It's All My Fault

I've been thinking about responsibility lately, and how the acceptance or denial of it can have both far-reaching and intimate consequences. Words On Shirts Project comes down—in essence—to personal responsibility for a commitment given through words, and how those words align with or depart from actions.

It's All My Fault is an art that I've been playing with since 2010. The pronoun is always an ambiguous player without its previously established context, and I like how many interpretations and reversals can be had from three words and a contraction. What is "it?" What is "all?" Who is "my?"

I had the labels made last spring, but then waited to accumulate enough clothing items to donate en masse to a thrift store. Now, they're finally out there. Smyrna Thrift Store in Smyrna, GA to be exact. There are some 10-odd XS female articles on the racks. If you have any clothing you'd like me to tag with a label before you donate, let me know.

Think you can find them? Cheap art, if nothing else.

Proposal accepted for 2011 Art on the BeltLine

Concept rendering for Musical Landscapes

My temporary public-art proposal for the 2011 Art on the BeltLine, Musical Landscapes, has been accepted by the selection committee. I'm very excited to be a part of this project!

It was inspired by childhood memories of clacking sticks against fences as I ran along them.

Excerpts from my proposal's statement:

Concept Statement

Actions

A series of vertical tubes line a length of BeltLine trail. Walkers, runners, or bikers may use either their hands or provided sticks to strike the tubes as they pass by. The tubes are cut to different lengths and tuned to specific pitches.

Overview

Musical Landscape is a participatory site-specific installation, where a series of vertical hollow tubes are cut to reflect the skyline behind them, be it natural or urban. By adjusting tube lengths, they can be tuned to the closest pitch in a harmonious musical scale. The tubes then become a musical instrument, tuned to the local environment, and participants can “play the landscape” that surrounds them.

Concept and Goals

As a visual artist and musician, I am endlessly fascinated by the acoustical properties of materials and how they are directly affected be their environment. Steel formed into a string and attached to a cello has a very different sound when struck than a steel fence post driven into concrete, yet both are musical in their own way. Musical Landscape is an attempt to make audible the beauty inherent in a visual landscape while simultaneously evoking childhood memories of clacking sticks against fence-posts as we ran past them, seeking youthful adventure.
The musical pitches of each installation would reflect its surrounding environment. City skylines might evoke a bustling major-key tonality, while residential neighborhoods may elicit a more serene minor key.

Art From Letters Form Words On Shirts. Call for participation volunteers!

[Update: Project is live! Participants still needed! wordsonshirtsproject.com]

SIGNUP FORM HAS BEEN MOVED HERE

New Public Participation Project

Hello! Just a quick note to announce my new interactive performance project with the working title Words On Shirts. I'm looking for people to participate in Atlanta, GA, or anywhere else. The basic project description is listed below (subject to change):

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Art From Letters Form Words On Shirts.

1. I'm looking for volunteers in the Atlanta area or anywhere in the world for a new participatory performance project. I'm asking participants to wear a TShirt (preferably, I can paint a letter onto a shirt you already own. Doesn't matter what's already on it. See the images below.) with a single letter or punctuation mark on it for at least three weeks, likely longer (we look to be well on the way to getting the optimal 63 people, which means 63 days). The number of days depends on how many people volunteer (one day per person). You can wash the shirt, wear it over other shirts etc., but the letter needs to be visible for at least five hours per day. (The five hour minimum is to accommodate those with inflexible dress codes in their day jobs etc. If at all possible, the shirt should be worn during as many waking hours as possible.) If you can provide your own shirt, please say so in the comments section of the form below.
2. The letters form an initial sentence with a negative connotation or idea about art (the sentence is unknown to the participants). If you choose to participate, each day of the performance you will take a self portrait (or have someone snap a picture of you) with a camera (cell phone, digital, analog, disposable camera), showing yourself wearing the letter shirt. There is a Flickr Group at http://www.flickr.com/groups/wordsonshirts where participants can upload the daily images (or they can be emailed to me nathan@nathansharratt.com for those without Flickr accounts). 
3. At the end of the performance, each participant rearranges the letters (logistics to be determined) from one day to create a new sentence or phrase, thereby transcending the initial negative idea. However, participants are not limited in the content of their new message in any way. You may use all of the letters, or some of the letters, but you may not add letters outside those given. Additional details will be sent to participants once all slots are filled.

