1- The collaborative review on Millie Niss' works just finished to analyse
the cartoon Spork' s World - with a very interesting debate:
http://arteonline.arq.br/newsletter/reviews2005/english_niss.htm
Questions:
I- Do you agree that to make Art has a regenerated function to mentally ill
patients?
II- Do you classify the works produced by mentally ill patients as Art?
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Some interesting fragments of answers for those questions:
"We are all mental patients in a way. Some of us living locked up in the
psychiastric system, other being able to survive on their own, with other
crutches: meds, drugs, alcool, tics, obsessions, the great feeling of being
a so wellbalanced mind... and so on. To make Art has always a regenerating
function in my opinion. It canalizes pulsions, a large spectrum of emotions
and sometimes very disturbed or sad personnal experience which can make life
unbereable if not softened through creative/intellectual activity or
interesting jobs, which arenothing else than an occupational therapy for
everybody in allday life..."
(Isabel Saij)
"We are all mental patients in every way.
Earth is one big mental hospital... "
(David Daniels)
"When mental patients are artists, they should be treated like any other
artist, and they should be respected just as much, or even more than artists
who do not have so many obstacles to overcome. Mentally ill artists should
not be expected to make art only out of mentalillness material; they should
be allowed the same choice of themes as any artist."
(Millie Niss)
"Hazards for mentally- ill artists are not limited to medications, however.
Talk therapies can also create hazards unless the therapist genuinely
understands the mentally ill artist's creative processes.For example, deep
probing into painful experiences in the artist's lifecan overwhelm the
artist to the point that work is impossible. A mentally ill person may be
able to go through deep and painful "talk therapies" and still be able to be
a college professor or a truck driver, forinstance, but not be able to
generate art. So, pacing in talktherapy and frequent check-ins with the
artist are crucial."
"I agree with others who have said that Art should be evaluated on its own
merits, not on the basis of the maker of the art or thecircumstances of that
person."
(Martha Deed)
"You explained your ideas with much wisdom. Then, I would like to conclude
the current debate with a homage for the Brazilian psychiatrist Doctor Nise
da Silveira(http://www.museuimagensdoinconsciente.org.br/silveira.htm ) who
not conformed with the violent treatments used in Psychiatric Hospitals,
found in Art an Occupational Therapeutics for the treatment of
schizophenics.
It was her who founded, in May 1946, the Service of Occupational
Therapeutics in the ancient Centro Psiquiátrico Nacional do Rio de Janeiro.
And it was through the artistic activities as painting, modeling and wood
engraving that arose in 1962 the Museu de Imagens do Inconsciente (
http://www.museuimagensdoinconsciente.org.br/abertura.htm - Museum of the
Unconscious' Images).
The museum's collection has nowadays about 350 thousand works. In its gender
it is one of the largest and more differentiated collections of the world.
http://www.museuimagensdoinconsciente.org.br/expvirtu.htm
and http://www.museuimagensdoinconsciente.org.br/frank/frankger.htm "
(Regina Célia Pinto)
Now the review continues with "Oulipoems":
On Oulipoems:
Oulipoems at http://www.sporkworld.org/oulipoems/ was a collaboration
between Millie Niss and Martha Deed. (both members of Writing and the
Digital Life list) Oulipoems contains an introduction which explains how
the electronic interactive poems relate to the Oulipo Movement in French
literature, at http://www.sporkworld.org/oulipoems/intro.html
Oulipoems represents a later and different thread in Niis' work from Spork.
There is nothing personal in this work, other than her "personal"
intellectual interests and political opinions. There is no mention of
mental illness therefore. The work is also much more technically
sophisticated, using HTML, Flash, sound software such as ACID, Photoshop,
PHP, etc. The sound should be turned on for the whole thing because there
is sound on the main menu page, but some pieces use sound and some don't.
Oulipoems is a collection of electronic poetry experiments where the goal
was to make poetry interactive in a new and different way in each piece.
Millie Niss was experimenting with user interface design, and her goal was
to have a unique user interface and programming in each poem. For that
reason, she did not make any traditional hypertext poetry where you click on
words in thepoem to get to new sections. Instead, each piece has its own
kind of interaction.
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2- A new work at the Gallery Electronic Poetry of the Museum of the
Essential and Beyond That:
'Evoking Presence in Organic Absence' by Sonya Nielsen - Australia
http://arteonline.arq.br,
search for New Works (Electric green colour), Sonya Nielsen and click
'Evoking Presence in Organic Absence'
or go directly to:
http://www.arteonline.arq.br/museu/poesiadigital/sonya/opening.html
Sonya Nielsen's Bio:
Currently a creative art student at Griffith University, Gold Coast,
Australia, she creates artwork in the digital realm however it always
connects back and draws on traditional methods such as drawing or painting.
Her work explores and delves into the worlds of the ephemeral, mysterious
and organic that haunt her imagination. She thinks this resonates from her
continuing contemplation of that what lies in the mysterious is what human
beings survive on. If the mystery was gone so would the reason for
existence. The internet holds this idea of mystery close to its roots. She
can see it in the form of a non linear gallery and medium, which is an
element which makes her want to continue to make art.
Statement:
'Evoking Presence in Organic Absence' is about creating an interactive
artwork that grows and changes each time the viewer types on the page. The
reader creates their own individualised perspective and art when interacting
with the work, unfolding a world of chaotic and organic imagery in a
machine.
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I am sure you will like these news!
Regina Célia Pinto
http://arteonline.arq.br
http://arteonline.arq.br/library.htm
http://bigsheep.blogspot.com (A NEW Blog - The Big Sheep! Big What?)
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