Mentoring with Bob Levene
Sheffield
29.01.10
I had posted the DVDs of the ‘Cans’ re-shoot and of ‘One-Minute Birdwatching’ as the focus for this session. I wasn’t convinced with them as objects in themselves, so I was eager to get some feedback at this stage. The first one we discussed was OMB (as I shall now refer to it!):
The first point raised was that I should make it very clear that the DVD was documentation, not a performance to camera. I had framed the image when recording it, but due to the limitations of the space I couldn’t get all the performers into the frame, and the sound wasn’t presented as a spatial stereo representation of the space, so it can only ever indicate the potential sound of the live event rather than represent it accurately. I was more interested in the experience and the live-ness at the time, and so documentation was there only for personal reference. I did make a separate stereo recording at the same time as one of the films, but I’ve not glued them together yet, and probably won’t get round to it for this version. It has made me consider the role of the documentation of the performances I will be doing at PULSE this summer: it may work better to have someone else doing it so that the spatial qualities of the performance can be recorded without me compromising the performance by arranging it for camera.
The second point we discussed was the spaces it could be performed in, and how it would change. Pulls Ferry was small, but the arrangement of windows was good: it would be interesting to do a version in a long office space, perhaps with restricted vision (smaller windows?), to get the sense of a performed sound travelling in relation to a passing bird. This led to discussions about visual framing and helmets!
Other points: the piece would sound very different if performed by people with a greater or lesser knowledge of birds: there would be multiple syllables from twitchers, which would change the rhythm of the piece. It would be interesting to try that at some point. Also, if I were to log the precise time and location it becomes much more about the ecology of the location.
The feedback on the ‘Cans’ video was that whilst the scale and structure is fine, it has lost its investigative qualities, and has become more careful. I felt that when I was making it, as I was very aware of the multiple video and audio takes I was stacking up, and it made me very precise. I think that is a general problem in repeating a work: it becomes too rehearsed. I need to play around with it some more (and just happen to film it at the same time!). I may go back to the imperceptible sounds, and also the playing with the acoustic properties of glasses and funnels which I did on one of my residencies and then forgot about. We also discussed the possibility of a version with other people moving the objects over my ears. One to come back to, I think.
FrenchMottershead at Site Gallery
Sheffield
29.01.10
I had a quick look round just before my mentoring session, and my favourite bit was a catalogue ‘Handpicked’. It was made from Romanian shoppers’ recollections of food produce, and was then printed and re-distributed amongst that community. It was gaudy, and not at all like a classic art catalogue. I’m glad the concept for the piece went as far as the design of the ‘artefact’.
