1. Definition
Spinning a Yarn with Sisyphus is an artistic research project which explores and promotes the artist's contribution to research. It is set in a field conventionally devoid of artistic input, where knowledge grows through scientific research: pig science.
Spinning a Yarn with Sisyphus shows parallels with the production of a film. The research project is a team effort which draws together artistic, technical and administrative skills to create art works, organise exhibitions, discuss concepts and to produce objects for sale, gifts and collection.
Spinning a Yarn with Sisyphus is about having fun and learning to work collaboratively whilst retaining one's individuality.
2. Framework
Spinning a Yarn with Sisyphus entails four stages, or sub-projects, which offer a number of collaboration opportunities. The stages are scheduled in a linear sequence, but may overlap in their planning and conceptualisation. They include:
Again, the production of a film, or perhaps the circus, can be seen as a sample for the mode of collaboration. The artist's contribution has to link in with the narrative and concept of the research project. All works will be presented under the umbrella of Spinning a Yarn with Sisyphus, figuring PIGVISION as the production company. Seen from that perspective, the artists are commissioned to create work for PIGVISION. However, due to a low budget, artists have to understand themselves as independant producers, and should use the project as a platform to promote their own skills and business, rather than being employed by PIGVISION. Artists retain the copyright of their work, and will be acknowledged in publications and signages. An individual agreement with the artists will be worked out to guarantee the best benefit for both parties. It is in the spirit of the project to emphasise the collaborative aspects. People with interests in curating, writing, finance and marketing are also welcome to gain experience, or to simply support the project with their knowledge.
4. Exhibitions, Public Relations, Marketing
Each stage ends with an exhibition event where art works can be launched, shown, discussed and sold. The exhibition may be small in nature, unconventional, perhaps a one-off fun party, or alternatively, show some professional organising and curatorial input. It is a platform to promote the project and the artists' works, and an opportunity to gain experience in organisational and marketing activities. The input and outcome will depend on the time, the budget and the enthusiasm of the people involved.
5. Budgets and Finance
PIGVISION is often identified as an art program with a clear mission and objective, rather than an established production company with a large budget. However, PIGVISION is also a registered business and, therefore is also interested in the commercial aspects of its program.
All collaborations have to be planned on a budget which is based on fair and mutual sharing of costs and income. The set-up of a budget and financial agreement is another valuable exercise for both parties. High profit making does not have to be the goal of the project, but covering some costs through income should at least be considered in the planning process. It will also be important to discuss the terms of trading for the times after the collaboration, including exhibitions, copyright fees and sales of art works.
6. Project Stages
6.1. The Narrative
Premise
Pigs are naturally very curious animals, exploring objects in their environment. Spinning a Yarn with Sisyphus entails a study of the pig's explorative behaviour. Its reaction towards a large wooden sphere placed in its paddock will be recorded and related to the classical Greek myth of Sisyphus who was punished by the Greek goods to roll a large bolder to the top of mountain, whence the bolder would fall back into the valley (see Appendix). The combination of research elements with a mythological context will illustrate PIGVISION's innovative views on the relationship between art and science.
Opportunities for collaboration
The narrative and general concept of Spinning a Yarn with Sisyphus will be presented with a series of artistic prints, including lithographs, etchings, screenprints, woodcuts. It is left open whether the text and the images will be presented in book form, as posters or in a limited edition of mounted prints. The series will be launched informally in a cafe or an alternative exhibition space in Melbourne.
6.2. The Equipment
Premise
Spinning a Yarn with Sisyphus includes the production of several hollow wooden spheres with a diameter ranging between 70 cm to 100 cm. Prototypes and final versions will be constructed by Raymond Rohner. Pine timber off-cuts will be glued together and cut into a ring. Several rings with decreasing diameters will be layered into a solid which will be sanded to a perfect spherical form. A light steel frame will be mounted inside the sphere to hold a video camera. During the experiments, the camera will record the scenery through a window hole in the wall of the sphere. Up to four cameras could be installed recording a panoramic shot of the surroundings. The development of the equipment also includes a study whether the spheres may be painted to enhance the narrative and aesthetics of the research projects.
