From Resistance to Permeation

Text: Neimenis, Astrida, ( 2012). Hydrofeminism,or  On becoming a Body of Water in Undutifull Daughters; Mobilising Future Concepts, Bodies and Subejectivities in feminist Thought and Practice. 
https://www.academia.edu/1970757/_Hydrofeminism_Or_On_Becoming_a_Body_of_Water._

Near the end of my stay, august fellow, Heather Fulton, from Scotland, invivted a small group to reflect on a text which helped me connect the various meanings and emotions which I had experienced all along.

Heather and I found a serendipitous connection when chatting in Venice; Heather is a great friend of Anthony Shrag (former lecturer at University). I cite Sharg's thesis and paper all over my PhD.

Schrag, A. (2013)-The Artist as Social Worker Vs. The Artist as Social Wanker- Statecraft: The Triad of Participation-Blog. Available at : https://www.axisweb.org/archive/news-and-views/beyond-the-gallery/provocation-from-anthony-schrag/ [Accessed: October 2018]

Shrag, A. (2015)- Agonistic Tendencies. The role of conflict within institutionally supported participatorypractices.Practice-Based Doctorate of Philosophy School of Arts and Cultures. Available Online at; http://www.anthonyschrag.com/images/PhD/A-Schrag-A.T.-Thesis-web.pdf [Accessed October 2018]

Whilst in Venice, I felt my body structure change from the singular (private space) to the multiple (connected to the public space), as if the inside and outside of me had become connected to the world through the medium of water. 

I truly have not felt the same since.

I was drawn to understanding concepts, from within to the outside, through a continuous immersion in colossal pieces of art experiences, over a long period of time-

This immersion became normalised through repetition, thus introducing a form of habit-a sensitisation which became a new form of knowing- a matter which can-not be undone (identified as Under-Standing/a true form of knowing).

I often think, amazingly, that I became a sort of 'water creature' with a new skin/membrane/net-work.

'An amorphous artist, only taking shape through water connections'

I have not stopped swimming and thinking since, in all kinds of water, with all sorts of fish.

Creating New Work; 

I finished the residency with a collection of film pieces in and out of water, some notes and photographs, a dress dipped in the lagoon, and pinhole images which I will process over time to investigate a new direction in my research on resistance and learning.

Sharing event at aspace arts, Southampton, January 2020;

Aspace arts, Southampton, sent 3 fellows to Venice this year. Together, we will present our research to other local artists, members of the public and students, in an event set  in the newly refurbished God's House Tower (date TBC)

Fellows Exhibition by British Council;

I am planning to create a new piece of work for the fellows exhibition at Whitechapel Gallery, London, next March. In the emantime, I am reshaping this blog to become the report for this research, a maleable archive which may be transformed over time.

An exhibition at OSR festival 2020, Yeovil; 

The film/dress will become a thought provoking installation o the theme of loneliness/ togetherness

 where the dress will be presented as a membrane which abosrbed my experience in Venice.

Laboratory of Dissent 2: 

The shape of the film/installation will be explored and tested at Laboratory of Dissent 2, Winchester Gallery, Winchester School of Art, November 2019- I am preparing to interact with my peer artists group 1, from  Chapel Arts Studios and will present a short view of the developing themes int he work at the Symposium, November 2nd.

Group 1 proposition; Three years after the Laboratory of Dissent 1, we, artists, explorers of dissent, teachers and simply humans, are coming back to face the consequences of our actions. Now in different group settings, we will face the challenges attahced to revisiting the tensions and resistance experienced in our past undertakings. After spending a month in Venice, I offered Astrida Neimenis's text to the other mebers of group 1 to reflect on, work with and diffract from, to perhaps find new consensus. An opportunity to consider the possibilities of setting new conditions within which one works as much against the grain as moves with the flow in creative undertakings. Facing the challenges of new conditions, we are now having to rethink our positions within a state of emergency where we may  consider ourselves/our children as survivors of the near future.

" The water is coming, no matter what! The water is coming!" (extract form one of our recent group conversation)

Within this realisation, group 1 invites to consider how we may become' more than human> and evolve beyond ourselves. How can we build from relational beings' to relational doings and becomings"? How our bodies will be shaped by our minds through water? How can our artistic endeavor inform new relational concepts beyond a bianry conditioning? The exploration will be informed by Neimenis's text and by Shrag's agonistic tendencies theory and view on the role of conflicts as productive sites.