- Venue
- Surface Gallery
- Location
- East Midlands
Process & Produce: Surface Gallery
Hannah Florence Cresswell & Paige Ockendon.
Critical Review:
Upon walking into the exhibition, the relationship between both artists’ context was apparent. The way in which the show was curated, there was no clear path dictated for the audience, therefore allowing the works to be encountered in different ways. This I usually consider to be a downfall in an approach to curation, but in this scenareo I didn’t consider it as a negative. The works had the strength to be situated in a seemingly ill-thought position, and for it not to impact on the exhibition as whole. The work that I was drawn to first, were the video pieces produced by Ockendon, the videos combined with the sound played through the headphones, providing a far more intimate experience and interaction with the work. I felt as though there was a strong underlying message behind the two videos, but it was left to the audience interacting with the piece to decipher what it was and what the work meant to them. The instant connection that I made was between the title of the show and the semiotic content in the videos, commenting upon consumerism and the more obvious, process and produce of what comes across as inanimate objects. This is not to say that this rendered the works in the exhibition were rendered inanimate themselves but highlighted an alternative way to view these objects and there place in society.
From looking at these videos, my direction turned toward the plinths that they were elevated upon, immediately this gave the videos themselves and the objects in them a higher status as they are lifted up from the floor and almost become cherished. Occasionally the use of plinths in displaying work is controversial and lacks reasoning, but again in this sense it wasn’t the case. The plinths seemed to be to be a key part of the work and without them the work wouldn’t function the way it was intend to. This was decided upon acknowledging the colours that were used in the video almost mirrored that of the colour used on the plinth. Conventionally, points are at a level in which they are at eye level, with Ockendon’s work they were slightly lower than eye level so were looked down on. This lead me to consider the view of these objects themselves and society’s consumption of inanimate objects, by taking them down below eye level so they are looked down on immediately gives them less meaning and the audience/viewers more power over the work and the objects.
From Ockendon’s videos, I was lead toward the video piece produced by Cresswell. This had a extremely powerful link to the other videos, from a curatorial perspective and in context. The video starts with a countdown clock which in itself is a powerful and engaging tool, situated in a ‘private booth’ with a chair and table, the work beckoned to the viewer to engage with it to the point where it became difficult to not engage with it. For a piece of work to have this much power, I felt was rare and hadn’t encountered a video with such power in a primary viewing prior to this exhibition. Although when viewing the work you were shut out from the rest of the work and all focus was upon the video, it still had clear and direct links to the other works around it, alike to Ockendon, Cresswell’s sophisticated approach toward representing consumption/consumerism and the other element that was coming into play, ‘control’, was the foundation of the success of the show.
Both Ockendon and Cresswell displayed high levels of awareness in their context by showing work that was not only engaging, but worked as a collection that could have work added to or withdrawn and still have the same effect. On the opening night of the show I had fears that the number of people would impact the work and alter my reactions to what was on display, but it had the opposite. This made me consider that this was intentional on behalf of the artists, being aware that it is common for opening nights to attract larger audiences that usually impact on the work. The blatant context of the work referring to consumerism in conjunction with large numbers of people viewing the work at any one time was a highly intelligent approach and worked in a way where it only improved upon the work. From this point I began to consider the importance of the audience in relation to the work, not that they are essential, but upon viewing the work and encountering something they previously hadn’t, they become part of it. I felt that this was a highly fascinating part of the show and that whilst viewing once piece of art, it was hard not tot view those who are interacting with the videos as part of the work.
Taking this a step further, the artists had directed live performances performed by other individuals. The performances became a integral part of the show and when they begun all attention was directed toward them, and the other works were temporarily ignored which I felt was another intellectual intention on behalf of both Ockendon and Cresswell highlighting yet another comment upon consumerism. The use of sound in these performances was key and the most powerful aspect of the pieces on show. Removing dialect from performances can sometimes have a undesired impact. Replacing it with monotonous music that repeats itself and emphasises the actions of the performers. Moving in sync with the music to the stage where it became difficult to watch, not because it was ‘boring’ in a conventional sense, but because it really highlighted the monotonous and mundane aspect of process and procedure. I felt that it is a difficult approach to direct a performance in which it is mundane and strenuous to watch, but is till to a certain level engaging and encourages us to consider process and produce further.
