So I am in this Criticism and Curatorial Site & Intervention class. I like the teacher but she is a fairly hard marker. For the next project I want to make something that I REALLY LIKE and I want to bring my mark up. So I need your help. Please. I know some (probably ALL) of you will have some great ideas.
The assignment: Create an installation or performance at OCAD or in the neighbourhood. It should reflect eiether the history of the location, the purpose of the location, your relationship to the location, your experience of the location…
So here is what I was thinking so far:
- The Library. I found out that way back when there was this prof named Robert Holmes who painted flowers. He donated his personal library to OCAD. He died when he was giving a speech to graduates about their futures. Very poetic. I was thinking about maybe making some kind of shrine to him…? Or something to do with flowers or… I don’t know. I am really interested in making something in the library because I really like the librarians and I want to make something nice for them.
- Butterfield Park. It is this concrete circular courtyard under the flying tabletop. It is named after Mr.Butterfield who contributed greatly financially to OCAD. He is a philanthropist but if you go to his current website, you’ll learn that he and his business partner run world-wide bicycle and walking travel tours. So I was wondering if I could somehow reflect that in the courtyard.
- Or maybe a piece around water fountains? My relationship to them at school is fairly intimate since I go to them whenever I feel migraines coming on (hydration helps.) Maybe I could decorate them in a glorifying way. Tap water is the way to go! But down those plastic bottles.
- I also kind of felt like making fancy ashtrays or something for the smokers that huddle outside. Something that shows that I am kinda sympathetic to them forcing themselves outdoors in the cold in order to satisfy their addiction (and it’s pretty hard to hold a cigarette while wearing mittens.)
I don’t know. What do you think. Where should I look??? What do you wish you’d see in your schools? What kind of art would make you smile?
i like the library idea. either that or the water fountain piece. the water fountain piece sounds more personal to you, but making something in the library sounds a lot more promising project-wise…? plus we’re having a rare sunny day here so i’m in a “yay-spring-is-soon-to-come” mood. hence, doing something with flowers came off as a grand.
Maybe I could buy used books, pile them up, drill huge holes through them and turn them into vases.
I’ve always felt that libraries have quite their distinctive smell, and sometimes I really wish there’s a better air-ventilating system… or less people who choose to rot in the libraries with the books – admirable, but really, hygiene…
So I don’t know how this would work out… but something that is so pleasant to the eye but also the sense of smell? … If a piece of art work, regardless of form and style, could satisfy more than emotional and visual aspects, i think that’s dope.
I was warming more to the Butterfield Park area; I always enjoyed sculptures made out of the pieces of something, like a bicycle. I don’t really know where you’d get a bicycle, how you’d get it apart and how you coud attatch it back together, but I think that something done with like re-used bicycle wheels could look really magical. Sorry for the impossible idea.