Abstract

Thursday June 9, 2022 @4pm - 5:30pm CT

An Artist Presentation

In May 2016, I embarked on a quest: I decided to make work about nothing. More precisely, I wanted to see if I could undertake to Do Nothing as an art project. But as soon as I began, I was immediately beleaguered by the question: What does that even mean?

Does the phrase simply imply “not working?” (As in, “if I’m not working I’m doing nothing.”) Is it a form of resistance? Is it an assertion of Freedom? Is it a state of “pure being?” Is it necessary for our wellness? Pushing opposite impulses together into one pronouncement, Doing Nothing is clearly paradoxical – hence nearly impossible to do. Sitting with the intricacies of these questions – and desires – has become something of a goal for me, and I have taken it on as a lifelong Art/Life project. Not so much to be able to find/perfect a technique, or pinpoint one single definition (or eradicate its contradiction) rather, to acknowledge a multiplicity of ways we can describe/embody/inscribe individual (and collective) acts of Rest, Slowness, Stillness, Interruption, Disruption, of significant Pause. To performatively carve out spaces that create intervals in our daily lives, and, by their very insistence, challenge notions of “productivity,” and the value we place upon time: on how it “should” (supposedly) be spent – and therefore not be wasted. Juxtaposing two seemingly opposing aspirations, the Doing of Nothing pushes against accepted codes of conduct, thereby proposing an inherently political (and performative) act, one that affirms our spontaneity, creativity, and our very humanity.

The first cycle of this quest, The Sanctimonious Sect of Nothing is Sacred, was a yearlong project hosted by a Montreal-based artist-run centre DARE-DARE, that explored the complexities and im/possibilities of “Doing Nothing” through curated public conversations and collective non-actions. The second cycle, Resting, Walking, Place-Making: The Invisible, Liminal Spaces in Art, a multi-faceted experiential-based artwork spanning the academic year, identified three overlapping and key (though largely imperceptible) strands in the creative/making process, and was supported by the P. Lantz Artist-in-Residence program through the Faculty of Education at McGill University. The third cycle, On Indefinite Hold, was a housebound meander via blog posts attempting to offer observations, correlations and inspirations around the state of enforced pause—and incredible acceleration for some—brought about at the beginning of COVID-19. The fourth cycle, res(is)ting / repos comme résistance was also a yearlong project hosted by Verticale-centre d’artiste in Laval, Quebec, and proposed a space of co-creation in which we came together specifically to rest. To carve out moments for non-action, that would be effortless and allow the mind to unwind. It was a combination of workshop, performance, public infiltration, conversation, and curated experience. Basically a hangout, being all of these at once, and none of these at all. It looked like Nothing but a lot like LIFE. Like life but framed by ART. Subtle resistance.

Starting from Ray Oldenburg’s notion of the “third place” as a point of departure—and running my own course around this evocative concept within Oldenburg’s deeply flawed text—the artist presentation I am proposing offers some reflections stemming from the final non-actions that occurred in late July, 2021, in a parking lot along the shoreline of Laval.