Manifest 11-9 Friday, May 14th

Manifest 11-9 Friday, May 14th

1104 S Wabash 2nd Floor

Exhibit Photos

Widowsweave Exhibit changes daily with many contributors.

Widowsweave: 3 Million Lines Opens Friday

Widowsweave: 3 Million Lines Opens Friday.  Here are some photos of the first lines in preparation for the exhibit:

Widowsweave Exhibit Postcard

Widowsweave Exhibit

Widowsweave Exhibit Opening Performances

April 23rd

5-7pm

1104 S. Wabash, Chicago

2nd Floor Raw Space

Come draw lines to benefit Iraqi Widows through May 14th

Get involved now

Panel Discussion: Women Artists and Muslim Society

April 30th -6:30-8

Open 10-5 through May 14th - Performances most days - Participate anytime

May 14th Manifest closing performances

More to come!

Loyola Park Beach - Day 30 with Mary

Mary and I set out to this beach, where there was actually an expanse of sand, on a moderately breezy cold day in the 20s.  I had the cracked stick that was on the bottom of the pile making a little odd to draw with, as I had to hold it together a bit.  We  did 10,500 between us. I did only rows, while Mary, always the teacher, filled a chart so as not to lose count. She said that this way she could pray for the women and the situation in Iraq.

Both of us spent a good deal of time talking to passers-by.  Mary spoke to a lady who saw us another time on the north end of the beach (either Leone or Greenleaf?) and wanted to ask what we were doing.  I spoke to a Romanian lady with a husky named Katia, who "Hates all Arab men."  I tried to talk about it but she interrupted with a story about higher education growing up in Romania.  She said that in communist Romania, they would invite Arabs to enroll in university saying that "we hate the Americans too." but that she never saw a single female come to school, only the men.

I couldn't argue or debate.  When someone is so vehemently telling a stranger how she feels about men, it's best to just let some things lie if nothing is at stake but argument - one cannot win an argument about how someone else feels.  I tried to insert Jaber's story and his pride in his daughters' education and talent, but I only got as far as "I know a man..."

Interview Without Audio

I guess we all make mistakes sometimes.  I brought a Zoom recorder, and Lav and a Beta57a, but I didn't use any of them for a short debrief after our performance.  And of course our Camera's phantom power switch got switched off in the case.  So I have video, but not audio of the discussion.

I asked if anyone had responses to the performing of the drawing of lines in the sand, and I think everyone felt some connection, to each other, to widows in Iraq, to the bystanders at the beach.  Matt said that at first he was thinking of widows being older women, but that after a while it dawned on him that many of the widows in Iraq are young, probably his age.  I think Sarah concurred.  Jaber said that it was true and that the widows came in all ages and having different economic status, and that it was very difficult, for them and their children. 

We also talked about how at times we were concentrating on the counting of the lines, but how it eventually became more of a meditation.  Jabur said that he was thinking about the faces of women he worked with in Iraq, and the promises he made to help them.  He has hope that together we can make a difference for these women.  He said that he had trouble not tearing up.

We all felt that this was moving, worthwhile and should be expanded.

Widows: Lines in the Sand 11/7/09 Action Day

Today was the first group performance of Widows: Lines in the Sand. Core Project  in conjunction with Bodyrewired and Jaber Alturfee performed and documented on the 31st Beach, covering a large portion of the beach with lines memorializing the repetitive labor of widows in Iraq.  We drew over ten thousand lines collectively while imagining (or in Jabur's case remembering the faces) of widows in desperate need of aid, stability or hope.  Many people stopped to ask us why and what we were doing, and we received a variety of responses from curious to supportive.  I have yet to encounter an angry response.

Thesis Colaboration Idea

Kelly suggested that I have a sort of raise-money-for-charity pledge system as one of my events in the installation, where people pledge a cent per line or so, and collected pledges are brought in and a certain number of lines are drawn (1000 = $10)

10/17: Ahlam Ahmed Mahmoud al Al-Jabouri and Beth Ann Toupin

Ahlam Ahmed Mahmoud al Al-Jabouri and Beth Ann Toupin, co-founders of the Iraqi Mutual Aid Society Chicago, were at Jeremy Deller's It is what it is exhibit talking about Iraq, refugees going first to Syria then to Chicago.  We talked about their work helping settle refugees who know little of our culture, even if they know the language, which about half do by their estimates.  They said that most of our culture they pick up from prime-time TV, so when Ahlam's relatives knew she was in Chicago, they asked if there are a lot of gangs around.

