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The micro and the macro: an exploration of how structural components

in artworks are used to convey narratives which expand beyond the

‘limits’ of a visual art object and relate to other art forms, such as

theatre, literature and cinema.

- By Rosalind Murray

I will discuss artworks which provide a direct interplay between visual art objects

and other art forms. For the purpose of this study, I will refer to the visual art

elements of the works as ‘micro’, and other art forms which may be present as

‘macro’1. I will argue that the use of both micro and macro elements is crucial to

conveying a narrative which breaks down the limits of a visual art object. In one way

or another, the artworks I will assess use their structures to present both the micro

and the macro and as a result, demonstrate other possibilities which can arise from

micro-macro interplay. Part one will consider ways in which the micro can represent

the macro, in the works of William Leavitt and Jim Shaw’s My Mirage. Part two will

explore the micro existing within the macro, in the work of My Father’s Diary by

Guy De Cointet and Mel Chin’s In the Name of the Place. Finally, part three will

consider the satirical dimension of this micro-macro dynamic, and its relation to

comedy and institutional critique.

1 This terminology is non hierarchal, only serving to establish the difference between visual art objects, and other art forms. This distinction is based on how artistic forms positioned outside of visual art, like theatre, cinema and literature, can (and conventionally do) use a wide range of methods, like character, narrative structure, setting and other qualities to give them depth. Contrastingly, visual art can gain its depth through differing qualities, possibly stemming from the aesthetic or political, which do not naturally or usually imply a narrative or story. An artistic form like theatre (for example) can have more narrative depth than a piece of visual art because its form conventionally lends itself to creating narrative depth. This is why I will refer to (mostly two dimensional) visual art objects as ‘micro’, and other art forms including theatre, cinema and literature, and even television shows as ‘macro’.

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William Leavitt

Figure 1: Cycladic Figures

Figure 2: California Patio

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Figure 1: A Dramatic Setting

Figure 2: Untitled Set Design (Curtain)

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Jim Shaw – My Mirage

Figure 3: [Untitled]

Figure 4: [Untitled]

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Figure 5: [Untitled]

Figure 6: [Untitled]

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Part one:

Implying the presence of the macro through the micro

By experimenting with structural components, like the use of series and pictorial

mediums, William Leavitt’s work and Jim Shaw’s work My Mirage use the micro to

represent the macro. Due to this, the works they produce convey narratives which we

do not normally associate with or expect from such micro forms of art.

Leavitt’s sculpture works mimic film or theatre sets (see figures 1 and 2) and his

paintings and drawings (figures 3 and 4) bear close resemblance to sketches a

production designer might create. Leavitt often arrives at his visual artworks by

writing plays which he can then make works for. In the process of forming the image

of the play, he produces vast amounts of pre-production material such as storyboards

and set design, their technical nature informed by his work in the production design

industry in the 1970’s and 80’s2. However, Leavitt never presents the play itself, only

the supporting material. This supporting material is often exhibited together, giving

the impression it is a series of interconnecting pieces, even if the singular works are

not, destablising the medium and location of his works3. As Ann Goldstein states in

Theatre of the Ordinary, for Leavitt, the “final product is not the performance, but

the props, the set, and the sketch-like illustrations for sets and costume designs,

together with the language envisioned as part of the work” . The importance of the

pre-production materials is emphasised by Leavitt’s reluctance to re-perform his

2 Goldstein, A., et al., 2011. William Leavitt : theater objects / organized by Ann Goldstein & Bennett Simpson., Los Angeles: Museum of Contemporary Art. Pg.18 3 Curate.la. (2020). William Leavitt: Cycladic Figures at Honor Fraser Gallery. [online] Available at: https://curate.la/event.php?id=10480 [Accessed 9 Jan. 2020].

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plays for the public4. In this way, he implies the play or (maybe more appropriately)

the concept of theatricality itself, through dramatic codes and conventions which

signal to this form of the ‘macro’. Examples of dramatic theatrical imagery in

Leavitt’s work are the use of curtains, (in figures 2 and 4), and the use of shadows

and objects which suggest action or character (in figures 1 and 3). It could be said

that by showing remnants from a macro theatrical narrative rather than the macro

work itself, Leavitt also conveys the impact of the macro as a form which generally

requires lots of uniting elements to form the final product. In these elements the

macro proves its importance in how it permeates through the micro. The viewer may

observe Leavitt’s array of works and try to understand what the missing information

is, which is the macro. The non-existent play unites the works, layering them with

signs and codes to signify it, whether this is done in the production-like style of the

drawings, or in the theatrical imagery and objects.

In 1986, Shaw began to build his vast catalogue of artworks for the project My

Mirage, which tells the fragmented tale of Billy, a fictional ‘average-joe’ character,

from Middle America5. Conceived between 1986 and 1991 My Mirage comprises 170

works which follow Billy’s life from his anxiety ridden youth, through his drug

experimentation in college, to his years in a Pagan cult, before returning to Christian

fundamentalism6. Each singular work is very different in its style and form, some are

silk screened prints, photographs, photographs of sculptures or paintings (see figures

5 to 8). In a similar way to how Leavitt exhibits his different pieces of sets, drawings

4 Goldstein, A., et al., 2011. William Leavitt : theater objects / organized by Ann Goldstein & Bennett Simpson., Los Angeles: Museum of Contemporary Art. Pg.18 5 Mymirage.balticmill.com. (2020). Jim Shaw My Mirage. [online] Available at: http://mymirage.balticmill.com/index.html [Accessed 6 Jan. 2020]. 6 Shaw, J., Sillars, L. & BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, 2012. Jim Shaw : the rinse cycle, Gateshead: BALTIC in association with Koenig. Pg.5

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and production material all in the same physical space to let a narrative play out in

the viewers mind, the structured and formal format of My Mirage allows a narrative

to be constructed from the fragmented disarray of works. Furthermore, like Leavitt’s

pre-production style material, My Mirage includes works which Shaw has designed

to look like random paraphernalia from someone’s life, suggesting that they are

pieces of a puzzle and have a wider use. Shaw arranges the singular works by placing

them into chapters and unites them in their equal sizes of 17 x 14 inches7. As

Laurence Sillars illustrates in Jim Shaw: From the Shakers to The Avengers, “this

extensive body of individual works are united by narrative, rather than the form or

medium”8. The form of the book, the use of chapters, size and formal considerations

of storytelling (such as beginning, middle and end), work against the fragmentation

of the separate works and allow the reader to infer the story of Billy from them,

filling in the gaps as the pages are turned.

As My Mirage follows the life of an individual, the story covers a vast part of history

and culture, which Shaw sometimes directly references to. Due to this ambitious plot

and its central character, My Mirage could be seen as a mimic of ‘epic’ narrative

structure, traditionally found in long narrative poems which have an elevated style

and recount the deeds of a legendary or historical hero9. More generally, an epic

can be defined a long book, poem, or film, whose story extends over a long period of

time or tells of great events10. These definitions of the ‘epic’ support the idea that My

Mirage can be considered an epic work in its narrative structure and content. We can

7 haw, J., Sillars, L. & BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, 2012. Jim Shaw : the rinse cycle, Gateshead: BALTIC in association with Koenig. Pg.5 8 Shaw, J., Sillars, L. & BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, 2012. Jim Shaw : the rinse cycle, Gateshead: BALTIC in association with Koenig. Pg.5 9 https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/epic

10 https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/epic

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also infer that the epic is conventionally attached to macro forms of art, and not

visual art objects. Shaw strengthens this aspect of the work by presenting My Mirage

as a novel, rather than individual pieces framed in a gallery. The story of My Mirage

and its mimicking of ‘the epic’ solidifies the work as a piece which displays the

importance of macro narratives at its forefront. Shaw’s illustrations sometimes

visually resemble comic-book strips or even ‘amateur’ art, but by placing them in an

epic series, they are elevated and express stories in which entire histories and

morality structures are alluded to11. The literary form and the vast scale of this work

means that we do not see view individual drawings or paintings as stand-alone

artworks, they all interconnect to tell Billy’s story, forming connections with ‘the epic’

and thus expanding beyond the limits of the visual art object. Both Leavitt and Shaw

use micro works and place them in a series to elude to macro narratives associated

with theatre and literature.

The micro is emphasised in the use of painting and drawing in both Leavitt’s and

Shaw’s work. These forms contrast against their use of macro narratives, more so

than if the artists worked with film or photography. In this contrast, the viewer can

form connections between both aspects. Leavitt’s and Shaw’s drawn or painted

illustrations often mimic the look of the work of storyboard designers, which is

contributed to by their serial structure. Due to this structuring, each singular

illustration, when isolated from the sequence, has a strong sense of narrative, despite

its static or illustrational nature. In the way that these drawings imply a larger

narrative through static images, we can assess their ability to present the macro

within the micro by looking at their resemblance to film stills or tableaux. In

11 Shaw, J., Sillars, L. & BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, 2012. Jim Shaw : the rinse cycle, Gateshead: BALTIC in association with Koenig. Pg.7

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Framing Pictures, film theorist Steven Jacobs considers photography by stillmen

from early Hollywood era films, who would capture stills during the films production

in order to use them for advertising. Jacobs quotes photographer Frank Powolny:

“the really important part of the stillman’s job [...] is to make his stills pictorially

attractive, and at the same time tell a story with them. Every still must have a definite

meaning”12. Jacobs relates these production stills to tableaux vivants. Jacobs views

the singular stills in relation to the wider narratives of the film, he is not just

interested in the visual quality of a tableau. In photographic stills from theatre

productions and films, it is the viewer’s understanding that there has been action

before the image in question has been captured, and this action will continue after

this moment. Using the novel form of film and photography, these stills form part of

a larger history, referring back to the tradition of religious tableaux and the biblical

narrative implied within them. However, the drawn or sketched still is entirely

different since its meaning is ambiguous when we cannot really relate it to either a

film or a painted tableau. I would argue that the use of the micro in this instance,

shows how important the macro is, for it to have meaning in a sequence and also as a

singular image.

Analysing the filmic montage in The Responsibility of Forms, Roland Barthes

concludes that the filmic is “obliged to emerge from a civilisation of the signified”. He

continues, “the filmic is different from the film: the filmic is as far from the film as

the novelistic is from the novel (I can write novelistically without ever writing

novels)”13. Subsequent to this point, Barthes uses ‘the still’ to support the idea that

12 Jacobs, S., Felleman, S., & Adriaensens, V. (2017). Screening Statues: Sculpture in Film. Edinburgh University Press. Pg.134 13 Barthes, R., 1986. The responsibility of forms : critical essays on music, art, and representation, Oxford: Blackwell. P.59

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something doesn't have to be a film to be cinematic, and quite paradoxically might

present the ‘cinematic’ more than the film itself14. This supports the idea that

Leavitt’s and Shaw’s drawings can be experienced as theatrical, and maybe also

cinematic, down to their structural use of series, and their signalling to aspects which

relate to cinema and theatre (like overarching storylines, for example). However,

Jacobs suggests that visual artworks cannot have the same effect as the still

cinematic because “In a painting, the meaningful instant does not refer to anything

real. In contrast with the film frame, which is drawn from a succession of

moments”15. Once we understand that each individual works in My Mirage and

Leavitt’s work, work together to form a larger narrative than what they singularly

depict as images, this changes how we view each individual works in the series. Down

to this, it could be argued that both artist’s works disagree with Jacobs’ argument,

implying that we can, as Barthes suggests, call them cinematic, or (maybe more

appropriately), theatrical or literary, but they would not be able to do this without

their serial structure.

