Process: Artistic fieldwork

As my work is process-based and research-based, with projects often stretched over years, I would situate my art practice as “a kind of artistic fieldwork”, a term coined by Rachel Wetzler in an article in Rhizome (1) about artists Ellie Ga, Sara Jordenö and Simon Fujiwara: “rather than conceiving of their work as a physical entity, with a particular, fixed form, it is instead versatile and open-ended.”

It is the Web itself that is my main material for artistic exploration.

“Dans son oeuvre numérique Web Tapis à langues, inspiré du sladdakavring, une sorte de courtepointe suédoise formée de langues feutrées qui se chevauchent, elle tisse des icônes virtuels. Il peut s’agir de mots ou de lieux géographiques. L’ordinateur devient en quelque sorte une nouvelle matrice comme le métier à tisser à l’origine.(2)”

Jean De Julio-Paquin understood how the computer, or rather the network, is the matrix of my “Tongue Rug” project. The virtual sladdakavring (Swedish for Tongue Rug) is made up of the network of associations and communications between software, social media tools, platforms, languages, etc. Conceptually speaking, it is these very networks that act as the threads that link the multiple tongues in the larger tongue rug.

As it is time-based, I’ve worked on the Tongue Rug project over the last decade. I cycled to a number of geographical and genealogical waypoints throughout Québec and documented various lakes, rivers and streams, which were then archived in YouTube and Google Maps. The tongue rug itself was effectively parcelled off into the Web. Each tongue of the Tongue Rug corresponded to a specific geographical waypoint (body of water), a genealogical name (toponymy), a blog tag, and a Twitter #hashtag, which directed the conversation thread that was displayed in real-time on my website.

I invited the public (in French and in English) to contribute to the sladdakavring by way of a blog, Twitter and Pinterest. The use of social media to gather information was an experiment in crowdsourcing along the lines of “cultural participation” as defined by Jennifer L. Novak-Leonard (3).

The tongue rug then becomes like a latent, virtual entity dependent on the participation of the public (4). I asked people to write a tweet about a body of water, or a longer story through an on-line form. These micro-texts would merge with my own blog postings and tweets to make a larger metanarrative on landscape, place and memory.

 

 

The first experiment took place at the Maison de Culture Marie-Uguay; my “Tongue Rug” project was part of the group show Reflets V. This provided me with the opportunity to meet with the public and talk about my project in person. Gathering with people around the computer created a sort of open workshop: I could navigate with the user online and provide contextual information. At the same time, I could demystify social media tools. I ended up collecting a smattering of stories. With 15 contributions, it could not really be called crowdsourcing. Still it was the start of something as I realized that the face-to-face encounter is a vital part of the project.

 

 

While the potential of participation is inherent to the piece, I need to engage with the public in a physical situation in order to stimulate the best exchanges. I’ve applied to a few festivals to do a few more experiments with the Tongue Rug project. This time I envision the meeting with the public in an installation setting; one that compells people to sit down for a bit and talk.

 

Notes

1. The Art of Fieldwork, Rachel Wetzler, Rhizome, February 2, 2012
2. Jean De Julio-Paquin, text in the catalogue for Reflets V, Maison de la culture Marie-Uguay, april 2011
3. American researcher Jennifer L. Novak-Leonard works for the firm WolfBrown who conducted the study Getting In On The Act: How Arts Groups are Creating Opportunities for Active Participation. « Engagez-vous... dans l'art: Une étude recense différents degrés de la participation culturelle », Le Devoir, November 1, 2011
4. « Œuvre en processus pour public en développement, Stéphanie Lagueux et Julie Lapalme » (2003). Marie-Christiane Mathieu, Espace Sculpture, Montréal, Spring 2003, p. 49-50.