Projection is supposed to take one of the walls of my little cube exhibtion. As I mentioned before, I want the whole exhibition to be focused on emotions. The projection is going to be projecting me changing emotions. I want to experiment with using just my eyes, my mouth, making it go in slow motion and trying to leave the sound in it to make it slightly disturbing/uncanny.
When trying out my projection in the studio space, I could not see anything as my studio space is facing the windows with strong light, so I tried to change the room to see how my projection would work in the light similar to the one inside the cube (the entrance to the cube is in a shape that prevents the light to go fully in the space).
Its not completely dark, but it still allows the projection to be visible.
Here is some screenshots of my video that I recorded today of the projection. I tried to place it in two spaces that felt like the darkest.
: I believe that using a better quality projector will make the projection look way better than it did with my small projector.
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I am not 100% sure if I want to use this video and I might try recording another one to have something to compare it to.
I also need to start thinking about the texts that I want to put around the room/ one text on one wall. After I settle down with the video, I will start working on getting maybe some domestic materials. Could be a mirror! (This idea just popped into my head at this moment so Im excited) Mirror ‘mirrors’ the conversation of the person with their emotion. At this moment, I feel like I have too many ideas that I need to narrow down or try!!
Because I felt like I need to write everything down, I created a small sketch/ mind map with all my ideas and connections with all the details and a possible title for my exhibition!
: Because I like my photography more in a colourful effect rather than the black and white, I have decided to try a different approach, creating for example a black bath or using black and white clothes. All those little things will help me connect to the black and white painting and performance video/projection.
: Another thing was deciding what part of the exhibition is going to portray what emotion. That is why I researched how many emotions exist, and although there is dozen emotions that connect to one another, the number that was displayed was 25. All those emotions are written down on the paper that is attached to this post.
With that in mind, I already used some emotions separately: Anger, confusion, surprise and maybe pain. When asked for an opinion from my friends, asking them what emotion they see, one of the responses was ,,Refusing to show how confused you are feeling, trying to act proud + ok and feeling indignant and aggrieved. A mournful loss of understanding”.
: DETAIL when thinking about the detail that could give the series something underneath the skin of it, I thought about my performance. There is 25 emotions. My plan is to have 1 emotion per 25 second, ending with the time of 12,25 minutes (If my calculations are right haha). And then, slowing the video down to 25 minutes. That means that it will be 25 emotions in 25 minutes.
Another idea is to create an animation of 25 minute timer that will reset itself after the 25 minute.
:Hair is another detail, that I will try to focus on more. In my performance video, I will leave my hair being messy and maybe even curly. I want the hair to reflect the emotional state of mind=sad-straight, angry- styled hair that was messed up, all emotions-curly hair all over the place, reflecting all the emotions
All the information found on Bill Viola in this post was taken from Art, Performance, Media 31 interviews by Nicholas Zurbrugg.
Viola is an artist that I can connect to in many ways, one of them being his definition of his work’s central priority as the attempt to give people “the possibility to experience things that I have experienced– revelations– in other way or another”. Viola also talks about the process of revealing something a little deeper, broader, or wider in his works, which speaks to me more than I’d expect. Connecting to that, Viola said in one of his interviews, that he is trying to give other people a chance to experience things that he has experienced. Talking in terms of moments, where one is confronted with a physical situation which causes one to see things in a different way.
Because I included his work Nantes Triptych, I want to include his concept behind it. Although people might see it as an appropriation of classical form, the idea was to create a form of consciousness. Viola said that when one sees the triptych, one is participating in a structure of consciousness which has to do with the cosmological significance of heaven, earth, and hell, which is part of our modes of thinking now.
My favourite part of the interview
Viola said: You don’t have to look for the history of art in museums, it’s in our behavior, in our blood and gestures, as Rilke says. So that interests me a lot, that kind of classical form–how that affects who we are, and how we think about the world, and then, by a sort of resonance, it also very literally evokes a certain period in art history and makes a direct connection which I really feel we are experiencing again.
In today’s visit at the studio, I am trying out my first part of the exhibition, which is a painting on just canvas. The idea to use canvas without a frame was made without any intention at first, but after looking at it being nailed to the wall, I realised that its shape reminds me of flesh.
The theme of my exhibition is supposed to be emotion and emotions are hidden underneath our skin/flesh. That is maybe also why I position myself in my work without clothes. To show the vulnerability.
Here is the canvas and the dimensions are: 119 x 135 cm
I also left the format being not mathematically straight as I want to leave it looking like a piece of flesh covered with paint. Like our bodies are covered with clothes and our emotions are covered with flesh.
Few hours later (starting around 12:19 and finishing at 14:39) I finished the first layer of my painting. The source image was a picture that I took recently as well. I was choosing between several pictures and this one won.
and this is the painting at the of the day.
EDITING OF THIS POST ON THE 12.10.2021
I finished the details on the head/face.
Today, I printed and edited my pictures that I took yesterday as a try out photography, but I dont take them as the final pictures for the room exhibition as Im not fully satisfied with them.’
I do have a feeling of wanting to use the text with different images or to use these pictures on their own.
Here are the pictures:
I had a really good feedback to these as some people on instagram shared them on their stories and some of them replied in my direct messages that they felt really emotional as the pictures really reminded them of their relationship etc. and that they are thankful for what I am doing, which to me was a really nice feedback.
As a part of my research, I want to include some of the artists that I looked. Each work is similar to what my style of photography is, but with a different feeling etc.
Maisie Cousins and her series Grass, peonie, bum. This series could be connected to my last tries of photography I did today in my bathroom, but mine is for now in black and white version and is not as revealing as Cousin’s works are in this series.
Bill Viola and his series Nantes. I was recommended this artist by my lecturer Jane Watts today as the video projection is a really emotional artwork.
Bill Viola has been mentioned as the leading artist in the establishment of video as a form of contemporary art. His work over the years consists of architectural video installations, videotapes, sound environments, electronic music performances, flat panel video pieces, and works for television broadcast. His work is known for the exploration of the phenomena of sense perception as an avenue to self-knowledge. It focuses on universal human experiences: death, birth, the unfolding of consciousness.
