The purpose of this blog is to write about the development of my video installation for the Matt Roberts ALAS Autumn Residency. Our group exhibition opens on Thursday, 8th November. Although I have created video installations in the past, I haven’t documented my process. Even I am interested to see the outcome.
The ALAS artist residency exhibition opened on November 8th from 6-9pm.
I’ve included a couple of pictures of the exhibition-taken by my generous fellow ALAS resident AnnaMaria Kardos (including an image of her audio installation in our show). She does great work, please see her blog:
Also see link to watch a short video of my installation:
I am pleased with the results and solved my lighting problem with a hanging spotlight and the small lights inside the dolls house. I was hoping it would be an immersive experience for the viewer and it was fun to see people enter the installation and and really take in all of the details of the dolls house and the video inside of it.
Here is a description of my work that I handed out during our exhibition private view and the Susan Stewart quote was given to me by Marion Michell, a-n blogger:
“Shelley Rae’s video installation explores the concept of childhood memory, history and nostalgia based on wishful longings and half-forgotten visions of the past. Recreating a watered-down version of the complex notion of “Heimat” (German noun which suggests the idea of “homeland”), Rae plays with the idea of the uncanny, or strange but familiar associations which links the changes seen in her once prosperous but now decaying home town of Flint, Michigan to her video installation.
The dolls house represents the plastic or fantasy of the American dream, while the animation, “Don’t go to the East Side” presents the reality of life in post-industrial cities in America and England. As quoted from Susan Stewart’s book ON LONGING: Narratives of the Miniature, the Gigantic, the Souvenir, the Collection—
‘The toy world presents a projection of the world of everyday life; this real world is miniaturized or giganticized in such a way as to test the relation between materiality and meaning.’
Shelley Rae’s work transforms ideas from subconscious memory into symbolic images, leaving the viewer to complete the stories with personal associations, parallel times and experiences.”
Blogging about my photographs, animation and resulting video installation has been a really rewarding experience. Thanks for following my journey:
Here is a link to the animation “Don’t go to the East Side”, 2011, which played on my mobile inside the dolls house:
Gangster illustration at end of video is by the amazing artist Matthew Green:
Exhibition week of 5th November–notes:
Sunday afternoon: Went over a friend’s house and borrowed her paint brushes and rollers. Had a cup of tea, waved goodbye and walked home. On the way I past the local hardware store and thought I should buy smaller paint rollers, just in case. Also masking tape. Rubbish bags. Glue, gloves to paint in. Went into newsagent to buy snacks as my son is off school on Monday and will come with my boyfriend and I to the gallery. Must charge his Nintendo and bring paper and pencils to entertain him…
Sunday night: Hunted for old clothes to wear to install work, and packed paint, dolls house, furniture, scissors and today’s purchases.
After reading the following article I found the guardian website: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/may/09…
I thought more about small details and realised that I needed more dolls house furniture. Like a miniature version of Denis Sever’s House in Spitalfields, in which all the furniture, food, clothing etc., are laid out in a way that it still looks as if a family lives there.
So, I ordered a mini toilet. An oven. Two kitchen chairs, another kitchen table which also came with small drinking glasses, tea cups, plates, teeny-tiny spoons and even a pumpkin and a carrot . A tiny outdoor fountain and bench. And two very small welcome mats! I had no idea they even made things this–well this obsessive. But I’m turning into one myself…oh, and I ordered a second mobile phone, more on that later. Some things will arrive with guaranteed delivery on Tuesday by 1pm, perfect as I still will have two days left to set up.
I also need another two small trees brought from the architectural firm: Blueprint in Bethnal Green.
Monday afternoon–made it to Matt Roberts Gallery at about 3pm with boyfriend to help paint and my son who had an inset day at school. Turns out that the Flint’s Theatre Black paint had excellent coverage–it’s as thick as custard. My boyfriend painted my small room and floor while I put two coats on my plinth. We left the gallery late.
Monday evening-hot dogs and chips. Not a great dinner. My son and boyfriend will be having similar ones this week-no time to cook. Got my son’s uniform, P.E. kit etc ready for school tomorrow.
Tuesday morning: Waited at home for deliveries. Everything came in trickles. Then 2pm arrived and no mobile phone. Totally unlike Amazon. It was still in transit. They did refund me the extra charges for delivery, but when will the phone arrive?
