what is the project?
an anthology of encounters
The neverendingproject is an anthology of encounters, a collaborative, real-time, large scale, for-life project. The nature of this project involves sourcing images from the lives of collaborators... photographic memorabilia that acts as a memento-mori, indicative of one's (finite) existence... it may be a moment, an object, a person, an experience that has deeply affected you in a way that it is continually in your thoughts, perhaps something that engulfs you, haunts you, enraptures you.........
The process begins with an invitation to collaborate (and anybody who resonates with the project is able to partake... please just email for an invitation form).....
the invitation: A direct transcript of the invitation form
This is an anthology of encounters...... the neverendingproject (2009) and I invite you to work in collaboration with me, if you find that you share a resonance with this body of work.
But, alas, you will not be condemned to a life of working with me! Rather, there are just a couple of things I will ask of you:
1. Entrust to me a photograph. My project is based upon asking people that have shared a tie to this project in some way to send me an image of something poignant, sentimental, significant to them.... it may be a moment, a place, a time, an object, a memory, a portrait, a person, or yourself. Something that signifies a defining moment in life; A poignant moment in your existence that has been captured in the two dimensional realm... a visual memento-mori... a reminder that life is but ephemeral, fleeting.
Perhaps it is of a place or an object that you wish for me to help you document. Perhaps it is an inage of a time or moment that represents a great loss, or life lesson. Maybe it is be a moment that you want to create, and to engage my assistance to then capture and document.... Possibilities are endless and varied. There are no right or wrong answers here... only your unique perspective... this is the joy in the project.
This image is then re-interpreted as an alchemical photographic remnant, a 'live' image laden with materials that 'charge' the image and continue the photographic development process; A continual photographic development. Over time, your image will continue to alter, and embrace a sense of change... decay... seepage... spillage... growth.....
The image will continue, in real time, over the course of its life (and yours), to develop, change and transform. This is reminiscent of the notion of Impermanence, where all matter in existence is ‘within process’; each moment is temporal and part of a larger cycle of eternal transition, flux, growth, decay. We can never hold onto anything, as nothing is ever concrete. We must acknowledge this, and then let go of whatever we may be wishing to preserve, mourning the loss or transition of, or desiring to 'own'....
2. So, I will be returning this to you (and please be rest assured that the original you gave to me will still be intact and unaffected). I’d like you to think carefully about the right place for this re-interpreted image to reside……it may well depend on its meaning for you as to where it may settle. Perhaps you will move it from place to place if you feel compelled to do so, or it will have a specific place to be hung on a more enduring basis. Maybe it becomes something you’d prefer to hide or store away permanently or temporarily? These images will continue to record change in response to the environment and conditions in which they exist.
The alchemical print is yours to keep and continue experiencing as time goes on. The project is an ambitious, real-life, real-time project that will inevitably be loaded with the anomalies and unforseen moments that will occur, as in life. This is all part of the splendour of the project, dispensing comparisons with the notion of Wabi Sabi in Japanese Aesthetics.
The neverendingproject involves a reunion exhibition program for these images in: 1 years times, 2 years, 5 years time, 10 years time, and then 20 years ad infinitum….. You may be familiar with Tony Conrad’s “Yellow Movies,” 1972-73, in which this exhibition of works pays homage. The year 1 reunion will begin from 2009. Hence, I have asked for your contact details which, I assure you, will be safely kept and used only for the purposes of this project into the future. Reuniting the images for exhibition involves the opportunity to not only come together, but also to witness the collective changes in a holistic and hermeneutic sense.
3. Lastly, I ask for a verse or thoughts to accompany the image for this project. Artists, Designers, Scientists, Technicians, Practitioners, Humanists, Spiritualists alike… all are asked to trace the significance of their image that compelled them to enter into this project. The text may end up assuming the role of an essay, poetic prose, a diarised entry of your thoughts and it’ll exist with your image.
If you have chosen to take part, I look forward to initiating this neverending collaboration……….
