Phantasma-Agoria Of/In Crisis Lens-Based Media and Collective Experience of the Political in Performing ‘Image’ and Agora
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Phantasma-agoria of/in crisis Lens-based media and collective experience of the political in performing ‘image’ and agora Maria Paschalidou Submitted in partial fulfilment of the award of Ph.D Imaging & Creative Technologies Awarded by De Montfort University June 2018 2 Abstract In this practice-based research, I am investigating ways in which an art event can transform the public space from a consumerist topos into a place that enacts the political, disturbing the order of the ‘seeable’ and ‘sayable’ and opening new perspectives in the relationship between the artist and the audience. I particularly focus on the case of the art scene of Athens, Greece, where I live and produce my artwork, and the specific politics of aesthetics that it has promoted during the period of the socio-economic crisis. Specifically, during this period, documentary aesthetics and participatory practices that lacked visual experimentations and outcomes were promoted as more capable to address the political than other forms of creative practices that are presumed to support the culture of consumption. To explore the above tensions between visuality and participatory practices, I critically employed the concept of phantasmagoria, which has been traditionally conceived as the symbol of the consumerist culture. In particular, I concentrated on phantasmagoria as a complex synthesis of the concepts ‘image’/phantasma and agora to re-examine the practice of participation in relation to politics and visuality. Combining lens-based media and digital technologies with participation and performance, the four creative projects of this research allow associations between ‘image’ and agora that enable political thinking and praxis. Taking into consideration that the word crisis, in Greek language means, among others, critical thinking, these projects together constitute the Phantasma-agoria in crisis, that is a critical approach of phantasmagoria. At the same time, they also constitute a Phantasma-agoria of crisis, as they refer to 3 the economic crisis in Greece and the ways that it framed new in/visibilities in the agora. In fact, each one of the projects explores visually different aspects of the agora: the articulation of the agora through speech and language, the articulation of the agora through collective action, the spatial politics of the agora in relation to the dichotomy between private (or domestic) and public space. By conceptualizing the practice of participation through the idea of agora, artist and participants are engaged in a dialogue of political awareness. Depending on the case, the artist should be willing to take the risk and pass some of her authority to the participants and vice versa. Taking the risk builds trust and enables resistance against the normalizing practices of the commodification of culture, setting in motion the political agora. 4 Acknowledgements I would like to express my gratitude to all the participants, volunteers and collaborators for their contribution to my research projects and for actually bringing this thesis to life. 5 CONTENTS Introduction …………………………………………………………………….……………13 1. Social/Political Research Context ……………………………………….27 2. Theoretical Research Context ………………………………………………40 3. Art Practice Research Context ……………………………………………..57 4. Research Methods …………………………………………………………………..75 5. Arbitrariness …………………………………….……………………………………..95 5.1 Practices of combining image with text ….…………………………102 5.2 Intertextuality …………………………………………………………………….109 5.3 Creating digital assemblages of images with text …………….116 5.4 Combining photography and digital technologies with audience’s participatory interactivity .…………….……………..122 5.5 Results ......................................................................136 5.6 Evaluation of the results .……………………………………………………141 6. Symposium …………………….……………..……………………………………….151 6.1 Conducting and realizing the participatory performance ….161 6.2 The setting of the performance: Props and Toys ………………163 6.3 The performed video: Combining image with text ….……….173 6.4 Results ......................................................................184 6.5 Evaluation of the results …………………………………………………….186 7. Semiotics of the Phantasma ………………………..