The power of drawings that relate to the macro narrative structures found in theatre

or film becomes apparent when we look at it in relation to Barthes’ concept of the

“analogon”16. Barthes analyses the ‘reality’ produced between the object and its

image in photography, calling this “a code; of course, the image is not the reality, but

at least it is the perfect analogon”17. I would argue that the photograph is too close to

14 Barthes, R., 1986. The responsibility of forms : critical essays on music, art, and representation, Oxford: Blackwell. Pg.59 15 Jacobs, Steven. Framing Pictures Film and the Visual Arts. Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP, 2011. Print. Edinburgh Studies in Film. Pg.137 16 Barthes, R., 1986. The responsibility of forms : critical essays on music, art, and representation, Oxford: Blackwell. Pg.21

17 Cambridge definition of an analogous artefact: “having similar features to another thing and therefore able to be compared with”. Therefore, an analogon can be something (in this case a painting or drawing) which is an equivalent of perception.

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this ‘reality’ to be coded in a significant way, being instead a “message without a

code”18. Barthes illustrates that, at first glance, not all analogical reproductions of

reality are coded, but in consequence of this, “each of these [analogical] messages

develops a “supplementary message” which is formed “beyond the analogical content

itself (scene, object, landscape)”19 and is found in the style of production of the

analogous material. Barthes explains that this style of production is the ‘signifier’,

while the ‘signified’, “whether aesthetic or ideological, refers to a certain “culture” of

the society receiving the message”20. This supports the idea that a micro visual

artwork which is made in a ‘stylistic’ way (like paintings and drawings), has a

stronger ‘signified’ aspect to it, because we have to decode the ‘signifier’, arguably

more so that an artwork producing images that are visually close to reality, like

photographs. From this we can infer that the style of drawing, when linked to macro

narratives, allows the work to become a coded image. A drawn tableau combines this

micro form of illustration and implies the macro theatricalism or the cinematic. The

micro parts of these works are heightened by the use of painting and drawing, typical

pictorial and stand alone, self-contained mediums. By heightening this micro-ness,

the macro and its importance is emphasised.

By relating Leavitt’s illustrations to the pre-production of a theatre or film set, and

My Mirage forming a narrative story, it is possible to understand how they operate

within the field of cultural codes and coded images, since the works use signs to

represent the macro within the micro. The relocation of the Visual Arts within a

18 Barthes, R., 1986. The responsibility of forms : critical essays on music, art, and representation, Oxford: Blackwell. P.5 19 Barthes, R., 1986. The responsibility of forms : critical essays on music, art, and representation, Oxford: Blackwell. P.59 20 Barthes, R., 1986. The responsibility of forms : critical essays on music, art, and representation, Oxford: Blackwell. P.6

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theory of signs, or semiotics, led to a view of the Art object as a primarily coded

object21, and by suggesting the macro within the micro, both artists directly play

upon the idea of the artwork being a coded object. They also liberate their works

from the suggested coded nature of art objects, because they apply codes from other

macro forms of art to their work. We do not decode these works as artworks, but in

relation to the macro forms they suggest. In Reframing Art, Michael Carter argues

that the key analysis of signs began in C.S Peirce’s outline of the elements of signage,

who subdivided signage into: “(a) how the sign is read if the interpreter is in an

iconic relationship with the signified, (b) when there is an actual concrete

relationship between the sign and the signified and (c), when sign and the signified is

understood by the viewer”22. In an analysis of Peirce’s signage, Carter signals to the

difference between sign and code: code “refers to the system of rules in circulation

amongst a group, the use of which enables meaning to be possible”23. Therefore, the

term ‘code’ is an appropriate one to use when examining these artworks, referring to

sign systems that are shared, and therefore communal,24 in their relation to culture.

The works are self-aware that they are artworks, because they use macro elements to

escape their micro-ness. This self-awareness or self-reflexivity is achieved by

employing certain codes and conventions ingrained in culture which the viewer

would probably not associate with art, but with the macro. An example of this in My

Mirage is the use of chapters, characters and a plot, which the viewer decodes as

elements of literature, rather than visual art. For Leavitt, an example of this is in the

theatrical imagery and pre-production likeness of his works. This asks questions

about the ontological differences between art and the arts and how the difference

21 Carter, M. & Geczy, A., 2006. Reframing art, Oxford: Berg. Pg.63 22 Carter, M. & Geczy, A., 2006. Reframing art, Oxford: Berg. Pg.64 23 Carter, M. & Geczy, A., 2006. Reframing art, Oxford: Berg. Pg.65 24 Carter, M. & Geczy, A., 2006. Reframing art, Oxford: Berg. Pg.65

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between their signs and codes can be used to form a conversation between the micro

and the macro. The viewer may have an idea in their head of what art is, what theatre

is, what literature is, which is a part of cultural coding. But when the boundaries

between these are blurred (or used against each other like in these works), the idea of

cultural codes is questioned. In this sense, the artworks in question here “become

meaningful only because they are coded”25. It could therefore be said that “this act of

coding” or ‘reading’ of narrative art which incorporates sequences or series of

images, expands the artist/viewer interaction greatly over that of a single image”26.

