Black Bucket Essays
Volume 1, Issue 2
Normalize difference until there is no space between self and other.
Mike Dax Iacovone
To ‘Normalize Difference’ one would have to adjust value of a given set in order to standardize the units of that set for evaluation purposes. This is most commonly used in statistics, and often in evaluating education statistics to localize growth or deficiencies. It is helpful in many situations, however the danger is that when it is overused it tends to dilute differences instead of pointing them out. That would be where the ‘no space between self and other’ lives. Of course, this is a nerdy and abstract way to understand ‘Normalizing Differences’ and there are is a lot more to it than that, but thinking about it in as overly simplified way can lend itself to applying it to idealized situations.
One such idealized situation would be to attempt to apply it to making and/or evaluating Contemporary Art. Considering my personal practice, I don’t think it’s not unlike what I try to do with my art. Essentially, I try to to experience spaces and take journeys by creating systems with rigid rules in order to attempt to get the viewer to consider what it would be like for them to move through spaces or take journeys based on a system instead of being based on destinations. There have been varying degrees of success, but ultimately I have a hard time straddling the line between being didactic and and being too anonymous.
There are certainly plenty of Contemporary artists dealing with corporeality and the space between self and other. Antony Gormley would be the first that comes to mind. For Gormley’s One and Other (Fourth Plinth) he famously gave the public an opportunity to stand and deliver their point of view and a pedestal to perform on in London’s tourist center Trafalgar Square. There were over 2400 people who participated in the 24/7 around the clock schedule, and in doing so, their points were aired on a very public platform. In that sense their differences were on display, yet due to the mass of performances, they became normalized and ubiquitous. Therefore their differences, while if they were viewed singularly, and then compared to the next or previous person would be noteworthy, became diluted and the 2400 individual performances became one.
Volume 1, Issue 2
Normalize difference until there is no space between self and other.
Mike Dax Iacovone
To ‘Normalize Difference’ one would have to adjust value of a given set in order to standardize the units of that set for evaluation purposes. This is most commonly used in statistics, and often in evaluating education statistics to localize growth or deficiencies. It is helpful in many situations, however the danger is that when it is overused it tends to dilute differences instead of pointing them out. That would be where the ‘no space between self and other’ lives. Of course, this is a nerdy and abstract way to understand ‘Normalizing Differences’ and there are is a lot more to it than that, but thinking about it in as overly simplified way can lend itself to applying it to idealized situations.
One such idealized situation would be to attempt to apply it to making and/or evaluating Contemporary Art. Considering my personal practice, I don’t think it’s not unlike what I try to do with my art. Essentially, I try to to experience spaces and take journeys by creating systems with rigid rules in order to attempt to get the viewer to consider what it would be like for them to move through spaces or take journeys based on a system instead of being based on destinations. There have been varying degrees of success, but ultimately I have a hard time straddling the line between being didactic and and being too anonymous.
There are certainly plenty of Contemporary artists dealing with corporeality and the space between self and other. Antony Gormley would be the first that comes to mind. For Gormley’s One and Other (Fourth Plinth) he famously gave the public an opportunity to stand and deliver their point of view and a pedestal to perform on in London’s tourist center Trafalgar Square. There were over 2400 people who participated in the 24/7 around the clock schedule, and in doing so, their points were aired on a very public platform. In that sense their differences were on display, yet due to the mass of performances, they became normalized and ubiquitous. Therefore their differences, while if they were viewed singularly, and then compared to the next or previous person would be noteworthy, became diluted and the 2400 individual performances became one.
