No More Days and Counting

Choosing a dolls house:

Last Saturday, I went to the V&A Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green to see their dolls house collection.

It’s hard to know which dolls house would best convey my ideas and–somehow mesh with the photographs I take of abandoned homes.

My expectation was that dolls houses from Britain/Europe would look totally different than in America. Or so I thought.

But perhaps children or dolls house manufacturers in the western world have a romanticised notion of what these toys should look like as many are modelled from luxurious Manor Houses and Mansions.

I’ve noticed that some designers have created modern, utilitarian looking houses, such as the Kaleidoscope house by Peter Wheelwright (see Museum of Childhood link below), but those are also dream homes for real adults. Normal, boring houses don’t seem to get a look in.

I have to admit that my 3D/craft/carpentry skills are nil, and so it is probably impractical to think that I could fill in the gap by building dull, everyday looking dolls houses or a block of flats. And perhaps another artist does it already, if you know of anyone…

If you click on the enlarged view of the dolls houses, you can see all the effort that went into the tiny curtains, windows, and appliances. The photos are obviously much better on the V &A website as the photographer must have had close access to the dolls houses and didn’t have to shoot them through glass cabinets.

Did you know that in the 1700-1800’s many dolls houses were commissioned for wealthy adults, and not just children?

Perhaps they still are. The Grosvenor Hall display house at Harrods, with accessories is going for a mind boggling 8,000 quid. I definitely want that one.

After visits to Harrods, the V&A collection, and toy and charity shops, I decided to buy a dolls house from Amazon.co.uk. Their prices were the same or even lower than used ones found on E-bay/Gumtree/Craigslist, etc. And I had free delivery to my flat.

Do I actually like the dolls house that I purchased? I’m not sure. But I think it is a versatile example of modern dolls houses and I will upload pictures of it in my next post.

I recommend a visit to the V &A Museum of Childhood as it is a fascinating place. The dolls houses are on the top floor.

http://www.museumofchildhood.org.uk/collections/do…

http://www.dollshouseemporium.co.uk/news/magnifice…

Ideas for the content of my video installation:

Actually, when I started the Matt Roberts ALAS residency, I came with more than one idea for the exhibition. One was to make a new video (which I hope to do after the residency, about motherhood, children and food fights, but more about that in another project blog). The second idea was to make a short animation with found photographs from the 1970’s as I’ve written a story around the images.

After having my first crit with Matt and talking about my work, he preferred my third idea: to use a dolls house as part of the installation and to also show my existing animation, “Don’t Go to the East Side”. I agreed, as I can now see that it is the most realistic project to complete in time for the exhibition in November.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/kwJNiySdatV2zg2gw…

It’s great to have professional advice and guidance on tap, something I really miss after college. I hope to find a studio to share ideas with other artists, and this is yet another reason to do the residency.

Where did my thought of using a dolls house originate? I sat down mulling it over and then looked through my computer bookmarks. I vaguely remember saving a link of an artist who created a Victorian dolls house project. The artist is Jennifer Linton, and her project is ‘The Disobedient Dollhouse’. Jennifer’s work lingered in the back of my mind, as I really was impressed with her vision.

Then in the summer, before the residency, I did more searches. And found Maria A. Lopez’s dust houses. Then Rachel Whiteread’s dolls house collection/exhibition at the Hayward Gallery.

But how do the dolls house link to my own work? I’ve had to ask myself what is the connecting thread.

I’ve only figured that out as I go along, there wasn’t an obvious link at first. But then, I realised I take pictures of bigger houses. Abandoned ones from my hometown Flint, Michigan. It’s a bit like destruction porn, but the Flint houses are unique as they mark the specific trajectory of the boom and bust of the auto industry. Which is still such a shock each time I go home to visit my mother who lives in one of the nice/inhabited areas of town.

When I was a child, Flint had the highest income per capita next to Anchorage Alaska (oil) and was the second biggest city in Michigan after Detroit. And is now ground zero for abandoned homes, poverty (if you don’t have the legacy of a General Motor’s pay check) and mass exodus.

If you are not from a failed industrial city, you may turn your nose up at the decay you see in my images. But the photos aren’t the whole story (at the moment), there are plenty of beautiful homes left in Flint.

That’s the dilemma of indexicality: Individual photographs represent an isolated moment in time and not necessarily a complete image of what is ‘real’. My installation can give more visual information about an historical event as it’s three dimensional, like a staged play. It also makes me feel better, as if I am telling a more holistic narrative, and not just creating an empty spectacle. Maybe it’s why I’ve always been in two minds about my abandoned house photos. Hmm.

Besides my own photographs and animation, another link to abandoned structures is the artist Gordon Matta-Clark and his architectural interventions. Fellow ALAS resident Susan Cunningham, mentioned Matta-Clark’s work during a discussion. Please have a look at her blog: www.landscapeandmemory.wordpress.com.

Should I carve into dolls houses like Gordon did to empty lofts and homes in the 1970’s? Are dolls houses too precious to maim? I’m still deciding.

It feels really good to sit down and finish this second blog entry. Since the residency, I have been to many gallery private views, art tours, and talks. It’s been great, I’ve learned a lot. But I’m also exhausted. I do find that this blog is providing a means to assimilate all that I’ve seen and researched, and it’s a way to organise ideas for the installation.

http://www.alasgallery.co.uk/

http://www.jenniferlinton.ca/

http://laotracasa.tripod.com/id89.htm

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/03/arts/design/03ma…

This is my first blog entry. Ever. I am excited to write about my practice. I would like to say thanks to Rosalind Davis and Annabel Tilley of Zeitgeist Art Projects for their recommendation of writing a blog on the A-N website. I had a chance to chat with them both during my portfolio review/advice session in June. It was a productive meeting, and I came away with many new ideas and insights about my work: