Title:
The Need for an Action of the Mind and the Body: An exploration of the human relationship to the world through action within the world and art within the public space.
Author: Publication Year/Date: May 2024
Kristina GondovaDocument Version: Fine Art Hons dissertation
License: CC-BY-NC-ND
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/bync-nd/4.0/
DOI: https://doi.org/10.20933/100001303
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TheNeedforanActionoftheMindandtheBody:
By Kristina Gondova
Anexplorationofthehumanrelationship totheworldthroughactionwithin theworldandartwithinthe publicspace. ( I �dissertationsubmittedforAP41001
Inpartforthedegree Art& 1 PhilosophyBA (Hons) To DuncanofJordanstone CollegeofArtandDesign, UniversityofDundee, January2024
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theworld,wecanstartcaringforhumanity.
Andthelandcarriesme.
- KristinaGondova, 'DirtinaBag;2023
INTRODUCTION
Over the last couple decades, maybe even centuries, people and the reality of the world have started drifting apart. Various thinkers point at different possible causes; someblameaseparationbetweennatureandculture,1othersseeaprobleminthe quick riseoftechnology.2 Thisdissertationwillaimitsfocustowardsthetheoriesoftwofemale philosophers of the 20th century, Hannah Arendt and Simone Weil, who believe an affirmation of the world comes through an action within the public realm.3 We will be exploring where a need for such an engagement can originate from-starting with inspecting mundane activities of our lives, such as walking, to analysing contemporary art and its disassociation from the world. Partly, by looking at everyday activitiesmoving and making - we will investigate what happens within our minds when our bodies are occupied. Where an action of the body leads to thought, a key element of buildinganeedforpublicengagementandare-establishmentwithintheworld.
By separating art from the public realm into the white rooms of galleries, contemporary art has lost its attachment to reality. I am interestedin exploring how it can regain its relevance in today's world. Over the past decades, several artists have withdrawn from the artificial spaces of galleries in favour of exploring conversations happening in the public realm. We will bring artists who use their own bodies to form dialogues with spaces, particularly the act ofwalking, into thisconversation onhow art withinthepublicspacecanenrichahumanrelationshipwithreality.Fromenvironmental
1 DonnaJeanne Haraway, StayingwiththeTrouble: Making Kininthe Chthulucene (Durham: Duke UniversityPress, 2016),p.118.
2 Rebecca Solnit,Wanderlust:AHistoryofWalking(London:GrantaBooks,2022),p.256.
3 HannahArendt,The HumanCondition (Chicago: TheUniversityofChicagoPress,1998),p.176.
artistRichardLongtothepoeticandpoliticalworkofFrancisAlys,artistshaveemployed theirlegstocreateworkconfrontingtheideasofspaceandreality.
Through a recollection of my journey of gathering materials and cycling through Europe, I explored the topic within my art practice as well. To discover the effect of installingartwithinthepublicrealm,Iplacedallmyworkthroughoutdifferentspaces–acitysquare,botanicgardens,andmountains.Iwillcallthesethreeprojectsbyacommon namebywhichIcanaddressallofthemtogether– Vessels for (the) Living. Allpartsofthe project are an object of shelter, through which I will argue for a creation of home anywherewithintheworld–anoutcomeofaction.
In ChapterI –TheNeedforaWorld,we willintroducethephilosophyofHannah ArendtandSimoneWeil;theirconceptsofrootednessandworldalienationwillformthe basisofthisdissertation.Wewilldiscusstheimportanceofbeingestablishedwithinthe worldwiththeiraid.
InChapterII–Moving,wewillcontinuediscussingArendt’sconceptoflabourand howitrelatestoanddiffersfrommovement.Examplesofbecomingwiththeworldfrom myjourneyaswellasAbramović’sandUlay’sperformancepiecewillleadustowardsa discussionontheroleofwalkingforaprocessofthinking.
In Chapter III – Making, a movement of our hands will be compared to Arendt’s concept of work. We will explore how one process leads to another – from walking to gatheringtocreatingtothinking.Wewillalsoarguefortheimportanceofmaterialityas aconnectiontotheworld.
InChapterIV–ActionWithintheWorld,wewillconnectalltheconceptsintroduced wewilldiscussArendt’sactionasaconsequenceoflabourandwork. Continued by an argument for art in the public space as a source of action with the exampleofFrancisAlÿsandmyproject Vessels for (the) Living.
