DEBRIEFING // Westminster Ref Library

Written or spoken text became part of art practices particularly since the conceptualists. Language is used immediate and direct, as a mechanism, narrative, a mirror, statement and critique. Is text a material? Lawrence Weiner once noted, language is the medium itself; how it presented is of secondary consideration. Yet, a range of text-based works rely on aesthetics. And Roland Barthes remarked ‘It is language which speaks, not the author.’ Or do artists turn text into an object? Well, I am facing new questions before answers.

Are we talking about ‘quotational activity’(1) where the artist is equipped with authority to select and present language? Stefan Brueggemann’s work is here a good example.

I am also drawn to Carey Young’s use of language in her work. Repurposing corporate vocabulary and tools she layers it with humour and real experience to challenge the audience.

Language is part of our reality. Language fascilitates and is an instrument for legitimations (2). We are accustomed to perceive text around us all the time, whether consciously or not. Yet, precisely for that reason, it is tempting and exciting for me as artist to interfere, twist, project language to challenge the audience reader or listener.

Here, I act as my own authority. I borrow terms from Business and Management books. I filter phrases which reflect on my concerns. I de-contextualise them. I edit and re-print the terms on notebook paper. I reread the statements, rules and comments. The reader rereads the terms and generates new if at all related context. The audience reader accepts, dismisses, questions the relevance of what is on display – and hopefully smiles.

I have generated four notebooks on Declaratives, imperatives and ordinary comments.

Chapter [1] of my Artist-in-residence time at Westminster Reference Library finishes with a Performative collective reading (my first ever) Saturday 23 November, 2pm.

And here is list edit #6

We keep making it up.
Always ask for more.
Succeed by being nice.
It is inevitable.
You need a life boat.
Beware of people.
They do not care.
It’s a mind game.
Dilemmas are relevant.
Don’t get caught.
Return the coin.

(1) Nicolas de Oliveira “I’M SAYING NOTHING AND I’M SAYING IT….”, 2007, JRP/RINGIER www.stefanbruggemann.com
(2) Berger/Luckmann (1966) The Social Construction of Reality, Doubleday

I manage to read through one or two Business / Management related books each day. My memory stick is packed with hundreds of pages containing one sentence phrases – in need of editing. Mostly it is intuitive to locate what I’m looking for; screening a page as you would do for diagonal reading. Occasionally I have to adjust my filter as it is easy to be carried away. Since I have work in corporate environment before, I am still more than aware of this language and what it reinforces. However, being here with no business intentions I am rather enjoying the process. In fact, I am mostly amused of how absurd some of the phrases sound; especially when rereading without their context.

However, the locating, reading and writing creates a rhythm: imperatives (advice or instructions) interplay with declaratives (statements) and plain comments (on conditions). Reassuringly, there are many phrases borrowed from the world of common sense.

Not a surprise, many of the phrases are authoratively directing or pointing at mandatory actions, commanding or intending to govern. Habermas differentiated between language that is applied to communicate and that of strategic use, basically focused on making people do things.

Humour is important in my practice and in this work. It comes in – I think naturally – by de-contextualising the terms and selecting the ‘right’ terms. All are short in syntax. Some sound strangely distanced. I feel reminded of games – is it playing with options or relevance, with approval or dismissal? Other terms import words from seemingly unrelated areas. Yet, I am surprised how down-to-earth some of the phrases appear.

List edit #5

It is departmental.
Reinvent the week.
You are not alone.
Blame the culture.
If in doubt, test.
It could occur again.
Engage in recovery.
It’s an adventure.
Start to fail.
People are nervous.
Drive the insiders.

I started working with text last year coming with a background of site-specific interventions, performative sculptures and installations. It is a way of opening my practice beyond the physical object (for example my sculptures) or immediate physical response to a site such as interventions. I strongly feel, it offers another layer to investigate my concerns and for a multi-disciplinary approach to making work.

I am interested in artistic practice that uses text / language as critique.