Just as in life, this project is always a live occurrence, a work in progress, a unique-state happening.......
choosing an image:Would it be of a fleeting moment? Would it be of immense and intense feeling?... someone special to you? A great loss? A great love? A sacred space/place? a thought that exists only in intangible form?
Irrespective of the diversity of this 'visual moment', the collective trait unravels to expose a sense of great attachment to that memory/experience, though our rational conscious knows well that this attachment can never last in concrete form..... This is the philosphical, lived experience of Impermanence.
the exhibition process...
Once you have identified your image and completed all required details, you will eventually receive a reinterpreted image. This takes the form of a much larger, 'live' image that is now within the process of actively changing, or 'decaying'.
2009 harks the start date for this project, whereby the inaugural exhibition starts at John Curtin Gallery, Curtin University of Technology. Participants will continue to come 'on board' with the project on an ongoing basis as the years progress....
These images will be reunited in 1 year, 2 years, 5 years, 10 years, 20 years.... or as long as this process is able to continue... The intrigue of a real-time experiment is that we will never be able to fully anticipate the (un)expected.
Your contact details will ensure a method to make contact with you to 'borrow' the images back for exhibition purposes... a (re)union.
impermanence:
In Buddhist doctrine, human life embodies flux, in all facets of life. All matter, all states, all constructs, all moments (whether tangible or intangible) are undergoing the process of change.
Put simply, there is no escaping the inevitable process of transition; metamorphosis; growth and decay; the lifecycle of birth and death (......or rebirth).
Buddhists hold that the only true end of impermanence is nirvana, the reality that knows no change, decay or death.
Impermanence is closely related to Emptiness, which is a mode of perception, a way of viewing experience. This way of thinking is devoid of the presuppositions, or the thoughts that we usually add to experiences in order to understand them.
Emptiness refers to there being no ‘body”- where everything exists as part of an ever changing cycle. ‘Things’ exist within a process of either growth or decay. This assertion means that reality can be illusory in many ways, and devoid of certain qualities that we are led to believe it has. The notion of permanence is one such example. We conduct our every day lives relying on the notion of permanence for much of it…….. job security/tenure, longevity of age, soundness of the construction of our homes, archiving documents, records, memories, images…… archiving is a major part of culture, both individually and collectively, and we are increasingly becoming more preoccupied and obsessed with this notion. One such example is through photographic media and our ever present need to ‘capture’ the perfect memory, or the need to ‘back up’ electronic information on the hard drive of the computer, through hard copies, cd’s, and external hard drives.
the exhibition process...
Once you have identified your image and completed all required details, you will eventually receive a reinterpreted image. This takes the form of a much larger, 'live' image that is now within the process of actively changing, or 'decaying'.
2009 harks the start date for this project, whereby the inaugural exhibition starts at John Curtin Gallery, Curtin University of Technology. Participants will continue to come 'on board' with the project on an ongoing basis as the years progress....
These images will be reunited in 1 year, 2 years, 5 years, 10 years, 20 years.... or as long as this process is able to continue... The intrigue of a real-time experiment is that we will never be able to fully anticipate the (un)expected.
Your contact details will ensure a method to make contact with you to 'borrow' the images back for exhibition purposes... a (re)union.
impermanence:In Buddhist doctrine, human life embodies flux, in all facets of life. All matter, all states, all constructs, all moments (whether tangible or intangible) are undergoing the process of change.
Put simply, there is no escaping the inevitable process of transition; metamorphosis; growth and decay; the lifecycle of birth and death (......or rebirth).
Buddhists hold that the only true end of impermanence is nirvana, the reality that knows no change, decay or death.
Impermanence is closely related to Emptiness, which is a mode of perception, a way of viewing experience. This way of thinking is devoid of the presuppositions, or the thoughts that we usually add to experiences in order to understand them.
Emptiness undercuts the dualism pervading western culture, which traps every identity within a system of representation, as a thing of substance that can be identified and possessed.
