Instruction Based Art
Instructions can be interesting, when done right. If you're given an instruction that is quite vague or has space for creativity, I would say that instruction is an interesting instruction. An Example of an interesting instruction is "Take a series of photographs that use 80% or more negative space" - an instruction that I received. At first I wasn't sure what to do but after getting my camera out, I realised it was a good instruction and I still had a lot of control over what I create.
I believe you do have to make art of some sort to be an artist, but this isn't limited to making physical or digital paintings, writings, photographs, etc, because I think that many things outside of that can be art, such as an idea CAN be a work of art. An idea is what makes an art piece so much better in my opinion, and with an idea you can make endless possible artworks with it, using different media, different techniques, different audiences can be met, all with one idea. And because art can be anything, it does not have to be 'considered skillful' (even though i think most, if not all, art has some sort of skill behind it, whether its considered a skill for art or not.
Artists may ask other people to make works of art for them for multiple reasons. One reason is that it might be socially unsafe for someone to make the art themselves. In places with different laws and beliefs, it may be socially dangerous to go out and make art on 'taboo' topics, such as pro-LGBTQIA+ works, religious works, works based on race, just for a few examples. In scenarios like this, an artist may send their ideas to another person/artist to be made, without risking getting threats, attacked, or even prosecuted. Another reason might be because the person behind the idea is physically unable to create the art due to a disability, for example maybe an artist suffers with chronic pain and cant always go out to make their own art, they would be able to get a second person to create the art for them. And because artist's don't have to physically make the art, that means photographers don't necessarily have to be the ones pressing the shutter.
The 'Do It' Project started in a conversation between artists Christian Boltanski and Bertrand Lavier, taken place in a cafe in Paris in 1993. The 'Do It' project instructs exhibition visitors to complete instructions left by multiple different artists. Artists involved hope that people who visit take the project out into the public with them, using some of the instructions like smile at a stranger or compliment a stranger - and I believe this is because it will help brighten up people's days and make the world that little bit nicer.
Some examples of the do it project is how Ai Weiwei gives instructions on how to disable a CCTV camera with spray paint attached to a long stick, the spray paint then covering the lens rendering the camera useless. I think this Instruction would be fun to do, however there isn't a huge amount of creativity within it, meaning I would most likely only follow it once for the experience.
Another Artist, Yoko Ono instructed people to write down their wishes on tags and hang them up on a 'wishing tree', a nice little idea of having a tree full of hundreds of wishes from people of all ages, races, genders, etc. This instruction is really nice, the idea of people's biggest wants and wishes being hung up - it's a nice thought. To further this instruction, it could be a series of photographs, were the people who wrote a wish are photographed and then placed next to their wish (similarly to Marie Smith's 'Whispering for Help' where letters her sitter's wrote were placed next to their photograph.
My views on Instruction based arts have changed, because upon first hearing it I thought it would be restrictive and not have much room for creativity and interpretation, but I was proven wrong, and instruction based art is more of a foundation to many possible art works.
Some examples of the do it project is how Ai Weiwei gives instructions on how to disable a CCTV camera with spray paint attached to a long stick, the spray paint then covering the lens rendering the camera useless. I think this Instruction would be fun to do, however there isn't a huge amount of creativity within it, meaning I would most likely only follow it once for the experience.
Another Artist, Yoko Ono instructed people to write down their wishes on tags and hang them up on a 'wishing tree', a nice little idea of having a tree full of hundreds of wishes from people of all ages, races, genders, etc. This instruction is really nice, the idea of people's biggest wants and wishes being hung up - it's a nice thought. To further this instruction, it could be a series of photographs, were the people who wrote a wish are photographed and then placed next to their wish (similarly to Marie Smith's 'Whispering for Help' where letters her sitter's wrote were placed next to their photograph.
My views on Instruction based arts have changed, because upon first hearing it I thought it would be restrictive and not have much room for creativity and interpretation, but I was proven wrong, and instruction based art is more of a foundation to many possible art works.
John Baldessari
John Baldessari was an American conceptual artist (An artist that creates their art with the belief that the ideas and concepts behind the work is more important than the finished art piece) who became known for his appropriated images and found work. Before photography, Baldessari mainly focused on painting, which he ended up burning all of them in a project called The Cremation Project, 1970. In this project, he burnt the paintings and baked them into cookies, and then placed into an urn.
He began to incorporate texts and photography into his work in the 1960s. He created thousands of works which showcased the potential in his art and how they all hold a narrative. His art was very interesting, using a mix of different techniques with photography and other art techniques. For one example, he used coloured dots to add to photographs, covering the faces of the three men for example. He also seemed to create collages using his photographs, using different body parts, in black and white AND colour, as well as coloured shapes, to create an entirely new piece. |
My response
After looking at Baldessari, I went out and took photos using
Baldessari's List Of Assignments
Assignment # 13
Assignment #13 --- Repaired or patched art. Recycled. Find something broken and discarded. Perhaps in a thrift store. Mend it.
I then looked at Baldessari's list of ideas (Linked Here) and chose one of them to work on. One of the assignments were to find broken and/or discarded objects and mend it. I started this assignment by photographing discarded trash in the school outside area, photographing them in different ways, such as closeups, further away, and I (tried) to take a photo with throwing one in the air, however that didn't turn out as good as I had hopes.
I then continued this assignment at home, using a larger proportion of the assignment as a whole. I found broken or discarded things in my house or in my area and repurposed them with my own ideas to create my own pieces. I knew we had a broken mirror, due to wind pushing it over, so I repurposed it and added to it for my photography, for example.
Assignment #4
Assignment #4 --- Defenestrate objects. Photo them in mid-air.
Assignment #5
Assignment #5 --- One person copies or makes-up random captions. Another person takes photos. Match photos to captions.
Assignment #10
Assignment #10 --- Photograph backs of things, underneaths of things, extreme foreshortenings, uncharacteristic views. Or trace them.
Instructed Art from home.
Another classmate wrote down an instruction for me to follow, that instruction being "Create A Series of photographs that use 80% Negative space."
I found this instruction interesting, as it made me think about how i could photograph different things using mostly negative space in many different ways to create different effects.
I found this instruction interesting, as it made me think about how i could photograph different things using mostly negative space in many different ways to create different effects.
Erwin Wurm - 1 Minute Sculptures.
Erwin Wurm is a Vienna-based sculptor who began creating sculptures using any materials and objects he could.
He began his 'One Minute Sculptures' series in the late 1990s, using whatever objects, people and backgrounds that were available to him. The improvised images create a fun, not-serious feeling and this reflects the nature of what it must have been like creating the sculptures. |
This Photograph is a self portrait - it is a close up of my own face. I then edited the saturation because I wanted the pencils to seem a lot more vibrant, compared to the more blue tones that are on my face and in the background.
This photo is somewhat abstract - you wouldn't normally see someone with pencils in their mask for starters. It's also abstract because it doesn't portray accurate representations of a human, the editing on the photo has created a sort of mystical and unnatural effect, making blue shadows for example. When taking this photo, I immediately thought of the names 'Trapped by creativity' or 'Behind Bright Bars' (or something similar to that) as the pencils are positioned in an upright way, sort of trapping my face, like prison bars. |
Photography Game
We were set the task of creating a Photography game, with a set of instructions which explains how to play the game.
Research.To start this task off, I thought of games that I liked, and thought of the game 'What Do You Meme?'. In that game you receive an internet meme and have to pair it with a quote on one of your cards. This is also similar to the game 'Cards Against Humanity', where you have to fill in the blanks on cards.
I decided I was going to use this concept to create my game. I started with coming up with the 'question' cards, which gave instructions on what your photograph should be (example: Portrait, Landscape, Close up, etc.) and worded them in ways to be more fun and enjoyable when playing.
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These are the first Eight cards I made, as a first draft so I could test the game and figure out any potential refinements. I also decided that I wanted some of my cards to have a challenge on it, making the game have even more choice.
I then went ahead and created potential 'SUBJECT CARDS', which fill in the gaps of the cards above. Here are some examples:
I then went ahead and created potential 'SUBJECT CARDS', which fill in the gaps of the cards above. Here are some examples:
I knew that I wanted to keep some humour in the game (examples being the 'This card. Cheese!' subject card and the little summary sentences ('overwhelm me' 'back up!') on the Prompt Cards.)
A choice that I decided is that I would like to keep the cards Black , Black cards being the prompt cards, but change the red cards, which are the Subject cards, and change the cards to white - more access to white card. Black and White cards would be effective as they are easily differentiated due to the contrast in tone.
Ways this game works is that you play a black prompt card and other people would play a white Subject card, and take a photo using the prompt they have completed.
A choice that I decided is that I would like to keep the cards Black , Black cards being the prompt cards, but change the red cards, which are the Subject cards, and change the cards to white - more access to white card. Black and White cards would be effective as they are easily differentiated due to the contrast in tone.
Ways this game works is that you play a black prompt card and other people would play a white Subject card, and take a photo using the prompt they have completed.
This game can also be played alone, as a photography prompt 'generator' of sorts. Playing this game alone, you could draw a random black card from the box, and then draw the necessary number of red Subject Cards randomly from the box as well. I decided to provide an example on how this is done, and I drew the 'Huddle Up! Capture (blank) and (blank) in a photo, cramp them up together!' card, and I drew three Subject cards ('A new building', 'A stone/rock', and 'A pineapple'
To respond to this random prompt, you could create an illusion that the pineapple and the stone are quite large and 'squashed' against the building, or you could put them against the wall of a building leaving as little gaps as possible and taking a picture of that. |
For Example, playing as a group you might play these cards (One playing 'Yourself!' , the second being 'An Instrument!' and the third being 'This Card. Cheese!'.
The person who played the 'Yourself!' Subject Card would take an abstract photo that included themselves, for example a portrait or a picture of their hands. Then, the judge (Card Czar) will look at all three photos produced by the other players, and choose their favourite/the most interesting photograph produced. |
To develop this game further, I'm going to recreate the cards, making them the same size, cut 'cleanly' (no uneven cuts/rips), make more cards (the ideas I already had + more), and I might even make a second version of the game - Putting text/quotes with photography.
For the second version of the game, I would take many photographs, all different (could use the first game to come up with some images), and put them on cards. I would then make a second pile of cards with different quotes from songs, articles, etc, which could be matched with my images to make new meanings behind the images.
For the second version of the game, I would take many photographs, all different (could use the first game to come up with some images), and put them on cards. I would then make a second pile of cards with different quotes from songs, articles, etc, which could be matched with my images to make new meanings behind the images.