Yellow Spotted Tail
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Authors
Teal, Francis
Issue Date
2020
Type
Thesis
Language
en_US
Keywords
Installation , printmaking , soft sculpture , collage
Alternative Title
Abstract
This exhibition is about open endedness and play. We live in a world that prioritizes seriousness; our working lives are primarily serious and we come home to a serious to-do list of tasks. Our culture is oriented towards constant productivity�"our level of productivity frequently looms in the background of any activity we might do, from cleaning our home, to writing a report, to taking an evening walk. Our society is also oriented towards things being clearly defined. When things fit into easily comprehensible and known concepts, we know how to react to and interact with them. We can do so easily, and often without much engagement, and then move on. This installation is about resisting these concepts. The artwork is silly, odd, and childish because these ideas allow room for various interpretations. We cannot straightforwardly define what these creatures and forms are, or what they are doing in relation to each other. This is a world in which seriousness has a limited place and productivity and objectivity are irrelevant. In a sense, these beings and objects are pointless, because to have a point is to narrow oneself to one single interpretation. "To be playful is not to be trivial or frivolous, or to act as though nothing of consequence will happen. On the contrary, when we are playful with each other we relate as free persons, and the relationship is open to surprise; everything that happens is of consequence. It is, in fact, seriousness that closes itself to consequence, for seriousness is a dread of the unpredictable outcome of open possibility. To be serious is to press for a specified conclusion. To be playful is to allow for possibility whatever the cost to oneself." - James Carse, Finite and Infinite Games, 1986
Description
Citation
Publisher
License
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International