Exposition

Alpha (2014)

Juliet MacDonald

About this exposition

This is a report of an art-research project that started over four years ago. It concerns drawings made by a chimpanzee as part of a scientific experiment conducted in the 1940s. On the first page I summarise the background to my project, the discussion of drawing that provides a context, and the areas of enquiry that are exposed. On three further pages of the exposition I discuss the methods by which I conducted the research. 'Collecting' describes the acquisition of second-hand books dating from the first half of the twentieth century. In 'Tracing' I discuss the retracing of drawings made by the chimpanzee named Alpha. The third of these pages, 'Experimenting', shows the development of this research during an artist's residency at MEANTIME in 2012.
typeresearch exposition
date01/01/2014
published26/05/2014
last modified26/05/2014
statuspublished
share statusprivate
affiliationUniversity of Huddersfield
licenseAll rights reserved
urlhttps://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/49782/49783
doihttps://doi.org/10.22501/jar.49782
published inJournal for Artistic Research
portal issue5.


Simple Media

id name copyright license
65303 Alpha-2 Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
65301 Alpha-1 Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
65299 Alpha-3 Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
65297 Alpha-4 Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
65294 P1010738 Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
65152 Lower room: Writing out the quotation from Schiller's report Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
65147 Upstairs room (work in progress) Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
50842 the_digram Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
50819 chimpanzee drawings 6 Chimpanzee drawings from the Paul Harkai Schiller Papers, reproduced with kind permission of Paul Harkai Schiller Papers, Special and Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida. All rights reserved
50818 chimpanzee drawings 5 Chimpanzee drawings from the Paul Harkai Schiller Papers, reproduced with kind permission of Paul Harkai Schiller Papers, Special and Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida. All rights reserved
50817 chimpanzee drawings 4 Chimpanzee drawings from the Paul Harkai Schiller Papers, reproduced with kind permission of Paul Harkai Schiller Papers, Special and Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida. All rights reserved
50816 chimpanzee drawings 3 Chimpanzee drawings from the Paul Harkai Schiller Papers, reproduced with kind permission of Paul Harkai Schiller Papers, Special and Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida. All rights reserved
50814 chimpanzee drawings 2 Chimpanzee drawings from the Paul Harkai Schiller Papers, reproduced with kind permission of Paul Harkai Schiller Papers, Special and Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida. All rights reserved
50813 chimpanzee drawings 1 Chimpanzee drawings from the Paul Harkai Schiller Papers, reproduced with kind permission of Paul Harkai Schiller Papers, Special and Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida. All rights reserved
50811 DSC_0063low Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
50810 10 lay P1010683 Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
50809 13 lay P1000134 Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
50807 00 P1010685 Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
50806 JulietMacDonald2 Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
50803 dividers 20120909160736055 Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
50796 P1010744 e Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
50795 P1010978 e Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
50794 05 play P1010797 e Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
50793 IMGP5603 e Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
50766 12 draw P1010862 e Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
50765 11c draw P1010974cropped e Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
50764 11b draw P1010874 e Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
50763 11a draw P1000148 e Installation by Juliet MacDonald, photograph by MEANTIME All rights reserved
50762 11 draw P1000125 e Drawing by Juliet MacDonald, photograph by MEANTIME All rights reserved
50761 10 draw P1000147 e Drawings by Juliet MacDonald, photograph by MEANTIME All rights reserved
50760 09 draw P1000141 e Drawing by Juliet MacDonald, photograph by MEANTIME All rights reserved
50759 08 draw P1010799 e Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
50758 07b draw P1000154 e Drawing by Juliet MacDonald, photograph by MEANTIME All rights reserved
50757 07 draw P1010771 e Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
50756 06 draw P1010773 e Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
50755 04 draw P1010730 e Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
50754 00c draw MacDonald_Meantime3 e Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
50753 00c draw MacDonald_Meantime3 e MEANTIME All rights reserved
50752 00b draw P1010733 e Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
50744 10 play P1010850 e Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
50743 09 play P1010848 e Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
50742 08 play P1010851 e Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
50741 07a play P1010952 corrected e Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
50740 07 play IMG_0358 e Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
50739 06 play P1010775 e Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
50738 05 play P1010797 e Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
50737 04a play P1010690 e Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
50736 04a play P1010690 e Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
50735 04 play P1010809 e Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
50734 01 play P1000187 e Installation by Juliet MacDonald, photograph by MEANTIME All rights reserved
50733 00 play P1010761 e Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
50731 07 writ P1000189 e Video installation by Juliet MacDonald, photograph by MEANTIME All rights reserved
50730 06 writ P1000174 e Drawing by Juliet MacDonald, photograph by MEANTIME All rights reserved
50729 05 writ P1020012 e Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
50728 04 writ P1010829 e Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
50727 03 writ P1000177 e Drawing by Juliet MacDonald, photograph by MEANTIME All rights reserved
50726 01 writ P1010831 e Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
50724 15 lay P1000130 e Installation by Juliet MacDonald, photograph by MEANTIME All rights reserved
50723 09b lay P1010965 e Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
50722 09a lay P1010821 e Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
50721 09 lay P1010759 e Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
50720 03 lay P1010991 e Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
50719 03 lay P1010991 e Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
50718 02a lay P1010989_cropped e Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
50717 01c lay P1000129 e Installation by Juliet MacDonald, photograph by MEANTIME All rights reserved
50716 01b lay P1000180 e Installation by Juliet MacDonald, photograph by MEANTIME All rights reserved
50715 01a lay P1010675 e Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
50714 00 lay P1000143 e Installation by Juliet MacDonald, photograph by MEANTIME All rights reserved
49982 Alpha's drawing Paul Harkai Schiller Papers, Special and Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida All rights reserved
49976 P1010989_cropped Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
49972 IMGP5805 Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
49970 IMGP5799 Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
49967 IMGP5792 Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
49964 P1020007_corrected Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
49958 drawing2alpha Schiller archives, Emory All rights reserved
49955 DSC_0054 Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
49953 JulietMacDonald1 Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
49930 MacDonald text page 2 Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
49927 Macdonald text page Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
49855 JulietMacDonald1 Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
49850 JulietMacDonald2 Juliet MacDonald All rights reserved
49786 Alpha as infant drawing Creative Commons All rights reserved

