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Map of Time

Handful of Painterly Dust.

painting turning into dust
Encaustic and oil on primed board, projection of hand, mixed media, PVA and sand.

Everything will turn into dust, including my painterly desires and uncertainties.

This is especially true, when re evaluating the hierarchy of needs in reflection to my experiences in Haiti.

Hand gesture tries to stop a painterly process of expression and is gradually replaced by emptyness. The hole shaped as a silhouette of a wine glass, is marked with the anxieties of the past, which have turned into dust.

Map of Progress

Map of Progress

I have created the above map of progress to try to find out, where my research journey has taken me so far.  It should help me to get things in focus. It has also allowed me to write a list of activities, which I need to finish before moving on with additional lines of enquiry, as follows:

1. Explore references to the designs of Mr Jones watch – I need and I wantI

2. ‘I have time’ video needs to be completed and edited

3. ‘Paintings and Mirror’ video needs to be extended.

4. I have created a range of food videos and should include them in my records.

5. Check and complete a range of reflective accounts, which are currently in a note form.

6. Isolate the element of questioning, while considering the following :
What am I doing?
How can I develop it?
What is the next step?

7. Update references with research into:
Time
Chance
Change
Uncertainty

I have designed the following Map of Time.

I have time for                     I have no time for

I have time to                       I have no time to

I have time for this

This video has just been updated.  I am trying to deal with self-reflection in the mirror and the gradual replacement of focus from painting onto reflected image and vice versa.

Refinement 2.

Refinement 1.  Please, observe the inside of the mirror.

Dreaming About A Kettle

Dreaming About Bread

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There Is No Time!

Waste of Time

MAP – the arrow of time.

  • The thermodynamic arrow of time
  • The cosmological arrow of time
  • The quantum arrow of time
  • The perpetual arrow of time
  • The psychological arrow of time

The arrow of Time (entropy).

The second law of thermodynamics states that in case of systems, which are isolated, their entropy can only increase. It cannot ever decrease. Therefore, measuring entropy is a way of differentiating between the past and the future.  It allows us to comprehend, what is already behind and what is yet to occur.

I plan to experiment with this idea and design a map of time with references to different levels of certainty.  Will anxieties of the past become much more obvious in the future?

What would happen, if I contradicted Machian’s theories of dynamics and quantum geometrodynamic perspective by stating that there was no time! (Butterfield, 2001)

Does it mean that my experimentation with moving image should develop and progress, therefore stop? Should my work remain still?  Is stopping time the answer to all uncertainties of the future?  The list of questions could easily flow.

In the context of the potential to save money in Haiti, time as concept is irrelevant.  There is simply not enough income to put anything aside.  There are not enough resources to sustain life.  Therefore, dreaming about purchasing unnecessary objects and the associated frustration of wasting time to be able to save ‘nothing’ is a morally unsound torture.

I propose to experiment with images, which indicate desire to possess “something”, something physical.  There is, however, absolutely no potential or chance for this dream to come true and materialise.  Everything is suspended in the sphere of wishes and imagination. The time has already stopped there.

The dream of owing a kettle becomes more and more vivid, but it never gets a chance to materialise itself and become real. It gets ‘stuck’ somewhere in the sphere of imagination, between needs and desires.  The most disturbing is the fact that when you expect it to fully form and appear to be real, the film challenges the predictability of the narrative by stopping the kettle in the process of appearing.

Staring at a grey wall deadpan, day and night.  This is all that what is left.  Human suffering has no impact.  We have seen this all before.

“Underlying this chamber is a number of allusions to recent Polish history – the ramp at the entrance to the Ghetto in Warsaw, or the trucks which took Jews away to the camps of Treblinka or Auschwitz, for example. By entering the dark space, visitors place considerable trust in the organisation, something that could also be seen in relation to the recent risks often taken by immigrants travelling. Balka intends to provide an experience for visitors which is both personal and collective, creating a range of sensory and emotional experiences through sound, contrasting light and shade, individual experience and awareness of others, perhaps provoking feelings of apprehension, excitement or intrigue.”

