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Ellie Brown
Capsule Relationship
The story started with a Craigslist advertisement. The story ends with a true collaboration on the project. This resulted in a narrative of a truncated relationship based on social norms that both Zach Webber (the creator of the concept) and myself (the photographer) don’t necessarily fit into in our own minds. We wanted to try living this life in a way that is not making fun of those who choose this path, but rather to try it on for size so to speak. There were many unexpected emotional layers that surfaced for both of us during the project, mainly resulting from unexpected real reactions in fictional situations. Mostly we are proud of how convincing this project was for us as well as the people we encountered along the way. We didn’t know what to expect going into the project and the outcome was the result of an organic collaboration. In the end, we formed not only a working relationship, but a real romantic relationship within the boundaries of a fictional relationship. This brings into question the power of social scripting and how in trying to look at it critically, we fell into it. Like all relationships, the fictional and real relationship came to a perhaps predictable ending filled with emotional drama. Zach Webber chose to move on from the project and pursue a relationship outside of the work we did. He is no longer affiliated with the project and so all that remains is the documentation and experience of the project. The project was emotionally intense and difficult at times, but a wonderful mirror into how each one of us functions within the script of a relationship. Please read more details here: http://sevendayrelationship.blogspot.com/
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below is a copy of the actual advertisement as it appeared on Craigslist:
Seeking partner for conceptual seven-day-long relationship
Reply to: xxxxx@craigslist.org
Date: 2009-03-24, 4:03AM
Okay, here’s my idea:
I want to participate in a conceptual capsule relationship, which would essentially be an attempt to artificially concentrate a long-term relationship of several years into a period of seven days. During the seven-day span of our relationship, we’d move from the stage of initial flirtation into marriage, child-rearing, and finally divorce. This would involve a lot of play-acting at times, since once we set the relationship in motion, our actions and expressed emotions would be heavily shaped by the constructs of a stereotypical relationship. The goal would be to stick to our imposed guidelines as much as possible, placing ourselves in various situations in order to watch how the scenes play out between the two of us. It’s sort of the relationship equivalent of a haiku: very structured and very short.
I’d imagine we’d want to talk prior to officially starting our relationship in order to hash out the details, but here’s a basic, day-by-day outline of what I’ve got in mind:
- Day 1: We arrange to have a ‘chance meeting’ on the street, where we strike up a conversation and exchange numbers.
- Day 2: We have our first date, we go out to dinner, catch a movie, maybe hold hands afterwards.
- Day 3: We’re head-over-heels in love! We go on a romantic walk, we cuddle, we share a malted at a diner and stare deeply into one another’s eyes. -At some point during the day, I propose to you in a public place. You accept. -That night, we separately hold bachelor/bachelorette parties with our own groups of friends.
- Day 4: Our Wedding Day. That morning we get somebody to pretend to marry us in a private ceremony. Maybe we can tie tin cans to the backs of our bikes and ride away. -After our wedding, we embark on our honeymoon. Regional Rail to Atlantic City, right?
- Day 5: We’re expecting. You put a balloon under your shirt and we go around to baby stores, checking out the merchandise. We sure are excited!
- Day 6: Having secured a thrift-store stroller and a baby doll, we heavily swaddle our child in blankets and push the little cutie around the city. -Unfortunately, we start to bicker. As the day wears on, this bickering worsens.
- Day 7: Dramatically, we split up. One of us gains full custody of our child, and the other is deeply resentful. -In the final act of our capsule relationship, we bump into one another, once more, in a public place. This time, it’s very awkward. At this point, our capsule relationship will have ended, and we will be broken up.
NOTE: A friend of mine had an idea for an alternate ending that would involve you and I aging and gradually growing disenchanted with one another, which would necessitate rearranging some of the above “days” around to allow for a “boring domestic day” in which we’d spend a few hours sitting around the house watching serialized television together and not having too much to say to one another over dinner (spaghetti?) when we ask each other how our days have been. So, you know, all of this is totally up for discussion! I think it’d be a lot of fun, and I really hope somebody wants to do this with me. Even if you’re not interested in actually participating yourself, I’d love to get your feedback. And yes, I am willing to send a photo your way if you’re legitimately interested and feel that a photo is something you’ll need to see. Please email me with any questions or comments.
