i estrange therefore i am by doron beuns ......norwich university of the arts 2018 2 preface this...

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‘I ESTRANGE THEREFORE I AM’ BY DORON BEUNS How self-portraiture can explores the friction between autonomy and relatedness in the process of self-determination Word count: 2516 Master of Fine Arts- Final Project Norwich University of the Arts 2018

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Preface

This Postgraduate mini-thesis conceptualizes how the self-representative artworks, in my Master’s

exhibition ‘I estrange therefore I am’, mediate a relationship between self and other. I have

compared this mediation with Deci & Vansteenkiste's Self-determination theory, in which the

individual uses competence to mediate between autonomy and relatedness. This theory is an

antidote to Identity politics because it does not limit an individual to its hierarchical group identity or

relatedness. Instead, it suggests an individual that actively changes its current relations. My thesis

explores how my self-representative works reflect this transformative individual. Finally, how the

artworks relate to several art-historical frameworks.

Keywords: self-representation, self-portraiture, self-determination, identity-politics, transformation

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Chapter 1 – The body of work 4 Chapter 2 - The rationale 10 Chapter 3 - The exploration of self-determination within the work 13 Chapter 4 - The art-historical position 16 Chapter 5 – Conclusion 31 Appendix 32 References 34

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Chapter 1 – The body of work

’I estrange therefore I am’ 2018

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*before

*after ‘Self and other walking over self-portraits’ (floor installation) A floor covered with my cropped self-portraits, printed on waterslide-decal paper, defaced by the feet of the people that walk through my exhibition space.

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‘Self-portrait smashing possessions’ (video) – visit www.doronbeuns.com A slow-motion video of my self-portrait printed onto a hammer that smashes the rejected possessions of myself and others.

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‘Self constructing self through other’ (sculpture) Self-portrait in the form of a bust sculpture, cast of candle wax containing the broken possessions from the video mentioned above.

‘Self losing self through other’ (sculpture) Three aluminium casts of my partner and I’s underwear, scented with our individual perfumes.

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‘Self finding self through a suit made by Tijme Veldt’ (performance) Vertically striped menswear suit tailored to my when lying in a particular pose. As a result the suit tweaks and wrinkles when I stand up. Both positions are performed sequentially by the artist and displayed on two separate monitors.

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Chapter 2- The rationale This chapter explains why the relationship between self and other is explored through self-portraiture, and how that links to self-determination. Furthermore, why self-determination is important and how it has been threatened by the phenomenon of identity politics.

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Self-representation and the relationship between self and other While developing the aforementioned ideas for the Master’s project I realised that self-portraits could be used as a tool to explore the relationship between self and other. One could only represent oneself through something other than oneself; this could be a material, object, technique, technology or another person. These things that classify as ‘the other’ within self-representation provide a background for foregrounding the self. Within that equation, my self-representative works explore whether the foregrounded ‘self’ and backgrounded ‘other’ could be inversed, alternated or clashed. The works blur the distinction between self and other, foreground and background or object and subject (Felluga, 2011), and demonstrates how this blur has an estranging effect on my personal identity. Hence, the title ‘I estrange therefore I am’ which is a play on René Descartes ‘I think therefore I am’ (Newman, 2018). Where the modern French philosopher believes that thought and doubt testifies to his individual reality, I think it is estrangement that testifies to mine. Self-representation, self-determination and the issue with identity politics Producing a self-representation is an act of manifesting individuality through ones external environment. This, furthermore, resembles how an individual uses competence to mediate between autonomy and relatedness in Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Van Steenkiste, 2004) (illustrated in figure 1). This mechanism enables the free-willed individual to accept and reject modification by its external environment. Before I explain how my body of work explores these modifications, I will first explain how the phenomenon of identity politics has been threatening the mechanism of self-determination.

