Thinking Outside of the box

Julia Woodmore - Portfolio > Thesis > Theory

Thinking Outside of the Box

Theory

I have chosen to look at the following topics in this section: Bricolage, materiality, phenomenology and their representational qualities. I feel that these best offer the necessary explanations to understand what it is I am questioning and gives the five factors that I consider to be the tenet of my investigation and argument the validity they deserve and require.

I do not want to use this section as a platform to argue the rights, wrongs or differing opinions that surround such theories and ideas this is not what my study is about. I will instead be using suitable information as a tool to bring clarity to my own findings and as a grounding for my case study with James Carl.

'Everything we design and make...is an improvisation, a lash up, something inept and provisional. We live like castaways...' [12]

In its original context the Bricoleur was someone who delighted in making novel contraptions out of the bits and pieces of old ones. Bricolage was the result.

Levi Strauss set a precedence for these terms when he used them to characterise the process of myth making in pre-industrial societies, stating,

'the process of creating something is not a matter of the calculated choice and use of whatever materials are technically best-adapted to a clearly predetermined purpose, but rather it involves a dialogue with the materials and means of execution'. [13]

More recently, studies concerning Bricolage and the Bricoleur have been applied to the Arts, philosophies and a wide range of theories with all manners of application.

Upon discovering the notion of bricolage (it was not a term I was familiar with prior to my research for this topic) I felt it had a strong resonance with my project work and this task at hand. On the most basic of levels we were being asked to behave as the 'Bricoleur' when our project was set, to use the 'left over' cardboard as a 'tool' to further our work.

'The inventory of tools and materials he has to work with,'

'bears no relation to the current project, or indeed to any particular project, but is the contingent result of all the occasions there have been to renew or enrich the stock or to maintain it with the remains of previous constructions or destructions'. [14]

On a more significant note this idea is an important factor when looking the relationship concerning former applications of a given material. It highlights the importance of past use whilst at the same time assigning equal portent to the new. To me it also suggests the substantial role that a material plays, regardless of its surroundings (time, space) of form ? the ephemeral quality of bodily reaction ? being a constant presence.

This is a notoriously difficult subject to define it is for this reason that I will be using Merleau-Pontys 'style' of phenomenology to understand our reactions to the material of the artwork in question and how our senses might influence our responses.

We are living in a visual culture, not only media driven (e.g. adverts, films etc.) but also in scientific and philosophical thinkings. 'Seeing is believing' is to many extents the way in which we approach the world. It is this 'occularcentrism' that phenomenology challenges. It attempts to shift our focus from not only that which we see but to that which we feel. Merleau-Ponty does this through highlighting the 'strangeness' of the world. He argues that

'the human body provides the fundamental mediation point between thought and the world. The world and the subject reflect and flow into each other through the body that provides the living bond with the world.' [15}

This has been furthered by other theorists, most noticible recently in the deconstruction of binary thinking, for example from public and private space as separate domains to contemplation of areas that constitute a mix of both; the in between spaces. e.g. office atrium's.

In some respects it is a call to recognise the influence that these sensations have on the way we perceive the world. This is of vital importance to my work on materials. It moves away from the look of a piece and places it within a multi-sensorial realm from within which a myriad of new associations can arise.

'Material things I know, or feel, or see; All else is immaterial to me.' [16]

'Material /Ma*te?ri*al/, n. The substance or matter of which anything is made up or may be made.' [17]

This idea allows a new consideration for a material. This was initially raised through one of the responses to my questionnaire when I asked what determined the choice of material for any given project. The answer stated,

'I would prefer to use the word medium or media which is determined by the situation, by its appropriateness for the situation. e.g. Latest project used photography, video, audio as a method to represent place.' [18]

This made me consider material through an avenue of thought that I had not yet explored in my study. The distinction between material as a material and material as the medium or media. The issues of the ephemeral and changing nature of many materials or 'mediums' used for artistic purposes.

Firstly, this idea can be illustrated in the work that Krzysztof Wodiczko presents in his projections of the homeless on to various monuments.

Secondly, through work on ephemeral or transitory materials mentioned by Rosenqvist.

'Water does not have a shape of its own but is formed by its surroundings.' [19a]

Lacking a solid or structured form makes it more difficult to define but as soon as it changed into ice we suddenly identify with it as a 'thing.' Like with Wodiczko's projections - the nature of the material has not changed but the emphasis and meaning of the construction has, yet this has only happened through projection of light, an intangible material on its own.

Thirdly if we consider nature and the natural, there are artists such as Andy Goldsworthy who use material at it most basic form. Leaves, rocks, snow etc. - elements that exist prior to a use or application of them. Distinctions are beginning to appear. There is no actual former application therefore the idea of a former application can not be applied to a case like this in the way it could with cardboard but there are still associations formed. These associations that we now apply to, or 'put on to' what has been created must be formed in our memory and experience of place - where we had seen or touched or smelt It before. It is created in our minds through our associations with unrelated themes (of the material) What the natural materials new form means is that the associations to the piece are now with the created artwork and not the prior application (there was not one) of the material.

Throughout this practise construction becomes an issue. Rosenqvist asks the question 'could textile be load-bearing?' [19b] She goes onto to describe how the German art historian Gottfried Semper caused a debate when in 1860 he named textile as the first and most original construction material.

'He describes it as a technique that joins, rather than as an integrated material in itself.' [19c]

So the make-up of the material, as well as the 'finished material' the technique that was used in the process of construction could also be said to play a role in the associations in terms of the material.

i.e. The process of weaving the twine to make the string that will then be used to tie up the parcel. .

Through these examples it becomes clear that in the absence of one type of association others take precedence highlighting the interactive nature of all of the forms of association.

I have tried to avoid specific theories of representation. Instead what I have looked at here are ,in a way theories of representation., yet they move away from a purely visual and representative view of the world. I am trying to apply this to my art and case studies through varying levels of of associations, to move away from the 'visual culture' that Merleau Ponty describes, whilst acknowledging its importance.