The New Fordist Organization

The New Fordist Organization is part of

The Institute Of Applied Cultural Economics And Sociology

NFO/ GEMAK Residency

New Fordism at GEMAK

28 June 2013 - Finnisage Of "The New Fordist Manifesto"

There were four pieces performed at the closing of the exhibition as well as the presentation of all of the work created by the team working in the gallery throughout the residency. At the closing there were performances of two new pieces by Robert Blatt. The scores of these pieces had been on display in the gallery as part of his The Art Of Production installation. There were also performances of two new pieces by David Pocknee.

All four pieces can be watched and heard below.

David Pocknee - Conditioned

In this work, a musical response to a set of visual stimuli is conditioned in a subject.

Two "performers", one the conditioner, the other the subject-to-be-conditioned, sit on either side of a divide, so that external stimuli from the conditioner do not intrude into the conditioning process.

In front of the subject is a screen, onto which symbols will flash, and a set of sound-making objects.
Each of the sounding objects is a sonic stimuli that was used to condition dogs in Pavlov's experiments: a struck bottle, tuning fork, horn, metronome, bubbling water, etc.
Each of the symbols on the screen is a visual stimuli that was used to condition dogs in Pavlov's experiments.

The aim of the work is to condition a link between the eight visual stimuli and each of the eight sound-making objects.

Before the piece is begun, a computer randomly assigns a symbol to each of the sound-makers.
The subject has been requested to eat as little as possible during the hours before the piece, in order to heighten the effect of the conditioning.

Once the subject is seated, symbols will appear one at a time onto the screen in front of them, after which they must then use one of the sound-making objects. If they are correct in guessing the computer's choice, they wll be rewarded with a small edible treat. If they are incorrect, the next symbol will appear. The piece finishes when the subject has guessed each symbol three times in a row.

David Pocknee - Conditioned

MP3>>>

David Pocknee - For Frank Gilbreth

A piece which looks at the connections between the Chronocyclegraph Motion Study method developed by Frank Gilbreth, Vsevolod Meyerhold's Biomechanical Etudes, and the application of contemporary Ergonomics to box lifting.

A set of cardboard packing boxes are stacked into files piles of different heights. Another packing box is filled with melted sugar, which leaks out of each corner. As this box is slowly moved from pile to pile, the sugar starts to solidify in the air, leaving a sculptural trace of motion. Simultaneously, two posters in the background echo the movements of the performer: a poster of Meyerhold's Biomechanical Etudes, with it's distinctive "box lifting" resting motion sits alongside a page from a book on ergonomics, showing the distribution of weight in the movement of heavy boxes and the method of moving them that places least strain on the body.