…………………….189 7.1 Embodying the photographic image into a participatory performance ..............................................................196 7.2 Transforming the body into a ritualistic event .................202 7.3 Results ......................................................................213 7.4 Evaluation of the results …………………………………………………….217 8. Semiotics of the Protest ...............................................222 8.1 Protest as choreography …………………………………………………….223 8.2 Personal narratives as a script for a video performance ……………………………………………………………………230 8.3 Results .....................................................................232 9. Research Limitations and Considerations for the future ………………………………………………………………………………………………………..235 Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………………..237 6 Publications/Exhibitions ………………………………………………………….249 Bibliography ……………………………………………………………………………….253 Appendices ………………………………………………………………………………….279 I. Appendix 1: Arbitrariness .................................................. 279 II. Appendix 2: Symposium ………………………………………………………….286 III. Appendix 3: Semiotics of the Protest …………………………………..288 IV. Appendix 4: Biography of the Bread ……….……………………………297 V. Appendix 5: The Bankorgs & Shining on Traces of Escape ….304 VI. Appendix 6: Example of creative works and curatorial activities related to the word phantasmagoria …………………………….………………..314 VII. Appendix 7: Examples of creative works using combinations of text and images ………………………………………….317 VIII. Appendix 8: Earlier personal creative projects reported on this research …………………………………………………..321 7 List of figures Fig. 1. Maria Paschalidou (2007) Visibility. [Public collective performance]. Attiki Square, Athens. Fig. 2. Etienne Gaspard Robertson (1797) Phantasmagoria. [Gravure] Fig. 3. Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla (2001) Footprints from Landmark series. [Photography] Fig. 4. Suzanne Lacy (1985-87) The Crystal Quilt. [Performance Installation] Fig. 5. Maria Paschalidou (25/09/2013) We close down. [Photography] Fig. 6. Maria Paschalidou (22/01/2015) Political Speech at Omonoia Square, Athens [Photography] Fig. 7. Maria Paschalidou (2012) Arbitrariness. [Installation view]. CACT, Thessaloniki Fig. 8. Maria Paschalidou (2012) Arbitrariness. [Installation view]. Beton7, Athens Fig. 9. Duane Michals (1977) There things here not seen in the photograph. [Photography] Fig. 10. Barbara Kruger (1987) Untitled (We Don’ts Need Another Hero). [Photo screen print on vinyl] Fig. 11. Lorna Simpson (1991) C-Rations. [Gelatin silver print on paper] Fig. 12. Endre Tót (1971-78) My Rain-Your Rain. [Typewriting on postcard] Fig. 13. Jeffrey Wolin (1997) Written in memory: Portraits of the Holocaust. [Photography] Fig. 14. Jim Goldberg (2005) Fahmd HASSAN. Greece. Athens. 2005 [Photography] Fig. 15. Maria Paschalidou (2012) Arbitrariness: Image 8, Cut in small pieces. [Projection still] Fig. 16. Sherrie Levine (1981) After Walker Evans. [Photography] Fig. 17. Fig. 17. LEFT IMAGE: Johannes Vermeer (1665) Girl with a Pearl Earring [Painting] - RIGHT IMAGE: Yasumasa Morimura (2008) Vermeer Study: Looking Back (Mirror). [Photography] 8 Fig. 18. LEFT IMAGE: Cindy Sherman (1989) Untitled #212 [Photography] RIGHT IMAGE: Giovanni Ambrogio de Predis (1485-1500) Lady with a Pearl Hairnet [Painting] Fig. 19. Maria Paschalidou (2012) Arbitrariness: Image 3, The death of the building. [Projection still] Fig. 20. Louise Bourgeois (1947) Plate 2, He disappeared into complete silence. [Engraving] Fig. 20a. Louise Bourgeois (1947) Parable 2, He disappeared into complete silence. [Text] Fig. 21. Maria Paschalidou (2012) Arbitrariness: Image 1, She who disappeared into shadows. [Projection still] Fig. 22. Louise Bourgeois (1947) He disappeared into complete silence. [Cover page] Fig. 23. Maria Paschalidou (2012) Arbitrariness: Image 6, Stuck on waving. [Projection still] Fig. 24. Louise Bourgeois (1947) Plate 5, He disappeared into complete silence. [Engraving] Fig. 24a. Louise Bourgeois (1947) Parable 5, He disappeared into complete silence. [Text] Fig. 25. Maria Paschalidou (2012) Arbitrariness: Image 4, Story told so fast that nobody understood it. [Projection still] Fig. 26. Louise Bourgeois (1947) Plate 3, He disappeared into complete silence. [Engraving] Fig. 26a. Louise Bourgeois (1947) Parable 3, He disappeared into complete silence. [Text] Fig. 27. Maria Paschalidou (1992) Zea Marina. [Silver print photograph produced by analogue camera] Fig. 28. Maria Paschalidou (2010) Untitled. [Photograph produced by digital camera] Fig. 29. Maria Paschalidou (2012) Arbitrariness: Image 1, She who disappeared into shadows. [Combined photographs produced by digital manipulation] Fig. 30. William H. Mumler (1871) Mary Todd Lincoln with the ghost of her husband, Abraham Lincoln. [Albumen print] Fig. 31. Maria Paschalidou (2012) Arbitrariness: Image 3, The death of the building. [Combined photographs produced by digital manipulation] 9 Fig. 32. Maria Paschalidou (2012) Arbitrariness: Image 2, I really mean that she was beautiful. [Projection still] Fig. 33. Adam Fuss (1995) Untitled, Childs Profile. [Silverprint Photograph] Fig. 34. Len Lye (1947) Ann Lye. [Photogram] Fig. 35. Maria Paschalidou (2012) Arbitrariness: Image 5, A hole in the ground. [Projection still] Fig. 36. Friedrich Wilhelm