(THE UNILEVER SERIES: MIROSLAW BALKA: HOW IT IS

13 OCTOBER 2009 – 5 APRIL 2010)

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Uncertain Nature of Possessions

Image result for art michael landy his destroysLandy stands in front of the exhaustive catalogue of 7,227 of his belongings – in the end,all that remained was his blue boiler suit (Credit: Michael Landy/Parisa Taghizadeh)

 

“The ultimate irony of Break Down (title) is that, as soon as it ends (the process of distraction of all own belongings), Landy will have turned himself into the ideal consumer – a man who needs to be sold new underwear, pyjamas, shoes, toothbrush, hairbrush. ”

(Dormet, 2001)

 

Refinements of earlier expertimentation.

The documentary narrative evidences the meaning of time, which is necessary to save money to purchase goods, such as lamps and TV sets.  The “goods appear and disappear” silently without any impact on life and the surroundings.  Are they therefore necessary? What is their purpose and function?  Is life fulfiled by a meaningless process of collecting objects?  Why cannot we exist without them?

 

“Is Break Down about the transience of consumer goods?

ML: Yes, many consumer objects have an in-built, compulsory obsolescence. Companies don’t want their goods to last long and that determines what materials they use. People have also generally become less able to understand how things work: objects have become much more complex. People are no longer able to maintain them properly, let alone repair them themselves.”

“Stallabrass, 2001”

 

Initial experimentation with the uncertain nature of physical possessions in the context of time and necessity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Dreaming About A Watch.

“Reversing the arrow of time was possible for the quantum particles because they were correlated — their properties were linked in a way that isn’t possible for larger objects, a relationship akin to quantum entanglement but not as strong. This correlation means that the particles share some information. In thermodynamics, information has physical significance”

(Conover, 2016, p. 10)

Philosophers generally agree that time is continuous as it does not stop and start or reverse.  It has also a direction and a form of order.  Therefore, time is progressive and sequential, from past to present; from present to future.  Time is also defined by its objective – the arrow of time indicates progression in only one direction – forward.

Therefore, with regards to income in Haiti, it should be possible to safe sufficient amount of money to purchase goods, which are desired and needed.  The only obstacle is …the time required for this.

Do I have sufficient time?  Is is too long to save?  Can I wait?  How much time do I need to save enough to purchase a wrist watch?

I am dreaming about a watch

2k7j63

A watch is something you have as a necessity.  It is not commonly regarded as a luxury object. Here, the aspirations are much grander, such as cars, houses, nights out and jewellery.  Therefore, the focus is on non-essential items rather than every day “things” we take for granted.

This visual consideration was inspired by a boy in a town called Jacmel.  He continuously made visual references to my basic, inexpensive watch and indicated how impressed he was with the idea of “knowing the time”.

Time, as a concept, has become a very important part of my thinking.  Therefore, if requires more contextual analysis and investigation to understand its significance in different contexts.

Everything will eventually turn into dust.  A handful of sand…

No watch
Handful of Dust
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Recording Uncertainties

The idea of using wine as a primary source came from my experiences in Haiti.  I ordered a bottle of wine with my dinner in a restaurant at an expensive hotel in Port-Au-Prince.  The bottle arrived on the table together with two glasses.  Following a 45 minutes wait, I learned that the hotel did not have a bottle opener to serve it.  The bottle was taken away.  Money as a resource was not sufficient.  Some things are simply so unnecessary that they become totally unobtainable.

I am trying to critically analyse the message in the sound recordings accompanying the video below.  While considering the uncertain nature of my unnecessary treats in life and digesting images in the sideshow at the bottom of this post.  This forces a broad range of reflections and allows me to develop a deeper understanding of the context of why people deny poverty in Haiti.

A refined version shows metaphorically the uncertain nature of physical objects, which “come and go” like a wave.  The mundane and cyclic character of dailiness.

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I AM CERTAIN I AM UNCERTAIN

“Some texts are going to be reinforced, some will lose a lot compared with my original intentions, but I think that is okay. I’m just going to let that happen, however it happens. They’re out of context, so they become a whole new kind of experience … I am using these otherwise finished texts as raw material for a whole other idea … I am not as emotionally involved with the individual pieces as I would be if I were trying to re-install each one. I’m using this stuff in a kind of abstract way, or pretending it is abstract and allowing almost random associations to appear.”

(Nauman, 2018 )

Bruce Nauman, ‘Good Boy Bad Boy’ 1985

Bruce Nauman
Good Boy Bad Boy 1985

Map of certainties and uncertainties.

Final film maquette with both voices mixing together.

The concept for this experiment was inspired by the work of Bruce Nauman, especially…

The simultaneous juxtaposition of a map of certainties and uncertainties creates an atmosphere of confusion.  I have purposefully chosen a young person, who represents a different generation to my own to reinforce the legacy of uncertainty that we leave in our wake.  I am plagued by uncertainty in response to the current turbulence and the pace of change.  The younger generation are ill equipped to understand and comprehend the uncertainties they are presented with.  Their inability to embrace change causes anxiety, distress and mental health issues.

“We live with an epidemic of anxiety. In 1980, 4% of Americans suffered a mental disorder associated with anxiety. Today half do. The trends in Britain are similar. A third of Britons will experience anxiety disorder at some stage in their life, with an explosion of reported anxiety among teenagers and young adults. Anxiety, depression, self-harm, attention deficit disorder and profound eating problems afflict our young as never before.”

(Hutton, 2016)

Younger people isolate themselves are immersed in the artificial online world, which lacks physicality of experience and reality of existence and human contact.

The more self-contained you are, the more lonely you can become and inadvertently find yourself with no one.

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Visualising Uncertainty

Antonio Machado:

“Wanderer, your footsteps are

the path and nothing else;

wanderer, there is no path,

The path is made by walking”

(Alonso, 1980)

There are certain benefits of uncertainty.  Perhaps one the most significant advantages is “chance”.

Our obsession with uncertainty about the future can be visualised in terms of probabilities.  These are very difficult to communicate effectively outside the time typical infographics, including graphs, charts and diagrams.  The impact of Hi-Tec and interactive methods of visualisation offers totally new opportunities and can be of  substantial help here.  However, communicating deeper uncertainties remains problematic due to incomplete or disrupted knowledge and other external factors, which may affect our perception of the nature of what we are unsure of. Are we purely entertaining the feeling of being unsure?

Confidence is frequently perceived as a sign of arrogance?

This thought has led me to exploring the importance of chance and probability in the context of my response to what I feel is certain and what is not.

Contexts of certainty and uncertainty

The alphabet of certainty and uncertainty.

The map of certainty and uncertainty.

certain and uncertain money

By chance, things have suddenly become much more uncertain:

How do I measure chance in all those contexts?

Unfortunately, Haiti was struck by another earthquake today.  All of my friends there have been affected.

What does poverty mean in the context of sustaining life?

How do I communicate the extent of uncertainties exaggerated by this natural disaster?

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References

Bibliography:

Albert, D. and Loewer, B. (1988), Interpreting the Many Worlds Interpretation, Synthese,

Alonso, M. (1980) “Antonio Machado Poeta en el Exilio”, Antroporos: Ambitios Literarios

Barrett, J. A. (2011) Everett’s Pure Wave Mechanics and the Notion of Worlds, European Journal for Philosophy of Science, 1: 277–302.

Butterfield, J. (2001) The End of Time? All Souls College: Oxford

Cage, J (1961) “Where are we going?  And what are we doing?”, in Silence (Wesleyan University Press, 1961), pp. 220–222.

