I’ll be adding some reflections I have, potential investigations and discoveries, thoughts.

2nd of october

I had a politics of space class this morning where we shared what interests us about the notion and in the analysis, a student mentioned how women experience space and our prof Dr Eleanor Herring brought up the changes brought to these for increased safety, stating that Glasgow is classified as a female (or feminine or feminist, I don’t remember the exact term) city.

When I think of words like “female” I think of the written essay by Andrea Long Chu, on the culturally assigned value to the female. This book has been criticized for it’s radical views, as it offers a very raw perspective of the author’s views on gender politics, notably by her statement, as a trans woman, that the feminine is deemed as inferior and that No one wants to be female. I found it sometimes satirical and felt it wanted to be shocking, which, in all frankness, I do like shock value from time to time, and in this case I found it to be very pertinent.

1. Why I find shock value to be interesting: When I mean shock value, I mean a surprising element that is very in your face. In this case stating that no one wants to be female (as it’s deemed to be the inferior sex) is shocking, but as it’s written adopting a trans perspective, it is politically charged and relevant.
2. I might appreciate random shock value, but if it’s unnecessarily cruel or shocking without a trigger warning I don’t see any artistic value to it. I’m thinking of viral reels of people entering subways and public transportation spaces and blasting music that’s not “socially acceptable” (like techno on the 8am bus) or is suggestive (ex: moan noises played on a boombox in the subway). These, as a viewer that’s watching the situation unfold from the outside, are entertaining to me. But I do feel that, in a way, it’s exhibitionism disguised as art or public entertainment. At the same time, I do feel like Eric Andre’s sketches, where he plays characters that interact, most of the time, in indecent ways, with the public, are performance art in a way. My concern is, and maybe it is due to my “female” perspective (contestable), sensible and caring, that these actions are entertaining through a screen, therefore through digital space, which doesn’t exist in physicality, although it does as the action unfolds in public settings, therefore, without the consent of the audience, as they are simply commuting. However, acts like these interrupt the sometime mundane routines we have, so I welcome these, I just think that a limit should be drawn when spilling wet slippery liquids on the ground (Ex : the milkman sketch by Eric Andre) and loud noises, as it must be infuriating and disrespectful towards some people, for example with disabilities, or things such as sensitive hearing, PTSD, etc. 

Being in a city,  an urban environment, means private spaces are scarce and the subway is a place where people sometimes need to be just to get from point A to point B, compared to, perhaps a concert, where people are smoking weed. 

Anyways, my initial point, was, discussing the female. As my guiding thought for the Forever River Project (you can find in past works – Learning Journal) was my personal fear of losing my memory, then society’s obsession with longevity, how some elements of nature hold mystery relating to that and how, there is starting to be, and increasing shift towards elements of the natural as we are becoming more of a technology dependant society and will lose our bearings, in sorts, with natural elements. Which leads us to the imagery of the lobster. I thought about the feminist or cultural interpretation of our fear with longevity and how capitalism, aesthetics, and fashion marketing plays into that, fueling our cultural fear of aging. This impacts everyone, over a certain age (impossible to be defined, but in my personal experience, I’ve seen many women being preoccupied by this and wanting to prevent this, men as well but they don’t spend as much time and money, ressources, on their “sexual capital” in sorts, on how they present themselves as “men watch women and women watch themselves being watched” in how we are socialized through gender.