Working in the library’s special collections and archives sometimes has its perks. For example, I get to meet some fascinating writers, artists, and professors from around the country. One such person is Jeremiah Day, an artist working in Amsterdam. Day is a graduate of the UCLA art department. His prior work includes a performance called “Of all the possible things,” as part of the If I Cant Dance I don’t want To Be Part of Your Revolution visual arts project in Amsterdam. Day mixes human movement and performance with photos, paintings and sometimes video. You can read, and see, more about If I Can’t Dance here.
Day visited my office in the archive to do research in the Senator Frank Church collection a few months ago. He was gathering resources for his current exhibit, which will include many digital clips of campaign commercials and other video from the Church collection. When our class was given the assignment to interview a digital humanist, I knew right away that I wanted to see if Day was available. Thankfully he was, and he accepted my request, however the due date of this assignment was only a few days after his due date for his film. Nevertheless, he took some time to answer my questions via email.
Day’s work will be on presented in the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam as part of the “Beyond Imagination” exhibit which, according to their website, artists find “ways in which boundaries are now blurred between reality and imagination, authenticity and role-playing, especially in relation to developments in politics, finance and media.” Day’s contribution is called Frank Church – River of No Return Wilderness (2012), a name shared with Idaho’s largest wilderness area. Day’s work will consist of a video and a live performance piece performed on October 13th.
When I asked Day how he prepared for this exhibit, he said “There are a lot of facets to the process that led me to the work on Frank Church, but I guess two stand out – cultivating and maintaining the instinct that paying attention to political events and developments is somehow in and of itself consequential. And second of all the commitment to follow one’s intuitive line of thinking even when it doesn’t make sense at first analysis.” Day also points out that critical reading and writing are important educational skills to have to do his kind of work.
One of the questions we tried to answer in class was how do digital humanists use resources, and I found Day’s use of the Frank Church video collection to be insightful on this question. His work was unlike anything I had seen in my five years assisting researchers. Day’s comments reminded me of the importance of keeping context when doing research. During his visit, he went through dozens of reels of 16mm film and countless audio tapes; spending hours sifting through material. If it wasn’t for Day’s ability to watch for the threads of continuity, and not get distracted by all of the inconsequential media, I’m sure he would have left empty handed. Day made good use of our online finding aid before making the global trek to our archive. He knew exactly what he wanted to see, weeks before ever seeing our office. That said, he also had a very open mind once he was in research mode, and found new avenues of research.
As a full-time artist, Jeremiah’s typical day is much like you would expect. He said it includes “Coffee – take care of the baby – emails, procrastination – some kind of work. Right now that’s video editing. Some kind of exercise, dinner, tv, more emails, bed.” He of course is able to do this because of his ability to earn grant funding – a crucial part of a digital humanists career.
I asked Day what it takes to pursue a career in his field. He said, “Learn how to present oneself assertively. Either in the form of writing grants, or making exhibitions, even as simple as having a meeting with someone whose help you need – putting the work and oneself out there clearly is the name of the game if you want to make a living in the arts.” I am truly appreciative of Jeremiah Day’s willingness to discuss his work with me. Hopefully, some of his live performance or video will be made available online, for us all to experience.