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PLEASE READ CAREFULLY:

AN INSTRUCTION BASED SHOW

-catalog-

John Clark

Niina Cochran

Terence Trent Darby

Andy Fry

Theon Jones

Christopher Bryn Jackson

Duncan Kissinger

Eduardo Luna

John McCormick

Kevin McKelvey

Nathan Monk

Ian Oehler

Pauline Oliveros

Aryn Schounce

Jim Walker

Max Walker

AT THE SHOW ROOMDECEMBER 4, 2014 THRU FEBRUARY 2015

OPENING PARTY THURSDAY, DEC. 4TH, 6-9pm

Big Car and artist Andrew Salyer bring you an instruction-based show. Come complete the piece by doing what you’re told.

AN INTRODUCTION: Andrew Salyer

Please Read Carefully: An Exhibition of Instruction-Based Art

We live our lives by instruction. We encounter instructions every-where we go. Some are social conventions that seem (sometimes problematically) “understood,” and then there are the “obvious” instructions: a stop sign, directions that help guide us from phys-ical location to location, or a combination of words and diagrams that show us how to put together a bookshelf from IKEA. However, instructions might be more deeply ingrained, and this exhibition, although thoroughly playful in its intentions, might help us to un-cover the everyday instructions that inform and help shape us.

We perform in the world according to scripts related to class, gender, race, sexuality, ableism/disablism, human vs. animal, citizenship, education, science, etc. These are the scripts that become the habits that create the performative efforts we call everyday life. Can there be moments of resistance within these scripts? We would like to think so. What if the instructions, script, or performance became the moment of disrupting the script, a kind of subversion by instruction? This is the possibility we seek in writing our own instructions. The act of writing them or the act of interpreting them on our own terms has the very real possibility of allowing a disruption when following a simple set of instruc-tions. We might even resist writing or performing as an act itself. Who is granted agency when contemplating corporeal resis-tance? Who is granted the power and authority to author instruc-tions or prescriptions of behavioral modes of being in the world?

Who is allowed to write the scripts, and who is allowed to question them? One generative place we can find this script/resistance tension play out is in the work of 20th century avant-garde artists.

While it is difficult to pinpoint an origin of such artworks, the histor-ic precedent for the impulse can be seen in conceptual art, perfor-mance art, music, and theatre, among others. We could look at (or would it be read? maybe, perform?) Yoko Ono’s playful, in-structional, and humorously subversive 1964 artist’s book, Grape-fruit: A Book of Instructions, for some understanding of this kind of work. Just as easily though, we can find the artists Miranda July, Lawrence Weiner, Marcel Duchamp, Piero Manzoni, Bruce Nau-man, Robert Barry, Ben Vautier, Louise Bourgeois, Erwin Wurm, George Brecht, Paul Chan, and, last, but certainly not least, Sol LeWitt, working in a similar vein. This last artist famously stated of conceptual art that “the idea becomes the machine that makes the art,” which has a particular resonance with this exhibition. We would also be remiss not to consider the musical scores of John Cage, whose work challenged, by instruction, our very under-standing of the possibilities of sound.

One key element to instructional art is the participatory element. One needn’t actually do the thing requested physically - there are times that consideration or contemplation is the only effort needed to become a participant - but this might also trouble the notion of physicality, for isn’t the act of reading or contemplating a physical gesture? This mind-body dualism isn’t productive as neurosci-ence is quickly teaching us. In fact, doing nothing is impossible, so this too is still an act of participation. To push further, our aim here is to also reconsider the artist/non-artist dualism that sep-

arates the creative act as an area of specialization. Philosopher John Dewey said, “Art is not the possession of the few who are recognized writers, painters, musicians; it is the authentic expres-sion of any and all individuality.” This sentiment was echoed in the works and ideas of artists Allan Kaprow and Joseph Beuys. Kaprow, the founder of Happenings, considered the moment a person came into the space dedicated to the event, a participant - not unlike the exhibition you are engaged with presently. A similar artistic gesture to Kaprow’s, but even further reaching, was the idea of a “social sculpture,” an idea developed by artist Joseph Beuys. This Beuysian gesture was an effort to have each person realize the benefits of adding creative thinking to their daily lives and was expressed in his oft quoted, “Everyone is an artist.”

In creating this exhibition, these ideas, ideas that expand the consideration of who might have an authentic artistic voice, were always at the forefront of our minds. You did not need to be an artist to submit instructions, nor do you need to be one to per-form the instructions that were curated into the show. We are, of course, very aware that choices were made in curating the show, choices that helped to shape the instructive possibilities… but you have similar choices here, to curate your involvement - to perform or resist each instruction.

Participants were invited to submit one (or more) sets of instruc-tions for gallery visitors to enact, consider, resist, interpret or revise. These instructions needed to be set for one person, two people, or a group to perform. The original call for instructions also included the option to instigate an interaction with a small list of objects - ball, chair, mirror, bed sheet, pillow, and stack of paper.