From this, it can be argued that by alluding to the ‘macro’ via the ‘micro’, Leavitt and

Shaw produce coded images, which are decoded by the viewer, forming a

participatory relationship between the artist (coder) and the viewer (decoder), thus

expanding beyond the limits of a visual art object.

25 Carter, M. & Geczy, A., 2006. Reframing art, Oxford: Berg. Pg.66 26 Schimmel, Paul. Harithas, James., Sondheim, Alan., Freidus James, Marc., American Narrative/story Art, 1967-1977 : Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, Texas, December 17, 1977-February 25, 1978 Pg.6

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Guy De Cointet

Figure 8: We Must Not Think That Cold

Figure 7: [Page from De Cointet's self-published newspaper ARCRIT]

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Figure 9: My Father’s Diary

Figure 10: My Father’s Diary

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Mel Chin - In the Name of the Place

Figure 11: RU-486 Quilt

Figure 12: RU-486 Quilt

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Figure 13: Aids Pillow

Figure 14: Aids Pillow

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Part 2:

The micro embedded within the macro

In contrast to Part One, this section will consider how artworks can embed the micro

within macro narratives, and the implications of this for both of these elements,

through analysis of Guy De Cointet’s performance My Father’s Diary and Mel Chin’s

public artwork In the Name of the Place. Part One addressed the way visual artworks

can use structural components that are decoded by the viewer to imply the presence

of a macro narrative scope, and what this can mean in relation to ‘analogous’ micro

mediums. In My Father’s Diary and In the Name of the Place, we can observe what

happens when the macro narrative framework isn't just referred to by signs which

rely on cultural codes, but actually exists alongside the micro. The previous works

showed the macro being referred to and contained by the micro, in these works, the

micro is embedded and contained in the macro.

Guy De Cointet built his own language system into his drawings, paintings, objects

and artist books, using ‘mirror writing’, numbers, equations, letters and drawn

symbols (see figures 9 and 10). His intense interest in figures, letters and language

lead him to appropriate existing literature, “with such voracity that he would copy

out all kinds of texts backwards and write out interminable long multiplication and

division with unfailing application, but deceptive rigour”27. De Cointet began

showing performance works in France in 1973, which combined his visual art with

narrative monologues, performed by professional actors. The art objects appear as

though they are being used by the performer to tell a story, and through this the

27 Frederic, P., Guy De Cointet. 2014. Print. Pg.24

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objects appear to be decoded for the audience. This is clearly evident in the work My

Father’s Diary and the use of De Cointet’s sculptural ‘book’ art object during the

performance (see figures 11 and 12). The highly theatrical nature of these

performances has set De Cointet aside from his contemporaries and the history of

performance art itself. In Guy De Cointet, Why Have You Come So Late?, Frederic

Paul explains that by using professional actors, “Cointet was from the outset

positioning himself differently from other visual artists and pioneers of performance,

who were nearly always their own actors”28. The strong correlation with theatrical

performance (rather than performance art) invoked by his actors works in contrast to

the ‘prop’ aspect of the objects in the performances, which can only really be seen as

relating to visual art. In the juxtaposition between these components, we can assess

the macro and the micro elements in relation to each other. In My Father’s Diary, the

character, played by Mary Ann Duganne, begins her monologue: “Not long ago my

Father, knowing that he was afflicted with a hopeless disease, and feeling at his very

end, entrusted me with an unusual object: this curiously shaped green book”29. At

this opening line, Duganne begins to caress the ‘unusual object’ and continues her

sentimental monologue. The dramatic language, over acting, elaborate story and

even Duganne’s appearance, all contrast against the art object in question, which sits

on the table next to her.

This juxtaposition is heightened by the actors’ method of over-acting and over-

interpreting the abstract forms “in order to introduce the ingredients of fiction”30.

28 Frederic, P., Guy De Cointet. 2014. Print. Pg.28 29 Ubu.Web Film and Video: Guy De Cointet, My Father’s Diary, [online] Available at:

http://www.ubu.com/film/cointet_diary.html [Accessed 17 Nov. 2019].

30 Frederic, P., Guy De Cointet. 2014. Print. Pg.21

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Whereas Leavitt and Shaw can only imply the ‘macro’ by codes and signifiers, in Guy

De Cointet’s performance works, the actual form of the work itself is a theatrical

production. As well as assessing the relationship between the ‘signifier’ and the

‘signified’, Barthes argued that all ‘analogous’ or ‘representational’ forms of arts

comprise two messages: “a denoted message, which is the analogon itself, and a

connoted message, which is the way in which society represents, to a certain extent,

what it thinks of the analogon”31. It is true that practically all artwork made for

viewing is in some form aware of this ‘connoted’ message. But by making clear the

relationship of the visual art object to the audience, through the use of actors, Cointet

explicitly reveals the interpretation of artworks32, directly commenting on the

relationship between the ‘denoted’ and the ‘connoted’. Like Leavitt and Shaw, De

Cointet’s work plays with our cultural coding by suggesting narratives not

conventionally associated with visual art, while simultaneously producing work that

the viewer naturally decodes as they look for the signs suggested by the narrative

structure of the work. Like Leavitt, De Cointet’s way of “working, writing a play,

auditioning, then rehearsing is the way productions in theatre are traditionally

done”33. So, it can be argued that through presenting the macro through the micro,

these works also use coding to suggest something more narratively complex and

‘deeper’ than the art object, which itself is presented to challenge the viewer's

preconceived ideas of what art can be.

