Amanda Samuels Project #2 Contraints

Amanda Samuels

Project #2 Conditions

For this project I will be exploring sleep paralysis. Sleep paralysis is a sleep disorder in which

the mind awakes while the body remains asleep. Upon this occurrence, the body is completely paralyzed,

unable move, open eyes, or use voice. I have had this condition since I was three years old, yet I have

never comprehended it. It is terrifying, and I often experience visual and auditory hallucinations of

shadows and dark spirits while in this state. This condition can also serve as a gateway to lucid

dreaming. Through this project, I vow to pay close attention to these times of sleep paralysis, rather than

resisting and avoiding them, in order to gain an understanding of this space and to release my fear. I will

write and sketch immediately after waking from these states, and eventually create an installation using

sound, video projection, and sculptural elements, alluding to this “in between” world that I enter, and the

entities that exist within it.

1 Use different kinds of senses to obtain knowledge

-I will play a different type of music each night to fall asleep to. For the first week of this experiment, I

will play music from my childhood that is strongly nostalgic and comforting. This includes Joni Mitchell,

Jewel, Mariah Carey, Grateful Dead, the soundtracks to Disney movies (Aladin, The Little Mermaid), and

Jimi Hendrix. The Second week I will play music that I do yoga and meditation to, including

emancipator, StS9, Ravi Shankar, Bonobo, Tipper, and Random Rab. The third week I will play music

music that I find beautifully haunting and eerie, such Cocorosie, Angel Olsen, Billy Holiday, Pat

Matheny, and Rio en Medio. I will also the sense of smell and taste, diffusing lavender oil as I sleep

every three nights, and drinking chamomile tea for week two, seeing how this effects the quantity,

intensity of sleep paralysis.

2. Adopt various professional roles.

-I will adopt the role of a psychologist, as I will research and analyze what psychological factors cause

and associate with this disorder. I will adopt the role of a meditation warrior, as I will attempt over and

over again to meditate while in sleep paralysis. I will adopt the role of a medium, as I will confront and

communicate with the spirits and entities that appear in this state.

3. Create “small assignments” for yourself along the way.

-My first assignment is to research multiple psychological perspectives on what causes sleep paralysis. I

will have this research done by the end of week one.

-My second assignment is to research multiple spiritual and energetic views of this condition, along with

its link to lucid dreaming. I will complete this research by the end of week number two

-My third assignment is to research and collect data about others experiences of sleep paralysis along with

how long they have had it for, what entities (if any) they have seen, and what there perspectives are. I

will complete this by the end of number three.

-My fourth assignment will be to make a large board of all of my writings and sketches I have gathered

and recorded after waking up from sleep paralysis. I will then review all of them as a whole to try to

gather links and associations between them.

4. Create severe constraints for yourself.

-I will create very specific sleep schedules. I will go to sleep at the same time every night for week one. I

will sleep for only three hours at a time, taking naps throughout the day for week two. I will deprive

myself of sleep for week three, only sleeping for short amounts of time and only once I have reached the

point of exhaustion. I will sleep completely at random for week four. With this sleep schedule, I can

figure out if and how these conditions relate to the occurrence of the disorder.

5. Create unrealistic ambitions for yourself.

-My unrealistic ambitions for myself are to successfully transition into lucid dreaming from the state of

paralysis, to communicate with the entities that I see, feel, and hear, and to create an installation that

portrays this realm.

6. Photograph, document, collects

-Along this journey I will be continuously writing and sketching my experiences, and gathering research.

I plan to cope with these conditions by giving extra attention to the health of my physical body. I am

aware that having such bizarre, inconsistent, and limited sleep patterns will be hard on my energy levels.

In order to compensate for this, I will put special time and energy into taking care of myself. During this

time of working on this project, I will be eating an organic, well balanced, vegan diet with plenty of

protein and water. I will also make sure to take vitamins and supplements every day to make sure that I

have enough energy and focus to stay awake and alert for my classes and to complete this project. I will

also be sure to do yoga and go to the gym regularly to have extra energy and strength. Writing and

sketching about my experiences will also help me process all of this.

