If you happen to be in Claremorris in September, the Claremorris Open Exhibition will be held opening 7:30pm September 6th, and my piece Archive EC (2008) has been selected to be displayed.
Details of venue when I get them myself.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Notes Ralph Borland Workshop April 2008
Found this when sorting out last years College stuff, and thought it was worth putting online for anyone interested. (August 2008)
NOTES taken during workshop with Ralph Borland – Media 2 NCAD April 1 2008
(these notes are my perception of what Ralph said - with apologies for any errors or omissions.)
Initial introduction seems to have consisted in looking at some images (I arrived late for the beginning of the workshop) and talking about them including this one at http://ralphborland.net/s4s/
About Ralph himself (various comments during the workshop)
Doing his PhD in Trinity , comes from South Africa, interested in Disruptive use of art. Part of DDT disruptive design team http://www.mee.tcd.ie/~
The DDT comprises a group of researchers with diverse backgrounds in art, film, literature, music, politics, gender studies, performance, science and technology. The focus of the research group is to challenge traditional ideas of connectivity, connection, communication and sociability through the creation of installations and applications that subvert uses of technologies and create situations for questioning. The research students are engaged in a wide range of projects that focus on topics such Urban Public Space Art, Provocative Technologies & Interactive Spaces, Urban Wearbles, Urban Narratives and New Media & Feminist Methodologies. A multi-disciplinary approach to these topics is taken. There is an emphasis both on devloping theoretical ideas and on creating and building work to progress ideas.
Second session (till lunchtime)
Each person talked about how they came to be at NCAD, and what they have an interest in.
It's OK to change your mind at art school
Theatre involves control of audience in aspects of time, seating, duration, as opposed to no control of audience in conventional gallery where artist isn't present most of the time.
Matthew Barney is someone I could look at as he combines film and documentary with performance. He's at http://www.cremaster.net/ and it looks like there's a lot to see.
Necessity to consciously choose emphasis between technique and artiness, especially in media work
On choosing between Fine Art and Vis Com or Design department, Fine art usually does less streaming of your ideas.
Factors to think about when planning, executing, or just looking at art-work:
Is it aesthetically pleasing?
Is it provocative?
Does it have a WOW factor?
Does it engage the viewer, and continue to give more and more?
How long does the work take? Re slow moving movies – there is an audience for nene-hour moveies where nothing happens
Is it evocative? See Stan Brackridge (Think this isn't the right name) This chap wanted to maintain control of the output of his film, so created a Box with hands and slides and moths? (Can't remember what the reference to moths was)
Think about the various things you do, both in college, and at home or elsewhere. What are the connections between these things? What possibilities do you notice?
Re SURREAL: Define what you mean by this word. It tends to be something we all think we know what we mean by it, but it might be that we all mean different things!
Includes confusion between real and not real
Good idea to have restrictions – possibly as to genre, content, audience e.g. feminist Angela Carter Bloody Chamber version of fairytales
Reference: Malcolm Gladwell book Tipping Point about how child's mind works – scientific and readable. Value of repetition fro a child
If your idea is big and complex, then figure your particular angle.
Beware 'tabloid attitude'. the tabloid attitude—get attention by any and all means
Think of a specific medium – you have a choice
Think of images will they be still or moving
Rotascoping – tracing a film, frame by frame to make an animation (looked up on You Tube, but doesn't look very impressive.
Again, what medium
Specific?
General?
Metaphor? If you select a metaphor, make sure the metaphor is strong enough to carry the idea.
EXERCISE ONE – In one or two sentences write specifically what you want to communicate through the work you will do.
I wrote: I want to let people know that my experience of managing my bipolar condition is a matter
Balancing
Positive events versus negative events,
Both of which categories are
unpredictable
And only marginally
Within my control
After they have occurred.
In other words, that I have little control (in many instances) over WHAT HAPPENS
But more control over my RESPONSE to what happens (but still not very much control)
Then we had to read what we had written, and talk about the ideas for our work if we had formulated them.
I talked about my idea of a see-saw, and using Isadora to make a video of me respond to the tipping of the see-saw in reality.
Main comments from Ralph were
about being sure that the metaphor of the see-saw was strong enough to carry the ideas of not just managing bipolar condition, but any situation of someone needing more balance
about maybe the strong idea is the one that while I can't control what happens, I can control my response [now beginning to think how that would link into interactive video, but am not attracted to making a video game as such ….]
EXERCISE TWO
Part One
Write about any art work that moved you [film, picture, video, book etc]. Write about the experience in such a way that you will take your audience back to what happened to you. Be specific and objective.