Identity politics are political activities or movements based on or catering to the cultural, ethnic, gender, racial, religious, or social interests that characterise a group identity (Dictionary, 2018). The issue with these kinds of politics is that individuals are inclined to exclusively assert power through relatedness (group identity). This, firstly, disregards how individuals can divert from relatedness through autonomy, and secondly disregards how the combination of autonomy and competence produce new forms of relatedness that transcend our group-identities. It is within this transcendence, that the ‘us versus them’ mentality within identity politics could be eradicated, and we can exist as individuals that liken to other individuals.

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Figure 1: The three human needs

Source: Deci, E. L.; Vansteenkiste, M. (2004). "Self-determination theory and basic need satisfaction: Understanding human development in positive psychology". Ricerche di Psichologia. 27: 17–34

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Chapter 3 - The exploration of self-determination within the work Within the pursuit of self-determination the individual causes destruction, reconstruction, adaptation and resistance. As creation applies to art-practice by default, I will use this chapter to explicate how my work explores the four other transformation processes mentioned-above.

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Destruction (Deterioration) The assertion of individuality often invites conflict. The individual risks being hurt and risks hurting others (Peterson, 2018). This is demonstrated in the work ‘Self and others walking all over self-portraits’ in which my fragile water-decal self-portrait prints are exposed to the destructive feet of others. As an adaption of my previous ‘Self-destructed self-portraits’ series, the work offers temporality to the relationship between self and other, in that the other is participant to the destruction of my self-portraiture, inverting the destruction to form at a natural rate that is out of my control. My video ‘Self-portrait as hammer smashing possessions’. This work is a commentary on the close relationship between our changing self-image and the obsolescence of possession. Perhaps best explained through Julie Kristeva’s psychological notion of abjection (1980); the rejection of dead matter as a way to assert your vitality in the present. For the video I specifically chose a hammer as it is a tool for both creation and destruction. The duality here is explored further by turning the destruction of rejected objects into creating a visual spectacle. Enhanced by the use of slow motion, the video is on a monitor placed opposite to my bust sculpture- one eyed self, staring at the spectacle of destruction of disposed possessions of self and others that ultimately led to the creation of the bust itself. Reconstruction My bust sculpture, ‘Self constructing self through other’ is a reconstruction and commemoration of what has been destroyed in the video. Hence my choice for casting the bust in a mixture of candle wax and broken fragments from the video. Casting the bust in fragile candle wax was also a way to suggest that individual power (autonomy + competence + relatedness) remains vulnerable when it is asserted. The bust precisely alludes to how historical male figures are sculpted at the height of their power and how their sculptures are destroyed when their malevolence backfires. With this bust sculpture I acknowledge that this malevolence has always been partially concealed. The objects that are violently destroyed in the video work ‘self-portrait smashing possessions’ are only partially visible within its translucent body, suggesting that the bust sculpture depicts a self-determined individual that reconstructs himself from a broken environment. This is achieved with the following;

- The open eye and the broken possessions reflect relatedness- the relationship between internal (self) and external environment (the other).

- The craft involved in making the sculpture, to internalise the broken parts, reflects competence.

- The closed eye and elevated presentation of self (reinforced by the neoclassical pedestal and drapery) reflects autonomy.

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Resistance and Adaptation Resistance is a competence that enables the individual shifts from relative relatedness to relative autonomy. Adaptation is the competence that produces this shift in reverse. Both these competences are directly addressed in my performance “Self-finding self in a suit designed by Tijme Veldt”. My body sequentially adapts to the form of the suit by laying down, or it tweaks and wrinkles the suit by standing up. With this performance I am questioning whether I should adapt to the ideal form of the suit or stand up for myself and look bad because of it. A common dilemma within relationships is this one of constraining the self in order to avoid confrontation. However, adaption is sometimes necessary within a relationship, and this compromising of self can be important for growth and development. In this case it is done for love- the most desired form of relatedness. This is metaphorically addressed in the work “Self losing self through other”, the aluminium underwear casts of my partner and I are an intimate monument to falling in love. I made the work from aluminium to signify my imagined narrative of the underwear (object self) falling in love with the exhibition space (object other) that houses them, which has a metal floor- this is a commentary on the abstraction of love from form and an attempt to solidify the moments of where my individual identity and my love for my significant other have converged. Extending this narrative the objects are infused with my partner and I’s scented perfumes, bringing a sensual sensibility to the metal object. The perception of smell and solidity of form (self) is the basis from which the viewer (other) constructs their own narrative of objects and intimate relationships.