Video at Tempo this Morning

https://vimeo.com/141580839

Also-I'll be updating more frequently on my personal blog if you want to check it out-
yooaloha.tumblr.com

Update- Monday, October 5

Yesterday I rode my bike to Tempo-Bistro-To Go and Earth Origins. I took videos before and after entering the establishments, discussing my expectations and what the next move was. I recorded the entire conversation for both establishments.

Results
Both establishments are very eager to help me out but neither will be able to help me out with Tuesday's dinner. I've decided to move Tuesday's dinner to Thursday due to the amount of work I have to do for critique and the fact that resteraunts need longer time to collect all the food.

Update

Here are some collages that resulted from the picture/ object gathering I did this weekend:

Sunday Night, October 4th: The Date Selection

Ok so I took 5 minutes and wrote down everyone I knew in Gainesville. This process made me realize that  really don't have many friends here at all and that I didn't want to invite about 80% of that list over. I knew I needed a more interesting method of choosing the dates anyway so I started to write down categories in which the date needed to be chosen from. I also had two friends write down people they knew that I didn't. One of the friends wrote down made up people and said they would play the part of that person if chosen. I like this idea of getting people to play characters, it adds another layer.

I made a calendar of dates (I'll post it later) and I need to have 4 this week. I have a critique on Thursday so I don't know if I can have one before that but I should have one Tuesday night. I'm planning on going to restaurants tomorrow, Monday, morning before my class at 12:50.

This is a lot to undertake and I may lower the number from 15 but we'll see. Let's do this.

15 Intimate Dates- Project #2

1. Create Severe Constrains for yourself

Over the course of 2 weeks, October 5-October 25, you must host 15 intimate dinner dates with 15 different people for a minimum of 1 hour. The furniture and food at the date must have been free and about to be thrown out at a local food establishment in Gainesville, FL. These dates will take place in the back house of 1416 NW 10th Ave. 

2.  Create Ground Rules for your project based on arbitrary decisions and random choices.

Choosing the 15 People and Restaurants 

1. 5 uninterrupted minutes, write down every person that comes into your head in Gainesville, FL. 

2. Place each individual name in a hat or bucket or something of the sort

3. Breath for 15 seconds and then choose 15 names. 

You must reach out to those 15 people first. If they say no, you may choose from the hat again

 Update 10/4/15 7:13 PM

After doing this I realized that the people don’t interest me that much and I don’t have many friends here. Also, a lot of people I wrote down I don’t want to invite over. Because of this, I’ve decided to make it more interesting and add in other things to the jar, such as-

Adding some people more than once

Tinder

People at Vine

People in certain classes

What You’ll be doing at the Dinner

• For each dinner, you will have a series of clear mason jars with topics of conversation and goals of the dinner. Your guest will pick 2 for their specific dinner. 

• At the end of the date, your guest will leave feedback in the guest book and will will contribute to the next dinner by placing their own ideas for conversation and goal for the  dinner into the jars.

3. Create Unrealistic Ambitions for yourself

You must have 15 dinners with 15 different people in 3 weeks.

You must build a new set of furniture for 15 different dinners for 3 weeks.

You must get 15 different food establishments in Gainesville to give you their food waste.

4. Create small assignments for yourself along the way.

 1. List out your first 15 food establishments (see Rule #2 for directions)

2. Reach putto them.

3. List out your first 15 people (see Rule #2 for directions)

4. Reach out to them.

5. Schedule first week of people and restaurants.

6. Make conversations choosers.

5. Create Participation between subject and environment.

Completetely transform the back house each time a new guest has a dinner. Let them contribute their mark to it.

earth ships for the future

Mercede's post about the snails reminded me of the theme of earth ships. Here's a great piece about them.
http://iheartintelligence.com/2014/08/07/11-reasons-why-earthships-are-the-future/