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Where is the School?

by Joey Orr

Welcome to the final installment of a three-part artist/curator collaboration in which we visually and critically explore the position of the School in relation to the creative practices of artists, students, professors and alumni in the context of F Newsmagazine. This project started with a movement in the School’s corridor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The School is where it isn’t, where it disappears, where it ceases to be an institution and forms gaps of freedom and mental spaces where creativity and collaboration can occur. A shelter. An extension of the body. The prosthetics.

In Krzysztof Kieslowski’s film, Talking Heads, a woman born in 1952 in Poland says in 1980 that she climbs mountains to prove herself. This is the only way to prove herself. This is the only way to stand out. As Tom Abbatiello, the subject of the film climbs the wall, his feet and hands are interchangeable, drawing with the body. The weight is circulating from head to elbows.

 

The checkerboard floor reminds us of an institution (somehow a mental institution). The starting movement was Tom climbing the walls horizontally, trying to balance, climbing with all of the body at the same level. The space has no handles. Tom is searching for handles. He climbs the wall as a challenge, as a healing process for the mind.

Irina Botea, the film’s creator, is an MFA graduate (2006) currently teaching at SAIC. The work presented here are stills from a video exhibited by Thomas Abbatiello as part of the 2007 BFA exit show. The video work can be viewed at
www.fnewsmagazine.com.

 

 

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