Monday, February 11, 2008

Sex Education Works




*A better audio version will be posted later, until now, youtube is my only source till, I get it figured out better, (which i'm working on with a friend).





The assignment: As an artist, how do you use media to put your art out there?

When first thinking about this project, my free association started with censorship, and what they consider whats good, and what we remember verses what we should remember for example issues, world news..etc. And where dose media come from, why is it media, they are just tools, we interact with, retain information from and well the list could go on forever. Then my interest came back to the duality of parents poorly educating youth about sex but allowing exposure on any form of communication networks with very sexual songs, imagery and easy access on the internet. It was interesting when a friend had mentioned, that it is "YOU", that decides what goes out in advisement and what decides what we like and so forth. I'm not sure if everyone really realizes that we are given this power to decide what goes out and in. But then, a group of men some how decide what we like as well.

Before this goes off subject, I then found it very interesting that people have the will, and most often everything is chosen through what has already become comfort, and the uncomfortable that was presented to us should be the reverse. Example, in my project I took a 70's parent to child sex education video, playing muted and projected onto the background of my set up. The set up was a table covered with a table cloth, with a child's doll and some books on-top and a tape recorder for documentation purposes. The two chairs across from each other, one with me sitting in it acting like a 7 year old, while the other was is the mother ( a girl picked out in my class). She had no idea, that my intention of picking her, was because of what I observed from her conservative quietness in class. Since I was playing this sex education video in the background, of a mother and child comfortable talking about the vagina hole and how a baby is made with hand motions, while in front the comfortable is actually what everyone thinks is uncomfortable preformed unscripted.

Once, I started acting like a child asking questions about babies coming out, and where they come from; she answered in a very conservative manner, or vague, leaving the question unanswered. Once, I felt she was uncomfortable, I stopped the recorder and told her she had the choice to allow me to keep the only documentation of the performance, or she could earse it. I gave her the will, the control of my art, just like the population would have on my piece, but I just picked one to decide for the rest. She allowed me, and then I played the tape back to the class, letting the remembrance recollect, as a listening stage, and not so distracting watching the performance.

The tape recorder is left on the table with the remains of the performance, allowing anyone who didn't get to see the performance, were able to listen and see the residue.

I think what was most successful with the project was, being able to show the duality of how media portrays these comfortable situations with sex, and the viewer being comfortable along that, while real life sitautions as a parent to child sex talk is uncomfortable. Having both play at the same time, really helped make the effect of media on our choices of comfortable and uncomfortable noticealbe, as I got to use the tools of media (speech, acting, video, projector...etc) to help present it. Then the topping was the recorder, anyone could pass it and say this isn't art, I'm not going to play that recorder, and who knows why this is here, but if the spectator willing decides to give the reorder the try they just experienced the comfortable and uncomfortable situation, only by interacting with my piece, and then listen to how i did it in performance.

And when I mean by uncomfortable, its not by the means, 'ewww thats gross, or i can't stand that... this and that', but what people like or dislike to encounter, and that starts with comfort zones.

2 comments:

Kallie said...

Sarah, this was so beautiful. I liked it so much. Is there more dialog recorded somewhere? I like it so much. I like the idea and I like the anxiety. I miss you.

anthony zollo said...

very nice work. i wish I could have been there to see it. the recordings are very interesting and i am glad you gave the participant the option to erase it. keep it up. it is really exciting to see people doing performance work in this school.

see you around