They both explained that when they arrive in Syria, where most of the refugees are because their border remains open to refugees headed to the UN camps, they put their names on the list and about a quarter of them get resettled, with many coming to Chicago, settling in Rodgers Park and Edgewater.  They get one month's rent, a bed (cot) per person, a blanket, a fork, a knife, a plate and a piece of furniture for the living room (can be a plastic chair).  They get a little money, much of which goes to rent deposit and some overhead for the agency that settles them and buys the items.  The Iraqi Mutual Aid Society tries to cook them a meal when they first arrive, and get them donated items they might need like winter coats or sofas etc....

They estimated that 17,000 refugees arrive per year, and about 1400 arrive in Chicago.  There are 2,000,000 refugees in Syria.  As of yet, their group has no funding, just volunteers, and a donated space to store furniture and clothes.   Ahlam said that in Rodgers Park and Edgewater there are about 5 or 6 Iraqi families in a single block.  Beth said that adapting to the culture is challenging.  One of the first things they tell them is not to bribe the police.  If you get stopped for a traffic violation in Iraq, the first thing you do is reach for your wallet, so the police know that you will pay them.  Not such a good idea in Chicago.  But Ahlam said that the police have really helped her twice already.  The first night she was here, she went out to get an item at the store, and couldn't find her way home.  She flagged down a cop who drove her around the neighborhood till she recognized where she was at.

Beth talked about how educated refugees sometimes find it harder to adjust because they might have had a great profession in Iraq, and working sweeping floors for $7 dollars an hour is such a shock to a skilled doctor or architect, for instance.

We also talked about life in Iraq.  In the exhibit their is an actual car, mangled from a car bomb and burnt and rusty.  There are also photos of an historic street market where people come to sell books that they may have read, and to buy books they have not read yet.  There is a before picture, a bombed picture - where one cannot tell that it is even a street - and a new picture of it rebuilt.  Ahlam said that you have no idea when you are told that there was a car bomb, what scale that means.  These things are extremely destructive.  Twice, she told us, she was a block or more away.  First thing is that you cannot hear, and your ears start to bleed.  Then you can't smell or breath from your nose for the smoke.  Then your head hurts like a migraine due to the concussive power of the bomb.

We talked about charities in Iraq and the widows.  Only the small charities and NGO's are left, ones that don't need insurance.  Even Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have pulled out.
The challenge is even more acute in the countryside.  Women there are stuck with their relatives and there is no aid or charity working in those areas.

Meeting with Doug Stapleton

I met with Doug S. at the State of Illinois Gallery about my thesis show.

He also saw that it is an architectural environment. that I am trying to create a passage to a liminal space: that the chalk room is referential to the Kabaa in Mecca: that the intention is transformative in nature - moving from death to life, accounting for the deaths, and tallying the living.

We talked about the cleansing fountain idea as a metaphor - not as an actual fountain. What can I use to symbolize the cleansing?

We talked about the use of an invitation to go home and make 3 million lines to commemorate the widows.  A take away if you will.

We discussed the duality.

He questioned weather it was a type of momento mori

Meeting with Cliff M.

Met with Cliff on Tuesday Oct. 6th.  He referenced a number of architectural sites, both historical and contemporary.  The Temple at Karnak in Egypt, and the Jewish Museum in Berlin by Libeskind in particular.  We talked about the ceremonial aspect, the transformative aspect of the architecture, the structure of the pillars referencing a processional.

We also talked about the Monument Against Fascism by Jochen Gerz, a column that lowers into the ground and disappears as its surface gets the signatures of witnesses to the monument.

I need to pay more attention to the reasons for creating the space.  I know that I want it not to be a blatant referance to a mosque, an Iraqi graveyard or a Western funeral parlor.  It needs to be a metaphoric space which creates a transformation from the gloom and sadness of the entryway of rememberance (of the dead) to the affimative, healing, comfort of the memorial to the Widows who have survived.  That is the point of the two rooms - it's not just the aesthetic, but the spiritual passage from grief to hope that I wish to capture in the final installation and performance.

 

Meeting with Annette B. 9/16

We talked about the Interactive Department, and I explained my piece, showing some images and some of the video on the blogs.  I told her that I was thinking on not having any technology in my exhibit, which she said was very brave.

