Some images I made with my mobile. I like them, but I dont know if thats enough.
Monday, 1 June 2009
Thursday, 16 April 2009
12 Photographs (the Centre of the Universe)
An idea Helen and I bounced around whilst we were out for a walk yesterday: from my flat, walk for a set amount of time (10mins, half an hour, 2 hours whatever) in all 12 directions of the compass. Once I reach that point I take a photograph of whatever I see (using a decent dslr this time I think). The images are then displayed, along with notes made along the way, recordings etc. On Kawara springs to mind. I like the idea. The problem I have with it though, is that its, again, about a journey I've made and will the viewer be able to engage with it? I dont know if this matters, I think sometimes you can loose sight of the fact that when you are productive and producing work, viewed as a practice it is interesting.
Wednesday, 15 April 2009
Filmmaking, Research, Walking and 'Blogging'
I haven't updated for a while, so here's a synopsis of the goings on with me:
- Filmmaking. It seems I'm making films again. My current practice consists of walking and documenting. My original intention for this documentation was to produce an installation with images, texts, drawings, projections etc covering the walls, recorded sounds playing, the idea being that the viewer would enter the space and be able to explore, constructing their own journeys from my documents. This still may happen, but on advice from Alistair, I threw together some images, stuck a voiceover on it and made a film. The film seemed to achieve some of what I was planning for the instalation, in that it took the viewer on their own journey through wolverhampton. So I'm now persuing the film idea: a series of images with a voiceover, all produced by walking. The success of the film - and indeed what I need the installation to be - is that it is no longer merely documentation (and why should anyone care about a journey i went on and recorded?) but becomes an 'artwork' that accomodates the viewer and allows them to go on their own journeys.
- Research. I am currently persuing a PhD. I've put in an application for funding, which is currently making its way through the long bureaucratic procedures it has to pass through, and I'm writing a research proposal. The idea for the research comes from my practice, but is separate from it. Its very liberating to be able to separate the theory from the practice, as it was getting to the stage where they were hindering rather than helping one another. The title for the progect is: The Spatial/Cultural Politics of Walking: Psychogeography, the Everyday and Post-Object Aesthetics'. What that means is, I'm interested in examining the potential of psychogeography and its interventions in the everyday for, what I've termed, post-object aesthetics. The main objects of my research are Henri Lefebvre's theories of space and the everyday and the Situationist International. The aim of the research is to get to what it is that makes the practice interesting. The PhD will be theoretical however; 90,000 words, no practice. This wont mean me giving up on practice completely (although it will be difficult to continue with it), and I do have genuine academic ambitions. How theory affects the practice will be an interesting one.
- Walking. I'm still walking, sticking my pins in the map and documenting, though not as much as I should be. I'm using twitter as a log of my walks, plus I have a large map of Wolverhampton that Matthew got from the planning dept on which I mark where I've been.
- 'Blogging'. Another outcome of my walks will (hopefully) be a website, or blog. I want to produce something that, again, allows the viewer to make their own journeys, and a blog or website seems like a good way to 'activate' spectatorship. Working along the lines of the map - territory dialectic, I want to produce a site that the viewer has to navigate via the documentation; ie, without navigation menus etc, the only way to get around would be to click on images etc.
- Filmmaking. It seems I'm making films again. My current practice consists of walking and documenting. My original intention for this documentation was to produce an installation with images, texts, drawings, projections etc covering the walls, recorded sounds playing, the idea being that the viewer would enter the space and be able to explore, constructing their own journeys from my documents. This still may happen, but on advice from Alistair, I threw together some images, stuck a voiceover on it and made a film. The film seemed to achieve some of what I was planning for the instalation, in that it took the viewer on their own journey through wolverhampton. So I'm now persuing the film idea: a series of images with a voiceover, all produced by walking. The success of the film - and indeed what I need the installation to be - is that it is no longer merely documentation (and why should anyone care about a journey i went on and recorded?) but becomes an 'artwork' that accomodates the viewer and allows them to go on their own journeys.
