Portrait Project Proposition e-mail
Hello you guys,
I have already talked to each one of you individually about the project, so hopefully this doesn't come out of right/left field. I do want, however, to write to you in order to clarify the nature of the portrait project and set certain parameters so that we can start off on the same page.
SO...
The Portrait Project is basically a set of video-recorded self portraits, exploring the art of self-portraiture, the performance of reception/revelation, and the artistic drive of each one of the artists involved in the project.
It sounds complicated but it is very simple: the portrait has two parts, there is an image (video), and a text/music (audio) which will accompany the video, the idea is that both of these are stills, so in the case of the video it means that there is not too much movement and in the case of the text or music it means that there is not too much narrative. Therefore what we are left with is a breathing image of the sorts.
So, you choose 1. what you look like, if you're holding any props, if you want any specific backdrop, what pose you're in etc, and 2. a piece of spoken text or found audio or music etc.
It is very important that these choices are taken lightly, meaning not putting too much thought into them. Simply images that come up from your daily life, from dreams you've been having, from movies you've seen recently, books you've been reading, from a story you heard, thoughts you've had etc, so they're all things you happen to find in your life. Also all these elements (text/music, props, backdrop, makeup, whatever) don't have to be related to each other.
It becomes almost like a audiovisual journal entry with you in the middle.
I think you all get the idea....
anyway the point is to not perform them until the performance (so don't rehearse them), just get everything you need to do it...
The performance is just you standing or sitting or whatever inside this picture while this text/music/etc is playing. and that's it.
For the first round I think it would be good if we all did them and filmed them in a studio together so we could talk about them and perform them for each other. So let me know when you guys are available in the next two weeks.
This should be something easy so we can figure out a way to do them almost regularly so the body of portraits gets bigger, and so we can explore more the self-portrait form individually. So for this first one I guess the parameters are: longer than 1 min shorter than 3 mins, no talking (all voice-over), if you have a specific backdrop make it so you can bring it into a studio space, YOU (your physical body) have/has to be in it and I think thats it.... if someone has any other suggestions let us know.
(If it's helpful to anyone, the idea originated from Frida's self-portraits, so if you want to take a look at them do, it is not too important though)
love you, and let me know what you think, if you have any questions, and let me know when you guys are free so we can plan to film/perform on that day.
again, love.
N
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Post-First Session e-mail
Hello you guys,
Thanks for your work on Wednesday, it was rough because it was our first time doing it but I learned a lot of things and i hope you did as well.
There is something that I want to share with you guys because after that session last Wednesday I realized that I didn't know how to respond to these or how to give feedback... so I was thinking of a couple of parameters/ lenses through which we can read the portraits and give feedback without disturbing the ownership of the piece...:
Lately its been very important to me to think of the space in between as the space where the art lies. Meaning, for example, the art is not in the self portrait itself, but in it's relationship to the others, so i classified 5 different categories of in-betweeen space that I would like us to think about, focus on and use as gates to discuss the portraits:
-one is the space in between the different self-portraits of a same artist.( the relationship between something you did last week to something you'll do next week etc)
-the second one is the space between the artists.... the space in between our sensibilities, aesthetics, questions, choices, voices etc.
-the third is the space in between the elements in the portrait meaning the distance between the origins of inspiration.... for example in a self portrait where the image, the text and the mood come from the same moment or place in life the space in between them is narrow-- which doesn't mean it's bad but it's definitely different from another portrait where the conceptual space in between the elements is larger
-the fourth is the space between the vision and the execution- how was what you imagined different from the result etc.
- and the fifth is the space of what all these choices meant when externalizing them from your lives (when you ere composing the portrait) vs. what they meant when receiving/perceiving them in performance
(4 and 5 seem similar... but they are different...)
I'll talk more about these spaces and hopefully they'll make more sense but I just wanted to put this out there before the next session.
love,
Nico