(Prajnaparanuta Sutra, www.sunyaprajna.com, 09/10/04)
Emptiness refers to there being no ‘body”- where everything exists as part of an ever changing cycle. ‘Things’ exist within a process of either growth or decay. This assertion means that reality can be illusory in many ways, and devoid of certain qualities that we are led to believe it has. The notion of permanence is one such example. We conduct our every day lives relying on the notion of permanence for much of it…….. job security/tenure, longevity of age, soundness of the construction of our homes, archiving documents, records, memories, images…… archiving is a major part of culture, both individually and collectively, and we are increasingly becoming more preoccupied and obsessed with this notion. One such example is through photographic media and our ever present need to ‘capture’ the perfect memory, or the need to ‘back up’ electronic information on the hard drive of the computer, through hard copies, cd’s, and external hard drives.
In photographic darkrooms, historically, the print (the piece of paper that materialises the image) has to be developed and then fixed in an attempt to stop any further development and change. Or, we may use archival inks to store images, and then source archival albums to house these archival images. We will then try to remember to keep these archival images in archival albums out of the sun and elements, even removed from human contact and 'sticky hands' or any minute traces of bodily oils for fear of these prints ever spoiling.......
This Western cultural preoccupation with trying to evade the ultimate process of growth and decay; a rally against the inevitable process of alteration can ultimately never be realised. It is an illusory reality as nothing can ever be truly stabilised, held, frozen, remain stagnant, concrete.........
The neverending project is one in which these traditionally unsavoury aspects are honoured.
the hermeneutic circle
Hermeneutics alludes to the ability to understand something from another’s point of view….matter and knowledge are two such examples. An understanding of a text, for example, is established by reference to the individual parts of that text- the words, the sentences, the phrases..... whilst the appreciation of the parts demonstrably depends upon the consideration of the text as a whole.
It is this dual yet intrinsic nature which refers to the notion of the circular.
The exhibition program for theneverendingproject is an opportunity to view the intrinsic parts- all of the images, evidence of each encounter and residues of the project that have been created so far- as an ever changing whole.
project preface
insight into an arts practice
We live in times that are incredibly focused upon immediate consumption; an insatiable desire to observe, consume and move on.
The neverendingproject 2009 is a counter to this culture of consumption.
An exhibited work in a gallery may last for a couple of weeks, or even a day if it is a one night only performance. An immense preparation and inclusion of materials and embodied energy is invloved. Now, don’t get me wrong, I do love the ridiculousness of this notion, and this of course is the very nature of exhibiting artwork. However, I much prefer to attempt to counter this...
This Western cultural preoccupation with trying to evade the ultimate process of growth and decay; a rally against the inevitable process of alteration can ultimately never be realised. It is an illusory reality as nothing can ever be truly stabilised, held, frozen, remain stagnant, concrete.........
The neverending project is one in which these traditionally unsavoury aspects are honoured.
the hermeneutic circle
Hermeneutics alludes to the ability to understand something from another’s point of view….matter and knowledge are two such examples. An understanding of a text, for example, is established by reference to the individual parts of that text- the words, the sentences, the phrases..... whilst the appreciation of the parts demonstrably depends upon the consideration of the text as a whole.
It is this dual yet intrinsic nature which refers to the notion of the circular.
The exhibition program for theneverendingproject is an opportunity to view the intrinsic parts- all of the images, evidence of each encounter and residues of the project that have been created so far- as an ever changing whole.
project prefaceinsight into an arts practice
We live in times that are incredibly focused upon immediate consumption; an insatiable desire to observe, consume and move on.
The neverendingproject 2009 is a counter to this culture of consumption.
An exhibited work in a gallery may last for a couple of weeks, or even a day if it is a one night only performance. An immense preparation and inclusion of materials and embodied energy is invloved. Now, don’t get me wrong, I do love the ridiculousness of this notion, and this of course is the very nature of exhibiting artwork. However, I much prefer to attempt to counter this...
