Retrospective 7: video installation : douglas gordon and tony oursler

DOUGLAS GORDON





Confessions of a Justified Sinner 1995 (first image)
Video installation
Two parts
Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris

In the early 1990s Douglas Gordon produced a series of projected works using fragments of existing film footage which he manipulated in order to draw the viewer’s attention to unseen details. These works investigate the psychological impact of the moving image and themes of perception, memory and voyeurism.

Confessions of a Justified Sinner combines three clips from an early film version of RL Stevenson’s novel The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde that capture saintly Jekyll transforming into monstrous Hyde. The footage is enlarged, slowed down and projected onto two separate screens, one negative and one positive, in order to prolong and blur the two states.

i researched Douglas Gordons use of projection and film editing lasy year for my foundation project for which i created a projected installation:







Tony Oursler
I enjoy the playful yet surreal nature of Ourslers' work and it inspired me into thinking about back-projection,which this time last year i had never even heard of. The way he uses projection is inventive and he combines the idea of static physical structure with moving image,which inspired me into looking at how i could use the moving image in a closed material structure to directly involve the audience and make them feel as though they are expiriencing something.

Tuesday talks: WHITWORTH ART gallery

9 November SIMON & TOM BLOOR

Simon & Tom Bloor's works and projects use a range of media including publications, drawing, sculpture and installation to investigate flawed idealism's and utopias. With an approach to research that has been described as more "magpie-like" than academic, their work reveals hidden connections and obscure histories. In addition to their collaboration together they are a part of the founding collective of Eastside Projects, Birmingham and are exhibiting a new commission at Modern Art Oxford this autumn.

I went to most of the Tuesday talks last year and really really enjoyed them and found they inspired my work and working ethos. I attended this talk because from the description i thought it may be able to inspire me ideas for the Mary Greg installation. I found the talk quite interesting,not amazing but they did go into public installation in open outdoor areas and working with establishments,using decayed industrial areas as inspiration for exhibited installations. I didn't understand the concepts of their work as well i wanted to but i was inspired to see inspiration in the simplest and most decayed industrial areas.

Retrospective 5: 'The Manchester Weekender!!' : ABANDON NORMAL DEVICES: shrink

Volunteers suspended in airtight transparent plastic,whilst the air is slowly removed. A performative piece.reflexive and intriguing.I attended this exhibition stupidly without my camera with the intention of returning the next day to photograph,which i couldn't,but i did take some on a phone so hopefully I'l get them uploaded. BASICALLY,i love performance,especially performance that makes the audience feel directly aligned with the performer/scared of the performer or made to feel awkward or intrigued in some way. This definitely achieved a subjective viewing experience,as the audience was left to stand in an atmospheric,ornate hall, 3 plastic screens/human suspending devices on each side, the volunteers then squeezed inside and posed,it took approx 10 minutes or less for the air to be removed,until they were left hanging,with a small pocket to allow them to breath. It made me consider:
- how we view performance? literally and how we view the nature of 'what it is'??
- how what the performer is subjected to directly affects the audience?
- how the piece did not explore claustrophobia,this was a theme experienced by the audience watching,it seemed to conjure in my mind the idea of commercial packaging in society,the performer versus the audience and human experience, foremost it 'just was', just a presentation of the human condition for us to interpret.

'HUMAN BEING, NATURAL PERSON AND ARTIFICIAL PERSON': a natural person can posses one or more artificial person(s)


http://www.andfestival.org.uk/event/shrink

Retrospective 4: PANOPOLY: i wore a very large dress with rubber genital parts on it.

Thefree for arts festivaltook place in OCTOBER and i got involved in two of the events : I photographed the 'SYDNEY STREET PICTURE HOUSE' film screening,which i really enjoyed but i also took part as a performer/model in 'PANOPOLY.':

PANOPLY!! - PICCADILLY PLACEPiccadilly Place - M1 3BN
Panoply!! Brings artists, designers and performers together to take on the job of creatively displaying a full catalogue of designs and ideas from the most cutting edge up and coming creative minds in front of a live audience.
Panoply!! is an artistic, performance event, which intends to open the minds of the viewers as to the world of fashion and design. Eluding the normaties of high street fashion, Panoply!! is inspired by the eccentricities and ambition of contemporary fashion catwalk designs and displays.The performance artists are asked to work with costume and fashion designers or work in the medium of clothing and textiles to investigate new ideas and pieces of work that can demonstrate powerful imagery, new ideas about fashion.
Panoply!! is a creation from the minds of a group called the Volkov Commanders. The Volkov Commanders invite the worlds of art and fashion together to witness how one can annex the others role and break the boundaries lying between.
Artists/Performers involved:The Volkov Commanders, Ed Wiffen, Mariel Osborn, Aliyah Hussain, Anna Beam, Rachel Maclean, Esther Arocha, Kirsty Maclaren and Sanna Berger
When:
8 – 11pm
Venue:
Piccadilly Place, M1 3BN (just 2 minutes from Piccadilly Gardens



