Conversations
My and Catherine’s response to the texts Homi K. Bhabha “Conversational Art” and Nikola Chesnais & Paul Guillibert “Ensauvager la métropole enquête sur la géologie politique de la forêt de Romainville”.
K-I guess we should start with defining what is it about, what IS conversational art?
B-I think it is an art of dialogue, not necessarily just talking. I think as this text illustrates it can be a live art like “The Glass Bead Game” project of Regina Frank, it can be an exchange of stories via virtual beads. Artists and people communicate in this work, creating a piece that is personal to the artist, and others at the same time. An art of exchange. Why do you think it is important to have conversations?
K-Good question. I think not just to communicate on a basic level, but in order to have a good conversation one has to want to listen. To understand the other person. The text mentions that silence creates distance between audience and art. Conversation diminishes that distance, it results in unplanned reactions and multiple different understandings, creating further dialogue as to what the piece truly represents, since everyone has their own reading of the piece. I guess it reminds me of what Duchamp believed, that it is the audience determining whether an object is an art and completing it with their own interpretation, thus that interaction is necessary. The text mentions globalization and the threat it brings, what did you think about that fragment?
B– I think that the concept of being part of this “global village” sounds great in theory. Obviously it would be amazing if we wouldn’t be divided in any way however this at least for now is not the case and we can’t live in a bubble thinking that you know everything is okay. You know for example with the use of internet we have easy access to any kind of information but third world countries do not have that and I think that we as a society have to do our best for the future generations to live in an equal world.
K-And the second text, about the forest… I knew about the polluted land from the news. It is fascinating how nature reclaimed back the land, even though it was polluted. It begs for comparison to the Tchernobyl!
B– Yes, this also made me think about Tchernnobyl! I think that using Solo the dog was definitely a very interesting way of space exploration. What strikes me most about this forest is how the lack of state control is shaping it. For me nature is a concept free of any form of state control. It has its own laws and even though you can try implementing something artificial, from a super resistant material like concrete it still will find a way to pierce through it and progress the way it wants to. Coming back to the dog I think that the choice they made to use a dog instead of a human guide relates back to our discussion about conversation and that sometimes you don’t actually need to have a verbal exchange to carry out a conversation.
K-Yes! I often had conversations with my dog haha! I like to think she understood The story in the article is quite interesting as it goes from exploitation to just leaving it sort of like a junkyard… to then being used for a cité, and now new housing is planned, which is a part of gentrification going on in Romainville.
B– I agree with you, the multidisciplinary use of the forest is something quite peculiar and unusual. I think that all these things that have been taking place there and are still happening there raise a form of a conceptual conversation as there are complex, hard to define issues that can’t be solved from one perspective, by one person and in a short period of time.
K– Definitely, and there should be conversations happening! Not just authoritarian decisions from the government.
