SPECTER ANIMALIA
A video and installation by Sarah Muehlbauer
Made in Collaboration with Colleen Hooper and Jeremy Cox
Introduced to a world of ideology already in form, the human being makes choices that are self-sustaining. S/he chooses society, and as a citizen s/he learns to perform its roles well. S/he goes to work on time and obeys the law. Perhaps s/he marries and chooses to worship, to have children, and each of these choices is guided by the sense of self s/he chooses for an ideal representation. Every so often s/he may sense a sort of disconnect, but perhaps is not sure why. The feeling subsides, and once again s/he is lost in the myth. But what happens when that feeling grows -- when satisfaction is so far delayed that it may never be reached?
The human being endeavors to create a life beyond limits, beyond death, and for that s/he competes. Our capitalist system, based on Darwinian ethics, justifies human severance from the animal kingdom and commodification of the natural world. This rupture made way for the achievement of industrial development known today as progress, but our self-claimed seating at the top of the hierarchy has led to its naturalization. Disguised as democracy, the hierarchies of capitalism extend far beyond our break from nature to the inequalities of everyday life. However, as we have come to identify ourselves so wholly through consumption -- through product and fashion -- we fail to recognize the filters it creates.
More than any substance, plastic embodies the idea of its own infinite transformability; as its common name indicates it is ubiquity made tangible. On the other hand it is a miraculous substance as well: a miracle represents a sudden unexpected change in nature. Plastic is imbued with this shock. It is the trace of a movement rather than an object.... The hierarchy of substances is hereby abolished; a single substance can stand in for them all. The whole world can be plastified, and life too..." -
-Roland Barthes, from Mythologies, 1957
PARA
with Camera Operation by Jeremy J. Cox
After completing several collaborations at Walnut Lane, I developed a desire to re-orient myself to the environment through performative action. The democratic method of collective authorship had brought obstacles to light, and while the work was enriching for each of us, the results still chronicled the challenge of creating unity among disparate voices. I stepped back from the project, needing to clarify my point of view in order to be a successful artist, collaborator, and project leader.I moved from the Bridge to the creek below, where immersion transformed into submersion.
Thinking critically about the concept of place, I started to distinguish the site for its conflicted meaning, the sort that had replaced the idea of wilderness in the American mind. Though the terrain seems "rugged" or "natural", it is thoroughly public -- groomed by Fairmont Park Commission to ensure safety and clarity of path. For me, the site represents a contradiction between the romanticized connection to natural landscape, and an intellectually derived notion of a land shaped by progress and the human hand. In many ways that disconnect represents the wider ecological placelessness of the human being in our environment.
One of the defining attributes of Wissahickon Creek is the stone that lines its bed. Traditionally stone embodies ancient, earthly wisdom, but in the modern world it exists transformed as concrete. It seemed the perfect material to begin my exploration. I constructed a skirt of plastic, a transparent skin designed to float stones as I collected them from the river, raising them to the surface by means of an inflated tube. I filmed over the course of a day, on a new moon close to equinox, drawing out cycles of darkness and light.
Titled Para, the piece is named for its Greek origin, meaning "beside", "near", "past", "beyond", or "contrary". In chemistry defined as occupying two positions, each element confuses boundaries, suggesting duality, if not opposition. Ambivalence is indicated through the second skin that mediates the relationship between the stone-collectors internal (subjective) and external (objective) world.
Defined by her singularity of purpose, the stone collector's action is carried out for philosophical purposes, challenging the Cartesian divide between intellectual and physical labor. Though her actions obscure the boundary between work and play, it is clear through the confinement of the loop that the character contained by the screen is no longer free to determine action, performing an endless cycle of collection and return -- an act of futility. It is said that the difference between work and play is freedom of purpose. Freedom defined as agency, administered or annihilated from the top down.
THE WALNUT LANE BRIDGE PROJECT
Made in Collaboration with Beau Hancock, Colleen Hooper, Nikki Roberts, Briel Driscoll, and Cory Neale
In the Spring of 2009, I moved into a project sited at Walnut Lane Bridge over Wissahickon Creek, part of Philadelphia's historic Fairmont Park. Having just celebrated its centennial anniversary, it reminded the local populous of its landmark status -- the world's largest poured-concrete structure circa 1908. Built during Philadelphia's City Beautiful Movement, the Bridge spans the impassable gorge separating two Philadelphia communities. It exemplifies the utopian desire of architecture -- making connection possible in spite of environmental obstacle. Its cathedral-like arches sanctify the achievement.
The designers of the Walnut Lane Bridge were hailed for it's vision, its innovative use of technology in construction. Concrete was available locally, and was chosen to keep cost and mass of labor at a minimum. Unfortunate consequences were revealed in moving the 900-ton false work to pour the second arch when one worker was killed and eleven others injured. Since then the site has witnessed other tragedies, from car wrecks to suicides, contributing a solemn, yet realistic tone to ground the designer's idealistic vision. As I pass over it today, I see tribute flowers wound through the railing on the pedestrian walk.
To examine the bridge's contemporary meaning, and to explore its complex history, I invited local performers to build choreography on site. In my role as both director and participant, I drew from my research and their responses. The resulting set of projects form a collage of perspectives on place, under a structure that could theoretically support any number of participants.
To borrow the words of Lucy Lippard, "The idea was to look at what was already in the world and transform it into art by the process of seeing -- naming and pointing out--rather than producing." While the video of our work acts as a sort-of end point and allows us to exhibit our work, the real art was made in the process of discovery and cooperation.
My contribution through garment is founded on the metaphor of clothing as a second skin, a layer analogizing the relationship between the internal and external reality of the wearer. We experience this in our everyday interaction with common textiles. As individuals, our choice of clothing transforms us into the image of self we choose for the world. Likewise, customary uniform reveals categories of occupation, class, and power in society. From business suits, to work boots, to prison jumpsuits -- we realize that garments symbolize roles that are selected or assigned.
OCEANS IGNITED, 2011
SPECTER ANIMALIA, 2010
PARA, 2009
THE WALNUT LANE BRIDGE PROJECT, 2009
MY PLASTIC BODY, 2009
INSTRUMENTATION, 2008-9
SKETCHES / PAST WORK
The conceptual aspect of my work is focused on the de-naturalization of the human being in its environment explored through sculptural aesthetic, movement, and storytellingemphasizing psychological states and dream symbolism. I choose materials for their cultural implications, and operate under the metaphor, prevalent since the 1960s, of clothing as a second-skin, mediating the relationship between wearer and environment. I find that clothing and style indicate broader cultural and socially constructed demands. At the same time, they are linked closely to everyday persona, making them an accessible symbolic form.
Ive had the great fortune to work primarily collaboratively with other artists, performers, and sound designers. Increasingly my position has become that of writer/director, a role which I am happy to assume. At times I still perform. I create sculpture for the body and traditional costume. I shoot and edit video, often an important format for viewing my work, as it becomes a frame for an expansive process.
What you see on this site is records (words, images, and videos) of my writing, directing, and performance art projects, reaching back to 2009 (though this trend of making started long before that). Look around, ask questions if you have them, and (hopefully) enjoy the site!
Images
Video
