For the open class on October 23rd, a small group of people executed the works by Deborah Kirk and Juan Ortiz-apuy.
Energy In= Energy Out
“According to Newton’s law of inertia, a system will stay at rest unless it is disturbed by an external force. Energy exists in two states: kinetic and potential. A brick sits on top of a wall– potential (it could fall). A brick is pushed from the top of the wall– kinetic (its potential is released).” - Labbeus Wood, System Wien, 2005
Create a shift in the energetic organization of a space through:
a) a material intervention
b) a relational disturbance
-Deborah Kirk
We interpreted this work as having two components, both of which could be considered as an opportunity to make changes in the exhibition space. As a relational disturbance, our small group toured the exhibition spaces making detailed observations about things that fell outside the parameters of the given system. The observations were then pared down to the bare minimum of information:
For the material intervention we made a bit of a tongue-in-cheek decision to work with the ample amount of furniture in the art lounge and lined the majority of the leather furniture up against the entrance to the main UTAC gallery space. The entrance was not fully blocked, as visitors could still move freely. The furniture placement, however, was disruptive just to the point of being noticeable and obtrusive. See the before and after below:
For Ortiz-apuy’s instructions we stood together and read aloud:
1 – “How to roll your R’s”
Step 1: Curl your tongue up very slightly just behind the top of your top gums. The tip of your tongue should be loose and should float just below the roof of your mouth -between the upper teeth and the hard palate. This is the alveolar ridge. You can find it by smoothing the tip of your tongue along the tooth sockets and along the top row of your teeth.
Step 2: Tense your tongue, but leave the tip loose so it can vibrate. Breathe out, allowing your tongue to vibrate with the passing air, as you create a “purring” sound.
2 – “How to fake an accent”
Repeat the following sentence but change the ‘TH’ sounds for a ‘Z’ sound, and drop all the “H’s” –making them silent: They have no business here neither
3 – “From TOLD to TONGUE”
Read the following list of words out loud: told, tolerable, tolerably, tolerance, tolerant; tolerate, toleration; toll, tollbooth; toll-bridge; toll-free, tollgate, toll road, tollway, tom, tomahawk, tomb, tombola, tomboy, tombstone, tomcat, tome, tomfoolery, tommy-gun, tomorrow, tom-tom, tonal, tonality, tone, tone-deaf, tone language, toneless, tone poem, toner, tongs, tongue
-Juan Ortiz-apuy
Out of all the works in the exhibition, this work seemed to be the most strictly instructional. There wasn’t the same ambiguity and room for creative interpretation as some of the others: participants were asked to simply recite what was written in front of them. There was still an opportunity to learn something new through the experience of executing the works, partially how to roll one’s R’s and partially to pay attention to pronunciation – the latter being something we don’t normally consider very closely. There are also issues of multi-cultural clash raised by the statement ”they have no business here neither,” which points to a different set of concerns than we see in the works from 1969. It seems that in this case, the cue card (the hard copy of the instruction) speaks more than the performance of it, in that one can read and consider the implications on one’s own and the group activity is perhaps secondary. One thing that does arise in the experience of performing the work is the embarrassment, however silly, of making noises outside of the system of normal speech.
-Ginger Scott and Joanna Sheridan
