Sighle Bhreathnack-Cashell

The Arena

Sighle Bhreathnach-Cashell

Project Proposal

Piet Zwart Institute, Master of Fine Arts

Core Tutors: Liesbeth Bik, Kate Briggs and Bernd Krauss

November 2014

Man is a social animal: he collaborates with others to pursue his goals and satisfy his needs. It is well known that relations with others can be the source of the deepest satisfactions and of the blackest misery. (Argyle, M,1967)

The word arena derives from the Latin 'harena'. Harena is the fine sand that filled the centre of the first arenas – whose key feature was the elevated tiered seating that completely surrounded the lowest point, the performance area. Harena is particularly good at absorbing blood.

I have, for some time, been concerned with human behaviour and the complexity of how it can be manipulated. For this project, I will specifically look at the effects of 'the group' on 'the individual' and the architectural spaces which are specifically built to house interactions between them. I will create a series of works using furniture, video, sound and lighting in existing domestic and institutional spaces and 'sets' I will build in my studio. I intend for these environments to be experienced alone, but they will suggest the presence of an absent group. Each will directly relate to a chapter in my thesis.

When we are with other people we are acutely aware of how we should behave and often give ourselves up to public roles. In The Presentation of the Self in Everyday Life (1959) sociologist Erving Goffman gives a dramaturgical approach to common social behaviour. Goffman is of the opinion that to some extent we ‘manufacture our own persona’ and draws comparisons to the theatre and real life. He sees interaction as performance, constructed to provide others with impressions that the ‘actor’ wishes to give off, to attain a desired goal. This is shaped by the audience (being played to), the ‘team’ (who co-operates in the performance), and the environment they are in. Of course groups are made of individuals, and each individual will be acting out their own persona, and trying to discern what is true or false about what is being presented to them. This will be a key text in my thesis. Goffman (1959, p16) quotes a Victorian novel by William Sansom about a character named Preedy in order to demonstrate one performer's inner monologue.

But in any case he took care to avoid catching anyone's eye. First of all, he had to make it clear to those potential companions of his holiday that they were of no concern to him whatsoever. He stared through them, round them, over them – eyes lost in space. The beach might have been empty. If by chance a ball was thrown his way, he looked surprised; then let a smile of amusement lighten his face (Kindly Preedy), looked round dazed to see that there were people on the beach, tossed it back with a smile to himself and not a smile at the people, and then resumed carelessly his nonchalant survey of space.But it was time to institute a little parade, the parade of the Ideal Preedy. By devious handlings he gave any who wanted to look a chance to see the title of his book – a Spanish translation of Homer, classic thus, but not daring, cosmopolitan too – and then gathered together his beach-wrap and bag into a neat sand resistant pile (Methodical and Sensible Preedy), rose slowly to stretch at ease his huge frame (Big Cat Preedy), and tossed aside his sandals (Carefree Preedy, after all)

This is a very deliberate and cynical performance, and may have been picked up on as so by onlookers. I am interested in this tension between deception and fear of discovery. Of being unpleasantly aware of yourself in the presence of others. John Berger in Ways of Seeing (1972) famously says

To be born a woman has to be born, within an allotted and confined space, into the keeping of men. The social presence of women is developed as a result of their ingenuity in living under such tutelage within such a limited space. But this has been at the cost of a woman's self being split into two. A woman must continually watch herself. She is almost continually accompanied by her own image of herself.

It is this idea of self image (and I would not see this as solely an issue for women) that I want to look at. How our image of ourselves is always an image for the group, controlled by the group, negotiated in relation to the group, and in some way produced by the group. This brings up issues of shame and secrecy also. That which is hidden to conform or be accepted in both physical appearance and actions.

I plan to create spaces to examine these ideas further. I view the built environment as a manufactured stage where we perform of our daily lives. Architectural spaces can both reflect and influence human interactions, and are often imposed on us, generally we only have control over our personal domestic environment. In Camouflage (2006) architect Neil Leach (with reference to Lacan, Simmel and Benjamin) analyses the desire to feel connected to our surroundings and its consequences for architectural concerns. I will look at this philosophical approach alongside more practical works by David Canter Psychology for Architects (1974) and Bryan Lawson The Language of Space (2001).

