Thursday, March 13, 2008

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

make yourself right at home

Do as you like, and no questions asked. A balloon needs plenty of time. Well, I'm gonna do the revolution. Anybody can come. Lovedream emerges. I like that. Completeley encirceling the delighted. They all stand for the Devine Urge. Well, well, well. Silent for a moment.
BANG! The xylophone again. A new figure looms in the archway, a different world. The Government gives you everything. Dont I ever get kissed? Sex - Wall Street. Its perfectly harmless. Don't, dont, dont. Batteling against music. Oh dear, dear sir. I'm certanly much obliged. Taking a curtain call.

Saturday, March 1, 2008

FRIDAY 28TH FEB

Action:
Preevent:
I wanted to create something that would be an including social gathering expanding the classroom. I wanted to be generous, do something that was not about
Marte, but about us as a group, have a good time and be surprised by the "event" going its own ways. I was very inspired by the moment Brett created last week and in the text how wonderful magic moments in the text (and life) happend when all theese crazy people sit down together.
I assemblied all kinds of relevant object (that I felt could have been in the vanderhoof house, and were functional for the event, -wich became quite a lot) from the propstorage. I made a musicmix (download), brought food inspired from the text ( odd fusion of readymades and cooked from different nationalities) wine, coffe, airmattres etc from home (heeavy stuff.. Atleas one good thing comes from the american army; the duffelbag...)
Event:

I put on "Picknic for teddybears", put up poster
s on the wall, (classmates helpfully asked me if I needed assistence) ran out of the room, came back with big suitcase, started to unpacking it while / delegating tasks/ giving orders (ehem..)
My classmates started helping. When the professor did not help or move on request(silently rejected) from his space so we could put the tables up. I pulled him and his chair two feet back. He left the room. Two tables were put together and set , dishes got washed, candles lighted, airmattress blown up, soup boiled, food put on the table, microwaveoven and coffemaker brouht in. J came back w his pillow and layed down on the matress. Classmates build a tent around him & he got a candle.
When we were all done and ready to sit down by the table. It was stopped and we sat down around J on the floor discussing the event related to the play, and themes in the play in general.
After that; I hung notes around the department, we kep
t the door open, ate food, listening to music, napping. People came dropping by, having some food, taking a nap, chatting or just looking.
Emtional resonce to my emotional responce:
I was surprised how different the event became from what I wanted. I got quite nervous and stressed starting it. I knew that would happend, but I thought that could be
okay cause that would also mirror Alices actions in the play. How she gets stressed out by her own plans and expectations of the Kirbys meeting with her own family failing. But Johns behavior made me even more stressed and rather provoked, cause he was blocking the action, and then taking over the directions, making people sit on the floor instead of around the table witch was the goal of putting it all up. I did not at all want it to be a stressful event where I were bossing people around, being a spacial Hurricane. I tried to create something hectic, efficient and very constructive, like a social machine that would totally inhabit and transform the classroom.
The event got its own will, and maybe it brought out the bossy hag
in me (and obnoxious student with little respect for authorities) .
But it defenetly took at least me to a deeper insight about some of the characters & darker undercurrents in the play. It also made me reflect on the group dynamic. How the family work as a group. How we work as a group. (all classmates playing along cause (hopefully) they trusted me in that what might seemed like a total mess was indeed planned and thouht through and would lead to something constructive in the end. And it did. Magically.
It was very efficient, and after maybe 10 minutes, a
nd the hurricane quiet down, the entire space was totally transformed, it was chaotic, but it was constructive and fantastic! The nest Caite and Pil put up had embraced John where he seemed more comfortable with his pillow, the coffe was gettin ready, soup boiling, and the room dark and cosy around a rather bizarre, unpretencious buffet.