Opportunities for collaboration
The completed spheres will be photographed and exhibited. A series of photographic prints will be produced showing the spheres in different locations with varying lighting conditions and backgrounds. The photographs can be enlarged into different sizes and framed. They will be included in the exhibition, together with the spheres and the prints from the first stage.
6.3. The Experiments
Premise
The study of the pig's behaviour will be conducted on a farm. The sphere(s) will be placed inside a paddock with the video camera recording the scenery from inside. A number of pigs will be released into the paddock and left to approach the sphere(s). Though not necessary, a particular scenery may be chosen for aesthetic reasons. The experiments will have achieved their purpose when the pig's explorative behaviour and the movement of the sphere(s) is recorded.
Opportunities for collaboration
The experiments offer a variety of collaborations for video artists, filmmakers and sound artists. The recordings from inside the sphere(s) can be edited into a complex multimedia show, depending on the number of cameras and how often the experiments will be repeated. The production may be edited to be projected as a coherent panorama picture onto the surrounding walls of a space, and/or may be included in a CD-Rom. There is also the opportunity to document the experiment on film.
The results will be presented at the final stage, the symposium. However, the study of the animal behaviour can be organised as a workshop and performance for friends and invited guests. It will be a nice opportunity to get together on a friendly farm.
6.4. The Symposium
Premise
In Classical Greek times the poets and philosophers would come together for a banquet with food and wine and discuss matters of love and passion. This was the symposium, as Plato called it, and it may also indicate the spirit of the final stage of PIGVISION's research project. The symposium will be an unconventional conference on art, science and research. All works created in the project will be shown, including works from separately invited artists. This may be organised as a seminar on the farm where the experiments are to be held, or in conjunction with an exhibition in a gallery. A podium discussion will include talks from artists and invited guests. The proceedings will be published. Good food and wine will emphasize the festival atmosphere of the symposium, which may even include elements of theatre and performance art.
Opportunities for collaboration
The symposium offers a challenge for people with an interest in organising and curating seminars and exhibitions. The element of fun does not mean that there will be no space for academic standards when it comes to discussing the relationship between art and science. It is a chance to invite experts from different fields of knowledge and bring them together for an innovative cultural event.
7. Appendix
PIGVISION's research project began with an image, and all thinking unrolled thereafter. So did the definition of its title, Spinning a Yarn with Sisyphus, which followed when the analogy with the classical Greek myth of Sisyphus became apparent. It was not one of those hardcopy images printed on paper or celluloid, but a fantasy approved by a chuckle. With this innocent play of the mind, the project is set apart from conventional research embarked on by scientists, historians and students alike. Their journey sets off from problems and questions begging for innovative and lucid solutions. To be sure, problems and questions, too, veil some sort of underlying imagery, as will PIGVISION's research eventually evoke questions and a guiding hypothesis. Nonetheless, the clarity of the image and the obsession to see it happen just for the sake of it, gives Spinning a Yarn with Sisyphus a unique and generous onset.
The image sees a pig rolling a large sphere across a landscape. Like the Trojan horse, the voluminous sphere is crafted from wood and is hollow inside. The movement is slow and arduous since the height of the sphere easily surpasses the pig's back, and the soil which traces its path lacks the smoothness of the Euclidian plane.
Of all we know about pig behaviour, it will be unlikely to see the pig roll a sphere in a continuous effort over a long distance. The pig will probably approach the unfamiliar object in the paddock with caution, sniffing out the enigma from decreasing distance. In a mixture of excitement and flight it will spiral towards the silent sphere. The image will be reminiscent of a scene in Stanley Kubrick's film 2001: A Space Odyssey, where our ape-like ancestors gaze upon a mysterious black polyhedron. The pig's inborn behaviour to overturn stones and rotting debris in its natural forest habitat in search for edible delights will eventually break the barrier. Its snout will be drawn towards the dark hollow underneath the sphere filled with the musty smell of broken soil. With a strong jerk of its neck the wedge will open, and the pig will have learned that the sphere has moved.
