultures ideas. if he does something based around history end stories memory and tradition. sub-clause of title. balance. always coming back to contemporary art. don’t think we’re here to consolidate knowledge but to disrupt assumption and presumptions, question our tradition, our relationship to history- whether history itself is a thing of the past - storytelling are these things really to do with past but in present. Even things we desperately need to negotiate the future.  

at bottom in bold - ideas for chapters/sessions.. important we feel engaged and connected. in non existent room. provide model of research project, play with, critique and see where it leads us might form model in how we approach our own practice and maybe write up as research paper. left image: hollow creatures, these monuments, becomes metaphorical, as they were pulled down. very current, electrifying manifestation of history where history is seen to be all about, beautiful transformation. What monument assumes history is. As permanent. direct evidence of this not as something fixed. history as antithesis of that. topple monuments in river, graffiti etc. this image is striking bc of scale, can see people responsible of erecting it, some slave status, some professional class. strangely wrapped - not wrapped comprehensively - rather poorly way. which gives whole picture a new strange look, abject and shabby look. picture from essay about history of monuments in America where writer explores different kinds of people and forms. this monument is value now because pro slavery figure. eventually reluctantly, abolition of slavery etc. in same essay, can find whole monument tradition being literally turned on its head by artist in Germany in sixties and seventies. responsible for Holocaust, see some inverted monuments. don’t stand high above people but actually sink into ground over period of time. in America Vietnam war, seemed fascinating so tidy for artists, war cannot be celebrated by any shape of monument that previously existed. prize for design, twenty three asian sculptor who made this monument for war. ‘dark horses and hollow men’ which he wrote for rca sculpture department. history of monument to slaves. 

book/catalogue: ‘Unmonumental’ all kinds of contemporary art practices, sculptors respond to long sculpture tradition of monumentality which is regarded as not monumental things become pathetic, prone to weather, 

comment: sculptures freeze time : Benjamin theses: the truth will not run away from us - gottfried Keller - like the interplay between sculpture and freezing time.. // monuments connected with public sphere and common memory. how can monument reflect a common memory in society, which I think it lives strongly in the present surrounded by information, which we don’t have time or ways to assimilate and memorise them? — 1: common memory: in society which feel is newly complex, obvious complexities, maybe doesn’t even believe anymore in coming together as one, but trying to learn with all of its differences, better description of where we are at the moment, not necessarily a negative thing - what would a common memory be? and if there’s no such thing as common memory - what are these monuments — information: glued to our screens and social network feeds. monumentality, how quickly time passes values events just pass by us like river more than anything.. // what is monumentality vs architecture and buildings— volume shape and scale speaks to us. appears to me history is present is present in all architecture. // pandemic is common memory? // reminds of work of Paul virilio, architect and urbanist, ‘philosopher of speed’ modern culture is defined by speeds. 

‘ platform ‘ film (his favourite which says a lot) - really beautifully subtle movie - individual life stories and what we think of bigger notions of history. poor people theatre group moving through Chinese  cultural change. Ordinary people. flared trousers, memory of early ninety eighties, hair permed, tiny little historical revolutions going on in people’s lives. 

Chinese artists and works in one of his chapters. 

comment: building a monument to memorize the thousands of Chinese who served on western front during ww1 but delayed bc of where in Britain to build it. ——where monuments belong .. field somewhere hundreds of miles from city .. displacing objects- like Duchamp urinal, just displacing object can disrupt it. 

statue of millicent fawcett.. studying art by looking at sculptures and deconstructing, //

comment: “the discussion of when and where a mind menu belongs. also places the monument as a reflection and reaction upon time. the monument can actually embody and recon temporal use a subject or event. even though the monument represents an event long ago it suddenly becomes a physical manifest of an actuality of that event today” —-include paradoxes difficult to understand - as soon as u look at history, something over there, underneath us, but actually something we do in the present. act of looking changes past and present. always product of material processes forms ideas values traditions, // if we replace a monument with a poem is it still a poem., ‘unmonimental’ catalogue and read its essays, this kind of questions is probably discussed in those essays . Is the monument material. // ‘internalisation’ book Art in the social sphere- can find chapter post ww2 actually becomes anti-monumental - fade away rather than stand forever - strange hollowness — like balloons, bronze casts,, why do we love children balloon- make us feel like we can fly. unfortunately pop. // national music - transmitted through embodiment, the statue, parliament square // in gallery safe, but social sphere and monument, implicated in national ideology. national music. Folk music. Romantic poetry // 

right image: folkert de jong. (blackened object puffy sleeves, sixteenth or seventeen century’s  costume, Dutch sailor military figure who he sculpted out of styrofoam, gesture of offering as if something very valuable , little blue beads of styrofoam . whereas the statue is blackened. just from simple gesture. he opens up enormous historical area. so called new world, new Amsterdam, New York, small and sweet sculpture , in simple gesture shows power of art open a door into huge area of research we might not have discovered by other means, celebratory gesture, gift giving, artworks can have happy surface at the same time drawing you into, incredible painful issue of genocide. styrofoam very light and modern material - but this stuff from store, high tech in a way Chemical. Connects to contemporary, wouldn’t work if used traditional materials. unpainted styrofoam, connecting genocide and history through this laughing cavalier figure through diy store today. history isn’t divided away from us, no disconnect between me and the past, continuum of history. blue beads represent kauri shells - early form of trading? .. bridge between now and then - If we all watched platform 

‘living autobiographically’ reading list , ideas of personal histories, more as a story rather than ‘history’ . relationship between history and story.. 