comments: 2 (last entry by Phil Sawdon - 26/05/2014 at 14:30)
Bryndis Snaebjörnsdottir 26/05/2014 at 14:29

The strength of this research is in Juliet MacDonald’s perseverance with her artistic research processes generally, as demonstrated throughout a long process of information-gathering in relation to the subject. The project, as with most visual art practice-based research does not foreground a research question; it searches for questions and answers simultaneously in a reciprocity of ideas in which information is objectified through the process of collecting and gathering. The innovation is most noticeably in the application of artistic methods and processes that exceed an already well-explored scientific enquiry. It is through the artistic process and context that the work begins to take on a new meaning and deeper understanding of what it was like to be Alpha, a chimpanzee lab animal in the mid-nineties. It seems to me that the focus of the research shifted constructively with the making of the exhibition in the ‘Meantime’ gallery space and that instead of it focusing on the drawing – the drawing became instead, the tool from which it was possible to create or identify new knowledge, interpretation and insights.

 

The research subject is challenging and controversial, in that it highlights the ethical issues concerning animal experimentation. The challenge in the research lies in the initial research itself, that of using drawing as a tool to investigate visual perception in chimpanzees. As evident in the many books collected by Juliet for this research that over time, have been withdrawn from libraries and thus lost to the general public, our knowledge of animal cognition and indeed our increased awareness of complexities in how other species perceive or navigate the world has changed considerably since the 1940s. I would even go so far as to say that to be able to consider the drawing of animals one needs to “unlearn” what we humans know about drawing and try to conceptualize what drawing might mean to a non-human animal. However, working within academic research and publishing does not give much latitude for stepping outside of a human-centred world, whereas an exposition of (non-linguistic) art opens up a space of enquiry to enable this. Animal studies groups amongst other academic disciplines have taken a special interest in art in order to explore exactly this relationship between ontologies, embodiment and knowing and how artistic methods can shed light on how other forms of knowledge are identified or acquired.

 

 

Working with animals in art requires ethical considerations and one might consider here how the animal (Alpha) is ‘objectified’ all over again, this time through art and/or how the reproduction of the subject experience through art adds to our knowledge. It is because of the ethical implications intrinsic to the subject and also as a means by which to test our trust in artistic research that a reflective summation of the exhibition produced is valuable. JAR is after all a journal for artistic research and as such should not simply demonstrate that artist RESEARCH has happened, but should also constitute a platform to highlight and promote the knowledge produced through art. There is of course the argument that this ‘knowledge’ exists in the exhibition per se, embodied in the art itself. But if that is deemed sufficient, it might also then be argued that there is no real function in its appearance in JAR. Perhaps an imperative to re-design and articulate the visual documentation/material specifically for JAR might demonstrate more clearly the ‘issues’ raised and serve to utilise the work as instrument, not only for enquiry through making, but after the event, as a mechanism for continuing discourse, reflection and action.

Phil Sawdon 26/05/2014 at 14:30

I/We have been invited by an editor of JAR to contribute various ‘opening statements’ as part of the journal’s aim to share part of the peer review process and to facilitate a possible broader discussion within the research community (the ACADEMY?). In effect I am a peer reviewer who has lost a vowel, gained a hyphen and is now reordered as a pre-reviewer and validator and I wonder to what end? I am sceptical however I am a supporter of JAR. I am engaged in monkey business. My statement is published as personal comment. It comprises ‘just a few words’.

In the guise of the various meanings pertaining to statements perhaps it is only fair to confess an interest in this particular exposition as the co-supervisor of the PhD thesis (MacDonald, 2010) at (in the words of MacDonald) whose tail end you will find Alpha [the chimpanzee].

Alpha [A REPORT TO AN ACADEMY] is a four year old ‘itchy sore’, and a ‘scab that refuses to heal’. The exposition is ethically aware and not overtly mischief making but it is engaged with monkey business and it acknowledges the ‘disruptive potential’ of Alpha’s drawings.

The author sees herself as a drawing animal. Alpha was a chimpanzee.

Alpha the exposition is of artistic and intellectual interest to researchers in the field of contemporary fine art drawing.  It is academic, scholarly and engagingly accessible. Alpha (the exposition or the chimpanzee?) clearly articulates, narrates and demonstrates the ‘artistic’ tests and methods that were/are used to investigate the main research questions and in doing so the author provides a methodological framework through practical strategies (‘actions and practices’) for others to possibly adapt and or adopt albeit in the authors words retrospectively.

Le singe est sur la branche et la souris est sous la table …

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