31 Barthes, R., 1986. The responsibility of forms : critical essays on music, art, and representation, Oxford: Blackwell. Pg.6 32 Frederic, P., Guy De Cointet. 2014. Print. Pg.29 33 Deák, F., 1979. Structuralist Performance Issue: "Tell Me", a play by Guy de Cointet. TDR - The Drama Review, (Sep., 1979). Pg. 12

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In a similar way to Guy De Cointet’s performance plays, In the Name of The Place

has a main narrative structure which alludes to the ‘macro’ and places the ‘micro’

within this. In 1995, the curators Julie Lazar and Tom Finkelpearl asked the artist

Mel Chin to take part in a group show dedicated to exploring art that engaged the

public sphere beyond the confines of the museum34. The two artists responded by

inviting the students and faculty from universities along with additional artists and

friends, to form a 102-person-strong collective, the GALA Committee35. The

committee collaborated with the 90’s sitcom Melrose Place to form In the Name of

the Place, an epic hybrid project whereby the team would make props that would be

used and embedded into sets on the programme. Although these were normal and

mundane items, each prop was laiden with artistic and political significance36, an

example of this is the Aids Pillow (figures 15 and 16), which has the structure of the

HIV virus printed on the fabric.

For In the Name of the Place, the ‘micro’ takes its form as the artworks made by the

committee and embedded into the ‘macro’ narrative of a Melrose Place episode, or

alternatively within the entire program. Unlike My Father’s Diary, the ‘macro’

narrative framework was not made in cooperation with the artwork props. In My

Father’s Diary, although the script seems very separate from the objects in terms of

style, it has a direct relationship with them, aiding their existence, supporting them

and reassuring the audience that they have a purpose. The points in the script which

allude directly to them are clear signifiers of this connected relationship. However, in

34 Fry, N., The GALA Committee Artforum.com. (nd). [online] Available at: https://www.artforum.com/print/201701/the-gala-committee-65383 35Fry, N., The GALA Committee Artforum.com. (nd). [online] Available at: https://www.artforum.com/print/201701/the-gala-committee-65383 36 Simon, C., Marta, K., Jacobs, S., Cooter, M., Smithee, A., Iordanova, D. and Temporary Services, Fade in. 2018. Print. SI Ser. (Swiss Institute (New York, N.Y.))

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In the Name of the Place, the works are fully embedded into the background of the

television show. There are times when they are brought into the plot, for example

when a character physically interacts with them (Figures 14 and 16) and “like

sleeping viruses, these props can be activated by events in unforeseen ways”37. The

art objects are drastically altered by becoming embedded into a narrative which

exists independent from their materiality and existence. The typically de-politicised,

inoffensive and artificial setting of a US sitcom (like Melrose Place), acts as a catalyst

for this alteration. The embedded artworks are the antithesis of the conventions of

sitcoms, as they are created to instigate a wider political critique. In this sense, In the

Name of the Place acts as a trojan horse for the people who watch Melrose Place to

view political visual art.

The art objects as the micro in My Father’s Diary and In the Name of the Place, are

all used to somehow aid the macro. De Cointet’s actors use the objects to signal to

important aspect of the story, while also often physically interacting with them. For

In the Name of the Place, the actors do the same but more unknowingly. Down to

this, the micro in these works could be described as props, or prop-like, as “a

theatrical prop hasn’t any ambitions of its own, it lives to serve a story”38. Unlike a

conventional work of art, the prop object is always used for something: to signify an

object, or to help illustrate the fictional worlds created in macro forms of art. Down

to this, the prop object has an unreal aspect to it and relates to forms of mimicry. By

drawing our attention to the micro as a mimic or prop, the artworks call in to

question the reality of each visual art object. Because of this, the reality of the macro

37 Ray, G., (2004) Another (art) world is possible, Third Text, 18:6, 565-572, DOI: 10.1080/0952882042000284970.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0952882042000284970 [Accessed: 12 Nov 2019]. 38 P 13 concrete comedy

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narrative framework (Melrose Place as a tv programme and My Father’s Diary as a

performance) is also called into question. A slippery boundary is formed between

whether we are in the presence of art objects, props, or props posing as art objects.

Commenting on how unusual De Cointet’s performances were at the time, critic

Frederic Paul states that “It’s hard not to read these sets and props handled by the

actors as a parody of the minimalist work then triumphing in New York”39. The props

De Cointet created were simplistic in their style and form, but so confusing in what

they represented that they parodied the minimalist art of that era. Creating art

objects that mimic other artworks, or the style of other artworks, contributes to the

viewers assessment of what is the ‘real’ art object within the ‘real’ art piece, where a

further critique of visual art objects can be made. Although they are original artist

productions, it is clear that the works in Melrose Place also mimic a certain type of

social and political art. Because of this, and the way they stand out amidst the

contrasting style and plot of the sitcom, we have to asses them individually, in

relation to Melrose Place, and ultimately assess their ‘realness’ in this fictional

landscape. As the micro parts of the artwork’s mimic props, they also mimic artworks

themselves, relying on the audience to decode the parts which signal to the fact that

they are artworks. The works discussed in part one relied on codes to suggest the

macro, but here, the works rely on codes to support their micro elements.

