Final Exhibition Project Proposal

Essay Film

This project proposal aims to outline my intentions for this semester and the final exhibition. It has become clear that I need to work with my strengths for this final stretch, even though these might not necessarily be conventional. An interest in art theory, which was initially sparked by the demanding reading and lecture programme of the first year Contextual Studies, remains the most vital element of my practice. My work is Conceptual in nature, and inherently idea based. After being accepted onto the MA in Contemporary Art Theory at Goldsmiths, I feel that it is important to fully acknowledge this side of my work. When considering my studio practice, I understand that on occasions physical work has been lax, but I realise that this is because the writing is not simply research but the work itself. This Semester I wish to push this area of my practice, however, I also aim to produce something visual, as I feel that this is another form of developing and exploring ideas based on what I have read or seen. I hope to create a balance between the two. Marlene Dumas is a current example of a more extensive use of theory in her work when she published a book of essays and texts alongside the catalogue for her exhibition The Image as Burden at the Tate Modern. I was surprised at the connection between the ideas I have and her written analysis of her work and its influences. 

There are various different texts, authors or artists who have continued to influence me throughout the degree and also in particular with the research and development of the idea for the final project. My dissertation was based on Roland Barthes’ ‘The Death of the Author’ and his thoughts on authorship and intention. The intention of the artist and their role in the creative act has often resurfaced throughout my work. Having such a keen interest in Conceptual Art, I have also been largely influenced by the work and writings of both Marcel Duchamp and Joseph Kosuth. The way in which they explore the relationship between the audience and the work has often led me to question this further, and this is something I wish to do much more thoroughly throughout this final semester. Susan Sontag remains an influential figure, having always immensely enjoyed reading her work her book Where the Stress Falls (2001) discusses the importance of the role of the narrator and the distancing of the author from the “I” not only in writing, but also within film and photography. Linda Weintraub’s book Making Contemporary Art: How Modern Artists Think and Work (2003) is essential to my research and writing this term. This was written for students unsure of what it takes to be an artist and how to survive in the art market, her work poses important questions which have made me consider my own practice and where I stand as an art student. 

Essay film is the one medium that I have often returned to over the past few years but have never fully explored. My work for the first part of this year was an experiment with exploring more personal ideas. I looked at family, the power of photographs and memory. Feedback suggested that there was more strength in areas of my work where I focused on theory, and the idea, and not worried so much about feeling like including a personal element in the work was a requirement. I believe I needed to try this in order to recognise where and how my work is stronger. After reading Linda Weintraub’s Making Contemporary Art: How Modern Artists Think and Work I became interested in the way in which as artists we see the world, and what we believe the purpose of our work is and comparing this to the way in which the audience relates to and interprets our work. Essay film is both informative and often humorous, however it is the abstraction of the documentary style that I believe truly makes them into a work of art. Orson Welles’ ‘F for Fake’ is a witty example of a well executed essay film, unlike many I have watched that have been quite dark, this was manipulative of the viewer and smart in the movements it made. Another trait I have noticed with essay films is the play on the truth, and an audiences often easy acceptance of everything that they see. This connects closely with an artist featured in the first section of Weintraub’s book: Eve Andree Laramee, her exhibition was a fabrication of a scientist, the line between reality and lies was crossed within this ongoing project. As a format the essay film intrigues me, it is subliminal and I like that they have the power to be manipulative in a light-hearted way. The process of editing is key, working the clips, sounds and narration together to make one complete film is the challenge. 

My intention for this final semester is to continue to explore these ideas that remain relevant to my practice - remembering for myself what is important, but more closely focus on the book by Linda Weintraub and Sontag’s Where the Stress Falls. I plan to pose questions to the students of Fine Art regarding their practice and the way in which they view their audience and the dynamics of this relationship. I hope to uncover some diverse and unexpected answers to these questions which when edited together will form a contemporary and honest conversation. The aim is to show this short film as an introduction to the final third year degree show, allowing the audience to gain a greater understanding of what this years third year fine artists are really about, who they are, what drives them and what they aim to achieve. I hope that this will not only be an interesting addition to the artists statements at the exhibition, but might also allow the audience to consider these questions in a wider context, not just in relation to the work directly in front of them. I intend for the film to be relatively abstract, much like many of my favourite essay films, as well as a positive and informative look into how artists think. I will have to allow a decent amount of time for editing, and so the gathering of information and footage will have to start as soon as possible, organisation is also key. Ruth has kindly offered to assist me in the making of the film, to which I am very grateful as it is a slightly mammoth task to attempt alone. It is an exciting project that I feel will continue to uncover more twists the further into the process we go. 

