Name/Pseudonym:
Jennifer McDonald
General Working Practice:
My work investigates how different spaces and environments create sensual and emotional experiences and is especially concerned with the idea of sacred spaces and how these affect how people feel and behave. My work is inspired by significant cultural spaces such as the football stadium, the theatre, Disneyland and the shopping mall and how these relate to the Church and the Temple in contemporary Western European society. My work deals with issues around religion and conformity and raises questions about our acceptance of social, moral and cultural codes and practices. My work investigates our need for spirituality and the sacred.
Mill24:
I am intrigued in the effect 24 hours of sleep deprivation could have on the minds perception. When the brain is denied the fundamental need of sleep the normal state of consciousness, and the brains design of survival becomes disturbed. I am interested in Aldous Huxley’s idea, that sleep depravation...
‘lowers the efficiency of the brain as an instrument for focusing the mind on the problems of everyday life on the surface of our planet. This lowering of what may be called the biological efficiency of the brain seems to permit the entry into consciousness of certain classes of mental events, which are normally excluded because they possess no survival value. Similarly intrusions of biologically useless but aesthetically and sometimes spiritually valuable material may occur.’
For the duration of the 24 hour event I will be in silence which can also assist in creating this ultra sensitive state of thinking and feeling. Throughout the event I will be keeping a diary logging and cataloguing my sensory experiences. For the event I plan to begin and complete an installation piece. In the piece I will explore the ideas which have attracted me to the 24 hour project. The piece I make will attempt to create an experience which will evoke the viewer’s sensory feelings. Smell, sight, sound, touch and sound (or silence) will all be employed in this project. Due to the interest I have in creating a very sensitive and instinctive creative environment I am interested in what ideas and work will come from this experience. For this reason I will be allowing the event to dictate or guide what the end installation will look and feel like.
Website:
Future Exhibitions:
April 2nd KRAAK, group exhibition Lost Language
