ART PRACTICE AS ECO SYSTEM QUESTIONNAIRE
by Chrysa Parkinson
# 1 On ‘Black’ by Mette Edvardsen – March 2011
1. What senses do you use the most?
Seeing, imagining, speaking, remembering.
2. Which senses guide you the most reliably towards your actual interests?
Words and things. Space.
3. What senses are unreliable or guide you into unsustainable activities?
Material things.
4. How do you refine or develop your senses?
By writing. Writing in space and time. Writing= doing. Writing and rewriting.
5. What are the by-products of your work?
Lists of words. Pages filled with words.
Black painted objects.
6. What by-products do you think are garbage, or toxic, or wasted?
Some of the black painted objects are garbage. The ones with the ‘wrong’ paint, the ones that didn’t turn out well, and the apple, the bread, (the plant?). Some paper.
7. How does your work environment relate to the environment you live in? Does it depend on, challenge, survive despite, steal from, or symbiotically support the political, social, and/or physical environment you live in?
My work environment and the environment where I live weave into each other. They both influence each other, both in a direct and indirect way. Some elements always remain distinct, but it would be difficult to make a clean separation of the two. It’s blurry.
8. Describe the environment your senses create.
A space. A room. It has a door, a window on one side, corners. There is a carpet, a dog, a plant, two chairs and two plants. Several objects, on the table but also around in space. I imagine there is a bookshelf, a cupboard, a place to hang your coat, a small heap of fabric, maybe more plants, a commode, stairs, sky, high ceiling, light, colours, darkness.
9. Describe the form your body would take if your senses were to determine your form.
It would have a transient, fleeting form. Non-physical. It would be able to appear and disappear and reappear. Maybe very light?
10. What senses would you like to develop?
The ability to make things appear. And disappear.