Tuesday afternoon. We returned to the gallery to find that some areas needed a second paint touch-up. What to do about the cavernous ceiling that was quite high? Maybe something lower, maybe a cloth to make a lower ceiling. Need to make a trip to John Lewis.
Tuesday evening–left gallery late, missed John Lewis closing time. Frustrated, went home, ate and fell into bed, but not before looking on line for examples of lighting in a black room/theatre stage. Can’t really figure out how/whether to light the dolls house, the bulb that is in the space is too boring. Maybe a spotlight…
Wednesday morning: Mobile arrived, hurrah! Got to John Lewis later than I wanted, found black fabric for ceiling covering. Spent ages in lighting dept, debated with boyfriend about whether we should wait to buy a light. I won. We bought it and then carried it to the gallery.
Wednesday afternoon: Glued fake grass on plinth. Tricky for boyfriend to contort himself on wobbly stool to hammer fabric to wood shelf on wall and to fit spotlight–but he did it. Hours later, the room was ready.
Thursday morning–exhibition day.
I returned to the gallery to put the furniture inside the dolls house. That took over 2 hours, as I looked through all the items. The toy tv speakers and table I have look amazing. My mobile had a downloaded version of my video, and I placed it on the table. Swept black floor, put down large welcome mat.
Read next blog entry to see the results of my video installation and exhibition pics!
There are only 5 days left until the ALAS Autumn group residency at Matt Roberts Arts gallery on Vyner Street. The preview is on Thursday, 8 November from 18:30-21:00: http://www.alasautumnresidency.org/?p=24
I can’t believe the exhibition opens so soon…
In my last post, I was going to request a crit by Matt Roberts, who runs the ALAS residency. I’ve decided to start installing on Monday and then discuss the artwork as it develops.
I will present the video installation in the small, closet-like space I requested to use in the gallery.
The dolls house has been harder to choose what to do. I still want to destroy it, maybe graffiti all over it (Not my skill set, but a former classmate and graduate from Central St. Martins, Mike Ballard would have been amazing to work with): http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article…
As there is less than a week left, I will be courageous enough to contrast the newness of my plastic house with the demise of my old Flint, Michigan neighbourhood in my video. It’s a brave decision (at least to me) as it’s easy to try and impress people by making the dolls house look like an abandoned relic.
At the moment, I will not make any physical cuts. The dolls house is already accessible, as it’s side has been left open during manufacturing-i.e., the whole back of it folds out. The removal of borders is what Gordon Matta-Clark did to real houses. Peering inside as a voyeur. Or perhaps it depended on the kind of space that he chose to work with.
Matta-Clark was quoted in an interview by architecture critic Donald Wall: ” The thing about the doll house is it’s not so much being a voyeur as being in control.”
I will be in control and present the dolls house as it is. You may be able to see inside. Or perhaps just through the windows, which is still a bit Peeping Tom-ish.
I’ve decided that my installation space needs to be painted to look more theatrical, emphasising the spectacle of childhood objects.
So, yesterday I searched in the dark to buy a big 5 litre paint can from Flint Hire and Supply Ltd, a short walk from Elephant and Castle tube station. The shop and on-line sales website caters to the theatre industry: http://www.flints.co.uk/welcome.html
After the weekend, installation begins. I will take pictures of the props that are being used (and have included a link in today’s blog of a small (fake) television I purchased)–this may be the most important item in the installation.
When searching over the internet I found a plasma minature t.v., which is much bigger than the Sylvanian twee ones and is 1/12 the size of a real plasma screen.
However, the television screen wasn’t quite large enough, and so I finally had a reason to go to the laser cutters. Although I had to find one in Berlin, Germany as I was recently on holiday.
My Berliner friend Sabine gave me a great tip about a shop called Modulor Material Total, and it’s like a combination of a British Paperchase store, with a model shop, hardware materials, amazing textiles, tools, furniture, etc. They also have custom and laser cutting departments and the laser cutters carved open my plastic t.v. screen for me. As I am not very handy with tools, my boyfriend used a handsaw to cut a television screen out of a metallic plastic sheet from Modulor Material Total. I now need to see if the new “television” actually fits inside the dolls house, hmm.