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Join The Project

If you're interested in participating are are not already on the mailing list, please sign up below. If you are on the mailing list already, email me and I will delete your old entry so you can sign up with the form data.

Please also repost the following link on your walls and twitter feeds and your friends' walls and feeds if you think they might be interested in participating: http://nathansharratt.blogspot.com/2011/05/art-on-letters-in-words-on-shirts-need.html. I'm looking for at least 30-60 people (the initial sentence requires 63 people). The more people, the longer the sentence can be, and the greater the range of transformative possibilities. If more than the needed amount sign up, I can start a second project with a new sentence.

An example of how the letter can be painted over existing shirt designs.

Funding And Venues

This project is all about community, so I'm funding the project DIY through donations and a Kickstarter campaign (details to come, there will be perks!). I'm also looking for a venue to showcase the final exhibit. If you are in a position to help with either please contact me at nathan@nathansharratt.com.

Again, if you'd like to be kept informed about the process of this project or would like to volunteer to help with logistics or to participate, please sign up to the mailing list below or email me.

Thanks! Nathan

www.nathansharratt.com
nathansharratt.blogspot.com
www.wearebloodbrothers.com

[Please note, that signing up does not guarantee a place in the project, it places you on the interest list. Slots are limited and will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. Once all slots are filled there will be a waiting list. If there are any dropouts, those highest on the wait list will be notified and given the option to participate.]

SIGNUP FORM HAS BEEN MOVED HERE

An Artist's Life: Marina Abramovic's Manifesto

AN ARTIST’S CONDUCT OF HIS LIFE
An artist should not lie to himself or to others
An artist should not steal ideas from the other artist
An artist should not compromise for themselves or in regard to the art market
An artist should not kill another human being
An artist should not make themselves into an idol
An artist should not make themselves into an idol
An artist should not make themselves into an idol

AN ARTIST’S RELATION TO HIS LOVE LIFE
An artist should avoid falling in love with another artist
An artist should avoid falling in love with another artist
An artist should avoid falling in love with another artist

AN ARTIST’S RELATION TO EROTIC
An artist should develop an erotic point of view on the world
An artist should be erotic
An artist should be erotic
An artist should be erotic

AN ARTISTS RELATION TO SUFFERING
An artist should suffer
From the suffering comes the best work
Suffering brings transformation
Through the suffering an artist transcends [???] the spirit

AN ARTIST’S RELATION TO DEPRESSION
An artist should not be depressed
Depression is a disease and should be cured
Depression is not productive for an artist
Depression is not productive for an artist
Depression is not productive for an artist 

Art and Disaster.

David Guttenfelder | AP Photo + Nathan Sharratt

I have difficulty processing tragedy. My initial reaction is taciturn acceptance. My rational, cognitive mind understands that the event occurred and there is no undo button to make it not have happened. There is nothing I could possibly say that could turn back the clock or make everything better. All words are at the very best inadequate and at the worst serve to trivialize the event and its consequences by attempting to express the inexpressible. In my mind—at least initially—speaking about it is an attempt to capture the event, to define it, categorize it, make it smaller and more digestible, easily processed. This can't be done. There is no way to effectively represent the enormity, complexity and magnitude of the disaster in Japan, or any number of other equally devastating world events. Running to Facebook or Twitter to let the world know that I think tragedies are tragic just seems so disingenuous. I scream oh how awful, fulfilling my role as a compassionate human being; and then I finish my dinner. It makes me feel better, but does nothing to alleviate the victims' suffering. It becomes a way to claim the power and authenticity of the event as my own, and to focus the lens of empathy on me, where it doesn't belong. So I don't say anything.

This is not to say that those who do post to social media after a tragic event are bad or wrong in any way, not at all. Quite the opposite. Everyone processes grief differently, and any method that works for you is the correct method. Some people internalize, some externalize, some find comfort in between. Some people donate to relief charities. Some people encourage others to donate to relief charities. Some process it by not processing it, giving the event no more thought than is necessary. All of it, any of it, none of it, is all correct. Though we are increasingly more a global society, the only reality we can know for certain exists is our own. I can empathize with the victims and their families by imagining myself in their place as an abstract concept, but I cannot truly understand. How would I feel if my world was destroyed? I don't know. I can't know, until it happens to me. The only way I can come anywhere near relating to those affected by the Japanese earthquake is by narrowing the field of vision to my own experiences. Anything else becomes too immense to deal with. One of those experiences was living in New York during the 9/11 attacks.