DO IT INTrO FOR ART INSTRUCTION
NOTES
At the beginning of the lesson we were asked to watch a video entitled "DO IT (short)" which contained information on on what exactly "DO IT" is, how is began, and why... On the left are the notes that I took whilst watching the video. In summery "DO IT" is an art exhibition that had its first exhibit in Austria, 1994, and is still active to this day. In the exhibit people are given a piece of paper with a short to the point instruction along with a diagram of the task to help. An example of one of these instructions might be to stand inside a bucket, and put a bucket on your head, then one of the "DO IT" team (whoever made the instruction) would observe and document the action either with a camera or a sketch, and these images and sketches are later published in a photo book. The main artists involved with the "DO IT" exhibitions were Allison Knowles, Bertrand Lavier, Christian Boltanski, Felix Gonzales Torres, Hans-Peter Feldmann, Ilya Kabakov, Mike Kelley and Rirkrit Tiravanija. |
ERWIN WURM This book is one of many one minute sculpture photo books which are full of many instructions accompanied by all of their individual diagrams to help and of course the photo documentation taken by the specific artist. As you can see from the front of the book an instruction can simply be as simple as laying down with a bowl covering your face and having someone photograph you doing so. |
We were then asked to then create our own one-minute sculptures inspired by the original "DO IT" team with a partner. So what we had to was make up our own instruction along with a small diagram to help illustrate the task. The one that me and my partner made was to stand on one leg and hold an exercise ball ball above their head with one hand. Our instruction was given to another random pair, and me and my partner were given another random pairs instruction to carry out and document.
These are the images that me and my partner took as documentation of the instruction and action. The instructions on the piece of paper was to rip it up, and stick al of the little pieces of paper over our bodies.
These are the images that me and my partner took as documentation of the instruction and action. The instructions on the piece of paper was to rip it up, and stick al of the little pieces of paper over our bodies.
After everyone had documented their actions all of the images selected out of the ones taken were all then printed out, and displayed out on a wall next to each other alongside the piece of paper with its instruction. I really like the way that all of the one minute sculptures turned out, and I thought that they looked even better once all placed along side each other and their instructions. |
art instruction homework
For this task everyone in the class received a "DO IT" inspired instruction from another anonymous classmate. The instructions we were each given were given out at complete random and everyone in the lesson didn't know who their instruction came from or who had theirs. The instruction that I received was to "stand in a corner, and take photos of 14 different things that you can see from that corner". The main worry that I had about this instruction was the fact that it does not specify weather or not the photos that you take need to be taken from that corner or weather you are allowed to move from that corner once the object or 'photograph' has been spotted, however since the instruction does not say directly that the photos must be taken from that corner I decided that the question was supposed to be subjective and decided that I was allowed to leave that corner. |
The location that I ended up choosing for my instruction photographs ended up being my kitchen. I chose this location because of all the different and interesting objects and photo opportunities that I knew would be interesting to capture. Because of the location that I chose the images main theme ended up feeling extremely clean VS dirty, with some images being a glossy, sterile, metal knife or bowl feeling really clean giving that large contrast in subject matter when it comes to some of the other images which include dirty dishes, leftover food or insects. All images taken close up feel extremely restricted and make the photos feel frustrating and even sickly, playing on this I decided to bring out the orange/ yellow tinge which falls over most of the images and make it more prominent to try and enhance the sickly frustrating feel.
I liked my instruction, it was not anything too difficult and did not push me too far outside of my comfort zone. One of my ideas previous to the kitchen one was to stand in the corner of a football cage and simply photograph all of the different people doing sports, however I soon realised how photos like that, especially on a dull day, would lack having any interest in them, and without a great lens I would have no way of really getting close enough to get good photos of the sports.
I liked my instruction, it was not anything too difficult and did not push me too far outside of my comfort zone. One of my ideas previous to the kitchen one was to stand in the corner of a football cage and simply photograph all of the different people doing sports, however I soon realised how photos like that, especially on a dull day, would lack having any interest in them, and without a great lens I would have no way of really getting close enough to get good photos of the sports.
These are the final images that I selected from my original bunch of 30, I chose these because too me they were the most accurate to what I was trying to achieve. I did edit them slightly by enhancing the yellow/ orange tint that falls over most of the photos because I wanted them too seem more frustrating and sickly than they already did.