macro & micro

I have just had two videos accepted for the Athens Video Art Festival:

http://www.athensvideoartfestival.gr/eng/default.a…

They only contacted me yesterday, it starts on Thursday, so too short notice for me to attend, which is a shame.

Recently I seem to have dedicated a lot of time to filling in application forms, preparing DVDs and stills, writing summaries, packing up the work and nipping out to the post office, only to never hear from the organisers again. I put this down to the fact that I decided to include a statement at the start of the videos explaining their origin:

This is a video-walk through ruins and across scrub in a former concentration camp at Rivesaltes in the south of France, between the Mediterranean and the mountains on the edge of a motorway. Refugees have been held here during the dark episodes of the twentieth century: the Spanish Revolution, World War Two when thousands of Jews were sent from here to Auschwitz, the Algerian War of Independence, and recently, Eastern Europeans without visas seeking a better life.

The videos (including the ones accepted by Athens) ceased to be obscure and started to be overtly about the Holocaust and the other dark periods of twentieth century France. Prior to this year the same videos, without the statement, were generally accepted for festivals.

I accept that the work is not straightforward when compared to figurative videos based on a narrative, which was a reason for me to add the statement in the first place – my work demands time and effort from the viewer and the viewing experience desired is more akin to the experience of viewing paintings (after all, I am a painter).

I suppose it’s just how it goes – win some, lose some. If the work is not suited to some festivals / galleries it means that I have to spend more time targeting the ones who are sympathetic to my style of work and subject. The statement on the videos will stay for now.

http://www.jonathan-moss.com/

I woke at 7.00 to create an installation in a friend’s barn as part of the “De Ferme en Ferme” (an open day for organic farms in the area) with three other artists.

The sheep were milked at 8.00, so I couldn’t set up until they had left the barn. When I arrived the smell of sheep-shit was overwhelming, still steaming. This must have been the coldest and wettest day we have had in a long time – the barn might be warm and cosy for the sheep, but I was freezing. The roof leaked and many of the drips landed exactly where I wanted to place the screen, simple solution, hang a bucket over it to catch them.

The barn was dark, so I exploited this: two spots gave a warm light, the paintings on metal seemed to glow from behind as the light hit them whilst they swung in the wind, which incessantly hurtled through.

The afternoon was quite entertaining, following a long May-Day lunch many visitors were just a little intoxicated, some rolling about in the hay (pulling cables), some singing and others just giggling – a unique experience amidst my videos and paintings. Many stumbled at the fact that the videos were shown on an equal level to the paintings, so I decided that it would have been too much to expect them to be open to the origin of the work, I therefore didn’t include a written explanation. Amidst questions about technique and “how long did that take you?”, there were thankfully several visitors who took the time to be absorbed in the atmosphere I had created and took an interest in the underlying theme. A French friend told me that this blog, the research and creative work that I’m doing is important, which was refreshing to hear.

The sound of my videos filled the barn; Andi, the farmer, had been recorded milking the sheep, so, in the background, a calming, repetitive and quite meditative sound complemented my installation; I feel though, that it would have been good for the sheep to be roaming in and out, bleating and causing mayhem amidst the cables and lights.

The sheep were milked again at 6.00, so, following the final visitors I had to pack up pretty quickly.

http://www.jonathan-moss.com/

I read this week in a journal on French cultural matters for ex-pats (which I would normally avoid) that the Holocaust in France is a taboo subject, which I now know to be true . . . I’m still trying for that elusive show in France of my work based at Rivesaltes – it’s probably too close to home, strange how, as a nation, they have not come to terms with their recent history. I won’t be deterred though.

I am showing my videos and paintings in a barn next month with three other artists from the area: Sam Sweeting, a performance artist, Blaise Merino, the musician I have recently collaborated with and Paola Di Prima, an installation artist – it’s a privilege to show with them. We’ve hi-jacked a local organic farm festival – I was in two minds to explain my work or not, but have now decided to include my statement and photos of the camp as part of the exhibition; I will find the visitors’ responses interesting (I might even secretly record them).

I’ve just finished some prototypes for a show later in the year, sand on aluminium, I’ll show them in the barn on the 1st May.

http://www.jonathan-moss.com/