In previous works I have looked at group dynamics by creating specific settings and contexts for interaction. In DINNER466ShoreRoad I held a dinner party in a room intended to heighten social awkwardness:

Communication with the people on the other side of the room is difficult, even talking to your neighbour costs quite an effort. At first no one dares to talk in a raised voice or to laugh, no real conversation seems to be possible in all this blackness, every bite and every word are hard work. I would like to vomit, to smoke a cigarette, to leave the room. But maybe this would destroy or put an abrupt end to the dinner, the whole piece of art. (Roloff, M (2008)'DINNER')

In GAME SHOW we divided the audience and then encouraged them to get drunk and take part in a theatrical competition. The setting resembled a television studio without cameras (see fig 1&2).

These works produced strong reactions and presented ethical issues which I have struggled with. Anna McCarthy (2009), in her essay 'Stanley Milgram, Allen Funt, and Me', draws comparisons to post-war psychological experiments and the emergence of reality television. She discusses the common threads of cruelty, deception and theatricality and the pedagogical justifications for this. I want to research this area in more depth and also look at it in relation to contemporary participatory art practices through texts such as Maggie Nelson's The Art of Cruelty (2011)and Claire Bishop's Artificial Hells (2012).

In a recent residency in a hotel in Amsterdam I removed people and myself from my materials list. I created a series of 'SCENARIOS' using diagram instructions and chairs. They hinted at a social interaction which the viewer was excluded from (see fig 3&4).

Now I want to focus on private encounters for individuals, which would take place in (empty) spaces built for public audiences and on-stage performers (such as circus tents, lecture theatres, churches and cinemas). This is to investigate the idea of alienation and the effect the crowd has on the individual when they are alone. A phantom crowd that remains present in the mind of the individual and continues to direct behaviour even when physically absent.

Recently I have been visiting various spaces like churches, the circus, the zoo and cinemas to secretly film and absorb the design features (see fig 5&6). I would now like to try and negotiate access to these spaces as potential sites for art works, either filming or creating something there.

The working titles for potential artworks and thesis chapters are:

Me and the Mob – group dynamics, groups effect on individual, individuals effect on group

Arena Tour – the Colosseum, the circus, dance marathons, candid camera, scripted reality

Blurred Vision – the drunk, increased confidence, karaoke, impaired view of self

Lifting the Veil – behind the scenes, realisation, disillusionment

Hermitage – solitary spaces, necessity for privacy, resisting pull of the group

Backstage – preparation areas for performance, self esteem, ambitions

Mirrored – mediated imagery, the self through the eyes of others, deja vu, cinema and the internet

I plan to further research these ideas simultaneously via lived experiences, reading texts, watching television and producing artworks.

I will finish this proposal with some more Goffman:

When we closely observe what goes on in a social role, a spate of sociable interaction, a social establishment – or in any other unit of social organization – embracement of the unit is not all that we see. We always find the individual employing methods to keep some distance, some elbow room, between himself and that with which others assume he should be identified. Our sense of being a person can come from being drawn into a wider social unit; our sense of selfhood can arise through the little ways in which we resist the pull. Our status is backed by the solid buildings of the world, while our sense of personal identity often resides in the cracks.

(quoted in Schwartz, 1968,p 752)

List of references

Argyle, M (1967) The Psychology of Interpersonal Behaviour, Pelican Books

Berger, J (1972) Ways of Seeing, Penguin Modern Classics

Goffman, E (1959) The Presentation of the Self in Everyday Life, Penguin Books

McCarthy, A (2009) '”Stanley Milgram, Allen Funt and Me”: Postwar Social Science and the “First Wave” of Reality TV' in Reality TV Remaking Television Culture, 2nd edition, (pp. 23-43)

Roloff, M (2008) 'DINNER'(translated from German), published online, URL unknown

Schwartz, B (1968) ‘Privacy' in The American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 73, No. 6, (pp.741-752)

Illustrations

Fig 1&2 Sighle Bhreathnach-Cashell, Richard Martin and George Thompson, GAME SHOW, 2012. Documentation of event at GAMES NIGHT, The Glue Factory, Glasgow. Image by Dave Mc Aleavy.

