Murmur: Co2 project space

The Co2 project space turned out, I believe, rather well. Of course there were quite a few anxieties right before the actual show due to typical technology push-backs, but luckily for me and Tomoko, everything worked out great.

Tomoko Tabuchi and I both decided to join together to create a collaborative piece of art for the Co2 project space, which was shown last Friday. Looking at her work I decided to dust off my video editing skills and work with the concept that she has been working on in the past year. In our first meeting we talked about the idea of going to a specific location, where Tomoko would take ten photographs in 360º every day during various times of the day for five days. After that, she would give me the photographs when she was done and I would edit them using Final Cut Pro piecing the photos together so that they would create a continuous, horizontal image. I ended up with three quicktime videos two of which had three of Tomoko's images on them, and one of the videos only had two. I ended up editing out two of the photos because I felt that they were not necessary for the project.

While editing, I found that the videos had a calming affect, making me feel contemplative and thoughtful. As individual photos, there wasn't really much going on other than a pretty scenery with the occasional passerby. But placed together, the scenes moved and changed vaguely, but quickly which gave my eyes something that could distract them for a while and not become bored. I found that though it was rather vague, there were small stories coming out of the images, as people walked past, the weather changed and leaves fell. I realized that what Tomoko and I were creating was an experience.

 

Dealing with the actual room Co2 was the difficult part. I borrowed three projectors and three DVD players from the University of Edinburgh and had to figure out where to place them in the room without them being in the way, without being visible, and without (I feared) ruining each others images by cross beaming. I was advised not to place them on plinths being that plinths are hard to find and make, but instead I should build shelves in the wall instead. So this was the plan. I bought shelves, and took all day Thursday to figure out how to place them on the walls. However, though the shelves that I had built were sturdy enough, the walls proved to be a huge problem and I kept on having nightmarish visions of the University's projectors falling and shattering. Tomoko and I decided to place the projectors on the ground. We placed them on top of the DVD players, covered the DVD players with white cloth and decided that was our best bet.

The day of the critique, Tomoko and I had placed one projector facing the door, and the other two facing the other walls with the window with the view of the castle completing the vista. The videos were on loop with sound of a recording of the actual location playing along with it. All we had to do was wait until 4pm when the sun went down.

During the critique, I was quite happy to hear that people were asking on if all of the videos were the same place, if they were segmented, if they were photos or actual moving images, if the audio was of the location, ect. Everyone seemed to quite enjoy the experience that Tomoko and I had created, and also found that the audio worked quite well with it. The only thing they didn't seem to like was the projector that was facing the door. They found it distracting and hard to see, which I didn't disagree with.

All in all, I found the whole project very successful and enjoyable to make. I found Tomoko extremely easy to work with, and I know that this project wouldn't have worked had it not been for her involvement with it. I believe that collaborative pieces can either be a huge success or a huge failure, and I believe that this project was a success and wouldn't mind working with Tomoko again in the future.

Orientalism and Neoliberalism

About two weeks ago, a conversation was created about Something Meaningful on Twitter. Someone (not me) asked a reasonably notable artist located currently in London what she thought about my project. Her response was disappointment. She described its "methodology smacks of cozy neoliberal participation agenda and the realization of meaning in a bead is a bit lame/orientalist". She went on to talk about her views on what art should be, which to me I found more insightful. However, reading this I was made to think, am I being orientalist in my art? And if it does indeed "smack of neoliberal agenda" because of its participatory aspect, is that a negative thing?

I came to realize that though I know of orientalism and orientalist art, I don’t know enough to combat accusations such as these. Why would this artist believe this project to be orientalist? Is it because I learned the act of making beads from a developing country? Or is it because of my constant desire to try and help those who are, I believe undeservedly suffering? Regardless of her reasoning, any thought that comes to my mind regarding my project to be orientalist is not only ignorant, but also disturbing.

Although the history of the beads is obscure, the first few documentations of its existence were during the turn of the 20th century in both England and the United States. There the paper bead moved and went in and out of popularity in various countries and cultures all over the world, until finally in 2006, a young girl visited Eastern Africa, who had no previous knowledge of paper beads, came across them.

I first saw paper beads in Uganda, Rwanda, and The Democratic Republic of the Congo. I didn't realize how much of an impact they made on me then, but I met children who had been through more unimaginable experiences than I could ever imagine, who welcomed me with open arms and with a kindness that I had never before experienced.

So, with this in mind, just because I have been privileged, and am a causation American, does this mean that I am therefore not allowed to be influenced by people of different cultures for fear of being orientalist? Am I supposed to ignore the extreme pain the children that I met just because I fear what my peers will think? It is, I suppose, these post-colonialist fears that force people in nations like the U.S. or the U.K. to turn a blind eye to atrocities that happen everyday needlessly.

Again, I know that I don't have enough knowledge about the subject to combat those who might accuse me of being orientalist. Therefore I have purchased a book called "Orientalism: History, theory and the Arts" by John M. MacKenzie, just to get my feet wet. I don't know if this book is any good, but the author seems highly reputed, so we will see how it goes.

Finally, to the accusation of my project being neoliberal: which again, my knowledge is unfortunately limited. If neoliberalism incorporates participation, then I don’t find anything wrong with that particular aspect of it. However, I don't believe that just because my project involves participation, that doesn't automatically make it neoliberal. My ideas regarding what meaning is and how it might connect with how I originally heard of the beads may be unclear, (and I am still working on the concept) but in my opinion art tends to be more interesting if it is ambiguous and those who view or participate in the project may take from it what they will. 

First Triad

            On Monday the 29th of October, I had my first triad of the year, and to be honest, I was dreading it. Although I can see the possible use of such a critique, I always found them forced, strenuous and usually left me frustrated and disillusioned. However, this triad wasn't the case.

            My tutor was Lucy Stein and she had never done a triad before. Regardless, I was quite impressed by her. She made everyone feel relaxed and able to give opinions without insecurities. The other two students in my triad were able to give their critique without too much bias, and had a kind of openness that helped, rather than discouraged my work. I even have felt stressed about the end product of my calming me down (which I'm sure was not their intent). So my conclusion to this blog is that I ended up feeling far better at the end of it.