Artwork is seen, consumed, experienced…. It becomes everyday consumption; familiar very readily……. It brings to mind the Shelf Life exhibition at Gallerie Dusseldorf in Perth, 2005[1]. There was such a presence to the works that seemed to offer the possibility of lingering with me a little longer; those works that possessed a performative aspect that would continue to offer new experiences, that refused to be exhausted; Works that were Becoming[2]. I wanted to create work that I would never be able to fully realise and pre-empt, categorize or own. A body of work that would exist in real time and continue to change before me and others, and continually offer new experiences and reactions over time, as well as meaning different things to people, at different stages in life…. yet still be filled with the individual and (im)perfect experiences that make it a 'real' project. A continually tangible, yet intangible, body of work.
These lingering moments, such as during the Shelf Life exhibition, serve as a living reminder to be conscious of slowing my own life down at times (well, lots of times really!). This meditative practice induces me to stop, to ponder, to have moments of quiet and solitude, and to absorb myself in a process that cannot be hurried. One that will reveal itself in its own time, despite any efforts to coerce these processes to be otherwise……
So, here is the evidence of my practice, a project that has almost become an alternate and indulgent world, a sanctity, a cathartic space whereby one can immerse oneself with moments that delight, processes that can never be truly owned.......
These lingering moments, such as during the Shelf Life exhibition, serve as a living reminder to be conscious of slowing my own life down at times (well, lots of times really!). This meditative practice induces me to stop, to ponder, to have moments of quiet and solitude, and to absorb myself in a process that cannot be hurried. One that will reveal itself in its own time, despite any efforts to coerce these processes to be otherwise……
So, here is the evidence of my practice, a project that has almost become an alternate and indulgent world, a sanctity, a cathartic space whereby one can immerse oneself with moments that delight, processes that can never be truly owned.......
Once I have prepared the work, it is then time to let go of the work at that moment.... to hand back to the 'original' owner.. the custodian of the memory..... in the hope that the image will serve as a lingering reminder of the fleeting nature of life, the ebb and flow of existence.... and to be a secret delight to others.....
Rachel Kierath
[1] Shelf life, 2005, through transendence, metamorphosis and contemplation, works such as Simon Gevers' "Wet Shelf" plays upon the ability of a static period of time in which art practice, culture, tangibility may exist.
[2] A term coined by Barbara Bolt: Beyond Representation, 2006
honouring process
The beginnings of this project served as an environment of documenting and testing a process. The impetus behind this ‘environment’ of documentation is the desire to honour process… and present works that are tracking the development and life of the images, producing works that are significantly durational presentations. They exist within a state of performance in order to honour the continual evolution of the work.
The process in reference explores the notions of Emptiness, Impermanence and Wabi Sabi…….
The interface between public and private selves is also at play here, almost as a private challenge to participants for how raw, honest and exposing one is prepared to be in allowing a public space to become privy to a very private moment.... and to then encounter, monitor, (physically and visually) experience self-representations evolving before us, through this collaborative, communal journey.
This environment of work is a live-recording of the events of the ‘lifecycle’ of each artwork, drawing upon the notion of the Hermeneutic Circle as a metaphor for our understanding, emotionally and rationally, of ourselves and our place within the world.
contact
Rachel Kierath
[1] Shelf life, 2005, through transendence, metamorphosis and contemplation, works such as Simon Gevers' "Wet Shelf" plays upon the ability of a static period of time in which art practice, culture, tangibility may exist.
[2] A term coined by Barbara Bolt: Beyond Representation, 2006
honouring processThe beginnings of this project served as an environment of documenting and testing a process. The impetus behind this ‘environment’ of documentation is the desire to honour process… and present works that are tracking the development and life of the images, producing works that are significantly durational presentations. They exist within a state of performance in order to honour the continual evolution of the work.
The process in reference explores the notions of Emptiness, Impermanence and Wabi Sabi…….
The interface between public and private selves is also at play here, almost as a private challenge to participants for how raw, honest and exposing one is prepared to be in allowing a public space to become privy to a very private moment.... and to then encounter, monitor, (physically and visually) experience self-representations evolving before us, through this collaborative, communal journey.
This environment of work is a live-recording of the events of the ‘lifecycle’ of each artwork, drawing upon the notion of the Hermeneutic Circle as a metaphor for our understanding, emotionally and rationally, of ourselves and our place within the world.
contact