My job over the weekend is to make a list of tools and equipment needed to take to the gallery along with any last minute purchases. Between the 5th-7th of November, I hope to upload pictures of the installation in progress. However, I may include images of the props, with very little text as I don’t want to give away the final result. Everyone is invited to our ALAS Autumn Residency Exhibition, please come along if you happen to be in London.
http://barkwall.wordpress.com/matta-clarks-childho…
http://www.julie-anns-dolls-houses.co.uk/dolls-hou…
http://www.modulor.de/shop/oxid.php/sid/31003a5e6d…
Confused or childish?
Between stomach flu, parent-teacher meetings, art admin and packing for a visit to Berlin—I guess it’s not surprising that I haven’t written this week’s blog entry, or done much work on my dolls house.
I thought I would follow through with some sort of architectural intervention, which I discussed in my last blog entry (i.e. Gordon Matta-Clark). A few people on my ALAS residency recommended 4-D modelshop.co.uk in East London and their laser cutting facilities. Unfortunately, I didn’t make the most of their close location to Matt Roberts gallery during the residency, and I am now dragging my feet about whether to do it or not.
It ‘s irreversible to carve a hole and then find out that it doesn’t work. What would I do then? No money/time to buy another one.
In the meantime, I keep ordering dolls house furniture, as I can move it around easily, keep the installation fluid, and not have a permanent, fixed idea that I have to develop. It’s addicting to collect miniatures to photograph.
This is where I start losing focus as I begin to think of future ideas to create with the dolls house furniture. I could write stories to fit the images I photograph. Or maybe gain inspiration from artist Charles Matton’s Enclosures (reduced-scale rooms that he lovingly crafts by hand). I might really go off on a tangent and research Morton Bartlett’s handmade dolls and accessories he photographed.
I could just return to the idea that I mentioned at the beginning of this blog. I think I’m trying to make everything too complicated (in my mind that equals interesting). My simple idea seems too basic. Just show the dolls house as it is and project a video onto it. I’ve talked about the reasons why it would feed into my other work and the theory behind it. But. It feels a bit boring.
Time to have a chat with Matt Roberts, who has offered all the residents an opportunity to talk before the exhibition if we get a bit stuck. I think I’ll take him up on that suggestion…
http://www.voltcafe.com/home/?p=9154
http://eyecontactsite.com/2012/05/dolls-in-berlin
It’s plastic. Not what I was expecting…
The Sylvanian Dolls House I ordered from Amazon. The one I rushed home early to intercept from the postman. The dolls house that looked so pretty on the front of the Sylvanian box but, so artificial in real life.
Maybe I should have gotten a Victorian-looking wooden one from E-bay. My dolls house feels–wrong. Also, it’s shiny. That has to be bad.
The word ‘plastic’ always reminds me of the famous quote from the 1967 movie ‘The Graduate’. Twenty-something Benjamin (actor Dustin Hoffman) is pulled to the side and given the following advice by his “elder” Mr McGuire:
Mr. McGuire: I just want to say one word to you. Just one word.
Benjamin: Yes, sir.
Mr. McGuire: Are you listening?
Benjamin: Yes, I am.
Mr. McGuire: Plastics.
It turned out to be one of those funny but true movie lines. Benjamin should have went for it, as supposedly by 1968, plastics took the stock market by storm.
And the world. Every single toy that I can remember owning from the 1970’s was plastic. My Barbie dolls, their accessories, even Barbie’s shoes. My Easy Bake oven. All my board game pieces. My ‘View-Master’. The ‘Sit and Spin’ I spun around on. The list goes on and on. I didn’t seem to mind. Actually, this post made me wonder what materials were used before the plastic boom…(see link at bottom)
As I wanted an affordable dolls house, it probably had to be made out of cheap materials. Factory production (whether we like it or not) lowers prices.
I come from a place in America that builds the most mass- produced product in the world: the automobile. The homes that sprung up so quickly in Flint, Michigan are a legacy of mass-production.
So, perhaps the materials used to contruct my dolls house should have a direct link to the mass- produced, now discarded homes that I photograph and animate.
But I was hoping to cut into the dolls house and experiment with Gordon Matta-Clark like interventions. I can get someone to laser cut a hole for me as it’s plastic. But it wouldn’t be my performative action. So, what do I do with my dolls house? More about that in my next post.
http://www.chemweek.com/chem_ideas/Rebecca-Coons/M…
http://scheong.wordpress.com/2010/09/16/before-the…
