Language and Noise

A review of Bethany Collins' lecture at University Galleries on October 26, 2016.

                I found Bethany Collins’ “What Good is Science Fiction to Black People?” to be one of the most intriguing pieces in University Galleries’ current exhibition, so I was thrilled to find that she would be giving a lecture about her work. This talk proved very enlightening as I was able to learn more about her focus on deconstructing language in order to find its meaning in relation to race and the human experience. I now feel I understand the pieces at the show much better, as well as getting the opportunity to view a lot more of her work.

                Collins began her presentation talking about her White Noise series, and how she was “literally deconstructing that language [the sentence in the piece] in an attempt to deconstruct the meaning behind it.” These pieces consisted of the words of a sentence, usually some sort of problematic or strange statement pertaining to her race, such as “Do people ever think you’re white?” She repeats this statement over and over in white letters on black paper, but scatters them into constellation-like patterns so the sentence is no longer legible. Through this repetitive process, she is able to think through this statement more in order to find out all the meaning behind it, and the reasons someone would say this. She is also able to make, in her words, “something that started off as problematic….maybe more beautiful.” This was something I found very compelling about her work; it has all these intellectual ideas behind it which could be thought about and argued over for days, but it can also be appreciated as a beautiful and unique use of language.

"Dont You Think That's A Little Elitist?" (2010) from the White Noise series

Quiddity (2014), one of the contranyms

                Other, later work delves deeper into the significance of language as it relates to us. Collins says that “we assume language is neutral” but “if language is able to shift, it must shift according to some kind of index of us.” The idea that language reflects the culture which created it seems obvious on the one hand, but on the other, it is not something we usually acknowledge. She is right that most people see language as simply a carrier for whatever meaning they choose to give it. She attempts to illustrate that connection to us by using dictionary definitions of contranyms, words which have two definitions which apparently contradict each other. This calls attention to some of the absurdity of language, making us think about how it is a man-made creation which is capable of flaws and bias. She erases everything but the definitions she wants to appear with her own spit in some cases, reinforcing that connection to the body and human nature.

Grey (2014), the beginning of Collins' work with dictionary definitions

Bound (2015), eraser shavings from one of the contranyms

                I feel privileged to have received a glimpse into Bethany Collins’ working process. Her work is very thought-provoking on its own, but now that I also have this background knowledge, I feel like I have a lot more avenues to consider when attempting to analyze it. She explained what she was trying to accomplish very well without going into too much detail about what exactly every piece means, so that her work still retains the mystery and need for thought which drew me to it originally.

Colorblind Dictionary (2013-2014), a dictionary with everything relating to color erased out

Southern Review,1987 (2014) magazine pages with the text blocked out with charcoal

Appreciating the Ordinary

A review of /kōō/, by Brandon Siscoe and Mike Stephen, and Prayer for Springfield, by Industry of the Ordinary, at Demo Project in Springfield.

“Pulverized wisdom teeth cast into penny. Zinc coated lemon and quilt.” These are a few of the strange relics on display at Demo Project’s exhibition of /kōō/ by Michael E Stephen and Brandon Siscoe. While outside of the gallery, Industry of the Ordinary conducts a barbecue promoting the message: We Want to be Ordinary.

vestige: pulverized wisdom teeth cast into penny

never sweet: zinc coated lemon and quilt

                /Kōō/ consists of an array of sculptural objects, placed around the white walls of the house that is the Demo Project. At first glance, these objects do not seem especially remarkable – ordinary, even. One may see only a broom in the corner, or a tv tray with a remote and a glass of milk placed on it. The really exceptional aspect of these pieces is in the materials, which could be found listed on a separate sheet of paper at the gallery. On this sheet, the remote is revealed to have been sculpted out of incinerated VHS cassettes and diamond dust. The broom is accented with a real crow’s foot and placed next to a mottled black and white piece of paper, which turns out to be an enlarged photomicrograph of a moon rock from Apollo 11. Upon closer inspection, these seemingly ordinary objects turn out to have very interesting stories behind their creation. In some cases, they also contain very valuable materials, as in the case of the remote, or special edition – a magazine plated in 24k gold.

Back wall of the exhibition

Left wall of the exhibition

muted: incinerated vhs cassettes and diamond
 dust cast into zenith tv remote with tv tray
and cold glass of milk

broom and crow foot: broom, crow foot,
 and enlarged photomicrograph of an
apollo 11 moon rock

Enlargement of the moon rock photomicrograph

special edition: issue #1 of fangoria magazine (1979) plated in 24k gold

                Outside, Industry of the Ordinary’s barbecue contains a series of propaganda-like messages promoting the value of being ordinary. A flag hanging on the side of the house proclaims “I WANT TO BE ORDINARY.” The buns are each branded with the word “ORDINARY,” and the cups read “I AM ORDINARY” on one side, and “YOU ARE NOT” on the other. Apparently some people were unhappy with this because taken along with its title, Prayer for Springfield, it seems to be encouraging Springfield to be ordinary. Being ordinary is viewed very negatively in a society which, according to Demo Project’s web site, “values celebrity above substance and material wealth above simpler pleasures.” The idea of the piece seems to have been to promote a more positive connotation of the word ordinary. With this in mind, the two shows actually complement each other extremely well.

Ordinary buns

Ordinary banner

                 None of the objects in /Kōō/ seem very special at first glance. There is a ladder, a book, a quilt, a paper airplane. These are objects we see every day, and it may be unclear at first why they are in this gallery. What is the “art” here? It was only once I picked up the paper and found out how these objects were created that I appreciated how interesting they actually were. The exhibition provided me with a new idea of the ordinary which I could use to understand Prayer for Springfield. In this conception of the ordinary, there is no need for fame and riches because everyday people are appreciated just as much as celebrities are now. We have learned to recognize the value in seemingly average people and things, instead of striving desperately to be viewed as special.

ascension: photo of hale-bopp comet folded into paper airplane

earplugs: carved from a fossilized inner ear bone of a whale