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Chapter 4 - The art-historical position In this last chapter I will explain historical positioning of my artwork. The works are divided into different categories of self-representation to provide a comprehensive historical overview.

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The interactive self-portrait This category consists of my floor installation “Self and other walking all over self-portrait”. The repeat of my self-portrait image and its gradual decay resembles the black and white-half of Andy Warhol’s ‘Marilyn Diptych’ from 1962(1). Instead of Warhol’s recorded decay however, I used a form of performative decay that can be traced back to Gustav Metzger’s auto-destructive artworks (as formulated in his manifesto from 1961) (2). The auto-destructive aspect of my floor installation furthermore places the work in a lineage of contemporary floor installations that incorporate destruction like Walead Beshty ‘untitled’ mirrored floors from 2013 (3) or performative defacement like Inti Hernandez ‘Propia Iniciativa’ from 2017(4) . The unprecedented addition to this lineage of floor installations is undoubtedly my use of self-portraiture.

1. Andy Warhol- ‘Marilyn diptych’ 1962

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2. Gustav Metzger, ‘Auto-destructive art manifesto’, 1961

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3. Inti Hernandez, ‘Propia Iniciativa’, 2017

4. Walead Baeshty, ‘untitled’ (broken mirror floor), 2013

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*before

*after 5. Doron Beuns , ‘Self and other walking over self-portraits’ (floor installation), 2018

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The abject self-portrait This category includes the video ‘Self-portrait hammering personal belongings’, the bust sculpture ‘Self constructing self through other’. The most important references in relation to these works are Michael Landy’s ‘Art Bin’ from 2012 (5), in which Landy and other artists threw away failed works of art; and his performance titled ‘Breakdown’ from 1999(6), in which Landy shredded down all of his belongings. Both our works address the volatility of possession which could be traced back to 17th century Vanitas paintings like ‘Vanitas stilleven’ from Harmen Steenwijck(7). However, in contrast to Landy, I am using the process of destruction for the production of a contemplative video work. Furthermore, I am transforming the broken debris from this video into abstract sculptural-matter by merging it with candle wax. The use of candle wax in my bust further locates the work in the lineage of Sergio Rossi’s wax busts (8), and Urs Fischer ‘untitled’ figurative candles (9). The vulnerability of my candle wax bust also connects to Janine Antoni’s bust sculptures titled ‘Lick and Lather’ (10) made from licked chocolate and lathered soap in 1993. However, instead of defacing my busts like Antoni or burning the candle wax like Urs Fischer, I am letting the exhibition environment of the sculpture take its own destructive course. The bust is intended as an auto-destructive artwork with a duration of several exhibitions and will be shown up until the damage reaches the point of non-figuration.

6. Michael Landy, ‘Art Bin’, 2012

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7. Michael Landy, ‘Breakdown’ 1999

8. Harmen Steenwijck, ‘Vanitas stilleven’ circa1658

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9. Medardo Rosso, ‘Jewish Child’, 1893 10.Urs Fischer, ‘untitled’, 2011

11. Janine Antoni, ‘Lick and Lather’, 1993

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12. Doron Beuns, ‘Self constructing self through other’ (sculpture), 2018

13. Doron Beuns, ‘Self constructing self through other’ (sculpture), 2018

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Self-representation through garments and their instructions The only work in this category is the performance ‘Self finding self through a suit designed by Tijme Veldt’. This performance resembles Bruce Nauman’s contrived and repetitive movements in his video-performance ‘Walking in a square in an exaggerated manner’ 1967(11). Moreover his wrenching physique in video-performances ‘Floor Wall position’ 1968(12) and ‘Contrapposto, I through VII’ 2016 (13). My addition to this lineage incorporates fashion design by using garments as a sculptural and graphic tool to emphasise a particular physical position and my divergence from it. Another work this relates to is Sarah Ross’ ‘Archisuits’ from 2012 (13) even though the function and delivery differs.

