Presenting_Presentant

Present

what do you project onto a blank surface?

reflections from acb:

Reflecting upon the memory of a fold, the absence/presence of a cut and the movement of surfaces propelled me into further investigations today. I started and ended with a question: How do you fold space?

Fold alludes to an action and introduces time. Folding does not excavate space, but by doing so, the material (in this case, paper) bends over upon itself, which suggests what was before while at the same time creating a new space inbetween itself.

I started to work with a blank roll of paper and the moveable objects around me in the studio: a ball, two folding chairs, a table on wheels and three different sized clothing racks (also on wheels).

I did not want to fix the material, but rather insinuate the possibility of movement; movement of the material and the objects. I draped. The action of draping the material reinforced the relationship between the material and the object. By covering and hanging off of the objects, the material introduced another sense of weight and created a new form. These forms placed upon an open stage invite change, but change only happens when movement occurs, and movement can only occur if it is provoked by an outside force, the presence of a viewer.

reflections from kb:

I extracted the leaves of a book from their bound form, pulling them apart from their shared centre fold. I then folded each sheet in a different way and placed them in standing formation on the floor. Un-folding the book and re-folding the leaves transformed the blank pages into an architecture. The absence of text and image accentuates the spatial quality and accentuates difference- sameness, shadow-light, front-back, hidden-revealed, collective-independent. Even in this form the leaves still have connection to each other and belong to each other.

It reminds me of the card game SET, which is about finding cards that form a set: a set being that the properties of colour, number, shape and filling have to be either all the same or all different.

I revisit the days spent here, days of: emptying, movement, page/frame, mapping, navigation, material, open space, and still today the pages remain blank.

Finding:

The viewer performs the book.
There is a possibility, openness and potential in the blank page.

“the process of planning, recording and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.”

we use the things around/in us to orientate ourselves in/through space(s)

i’ve (acb) become fascinated by the pattern on the ground outside where we gather for meetings.
by simply turning 45 degrees the pattern appears to change (see photos below)
it seemed appropriate for “navigation” to try to decode the pattern, create my own code for remaking it, and then ask kb to decode it again.

study: a book of directions

1. kb- created a set # of pages, within the pages there were different written directions as how to move through the book.
2. acb- created a series of lines and folds within the pages; each page used the one before to create a new line/fold. (see below.click to enlarge)

finding:
1. if text is used to direct, it limits the mobility of the reader/viewer. (how far can you go with a form without being explicit?)
2. interest in creating an open book that invites readers to navigate for themselves, does not control but plays with people’s expectations
3. using the structure and the way people handle a book can open up new methods and strategies.

kb brought up I Ching also known as “Book of Changes”, a symbol system that uses chance to determine the results one desires. The philosophical navigation of the book is that if one searches, one will find what one is looking for. This brought to mind how the reader has the control in the end to determine the movement of the pages; that is if the structure of the book creates this space from the beginning. It is desire and need that instigates one to navigate a way in finding an answer.

The last day of november
a hot sun melting away the
expectations
of why I am here.

Seeing the half moon in the blue morning sky reminds me of the
half moon late last night. Two half moons, same moon, different
time and place, connecting late to early.
Finding the morning.

Small moments with people and places here.
Events that ground me into the present experience of being here.
I like these encounters moving me through the day.

The old man on the bench outside the bar
in the town square with his granddaughter.
He moves away,
a certain fragility,
a gentle efficiency in how he moves,
such a contrast to the energy
of his granddaughter,
bouncing around him.

Reflecting on these five days of new people; the artists, teachers,
children and the movement and frame of these encounters
and my way between and through.

kb

there’s more to follow…we are busy “doing”…

selects
commits
values
focuses
reveals
suggests
divides

page:

can be empty/full,
one of many
has logic,
family
is carrier,
framed.

can you have a one page book?
(this is your opportunity to blog)

BODY_FRAME

cutting through space study
1. with blank pages
2. with a ‘Newsweek’

action:
start cutting frames in the pages, continuing where the other left off, don’t look back or forward

finding:
new frames create new meanings
1. a book of blank pages becomes an architectural and poetic form.
2. it is unavoidable to create loaded meanings when cutting through a ‘Newsweek’

the cutting of frames within a codex structure creates different relations between pages and new spaces through the leaves.

movement of a book:

opening and closing
turning
stillness and inertia
condensing and expanding
revealing and hiding

turn back time.

the torah
gutenberg bible
buddhist prayer wheel

the movement of surfaces

From cave wall to clay tablets, to paper, to digital the written word has developed into multiple forms of a book in order to access knowledge. More often then not, the book is percieved as an authority and a link to different spaces in time and memory. As we are moving more and more into the digital, how is the movement of the book being redefined? Are we missing the ontology of the material book as we enter into the virtual realm, or is it just another space which produces a different type of movement? Does one need the physical touch with the material in order to reaffirm the body and its relationship to space? Is the keyboard/screen enough? At the moment, we think not, yet paradoxically we are on a weblog.

Whether a book is shared by being read aloud or absorbed privately, it is producing movement. It potentially holds the ability to create communities and move thoughts. When read, a book is in a constant state of change whether the words are being moved through a scroll, wheel or from page to page.

book is choice.
an intimate space.
a collective experience.
layers of movement…(more then we ever imagined)