CHAPTERI-THENEED FORAWORLD
During the dissertation, we will mainly work with Simone Weil's The Needfor RootsandHannahArendt's TheHumanCondition.Theirworkispolitical;inthesensethat it can be understood as an exploration of what humans do.4 The question of this dissertation, how can action within the world and art within the public space enrich a human relationship with reality, is a profoundly human one. Like Arendt andWeil, Iam interested in investigating the setting we create for ourselves to live in - the world. A connection tothe world providesuswithaconnection tohumanity.
Uprootedness
In The Needfor Roots, Simone Weil argues that we can gain access to the world through the needs of the soul - order, liberty, obedience, responsibility, equality, hierarchism, honour, punishment, freedom of opinion, security, risk, private property, 4Arendt,p. 4.
collective property, and truth.5 She regards these an essential condition of human life, equal to our physiological needs.6 Nevertheless, Weil considers the need for roots the most crucial need of the soul. She fears people in towns and countryside have become uprooted – she describes uprootedness as an isolation from reality.7 Weil gives an exampleofuprootednesswithineducation,whereastudentis"severedfromthereality aroundhim’’8 bybeingtaughtaboutaSunthathasnorelationtotheSunheseesevery day.9 She believes that uprootedness is caused by a split between a thought and its 10 Inthecaseofthisstudent,anideaoftheSunthattheEarthrevolvesaroundis far removed from his image of Sun bringing light to him each day, that it weakens his connectionto the reality ofthe world. Uprootednessisan alienation ofrealitywithina person's mind when our identities encounter difficulties in connecting to the world. SimoneWeilproposesthattobecomerooted,peoplehavetobeallowedthefreedomto actwithintheircommunities.11 Shedescribesthisasarootednesswithinanationhood which,accordingtoher,grantspeoplewithculture–afoodforthehumansoul.12 Athreat ofassimilationofone’scultureiscomparabletoaphysicalattack.13Justlikeatree,people needtoplanttheirrootstosurvive.14
The approach of this dissertation will focus on the opposite of what Weil is proposing;wewillargueforanalmostnationlessexistence,whichisathomeanywhere in the world. However, this seemingly contrasting method is almost identical to Weil's
SimoneWeil,TheNeedforRoots,trans.byArthurWillis(NewYork:Routlege,1952),p.10.
Weil,p.43.
Weil,p.46. Weil,p.46.
MiklosVeto,‘UprootednessandAlienationinSimoneWeil’,Blackfriars,43.507(1962),pp.383-395
Weil,p.43.
Weil,p.157.
Weil,p.157.
Weil.P.157.
rootedness within a nation. She emphasises a need for an honest attention without preconceptionstowardstheworld.15 Aswewillexploreinthenextchapter,thisnationless rootedness can beaccomplishedwithin nature.An identity can merge with alandscape andformaconnectionbetweenathoughtanditsapplication.Moreover,similarlytoWeil's example of engagement within one's community, we will explore a rootedness forming throughanactionwithinthepublicspacethat allowsits actors afreedomofexpression.
Weil's life reflected her work, and it is an excellent example of how connected to reality she was; she believed philosophy to be "an affair of action and practice"16 . For example, she spent a year working in a factory to understand how it truly feels to be a worker. Thelife we lead and the setting oftheworld weproducecancreateroots within ourcommunities.
Worldalienation
15 Weil, p.95
16 Rozelle-Stone,A.Rebeccaand BenjaminP. Davis,'SimoneWeil',TheStanford Encyclopediaof Philosophy (Summer2023Edition),Edward N.Zalta&UriNodelman (eds.), <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2023/entries/simone-weil/>/, [accessed21 December2023].
Figure 4 - Kristina Gondova, 'Day 2 - 47 20830, 9.55662� 2023
life and work: "Perhaps only Weil treatedthesubjectoflabourwithoutprejudiceandsentimentality.’’17 Shemostcertainly .Bywayof vita activa,Arendt split human activities between three core conditions: labour, work, and action.18 to them in relation to other concepts and art practices, hence, allow short introduction as to what she meant by the terms. Through labour, we understand the body's physiological needs, such as eating or Needs without which life would not be possible. By work, she meant the Asettingwithoutwhichthe existenceofculturewouldnotbepossible.Lastly,byaction,weunderstandhappenings aninteractionbetweenhumanbeingsinadialogue,creating An interaction without which an affirmation of the worldwouldnotbepossible.
Throughoutphilosophy, vita activa wasseenasamatterneedingtobeovercometo arrive at the truth. Philosophers favoured vita contemplativa, the contemplative life of ideasbecametheonlytruewayoflife.22 Arendtclaimsthatonewasneitherinferiornor superior to the other,23 instead, she used the contemplative life to aim our attention towardtheactivelife.AccordingtoArendt,thefocusoncontemplationeventuallyledto alossofasharedworld.24 WesawasimilarcorrelationinWeil’stheoryofuprootedness,
17 Rozelle-Stone,A.RebeccaandBenjaminP.Davis.
18 Arendt,p.7.
19 Arendt,p.7.
20 Arendt,p.7.
21 Arendt,p.7.
22 Arendt,p.14.
23 Arendt,p.17.
24 Arendt,p.53.
whereshebelievedadividebetweenaconceptanditsapplicationwascausingalienation fromtheworld.
'J\n incitation only becomes real to the mind when it has brought aboutanaction performed by thebody."25
BothWeilandArendtsawpublicactionasamethodofovercominguprootedness.26
According to Hannah Arendt, a life where only labour and work exist is a life detached from reality. We see what we saw in Weil's uprootedness - isolation from the reality of the world and a loss of culture - in Arendt's theory of world alienation -a product of a lossofaction. Thus, throughaction, we can becomerooted within the worldonce again. In the upcoming chapters, we will explore methods that encourage re-establishment withintheworldthroughactionandthought.
25 Weil,p 201.
26 Weil,p 187.
Land art exists in situ for a fleeting moment; it is temporary by nature,27 relying upon documentation to live on. Eventually, Richard Long started using words alongside imagestodescribehiswalksandearthworks,whichhelaterexhibitedingalleries. Often, not all formsof this documentationwould survive the wheelof time, as showninFigure 2, contrastedbyFigure3,whichconsistsofbothanimageandatext.Actionwiththeloss of thespeech in the form of writing losesitsagency and disclosure.28 In RichardLong's case,theoutcomeoftheworkisdifferentfromtheactionsthatusuallyinvitetheaudience forfurtheraction.These worksfeedtheviewer'simagination,29 inviting themtobeopen toperceive.Throughapersonalexperience,theworlddisclosesitselftothoseopentoits revelation.
27 WilliamMalpas,RichardLong-TheArtofWalking(Kidderminster: Crescent Moon Publishing, 1995), p.46.
2s Arendt,p. 180.
29 Malpas,p.88.
Figure2 - Richard Long, 'In theCoud� 1991 Figure3- Richard Long, 'On thisHillside', 1972journey from Slovakia to Scotland, along with a performance artwork by Marina AbramovicandUlay.
Thelabourofthebody
Nowadays,thedistinctionsbetweenlabour,work,andactionhavebecomeunclear30 -theymergedintoonematterwhoseroleistoproduceahumanworld.Wehaveassigned labour an identity where the unconsumable is being consumed. As a result, labour has
30Maurizio Passerin d'Entreves, 'HannahArendt',TheStanfordEncyclopedia ofPhilosophy (Fall2022 Edition),EdwardN.Zalta&UriNodelman (eds.), <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2022/entries/arendt/>./, [accessed 12 December2023].
Figure 6 - Kristina Gondova, 'Day 4- 47 58525, 7.56199', 2023
Asstatedinthepreviouschapter,accordingtoArendt,labourisa necessary human condition without whichlife on Earth would not exist. It is an act of preserving life - its biologicalprocesses,butalsomundanedailyactivitiesthathavenobeginningoranend32 . They arecyclical, repetitiveprocesses33 thatwedowhenwe think wearedoingnothing, for example, sleeping or washing the dishes. Labour produces nothing and consumes
.. beenelevatedtothe topof vita activa.31 Inan attempttounderstandArendt'sconceptof labour, we ought to discard these modern associations and think in terms of her distinctions.
• everything. However, itupholdsaworld thatalreadyexists. ,.._ V
FromHusserltopostmodernistphilosophy, 'thebody'hasoften beenreferredtoas an object that passively existsin aspace.34 However,just aslabour needs a performance ofrhythms, whereevery componenthasa function, sodoesthe body. Duringcycling, for example, the body creates a harmony of bodily movement - through the push and pull motion of a pedal stroke, we engage most of the muscles in our legs - mainly the quadriceps,hamstrings,andgluteals.35 Thelower body worksalongsidetheupperbody, whichstabilisesus,allowingustocycleinastraightline.Evenwhenwearestandingstill, a body is rarely passive. Its inner rhythm creates a harmony with its outer action -a harmony of the body in motion along withsenses,landscape, and the inner workings of themind.