What happens next is less obvious, and a step into another world. Simple questions, including whether the pig will continue to push the sphere in a playful obsession, or quickly loose interest, could provide the research project with a goal to gain analytical quantification of the behaviour. In a series of experiments, the duration of the explorative behaviour and the length of the sphere's path could be plotted against variables such as age of the pig, weight of the sphere, hour of the day. However, PIGVISION's research focusses on phenomena which suggest a more intricate involvement with human thought and pig behaviour. What fascinates us is the instant when the pig's behaviour switches from cautious distance to affirmative exploration. It is an instant which both separates and unites two different worlds. Countless other domains offer us a similar phenomenon, including the suspended breath marking the rhythm of inhaling and exhaling, the silent hour when day turns into night, or the fine horizon line where heaven meets earth. The definition of this instant is an exercise of abstraction and perhaps a stumble stone for the mind. Practically it must be feasible to capture, or bracket at least, that moment where the perspective changes and redefines the world. But as to how, we will come back later.
The image of a pig rolling a large sphere evokes another image: the fate of Sisyphus. As the myth goes, Sisyphus was punished by the Greek gods for having tricked Death. Sisyphus was a skilled craftsman and engineer, an early version of a scientist one would think, who had a passionate love for life. With his skills and knowledge of the secrets of the gods he brought many good deeds to his town, but attracted the anger of the gods. When his time was up, Death was sent to take him to the Underworld, but Sisyphus chained Death so that no mortals died until he was freed and Sisyphus put into his hands. It is also said that Sisyphus, upon arriving in the Underworld, played another trick in order to receive permission to return to earth. He complained that his wife had not given him the proper burial rites, and that he wanted to chastise her. Back on earth, he naturally refused to leave the world of the living for the world of the dead, and enjoyed a happy life for many more years until the gods finally caught up with him and he was put on trials. The punishment forced him to roll a huge bolder uphill towards the summit of a mountain. When reaching the summit, the bolder would thunder down into the valley, waiting for Sisyphus to return and push it up again. It was an eternal and unspeakable penalty in which the whole being was exerted towards accomplishing nothing.
This is how Albert Camus, the French philosopher and Nobel Prize winner in 1957, coined the fate of Sisyphus. Camus studied the myth of Sisyphus, and related it to the question whether life is worth living. We inevitably reach the moment when all our efforts and aspirations to make life worth living tumble down and reveal the absurdity of the human fate. But rather than accepting suicide as the logical consequence of our failure and despair, Camus recognises in such torment the very reason to restore the passion for life. The anger and frustration experienced to reach a point where nothing is accomplished is the other side of the same coin which makes us see and hear those myriad little wonders along the path to a pointless summit. One must imagine Sisyphus happy, is Camus' conclusion.
We cannot help but see the parallels between the myth of Sisyphus and scientific research. We are intrigued to create a response in the sense of Albert Camus. The parallels are obvious. Not only is research justified by pointing out that it prolongs our lives, tricks death and makes our existence more enjoyable, but the expression ³re-search (French ³re-cherche²) seems to connote the endless repetition of an obsessive search for the truth to rest upon. We believe that, contrary to the commonly held perception, science will never find the ultimate resting place it often suggests to do. However, it does point towards the same heights which Sisyphus climbs arduously, and if there is any justification for the search of science, then in the sense of Camus' Sisyphus who embraces the absurdity of his fate.
These sentiments reverberate through PIGVISION's philosophy of science. No longer committing itself to the need to solve serious problems, PIGVISION finds open doors to worlds where research associates with hope and absurdity alike. Our research becomes a dance with Terpsichore, pirouetting into suspended motion and falling back to gain momentum from another side. The new measure is the passion for life.
These are good words, but how do they translate into PIGVISION's project Spinning a Yarn with Sisyphus? For another time it will revive the myth of Sisyphus, and take on a burden in full knowledge of the absurdity of the task. The goal and summit is to capture the instant when a pig's behaviour changes from cautious distance to affirmative exploration. The solution will be announced when the perspective stumbles and begins to fall. The rest is mere play and a new look with a different view.
Raymond Rohner, November 8, 1998