Fig 3& 4 Sighle Bhreathnach-Cashell, SCENARIOS, 2014. Instructional diagram (A0 paper) and documentation of installation at The Volkshotel, Amsterdam. Second image by Raymond Van Mil.

Fig 5& 6 Sighle Bhreathnach-Cashell, Circus Series, ongoing research, 2014.

Bibliography

Books and Essays

Bachelard, G (1969) Poetics of Space, Beacon Press

Barthes, R (1977-8, trans. 2012) How to Live Together, Columbia University Press

Bishop, C (2012) Artificial Hells, Verso

Canter, D (1974) Psychology for Architects, Applied Science Publishers Ltd

De Botton, A (2006) The Architecture of Happiness, Hamish Hamilton

Goffman, E (1959) The Presentation of the Self in Everyday Life, Penguin Books, (1963) Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity, Penguin Books, (1963)Behaviour in Public Places Behaviour in Public Places, The Free Press

Hall, E. T (1966) The Hidden Dimension, Bodley Head

Kierkegaard, S (1859) ‘The Crowd is “Untruth”’

Lawson, B (2001) The Language of Space, Architectural Press

Leach, N (1997) Rethinking Architecture: A Reader in Cultural Theory, Psychology Press, (1999) The Anaesthetics of Architecture, The MIT Press, (2006) Camouflage, The MIT Press

Martin, C (1994) Dance Marathons: Performing American Culture in the 1920s and 1930s, University Press of Mississippi

Meyers-Levy, J (2007) 'The Influence of Ceiling Height: The Effect of Priming on the Type of Processing That People Use, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 34, No.2, (pp.174-186)

Morgan, J and Wood, C (2007) The World as a Stage, Tate Publishing

Murray, S and Ouellette, L (ed.) (2009) Reality TV: Remaking Television Culture, New York University Press

Nelson, M (2012) The Art of Cruelty: A Reckoning, W.W Norton & Company

Pallasmaa, J (1996) The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses, John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Perec, G (2012) Species of Spaces and Other Pieces, Hawker Publications Limited

Schwartz, B (1968) ‘Privacy' in The American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 73, No. 6, (pp.741-752)

Fiction

Fallada, H (1950) The Drinker, Melville House Publishing

Kafka, F (1926) The Castle, Oxford's World Classics

Poe, E.A (1840)The Man of the Crowd, The Masque of the Red Death, The Fall of the House of Usher

Satre, J.P (1947) No Exit, Vintage International Edition

Artworks

Eatough, G, Fagan, G and McDonough, M, 'The Making of Us', Glasgow International, Tramway, 2012

Schneider, G, 'Die Familie Schneider', Art Angel, 14-16 Walden Street, 2004

Smith, M, 'Videos and Miscellaneous Stuff from Storage (Pt.2), Glasgow International, Tramway, 2014

Theatre

Ionesco, E (1952) The Chairs

Film

Dubin, C (1976) The Tenth Level

Hirschbiegel, O (2001) The Experiment

Kaufman, C (2008) Synecdoche New York

Lynch, D (2006) Inland Empire

Timoner, O (2009) We Live in Public

Television

Armstrong, J and Bain, S (2003) Peep Show, C4

Brooker, C (2011) Black Mirror, C4

Cowell, S (2004)The X Factor, ITV

Curtis, A (2002) The Century of the Self, BBC

David, L (2000) Curb Your Enthusiasm, HBO

De Mol, J (1997) Big Brother, C4

Tsuchiya, T (1998) Susunu! Denpa Shōnen, Nihon TV

To get:

Perform or Else, Jon McKenzie (steve has pdf)

Reality TV: The Work of Being Watched Andreovitz

'Archive and Aspiration' by Arjun Appadurai

'Governmentality, Biopower, and Everyday Life' by Majia Holmer Nadesan

Governing the Soul - Nikolas Rose

The Man Who shocked the World - T. Blass (Biography of Milgram)

Opening Skinner's Box - Lauren Slater

'Junkspace' and 'S/M/L/XL' - Rem Coohaus