- Research. I am currently persuing a PhD. I've put in an application for funding, which is currently making its way through the long bureaucratic procedures it has to pass through, and I'm writing a research proposal. The idea for the research comes from my practice, but is separate from it. Its very liberating to be able to separate the theory from the practice, as it was getting to the stage where they were hindering rather than helping one another. The title for the progect is: The Spatial/Cultural Politics of Walking: Psychogeography, the Everyday and Post-Object Aesthetics'. What that means is, I'm interested in examining the potential of psychogeography and its interventions in the everyday for, what I've termed, post-object aesthetics. The main objects of my research are Henri Lefebvre's theories of space and the everyday and the Situationist International. The aim of the research is to get to what it is that makes the practice interesting. The PhD will be theoretical however; 90,000 words, no practice. This wont mean me giving up on practice completely (although it will be difficult to continue with it), and I do have genuine academic ambitions. How theory affects the practice will be an interesting one.
- Walking. I'm still walking, sticking my pins in the map and documenting, though not as much as I should be. I'm using twitter as a log of my walks, plus I have a large map of Wolverhampton that Matthew got from the planning dept on which I mark where I've been.
- 'Blogging'. Another outcome of my walks will (hopefully) be a website, or blog. I want to produce something that, again, allows the viewer to make their own journeys, and a blog or website seems like a good way to 'activate' spectatorship. Working along the lines of the map - territory dialectic, I want to produce a site that the viewer has to navigate via the documentation; ie, without navigation menus etc, the only way to get around would be to click on images etc.
Thursday, 29 January 2009
'Look Both Ways' (Boyle Walk no. 3)
the latest in my series of random wanderings around the city of Wolverhampton. This time its things I've read on the way:
Paradise sundays the red house look both ways unit to let furniture warehouse one way all traffic academy of dance only instore finance headquaters the diner bell street metro-st Georges mehan bargin centre loose materials babywear panahar peacocks 1/2 price sale is fast food slowing your kids down? image sale shopmobility east west original oriental grocery the bag shop telephone we are open sundays oceana first port 2 for 1 drinks bank's timpsons game clarks key cutting shoe repairs engraving motor industry cash aid reaction minder coming soon 1 minute walk beauty pharmacy dental surgery final clearence ideas your photos in seconds baking here now bannuttal loyds bank limited evening mail art gallery charlies fish bar baego's beer and burger time to invest in me smart ply funeral care open pawn broking adult bookshop
Paradise sundays the red house look both ways unit to let furniture warehouse one way all traffic academy of dance only instore finance headquaters the diner bell street metro-st Georges mehan bargin centre loose materials babywear panahar peacocks 1/2 price sale is fast food slowing your kids down? image sale shopmobility east west original oriental grocery the bag shop telephone we are open sundays oceana first port 2 for 1 drinks bank's timpsons game clarks key cutting shoe repairs engraving motor industry cash aid reaction minder coming soon 1 minute walk beauty pharmacy dental surgery final clearence ideas your photos in seconds baking here now bannuttal loyds bank limited evening mail art gallery charlies fish bar baego's beer and burger time to invest in me smart ply funeral care open pawn broking adult bookshop
Thursday, 8 January 2009
Boyle Walk no. 2
The Second in my series of 'Boyle Walks', inspired by various artists including the Boyle family. I walked through an industrial area of Wolverhampton, around the Chapel Ash area, near where I live. The photo's have come out really bad; they were shot on 100iso slide film and have come back all washed out, riddled with camera shake, as I didn't use a tripod. Next time I'll use faster film. Some of the images I've been able to rescue and I think there's something to them.
