An exploration of sculpture’s relationship to landscape and the body as viewed through the lens of the artist-traveler.


Our workshop will examine the notion of travel through such examples as Baudelaire’s flâneur, the Situationists’ theory of Psychogeography, and artists ranging from Robert Smithson and Richard Long, to Francis Alys and Olaf Breuning. We will conduct a series of exercises, expeditions, and missions including the creation of livable shelter-sculptures to inhabit on a weekend camping trip in the Scottish Highlands. Bedouin tents, arctic research stations, camper vans, Hoovervilles, hunting blinds, and interplanetary spacecraft serve as our inspirational points of departure...


Participants:

Matt King (Instructor), Andrew Cobb, Zoe Golden, Rebecca Henderson, Elise Isom, Mitchell Petersen, Cameron Robinson, Andrew Schmidt, Emily Stokes


The Glasgow Artists and Writers Workshop

Virginia Commonwealth University

Glasgow, Scotland, June 22nd - July 23rd, 2010

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Who You Gonna Call?


I'm not normally very suspicious, but I'm getting kind of nervous about camping in a place that's supposed to be so haunted. So I've been looking up ways to protect yourself from ghosts.

Salt seems to be the most often suggested way to get rid of ghosts. It's recommended you make a circle of salt around your dwelling to protect yourself from evil spirits. I don't know if these ghosts are actually evil, but I'm not taking any chances.
The second most commonly suggested way to get rid of ghosts is prayer, or a belief in God. Google "how to get rid of ghosts" and you will find lots of Yahoo/WikiAnswers-type forums telling inquiring minds that in order to prevent being haunted, they should pray, and if that fails, perform an exorcism.
Planting houseleeks (also called Liveforever, from the Latin sempervivum) on your roof keeps ghosts out because the dead cannot go near them. Not very helpful if you're in a tent, though.
Apparently building a fire helps too, which sounds like a good way to keep ghosts away from the campsite. A lot of sources I've found also suggest simply telling the ghost to go away and leave you alone.

The Chinese have numerous ways of keeping evil spirits away, including wearing red underwear or shoes, wearing a strand of forty-nine garlic bundles on your head, wearing jade or crystal, carrying 36 pieces of rice, and eating pig's feet. They also suggest that if you're going to a place that's known to be haunted, you don't wear clothing with your name on it, turn around if someone taps you on the shoulder, shine flashlights into trees, or lie on your stomach on the ground.
If you can't or don't want to get rid of ghosts altogether, but want them to behave better, try planting lilies, or burying apples at a crossroads near your home at midnight.
Other websites suggest hanging rowan and St. John's wort over doorways, crossing over moving water, carrying a sprig of rosemary inside a seashell and bound with red thread, and refusing to believe in ghosts.

Don't try to use smells to scare it away though. Apparently that won't work.

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