Gallery Visits

I went to London with the aim of capturing some sound recordings of members of the public reacting with the gallery spaces and the comments that they make about the work. I plan on looking into essay film this final semester, and continuing on with a topic I started last semester I planned on exploring the way the audience connects and interacts with the work in the gallery space. My focus was not necessarily on the exhibitions that we went to see however I cannot help but want to write about some of the work that was shown. For the first time in a long time I wasn’t taking notes about the exhibition but by trying to listen to the people around me I became much more absorbed in the work itself and the atmosphere of the gallery, I’ve realised the usefulness of letting yourself fully take in the work around you without distractions of taking notes, the first show that we saw was a very clear example of this. 

Tate Modern: Conflict, Time, Photography

What struck me about listening to the people in the space was not what was spoken but the silence. The silence that is not really silence, as there are footsteps, rustling, whispering. All of these elements create a hushed atmosphere, one of careful examination, this was particularly true for the exhibition on conflict and time. I am a great lover of photography, and however horrible the subjects of the photographs may be, there was beauty to them. It was a haunting beauty, these were the kind of photographs that make you look in wonder yet recoil slightly at what you are seeing. I believe that sometimes the hardest part is coming to terms with the fact that you are looking at something that happened, this was reality. We see these kinds of images often, in the news and media, however their presentation in the Tate in this format makes you feel the true power of these images. In this situation the hushed gallery space enhanced the sorrow of the photographs. 

‘The resulting sequence becomes ‘unstuck in time’ like the narrative of Slaughterhouse-Five, shifting without warning from one moment in history to the next, following the perspectives of those making the pictures.”

The exhibition was not a chronological mapping of events but was presented by way of reflection, the idea of looking backwards at these things that happened. The exhibition was separated into different periods of reflection, from minutes after to years and months. This highlighted how the effects of the devastation were continuous and ongoing, they showed the pain of the aftermath of these moments. One piece that I found particularly interesting was Don McCullin’s Shell Shocked US Marine, The Battle of Hue 1968, his book Unreasonable Behaviour was the key focus for our brief in the second year of the degree, seeing this image that I had come across when reading this book enveloped in its rightful context gave a better understanding for myself as to what the exhibition was going to be about as I could relate much of what I had read in the book to what the exhibition was trying to achieve. 

Out of all the photographs that were in the exhibition though there was one that I felt was particularly powerful. Shomei Tomatsu’s photographs that captured the aftermath of the atomic bomb that hit Nagasaki really highlighted the effects of this conflict and truly terrible consequences of atomic bombs. The photo ‘Nagasaki 11:02’ captured a watch that had stopped at the precise moment the bomb was dropped. For me this image spoke of how at that time everything stopped, everything came to an end. That was the end for those people. His image captured that halt in time, and through this the ever-lasting imprint this moment made. Although the photograph was simply of a watch it spoke volumes of the impact of this bomb. 

Tate Modern: Marlene Dumas, The Image as Burden

I was initially struck by the fact that Dumas was a portrait painter, and even more so that I liked the work that she had done. I used to paint portraits quite often and always enjoyed it, however since starting the degree there has been a shift towards art theory and much more conceptual art works in my practice. I realised as I went through the exhibition that it was perhaps her continuous links to theory and writing that gave her work the depth that I like to see in paintings, I was also fascinated that alongside the catalogue for the show she published a book filled with writings, theory therefore being obviously crucial to her practice. After reading through the information about the exhibition I was surprised with the connections that I found in her work and what I was trying to do with recording the voices of those around me. ‘These works demonstrated a complex and nuanced investigation of the interrelationships between painterly gestures and subject matter, the photographic image and text, and between the viewer and the artwork.’ I was looking at how the audience reacted with the gallery space and the work, Dumas was experimenting with something similar, exploring the relationship between the viewer and the artwork. Her ideas of images and working with the image as painting and comparing these to cinema and other forms of media is effective. ‘This experience of images resurfacing, of plays in scale, shifts in colour and composition all reflect the multitude of ways Dumas has questioned the status of the image within contemporary society, while further pushing the possibilities of painting and the expectations of the viewer.’ 

Whitechapel Gallery 

Artists’ Film International: Winter 2015

Karen Mirza and Brad Butler: The Unreliable Narrator (2014)

As I have started to look into essay film more closely I wanted to go to Whitechapel Gallery to see a more contemporary example of film than those I have recently been looking into. What I liked about the film was the idea of the invisible narrator, mixing elements of the captured conversation with the narration, I think this is extremely effective. Also the length of the film was particularly good, it was about ten minutes long which is just the right amount of time to continue to hold the attention of someone who hasn’t even specifically came to see that film. What interests me about essay films is that there is always this element of destruction and sadness, the topics are often quite strong and emotional. There is also this boundary between reality and the fake, which was highlighted in Orson Welles’ F for Fake which was a fantastic film. There are similarities in the format of the essay films that I have watched that were used as well in The Unreliable Narrator, the content of the film and they way in which the conversation of the terrorists in those situations was captured makes you think about humanity and how possibly these things can happen. As well as the power of manipulation and religion, although quite difficult the way in which the film was made and the abstraction of the film made it compelling and thought-provoking.