Each curator selected one version of these objects for the exhibi-tion, objects that might represent “the everyday.” We had in mind historic and contemporary art gestures for these objects. Artist Mierle Laderman Ukles in her 1983 work “Social Mirror,’” replaced the outside of a garbage truck with mirrors in order to interpolate the viewer-participants into the socially invisible world of the New York Sanitation Department - the truck is still used today in pa-rades, festivals, and other community events. Artist Erwin Wurm, famous for his one-minute sculptures (that are certainly also per-formances), draws our attention to the everyday object and how we might reconsider our relationship to it. He shows his works in various media - photography, sculpture, video, performance, etc. - but also uses the exhibition as a participatory social space, inviting viewer participation in a playful effort to instigate others to join him in creating their own one-minute sculptures with the everyday objects that he supplies.

Is the artwork the act of writing the instructions, the act of inter-preting and then performing the instructions, or is it the instruc-tions as objects themselves? It is our intention as curators that each of these events constitutes the fluid nature of such works, that each process is non-hierarchical and transmigrates effortless-ly through each stage. Further, these stages are just markers of possible moments, and we might imagine events pre- or post-writ-ing, pre- and post-performing, or pre- or post-object as moments of work. Maybe drawing attention to instructions performs the service of exposing blueprints and rules - the program, if you will - that many have understood as the “natural” or “real” state of things.

Nathan Monk

“Banana Phone”

1. Separate a single banana from a

bunch of bananas

2. Answer the banana phone, converse

3. Hand the banana phone off to a

shopper proclaiming “it’s for you”,

“they want to speak with you”, “do

you have time to take a call?”, etc.

THE INSTRUCTIONS

John McCormick

1. Look in the mirror. See what you saw. Use the saw to cut

the chair in half. Put the halves together to make a whole.

Crawl through the hole.

Theon Jones

Every time you hear the phrase “and also” take off your left

shoe and sit on it for 5 mississippi seconds- count out loud

without saying the numbers.

Kevin McKelvey

“Gallery/Museum”

1. Draw a picture of your favorite thing on the paper provided.

2. Grab the chair and the bedsheet in the Show Room (if no one is actively using them. If they are, ask nicely if you can use them.)

3. Place the chair in your favorite area of the Show Room.

4. Place your drawing under the chair.

5. Drape the bedsheet over the chair.

6. Name your new gallery after yourself: “Lastname Gallery.”

7. Invite others in the Show Room to crawl under the bedsheet and see your art show in your gallery.

8. Invite others to draw their favorite things to add more pieces to your show to make it a museum.

9. Your show in your gallery/museum closes when you leave the Show Room. (Others will be able to then use the chair and bedsheet.)

10. Have a closing reception at a local restaurant (India Palace, Saigon Restaurant, Szechwan Garden, Havana Cafe, Machu Picchu Restaurant, or Spice Nation).

Ian Oehler

Stand up tall perfectly still. Breathe three or four times.

While you breathe calmly, think of home. Open your eyes

if they were closed. Look straight up. Breathe three or

four times, closing your eyes at the end of exhale and

opening at inhale. Look straight down, breathe. Look ahead

comfortably. Look left, look right when appropriate. Think

of returning. Turn around and start again. Think for a brief

moment of what was behind, a brief moment for what was

ahead. Look up, look down, look left and right. Breathe.

Step.

Christopher Bryn Jackson

Sell This Print Immediately

Duncan Kissinger

Call your mom

John Clark

Rub

Find paper.

Place paper upon textured surface.

Find crayon.

Rub crayon variously upon paper upon textured surface.

Add dots or lines to resemble faces and other imagery.

Repeat daily for the rest of your life.

Tell everyone you meet how to “rub”.

John Clark

Boogie

Whenever you remove an article of clothing, pretend it is

your dance partner. Repeat until naked or exhausted.

John Clark

Annotate a Used Book

Go to a thrift store and buy a used book.

Write a preface and an afterword to the bookon available spaces in the front and back (writingmay or may not refer to the book’s original contents).

(Optional): Illustrate the book with drawings, collage, etc. Include contact information for possible furthercollaboration with person who ends up buyingyour annotated version.

Upon completion, furtively return the annotated bookto the same store and re-shelve approximately where you found it.

Repeat as necessary.

Eduardo Luna

The Human Translator.

1. Select a word in English.

2. Send that word in a text message to 317-601-9084

3. Wait.

4. Receive translated text message. This may take

a few minutes depending on time of day.

5. Grab a sticky note and a pencil.

6. Write the word in English and Spanish on the paper.

Include an illustration if possible.

7. Share the word out loud with neighbors of station.

8. Tape the word to the wall to add it to our visual

dictionary.

Jim Walker

For a stairwell with seven levels (or less) and lights on the wall at each level

THIS LIGHT (2014)

This light hangs over the woodshop. Make yourself useful! You. Hammer, drill, saw.

This light is from the end of a pier in Ludington, Michigan. Jump in the cold water. Feel it take your breath.

This light wants its picture taken. Go ahead then. Now put it on Instagram or Twitter or Facebook with the hashtag #thislightwantsitspicturetaken

This light is creating white space. Step aside.