Cassidy, D. (1992), Uncertainty: THe Life and Science of Werner Heisenberg; New York: W.H. Freeman

Choksi, N. and Cummins , A. (2016) “In Memory of the Last Sunset”; 20th Sydney Art Biennale

Conover, E. (2016) Information Is Physical, Even In Quantum Systems, Study Suggests, Science News: Vol. 189

Hansun, K. (1890) “Hunger” Penguin Book, 1988

Hauser, C. and Khan, I. (2016) “‘Afghan Girl’ in 1985 National Geographic Photo Is Arrested in Pakistan”; Asia Pacific: The New York Times

Hutton, W. (2016) Only fundamental social change can defeat the anxiety epidemic; The Guardian: Opinion Mental Health

Insolera, M. (2015) “Surviving Greece”; La Caixa Forum, Madrid, 2015

Jha, A. (2013), What is Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle? The Guardian

Korsgaard, M. C. (2012) Kant: Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals; Cambridge: Texts in the History of Philosophy

Nauman, B. (2015) ” Life, Death, Love, Hate, Pleasure, Pain”; La Biennale di Venezia – Biennale Arte 2015

Paul, C. (2003) Digital Art, London: Thomas and Hudsen

Pippin, S. (1999) Laundromat – Locomotion: An Artists’ Book; London: Verlag der Kunst

Sethaseree, T. (2017) “Heads or Tails? Uncertainties and Tensions in Contemporary Thailand”; Sundaram Tagore Gallery: New York, 547 West 27th Street, Oct 12th – Nov 4th 2017

Spiegelhalter, D. et al (2011) “Visualizing Uncertainty About the Future” Science  09 Sep 2011:

Vol. 333, Issue 6048, pp. 1393-1400 DOI: 10.1126/science.1191181

Dorment, R. (2001), A Deconstructed Life; The Daily Telegraph

Wiseman, H. (2012), Explainer: Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle; The Conversation

Websites:

http://justinmortimer.co.uk/2012.html

https://www.artangel.org.uk/break-down/michael-landy-in-conversation-with-julian-stallabrass/

http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20160713-michael-landy-the-man-who-destroyed-all-his-belongings

http://www.exactlywhatistime.com/physics-of-time/the-arrow-of-time/

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/bruce-nauman-1691/long-read/raw-material

https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/earthquakes/2018/10/07/00h11/magnitude6-HaitiRegion-quake.html

https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/unilever-series/unilever-series-miroslaw-balka-how-it

https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/turner-prize-2001/turner-prize-2001-artists-martin-creed

http://anishkapoor.com/100/blood-mirror

http://www.artnet.com/artists/roman-opalka/carte-de-voyage-detail-2875545-2878714-a-HWRwg7H5Dw7Q4qIxVhR-iw2

https://freemasonry.network/famous-freemasons/famous-freemasons-alphabetical-list/william-hogarth-a-freemason/

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2003/jan/11/art

https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/peasant-wedding/hgGvote2WI8P3w

https://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/beggars

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/jun/24/ls-lowry-tate-Britain

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/quinn-no-visible-means-of-escape-iv-t07238

https://artblart.com/tag/justine-khamara/

https://news.sky.com/story/banksy-reveals-he-meant-to-shred-entire-1m-girl-with-balloon-painting-11528598

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=john+cage+silence&safe=strict&hl=en&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjhh4bj-uLeAhVqBcAKHdDvCIcQ_AUIDygC&biw=1440&bih=816#imgrc=7UJpu0GfdhaycM:&spf=1542716494014

http://kehindewiley.com/works/haiti/

http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2018/contemporary-art-evening-auction-n09858/lot.1.html

https://www.phillips.com/detail/MARK-BRADFORD/UK010616/6

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/world-history/mona-lisa-gherardini-book-people-and-the-painting-martin-kemp-and-giuseppe-pallanti-florence-a7916991.html

https://www.thoughtco.com/waiting-for-godot-quotes-741824

https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/dpk8yw/edward-burtynsky-shows-us-impending-e

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/3122144/Kate-Moss-gold-statue-unveiled-at-British-Museum.htmlnviro-apocalypse-in-high-definition