31 Arendt,p.306.
32 Arendt,p.98.
33 Arendt,p.98.
34 Solnit,p 27.
35 Physiopediacontributors,'CyclingBiomechanics',Physiopedia,23December2021,11:15UTC, <https://www.physio-pedia.com/index.php?title=Cycling_Biomechanics&oldid=289680>[accessedS January2024].
"Walking itself is the intentional act closest to the unwilled rhythmsofthebody,tobreathingandthebeatingoftheheart. It strikes a delicate balance between working and idling, beinganddoing.Itisabodilylaborthatproducesnothingbut thoughts, experiences,arrivals."36
From my understanding, the difference between Arendt's concept of labour and walking,ormovementingeneral,isthatlabourcreatesanabundanceofaworld37 . Labour is a process of a given reality constantly repeating itself in a rhythm. Meanwhile, movementutilisesadifferentsortofrhythm,arepetitionofstepsinwalking isaforward motion.Itcreatesnewexperiencesthroughtheharmonyofmovement,unliketherhythm of labour that produces nothing but life itself. Even though walking and labour share similar attributes, movement becomes more than that; by producing new processes, it formsaconnectiontotheworld.Itcouldbearguedthatthisisthecasebecausemovement occurs in a world. However, so does eating or gardening, only in a less direct manner. I believemovementdoesnotsimplyproducebeingaslabourdoes.Becauseofthedistance travelledonfoot,movementproducesaself,becomingwithalandscape.
36 Solnit,p. 5.
37 Arendt,p.115.
Figure 7- Kristina Gondova, 'Day5 - 47.58525, 7.56199� 2023During the summer of 2023, I decided to connect two places I call home – Slovakia (where I lived for 19 years) and Scotland (where I have lived for the last 3). Before the start of the adventure, I was struggling with a sense of belonging. I kept going back and forth between the two worlds, feeling like a stranger in both. I was expecting this journey from the East to the West to tell me where I belong as a person, split between two places - two nations – two cultures.
The farther I go, the farther I am from the place I used to call home.
(A poem from my journal, towards the end of my travels.)
II found out through cycling and travelling through Europe that I was looking to attach myidentitytoaplace. Meanwhile, Icollecteddirt samples fromwhereIspentnights alongtheway. Celebrating natural materialsasaconnectiontotheworld and me beingin this place where the connection was felt (you can see these bags of dirt throughout the paper).
Moving&thinking
My journey started at point A -Bratislava and finished at point B -Dundee.
However, what I realised mattered to me, was the space in-between - the world I travelled.ThemovementofmybodyinalandscapebecamethehomeIwassearchingfor.
In Wanderlust: A History of Walking, Rebecca Solnit writes: "When this space became scenery,travelbecameanendinitself'.38 Shearguesthatpeoplehave,overtime,moved awayfromseekingasingularplacetoanswertheirquestionsinpilgrimagesorcuretheir boredomandcuriosityinpracticaltravel39 . Overthecourseofthelastfewcenturies,from
38 Solnit,p, 93, 39 Solnit,p, 93,
bodysensesitself’,webecomeutterlydetachedfromtheworldandtherealityitcarries41 . Solnitbelievesthatwithintherhythmicmovementofthebodyandthesoulgeneratedby walkingasimilarrhythmariseswithinthemind–thinking42 .
40 NanShepherd,TheLivingMountain(Edinburgh:CanongateBooks,2014),p.106.
41 Arendt,p.115.
42 Solnit,p.6.
argues that thought lies at the heart of the human condition.43 She warns againstthoughtlessness,whichis,accordingtoher,aproductofworldalienation.44 The danger she sees is in not being able to think from another person’s point of view. This inabilitytothink,sheargues,hadbroughtaboutariseoftotalitarianregimes.45 ''Whoeverisrootedhimselfdoesn'tuprootothers.''46
Weil describes a similar concern in The Need for Roots. By becoming rooted, not only are we fulfilling our personal need for belonging, but we are also creating a communityofrootedness.Therefore,itisessentialthatwebuildspaceforthought,both withinourselvesandtheworld.Asmentionedbefore,onesuchwayofbuildingthought
Ithadbeenbelievedwithinphilosophythatforthoughttoarise,acompletestillness
Incontrast,RebeccaSolnitarguesin Wanderlust thatcontemplationcanbe reached through movement.47 We have explored how walking brings a rhythm to the mindandthebody.Asaresultoftherepetitionofsteps,weceasetonoticeourmovement altogether.Whatisleftforourmindstoanalysearenewconnectionstothelandscapeand heightenedbodilysensescausedbyphysicalexhaustion.Inthisstateofintenseactivity,
:
wecanbecome genuinelystill.While thebody isoccupied, themindisfree towander in a stream ofconsciousnessandengage with theworld.48
Artists who worked with similar concepts, Marina Abramovic and Ulay, famously walkedthelengthoftheGreatWallofChina.This90-daywalkwasaworkofperformance art; itwaswithinthepublicspace,butratherthanputtinganobjectintothepublicrealm, they were the intervention. Theywere the objectsseeking reactionsfrom people. In the film - The Great Wall ofChina: Lovers at the Brink, the moment Abramovic starts her journey,thereisavoiceoverofhercommenting:
48 Solnit, p. 21. "Just thewall andme, I have to rearrange my thoughts. Why amInowwalkingthiswall?"49
49 TheGreatWallofChina: LoversattheBrink, dir.by MurrayGrigor (1989) onlinefilmrecording, YouTube,< https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtX7yZo_Svg> [accessedSJanuary2024].