The embedded nature of artistic artefacts into a dislocated narrative, specifically one

made for the screen, forms similarities between In the Name of the Place and film

and television which include independent artworks in their narratives. In My

Father’s Diary, the art objects as props do not appear as separate to the plot as they

39 Frederic, P., Guy De Cointet. 2014. Print. Pgs.21

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do in In the Name of the Place, because most are directly linked to the main story

and the performer. However, despite whether the objects appear more independent

than they actually are, it is true is that in both instances the narrative of the macro

transfers itself onto the micro. I’ve used the term ‘independent’, to establish the

difference between art which is made for these mediums (which we commonly term

‘props’), and art works which are used in these mediums but were made

independently of the thing it is being used for. On the topic of the use of paintings in

cinema, Steven Jacobs turn to art documentaries, artist biopics and the role of the

museum and gallery in fictional films. He assesses how film and cinema have the

ability to mobilise or animate static paintings and sculptures40. In his lecture, The

Dark Galleries: Painted Pictures in Noir Film, Jacobs assesses how painted portraits

are used in film noir and melodrama. He observes that the paintings are commonly

“presented as characters in their own right''41 . Throughout his analysis of the use of

visual art (the micro) in films (the macro), he illustrates the way that ‘embedded’ art

objects is successful in the way it contributes to a film. His analysis of embedded

artworks in noir and melodrama leads to conclusions about the pictorial object or the

‘unreal’ object and how it changes within a filmic system, to act like a character itself.

Similarly, the actors who worked in De Cointet’s plays have previously stated that the

art objects felt like characters of their own when they were on set42. Although at the

time, these existed as live performances and not works on a screen, the same act of

‘animation’ is performed. The art objects in Melrose Place could also be seen as

semi-autonomous, since through their political nature and embedded-ness, they

40 Jacobs, S., Framing Pictures Film and the Visual Arts. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2011. 1st ed. Print. Edinburgh Studies in Film. Pg.xi of preface 41 Vimeo. (2020). LECTURE | THE DARK GALLERIES: PAINTED PORTRAITS IN FILM NOIR WITH STEVEN JACOBS. [online] Available at: https://vimeo.com/165302302 [Accessed 19 Oct. 2019], 12min 42 Ubu.Web Film and Video, Who’s That Guy? [online] Available at: www.Ubu.com/film/cointet_who.html

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have their own meaning outside the plot of the sitcom. It could be argued that as the

micro is embedded into the macro, the micro becomes part of a system where it is

allowed to become equal to the other elements in the macro.

In the text Morphology of the Folktale, Vladimir Propp follows the narrative codes of

Russian folktales, forming connections between objects and characters in the story.

Supporting Jacobs, Propp concludes that in these tales, “it is apparent that objects

act in the same way as do living things” and that “in this manner living things,

objects, and qualities, from the morphological point of view, founded upon the

functions of dramatis personae, must be examined as equivalent quantities43

. The

micro objects used in In the Name of the Place and My Father’s Diary appear to be

‘founded upon the functions of dramatis personae’ because they exist along-side the

main characters, as equal prominent figures, due to the fact that they are embedded.

This prompts us to question how these micro objects can obtain such equal high

status. It could be argued that in My Father’s Diary and In the Name of the Place,

the macro fictional narratives could be compared to a vast network of

interconnecting elements (sound, actors, set etc), in which the visual micro art

objects are able to exist in a different way than if they were presented as autonomous

from the macro. The idea of forming comparison between objects and networks

relates to Bruno Latour’s writing on the concept of Actor-Network theory. Actor-

Network theory is an approach to social research which treats “everything in the

social and natural worlds as a continuously generated effect of the webs of relations

43 Propp, V.I., 1968. Morphology of the folktale 2d ed. = rev. and edited with a preface by Louis A. Wagner = new introduction by Alan Dundes.., Austin: University of Texas Press. Pg.82

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within which they are located”44, to give a complete assessment of social networks,

where everything is taken into consideration, including nature and objects. Actor-

Network Theory looks at how an ‘actor’ or ‘actant’ can be added to even a simple

aspect of a network, in which this ‘actor’ does work, modifying the network45. Latour

continues, stating that “an actant can literally be anything provided it is granted to be

the source of an action”46. This means that the ‘actor’ or ‘actant’ can be non-human,

even take the form of objects. The visual art objects in both In the Name of the Place

and in De Cointet’s performances are made important by the macro, which could be

seen as the ‘network’. The presence of the visual art object disrupts the network

constructed by the macro fictional narrative so the micro can therefore be described

as ‘actants’ or ‘actors’. By applying this concept to the works in question, we can

understand the importance of what the micro contributes to the macro and vice

versa: by embedding the micro in the macro, the micro acts as a disruption to the

fictional narrative networks of the macro. Despite this, I maintain that since the

micro artworks were made for the macro, they are prop-like and would not be able to

function as ‘actants’ without the macro network. This notion is supported by Latour’s

assessment of the ‘connections’ between the actor and the network. If the art object

was to be presented outside of its macro narratives, it would no longer form

connections between the forms, losing importance and impact when losing these

44 Heterogeneities.net. (2020). [online] Available at: http://www.heterogeneities.net/publications/Law2007ANTandMaterialSemiotics.pdf [Accessed 7 Dec. 2019]. 45 Latour, B., On actor-network theory: A few clarifications plus more than a few complications, CSI-Paris/Science Studies-San Diego, Bruno-latour.fr. (nd). [online] Available at: http://www.bruno-latour.fr/sites/default/files/P-67%20ACTOR-NETWORK.pdf [Accessed 05 Nov. 2019]. Pg.1

46 Latour, B., On actor-network theory: A few clarifications plus more than a few complications, CSI-Paris/Science Studies-San Diego, Bruno-latour.fr. (nd). [online] Available at: http://www.bruno-latour.fr/sites/default/files/P-67%20ACTOR-NETWORK.pdf [Accessed 05 Nov. 2019]. Pg.6

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connections47. On a larger scale, the use of art objects as representation of the micro,

could also disrupt the networks which surround art, or art objects. In this way, the

use of micro art objects embedded into macro narrative networks shows how in these

artworks, the micro is dependent on the macro to form meaningful connections. This

relationship blurs the ontological differences between what we can describe as

opposing fields of the micro and the macro.