I then of course by dinner drew an exhibit (now changed again) that incorporated a video screen in the wall.  She said (as did Mel) that she would be interested in working with me even if I didn't pick her for the "committee", which is very generous.

Meeting with Mel P. 9/16

We talked about strategies to continue working, like grant writing and positioning work to get it shown after graduation. I explained some of my new ideas to her about the room and we discussed simplicity and a clear vision.

References:

Eduardo Kac Telepresence kac.org
Genelle Baxor: Generative & Algorithmic art?
Ars Electronica
Indira Freitas Johnson: Evanston artist
Wafaa Bilal: at SAIC www.wafaabilal.com

New Project Description

Widows: Lines in the Sand will be a participatory installation with durational inhabited performance components to include video and/or object-based elements and artist-audience cooperation resulting in the drawing of three million lines to commemorate widows in Iraq.

The exhibit will consist of an entry room, symbolizing loss, with real and mediated “lines in the sand.” Video projection will portray the sand lines on the floor, while a central element, filled with sand will have lines drawn in it by the artist and participating audience members.

A second room with all black surfaces is to be chalked with white lines over the duration of the exhibit. These white lines, representing hope, drawn by viewers and the artist will cover all surfaces of the room including the floor and ceiling.

This fusion of media, installation, performance and interactivity, comprising this memorial to the living victims of three decades of war in Iraq, aspires to heal wounds through awareness, empathy, advocacy and hope.

War Panel at CAA 2009

New Media Caucus' page on works related to the war in Iraq: Mail Away: War Correspondence at Home and Online.
Artists create/ hack video games to comment on the human and political costs of the War. Check out Joseph DeLappe's piece which uses the America's Army recruiting on-line war game to Memorialize American troops lost in Iraq.

Ideas for Thesis Show

A truly successful memorial to living widows should invite interactivity to facilitate healing and community building.  It would have artifacts testifying to the activity of the Lines in the Sand (or Lines on a Chalkboard) project, an element of line drawing activity, documentation and, as a measure of its sincerity and efficacy, a foundation to support widows in some concrete way.


The question is not what can I do for thesis, but what can I do for my thesis show?  The Lines in the sand is undoubtedly a powerful metaphor, as is the chalkboard grid... and the idea of raising awareness, empathy and advocacy (and money) for Iraqi war widows, but what will make the most effective, powerful show.

I've been lying in bed thinking about all the possibilities which present themselves.  I could of course retreat to performing the chalkboard, but I'd rather do that at shows during the year in galleries.  Cliff M. asked, how do I show the Lines in the Sand? I cannot cart in tons of sand (though that might be fun), but the alternatives are equally fun.

It reminds me of an earlier blogpost about a Widows Memorial.  Cities, countries have veterans memorials - but what about Widows Memorials?  What would they look like?  They would have to be meditative spaces, oasis from work and commerce - peaceful.  They should be places of healing, and places to activate healing or closure or outpouring of emotion.  But isn't that what some memorials do already?  So I would say that they should invite interactivity.

A truly successful memorial to living widows should invite interactivity to facilitate healing and community building.  It would have artifacts testifying to the activity of the Lines in the Sand (or Lines on a Chalkboard) project, an element of line drawing activity, documentation and, as a measure of its sincerity and efficacy, a foundation to support widows in some concrete way.

Artifacts could include: a chalkboard, a sandpaper-board or sandpaper-floor, with sticks of chalk or paint to draw with, a sandblasted window over  video-documentation which activates through sensors when drawn on with sticks or pounded bamboo brushes (still sticks). Artifacts can also be a pile of sticks used to draw the three million lines or bronze castings of those sticks.  There can be piles of used chalk and chalkdust.  There could be a bench made from the sticks or the stick-castings.  There can be castings of the lines in the sand done in plaster or metal.

People should be able to draw lines in any of the ways above.  And tally them.

Video or still imagery should document the process. Or drawings.

There should be links to charitable opportunities, suggestions of ways to help, links to pertinent information or the project's website and charitable fund.

Thesis Proposal

The birds are already chirping at 3:38 am and I've been awake for almost an hour. Perhaps Paul Cananese is right: silent prayer is the most powerful. I know that's true, but I wasn't sure about using it in the middle of the night to generate a thesis project.