14. Bruce Nauman, ‘Walking in a square in an exaggerated manner’, 1967

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15. Bruce Nauman, ‘Floor Wall position’, 1968

16. Bruce Nauman, ‘Contraposto through VII’, 2017

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17. Sarah Ross, ‘Archisuits’, 2012

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18. Doron Beuns, ‘Self finding self through a suit made by Tijme Veldt’ (performance), 2018

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The intimate-object-self-representation This very last category brings us to the work ‘Self losing self through other’. This work appropriates the highly-auto-biographical, intimate and speculative qualities found in Tracey Emin’s ‘Bed’ (1993) (15), which is essentially a contemporary Vanitas installation. My work, however, adds material transformation, scent and a focus on whom I share my bed with. On top of this, the likes of Jeff Koons with his ‘Made in Heaven’ series shares the notion of staging love and intimacy to be observed by ‘the other’.

19. Tracey Emin, Bed, 1993

20. Jeff Koons, ‘Made In Heaven’ Series 1963-1995, 1995

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21. Doron Beuns, ‘Self constructing self through other’ (sculptures), 2018

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Chapter 5 - Conclusion My works thus demonstrates how self-representation can explore the estranging relationship between self and other. Furthermore how autonomy, competence and relatedness work in friction to produce a self-representation. This triality can be traced back to Self-determination Theory which suggests that a solid distribution of all three elements is likely to nurture individual development. The phenomenon of identity politics, on the other hand, exclusively focusses on the assertion of power through relatedness, which hinders individuals in transcending the conflicts and predicaments of their group.

I believe that our lives can be improved by taking individual responsibility, regardless of oppressive circumstances. Destruction, reconstruction, resistance and adaptation are all tools that are available to the individual to realise a positive framework of relatedness. Chapter 3 has demonstrated how these actions are manifested in my body of work. Moreover how these manifestations are conveyed through four different sensory elements; visual figuration, the tactility of walking on a my self-portraits, the sound of destruction and the smell of my partner and I’s perfume. All these elements facilitate the engagement of both specialist and non-specialist audiences.

The body of work also contains variability in its possible readings. Different individuals can attribute different historical and contemporary contexts as well as visceral responses to my work because it contains universal phenomena like destruction, reconstruction, resistance and adaptation. This variability also applies to the self-referential aspect of my work. A freelance curator, Adriënne van der Werf, saw it as a reflection of how corporations are concerned with projecting human personae in their business-operations. Several peer artists have mentioned how my work is an honest reflection and inherent critique of overt self-promotion in politics and online celebrity culture. Professor Suzie Hanna perceived that I created a mausoleum of self or a simulation of state in which my self-portrait simultaneously symbolises a few oppressors and many more oppressed personas.

My body of work demonstrates depth because it approaches the relationship between self and other from various angles and through various mediums, simultaneously showing material and conceptual proficiency in my artistic ambitions. To manifest this in the form of my Masters Project I did encounter some challenges. The realisation of my work depended on communicating with collaborators, assistants and the approval of NUA’s Estates department. In order to avoid too many artistic compromises I had to sharpen my skills in technical problem-solving, financial management, communication, negotiation and delegation. This practical experience has made me wiser to professional practice of being an artist and has fuelled me with the confidence to face the complications of the art world elsewhere. I now feel ready to put my autonomy, competence and relatedness in service of further developing my artistic practice.

