FUNCALL: Subverting Entertainment with Performance Art
with :mentalKLINIK
ALICE TRIED TO FANCY TO HERSELF WHAT SUCH AN EXTRAORDINARY WAYS OF LIVING WOULD BE LIKE, BUT IT PUZZLED HER TOO MUCH.
Lewis Carroll, "Through the Looking Glass"
This workshop explores the domination of compulsory entertainment in our entertainment-saturated world and the role performance art can play in the formation of a counter-cooperative approach that challenges this development while at the same time critically investigates into the boundaries of art forms.
In this day and age, entertainment has shifted from a leisure activity to an omnipresent force, intricately woven into every facet of our existence, including the realm of art, which has become engulfed by the relentless demand for amusement. This workshop introduces participants to the evolution of this phenomenon and guides them to develop a critical understanding of the role art plays in it.
Participants will explore the landscape of entertainment and its interplay with (performance) art, learning to discern and sculpt creations that stand out for their depth amidst a culture saturated with fleeting distractions. We will delve into strategies for creating visual and performative art that captures attention not just through immediate gratification but through layers of meaning and intellectual engagement, therewith adopting a counter-cooperative approach that challenges the boundaries of art forms.
The workshop aims to challenge the cooperative grip of entertainment, equipping artists with the tools to forge compelling, thought-provoking works that resonate within the 'grey zones.' Claire Bishop describes these as the new forms of performing arts that exist in 'grey zones,' spaces that are neither black box nor white cube.
Join us in FUNCALL to navigate and subvert the norms of entertainment and to contribute to the narrative of contemporary art with your unique, reflective voice.
In this workshop, we invite you to free your creativity from traditional constraints and delve into the expansive realm of contemporary art through performance artworks. Beyond the limitations of conventional performances, we encourage you to view your body, space, time, and materials as integral components in shaping multidimensional expressions and forms, such as performative sculpture, installation-based performance, and virtual performance, among others.
Explore paradoxical expressions like 'Awfully Marvelous,' 'Violently Joyful,' and 'Viciously Vivacious.' Compose a 'Sensory Situation': invent experiences such as 'High-Speed Melancholia,' 'Slow-Motion Joy,' and 'Spontaneous Impulse,' crafting conditions that are overstimulated or overwhelming. Innovate with 'Micro-Expressions' and 'Emotional Clashes.'
As you engage with the workshop ‘FUNCALL’ we encourage you to respond with a contextual frame that enriches your understanding of this unique experience. Here's a brief guide to help you structure your response:
- Conceptual Framework
- Context of Your Performance
- Positioning of Your Spectators
- Time Management
- Environment Context
- Audience Interaction/Non-interaction
- Spatial Utilization
- Soundscapes/ Music/Text
- Visual Elements
- Emotional Resonance
The form of final works will depend on each participant's approach, but possibilities include a written concept, a series of images, videos, an online presentation, or interactive digital media. Participants may also consider developing a performance piece, sound art, a virtual installation, mixed media collages, or even an augmented reality experience. The presentation of these projects should embody the essence of their artwork or performance, offering a cohesive narrative that aligns with the themes explored throughout the FUNCALL workshop.
Looking forward to witnessing the diverse narratives that emerge from your participation.
LOVE,
:mentalKLINIK
The workshop is taught on the following days: July 14, July 20, July 21, July 28, 4-8PM CET
About :mentalKLINIK
 |
:mentalKLINIK is a Brussels-based artist duo from Istanbul, composed of Yasemin Baydar & Birol Demir, who began their collaborative practice in 1998. :mentalKLINIK strides with undisguised dexterity the invisible political strategies and the social dynamics by ultra-contemporary devices of an apparent lightness. Like a discoball, :mentalKLINIK shows are a selection of their multifaceted appraoch on their universe. Resisting to the limitations of a single vocuabulary or style, their world is a playone one full of hedonistic appeal which can be experienced as festive and glamorous but also surprising as one approaches to discover with a closer view an underlying violence suggestive of a bad trip after a party or a creepy beginning of the end. Their works shift between emotional and robotic attitudes. The artist duo reclaim the sparkling and authoritative visual languge of the media and night spheres in a climate of sensory hyperstimulation engendered by ultiple neons, slogans, light beams, mirror balls and confetti while playing with our unanimous attraction to objects glittering and seductive. It is all the work of encryption to which they summon us, between the true and false, the artificial and the superficial, as if everything were a case of falsification. :mentalKLINIK has an open laboratory approach to process, production, roles, conception and presentation. Their works are a mix of oxymora and paradoxes, darkly humorous, self-contained and range from immersive time-based installations to sculptures and objects that thwart categorisation. :mentalKLINIK's experimental appraoch has been praised in numerous international group and solo exhibitions. More information can be found on their website: https://www.mentalklinik.com/ |
| AVAILABILITY | Places still available |
| RUNTIME | July 14, July 20, July 21, July 28, 4-8PM CET |
| LOCATION | online |
| LANGUAGE | English |
| TUITION FEE | 250 € (no equipment required) |
| APPLICATION DEADLINE | July 9, 2024 |