In thinking about my final performance for the summer media class with David Jude Green in front of an audience of about eight, none of whom had actually seen me perform Widows live before, I believe that they universally felt the connection that I feel when I perform the piece - its inevitability: that is I must complete those lines because the Widows already exist. Even the one audience member who did not know what the work was about was hoping that the lines added up to something, that the grid symbolized something and was not just random. She was searching for the logic to help create meaning.

Conclusion: the live performance delivers the power, the genuine memorialization that is at the core of the project.

I see a performance where I come out and begin drawing lines, tallying, creating this memorial for the unnamed survivors around the world, the Widows. Their story is at once collective and individual, triumphant and bitter. Hopeful or hopeless, with terrible or wonderful stories, these women continue with their lives.

I see a performance where I come out and begin drawing lines, tallying, creating this memorial as I carefully add lines, as the chalk accumulates. I envision ghosted videos of myself adding lines as well, recorded live and fed back through a time delay, till there are three or more (?) ghost artists working on the project with me. If I take a break, they remain.

Conclusion II:
The multiple ghosted videos are a powerful analogy to the many lives lost and the gigantic, surreal proportions of the numerical reality.

Around the world, there are more chalkboards. They are the same size. Women and men, remembering lost ones, commemorate their own widowhood or widows they know by drawing a simple line. This line represents continuing --continuation in the face of what life is now. The lines join these people in a network of lines, a sisterhood or fellowship of hope. They have survived and are here to create this Widow's Weave (thanks Lessa). They are now part of this fabric, woven together with each other.

These lines are added to my lines, both by remote video, and on a website, where the lines accumulate to create a vast complex of lines from persons around the world.


Conclusion III:
True live interactivity demonstrates immediacy and transfers ownership of Widows to the audience. This piece is not about me, it is about those who have suffered and survived. Giving them a chance to participate is more powerful than anything I could say - it is a healing activity.

This would be a wonderful thesis work which would be accessible world wide to all who wished to participate.

If I could be your mother,
I could not start too soon
This is where the healing begins.
from "Generation Unintended" - Kevin Valentine

Responses to the Widows Interactive

One of the first people to see the Widows interactive book asked how I got the lines from the chalkboard to the page. Another tried to press down on the cover, not realizing that it was a book.
One tried waving his hands over the book, curling back pages, etc... to see how it worked. Cliff exclaimed, Oh! A book, a was one of a very few to sit down and turn page by page.

Only a couple of people asked about the content. I wasn't even sure that everyone saw the words in front of them. To some extent I wanted that to happen in that I tried to make them "invisible" in the way that the problem of widows in war torn regions is pretty much a forgotten issue. Winning, stopping violence, getting the economy running again -those are the issues that get the press: what happens to those left behind is overlooked to a great extent.

I haven't yet said some of my observations about content. The book consists of a grid of black lines on sheets of vellum, which diminish in number as one turns the pages, until there is only one division, than none. Symbolically, this can represent the lives lost in the wars which have dominated Iraqi society since 1980. It may also be interpreted as the invisibility of the widows themselves becoming apparent. The whiteness of the last pages is sort of a purity, a distillation of pain, the way a funeral clears the air so that we may start dealing with life again. A cleansing.

Simultaneously the viewer hears chalk being applied as a tally is drawn on a chalkboard to create three million squares. This is the round number of widows as stated by the Iraqi Minister for Women's Affairs. It is a symbolic number as well -no one can accurately count three million widows. It's unfathomable.

As pages are turned, the viewer sees the artist drawing one line on the board, then a grid, filling in the grid with many lines of white chalk. As more pages are turned, videos overlay and blend, till six views of the artist applying chalk, up to ten colored lines at a time, can be viewed and heard in what is now a cacophony. Some of the lines get blurred, some of the chalk is dropped making the count inaccurate. New lines blur and obscure old lines. the board becomes one mass of blurry intersecting lines the way each widow and family have a story that becomes part of the horrifying statistic.

Interactive Show

Yesterday was Manifest and Susan Kwon, Stacy Stormes, Ramah Jihan, Nicolas Sagan and I showed our Interactive pieces. I've gotten a variety of responses over the last few days. Most people loved the work, including praise from faculty. However, few asked about the meaning of the work. I'm not sure if this is because most of the faculty had already seen it at critiques or if they were more interested in the actual functional interactivity. We discussed this in class as well: that many galleries would be more interested in the interactivity being evident than the aesthetic coherency of the work, while others will be interested in the work, with the interactive aspect just being a bonus.