Mary O'Neill

Friday, 4 March 2016

Event in Artistic and Political Practice

at the

Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis

26th - 28th March

http://asca.uva.nl/events/news%5B2%5D/content/2012/09/event-in-artistic.

Thursday, 20 February 2014

Wednesday, 19 February 2014

"Living with the Dead: Cinematic love and death"

"Living with the Dead: Cinematic love and death"
Mary O’ Neill

In recent years the understanding of grief as a consequence of love and death has
developed beyond the model that suggested that the bereaved would eventually
‘recover’ and be able to replace the loved one. More recently bereavement theories
have incorporated the knowledge, which has so often been expressed by the bereaved
in the arts, that ‘recovery’ my not in fact be possible or desirable for the bereaved
person. In this paper I will discuss two films that explore the consequences of love
and death. In Christopher Hampton’s Carrington (1995) we witness the intense love
of Dora Carrington for Lytton Strachey which results in her being unable to face a life
without him and consequently commits suicide. In Francois Ozon’s Under the Sand
(2001) we see a character who is also unable to accommodate the death of her
husband and appears to her friends to have ‘gone mad’.
My interest in these films lies in the connection between the portrayal of the reactions
of the two female characters to the death of their life companions and recent
understanding of grieving. Focusing on cinematic temporal devises such as the
lingering gaze of the camera and hesitation I will discuss how these devices embody
reactions to death and the experiences of mourning. These works exemplify the two
characteristics of film that Laura Mulvey identifies in Death 24x a second as the
human fascination with the boundary between life and death and the animation of the
inanimate. I will explore the historical parallels between the treatment of death in
film and clinical understanding of grief from a sociological and a phenomenological
perspective with reference to the history of cinematic portrayal of bereavement. These
films will be discussed in relation to the recent work of Colin Murray Parkes and the
work of John Bowly, both of whom have contributed significantly to our understand
of the relationship between love and death. I will also explore the unique possibilities
that film offers for the treatment of this subject through the stellar time of cinema
where we can see what no longer exists.

Art and Understanding: Reflecting on the Process of Decay

Mary O’ Neill

In 1995 I made a work which represented a significant shift in my practice. Over a number of years I had been moving towards this work in gradual stages but it was not until the work was complete and I was able to reflect on the trajectory that I recognized that it was the inevitable conclusion of an artistic journey. This work disappeared. However, this was not an end but the beginning of a phase of reflection that resulted in a PhD on Ephemerality. At the outset of this research I understood ephemeral art as reflecting a desire to dematerialize the art object in order to evade the demands of the market, or to democratize or challenge art museums. However, I recognised that in many ephemeral artworks something much more fundamental is involved. In Art and Understanding: Reflecting on the Process of Decay I explore the hypothesis that the use of ephemerality by some artists is best understood, not solely in terms of art world issues but of the relationship between ephemerality, mourning and loss.

The conclusions I drawn have implications that reach beyond artworld concerns with durable or at least preservable commodities. The artworks discussed offer insights into the mourning process which are powerful and profound reflections on the human condition. These works can act as a means of engaging with bereavement, disenfranchised grief and ambiguous loss. In a world where many societies may be deemed post-religious traditional myths and rituals that once served to alleviate fear or mortality and the pain of bereavement are no longer viable or effective, this is of immense significance.

The final section outlines the engagement with researchers in social psychology for whom art offers a powerful form of communication in circumstance where we may find speech inadequate or impossible.

Killing Time: The Experience of Ephemeral Contemporary Art Practices

Abstract

Killing Time: The Experience of Ephemeral Contemporary Art Practices

In The Psychology of Time, Paul Fraisse tells us that we are only aware of time when it appears distorted, moving either too quickly or slowly.[1] As with much of human experience it is only when something is not right that we consciously experience it. In order to understand our perception of time I will explore boredom, which is an acute experience of time. In this paper I will discuss ephemeral artworks that could be perceived as boring and explore the possibility that the artists’ use of this strategy reflects a value shift that is related to the loss of meaning associated with mourning. The ephemeral artworks I will discuss do not offer entertainment or conventional aesthetic enjoyment that allows the viewer to take pleasure in the evidence of the artist’s skill, in fact many of these works are particularly devoid of skill or can be seen as a failure of skill. However I will argue that Ephemeral Art facilitates an experience of time that requires a working through boredom, it requires engagement. This is the experience of time and art that necessitates and offers delay. In much the same way as Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick describes knowledge as performative i.e. ”knowledge does rather than simply is”; I would suggest that boredom is also performative.[2] Boredom does rather than is. Ephemeral Art offers boredom as a challenge: it challenges us to feel, to experience time, to understand and to bear witness.

Dr. Mary O’Neill

moneill@lincoln.ac.uk

[1] Paul Fraisse, The psychology of time, (New York: Harper & Row, 1963)

[2] Sedgwick, E. K. Touching feeling: affect, pedagogy, performativity. London: Duke University Press, 2003. p.124

back after a break

Looking over some text from the last few years I thought I'd post some here.

A Lick

In his cross cultural study of the perception of emotions, David Matsumoto used four dimension of culture that offer clues to the understanding of, and possible explanations for the diversity of responses between cultures.[1] These cultural characteristics are; power difference, uncertainty avoidance, individualism and masculinity. They refer to our relationship with others and with society, our ability to deal with ambiguous situations, our sense of ourselves. According to Matsumoto cultures which have a high power difference “tend to be hierarchical, emphasizing status, vertical relationships, and the importance of groups to which one belongs.” This study also demonstrates that our responses are cultural and therefore can be unlearnt as they have been learnt.

The works performed by Angela Bartram and collaborating animals address these dimensions of our experience. The dogs are all of breeds generally associated with aggression and violence – trophy dogs used to enhance a masculine culture of threat and aggression. These dogs are also neutered males. For Bartram this fact balances the power distance. Their outward appearance belies the gentle nature of these creatures who respond to Bartram’s attention with the same ease with which it is given. This is not kissing as a sex act but the touching of knowledge and trust; an oral exploration of equals, at ease with each other.

Licking is a significant factor in the early development of most mammals. The expression ‘to lick into shape’ refers to the medieval belief that bear cubs are born unformed and are licked into shape by their mothers. The licking of pups by their mother is not to clean the new born of the evidence of birth but to stimulate the lungs and heart. Recent studies of early childhood development have emphasised the importance of close physical contact between creatures. To dogs, who are pack creatures as human are, the closeness of their relationships are expressed in licking and play.

The desire in these works is not to disgust but to share, dismissing species hierarchy and status in favour of the knowledge of another being, the acknowledgement of a shared experience with another and the expansion of the group to which one belongs to include other creatures of different species without the fear that culture artificially imposes.