Ideal Cities / KIM BECK'S TUMBLR

So many of you have sent us your surface tests already! If you did, look out for your trade in the mail next week. And if you’d like to be part of the art exchange, send your surface test to The Art Assignment, PO Box 30827, Indianapolis, IN 46230. 

New assignment!

You probably made rubbings in elementary school, but Kim Beck views rubbings as field recordings. She wants you to take a snapshot of a particular place by making a rubbing of the ground you’re standing on. Here’s what she means:

The Art Assignment!

I made two art assignments in one evening bike ride today. I did Kim Beck’s surface test and Boundaries with Zarouhie Abdalian.

I set off on a bike ride to photograph boundaries between three towns (total of two boundaries). These towns all basically look the same but have what some people considerer to be a huge difference -it isn’t! The first town is inhabited in majority by francophones, the second town is quite bilingual and the last town is a very high majority of anglophones, so it’s town borders but also linguistic borders. I didn’t make it easy for myself but I tried anyways!

Honestly my favourite of all is the top work, the rubbing of an engraved plaque on a monument dedicated to Acadian settlers. It is both a rubbing and has a very clear dividing line right down the middle. It separates the french text from the english text. So basically I could have just done this one thing and called it a day. I like that I didn’t get too much of the words because I didn’t want it to be too clear as to which is the english side and which is the french side.

The second photo is of an actual floor rubbing as per Kim Beck’s instructions. This was taken from the platform where the monument to the Acadians resides. The planks have been cut to the shape of a big star in reference to the contemporary Acadian flag.

I took pictures of some of the locks that are attached to the bridge that roughly designated the seperation point between two towns. Being able To find some that were in french and some in english is highly representative of the meeting of cultures that happens in this region, as this border. I had planned some interventions of my own to designate these bordera but when I got there I prefered working with what I found to any modifications I had had in mind.

The last photo is at the bridge that separates the bilingual city from the majority anglophone city. I have to admit that I took a lot of pictures that I didn’t like and that I had a hard time figuring out how I was going to make something artistic but that also worked with the idea of borders. I chose this picture of the bridge that links both towns because of the graffiti. It obviously says “four” as in the number 4 but I am francophone so I was reading it in french. In french that word can mean three things: oven, fuck (fourre) and stuff (the third explains the second). My experience in this space with the linguistic confusion is what attracts me to the photo.

Ooh! When I was returning from my ride and I passed the first border again, there was a strong shadow falling right in the spot where I had estimated the border! So that was nice.

And the last Boundaries photo is really wonderful. 

This week, I did my very first Art Assignment (other than the Vidcon rug). Artist Kim Beck’s prompt to do a rubbing of an interesting patch of ground inspired me, and I instantly decided to hike to the top of a nearby mountain to do a rubbing on the concrete foundation of an old casino and hotel that was there until it burned down in 1906. 

However, the hike was harder than expected, and, with temperatures above 90 degrees, I couldn’t quite make it to the top. Instead, I made a rubbing of a neat patch of rock and gravel on the trail and had some pretty surprising realizations about the common uniqueness of the spaces we inhabit along the way.

The Art Assignment: Surface Test - Kim Beck

I decided to do the rubbing on the sidewalk - the place I see almost every day from my window. It’s old and cracked and I still remember my childhood summers walking barefoot, feeling the heat and cutting weeds from the cracks as I earned my first allowance. 

The Art Assignment: Surface Test

In response to The Art Assignment: Surface Test, I went on an expedition to the park today.

From the top, I have:

A small patch of concrete. I was surprised that the yellow paint also left a line.

One of a series of holes around the edge of the lake. There must have been a railing/fence there at some point. This one also had a filled-in hole next to it, which made the smaller circle.

A slightly softer surface. I think it’s the recycled tire groundcover used in waterparks, but the rubbing turned out about the same as those from the harder surfaces.

Bricks. Another man-made surface making a clear pattern.

Cracked bike path. I was hoping the little cracks would make a scaly pattern on the paper, but they didn’t come through.

A park bench. Also one of the few places where there was stuff in the area that I could use to hold the paper down.

A wooden/iron footbridge.

More cracked bike path, but the cracks are easier to see this time.

surface test, the art assignment 

The Art Assignment: Surface Test - Kim Beck

I decided to do the rubbing on the sidewalk - the place I see almost every day from my window. It’s old and cracked and I still remember my childhood summers walking barefoot, feeling the heat and cutting weeds from the cracks as I earned my first allowance.