The object of this experiment is to generate an “object of wonder” or as I like to describe it: “Machines That Do Nothing” -based on the research at UoW Innovation Campus this semester around installation artworks with an interactive/audience driven component. The theme for the work is ” A Natural History Museum After an Earthquake”.

I’ve been experimenting with this medium of very lightweight plastic sheeting for some time, which is semi-opaque and reacts really well when placed in front of a lamp. For this particular workshop I have been using white plastic sheets, and arranging them in various ways using the most powerful lamp available to humankind (The Sun). Some of  the results have been detailed in previous posts (here’s one example):

These images also use a thin white fabric called ‘poplin’ which is adjacent to the white plastic, so the sunlight here is slightly diffused before it strikes the cloth.

For the Studio Work I am aiming for a more complex set of shadows to create an image, using the ‘Natural History’ motif I settled on the core symbol of a Human Skull, slightly inspired by a kitsch object i found while shopping for Hallowe’en decorations, a plastic skull with a flashing LED light inside.  Initially I thought to rig the LED to an Arduino/ Motion Sensor, however some initial experimentation with placing the object in combination with the plastic sheeting generated some more interesting results:

Placing the plastic skull either in front of or behind the white sheeting gives a markedly different outcome.  The stand I have used here is an old lamp base which is rigged to swing back and forth when triggered by a pendulum, giving the impression that the head is turning left and right. The image resonates with a litany of popular culture icons, such as the metallic skull of Terminator and the infamous Damien Hirst Work “For the Love of God”.

While the image captures some of the essence of these works, it harks back to what I think is a quite primal recognition of our own bodies as mechanical/ organic objects, of which the skull is a central tenet of humanity, encapsulating all human achievements of the past few milennia: science, art, spirituality… Once I had discovered the kind of macabre and primal energies of this particular object I hoped to  find away to explore that in a very “cheap and cheerful” manner (hence the use of everyday household objects and found items) – the installation is essentially made up of Junk, in contrast to the extravagance of Hirst or High Tech imagery of the Terminator films.

I will continue to explore the possibilities within this framework, possibly attaching LEDs or other lights, however my instinct is to go as low-tech as possible and keep the simplicity of a single light against a basic rig of ropes and plastics for a core elemental impact of an object which is simultaneously alive & dead, human & mechanised, totemic & spiritual but made from junk.

White on White

Setting up two different sorts of white fabric in a clothesline formation such that the plastic generates a mild static charge against the poplin. Both textiles are semi translucent against the light.

Experiment with letting the fabric rest against the plastic. The Cloth has been stored in a travel case for some weeks, and such has random folds and creases throughout. The plastic has been kept on a long roll, which adds to the static charge, and allows the plastic to cling and adhere to these folds and creases creating an interesting cross-hatch effect in the ‘natural’ grain of the plastic roll:

Experiment with the fabric pulled slightly back. The light is from a single shaft of sunbeam falling through the window diffused once through the fabric and then falling on the white plastic from behind:

Beam of sunlight, creating different effects through the fabric.  This effect is shot in slow-motion, to allow more focus on the subtle variations as the plastic settles against the cloth.

Testing this effect with the iphone camera, at different apertures.

Movement test- allowing the body’s movement to create a ripple in the formation:

Accidental Shark Formation, inspired memories of the previous exercise using Processing, where the particular shades of the coloured triangles emulated a sharks fin, with variations/

Using LEDs and set-up behind the plastic with an Arduino motion sensor could set off some interesting outcomes

These are very basic animation machines derived from 19^th Century innovations in home-entertainment technology.  There are a number of variations within a basic structural premise, a kinetic object displays a series of images in succession, viewed through a tiny window to create the impression of a single moving image.  It’s the same principle as film stock and the effect can still be seen in modern digital animated films, particularly the popular short ‘GIF’ (Graphics Interchange Format) files found across social media and memeography.

The main difference is these are not digital, instead reliant on hand drawn objects – as a throwback to pre-industrial arts & entertainment there’s a slightly charming & folksy quaintness to the notion of a uniquely crafted hand-held device which is purpose-built for distraction.

I wanted to use different colours and adjust the position of the coloured shapes in each segment to give the impression the colours were moving around.  The first attempt was simple squares and blobs which moved from the centre of the circle to the edge. This was the opposite direction to what I had intended but it gave a good basic outcome for a fitst attempt.

Second attempt was a bit more complex, with two coloured blocks moving in towards the centre (or ‘down’ the segment) smoothly.  I left the narrow ‘slits’ blank; which had the effect of a stationary block at the top of the segment, which adds to the overall impact providing an ‘anchor’ for the eye to focus on amongst the flurry of colour and movement.  I feel without this anchor the overall outcome would be diminished  and the viewer would simply see a spiral, as all the movement is towards the centre of the circle, the eye would always be drawn back there (it’s quite hypnotic!)

Finally I have added an extra layer to the animation which was a separate coloured block moving from the centre to the edge.  I attempted to blur some of the tones as they passed each other, but it was a bit tricky doing this with texta, and without planning the colour combinations a bit more carefully.

Going to try a new version with this effect tomorrow and bring to class.

 

I used the following code to generate this image in Processing

void setup(){
background(255);
size(650,650);
//this code describes a plain white backdrop
noLoop();
}
float resolution = 640;

void draw(){

for (int i =10 ; i < 650 ; i = i + 80){
for (int j = 10 ; j < 650 ; j = j + 80){

//this refers to the rate at which the triangles are repeated:
//every 80 pixels horizontally or vertically a new loop begins

//triangle set 1:

//this creates a set of eight congruent triangles which tessellate across the grid
drawTriangle (i-20,j-10,i+20,j+10,i-20,j+30);
drawTriangle (i+20,j+10,i-20,j+30,i+20,j+50);
drawTriangle (i+20,j-30,i+60,j-10,i+20,j+10);
drawTriangle (i+20,j+10,i+60,j+30,i+20,j+50);

drawTriangle (i+20,j-30,i-20,j-10,i+20,j+10);
drawTriangle (i+60,j+30,i+20,j+50,i+60,j+70);
drawTriangle (i+60,j-10,i+20,j+10,i+60,j+30);
drawTriangle (i-20,j+30,i+20,j+50,i-20,j+70);

//triangle set 2

//this creates a smaller set of triangles, which sit just a few pixels inside the first set.
drawTriangle (i-16,j-2,i+12,j+10,i-16,j+22);
drawTriangle (i+16,j+18,i-12,j+30,i+16,j+42);
drawTriangle (i+24,j-22,i+52,j-10,i+24,j+2);
drawTriangle (i+24,j+18,i+52,j+30,i+24,j+42);

drawTriangle (i+16,j-22,i-12,j-10,i+16,j+2);
drawTriangle (i+54,j+38,i+28,j+50,i+54,j+62);
drawTriangle (i+56,j-2,i+28,j+10,i+56,j+22);
drawTriangle (i-16,j+38,i+12,j+50,i-16,j+62);

stroke (1);

}}

drawLines();
}

void drawTriangle (int a, int b, int p, int q, int x, int y) {

//this code allows us to create conditions for the triangles based on the relative values of //the vertices as represented by set pronumeral digits (a,b,p,q,x,y)

if (a%4 == 0) {
//so as the horizontal value of the first vertex is divisible by 4
//we can apply a certain condition- so a set number of triangles are a shade of grey //(representing the shark’s fin)
fill(noise(x / resolution, y / resolution) * 255)
;
} else {
fill(noise(a / resolution, b / resolution) * 255,
noise(p / resolution / 64, q/ resolution / 12) * 255,
noise(a / resolution / 120, x / resolution / 12) * 255);
//for every other triangle in the loop will be coloured a random shade varying
//according to the positions of the vertices, using perlin noise for a
//more subtle gradient

//various experimentations with this give a range of aqua-blue, flesh-tones or deep red (see below)
}
triangle (a,b,p,q,x,y);
//this applies the conditions as set throughout the function
}
void drawLines(){
for (int i =10 ; i < 650 ; i = i +80 ){
for (int j = 10 ; j < 650 ; j = j + 80){
//this refers to the rate at which the patterns are repeated:
//every 80 pixels horizontally or vertically a new loop begins

//lines set 1

//these lines are specially placed to go between the vertex of the interior triangles and a //certain point on the exterior triangles just a few pixels away.  It’s a repeated patter for //every triangle in order to complete the illusion.

//I’m looking for a way to code in a formula or set of conditions for the lines so they don’t //need to be plotted individually

line (i-16,j-2,i-20,j-4);
line (i-20,j-4,i-24,j-2);
line(i-26, j-12,i-26,j-20);
line(i-26,j-12,i-30,j-9);
line (i+16,j+18,i+20,j+15);
line (i+24,j-22,i+20,j-24);
line (i-16,j+38,i-20,j+35);
line(i-20,j+35,i-26,j+38);
line (i+16,j-23,i+20,j-25);
line (i+20,j-25,i+24,j-23);
line (i+54,j+38,i+54,j+43);
line (i+56,j-2,i+60,j-5);
line (i-16,j+38,i-20,j+35);
line (i-16,j+22,i-16,j+17);
line (i-12,j+30,i-16,j+27);
line(i-16,j+27,i-16,j+22);
line (i-24,j+22,i-24,j+27);
line (i-24,j+27,i-28,j+30);

line (i-12,j-10,i-16,j-13);
line (i-16,j-13,i-16,j-17);
line (i+12,j+10,i+16,j+7);
line(i+16,j+7,i+16,j+3);
line(i+24,j+7,i+24,j+3);
line(i+24,j+7,i+28,j+10);
line(i+24,j+18,i+20,j+14);
line(i+24,j+48,i+24,j+40);
line(i+16,j+48,i+16,j+40);
line(i+16,j+48,i+12,j+50);
}}}

 “Art is a conversation between those who are dead and those who are not yet born.  We are merely translators.”

Victor Sancz, The 5th Wall

The concept for this work stems from this tenet of artmaking, central to my philosophy for creative practice. As a theatre maker, I am tasked with bringing the words to life from pages sometimes millennia old. These are the “voices of the dead”…  Such a notion is inherently supernatural, like how Stephen King defines writing as “telepathy” in his autobiography On Writing, and I wanted to explore this as a horror theme.

This exploration resulted in an aesthetic influenced by Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker – creating tension in ordinary objects through his unique cinematography. I experimented with the camera to push the aperture as far as I could to create that otherwordly light.  All the effects are in-camera (besides the titles), the washed out effect a result of video gain.

Following the thread of the horror aesthetic lead to other central conceptual elements. Alluding to the Blair Witch Project and Halloween, upon finding the location I was inspired to bring the forest and the mask into play together. The mask, besides offering a macabre and uncanny presence in the natural environment, representing the ‘voices of the dead’ or the entire history of theatre to which I owe my creative spirit.

Finally the concept of the ‘movie trailer’ as creative form made sense to imply a much deeper presence. It also gave rise to include the absurd voice-over and over the top non-diagetic soundtrack effects, to disrupt the audience’s passive viewing state. They are a central character in the video, it challenges them to participate in its message.

 

The following are a collection of responses I just submitted for an assignment.  They cover cultural appropriation, colonisation/decolonisation, and in my own practice the deep-seeded politicisation of self-expression.  The task was limited to 1000 words, so i didn’t get into it as deep as I’d like…  but it’s a start…

1.

Cultural Appropriation: by which diverse systems of expression merge into a unique cultural form, is a practice fraught with controversy. Artists are subject to a vast fabric of influences, particularly with the advent of technology it is disproportionately easy to investigate and adopt the cultural signifiers of groups to which we do not belong.

The main tension inherent to cultural appropriation is to do with the relationship between the cultures as they engage in the present. Indications to how this plays out are found in historical phenomena like colonialism or civil rights movements, particularly the power relationships across these events.

For example, remote Aboriginal Australian groups adopting the language and symbology of heavy metal music (Mansfield, 239) occurs within the historical context of European colonisation. It is reasonable that a community having suffered systemic violent oppression over hundreds of years would identify with music notable for its anti-authoritarian roots. As such they can take what they please from the iconography of heavy metal to reclaim their sense of cultural identity in what might be referred to as ‘decolonisation’.

Further, heavy metal music, largely performed by artists of European ethnicity today, has its lineage in rock and roll pioneered by artists such as Chuck Berry and Jimi Hendrix in the context of their own civil rights movement. Black Australians choosing to re-appropriate Western music to inform their own resistance to colonisation is entirely fitting.

Conversely if white community groups took aspects of Aboriginal culture to enhance their own this would continue the systemic violence of European settlement – simply one more thing for white people to take without asking.

2.

At the centre of public discourse in Australia is the dispossession of Aboriginal land. Like Macbeth denying the bloated visage of Duncan’s corpse at the banquet, mainstream political power centres on the continued erasure of violence against Aboriginal people through colonisation.

The White Australia Policy is one of many acts of systemic violence with an undercurrent of white supremacy behind it. Ten years ago, the Federal Government sent soldiers into Aboriginal communities to stage what they termed as an ‘intervention’. A year after that, during the Prime Minister’s apology to the Stolen Generation, six opposition MPs walked out of Parliament.

One of those members, Peter Dutton is now responsible for implementing offshore detention policies. He routinely misrepresents behaviour of the people for whom he has duty of care, most recently citing sexual violence on Manus Island as rationale for police shooting.

This pattern of denial and distortion around marginalised groups by those in power demonstrates what Omar Musa refers to in his Music Show interview (2016); quoting Richard Flanagan he says: “the history of all great art is a history of the fringes waging a war upon the centre“.  At the centre we have a political structure reliant on the economic privilege of colonisation, with marginalised groups struggling to challenge this narrative and assert their place in Australian culture.

‘Great Art’ is the primary tool to do this. It is worth noting that many of these migrant groups, while not directly suffering the violence of colonisation in Australia have had to flee one form of colonisation or another to come here. Colonialism is at the centre of political power in Australia, globally and on a local level: the fulcrum on which the wheel of cultural expression spins.

3.

Artmaking is therefore positioned along a spectrum ranging from complacency at the centre to radicalism at the very edge. The complacent artist, satisfied with their social milieu can participate without controversy in cultural practices. The radical artist rejects convention and agitates for change. It is possible to traverse between these two positions, using a popular format for art to promote a radical agenda, many artists at the height of their popularity have used it to agitate for social change. Other artists have instigated social change purely by challenging formal convention. The works operate on an aesthetic level which inherently challenges the status quo.

It is not simply being ‘fringe’ or ‘mainstream’, but knowing where the work will find its audience. The advent of ‘Realism’ in theatre in the late 19^th Century caused pandemonium amongst audiences in Norway. The uproar stems from the context of his performances, staged at a National Theatre Company to bourgeois elites – the complacent centre of social power – little wonder they became unsettled by what they saw.

But Ibsen knew the significance of what he was doing, even if he could not predict this form would dominate public entertainment in decades to come. In this way, whatever the context, the choice to make art is a political choice. Even the choice not to make art is political. This is what the critic Tim Adams is getting at when he asks the artist. “In our digital age did she feel that any solid act of making becomes a political act?” (2016)

4.

This act of artmaking, this choice to self-express becomes even more politically charged when we understand that there are people – even within the supposedly ‘free’ society of Australia – who cannot do the same.

Artists are frequently excluded from public discourse, where they do participate their inclusion is token. For example, to succeed as an actor, the artist must participate fully in the theatre of capitalism. Exceptions to this rule are rare, even the most visible success stories of Australian cinema still advertise anti-aging cream. For those starting out – to refuse a commercial for chocolate bars is to kiss your career goodbye. No one will represent the talented conscientious objector – even though these institutions benefit fully from the political structures of colonisation.

The actor must therefore choose: accept the status quo and participate, or reject it and by doing so forego opportunities to which they aspire. Historically, this is a fundamental to how power systems contrive to co-opt the arts to reduce its influence. Those who resist are often the artists who become the most iconic. Vaclav Havel, the playwright in Communist Czechoslovakia was frequently imprisoned but went on to become President.

The list is extensive: Shostakovich, Kandinsky & Vertov are just a few innovators working within extreme limitations of free speech in the Soviet Union. The reality of dissidence for these artists was no joke; prison or death was a probable outcome living under a totalitarian state, and yet the importance of using their art as a form of resistance was overwhelming.

As Doug Aitken says in his interview: “It’s not a political strategy. It’s an extension of who you are and how you see the world. It’s always non-negotiable” (Adams, 2016).

 

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Mansfield, J. (2014), ‘Listening to Heavy Metal in Wadeye’, in A Harris (ed.) Circulating cultures: exchanges of Australian Indigenous music, dance and media, ANU Press, pp. 239-258.

Omar & L-Fresh 2016, Radio Interview, The Music Show, Australian Broadcasting Corporation <http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/musicshow/omar-and-l-fresh/7988076&gt;

Adams, T 2016, ‘Power To… The Art of Protest’, The Guardian <https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/sep/11/protest-art-miro-elmgreen-dragset-isaac-julien-sarah-sze-doug-aitken-interview&gt;

 

For the current video project will explore the influence of the following  two film works on my aesthetic and philosophical outlook as an artist:

Chris Marker: SANS SOLEIL

Specifically the use of voice and sound over seemingly randomised ‘home movie’ style and found footage – the juxtaposition of visual and verbal imagery generating harmony and dissonance with an expansive meaning. Picking up from Marker’s construction of the narration in the form of a letter/postcard from abroad, I will compose the poem in a similar way – perhaps as a letter to myself in the future?

Andrei Tarkovsky: STALKER

The key imagery within this mercurial film is of the natural world reclaiming the decaying remains of civilisation. The eponymous Stalker and his companions face an arduous and convoluted path, beset by mysterious barriers.  This concept of a path into the unknown is a central tenet of this project as a metaphor for my life and creative output.

As such I aim to emulate both of these works as an expression of my own journey into maturation as an artist.