[Suggest you consider doing this part of the exercise before you read on to see what I wrote and what happened.
I wrote:
Nearly thirty years ago I saw a piece of art-work at the Rosc exhibition – one of the first times I ever looked at modern art.
I had been struggling, not understanding much of what I was seeing, especially huge canvasses, painted in muted shades of grey.
Then I entered a room – and ther it was, across from me in a corner, near another door.
It was a square, white, and dived into four squares like window-panes marked out in textured GOLD.
I don't know who painted it, or what it was called, or what it meant.
I just knew I loved it, and still love it, and still fell 'soft inside' just thinking about it all these years later.
Part Two
Get into groups of about three.
Each person read what they wrote.
Then tell each other how you think links the art-work they spoke about with the work they are proposing to do.
Part Three
In the light of what people said to you, think about what this tells about things that affect you
What technique if any could you learn from the form of the piece .
STAGES OF ART-MAKING
You get an IDEA, this is translated into SOMETHING TANGIBLE, that other people can INTERACT WITH.
Begins with some kind of a feeling
? for an atmosphere,
? idea for a look
What might it be about
What will it achieve for a viewr
[viewer willl "READ" it – what interpretation do you want them to go for BE SPECIFIC
Don't be unwilling to scrutinize the ideas – BE SPECIFIC
What does it remind you of?
What references do you have – what aspects do you want to convey
Is there humour?
Ads and comics as well as books, films etc
Do you have first-hand experience – draw on your own experience
Think of Bruce Nauman in his boring room with the neon sign, making art from BOREDOM. http://www.bigredandshiny.com/
If the idea is very simple, think of how to complicate the idea
What other angle might you take?
What other interpretation?
If you start with an 'area' or an 'issue' – what does or can art do about it?
Needs lots of RESEARCH – documentation
What represents (symbol, metaphor)
What intervenes?
We need to disentangle the EMOTION caused in us, from the TECHNIQUE used to make us feel that way
How did the artist achieve the effect in the audience?
Was it by
Isolating elements
By silhouetting?
Masking/preventing something from being seen?
How do they show the passing of time in the one location?
How do you identify a particular mood?
Look at FORM – discipline yourself to LOOK
What is a character placed on the screen
What was said
Think of the choices they made
Every item in the frame has been CHOSEN
Why?
What might I have done instead?
There Will be Blood - http://www.imdb.com/title/
Daniel Day Lewis is in every scene/frame ….
RESEARCH
Direct/narrow – speak to people – you won't know till you ask
Can you document a situation, people?
Indirect research – advertising, causes?
Intervene – Do something that changes
Legal Art [ This website may or may not be what Ralph meant by 'Legal Art' http://artnetweb.com/iola/
DOCUMENTATION
What do you mean by documentation?
Recording for the future to reference?
Recording for the present to see?
Recording, re-recording from the past?
Which mode?
Which method?
Technical skils?
Do you want the mechanism to be seen or to be concealed?
How will you convey the concepts through the video/photos or whatever you make?
William Kentridge http://www.youtube.com/watch?
FINAL REMARKS
Did anything come up during the project that needs to be answered?
Things I remember most:
- that every item on the screen has been chosen and why
- What might catch the audience attention?
Remember IDEA – make it TANGIBLE – audience REACTION
THINGS TO RESEARCH
Things to locate
Brainball, http://smart.tii.se/smart/
Items that might help my project:
Tilt sensor
Accelerometer
Ask Ben Gaulon who teaches MA students. http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/
Monday, August 4, 2008
Learning about Flash
Just want to record that I am planning to learn seriously about how to use Flash using the book lent to me by a friend (he lent it to me May 3 2008 and I'm only making time to look seriously at it now, August 4 2008)
Not sure whether I will be able to publish the end results here on Blogger, but we'll see how it goes.
I don't expect to make very rapid progress with the Flash since as well as working through this book, I am sandwiching my study in between bouts of tidying my Workroom (not called a den any more, since a den is a place where I might curl up and go to sleep!), and also I am squeezing in bouts of writing up my Camino memories - not easy as already the whole event is starting to blur in my mind.
Not sure whether I will be able to publish the end results here on Blogger, but we'll see how it goes.
I don't expect to make very rapid progress with the Flash since as well as working through this book, I am sandwiching my study in between bouts of tidying my Workroom (not called a den any more, since a den is a place where I might curl up and go to sleep!), and also I am squeezing in bouts of writing up my Camino memories - not easy as already the whole event is starting to blur in my mind.
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