Jamee-lee Fleming – See You Next Tuesday

Experiment One or Experiment Two?

Posted on December 13, 2013December 15, 2013 by Jamee-Lee Fleming

The experiment was shown twice with two different types of audiences. The first audience consisted of our peers. This meant that throughout the experiment they were more responsive such as laughing and getting more involved than the second audience. The second audience had people which were from a different social bubble, and because they were not as responsive as the other group made me realise that the experiment was going to have two very different outcomes after had finished.

This pattern continued throughout of the two experiments:

Experiment one had developed into a friendly, fun atmosphere which had a lot of laughing and clapping along with the music and songs which were performed. In the discussion, people were responding to the questions confidently as more questions were being, the group had become a non – judgemental and ‘safe’ place that people were using these words freely without feeling insecure. The feedback from the audience after the experiment claimed that they felt comfortable in the setting and that they were able to say these words and answer the questions without feeling worried they were going to offend anyone as everyone shared their own opinion and it was respected.

Experiment two’s atmosphere was the total opposite to the previous one. As I mentioned before we had the public involved. The whole experience had a different feeling towards it. You could see the audience feeling very uncomfortable and didn’t enjoy it all. This is because they have been put into a different environment in which had sexual objects scattered around such as dildos, lingerie and sexual books. There were words which had personal attachments to them which were performed in many ways such as distorted soundscapes and cheesy pop songs. This could be seen has insensitive and threatening towards them which automatically brought up their defence barrier.
During the discussion, this was shown as the audience members answered our questions. For example, people expressed their concerns with what was being asked which had a different tone to the previous audience. I feel as though asking these questions put us in a vulnerable position as this let the audience express their feelings not only to the questions but also expressing the emotions they were feeling throughout the experiment.

The outcome of this experiment is that taboo words are not a social issue in today’s society. It all depends on personal experience and what these words of topics mean to you, whether you have experienced them yourself or in your own social bubble. I can understand as to why the audiences reacted differently to one another because personally if I had experienced something that I did not believe in or that I felt uncomfortable with, I would automatically not enjoy it and would wish for it to end straight away. But also I can see it in the way of how the first audience experienced it because to them it was their peers not meaning to offend or harm anyone emotionally, just to express the breaking down these words.

Overall, if I had to do this experiment again the idea of the den I would keep as we did create a comfortable and secure setting, but just remove the sexual objects around the space as this automatically put the audience on edge and were scared to know what was coming next. To not try and create a threatening atmosphere like the second audience felt, the songs would be removed and I would concentrate on the shock factor of the words and working more on breaking down these words through different mediums such as little sketches like the soundscapes and the ABC song.

Concept, Performance, Practitioners, Rehearsal Process

Semiotics in the space!

Posted on December 10, 2013December 13, 2013 by Jamee-Lee Fleming

In our performance, we have used objects which are used in the analysis of semiotic theory. “Semiotics or semiology… involves addressing physical objects in terms of their ability to convey meaning” (Saussure, 1974, p. 3).  This can be seen through signs such as body movement to which express a certain attitude or emotion, colours that can show the mood or atmosphere or even what a person wears could identify what sort of person they are in terms of class, race or gender.

Ferdinand de Saussure who studied linguistics and is known as the former for semiotics, states that there is two parts to semiotics, one is the signifier which is “the material phenomenon we are able to perceive” (Fortier, 2002, p. 20). For example, waving to someone in the street and the second part to the equation is the signified, this is the acceptance of that sign from someone else.

Being able to receive signals from objects when watching a performance gives the audience an indication of not only what the actors are saying but also what the space around them signifies. Semiotics are everywhere including lights, sound, costume and set design, it all takes massive part when analysing a performance.

So how are we going to show this? In our experiment everything that is being used or displayed is a form of semiotic analysis. There are eight categories that we cover; sexual references, disgusting objects, blasphemy, animal names, ethical, racial and sexuality, physiological deviations, ancestry and vulgar terms. By using visual objects and seeing the words printed on paper, this will give the audience more of a reaction and feel to the experiment as they will be hearing and seeing these subjects all around them.

Within our set, we have created a den that includes blankets that are suspended from the ceiling to create an intimate atmosphere, and pillows to associate ourselves with a safe and comfortable environment.  In and around the space, we have added objects and words that represent the categories that we are trying to show.

From a young age we are told by society that certain words are frowned upon and should not be used. Within a group we have picked out five words in which we think are the worst words to be said such as: cunt, nigger, whore, paki and retard. To create this image, we have made a mobile that suspends from the ceiling with words stated dangling above us. This is a representation in which that these words are always around us whether they are being used or not in day to day life.

Still carrying with the child theme, we have created a child like presence in the space, we have A-Z carpet squares which are for children who are learning their alphabet. These will be displayed on the floor where the audience can sit and interact with us throughout our performance. By doing this we have created a teacher and child relationship which is what we are trying to portray.

So linking it back with Saussure’s theory, the teddy bears and the alphabet tile flooring is the signifier and the signified is the audience responding it childlike and innocence. This is the same equation with the sexual objects. We don’t have to say anything to do with the topic but having them objects there signifies to the audience that they are to do with sex.

Works Citied

Frontier. M (2002) Theory/ Theatre – an introduction. Oxton: Routledge.