Related links:
typo, when i wrote “just as books/photographs (with the exception of kouldelka and house) often look still/stilted….”
i meant “just as books/photographs (with the exception of kouldelka and Hosoe)on theatre”…i meant photographs of theatre productions/performance often look stilted…or fail to convey the power of the performance/idea itself….
and also that part of the intriguing and important element of Ellie’s project is that the conceit of the project traduced her: attempting to great a fictional relationship, one in fact (so we learn) evolved, involving real emotions, real pain, etc….that’s what i also wanted to see and would make the concept that much more powerful: john cage’s arrangements ended up conveying real response and emotion in the audience from the transitor’s gravely voice )))
by the way, here is the project by Berman i alluded to
“Marine wedding”….
and this is not construction but the power of a real realtionship and the horror and the magnificent beauty of real people…
http://www.ninaberman.com/anb_port.php?dir=mw&mn=prt
cheers
b
The only thing predictable about BURN is that the work chosen for display allows us to think of “other” possibilities. Ellie and Zack’s project is personal. It has to be personal because of the emotion required, along with the fact that they play the central role in their project.
Telling this story as a series of images is not its proper format: too one-dimensional. The blurb book certainly gets a bit closer, the blog helps, the YouTube pieces say something. This story needs to harness the technology available to them. OK, see where this is going Ellie?
You and Zack took a fictitious relationship that kind of turned into a real relationship which kind of turned into a shared project that you no longer share — Very complicated.
I hope you and Zack take the good advice offered here without taking it personally. A most difficult proposition, stepping back from yourself.
It’s all personal when it’s your life.
If you take a look at any other of my photographic projects, they all have a different emotional tone. Some are very distant and some are close to home. This was experimental for me in that I normally do not photograph myself, do performative work or expose so much about my own life. The entire experience of the project which occurred in 2009, was the most intense project I had ever been through. Photographing my sisters for ten years had nothing on the emotional impact of the CAPSULE. It makes me quite sad that many of the comments here are so quick to judge on some sort of superior photographic merit. Thank you to those of you who have taken the time to read and try to understand the project in its entirety. It is most certainly way beyond the scope of what appears here. I frankly didn’t anticipate just showing images being such an issue but now I see that because it is a multi-media project that more should have been included.
Ellie…the best thing about you is that you are thinking “out of the box”..
Most of the great artists were never understood or accepted when they first came out…
Later of course the became “great, iconic..etc”
Do not worry..this is not the “american idol” here..
However..u have to understand the Burn audience though… no matter how “tough” it appears to be…
reason is: it expects way too much..especially from photography..or the photographic “part” of any concept..
You wrote:
“…The entire experience of the project which occurred in 2009, was the most intense project I had ever been..”
The audience though does not know that..It expects from the artist to make that obvious through the photos…not through captions or explanations…Photography here comes first..the original idea sometimes second..and i totally agree with you when u say:
“… such an issue but now I see that because it is a multi-media project that more should have been included….”
Exactly…in your project to be felt (emotions) video should have been the main way to go with maybe a few stills included…or the photography should be in a much “higher” level…
Of course who can achieve that in 7 days??? i dont know..but i would personally prefer to see 7 great photos that represent each day..instead of an exhausting repetition of 100something similar ( i dont wanna say boring) photos…that literally remove the power of the idea instead of empowering it…
but who knows…i could be wrong…maybe there is some dark sense of humor and i totally missed it..which is very possible indeed..
welcome to Burn
big hug
elliebeee – I think you doing both yourself/photographic process and the burn audience a disservice by allowing yourself to believe that many here were quick to judge; I think the opposite it closer to the truth and considered responses were given so that your work in the future could benefit from the experience of the audience. I wish our words could be a springboard for you…
Ellie, I understand your concept and a lot of work, you totally put a lot and sentimentally, but there is sometimes a difference between what you want to say and what it says…
I like a lot the work on your sisters
all the best, audrey
ellie..