Maurizio Cattelan: “America”

The cameras that record the moment of their own destruction

https://news.artnet.com/market/frieze-artists-london-2015-340163

https://www.artsy.net/artwork/leandro-erlich-laundry

https://mocanomi.org/2006/10/bruce-nauman/

Roman Opałka, Polish painter 1931-2011

https://www.rct.uk/collection/405943/a-self-portrait

https://www.artslant.com/global/artists/show/5638-roman-opalka?tab=PROFILE

http://www.repeatingdecimal.com/roman-opalka/

https://www.tehchinghsieh.com/artworks

https://www.moma.org/calendar/performance/322

https://www.saatchigallery.com/artists/artpages/greta_alfaro_in_ictu_oculi.htm

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You Can Never Be Sure of Everything!

Making Certainty Uncertain and Unpredictability Definitive

 

“Uncertainty about what?

While the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle (HUP) does not mean “there are some things you can never be sure of”, it does imply “you can never be sure of everything.” How can this be? If you can never be sure of everything, doesn’t that mean there are some things you can never be sure of? Surprisingly, no.” 

(Wiseman, 2012)

Fundamental certainties of the past have become the greatest uncertainties of the future. The most significant uncertainties of the past have evolved to become almost certain today and definitive tomorrow.

In reflection to my experiences in Haiti, I am experimenting with removing my certainties from the certainly uncertain world there!  Through these image manipulations, I am questioning what is uncertain?  Can the removal of certainty create anxiety of unpredictability?

My certainties are their uncertainties!  I am certain of having a meal and they are never sure of what will happen; what to expect – moment after moment, day after day, year after year.

The world of certainties is totally denied to some unfortunate people, both physically, emotionally and in the sphere of dreams, aspirations and ambitions.  Their focus of poverty is completely different, placed on survival rather than luxuries and unnecessary commodities.  This is in contrast to the superficial and trivial obsessions of the “Western World”!

I am watching their uncertain world through the “removed” certainty on my afternoon beer.

incertain beer

I am staring with uncertainty at the certainty of my luxury meal.  The table is set up and ready, but the food has been removed.  What is on my plate, in the bowl?  How am I going to satisfy my hunger for security and thirst for predictability?

uncertain meal2
uncertain holiday

Everett argues that we live in a Universe of multiple space-times and each spacetime is governed by Lorenz contraction of time (Barrett, 2011). Therefore time is perhaps the key factor, which forms our perception of certainty and uncertainty.  Both feelings belong to parallel yet distinctly different worlds: prosperity and poverty; the arrogance of confidence and hesitant insecurity.

Heisenberg implies that uncertainty is often a result of a measurement (Wiseman, 2012). The act of measuring an object’s position changes its speed or vice versa. Perhaps the real origin is much deeper.  The uncertainty principle exists, because everything in the Universe behaves as a particle and a wave at the same time.  In quantum mechanics, the exact position and speed of an object have no meaning.

To explore this idea further and visualise this concept, I need to experiment with images by manipulating them into “behaving” simultaneously like a particle and a wave.  Particles exist in a single place at any instance in time and waves are disturbances spread out in space.

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Uncertainties of Tomorrow

Removing certainty from Haitian landscape.  All elements, which can be take for granted have been covered with printing ink.

lets the story begin with “spark”…

Please, click on the link below:

https://spark.adobe.com/page/fQ9VytzHNpWq9/

Denying poverty.

screenshot_20180906-223614

No one is prepared to accept reality. How can we embrace the idea of tomorrow if we reject the dynamics of today?

poverty brainstorm

My key responses:

Deadpan. Watching poverty with patience; knowing I can escape from it at any time.

However, can I equally escape from my own uncertainties of tomorrow?

I am becoming increasingly focused on the following  contradictory interdependence between certainty and uncertainty:

Uncertainty becomes the norm.

Certainty becomes very uncertain and sparse.

Certainty is the contemporary “gold dust”.