I turned up with KAROL to this event with the idea that i would be modelling a head or shoulder piece,however i ended up in this very large and amazing dress with a bright blue face,blue wig with ears and various props. Due to my previous performance expirience i really got into character and froze into positions for long periods of time.I approached it like a serious actor. i enjoyed talking to the artist about her works and i saw costume form a completly different perspective,it made me think about the possibilities of recycled materials. The artist (RACHEL MCLEAN)also created a surreal film containing the costumes used at the exhibition,the film reminded me of a film i had seen at the Liverpool bienalle,a fragmented,extremly awkward film,using contrapuntal sound and high contrast with american iconography and brash chracterisation,fast paced cuts with smeared make-up and odd acting.




The other images were taken by the organisers and they show how the rest of the space was used.

Retrospective 3: installations

MISAKI KAWAI I've used Misaki kawai as an artistic inspiration before,as i enjoy anything wild and wacky and maybe slightly dream-like.Originally from Japan and now working in New York ,she uses toy animals,bold colours and mixed media to create home-made spaceships and child-like toy worlds in the corners of rooms,hanging from the ceiling and flying down a corridor. I enjoy how her work forces a subjective response and we are transported into an alternative space,even just looking at the photographs of the work. I think i identify with the work because it reminds me of Michel Gondrys' 'Science of sleep,'(2006) his film sets made out of toilet roll tubes and egg cartons with cars made out of carboard, giant hands and the idea of surreal,subconcious events being able to occur in reality.I wouldn't want my installation for this brief to be too surreal simply because it is for an exhibition so i have to keep within themes.

The image of a tall,white teepee structure,is one of my favourite works and whenever i see this image,i want to go inside and look around,i am not sure if you even can enter her work but it gave me an idea for a walk-in installation,quite small in scale that people could enter. I used to love creating 'secret dens' when i was small, this idea of a little world still appeals to me and creating this for other people to enjoy really appeals to me.

A retrospective 2

TASMIN VAN ESSEN : I came across this work in the 'CERAMIC REVIEW' the September/December 2010 issue. i was trying to think of how i could use textures and materials for the Mary Greg project.Tasmine works with small ceramic cages which caught my attention, as i was considering re-creating my own version of the Mary Greg storage chests.She had also used ceramics and the ideas of bacteria and disease to create aesthetically intriguing pots,that challenge the boundaries of what we see as ugly and undesirable and forcing this to be seen as art to be displayed.I considered how i could use this research to influence my 3d ideas:
-creating large and small,fragile chests out of withered metal wire and transparent material,to project into.
- layering and tearing parts out of storage chests and boxes to show house a sound piece: i even tried out chemical used to discolour metal: but i couldn't think of how to involve these in platt hall,without it being too self-involved,i wanted to to directly involve the visitors to the exhibition in an informative yet arty way.I decided to experiment with materials to make them appear almost moth eaten,old and fragile also with film installation.Tasmines' use of white and layering in a ceramic context and also her consideration of the biological process of disease,produces what appear to be live and decaying ceramic pieces,i want my material pieces to aim to convey a version of the idea of history.

The Mary Greg (one G) project: a retrospective look at my influences.

Due to a massive work load i didn't actually record my research using this blog,i printed it instead so i could refer to it directly when creating my work,i think that i am just used to this way of working but from now on i am going to make a special effort to actually blog my inspiration,plus this way i will save on printing costs.:)
For the project i did alot of research into textures and i also read and recorded the letters written between Mary Greg and Mr Batho. One artist i looked into was ALDWYTH, who initially caught my attention because of her intricate scifi-esque collage,however she also works within sculpture/installation style pieces,one of my favourite pieces was an old wooden display case split into small compartments,each containing a small piece of paper with writing on it,in another piece of work she uses layers upon layers of rusty,discoloured nails,a rusty metal base and spring to create a piece that challenges a preconcieved idea of what is aesthetically pleasing.
These pieces inspired me into thinking along the lines of layering and revealing my work,e.g,not just displaying a video or photographs simply but thinking how to make it more interactive.
Originally i wanted to project into an old,withered chest that i could work into to using materials,however funds did not allow this,i think i am definatley going to continue using Aldwyth to refer to,particularly due to her interest in philosophical,sci-fi themes and how she uses layering in her collage and sculpture to involve the audience.