This light believes itself to be a lost poem of Sylvia Plath. What does it mean?

This light sounds. Listen, hear.

This light makes a place for you. Stay until the next person arrives. Say only this as you leave: “It’s all yours.”

This light will appear in your dream tonight. You are in this light’s dream right now.

Jim Walker

The Lovers III

Two people, possibly strangers, cover their heads and shoulders with white bedsheets, embrace, and kiss.

Any First WordsLook at a ball and call it the first word you ever spoke.

If You Can’t Find a Partner…Dance with a wooden chair.

Leaks (requires a mirror mounted to the wall)Stay in the mirror until somebody else enters itthen vanish immediately, immaculately, beautifully.

PillowGo to sleep right there on the floor for four minutes. Set your alarm.

YouMake a snowflake just like this one.

Max Walker

FutbolFind three balls and three people. Play three- ball soccer.You be the goalie.

Mall YodelingGet a chair, take it to the mall, then stand on it and yodel.

Spooky DancesPut a bedsheet over two or more people. Dance underneath.

You’re a BirdMake a nest with a pillow and pretend to lay an egg.

PaperceptionDraw a piece of paper on a piece of paper. Then draw one in the one you drew then draw another in that one.

90s Mirror TimeWear a pair of MC Hammer pants made from trashbags and dance in front of a mirror to “U Can’t TouchThis”.

Andy Fry

Screensaver

materials needed: people, an enclosed room, or demarcated barriers/boundaries

A minimum of 3 performers enter an enclosed room or roped off area, gathering in the center with their backs together, and arms crossed in front of their chests. At the chime of a bell, each performer begins walking in a straight line until he or she encounters a physical barrier. Upon contact with a wall or other physical object (including another performer), performer immediately turns 90 degrees to his or her left and continues walking until the next obstacle is encountered. Continue in this manner for 10 minutes.

Note 1 can be performed without walls, if the boundaries are clearly marked. Performers simply act as if they have encountered a physical barrier when they reach the boundary line.

Note 2 onlookers may enter the boundary at any time, but must then stay for the duration of the performance

Variation 1: immediately upon contacting a barrier or another performer, performer says the first word that enters his/her mind, loudly.

Variation 2: Choose a piece of music to accompany performance. Performers take a step on every half note.

Terance Trent Darby

Take the ball in the room and soccer dribble around the

others in the room moving from one side to the other. Kick

the ball into where you believe the goal to be. Celebrate

your goal in true soccer fashion, but do it silently. Use of

other objects in the room during the celebration is good.

Niina Cochran

Instructions for 2

1. Stare into your partner’s eyes

2. Continue and now touch their shoulder

3. Continue and now touch their cheek

4. Continue and now lean in

5. Enjoy

Pauline Oliveros, 2005

PAPERICITY

for Laptop Orchestra

Each player of the ensemble uses a piece of paper as a

sound source for improvisation (any kind of paper will do).

Improvise as many sounds as possible with your piece of

paper for three to five minutes (more or less) while recording

on your laptop — each individually but simultaneously.

Begin to play back your recording as part of the ensemble.

Playback can start while some are still recording or

altogether as an ensemble gesture.

Players can shape the ensemble by dropping in

and out and also recording more. The piece

continues until all sound stops.

From Anthology of Text Scores by Pauline Oliveros, Deep Listening Publications 2013.


THE SNAKE

for a Large Group, Either in a Large Space or Outdoors

One person is appointed the snake leader. The

snake leader gradually joins everybody’s hands together,

one by one, to form the body of the snake. The snake leader

starts a procession, winding this way and that — snakelike

– a serpent turning back on itself then going forward. Each

person is advised to look straight into the eyes of the others

as they pass each other. When the snake has explored the

space thoroughly, the snake leader begins to form a spiral

coil. When the coil is tightly packed, the snake leader grabs

the hands of the last person so that the snake swallows its

own tail. The group the begins hissing like a snake. When

the energy changes, the group gradually disperses, each

person making their own individual sounds.


Pauline Oliveros 1975/1996

COLLECTIVE ENVIRONMENTAL

Each participant explores an environment to find a listening

place with something interesting to hear and listens for a

while.

Each participant invites the other participants to hear their

found listening place. There may be one or more places with

contrasting sounds.

Each participant finds a way to enhance, nullify or otherwise

interact with the sound or sounds that the group goes to

hear.

Each participant finds a way to connect all of the sounds

either literarily, metaphorically, or graphically.

A performance agreement is negotiated.



FOR ANNEA LOCKWOOD

AND ALISON KNOWLES

Keep the next sound your hear

in mind

for at least the next half hour.


Aryn Schounce

Find a person. Hand them the report and ask them to read it

out loud. Create the weather conditions in the report by any

means necessary. You can choose to use any props or not

use any at all.

Weather Report:

Winds at 20 mph SW. Heavy rain showers changing to snow

with temperatures dropping to the low 30s. Snow tornadoes

imminent.

NOW GO WRITE YOUR OWN

WEB: bigcar.org I TWITTER: @bigcar I INSTAGRAM: @bigcarpix

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