Monday, February 23, 2009

Gene Youngblood: Part 3



There are a number of issues that I need to start addressing if I am going to take my research into Youngblood's work seriously. I come from a background in theatre, and my own work has to date been scorched by the hallmarks of narrativity, drama, and audience manipulation. There are a number of claims which Mr. Youngblood makes that unsettle me. While he does make exceptions - impulsively, I do not want to accept that theatre and narratitivty nor drama and entertainment are indeed entropic and precluded from Art. The suggestion that no new ideas are created in these realms leaves my own work in a much less satisfying light then I prefer. I have no interest in generating further entropy in a media sphere of which I, like Youngblood, am also critical.

The real issue I seem to be grappling with is that I tend to agree with Mr. Youngblood. Yet I want to look forward to creating new works which will share and generate new ideas, feedback into my culture and Noosphere, and escape what Youngblood suggest are the myths of Art and Entertainment. While I am willing to abandon the conventions of theatre which include audience manipulation, drama (as Youngblood understands it), and truly open up my own psychology for the sake of raising the work above entropy; I am not so willing to let go of narativity, live performance, or the audience itself. I know that this is not prerequisite to meet those needs of Art which Mr. Youngblood puts forth, yet there is work yet to do if I am to rise to the challenge of responding to Mr. Youngblood in the creative process which I employ as an artist.

I am currently envisioning a new work, "The Survivor's Way". In this work I have broken my creative process into three sections: process, content, and technology. It is within the process that the content and technology are integrated into a live performance. There are quite a few ramifications Mr. Youngblood's thoughts have on this work as I am now conceiving it.

In my next post here on this subject I will try and elaborate on these haunting questions in relation to my new work. Indeed the chorus of voices grows loud as Mr. Youngbood pushes: Where are the new ideas? Lori Anderson asks me again: Does the world really need another multimedia show? And, the ghosts of my ancestors turn in their graves and ask: Are you just interested in the content of our mannerisms?

In short, for now, I say: good question, it is in the field of performance ethnography that I will begin to find a response in relation to my current process. Yes. And, no.

Monday, February 09, 2009

The Survivor's Way


This is a rendering of the stage and basic technology behind a detailed project proposal I have just completed and which I hope may represent the first steps towards my next work. You can find a copy of the proposal in PDF form, as well as two virtual tour's of the technology designs that I am hoping to implement here: tinyurl.com/oliszewski

For anyone following this blog you'll notice that the technology in this work is directly inspired by my research into the work of Frieder Wiess and Mark Conigilio. The content of the work however is very personal in nature.

I am including as the primary resources for the content of the work a number of audio recordings, journals, and other media resources which come down to me from my grandfather and father. I am trying in this piece to bring the personal aspects of the work onto the surface. While my previous works have worked on the themes of violence and family, I have up until now used fantastical metaphors and analogies to deal with the content. Where the real life characters that inspired the work were transformed into fairy-tail characters and set in magical worlds.

I believe that this has allowed me to keep a distance from the personal emotions that come up when dealing with what can be painful memories and experiences. While I am sure that I will need to be careful in taking care of myself through the process of developing this work, I do believe that I am ready as an artist and mature enough as an individual to directly work with this rich fabric of stories handed down to me.

I am completely open to feedback that this proposal may illicit. I invite you, the reader of these words, to ask me any questions or provide any insight that you may have upon reviewing this proposal.