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Unmonumental: The Object in the 21st Century 

 https://archive.newmuseum.org/exhibitions/918 

“Unmonumental” is an exhibition about fragmented forms, torn pictures and clashing sounds. Investigating the nature of collage in contemporary art practices, “Unmonumental” also describes the present as an age of crumbling symbols and broken icons. Inspired by the art it presents, “Unmonumental” grows over time like an assemblage. It starts as a survey of recent sculpture, and morphs as layers of images, sounds, and Internet-based art are added in three subsequent parts. The first exhibition in the cycle, “Unmonumental: The Object in the 21st Century” (December 1, 2007 – March 30, 2008), explores the reemergence of sculptural assemblage. This exhibition focuses on a specific form of contemporary sculpture that juxtaposes disparate elements for suggestive effect. These sculptures display an additive quality that gives them a distinct informality: conversational, provisional, at times even corroded and corrupted, they are un-heroic and manifestly unmonumental.

In the second part of the exhibition, “Collage: The Unmonumental Picture” (January 16, 2008 – March 30, 2008), two-dimensional works by eleven artists take over the museum walls and surround the sculptures. Historically collage tends to appear in times of trauma and social change. The artists in “The Unmonumental Picture” exploit the power of found images to communicate the unease, displacement, and anger peculiar to our times.

The third part, “The Sound of Things: Unmonumental Audio” (February 13, 2008 – March 30, 2008), carries the theme of unmonumentality into the realm of sound. Audio collages by thirteen artists, reflecting diverse techniques including found recording, spoken text, and manipulated noise, will play throughout three of the Museum’s galleries. The compositions are broadcast at three-minute intervals, transforming the experience of “Unmonumental” into one in which sounds and images dramatically mix and overlap. The final addition to the exhibition, “Montage: Unmonumental Online” (February 15, 2008 – March 30, 2008), occurs on the Web at rhizome.org/montage and introduces works by an international group of artists who use appropriation to create Internet-based assemblages. The artists in “Montage: Unmonumental Online” extend the radical practice of collage to the Internet: using digital images, sounds, and code, they interpret fictions and fantasies found online.

there's something about the amateur shaky filming of this interview that is intriguing.. makes me want to do video work of amateur filming. (use of social media caption?) 

seeing the works in the show made me want to MAKE work.

-young sculptors making fragile, anxious sculptures

-collage: the new, on the wall

on the moodle page: 

"This is not a new seminar but rather a renewed and revived version of a seminar that has its own history, its own past, its own memory, and its own story. Some years ago I conducted a seminar titled ‘Uses Of History In Contemporary Art’ and today it seems relevant and wise to revisit and rejuvenate it. I am going to conduct this seminar as a series of short ‘stories’ (rather than anything approaching a ‘lecture’ mode) while, in the best storytelling tradition, inviting interruption, diversion, challenge and discussion.

History, Story, Memory & Tradition are all categories that will be here seen to be used by contemporary artists, but they will be investigated as comparable contents and forms. The seminar will provide various ways of representing, questioning and utilising the rich, troubling and challenging contents of the past, while encouraging and enabling emerging artists to find their own ways and means to access history and their own stories for both personal and academic purposes.

Weekly content might include: ‘Paul’s Country Life Story’, ‘Paul’s Tradition Story’, Paul’s Robert Smithson Story’, ‘Paul’s Cao Fei and Yu Hong Story’, 'Paul's Elizabeth Price' Story‘, 'Paul's Theresa Hak Kyung Cha Story', Paul’s Jimmy Durham Story’, ‘Paul’s Dark Horses & Hollow Men (Monuments) Story’. We’ll also pick apart a series of quotes from writers including Ariella Azoulay, Frederic Jameson, Michel Foucault, Trin Minh Ha, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha and Walter Benjamin.

Indicative readings:

Azoulay, A. A. (2019) Potential History – Unlearning Imperialism, London, Verso.

Benjamin, W. (1968) Illuminations (featuring the essays Theses On A philosophy Of History, and The Storyteller, New York, Schocken Books.

Benjamin, W. edited by Rosenthal, L. (2014) Radio Benjamin, London, Verso.

Bourriaud, N. (2009) Altermodern, The Third Tate Triennial, London, Tate.

Burrrows, D. & O’Sullivan, S. (2019) Fictioning, The Myth Functions of Contemporary Art & Philosophy Edinburgh, University of Edinburgh.

Calvino, I. (1981) Italian Folktales, New York, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

Eakin, P. J (2008) Living Autobiographically, How we Create Identity in Narrative, New York, Cornell University Press.

Equiano, O. (2003) The Interesting Narrative & Other Writings, London, Penguin.

Kim, H-h. (2014) Ghosts, Spies & Grandmothers, SEMA Biennale, Mediacity, Seoul.

McQuillan, M. (editor) (2000) The Narrative Reader, Abingdon, U.K., Routledge.

Mitchell, W.J.T. (1992) Art and the Public Sphere, University of Chicago Press.

Reynolds, S. (2011) Retromania, London, Faber & Faber.

Staff, C. (2018) Retroactivity And Contemporary Art, London, Bloomsbury.

Warner, M. (2014) Once Upon A Time, A Short History of Fairy Tale, U.K. Oxford University Press (also available as an electronic resource).

Warner, M. (1985) Monuments & Maidens: the allegory of the female form, London, Weidenfield & Nicholson.

Williams, E. (1994) Capitalism & Slavery, Chapel Hill, The University of North Carolina."