Performance, Rehearsal Process

Our Safe Place

Posted on November 28, 2013November 28, 2013 by Jamee-Lee Fleming

Today, we live in a society where if we were out in public and we overheard a person say the word ‘cunt’ or ‘niggar’, they are automatically judged as it is frowned upon. We, ourselves don’t understand as to why people take offence as they are only words and in society we have been taught from a young age that they are bad. Our aim is to create a safe place where it is okay to say these words freely without getting judged or harm anyone else. We don’t want to create an awkward atmosphere between the audience and ourselves but to encourage them to feel confident in the environment we are creating. We are going to do this by creating a space that looks like a den. A den is a relatable place to our audience as it is something that we all made when we were younger. It was a place where we would spend hours playing with our friends and where we felt safe.

A safe place is a location of which a person feels secure and comfortable with their surroundings.
It is where a person feels protected and not exposed to danger or a risk of harm. Whether it is to themselves or anyone else around them. There isn’t a specific place though, it depends on the individual in what they prefer. For example it could be a home with the front door locked, or a room inside the home such as a bedroom or living room. Some people could see a safe place as a hospital or a care home as they provide care and attention. Depending on whether you are religious or not but a place of worship can be seen as a safe place as you are connecting with others and also feel protected by praying to your God. A safe place doesn’t have to be a building either, it could be an open space such as a park, or garden, somewhere where it involves memories that make that person secure and happy.

My safe place is my bedroom, it is a place where I feel comfortable. It contains all my personal belongings and lots of memories that I have collected over the time. Within this space, I am able to do my own things without worrying about what other people think, such as listen to music or read a book. I can speak to my friends confidently in this space or even close the door behind me and just whine down after a long day and go to sleep.

Practitioners, Rehearsal Process

Yo’ mad Marina!

Posted on October 14, 2013December 15, 2013 by Jamee-Lee Fleming

Marina Abramović is a contemporary artist who thrives off audience reaction. Her performances consist of taking her body and her surroundings to the next level. One of the performances which caused havoc which was she placed ” placed on a bridge a three minute looped recording of a building collasping” (Richard, 2010, p.8). The soundscape was removed shortly after after the public complained that it reminded them of the war. From then on, she has created many performances which has made her noticed around the world where many audiences attend to see her outstanding art work.

Our focus in class during this session was Marina Abramović and her performance of Nightsea Crossing. Nightsea Crossing is a durational performance which involves Marina Abramović and her partner Ulay. The performance consisted both of them sitting at opposite ends of a table staring motionless at each other. They did this for seven hours with no food, just water for sixteen consecutive days.

We started the exercise by doing a ten minute trial of Abramović’s performance as a whole class. We were positioned in two rows stretched across the space and was told to look at the opposite person. As the timer started, my first thought was that it was going to be easy and that ten minutes would go quick. I thought wrong. As time went by, I felt as though I was in a battle between my mind and body. Because my mind was concentrating too hard on focusing on the person in front this made time longer and more tedious. I felt the need to try and get past the barrier in order to keep this exercise going.

After the ten minutes had finished, we were told that we were going to repeat the exercise but this time for an hour and half. I repositioned myself into a more comfortable position and began the exercise again. I went in with a fresh mind so that I did not compare it with the one before but everything had moulded into one. At first I was relaxed and comfortable in my chair, even to the point where I had to move because I felt as though I was glued to my chair. As soon as I did, I could not stop moving around as my body became sore and aggravated.

Everything around me started to change as though it was drained of colour, even the person’s face I was looking at. Her face looked as if it was melting just like the clocks in The Persistence of Memory picture by Salvador Dalí:

The Persistence of Memory (Dalí, Salvador, 1939, cited in Klingsöhr- Leroy, 2004, 38)

This picture to me represents a dream – like world as the objects are surreal. When you are in a dream everything around you can feel distorted and out of place but as the time went by it became the norm to us because we were becoming used to the state we were in. It felt as though I broke through the “pain” barrier and that my mind could keep on going and going. A barrier meaning getting past that point where you felt a struggle but knowing you had to carry on.

I let my mind wonder and ideas were being explored in my head throughout the experience. Ideas such as performance ideas we could try out. This happened because I had broke through the barrier on mental exhaustion. I thought it would be a great idea to go further with this by exploring the fight between physical and mental exhaustion and how we could stage it as a performance. I was also interested after the exercise we did about audience reactions in how they react and their opinions.

The idea would consist of a group of people running around a large space until they could not move any longer. This would be a durational piece where audience members would be able to come into the space and either gives us aid to help us keep going or place obstacles in the way depending on how they reacted to the piece. This was taking the ‘pain’ barrier to another level and to see whether what outcome would come out of this. Just like the exercise of the Nightsea Crossing and what thoughts and the mind process we went through throughout the experiment.

This is a site specific piece of Martin Creed’s Work No.850

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-U8Fl45-DFw

This piece of artwork is about standing out from the crowd, like he said in the video that if you see someone running whether it is theft or just someone running down the street, you as the audience are automatically drawn to what they are doing and question why are they running. He also quotes about “being alive” and feeling your heart beat when running. This artwork has inspired me into thinking about our piece and the phrase of “being alive”. This is by exploring the body and pushing our boundaries by developing a connection with ourselves and see how our body reacts when we push ourselves to our maximum.

As the process tried to keep on going, unfortunately we didn’t get anywhere with this idea. The positive outcome from this idea was that we still was still interested in audience reaction. In this we will take this further and see what we can explore and create with this theme in mind.

Works Cited

Klingsöhr- Leroy, Cathrin (2004) Surrealism. Köln: Taschen.

Richard, M (2010) Marina Abramović. Oxon: Routledge.