:ø)
of course we are only seeing and reading half the story and i feel for you that your partner in this work is shying away from joining in.. more power to you for staying the course.. and a little shame on him for abandoning you at this stage.
i think as a concept it´s strong and promotes a greater level of thought than most put into having a baby and getting married.. 45% of marriages in the u.k. with children end just as your fictional one did.. relationship scripts or just plain thoughtlessness.. there is a train of thought to follow..
it´s been a long road in doing the work and i suspect there is some way to go.. no time to see the book.. sounds like you have nailed it there…
stick around.. no one intends hurt i´m sure..
d
Erica
Actually, the Rimbaud quote you posted yesterday pointedly and painfully summed up this entire piece. And more so if you read the book. Those words haunt me, and i repeat from memory, ¨One evening he sat Beauty on his lap and her taste was bitter and he cursed her¨. Maybe it´s not word for word but it has been going around my mind like a mantra. A chilling capsulized summary of a capsulized relationship.
k.
(by ¨the book¨.i mean the Blurb book)
Just read the Blub book. Yes! Love it. Absolutely fascinating. A multi-media piece would have worked so much better here.
GORDON…
yes, perhaps…in that case, a multi-media piece should have been presented or discussed with us..Ellie has stood by this presentation for several months…..i still think the book and/or a really provocative installation would be great vehicles to tell this story….
Looks like there are a fair few here that may want to brush up on their contemporary art practice processesand repost some of their comments ………… just a thought
Remember it is a performance art piece
well i’ve watched it a few times now, and i’ve enjoyed it more each time.
i went from a curiosity about what you decided were key moments, to really looking at the details and deciding which were more real than others, and i ended up feeling that i really was just a viewer of your relationship.
it’s SO unpretentious and so real… it really worked for me, and i don’t see how you could have done it with less pictures, but it’s something you really need to watch more than a couple of times to feel the connection, to cross from the project into accepting it’s reality. (whilst knowing it’s not :).
Great concept – far too many photos. Easily could have gotten the idea and told the story with two-four of the best per section easily. Best of luck with future projects!
Welcome back, Ellie! Hope you see how your essay has sparked a lot of thought, consideration and comments. And I sure hope you’ll stick around. This is a great place for committed photogs and just plain interesting people to discuss a myriad of subjects. Besides DAH has an eye for intriguing essays.
Patricia
Again, I appreciate the thoughtful comments and support as opposed to the attacking side of things.
I encourage and challenge all of you to engage in some sort of conceptual situation and to document it however you choose. I am really interested to see/hear what any of you would come up with. Before our working relationship was dissolved, Zach and I wanted to start a website of other people doing conceptually based capsule projects, i.e. playing out a concept in a finite period of time. Please take this or any idea and run with it. I’m very interested to hear about other people’s experiences with this or a related theme. If you need ideas, I can ‘assign’ one to you.
Ellie,
we don’t need to go into your experiences to be able to see or give feedback on your essay.
I perceive the feedback the people here gave to you as very valuable – even those, which you perceived as nasty. Step back from your emotions and listen again to the feedback. Think about it, look at your work again.
Then, accept or dismiss the feedback – but please understand that everybody commenting here and in dialogue does it to support you becomming better. If the viewers of your essay “don’t get it”, it is not their fault. Maybe something important was missing in the first place.
Think about it.
When my essay was published, some really challenging comments were made. They helped me thinking about my work – and some of the comments were so right.
Now, I would like you to have a look – and ask you to comment your thoughts about the essay/series …
http://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2009/11/thomas-bregulla-everyday/#comments
Ellie:
As a photographer, nearly every project that I have done and exhibited has come from a conceptual germination: the ideas, always, in seed and sprouting, have come from the intersection of idea (and words, since I am also a writer) and surrounding….on April 1st, a new essay will be published (which is part of a long book i’ve been at work on) at another magazine that is ‘conceptual’ in it’s basis…i cant reveal the essay or the publication as yet (David is aware) but rest assured some of us have done this…my 3 week essay was shown here (bones of time) when Burn was first published…and my 2-week project on faces, and the interaction between me and faces was a finalist for David’s First Emerging Photographers Fund Award and was later shown by David at Look3…..i wish to god, i could share with you now the new essay, but i must be patient….
nearly everything i make comes from the limitation of time…for my first essay for david I limited myself severely: to 2 weeks, 5 rolls of film, nothing more. I also limited the interaction to 6 people, pics of 6 people, 3 from korea, 2 from japan, 1 from turkey….a small selection of that final essay (35 pics) is on David’s original website (10 pics, were shown at Look3)….
david knows much more about my work, but i would invite you to hang around…i tend to write alot here, but i’m under a lot of pressure to finalize this other project…
and by the way, i’ve also made an essay specifically FOR BURN….that i will send to David and Anton in May/June….it’s conceptual….and for them….i am sure it’ll kick up some nickers too….
and i can assure you that when Bones was published here it took a lot of heat…and who cares, right?….what matters, in truth, is not whether or not others like/appreciate/get, but that we persevere in our getting the stuck unstuck from the back of our throats and the caverns of our honeycomb’d insides…that’s why we’re artists to begin with right?….hang tough….