‘Routine game’ was my first text-based work. Each word is taken from everyday decision-making. Verbs were used in lower case as a non-imperative; suggesting options to choose or act upon – a performative quality. The ordinary manufactured object becomes de-pheripheralised and its primary function twisted for a linguistic purpose. Whereas the ‘Rules book series’ depicts phrases commonly used in workplace conversations. Injected with humour it not only reflects on the linguistic double meaning yet draws attention to a quite stereotypical veneer. Another perfomative text-based installation ‘Reality-Maintenance’ challenges the audience to question their position. Drawing on Berger/Luckmann’s ‘Social construction of reality’ the evident, twisted or made up titles and positions reflect humorously on various identities we take on.

Most recently, I installed site-specific text at the Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge as part of the project art:language:location. Applied to existing panels of an entrance area and linked to a ‘corridor of powers’ the words offered options for behaviour and actions.

Here at Westminster Reference Library I am de-contextualising text from a wider world of work (tbc).

Here is list edit #4

Comfort is on demand.
Talk about others.
Perform symbolic duties.
It is convenient.
Take pleasure.
The value does not change.
They frequently think.
Obviously, it depends.
Avoid fire-fighting.
It sounds typical.
You must not fail.
Do not offer gold.

I am most interested in looking beyond the veneer of how we manoeuvre our institutional life: how we operate, the way we carry routines and decision making, what is linguistically constituted. In this context, I am drawn to investigate related vocabulary, a language we collectively recognise.

Whether company, college or public library, institutions function with underlying mechanism such as authority, hierarchy, control and a system of rules. They are continously legitimised through action and language that form part of our ‘given’ reality. Giddens (1) assessed, structure is constituted by human agency and is at the same time the medium where human actions take place. We perform actions (habits, routines etc) and make use of a language whose vocabulary maintains and reinforces institutions; whether intentionally or not. As Deetz (2) placed it: ‘Language is regarded as constitutive for institutions’.

My current daily routine is working through (many) Business and Management books. Injected with humour, I filter phrases that carry statements, comments or rules that have been used to communicate. By de-contextualising the terms, I intend to present them one-by-one; random samples of vocabulary that form or reflect our actions. In fact, not only in the wider world of work but in the everyday.

Here is edit #3

They are not involved.
Behaviour is behaviour.
Maybe it’s nothing.
The trick, therefore, is to connect.
Call it method.
You, too, can write.
Cash in and run.
Heroes are in great demand.
It’s not a matter of size.
There is no time for safety.
We are the solution.
It’s all very impressive.
Something is always lost.

(1) Giddens (1979) Central Problems in Social Theory, University of California Press, pp. 69-70 (2) Deetz (1973) Words Without Things: Towards a Social Phenomenology of Language”, QJS, 59 (Feb) pp. 40-51

Having just started my two chapter residency made me instantly appreciate being in one place and reassured of focused working. More precisely, for the next couple of weeks I am concentrating on working through Business and Management related books to locate and separate linguistic terms. All of which form part of a language we collectively recognise from a wider world of work.

I am intending to select statements, rules or comments through a process of de-contextualising. Separated on pages, the terms will be presented in the format of note//books for a performative rereading, one by one. Their relevance will be questioned, accepted, turned down, smiled at, wondered about. Plus, the reader will generate a new if at all related context. As with most of my work, it comes with a layer of humour.

This is a new project I recently self-initiated for this Artist-in-residence opportunity at Westminster Reference Library, organised by Rosella Black. I am excited to challenge my practice and the way I am making (and performing) work. I also want to allocate time during the residency to contextualise my work, looking at text-based practices and linking thoughts on institutional mechanism, collective recognition and functional language we apply.

I will regularly add a selected list of terms – here is edit #2

There is plenty of good news.
Occasionally, try smiling.
This is serious effort.
It means different things.
It often means messing up.
You have to defy gravity.
Most of us can run.
Sometimes it is called vision.
Start at the start.
It pays to be good.
Repetition normally happens.
All of these people exist.
Some become dictators.
Finally, use multiple methods.
There is, rightly, some tension.
Do not try to argue.
Normally, this is not possible.