a mechanism of balance has a physical attribute akin to kindness
the point of equilibrium is shared the heavy makes space for the light the interaction of one material to another can seem unkind is a sustainable system kind? soft and hard become one through their meeting if steel did without brass it would move less smoothly gears mesh kindly gifting movement to each other if gears do not mesh then is this less kind? is kindness able to be a mechanical principle? kindness is a deep acknowledgement through actions of the position and presence of others without self awareness can kindness be? kindness is how this human can engage with and understand the world observed is kindness the action of respect? kindness is a working methodology kindness is an efficiency kindness is an acknowledgement rather than the denial of the perceived actual of a kind sharing my kind the other is as I am of the same kind
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Imagine
a mechanism held together of its own resting in equilibrium moving with dynamic shifting balance each piece an individual all parts inseparable indistinguishable from the whole here Precise
Imprecise Together How they be The efficient The clumsy Within the same unit Ants are one body A single entity Big as one hundred elephants Each ant follows a separate path All is unpredictable After millennia Less so This massive body Each part moving of its own One will perish Thousands will continue Even flourish Bloom Many of these over rough terrain Crawl Walk Stumble A machine Is the elephant Of ants Each part to another Mesh A bowl of porridge Is the elephant Of ants Each ingredient becomes Breakfast Loose identity Losing self But remaining Salt Oats Plum? A machine A meal Myself An elephant More like porridge than a car Unless crashed into the ocean and rusting into a soup The machine is a text
to feel reading a machine not forcing it is fluid what are objects archeology The text is a machine This domestic tool manufactured on mass touched over and over again in a factory of human hands and bodies then in service who? what? where? now resting here this is time travel reaching with my hands feeling the past here now informing a gift this present Freedom
From (figuratively) sitting down From divisive rhetoric From controlling systems From being ruled through division Human We Together Stand* Discuss Govern yourself Mix like muddy water** *Sly & The Family Stone, 1969 **Tao Te Ching, Lao-Tzu, Hackett 1993, Translation Stephen Addiss and Stanley Lombardo In this poem (early 1950s) Bertolt Brecht expresses that the technical and functional happenings in the transformation of the staging are to be given to the view of the audience, if they lean back on their seats.
The choice belongs to the viewer in their dynamic action of viewing. The peace dove by “brother” Pablo Picasso is to be painted onto the curtain (or in the case of the photo below embroidered). This action treats the work of this artist as an open-source visual devise, rather than as the original creation of a genius-art-god. Art here is a collectively shared method, transparent in its performance and shared between people as members of the same uniting family. Togetherness rather than exclusivity. Dance as exploration of mechanism experientially
To move is to feel and to be movement By dancing am I doing a "useful" thing? Why must the way I move be "functional"? Surely to be focused on the "useful" and "functional" is limiting to any notions of (body) mechanics The useful and the useless are together in the same room I make a fire to keep warm then I dance I sing all night long The poetic and fantastic is my preferred method of devising mechanical systems.
A niggling doubt can be a starting point, a place to depart from. Here I become accustomed to the frustration of not knowing. I dodge working rationally and functionally in favour of digging in the dirt. More like archeology than engineering. A continued exploration of puppetry in design and performance feeds into my sculptural practise, providing a method for playful and experiential experimentation with objects and character.
Performance is intrinsically time-based, character is expressed through often subtle changes of movements through to stillness and back to movement. Relationships are suggested through variations in the proximity between protagonists, in puppetry these are physically represented imaginary characters. The physical techniques of puppet performance allow a viewer (and the puppeteer) to be convinced of an object character’s realness to such an extent that we feel an empathy towards them and the situation they are in. Character and narrative have been devices for the preservation and communication of knowledge and wisdom throughout human history. The puppet aspect of my creative practise can be found at www.foldedfeather.com The tools of precision are used for the imprecise the cogs and gears wear with friction causing another quality of moving The machine is released from functionality then it is wild can work can break can wear out can be in any way Cam
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April 2024
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