Imants: hmmm, not fair. you know as well as i that many many here do not have the background in art or art history that you and I have and doesnt does not vitiate their perspectives…as i’ve trumped 1,000,000 it is important that photographers expand their visual horizons and references, but my criticism of ellie and zack’s project comes directly from an art basis….artists practicing conceptual performance photo-based projects should also be aware of contemporary language and theory about the practice…when Nina shows in the Whitney, one must begin to reexamine how one’s own conceptual relationship to document comes into account…..that in mind, i loved the idea of the project, alot…especially it’s humor….i loved the book, i just didnt like at all the essay here…it fails to deal with some of the concept’s requirements and it is weak in comparison to the text/images in the book….and you know that I love endless amounts of pics ;))))…wait until ‘and our memories’ is published, good god ;))…..anyway…..
book dummy looks lovely
gotta split
b
…or just go out in the world and have ‘actual’ experiences and adventures, and take huge risks, and fail, and succeed, and stake it all on a single roll, win or lose you always win…and move on and do it some more.
John:
this is exactly right! :))))
JOHN…
yes, of course, that is what you do and me too….but not everyone uses photography for the same reasons nor has the same predilections…we all have different things in our hearts and heads that are going to come out one way or the other…frankly, i love fiction…with fiction you can really tell the truth…as you well know, there are some writers who do both fiction and non-fiction and a few photographers as well…obviously Ellie had something on her mind..something that could not be done by walking down the street with a Leica…shouldn’t she be allowed her own form of expression? yes, i see the weaknesses in her essay, but i also see someone really trying to substantiate and affiliate compound ideas …how she grows from this will be interesting to see i think…but i doubt it will be in the direction of straight documentary photography…nor should it be imo….sure she can do her work more succinct and with more raw visual power….but some of the essays that many seem to like here in the photo-j category go by unscathed when in fact they are no better versions of that genre than Ellie is in hers and required a whole lot less thought than Ellie put into her work….just my opinion…
coming to Spain in April with a quick stop in London…any chance for a cold beer??
cheers, david
with fiction you can really tell the truth
yes! i am starting to believe that more and more….
Kenneth,
I like that quote.
For the record, this project was an experiment. It is not my usual mode of working. I actually consider myself a documentary photographer if you asked me any other day. So, I tried something new and stepped outside of my comfort zone as an artist and photographer. It was and IS very hard to make one’s self so vulnerable in this way- to make the private so public. My request for everyone to try a capsule experience was not me being cheeky. It was a sincere query to ask yourselves what sort of challenge you would undertake?
This is not a project that I am planning to work on further or will ever revisit. It is done. I had the experience and I don’t need to repeat it. So….thanks for the ‘in the future of this project’ comments, but it is really over. I’m back to being behind the camera now.
“with fiction you can really tell the truth”
David A…,…, anyway, thanks.
yeah, sorry. that quote was taken from dah in the comments above mine
elliebee
Thanks. You’ve pushed me a little further along. Not sure if I’ll ever try a “capsule” project, but love the concept. I think you’ve pushed us all a little further along.
ELLIE..
you obviously missed my comment above where i was trying to make a case for you as a conceptual photographer with room to grow…funny…now, you describe yourself as a documentary photographer…in looking at your website and work on Flickr i do not see any documentary work…only with Two Sisters do you have the documentary approach which is quite nice…in any case, we will wait to see what you do next…thanks for sticking around….
cheers, david
I actually consider myself a documentary photographer if you asked me any other day.