Thursday, 27 November 2008
26/11/2008. Wolverhampton. Or, 'Study Governed by Chance (after Richard Long and the Boyle Family)'
The first in a series of walks. The starting point and end point are determined by sticking two pins in a map at random. The experience is then documented in whatever way seems appropriate. What you read here are snippets of conversation:
Start. What? Come on. Which way are we going? Memorial: 'Their name liveth for evermore'. S.I, Lefebvre. Drop your reasons for movement to experience the city in a new way. The Planet really is a dump. Need faster film. Found a pen. Are matches relevant? Where's the Post Office? I want to go see the reindeer. Where are they going? Cactus in the window. Princes Street. We're also on a project, another project. Get that one. Princess Alley. That's really bright. Look at the amethyst. Bag fallen off the van. I've never been down here before. You're in my way. Walkabout. Manhattens, whats that? Used to be chiggi rock. Want to see the reindeer. Hang on. Failure is interesting, but failing because you're cold isn't. That's two lame franchises. My bum's cold. Carpets. Look at this. New watch? Bell Street, TKMaxx. The Beach? What's this? End.
Start. What? Come on. Which way are we going? Memorial: 'Their name liveth for evermore'. S.I, Lefebvre. Drop your reasons for movement to experience the city in a new way. The Planet really is a dump. Need faster film. Found a pen. Are matches relevant? Where's the Post Office? I want to go see the reindeer. Where are they going? Cactus in the window. Princes Street. We're also on a project, another project. Get that one. Princess Alley. That's really bright. Look at the amethyst. Bag fallen off the van. I've never been down here before. You're in my way. Walkabout. Manhattens, whats that? Used to be chiggi rock. Want to see the reindeer. Hang on. Failure is interesting, but failing because you're cold isn't. That's two lame franchises. My bum's cold. Carpets. Look at this. New watch? Bell Street, TKMaxx. The Beach? What's this? End.
Below are images shot by Helen, who came with me:
Wednesday, 5 November 2008
Statement October 2008 (extract)
Heres a section of a statement I'm working on for my creative enquiry module:
The major turning point in my development as an artist, crucial to my practice, is the realisation that the process is equally important as the exhibited work. This illustrates a shift in position and understanding, a shift away from any notion of finality; from understanding artworks as ‘end products’ to reading them as documentation of a process. A recent article on the MA Fine Art show at the University of Central Lancashire addresses this very issue. In it Chris Young refers to Site specific art in the late sixties/early seventies and Lucy Lippard’s 1972 book ‘Six years: The Dematerialisation of the Art Object’. Young poses the question of how the process of engagement and exploration, which is where the interest lies, can be communicated to an audience?
‘Thirty-six years on , the case of process-based work takes the issue further still – where the outcome of a project is uncertain there may be no physical end product at all. The interest is in the exploration of ideas and the process of investigation. How can this be communicated to an audience expecting and deserving an involving visual experience?’ (Young, 2008, p6)
With regards to my own practice this question is crucial, and one which, at this stage in my development, I have yet to find a satisfactory answer to. The important point is, to reiterate, the shift from reading the artwork as an ‘end product’ to reading the artwork as documentation. Two bodies of work from my practice highlight this shift, work that illustrates crucial points in the development of my practice. The first of which is a large body of photographs of the various studio spaces I have worked in over the last couple of years. The practice of photographing my studio and work in progress was one I picked up at foundation level and continued through my undergraduate degree. The photographs often depict unfinished art objects (paintings), and as such are documents. The essential point is that these are, at the same time, also ‘end products’. The major revelation was that these photographs of my studio were to be valued as much as ‘end products’ as the paintings they depicted were. They are ‘end products’ in as much as they are produced by a process, but it is a process that is theoretically endless, and so they are also documents. The defining factor is finality. The difference between the two terms is the degree of finality inherent to the work: An ‘end product’ has a heightened finality as it is the end point of the process. A ‘document’ is its polar opposite having little or no finality, as it comes during the process, a process which, theoretically, may have no end point.