For myself
I´m very surpriced how much the event became a struggle with an authority, and how that made me feel and react. I´m also surpriced how, contradictary to what I planned, an event about us doing something nice together, the event became very much captain Ekhougen pushing the class-ship into and through a hurricane (with anchor).
It learned me more about myself/artistic process, seeing clearly my reactions on the combination of stress, resistance, presentation fear, many elements and responsibility. . (witch is so much the actual factors in work in a real production, maybe thats why I relax so much better working in team than being the single boss) So I´ve got to work with that. It might be something I can use also. Stress certanly makes me very goal oriented, and less process oriented that I seem to be in general (seem) Oh well. mememememe me meme meme, blablabla . So what, this is my føkkings blogg. My little workbook. JEG!
But when all of this is said. I think the space became wonderful, and we created it together. I like to do things together. Its such a nice group of different but brilliant people. The air matress and blankets will certainly stay in school so we can put up the n
ap corner every Friday lunch if we feel like it. (I certanly am gonna. Nes too. Not to mention David..(Sultan Meyer must have had the best time of all, at the most with 6 girls curled around him on the mattress)

Summary of discussion afterwards (with my own later comments in parantese):
what happened to the space?
M: stress, bossy
J: resisted to take orders. How did you feel?
B: Explosion of harmonious chaos
A: Stressed
B: Action creating/ transforming space
J: Space grew organically
Everyone created enviroment. Acting point of view.
M: A Penny/ Alice/ Countess action, mainly something posetive., a scosial space to gather. Inspired by Bretts last weeks respons and with a wish of doing something including (also for the rest of the dep- lunch) Became more of anything Alice because of how stressed I got.
Table, matress etc, created from character action. Caos created through carracter. Space enerated, employed by M. We all created the space. Your individuality put into play.
Relationship (us) Position of people in the space. How are we sitting now? Attitude, posture
How to use this as space/ action?
M: J, why did you not cooperate?
J: Wanted to challenge you. Challenge lead to action
M: Academic rules, authority,
J: What are the assumed rules in the play?
YCTIWY brakes rules. M: But there are also rules within the family. There has to be. (All of theese eccentric people can not coexist so tight and happily in one space without some rules (unspoken) Like no dancing on pennys desk. We se the golden idealized side of tha harmonic chaotic family, but what might seem the most chaotic might just be an expanded complicated structure. What is chaos? They must also have their dark sides & conflicts. Alice is the one where this comes most to the surface. Why is she different? Cause she cares what other think, while the rest of the family dont seem to. Or do they? They put up quite a nice facade when Tony enters. Is that for Alice? Or for Tony to feel comfortable? Or simply to make a good impression. Basic human rules for social coexistence. Caring about how you are percieved miht seem selfsentered, but it has a higher social reason. So all the 3 reasons are probably right, and good. The Vanderhof is absolutely not an antisocial family that doesnt care at all.They take good care of eachother and strangers (like Guy who represents the extreeme (the writers have also painted her in ugly big carichaturic strokes, a terrible souse, a nympomaniac.... She really doesn seem to care (but its sort of justified by her being drunk) She is rude and obnoxious and does not contribute posetively at all to the social setting, still the family take care of her. They let her sleep on the sofa, and Penny helps her when she wakes up. She is not being kicked out. This sequence proofs for me the most the warmness, loce, care and generosity of the Wanderhofs. They have their rules, but since they are so comfortable and relaxed within themself and their family frame (the house) They can be very flexible to other. Like most hostility comes from fear and unsecurity, they dont seem to have any of that. )
J: So how do we represent the rules? Unspoken condisention. Social attitude is crutial.
M: Rules have changed. K´s are the ones who most of all represent the common person of that time. But an audience of today will today find them prippy. The carracters seem exhaggerated and caricaturic.( J: Does that make the play sentimental? A comedy. Comedia del arte? What is comedy? M: How has comedy chaned? What an 1936 audience find extreemly funny, an audience 72 years later find goofey and redicolous. Humor from before the age of ironi. What jokes are we missing out on simply because they are not funny anymore. How to make this funny today.)

But I must say, all the stressparticles flowting around in the space did not totally vanish until grandpa Brett again gathered us around a table holding hands and breathing.