47 Latour, B., On actor-network theory: A few clarifications plus more than a few complications, CSI-Paris/Science Studies-San Diego, Bruno-latour.fr. (nd). [online] Available at: http://www.bruno-latour.fr/sites/default/files/P-67%20ACTOR-NETWORK.pdf [Accessed 05 Nov. 2019]. Pg. 6

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Part 3

The part, the whole and criticism through wit

By positioning the micro within the macro and referring to the macro through the

micro, all of the artworks discussed, to varying extents, form criticism between these

two elements. Arguably, the collective use of the micro as something which aids the

existence of the macro, lets the works assess the power (or powerlessness) of

traditional modes of visual art and art institutions, in relation to its other cultural

neighbours like cinema, theatre, literature and even television. By using the micro

and the macro, the art object is more able to become free of the constraints it may

usually have, and criticism of art objects of artistic institutions can be established. I

would argue that this criticism is arrived at through the humour brought by the

micro-macro dynamic and part-whole relationship.

In Institutions, critique, and institutional critique, Alexander Alberro surveys the old

and new waves of institutional critique, emphasising Martha Rosler as an important

figure to the movement. For Rosler, the role that class plays in the field of art and the

distinction between a high culture and a low culture, creates an aesthetic ideology

which manifests in several areas of artistic production48: “In the formal aspects of the

artwork, in the construction of the romantic figure of the artist, and in the distanced,

even alienated relationship between the artist and the audience, a relationship that

Rosler characterizes as being inherently ‘passive’”49. Rosler argues that that the

48 Alberro, A. & Stimson, B., 2009. Institutional Critique : an anthology of artists' writings, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT. Pg.6

49 Alberro, A. & Stimson, B., 2009. Institutional Critique : an anthology of artists' writings, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT. Pg.6

30

exhibition structure reinforces this passivity50, and calls for an integration of art into

everyday life: “we must inventively expand our control over production and showing,

and we must simultaneously widen our opportunities to work with people and for

people outside the audiences for high art”51. I think that this is addressed in the

artworks which this study examines. In the interplay between the micro and the

macro elements, artworks can open up beyond ‘passivity’ and can perform in the way

which Rosler signals to here, due to the reflexive and self-aware nature the works

gain by encompassing this. The use of the macro in the works can also be seen as an

ironic comment upon on the viewers’ relationship to visual artworks. The parts of the

macro (the story, the actors and the sets) can be seen as bridging the gap between the

viewer and the art object, while also providing a more engaging and interacting

piece. For Leavitt and Shaw, this is done through codes and signifiers which suggest

the macro, for De Cointet and In the Name of the Place, the micro works are more

explicitly brought into the conversation through embedding and physical reference.

It is also important to examine the aims of De Cointet, Chin, Leavitt and Shaw and

their preferred spaces to display their works and why they have desired to make work

where art objects work in favour of macro forms of art like theatrical productions and

public art through television. De Cointet mixed between presenting his works in art

galleries but also on theatre stages, emphasising the power of theatre as a macro

form over a form that generally presents the micro (art galleries). The use of the

television show as a macro for In the Name of the Place to disseminate its political

50 Alberro, A. & Stimson, B., 2009. Institutional Critique : an anthology of artists' writings, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT. Pg.6 51 Alberro, A. & Stimson, B., 2009. Institutional Critique : an anthology of artists' writings, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT. Pg.6

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messages through its props situates it as a public artwork, also distancing itself from

the artistic institution. There is also clear irony through placing political artworks

within a US sitcom, a genre which is known for its superficiality. For Shaw, the

novelistic and epic nature of My Mirage meant that its appropriate final format was

a book, which individuals can even purchase on eBay52, setting itself apart from the

conventional work of art. For Leavitt, the case is different, as his work normally

exists in an exhibition gallery setting. Leavitt’s visual artworks are purposely

exhibited in galleries because their artificiality is heightened by this setting, which

also poses as a blank artificial space, to aid something bigger. Leavitt enjoys the

superficiality of objects and images, in 1988, he wrote about the first time he visited

the backlot of a movie studio: “I loved the deception of going up to one of those

perfect houses and opening the door and seeing that there was nothing but canvas and

2x4s holding it up”53. In this sense, Leavitt draws similarities between flimsy artificial

LA film sets and the white walled gallery. We are invited to ask questions about the

correct forms of the works: whether My Mirage is a book or an artwork or whether

My Father’s Diary is performance art or a theatre production. By inviting an

interrogation of their forms, the works disrupt the differences between forms. The

application of the macro as a structural component, except in Leavitt’s case, steers

the artwork away from conventional modes of displaying artworks, altering the

viewing experience and blurring the ontological boundaries between what we could

categorize as micro and macro.

52 https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/103007830?iid=383003013099&chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-134428-41853-0&mkcid=2&itemid=383003013099&targetid=857787592308&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=1006886&poi=&campaignid=1669190351&mkgroupid=87996681269&rlsatarget=pla-857787592308&abcId=578896&merchantid=9805834&gclid=CjwKCAiA98TxBRBtEiwAVRLqu_1a12lI7b93j759vVslnLOVQnBCXByqH0S1a6oHlNCKqaYzrR1jwBoCPKwQAvD_BwE 53 https://archpaper.com/2019/09/flimsy-architectural-stage-sets-of-william-leavitt/

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As we have mentioned above, the power dynamics between the art object as a micro

within a macro narrative, can be seen as a criticism on visual art objects, and their

‘passivity’54. This idea positions the art object as flawed, maybe even a failed object

without the macro, backed up by the concept of Actor-network theory. Because of

this, the works can be potentially positioned between the realms of tragedy and

comedy. The ‘failing’ of the art object is heightened by the use of juxtaposition within

the works. In In the Name of the Place and My Father’s Diary, the objects are static

and silent in contrast to the macro action of these narratives. In My Mirage and Jim

Shaw’s drawings, the micro aids the macro and thus makes the individual pieces

appear static and small in relation to the macro narratives they represent. All 0f the

artworks in question either directly or subsequently address the idea of what it

means to represent or stand in as a part of a whole. Leavitt shows the micro parts

which make up the whole macro theatre piece and Shaw uses the micro parts to

make up the whole macro story of Billy. The micro aspects of In the Name of the

Place serve as parts which add depth for the whole story and in My Father’s Diary,

the micro parts acts as props which let them become part of the whole. I would argue

that there is something inherently comedic within these interactions. The comedy is

deadpan and subtle, as no artist directly positions their work to be humorous

through clear comedic methods. The humour is found in how the two parts (micro-

macro) are positioned within one and another, opening up a space where a strange

hierarchal part-whole dynamic can be performed. Mereology is the theory of

parthood relations: of the relations of part to whole and the relations of part to part

54 Alberro, A. & Stimson, B., 2009. Institutional Critique : an anthology of artists' writings, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT. Pg.6

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within a whole55, which can help define this comedic ‘space’ which opens up. The

micro acts as a part to the macro, which acts as the whole part. From this we can

infer that the type of humour which can be located within the parts and their whole,

is a result of action and physical use of part-hood relations, rather than something

looking or acting comedic in itself. This relates the works to David Robbin’s concept

of ‘concrete comedy’.

In David Robbin’s Concrete Comedy, Robbins traces his concept of a different kind

of comedy which prioritises doing over saying or other more conventional forms.

Robbins argues that “rather than absorb, compress, distil and integrate in the

manner of an art object, the comic object expresses a more belligerent relation to

reality” and “rather than concentrate focus toward an iconic payoff as most art tries

to do, the object in concrete comedy deflects focus onto the theatre that produced

it”56, connecting itself to ‘the real’. Frederic Paul touches upon the comic aspect of

De Cointet’s performance plays, stating that in them Cointet “addresses a serious

subject which he knows to be at the heart of his work, but in order to be more

convincing - and perhaps too, in the hope of reaching a broader audience - he

understood that it was better to give an appearance of levity, and treated it as

comedy”57. As previously discussed, as the micro aspects of the works mimic the idea

of art the object, while also being artworks themselves, the boundaries of the ‘real’ art

object within the ‘real’ art piece become blurred. David Robbins states that “threaded

into the structure of comedy there’s a consistent ambition to refute, undermine or

55 Plato.stanford.edu. (2020). Mereology (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). [online] Available at: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/mereology/#ParPar [Accessed 6 Jan. 2020]. 56 Robbins, D. and Albrethsen, P. (2011). Concrete comedy. 1st ed. Pork Salad Press. Pg. 36

57 Frederic, P., Guy De Cointet. 2014. Print. Pg 29

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overturn reality”58, supporting the comedic value of the works. For Robbins, prop-

like objects are very central to concrete comedy, in their liminal and self-contained

nature. Robbins comments on how repositioning an object as prop-like can change

its form, perhaps liberating it: “in the theatre, objects aren’t “art-kitsch”, they’re

props”59. We have already discussed the idea of the prop and the mimic in My

Father’s Diary and In the Name of the place, but Leavitt’s work also poses as prop-

like. He once stated in an interview: “I just wanted to make a painting that

functioned as an object within a narrative. I didn't want to get into the history of

painting; I didn't want to be allegorical. It would just be iconic, something that could

be used as a prop”60. This supports the idea that by alluding to prop, artworks might

be able to be liberated from art history while also holding comedic value.

To conclude, the structural components of artworks can be used to establish

narratives which allude to other forms of art, such as theatre, literature, cinema and

even television. In this way, they expand beyond the ‘limits’ of a singular visual

artwork. The work of William Leavitt and Jim Shaw’s My Mirage demonstrate that

by structuring work in series and working in ‘analogous’ mediums, the micro visual

art object can represent the macro in other forms of art like literature or theatre. This

is done by using signs and conventions which the viewer can decode to associate with

the macro. Guy De Cointet’s performance work My Father’s Diary and Mel Chin’s

public artwork In the Name of the Place show how a visual art object can be

embedded into a macro narrative form like a theatrical performance or a television

show. By doing this, the micro is drastically altered and can become prop-like. It can

58 Robbins, D. and Albrethsen, P. (2011). Concrete comedy. 1st ed. Pork Salad Press. Pg. 31

59 Pg 13 concrete com 60 Goldstein, A., et al., 2011. William Leavitt : theater objects / organized by Ann Goldstein & Bennett Simpson., Los Angeles: Museum of Contemporary Art. Pg.23

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also become elevated to a higher position, disrupting the macro. In their use of both

visual art objects and other artforms, all of the artworks have multiple layers and

meta levels, which enshrine a narrative discourse of some sort to take place. Because

of this abundance of information, the viewer can interact with these works to a

greater extent than with a conventional art object. Finally, the relationship between

the macro and the micro allows the artworks to assess the role and power of art

objects in relation to its neighbouring arts, like theatre, cinema and literature. This

subsequently critiques the institutions which house visual art objects, in a humorous

and profound way.