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Appendix Questioning identity by Adrienne van der Werf- Independent Curator When Doron Beuns asked me to write something about his Master’s project I immediately said yes. Not only because we have been talking and working together since 2013, but also because I was involved as a curator in his first exhibition ‘Monuments to Ephemera’ held in his studio in Amsterdam in 2017. The notion and construction of identity, which has always been a great part of Doron Beuns’ practice, now seems to act as the main-theme in his work. By calling his exhibition “I es-trange, therefore I am”, he refers to and adjusts an idea from one of the greatest thinkers of Western Philosophy. René Descartes believed that the capacity to doubt or think about your own existence testifies to the reality of your entity. Beuns clearly believes that estranging from his own existence testifies to the reality of his entity and identity. To find out what identity means within his practice, I want to start off with the Cambridge def-inition of the word identity, namely: ‘who a person is, or the qualities of a person or group that make them different from others.’ The definition clearly divides between the person, the qualities and the others that define an identity. Within the five self-representative works that Doron has created he plays with the notion of these three positions. Questioning who he is within a framework of slick works of art strikes a balance between a commercial enterprise (in which identity is clearly constructed) and a very personal relationship to objects. The commodity-like outcomes of the work are the estrangement of Doron’s personal identities. The floor piece, ‘Self and other walking over self-portraits’ is made from 260 self-portraits in standardized A4 format. The metal flooring covered by the fearful, doubtful representation of the artist himself, plays with the commercial-personal relationship. Moreover, it shows him as a person, losing the qualities of his (representation of) identity by virtue of the other. Within the work ‘Self-portrait smashing possessions of self and other’ he turns the tables and he himself destroys (commercial) possessions of the (personal) other. Not just to docu-ment it, but to create another sculpture out of it. A sculpture in which he as a person is rep-resented. The bust shows how others plays a vital role in the construction of his identity. By using an exact mold of his face and clothes, without artistic intervention, he turns the object containing others and himself again into a commercial product. This is a new methodology if we compare this with artists that have worked with the same techniques. Destruction in art has almost always had political connotations: Gustav Metzger created anti-capitalist auto-destructive art to draw attention to the destruction of World War II. Furthermore to show his detestation of commercialism and politics. Or Chris Burden, that used his own body as a work of art to destroy or suffer. The de (con) struction that Doron Beuns employs, is more about himself and his direct surroundings. Unlike Burden, there is no obvious political stance or questioning of the role of the art itself in Beuns’ work.

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However, by estranging his own identity and using only self-portraits, he in a sense is pro-ducing the experience that every Western inhabitant of this world is experiencing indirectly. We estrange from ourselves because an excess of identities is imposed on us through social-media and marketing campaigns. This phenomenon is part and parcel of the contemporary branding strategies in which brands are more and more operating as a persona, and per-sonas are operating as brands. This confusion makes us question who we are, what our identity is, what qualities it exists in of and who ‘the other’ is in this meaning giving mecha-nism. The works presented in the exhibition “I estrange, therefore I am,’ seem to look like a personal journey of the artist, but are in essence explanatory for every postmodern-citizen. We are (and most likely always were) estranged from ourselves, as identity is fluid, not sta-ble and continuously influenced by the other. By using this very human characteristic in a commercial and humorous parole, as Doron is doing within his practice, the artist might even relieve us from this search by just walking on his self-portraits that slowly fade away from under our feet.

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References Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 Felluga, D. (2011). Introduction to Julia Kristeva, Module on the Abject. [online] Cla.purdue.edu. Available at: https://www.cla.purdue.edu/english/theory/psychoanalysis/kristevaabject.html [Accessed 5 Aug. 2018]. Newman, L. (2018). Descartes' Epistemology. [online] Plato.stanford.edu. Available at: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/descartes-epistemology/ [Accessed 9 Aug. 2018].

Chirkov, V.; Ryan, R. M.; Kim, Y.; Kaplan, U. (2003). "Differentiating autonomy from individualism and independence: A self-determination perspective on internalisation of cultural orientations, gender and wellbeing". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 84: 97–110.

www.dictionary.com. (2018). the definition of identity politics. [online] Available at: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/identity-politics [Accessed 8 Aug. 2018].

Chapter 3 Peterson, J. (2018). Jordan Peterson debate on the gender pay gap, campus protests and postmodernism. [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMcjxSThD54&t=102s [Accessed 8 Aug. 2018].

