Queerness
For the purposes of this show, we are defining Queer not necessarily as a sexual orientation, but as an approach to sexuality, a philosophy regarding the process of sexuality—its fluidity, its gray areas, the ways we experience it, engage with it, create it, reclaim it, the way we interpret our own and other people’s sexualities, and how all of that has so much to do with our everyday lives and our identities. You can be heterosexual and queer. Gender is quite relevant to this topic as well. Think about binaries, social constructions, methods of deconstruction, playfulness and creativity, sexuality as process, subversion, deliberateness, identity and experience. Your piece might be self-reflective, analytical, or abstract. As long as you are actively and honestly engaging with queerness/queer sexuality, you are headed in the right direction.
Time Based Art
Some definitions I found online:
“art works that are sequenced through time, that change as we view them, and that may be ephemeral (eg video, kinetic sculpture, performance works).”
"Any data that changes meaningfully with respect to time can be characterized as time-based media. A key characteristic of time-based media is that it requires timely delivery and processing. Once the flow of media data begins, there are strict timing deadlines that must be met, both in terms of receiving and presenting the data. For this reason, time-based media is often referred to as streaming media -- it is delivered in a steady stream that must be received and processed within a particular time frame to produce acceptable results." (This is a very strict definition. Don’t take it too seriously.)
"Time-based media is a term used to refer to works of art which are dependent on technology and have duration as a dimension. Artists make very specific decisions in their choice of media and the way in which their work is presented. Specific display equipment might be important because of a particular quality of sound or image it creates, or because the artist has made conceptual links between a particular item of equipment and the meaning of the work. Specific technology places a work at a particular point in history and may convey ideas about the spirit in which the work was made." (For our show, your piece does not have to be dependent on technology. At all. Technology not necessary.)
“I see it as a way to be more inclusive. In many ways we are still stuck on divisions between art forms, but terms like theatre, dance, film, and sculpture are less and less applicable in contemporary art. "Time-based art" is another way of describing art that allows a larger scope but still makes a distinction...a different one not based on form or technique alone. It allows us to experience diverse and hybrid forms as part of a whole, in relation to one another. It's also a great way to bring disparate art communities together and facilitate personal experimentation.”
"Q: Will you start by defining Time-Based Art?
A: I have to answer that question by talking about why I don’t love the term, at least for the kind of work we’re discussing. If we’re talking about works that unfold over time—wouldn’t an Alexander Calder mobile fall in that category? It can’t be experienced properly unless it’s seen as it moves over a period of time. For that matter, the Hirshhorn had a major retrospective of Anne Truitt’s work recently. One thing that struck me was a wall text that talked about the necessity of viewing her sculptures from all sides in order to really understand them. You couldn’t get the full impact of the pieces unless you walked around them to see how the colors changed and unfolded as your perspective changed. If that’s not “time-based,” I don’t know what is."
Any art that has a beginning and an end is "time-based."
This is a link to a Time-Based Arts festival in Portland Oregon. If you sift through their site you’ll get a better idea of what TBA is.
http://www.pica.org/tba/This site is also helpful and has an online gallery.
http://www.downstairsdigital.com/tba_gallery.php?Galleries_ID=7
Less confused? Good! More confused? That's okay! Go make some art!
