Hayes interview

Sharon Hayes appropriates and recontextualizes signs, photos, and speeches sometimes as an act of revolution/ defiance and sometimes as sociological/artistic research.  I found Hayes interest in the nature of collecting,  "collecting is rooted in a  possessive urge"pg.80, and her take on photos as part of this possessive urge interesting.  "I'm not looking at just the body in the image; I'm looking through the desiring eye of the camera" "I wanted to generate an archival document that...demonstrates a desiring camera, something that shows how the camera seduces"pg. 81.
The photo is capturing the image it holds the object of its desire but also points back to the gaze of the photographer and the desire for collecting as a possessive act.  Usually the act of revealing the desires of the (unseen)photographer is a side effect of capturing/collecting an image. How do you delve into this usually subconscious act deliberately without distorting or changing the desire?

Acting alone Acting in a group: Acting as a group for performance and acting alone as research.  The research of performing is not only watching the reaction of the public that come across the performance but the act of watching the feelings that come up in the body and ming of the performer as well.

A matter of language:  reading someone else's speech or holding someone else's sign adds many layers of meaning.  A chorus reading a love letter written in the first person singular changes the meaning of the letter.  Hayes seems to be playing with the art of organizing and possibly "collecting" people. Even if she doesn't want to be clear with what she is saying she still wants to claim her right to hold a part of the political space of public protest/ speech/ assembly. The "Janus faced" act of considering the act by looking forward and back is so meta and so modern to the way I often feel- thinking about thinking so I don't actually have to think about how messed up or helpless I may feel.

Artists Be Like: " I don't say I'm an artist...because then they think they know what I'm doing"pg.88. Right on sista.
"Artists and historians are alike in a certain sense.  One of the biggest challenges is how to embark on a search and truly not know where you are going" pg.89. One of the most underrated goals in setting out on a project and research.  One of the skills I see lacking in most people.  They want an assignment they want to know what it will be when they are done, they want to know that it CAN be done.  If you already know how to do it it is not truly a unique creation.