Aims and Objectives -or- i dont know if i have the energy for big brother this year

this is part of my continuing assault on my proposal. whatever happens I’m gonna get through it tonite. WHATEVER HAPPENS!

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Aims and Objectives

Therefore my research will be organized around these research aims:

Examine body based live art practices that engage in notions of cultural and religious identity and the theoretical discourses that surround them.

i have looked at other body based practices but not ones that specifically focus on cultural and religious identity. I think that it would be useful to look at marisa carnesky. specifically jewess tattooess. described on her site as

A multimedia (performance, video, film, instillation) live art/theatre piece that explores the Jewish taboo against body art, looking at the cultural and religious implications of a Jewess who chooses to become heavily tattooed.

its interesting to look at how religion and her body intersect. however it is not a straight equivalence with my own work. the issues of race (the tone of my skin a clear indication of my ethnic origin) and gender make my work particular

Develop my own performance praxis in order to articulate the specifics of my cultural and religious contexts.

i think this was there in my first performance ‘king for a day’. and my remaking of yoko ono’s cut piece ‘performance 3’ . i think that in these performances i at least owned such readings.

Consider Islamic culture in relation to the body in contemporary Britain.

i have both done this and avoided the issue. i would go far as to say that i am actively scared about doing this. its such a large and ponderous issue. i think that the only way in which i can deal with it is to be very specific and start small

however, i think that here this issue of resistance can be bought up. articulating the disjoint in how my body is politicized with or without my consent

The above aims will be collated around practical and theoretical objectives. Examining existing body based performance; my study will articulate the role of the flesh in this medium and its emotive capabilities. This will help to engage in the racial politics at play in my own work and articulate the capabilities of this medium in conjunction with these issues.

fairly standard stuff i think. although understanding the emotive capabilities of the flesh sounds awkward

As a Practice as Research in Performance project there are inevitable issues of documentation that my study will have to address. The body based performance artists on whom this study focuses stress the emotive capabilities of the body in a live event (Miglietti, 2003). Politically this is used to address cultural values concerning the body and its relationship to identity and society. This ‘liveness’ is deemed impactful by articulating the makings of cultural beliefs ‘within the present, they are marked as dependent upon a time; their contingency and instability is open to scrutiny (Heathfield, 2004: 9). My documentation will acknowledge such issues of embodiment as well as forward the particular thematic concerns of my practice. This will require an engagement with the theoretical discourses surrounding performance documentation (Kaye 2000, Reason 2006) and will help in articulating my practice within a critical academic framework. In conjunction with issues surrounding the live event there will be a further need to explore the relationship between my practice and its audience, specifically the necessity for their presence and how that impacts upon my need to make work.

i haven’t even begun to look at documentation i have been to busy trying to figure out what my practice is. although i do know that it works alongside my practical work. this could take place via a ghost text or traditional thesis

also this blog is obviously as useful place to start in relation to my documentation and flesh out some ideas

Finally in understanding the relationship between Islam and the body my research will have to examine the ‘traditional’ way in which the two interact. This will require an exploration of existing religious practices concerning the body and the texts from which they originate. However, in making this research relevant the focus will be on evolving this into a study of Islam and the body in a British setting. This will provide genuine areas of new knowledge concerning issues of hybridity that hinge on readings of the body.

‘hybridity’ what a horrible term

The Introduction/shit big brother is on in 5 minutes

i wonder if big brother will be any good this year. I’m gonna watch the opening show and find out

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Introduction

This practice-led PhD will focus upon cultural and religious identities in the context of body-based Live Arts practice.

this feels inherent. inevitable considering the style of practice

An initial exploration of extant practices (including, but not limited to the work of Ron Athey, Franco B, Kira O’Reilly and Gina Pane)

an inevitable question here is where does my practice sit in relation to these practitioners:

-similar-
they articulate (whether this is through interpretation or interview) an ostracized body be it female, gay or diseased. is my body ostracized? if so how?

-un-similar-
i haven’t bled

this needs development

will develop to include a performative consideration of my own body and cultural position as both a British citizen and member of the Muslim community.

what I’m incredibly weary of is my body being hijacked as endemic of integration. or representative of a section of society. i hate that my skin is politicised in such a way. and my practice at this stage needs to articulate that disconnect. if anything i need to get angrier

The purpose of this project is to examine how culture and religion can be inhabited and critiqued through both existing live body art and my own emerging, theoretically informed, practices.

this is possibly the most useful part of this introduction. how the body inhabits these reading and how i can use them to my advantage

this needs development

i guess i have to start somewhere/the title

as this is my first post i have to be clear that I’m not sure what this space will do. is it designed to:

-be a conduit for my research and therefor provide a useful jump off point for people to contact me?

-be an easy way to document my practice even though i understand that this is a far more complex issue than can be summarized in a blog?

-be a diary of sorts where i type out into the ether?

-be a useful writing exercise that forces me to articulate my thoughts into legible sentences because of an assumed readership?

regardless i expect the remit and reasoning for such a writing will evolve (assuming that i keep up with it) and so it may be useful to start the beginning with my PHD proposal

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The Title

The body as a site of resistance: readings of Islam in contemporary Britain

what strikes me straight away is that i had forgotten the title, this is very odd considering that its what I’d been working on for the past 12 months. it felt very necessary at the time to eek out a place for my work within the plethora of practices within my field.

…but

what i feel is relevant now and something that i will retain is this issue of ‘resistance’. as in owning the disconnect in how my brown skin is politicized. specifically when this happens without my consent.

this supports the overtly reflexive push of my performances so far. maybe it was naive of me to not factor this into how my body would be read. the audiences their racial make up becomes as relevant as mine

i think the issue of race may be unavoidable. this makes me angry. but as it isn’t something i can change as my body is my tool. i should at least own it