jjasztra – experimental studio 2/3

Oracle Card:

Its time to repair: The design of my oracle card features an optical illusion and an image of the rabies virus under a microscope with the text “it’s time to repair”. The design elements in this card reference a recent study in which mice were infected with an engineered rabies virus, the mice were then given a dose of psilocybin, the active compound in “magic mushrooms”. The rabies virus was used as a tracing tool to monitor how psilocybin rewires and strengthens the brains connections. The method in which this study was executed was designed to better understand neural pathways in the brain. If you were to pull this card in an oracle deck, I believe it should encourage you to reflect on what you need to repair in your own life and how can you achieve said reparation- note this does NOT mean you should try mushrooms to repair things in your life. This card simply suggests reparation in what way you see fit.

“it do be like that” -me, everyday

Symposium

Symposium Proposal: The Art of Rage

“Rage… can be transformed into fierce compassion.” – Bonnie Myotai Treace

My symposium project will touch on rage as a form of performance/live art. Through pre-existing research on rage as an emotion, I’d like to lead a discussion on the short vs long term psychological impacts of rage.

I’d then like to deconstruct YouTuber rage videos, I hope to lead a discussion on deconstructing these acts into their key components: sound/rhythm, words, body language/movement and how such raw unadulterated moments can be perceived. I want to invite the viewer to feel the emotions of viewing rage: cringe, second hand embarrassment, but most importantly, rage of their own.

My hope is that this discussion will bring rage into the room, that individually, and as a group we can create and feel the effects of our rage catharsis, taking into consideration the art we make with our bodies, our sound, and our words as it takes place.

Moments of Magic

Elevations: A Live Score in Relief

Score:

Video Documentation:

Artist Statement:

For my live art ritual I chose to create a score to guide my process of alleviating chronic pain via smoking cannabis. As a chronic pain sufferer I find myself everyday coming up with more and more creative, bizarre, and even sometimes dangerous ways to alleviate the pain I feel. While I was never prescribed medicinal cannabis, I have found it to be the most effective in reducing my pain.

Normally, this ritual is mindless, multiple times a week I fund myself kneeled over, taking a few hits until I feel better. I wanted to challenge myself by creating a score to follow, dictating the pose I get high in, how many hits I take, and the length of the hit.

I found it difficult to follow the score as I went along, as it required me to be mindful of the actions I was taking, paying attention to time, all while trying to alleviate the pain I felt.

I completed my ritual having felt the alleviation and transformation my body went through, but in a more mindful way.

Sound Object: Macro-plastic Rainstick

For my sound object I wanted to create an instrument from objects I had laying around to be more environmentally friendly. I settled on a rainstick as I felt it was more complex than a rattle or maraca. At the time I had just read an article about how microplastics are in our rain which inspired me to use wasted 3D printer filament as the “rain” in my rainstick.

The body of the piece is made from two Pringle cans, skewers and acrylic paint. I had searched up what was inside a rainstick and multiple sources showed skewers or nails in a helix pattern.

Ideally this piece would be displayed on a plinth.

Progress: