Context Project - Evaluation

I think one weakness I had in this particular project was not having the motivation to actually go out and film some footage for making a film like I originally planned. If I had gone out a filmed, I probably would have stuck with the film idea. However, whilst making and editing the video, I'm sure I would have made developments along the way so it would have evolve slowly and almost by itself. I probably jumped a little too far moving from a video to paper mechanism illustrations.

I think my final pieces were really nicely done and I thoroughly enjoy making them. They reminded me how much I actually like simple drawing and painting. I had totally forgotten about it in the hurry to get on with all the projects and come up with interesting ideas. I will definitely make such I keep drawing and painting in mind when I plan future projects as it's what I'm good at and what I enjoy.

If I were to complete this project again, I would have possibly done something completly different as in the end I think this idea is quite limited. I could possibly go back to the original project outline and choose to take it in completely contrasting manner.

If I were to carry on with this project I would like to go back and perhaps have another go at making the video. Or maybe even improve upon my paper mechanisms. Making them bigger or drawing/painting them in a different style.

Display of Final Pieces

Here are the final pieces from all four of my projects displayed in the studio ready for marking and on time a day before the deadline.



I would have liked one or two more boards worth of space to spread everything out a little more but it was quite cramped in the the studio I was in and I didn't want to be greedy. I ended up moving my plinth round to how I originally had it also because of limited space. I turned it so it was perpendicular to the wall rather than parallel with it. It is a little unusual but I don't think it detracts from the work. If I had more space I would have displayed all three wall pieces at eye level. I would also put the magazine pieces in a long line rather than the weird formation I have here due to space constraints.

Context Project - Final Piece

My tutor said that this was the weakest out of all 4 of my projects because it had changed so much from the original idea and had lost its meaning a little bit. I also feel that I should have tried harder to finish the piece in time for the group tutorial. That way I think I might have gotten my idea across more effectively.  My tutor also said I should concentrate on finishing my other three projects first and come back to this when I was done. So I listened to his comments and those of the other students and once I had done the other three projects I carried on with them. I completed them in virtually the same way I was planning to in the first place. But I made them alot more glitchy and quirky. So this way they weren't just paper mechanisms of malfuntioning objects. The paper itself was malfunctioning so that they could not be interacted with correctly. I know it's probably not my strongest project but I did really enjoy making them and will definately pursue more paper mechanics in the future.

Context Project Final Ideas

After the group critique, I had a think about this project and decided to change from a video to some sort of illustration. I did some simple drawings based on the story board I made for my video, as the theme and subjects would still be the same.

I then decided to make some clean and crisp ink pen and watercolour pieces of the different objects that were malfunctioning. I then thought back to an original idea I had about making some drawings that were interactive e.g. with push/pull tabs and wheels to turn. So I have been pursuing this idea. I worked out in my head how I would make each one 'work' and then started on making the actual pieces.

I have only completed the 'sink and tap' piece, but I think I may even redo that one to improve it a little. The 'traffic lights' piece is half done, I have almost finished the painting and I just have to make and attach the movable part. The other 4 are only the ink pen drawings, with pencil sketchings of the parts that will move and the tabs/ flaps that will allow them to move. Plus I also have to paint them. But I think this is a fairly decent representation of my idea for the Group Tutorial and a week is plenty of time to finish them off.

I was also thinking about incorporating a sound element, as suggested by my tutor in the group critique. But I haven't started any of that, so maybe it's a little late. Maybe these interactive drawings are enough and they don't need the sound. I will see what it said in the Group Tutorial tomorrow.

Context Project Development

For my context project, I made a more polished storyboard to present my idea to my tutor and the group critique.

I also completed this diaply brainstorm aswell to try out ideas of how I would display my video. Aswell as thinking of some other mechanical/electrical objects that could malfunction to make my video longer perhaps or more diverse.

My tutor and the group said they liked the idea but thought it could use more development. My tutor also said I could contrast some objects that were malfunctioning with objects that weren't doing anything. Then the viewers could assume they were broken, or it could be suspensful where they are waiting for it to do something that portrays it as being broken. It was suggested that I could perhaps look at other mediums to convey my idea. I had also said that I was finding it hard to incorporate drawing and painting into any of my projects, which is a medium that I enjoy the most, so they suggested maybe using that instead of a video. My tutor also gave me an idea to have images or video on a screen and have slightly differnt audio to what the viewer is seeing. I have also thought about drawing some of the objects I have chosen and then having some sort of audio with those drawings instead of photographs or video.

I will be trying these ideas out as soon as possible and thinking of more diverse ways to put forward my idea.

Context Project Research

I got a book from the library about video art to do some research for my Context project.

Vito Acconci - Three Adaptation Studies


Vito Acconci - Three Adaptation Studies (1970) by Video_Blog_REWF

Here the artist participates in 3 situations. First, a ball is repeatedly thrown at him whilst he is blindfolded and trying his best to catch it. Secondly, he stares at the camera for a short while and then tips soapy water all over his face and tries his best to keep looking at the camera, even though the soap has obviously made it very uncomfortable to do so. Lastly, he tries desperately to fit his fist in to his mouth.

This video seemed really interesting. From reading the description in the book I thought the video sounded unique, quirky and possibly a little unsettling. But from actually watching the video it makes me very uncomfortable. I think this piece links to what I am planning to do because of the 'series' aspect and also because it is a little different from most video work e.g. it doesn't have a narrative.

Candice Breitz - Mother + Father

(Video can be found here http://www.candicebreitz.net/)

This video is a collection of mother and father figures from six films. The artist has blocked out all the background setting, all other characters and most prop objects. This really draws attention to the principal parental figures. All the 'mother' scenes are grouped together and all the 'father' scenes are grouped together. This is then shown on 6 screens, where speech and image from each film are intermingled to create 2 entirely new narratives, one from the 'mother' and one from the 'father'.

This video instantly jumped out at me because of the material used. I think movies are always a great starting point and are instantly recognisable. Also the method of displaying them on an arc of screens and the way they were played in an almost 'remixed' fashion inspired me to rethink my own display method for my video piece.

Nam June Paik

(No artist website found but here is the next best thing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nam_June_Paik)

For this artist I have looked at his work in general rather than a specific piece because I really like his unusual display methods rather than the actual content. He used a lot of sculpture around the screens to make 'living sculptures' like in his 'Pre-Bell Man' statue. He also attached screens to the ceiling in his piece 'Fish Flies on Sky', forcing the viewer to either awkwardly crane their neck or lie on the floor. This really interests me and I would love to incorporate this sort of  alternative display method into my project.

I feel this research has really helped me think about how I want to display my work, and that I should make it more interesting to try and help my work develop and change in something better.

I now plan to plough ahead with obtaining my footage, making a more detailed storyboard and then devising more interesting display configurations for my video.

Introductory Field Guide Project

So, I've just been through the first two weeks of my course. Induction week was pretty normal. Building tours, basic workshop inductions, enrolment and a gallery tour around Birmingham.The week after that was our 'Field Guide' Introduction Project. Here we had around a week to all work from a very vague project brief and use Bournville village as our inspiration. The brief was:

'A small print on a mailbox becomes something really precious when you remove all the noise around it and isolate it from it's settings.' (Merel Karhof, Project 2) Explore familiar or alien surroundings by isolating, documenting and displaying anything you think will create a new awareness of the landscape.

I had written down about 12 basic ideas from things that had caught my eye in Bournville, and had taken a few photographs on my camera phone. The idea I deemed good enough to present to the group and carry on with for the week was based around malfunctioning objects around Bournville. Near the entrance to Cadbury World there is a car park, with normal everyday car park barriers that go up and down when a car approaches to let them in and out. However, one of the barriers seemed broken as it was continuously going up and down without there being a car there to activate it. So I filmed it a little and took some photos. This got me thinking about other broken or malfunctioning things in the village, and how this in a way contrasted with the perfect, prim and proper atmosphere of the village. I found a clock that was showing the wrong time, and a metal barrier that had been crushed, probably by a car collision.

So I had a starting point but didnt really know how I wanted to present it. The tutor said a video would be most suitable, and that if I could find more malfunctioning 'things' I could put them into a montage of sorts. So I ran with this idea and planned a video called '6 minutes of malfunctions'. It would feature footage of the original barrier, traffic lights, bathroom taps, indoor lights, a clock and possible a computer printer all edited to appear as if they were not working properly, because I couldn't make them break in real life or wait for them to break on their own. I felt that this removed them from their original context because you are being forced to watch them, whereas usually you might only glance at them or not notice them at all because they are trivial in comparision to what ever important things you might have going on in your life.

I then had to present this idea to the head tutor 2 days later, he liked the idea but said footage of the original barrier looped on it's own would be better. I then realised I had probably been a little ambitious with my plans for '6 minutes of malfunctions' given the time restraints of under a week. So I did as I was told and headed out to get better footage of the barrier 'doing it's thing', and unfortunatly the barrier wasn't doing it anymore! So I decided to try again the next morning before I had to display my video at 10am, but had my original camera phone footage as a back-up. Luckily, by Friday morning it was doing it again, so I got 50 seconds of better quality footage to display in class. I decided to simply display it on one of the Mac screens.

So it didn't go as well as I wanted, but nevermind. It was only really a practise run. I think if I were to persue this idea again it I would definately go with my original idea of  '6 minutes of malfunction' and I would also want to display it on a projector or a much plainer TV screen.

EDIT: Upon further consultation with a tutor, I plan to carry on with this idea for the 'Context' section of my field guide projects.