The second body of work I produced for my undergraduate degree show. It consisted of a series of paintings, drawings and a video/performance work that utilised the Dadaist/Surrealist technique of the automatic. The paintings were made by covering the canvas in one or more layers of automatic writing. Whilst there was a certain amount of chance involved in this process, it is a controlled amount as there were conditions (Number of layers, size of text etc). This marks a major shift in my practice, in that the work actively privileges the process over the ‘end product’: As there is little aesthetic interest in the finished works (many of the canvases were completely covered in either black or white paint, a deliberate choice to minimise the aesthetic value of the works), the artworks as ‘end products’ approach redundancy, as the art objects exhibited become interesting only because of the process. While this work was produced at undergraduate level, it is only in my current practice I am able to fully comprehend the implications of this shift. My current practice centres on the word ‘Psychogeography’, a word that has a long history but whose major touchstones, for my own practice, are the Situationist International and the revival psychogeographical practices had in 1990’s London by authors such as Iain Sinclair. This work consists of going on walks and documenting them through film, photography, drawing and writing.
The major turning point in my development as an artist, crucial to my practice, is the realisation that the process is equally important as the exhibited work. This illustrates a shift in position and understanding, a shift away from any notion of finality; from understanding artworks as ‘end products’ to reading them as documentation of a process. A recent article on the MA Fine Art show at the University of Central Lancashire addresses this very issue. In it Chris Young refers to Site specific art in the late sixties/early seventies and Lucy Lippard’s 1972 book ‘Six years: The Dematerialisation of the Art Object’. Young poses the question of how the process of engagement and exploration, which is where the interest lies, can be communicated to an audience?
‘Thirty-six years on , the case of process-based work takes the issue further still – where the outcome of a project is uncertain there may be no physical end product at all. The interest is in the exploration of ideas and the process of investigation. How can this be communicated to an audience expecting and deserving an involving visual experience?’ (Young, 2008, p6)
With regards to my own practice this question is crucial, and one which, at this stage in my development, I have yet to find a satisfactory answer to. The important point is, to reiterate, the shift from reading the artwork as an ‘end product’ to reading the artwork as documentation. Two bodies of work from my practice highlight this shift, work that illustrates crucial points in the development of my practice. The first of which is a large body of photographs of the various studio spaces I have worked in over the last couple of years. The practice of photographing my studio and work in progress was one I picked up at foundation level and continued through my undergraduate degree. The photographs often depict unfinished art objects (paintings), and as such are documents. The essential point is that these are, at the same time, also ‘end products’. The major revelation was that these photographs of my studio were to be valued as much as ‘end products’ as the paintings they depicted were. They are ‘end products’ in as much as they are produced by a process, but it is a process that is theoretically endless, and so they are also documents. The defining factor is finality. The difference between the two terms is the degree of finality inherent to the work: An ‘end product’ has a heightened finality as it is the end point of the process. A ‘document’ is its polar opposite having little or no finality, as it comes during the process, a process which, theoretically, may have no end point.
The second body of work I produced for my undergraduate degree show. It consisted of a series of paintings, drawings and a video/performance work that utilised the Dadaist/Surrealist technique of the automatic. The paintings were made by covering the canvas in one or more layers of automatic writing. Whilst there was a certain amount of chance involved in this process, it is a controlled amount as there were conditions (Number of layers, size of text etc). This marks a major shift in my practice, in that the work actively privileges the process over the ‘end product’: As there is little aesthetic interest in the finished works (many of the canvases were completely covered in either black or white paint, a deliberate choice to minimise the aesthetic value of the works), the artworks as ‘end products’ approach redundancy, as the art objects exhibited become interesting only because of the process. While this work was produced at undergraduate level, it is only in my current practice I am able to fully comprehend the implications of this shift. My current practice centres on the word ‘Psychogeography’, a word that has a long history but whose major touchstones, for my own practice, are the Situationist International and the revival psychogeographical practices had in 1990’s London by authors such as Iain Sinclair. This work consists of going on walks and documenting them through film, photography, drawing and writing.
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