Transcript – Josh Couturier – Without Borders 2020 Thesis & COVID-19 Response

The value of embodiment in my research has been my first biggest take away from the IMFA. As an artistic researcher I have been experimenting with methods and skill sets that have to do with using my body to create pieces of work. Equipping Dumbells with Paint brushes, Deadlifting a rock to break an xbox, and using architecture algorithmically as instrumentation begins to etch out how my art comes from exercising my physical skill sets and awarenesses in the world as it becomes a part of my work and documentation. 

My thesis is on the Inter-Art Machine, which involves the mechanics of embodiment, methods of wellness, my explorations, and aiming to understand the relationship between life and art as we know it. As i stated previously my making starts from my body. Where the body becomes my foundation for my explorative artistic research. Its my thinking that being mindful of my own experiences and developing my personal skill sets can further my abilities to conduct academic and artistic research, creative work, and methods of wellness. I feel that these mechanisms together along with my philosophies about living, and thinking begin to support my thesis on the Inter-Art Machine. 

In my creative thesis work I developed 15 charts that documented 15 weeks of research and experience. This method of experimenting with self started to become a research tool for my practice, creative work and wellness. Thinking about the rule based work and my previous history of algorithmic creatives I started to align the similarities about planning life and planning art. My gallery work was geared towards these ideas but since Covid-19 I have been specifically focused on upgrading the tool NeurAutoApp, on NeurAutoApp.com that allows users to track and reflect on daily life routines using my previous methods. 

My most recent take away involves Art, Technology, and methods of wellness. Building off of my previous bodies of work I began to focus on the value of experiences that come from life’s happenings. Thinking about the experiences that shape my life and my body as a canvas I started to move towards new experimental forms of documentation. I built an application that documents experience, and gives me a deeper awareness of self, my skill sets and surroundings. 

As far as suggestions for future Intermedia masters of fine arts students…Id say “Don’t enter this program with your bachelors in painting, photography, or sculpture and say, I’m coming out of this program as a master of such, that’s not what this program is for.” This is about research, attentiveness, experimentation, learning and perfecting new skill-sets, and having experiences. Then using these skill-sets and experiences to find new combinations that matter to you, to the public, community and world you’re going to be a part of. 

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