HORNSCULPTURE.COM
contact: mark@hornsculpture.com
DOCUMENTATION OF INTEGRATED ART PROJECTS
SEE SAW
SEE SAW
An Integrated Art Performance by Mark Southerland and Jane Gotch
La Esquina for October 2010
In collaboration with Shay Estes, Tuesday Faust, Shawn Hansen, Peregrine Honig, Hadley Johnson, Mike Stover, Matt Tady, Bill Wenzel and Neal Wilson
Artist Statement and Project Description
Mirror neurons give us the ability to learn from others as well as empathize with them. A not so simple evolutionary tale that sets us apart from other species, started with our thumbs which allowed us to make tools, which gave us greater access to more protein, which gave us more energy and more time, for more tools and ideas, etc....This grew logarithmically with each generation, leading eventually to the complex social structures of today. It is perhaps this unique journey as well as our ability to mirror and empathize that gives us our humanity.
Where the mirroring of empathy has largely been marginalized in our culture, it is still alive and well in the arts. We are all taught self reflection in hopes that the audience will see themselves in our work. Like a play within a play we use our tools to tell the stories of our tooling. We strive to have the audience more than just lay witness to our talent, but mirror and empathize with us. SEE SAW will interpret through movement, sound, and installation the complex systems of tooling and detooling that imprint our modern lives.
The project, installation based, involves a large seesaw and a trophy playground. It is from these surroundings that the music and movement evolve. The audience is in-the-round and passively part of the show - seeing through the performance to catch the response of other audience members. We are telling stories, often elaborate and abstract, or pointedly simple and straight forward. This is not a science project; it is an art piece walking the thin line between performance art and theatre.
We are making aesthetic choices, through many mediums, to propel the idea of mirror neurons into performing flesh.
Photo Documentation by Brooke Vandever
An Integrated Art Performance by Mark Southerland and Jane Gotch
La Esquina for October 2010
In collaboration with Shay Estes, Tuesday Faust, Shawn Hansen, Peregrine Honig, Hadley Johnson, Mike Stover, Matt Tady, Bill Wenzel and Neal Wilson
Artist Statement and Project Description
Mirror neurons give us the ability to learn from others as well as empathize with them. A not so simple evolutionary tale that sets us apart from other species, started with our thumbs which allowed us to make tools, which gave us greater access to more protein, which gave us more energy and more time, for more tools and ideas, etc....This grew logarithmically with each generation, leading eventually to the complex social structures of today. It is perhaps this unique journey as well as our ability to mirror and empathize that gives us our humanity.
Where the mirroring of empathy has largely been marginalized in our culture, it is still alive and well in the arts. We are all taught self reflection in hopes that the audience will see themselves in our work. Like a play within a play we use our tools to tell the stories of our tooling. We strive to have the audience more than just lay witness to our talent, but mirror and empathize with us. SEE SAW will interpret through movement, sound, and installation the complex systems of tooling and detooling that imprint our modern lives.
The project, installation based, involves a large seesaw and a trophy playground. It is from these surroundings that the music and movement evolve. The audience is in-the-round and passively part of the show - seeing through the performance to catch the response of other audience members. We are telling stories, often elaborate and abstract, or pointedly simple and straight forward. This is not a science project; it is an art piece walking the thin line between performance art and theatre.
We are making aesthetic choices, through many mediums, to propel the idea of mirror neurons into performing flesh.
Photo Documentation by Brooke Vandever