Thisperformanceprojectwasyearsinthemaking,asitwasconstantlybeingdelayed because of bureaucracy.50 After five years of planning, she still asked why: why do something?Whyembarkonajourney?Usually, peoplewanttheiranswersbeforedeciding to do something; they want to know the goal orplace they want to reach. Instead, she is seekinganswers from theWall,the walk,andher mindin relationtothem.51 Actiondoes not need to be spontaneous to spark a spontaneous response within the mind. Arendt claims that a reaction to an action is unpredictable.52 Therefore, even if there was a detailed plan, oncea work in the publicspace isstarted, itloses control over itslife. It is shapedbyoutsideconnectionsandreactions.
Cycling, walking, thinking, or creating - all of these can be described as processes. Byaprocess,Imeansomethinginastateofflux-constantlychanging.Eventhoughsome soBramwell,David,'ThebittersweetstoryofMarinaAbramovic'sepicwalkontheGreatWallofChina', The Guardian (2020) <https://www.theguardian.com/travelj2020/apr/25/marina-abramovic-ulaywalk-the-great-wall-of-china> [accessed5January2024].
51TheGreatWallofChina:LoversattheBrink. s2Arendt,p.233.
processes remain invisible,53 as thinking, they are nonetheless important. On the contrary, all ofthese create a common world. By the nature ofchange, they create new connectionsandmeaningsinanetworkofthoughts.
�,.,.,,..,.....
AjourneyofcyclingthroughEuropeledto ajourneywithinmymind. For
thefirsttimeinmonths, Iallowedmyselftojustbeandthink,clearmyhead, and pedalon. Theprocess ofmovingmybodyandmindledtoaprocessofgathering materials. Making it harder for me to cycle each day with the added weight of
the most recent dirt. However, I was determined to take my materials on a journeyas well, ajourneytomystudio, whereIwouldprocessthemintoglazes forceramics. Giving mypieces ahistory ofa lifelived anda historyoftheland, celebratingitsqualities.
Throughout this chapter, we have discussed how movement, although similar to Arendt’slabour,providesuswithnewprocesses.Throughalloftheprocessesmentioned inthischapter,weformaconnectiontotheplaceweinhabit.Oursensesandmovements may make us feel less alienated from the world, leading to a perception of rootedness within one’s life and the reality of the world. An action of the mind arises through an action of the body, which can enrich our understanding of the world's affairs. Unlike labour,movementmaybeabletocreateacommonspace.
addmakingtothisgrowingmapofideas
Withoutwork,ahumanworldwouldnotexistasitproducesaworldofobjects.54
Creatinganartificialsettingthathumanscancallhome.55 HannahArendtarguesthatthe difference between her concepts of labour and work is that work is linear; creating a
54 Arendt,p.7.
55 Arendt,p.134.
meanstoanendproduct.56 Whilelabour,aswehavediscussedinChapterII,iscyclical; thereisnoendproductbecauseeverything withinlabourisconsumed.57 Asaresultof thischaracterofwork’s‘worldliness’,58 itproducesitstwomaintraits–permanenceand durability.59
‘’The same nature seen through the eyes of homo faber, the builder of the world, "furnishes only the almost worthless materials as in themselves," whose whole value lies in the workperformeduponthem’’60
Homo faber relates to an exemplar of working being, while laborans isunderstoodasanidealforalabouring being.61 Shearguesthatbyproducing anartificialworldofobjects,weoughttoseparateourselvesfromthenaturalworld.62She compares homo faber to a creator of the world as well as a destroyer.63 She sees a progressionandaneedforthenaturalworldtobeatoolforthecreationofobjects,where theendjustifiesthemeans.64 Sincethefirstpublishedcopyof The Human Condition,65 yearshavepassed,andpeopleandopinionshaveprogressed.Themeansarequestioned increasingly;likewise,wewillexplorewhattheendproductcangainfromunderstanding