Chirkov, V.; Ryan, R. M.; Kim, Y.; Kaplan, U. (2003). "Differentiating autonomy from individualism and independence: A self-determination perspective on internalisation of cultural orientations, gender and wellbeing". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 84: 97–110.

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Images Chapter 1

1. Beuns, D (2018) I estrange therefor I am documentation Available at: https:www.doronbeuns.com














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Chapter 4

1. Tate. (2018). ‘Marilyn Diptych’, Andy Warhol, 1962 | Tate. [online] Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/warhol-marilyn-diptych-t03093 [Accessed 8 Aug. 2018].

2. Theimaginedstate.blogspot.com. (2018). GUSTAV METZGER (10 April 1926 - 1 March 2017) - Auto Destructive Art*. [online] Available at: https://theimaginedstate.blogspot.com/2017/03/gustav-metzger-10-april-1926-1-march.html [Accessed 8 Aug. 2018].

3. Rodolphejanssen.com. (2018). Rodolphe Janssen | Walead Beshty. [online] Available at: http://www.rodolphejanssen.com/artist/walead-beshty/ [Accessed 8 Aug. 2018].

4. Lupita. (2018). Inti Hernández. Cotidiana. [online] Available at: http://lupita.artandfield.org/expo/inti-hernandez-cotidiana/ [Accessed 8 Aug. 2018].


6. South London Gallery. (2018). Michael Landy: Art Bin - South London Gallery. [online] Available at: https://www.southlondongallery.org/exhibitions/michael-landy-art-bin/ [Accessed 8 Aug. 2018].

7. Adbusters | Journal of the mental environment. (2010). Michael Landy - Adbusters | Journal of the mental environment. [online] Available at: http://www.adbusters.org/article/michael-landy/ [Accessed 8 Aug. 2018].

8. En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Harmen Steenwijck. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmen_Steenwijck [Accessed 8 Aug. 2018].

9. Portlandartmuseum.us. (2018). Jewish Child. [online] Available at: http://www.portlandartmuseum.us/mwebcgi/mweb.exe?request=record;id=14753;type=101 [Accessed 8 Aug. 2018].

10. Ursfischer.com. (2018). URS FISCHER . [online] Available at: http://www.ursfischer.com/images [Accessed 8 Aug. 2018]

11. Art21. (2018). “Lick and Lather” — Art21. [online] Available at: https://art21.org/read/janine-antoni-lick-and-lather/ [Accessed 8 Aug. 2018].



14. Jones, A. (2012). Walking in an Exaggerated Manner around the Perimeter of a Square | IMAGE OBJECT TEXT. [online] Imageobjecttext.com. Available at: https://imageobjecttext.com/tag/walking-in-an-exaggerated-manner-around-the-perimeter-of-a-square/ [Accessed 8 Aug. 2018].

15. Macba.cat. (2018). Wall / Floor Positions. [online] Available at: https://www.macba.cat/en/wall-floor-positions-2878 [Accessed 8 Aug. 2018].

16. Kunitz, D. (2016). In His Latest Works, Bruce Nauman Deconstructs Himself. [online] Artsy. Available at: https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-in-his-latest-works-bruce-nauman-deconstructs-himself [Accessed 8 Aug. 2018].

17. Archinect. (2018). archisuits. [online] Available at: https://archinect.com/forum/thread/74144/archisuits [Accessed 8 Aug. 2018].


19. Christies.com. (2018). TRACEY EMIN (B. 1963) , My Bed . [online] Available at: https://www.christies.com/lotfinder/Lot/tracey-emin-b-1963-my-bed-5813479-details.aspx [Accessed 8 Aug. 2018].

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20. Jeff Koons. (2018). Jeff Koons Artwork. [online] Available at: http://www.jeffkoons.com/art-

work/made-in-heaven [Accessed 9 Aug. 2018].


i estrange therefore i am by doron beuns ......norwich university of the arts 2018 2 preface this...

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