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!!??
ok..now im getting dizzy…time for me to go to bed…goodnight everyone…3:07 here…
big hug
interesting idea, well documented.. i really like it!
best wishes-
mike
:|
what capsule project would i do?
hmm..
bill paying.. residency forms.. tax returns.. washing-up..
would be quicker than doing it in reality.
the project i would really like to do – which condenses time and events into a manageable, fictional account – would be a short film..
fiction can indeed be a good way of telling the truth and i´ve wanted to make one highlighting some of my real experiences as a photographer working in the music industry for a long while..
condense 12 years into a one-month-in-the-life… highlights and low-lifes.
it would be one way of getting round the lawyers :ø)
how about life as a conceptual experiment?
having one simple and unlikely wish – then creating a reality which fits that idea?
“…or just go out in the world and have ‘actual’ experiences and adventures, and take huge risks, and fail, and succeed, and stake it all on a single roll, win or lose you always win…and move on and do it some more.”
I like John’s way.
Ellie, one question (and I do not need an answer, I have got mine): do you think to photograph your backyard, your family, your real life in opposite to a project like you did as less emontionally draining? Couldn’t it be that far or near (conceptual or real) has nothing to do with it, but all with the emotions you put into the work, whatever it might be?
The reslult, to me, is still the same, whatever you do it must be convincing.. if it’s not then critiques come in, the moment you put out the work to public (which is a free choice btw). It doesn’t matter how hard the whole thing has been on you, for the quality of the work it cannot matter, no excuses and no hiding behind emotional attachment to the work. I don’t say it’s easy, but there’s no difference between in-capsule and out-capsule relationships.
Again getting my comment in a little late, behind the eight ball again. IMO as a internet based photo essay the images lack the visual language to communicate the intense emotions described and even felt by the artists. I would have loved this piece with a shorter edit, and copy from the book read over the photographs. I think there is a place in between straight photography and short films that can work as multimedia. I have stated before I think that is the future of photography on the internet. The internet is the most common vehicle to view photography today so it has too work online as well as in print, and in galleries. We are dealing with info/image overload, if the images do not strike at some deep subconscious level they will be forgotten. I don’t think any artist wants their work to be forgotten.
From a personal perspective I have (as many others here quite assuredly) have experienced the range of emotions attempting to be communicated here. In 5 yrs I have dated, proposed, , married, had two kids, and very nearly ended up in separation and divorce (still not out of the woods) so from personal experience the photo essay feels contrived, immature, lacking in depth, cold, artificial, patronizing, and lacking any reel drama, or pathos. If that was the intent then I think the essay has succeeded. Again I am describing the visual imagery and technique here. I think as a photographic experiment it is quite interesting and worth the attempt. Not all experiments end in success but that does not stop us from searching for the philosopher’s stone. Keep up your spirits and your work.
All the best,
Frank
Eva,
I guess you missed ‘Two Girls: My Sisters 1996-2006′? http://www.elliebrown.com
Cheers.
Ellie
Ellie, no, I’ve not missed ‘Two Girls’, nor your whole blog about the project, nor the Blurb book.. nor your flickr account either, but have to say that I didn’t look through all of the pictures there, just too much..
wow…the concept here is really original! well done!
I know this is a simple reading, but if you just strip out the disconcerting requirement of making the piece about the emotional journey you travelled in the making of the piece you’d have something different and more modest but imo more satisfying.
I know it’s about the power of the script you were satirizing to suck you in, but just at face value it’s a valuable satirical statement, which you started off trying to make, about the pessimism of so many X-ers of the likelihood of finding the meaning and fulfillment they were promised by that script. What some commenters here are seeing as emotionally emptiness I’m seeing as faces full of defensive resignation to inevitable failure. When the piece is framed so the viewer is already anticipating the end, then the friction between the hope (which is never completely lost) and the expected reality – the impossibility of
ever not being alone – comes through in just about every shot. Like some fellow said, when you say “I love you”, it’s a prayer to the gods who may make it so, but you know they rarely listen. The snapshot aesthetic works because it emphasises the superficiality of the relationship – a shallowness to it all.
That’d be a pretty thin piece for many, I know, but that’s the level it works best at for me. To make a statement like that with photography and a good-natured wit is quite something.
Best wishes with future work.
This is very nice, funny and original; though not incredible under a photographic point of view, it’s the typical example of how a great idea goes beyond technicalities.