56 Arendt,p.143.
57 Arendt,p.143.
58 Arendt,p.7.
59 Arendt,p.8.
60 Arendt,p.135.
61 Arendt,p.136.
62 Arendt,p.135.
63 Arendt,p.139.
64 Arendt,p.153.
‘’Themountainisoneandindivisible,androck,soil,waterand air are nomore integral to it than what grows fromthe soil and breathes the air.All are aspects of one entity, the living mountain.’’67
Just as Shepherd writes, all the elements of a mountain are a part of one whole entity, so are all the ingredients of a glaze or clay a part of one ceramic piece. Through stayingwithapiecefromthebeginning untiltheend,thereisagrowingintimacywith thematerialswegather,touch,andcarefor.Wewalktheworldusingourfeetandtouch itwithourhands.Intimacyisnotafeelingreservedforhumanrelationshipsonly.Itcan occur between a climber and a mountain or a chef and their food, but also between a makerandthetoolsandmaterialsused.Throughthesensesofthebodycomesawareness
67 Shepherd,p.48.
68 Shepherd,p.90.
69 Arendt,p.120.
focuses on a cycle of making within nature; I aimed to celebrate the materiality and permanenceofaworkofartbyfiringmypieces–turningthemintowork.
Finally, on their last journey, I took the pots, each with a sample of material from a different day into the hills, where the heather was burnt. I intervened for a short time with my contrasting vessels, the flow of the landscape.
Arendt’sunderstandingandpossibilitiesofnewoutcomesbypositioningartinthepublic sphere.
‘’Inordertobewhattheworldisalwaysmeanttobe,ahome formenduringtheirlifeonearth,thehumanartificemustbe aplacefitforactionandspeech.’’83
Firstly, let us focus on the second half of Arendt’s argument: ‘’the human artifice mustbeaplacefitforactionandspeech.’’84 Byahumanartifice,weunderstandaworldof objects,whichproducesasettingweliveandengagein.Therefore,work,asthecreatorof artefacts, ought to produce a world suitable for action. Action can only exist in a space
83 Arendt,p.174.
84 Arendt,p.174.
Eveninthisexampleofmyproject,wecanseetheeffectasimpleinterventionwithin the public space can have on people. I was theobserver of the unexpected. Unlike Alys, who anticipates a certain reaction, I did not. I was waiting to provoke an unplanned response.AswediscussedinChapterIIwithAbramovic’swalk,aplanforanactiondoes notaffectthereactionofthepublictowardstheactsinceactionisunpredictable 98
Iwouldarguethatartinthepublicspacehasthesamequalitiesasperformanceart. Inthiscase,Iputanobjectintoasettingitdidnotbelongto.Itexistedinaspacewhere peoplecomeintowithopenminds,notexpectingtoseeaworkofart.Wecometogalleries withpresuppositionsandprejudicethatdictatehowwebehave.Inthepublicspace,we canengagewitharthonestly,withoutpriorexperience;wearefreetoreacthoweverwe
Asdiscussedearlierinthischapter,thegoalofactionistocreateahomeforhumans onthisplanet.However,thecreationofahomenotonlyresultsinacareforthepublic spaceandhumanitybutalso,withtheact,comesanawarenessofreality,resultingina care for the natural world. Creating a world that can be a home for all living beings is necessary.Animalsfindtheirhidingwithintrees,dunes,ortheground,wheretheymake
Theycreateasafetynetinwhichtheanimalsarefreetostart anew.Arendtarguesthatactioniscloselylinkedtonatality;abirthportraysanewlifeof
JustasabirthofideasintriguesArendt,witnessingthebirth ofakittenorabirdbringsjoytopeople,101 writesBachelardin The Poetics of Space. He Bachelard,ThePoeticsofSpace,trans.byMariaJolas(NewYork:Penguinbooks,2014),p.112.
ties, which is an essential part of my work. Without its functionality, species could not interact with the piece directly. As humans drink from a mug, birds feed from a feeder. I believe craft can be both functional and conceptual.
Bycreatinghomesandsheltersanywhereintheworld,Ireaffirmmyselfwithinthe life I lead – I become rooted. Moreover, by having these works of art within the public space,theirlifecontinuesthroughactionshappeningaroundthem,sparkingnewideas andconversations.
Figure 25 – Kristina Gondova, ‘Vessels for (the) Living I’, 2023
Figure 26 – Kristina Gondova, ‘Vessel for (the) Living II’, 2023
Figure 27- Kristina Gondova, ‘Vessel for (the) Living III’, 2023
Conclusion
Thisdissertationwasasearchforananswertohelpusbecomerootedintheworld. We have started this investigation by outlining some problems and causes of a detachmentfromreality,suchasthoughtlessness,aresultofworldalienation.Then,we continuedbylookinginward,exploringwithinourselveswhereaneedforanengagement cancomefrom.
Firstly,wesearchedforwaysofaccessingourmindsthroughmovementwithinthe naturalworld.Thisledustoamergingofthebodywithinthespace –abecomingwith thelandscape–thaterasedadivisionbetweenthebodyandthemind.Thetwobecame harmonious,movingatthesamespeed.Secondly,ontopoftherhythmofthemindand the body, we continued by adding making and the concept of work to the equation. In ChapterIII,webecamerootedbyproducingapermanentworkofartasasettingforthe world, a world of artificial things, people, and nature, which people have viewed as a means toan end. Wearguedthat instead,bycelebratingnature andits materiality, we formaconnectiontothelandscapeweinhabitandtheworkweproduce.Byreconnecting withnature,wecanreconnectwithhumanity.Finally,wejoinedalltheconceptsthrough actionasanengagementwithinthepublicspace.Wearguedthatactionisatthecentre ofcreatingahomeanywherewithintheworld,anoverlyingthemeofthedissertation.
Ihaveexploredthethemeofthecreationofahomewithinmyartpracticeaswell. Imadesheltersforplantsthatgetburntdowninthemountains,anestforbirdsinoneof the only natural habitats within towns, and an intervention of a bird feeder in a city
As explored through my work and that of other contemporary artists, art in the publicspacecantaketheformofanaction.Itcreatesconversationswhereconversations werenothappening.Thus,constructingadialoguere-affirmsourplacewithintheworld.
In The Human Condition, Arendtarguesthatthefailureofmasssocietyliesintheinability ofthepublicrealmtoconnectanddivideitsinhabitants.104 Shecomparestheworldtoa tablethatpeoplegatheraroundbutalsofeelthedistancebetweenthem.105 Artcouldfill this role of a table as an object or a performance that brings people together and welcomesthemtohaveconflictingopinions.
Thisdissertationwasaseriesofprocessesleadingtooneanother.Throughwalking, wefreedourmindstowanderwithusandnoticethesoilbelowourfeet.Adirtthatcan beturnedintoaworkofartbyunderstandingitshistory.Thelandwasconnected with themovementofthehandsincreatingnewobjects–newinterventionstothesetwaysof living. Something art and philosophy have always done is create discussions and new meanings from a merging of processes. This dissertation of processes can add to the networkofthoughtsandinspirefurtherexperimentation.Whetherperforminginapublic space or going for a stroll along a waterfront, new experiences add to a map we carry withinourminds.
TranscriptfrommyprojectForumforBirds:
IsetupmystationinfrontoftheCairdHall,realisingIforgottobringmySDcard, soeverythingwillbedocumentedinthisjournal
WhydidIchoosetostartatsunrisewhenIcanonlyseetheNorth
babyseagull(fatboy)keepsscreamingontheplatform
He’sbiggerthanthebirdfeeder
He’squitecuteactually,everytimehescreams,heliftshisheadeversoslightly
Petespewedsomethingout,probablyachip
Peteisstillkeepingmecompany,scaringawaypigeons
Icanhearabirdchipping.Theyarepresentinthecentreoftown,justhiding.
10:30–Iseemtohavechosenthelocalsmokingspot
10:50–ThefirsttimehearingLastChristmasbyWHAM!astheseagullsquietdown
10:55–Pigeonsincoming
11:10 – As the town started waking up, the screams of seagulls were replaced by high-pitchedvoicesofchildrenlookingforSantaClaus.Thechippingofthebirdsgotlost withinthesoundofLastChristmas
11:25–Petehasreturned,someoneiseatingasandwich
PigeonseatingPete’spuke,ignoringtheseeds
25pigeons
3seagulls
0seedseaten (adrawing)
11:40–Seagullsarecirclingthebirdfeeder scared Petegrabbedaseed droppedit,ranawayandthenreturned
CONCLUSION–seagullsarescaredofthesculpture
12:00–I’mshakingandfreezing
12:05–One-leggedpigeonhasdiscoveredmysculpture(customern.2)
Circlesaroundit,buttheseedsaretoofar
12:20–Dundonianyouthshavejoinedmetosmokeajoint
13:00–Customern.3
Anotherfatseagullbabycame
Nibblingonthefeeder,thenonaseed
I’mnotsureifImindmorethatIcan’tfeelmytoesorthattheguyhasbeen singingChristmassongsforthelast3hours
Sofartheonlypersonthatstopped,lookedandwonderedwhat’shappening wasanapparentlyhomelessmanpassingby
IgotalunchandanSDcardbroughttomebyahumanvisitor,thenanother humanvisitorcameandgavemeachocolate
Somanymusiciansincoming
Appreciatingthesculpture
BIRDSAREFEEDING
Peteisthebossofthefeeder
‘’Doesthisthingbelongtoyou?’’
