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.

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 

NPR: New Bible Updates Language; 'Booty' Falls By Wayside

New Bible Updates Language; 'Booty' Falls By Wayside : The Two-Way : NPR

Here are some of the swaps included in the new Bible:
"booty" is now "spoils of war" — for presumably obvious reasons.
"virgin" becomes "young woman" — especially where the original uses the Hebrew word "almah."
"holocaust" will become "burnt offerings" - scholars say that was closer to the original meaning, before "holocaust" came to be identified with the genocide of World War II.
"cereal"— now co-opted by General Mills and Post, becomes "grain."

An interesting look at how language evolves like a living organism. Word definitions change over time, yet many modern definitions are applied to ancient texts when the word was intended to mean something else. Not to mention translation inconsistencies and/or errors that can further distort meaning.

I think it's important to delineate between "intended meaning" and "applied meaning." Since language is itself a complete human construct, there can never be a "true" meaning of any linguistic application. In language, nothing existed before we decided to agree on shared meanings. When I say, "rock," if you understand English, you know what a rock is. There is a thing that is "rock" whether I call it rock, or boulder, or butterbutt. As long as you and I agree on nomenclature, we can share thoughts. Still, if I point to a rock and call it nothing, it still exists as a physical object. Language has none of that.

Thanks to Shannon Slane for pointing me to this article.

Emotional Baggage Claim proposal notes and words as sketches

I've been working feverishly on my Flux proposal, a performance and installation called, It's All My Fault Emotional Baggage Claim, I thought I'd post a page of notes from my sketchbook. You might notice (especially as I post more pages of other projects) there aren't many drawings for a visual artist's sketchbook.

I came to this realization myself not too long ago. I wondered why I didn't draw more in my sketchbook. Isn't that what artists do when they're sketching? Mostly, it has to do with the way I think and they way I translate what I think to formats others can understand. Language is not natural or innate. It's a constructed convention that, while wildly successful in communicating broad and even nuanced ideas, still falls short when relating to non-tangibles.

I ask myself questions a lot, both technical and conceptual. What am I trying to get across? What do I need to achieve that? How can I layer content and meaning into various aspects while maintaining a visual simplicity? What ideas should I try out? Will this work? Will that?

I see the visuals in my head usually clearly, so it's often not useful for me to spend time fiddling with rudimentary drawings, unless I need to share my idea with another person (as I did in the above image). However, I don't think as naturally in words unless I'm working out how to translate ephemeral core concepts or themes into language. Words end up being my sketches.