Senza Titolo (QW6)

Score

With #QW5, #QW6 and #QW7 the first cycle of the series ends, responding, after the experience of lockdown, to a phase of gradual rediscovery and re-appropriation of habits and perceptions.
For this episode, we involved Ryoko Akama, Fabio Perletta, Salomé Voegelin to compose different contributions, created between May and June. In line with their own practices, they responded to the proposal launched by Nicola Di Croce in the notes for a participatory score, presented in #QW4.

This new set of scores is a suggestion to share and give value to being in presence, to experiencing spaces, different perceptions and times. The scores invite to a workout aimed at reactivation within a collective situation: to imagine our personal idea of garden, to look for it in the experience of our surroundings rather than in what already has the preconceived construct of what a "garden" is, then record and share it online in order to compose a choral work, collected by the artist; to meet the limits of the attention within the space of a page as in the space of a silent moment, to let expectations go; to use listening as a strategy of engagement with the reality of a hug, remembering its smell, touch, feel, making it sound, drawing it, sharing it, reflecting upon how what we're used to conceive as an intimate and private gesture between two people can at the same time be a moment of collective interconnection.

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Art is one of the possible techniques for enlarging and empowering one’s capacity to act, but it isn’t the only one. The important thing is to experience and to have a certain conduct. This conduct has determined the paintings I’ve painted, the puns I’ve made, and every­thing I’ve done, publicly, in any case. (Marcel Duchamp, in: Maurizio Lazzarato, Marcel Duchamp and the Refusal of Work, Semiotext for Whitney Biennial, 2014)

In these previously unknown times we find ourselves facing some restrictions to our liberties. Nevertheless, we experience a context different than usual – less productive – where we can give room to our thoughts, widen our awareness to the surroundings, whether it’s our house’s fridge or the landscape on the way to the grocery store. We have decided to seize this condition as an opportunity to propose a practice made of observation, listening and reciprocity with the context we inhabit. This will be achieved through a series of scores, practical exercises aimed at approaching the daily reality at different modes and velocities.

The new series Quarantine Workout thus begins. Every once in a while, we will share some unreleased instructions, inviting the public to practice the proposed scores. The releases QW.0 and QW.1 are a set of exercises by Standards’ collective. Other episodes will follow with scores composed on purpose by invited artists.

As an occasion for a collective performance of these scores is not foreseen, these exercises are to be acted individually at your pleasure, at your own pace, as and when you wish, and for how many times you would like to. If you feel like letting us know about your practice, we will stay tuned to listen to the experiences and thoughts you would like to share with us.

— Standards Team