‘’Yeah,it’smine.’’
‘’Youhavetotakeitandleave.Youdon’thaveapermissionanditisillegalto
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Arendt, Hannah, The Human Condition (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1998)
Bachelard,Gaston, The Poetics of Space, trans.by Maria Jolas (New York: Penguin books,2014)
Bramwell, David, ‘The bittersweet story of Marina Abramović's epic walk on the Great Wall of China’, The Guardian (2020) <https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2020/apr/25/marina-abramovic-ulay-walkthe-great-wall-of-china>[accessed5January2024]
Buick,Adam,‘About’, Adam Buick (2019)<https://www.adambuick.com/about/> [accessed5January2024]
Buick, Adam, ‘Eart to Earth’, Adam Buick (2019) <https://www.adambuick.com/projects/earth-earth/>[accessed5January2024]
d’Entreves, Maurizio Passerin, ‘Hannah Arendt’, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2022 Edition), Edward N. Zalta & Uri Nodelman(eds.), <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2022/entries/arendt/>./, [accessed 12 December2023]
eBird, ‘University of Dundee Botanic Garden’, eBird (2024), < desc>[accessed5January2024]
Haraway, Donna Jeanne, Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene (Durham:DukeUniversity Press,2016)
Korn, Peter. Why We Make Things & Why it Matters (London:Penguin Random House,2013)
Malpas,William, Richard Long – The Art of Walking (Kidderminster:CrescentMoon Publishing,1995)
Physiopedia contributors, 'Cycling Biomechanics', Physiopedia (2021)
<https://www.physiopedia.com/index.php?title=Cycling_Biomechanics&oldid=289680 >[accessed5January2024]
Rozelle-Stone, A. Rebecca and Benjamin P. Davis, ‘Simone Weil’, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2023 Edition), Edward N. Zalta & Uri Nodelman(eds.), <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2023/entries/simoneweil/>/,[accessed21December2023]
Shepherd,Nan, The Living Mountain (Edinburgh:CanongateBooks,2014)
Solnit,Rebecca, Wanderlust: A History of Walking (London:GrantaBooks,2022)
Tomlinson, Katherine, ‘What is Bisque Ware in Ceramics’, Oxford Clay (2023)
<https://www.oxfordclay.co.uk/blog-1/what-is-bisque-ware-in-ceramics> [accessed 5 January2024]
Veto, Miklos, ‘Uprootedness and Alienation in Simone Weil’, Blackfriars, 43.507 (1962),pp.383 395
FILMOGRAPHY:
ArtAsiaPacific,InterviewwithFrancisAlys,onlinevideorecording,YouTube,4Dec 2020,<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uv469amkCCo>[accessed5January2024]
Earth to Earth, dir. by Adam Buick (2011) online film recording, Vimeo, <https://vimeo.com/31076634>[accessed5January2024]
Paradox of Praxis 1 (Sometimes making something leads to nothing),dir.byFrancis Alys (1997) online video recording <https://francisalys.com/sometimes-makingsomething-leads-to-nothing/>[accessed5January2024]
Pohjoisen kulttuuri-instituutti – Institute for Northern Culture, Ingold – Thinking throught Making, online video recording, YouTube, 31 Oct 2013, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ygne72-4zyo>,[accessed12December2023]
The Great Wall of China: Lovers at the Brink, dir.byMurrayGrigor(1989)onlinefilm recording, YouTube, < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtX7yZo_5vg >[accessed 5 January2024]
The Green Line, dir. by Francis Alys (2004) online video recording <https://francisalys.com/the-green-line/>[accessed5January2024]
Vita Activa: The Spirit of Hannah Arendt, dir.byAnaUshpiz(Zeitgeis,2015).
