Its drawing closer and closer to our degree show. I’m writing this post to reflect on what I’ve been doing throughout the year and look deeper into what my work means.
Firstly I never expected to be doing a projection piece; I expected to work more along an installation or sculpture with some lens based images. I’m pleased that I decided to branch out and do something I’ve never done before because it has pushed me to learn new skills and develop existing ones.
The keys which I had been working with at the beginning of the year still have significance to my project despite me not including these in the show, because they represent suppressing of old memories and unlocking new ones. I am fascinated by the way in which it is unknown what the keys originally unlocked.
I moved on to using stills from my own MRI when I looked into requesting my medical records. The hospital put all of the MRI images on a disc and I have made a stop motion from them. I have added text, which flashes words at the viewer of different emotions. I want the viewer to have an insight into how the mind works physically as well as emotionally.
Keeping a blog has been helpful as it has helped me to document and remember the work I have done over the last academic year. I have found it quite addictive to use as a medium and it is satisfying to be able to see all my blog posts and the work I have completed.
I watched a TED talk today about an artitst who records one second of their life every day and compiles this into video footage. He is going to do this every day until he can no longer record the footage.
I think the video highlights that we forget so much in life and by him making this video he is capturing a tiny moment from not just the good days but the bad too and these help us to appreciate the unique moments in life that eventually blur into one.
I recently hung my work at the Freudian Sheep Gallery on St Helens Street. I am really pleased with how each piece looks framed / displayed.
The private view went really well and there was a good turn out.
I attended an exhibition by Darren Johnston on 25t April, It was held in the undercroft of the war memorial in the center of Norwich.
Only one person was allowed into the exhibition at one time as this is the way the artist wanted the exhibition to be shown. As I entered the installation I was told to wait a few minutes to let my eyes adjust to the low lighting.
Then I was guided down a flight of steps, which was disorientating, as I had no idea whether the next step I took would be solid ground or not. At the bottom of the staircase I was sent towards a tunnel of light and told to walk towards the installation. The sound was incredibly atmospheric and you could feel the vibrations before the sound, which also added to the sense of dislocation.
I like the way that the artist has control over where the viewer walks and what they can see. The smoke and lights at the end of the tunnel were in a pyramid shape and projected onto the floor. The space I can only describe as some kind of spiritual temple or crypt, it was cool, dark and the noises echoed off all of the surfaces.
Upon my return into daylight and reality I felt that I had experienced something unique and was glad to have visited the exhibition.
I have been writing the last chapter of my dissertation and came accross a few quotes from a texton Ana Mendieta which I feel are relevant to my degree project and studio practice.
“I am an artist who feels that art is first of all a matter of vocation. Now vocation is a limiting factor, which extends even to the kind of art an artist is able to make. In other words, I believe an artist is even limited to what he or she can give life to. I make art I make because it’s the only kind I can make. I have no choice.” (Moure, G. 1886, p.167)
This quote is particularly true and is apt for my current studio practice. I spend alot of time worrying about whether what i make is good enough when in fact i am the only person who can make the exact art that I make. I therefore found the above quote comforting in that respect.
“I like to think of culture as memory of history.” (Moure, G. 1886, p.167)
This is very relevant to my project as i am dealing with Memory in Art, and it is very true what Mendieta is saying that culture is derived from remembering ones past.
“The greatest comfort that great works of art give to me is not only my experience of them, but also the fact that they were created and they exist.” (Moure, G. 1886, p.168)
I find this particularly interesting because she underpins what exactly it is about art that we find rewarding, enough so to store this in our memory.
Mendieta Quotes taken from:
Moure, G. (1886) Ana Mendieta. Barcelona: Ediciones Poligrafa.
I went to a talk with Michael Landy in the Atrium building and found this really inspiring. He talked about many of his artworks and the two that stuck out for me were ‘Breakdown’ and ‘Closing Down’. We learnt about ‘Breakdown’ last year in Contemporary Art & Ideas and was fascinated by it then, and to hear Michael Landy talk about it was very interesting and engaging. I love the idea that he has had to rebuild his life again from nothing!
Closing down was comical because the passers by thouhgt the gallery was actually closed, and there were signs up inside saying things like “Suicidally low prices” which i found quite amusing.
After the lecture I had a tutorial with Michael Landy about my projection work and he gave some really useful feedback.
He asked if id considered asking other people whether they had an MRI and could i use the imaging from it to project several. I liked the idea.
He also suggested adding text to the MRI film which I thought was a fantastic idea, and i have made a list of words and emotions that i want to use in excel to add into iMovie.
I deleted the text from around the edges of each MRI image which took a while but looks alot more effective as the eye is now drawn to the middle of the screen.
I also had to keep the bottom green bar as the images over lapped with this and I felt that cropping would sacrifice some of the image and make it uncentral.
Jane and I discussed this and we agreed that we liked the green bar being at the bottom as it anchors the images.
I have attached the MRI film which i did not do previously, without the information around the edges.
I look forward to adding some text into the image to see how this looks, i have an idea in mind that i was the text to appear and reappear, at different places on the screen.
