Presentation

After realising that the editing of the films was going to be a smaller task than I originally anticipated, which was mostly due to having taken the time to do the transcripts of the interviews at the beginning, I realised that I needed to invest my time now in working out exactly how I am going to present the work in a way that I not only like but is also at a professional standard. This week I focused on this task and looking back the main reasons why I was having problems was because I was overcomplicating it and failing to look past what I was seeing in front of me to the possibilities of what the work could be. I am going to outline some of the stages I went through regarding the presentation of the piece throughout the week. It was particularly turbulent but now I feel happy and excited because I know that I have come to the right conclusion about how I want the work to look and most importantly how the audience will engage with it. 

My original intention for the TVs was to build a wooden structure that would hold them and hide any extra cables or DVD players that might be used in the work, I planned for this to be black and certain areas blocked out with wood. I had come to the conclusion a few weeks back that I felt splitting the TVs up created a separation with the work that I didn’t want, and that the idea of having the four collected together felt like it worked much better than any of the other ways I tried on that morning. With this in mind I aimed to present this idea to my tutor Jane to see her thoughts on the quantity of the screens and the presentation. Early on in the week I was drafting my PDP presentation which discusses our practice, who we are and what we will be doing after the degree and in the future. I was speaking of Susan Sontag and the way in which her writings had been a significant influence on not only my dissertation but also my studio practice. It was whilst I was picking out something from one of her books to include in the presentation that I came across one if my favourite quotes from her essay ‘Against Interpretation’ which was ‘Transparency is the highest, most liberating value in art - and in criticism - today. Transparency means experiencing the luminousness of the thing in itself, of things being what they are.’ I was thinking about my work and felt that the films themselves were incredibly honest and the way in which these people had revealed parts of themselves to me was something that I wanted to respect. I realised that by hiding all of the components I am taking away this honesty that I feel is in the work itself, it needed to be transparent much like Sontag suggests. This meant that I presented to Jane the two ideas of having the built in structure or maybe having the TVs on a structure like the plastic racking.

We spoke a lot about this and there were many positives and negatives I found. I felt that the racking was made of the wrong material, it didn’t look refined enough and felt messy to me. The plastic of the shelves was also bowing in the places where the TVs were sitting which was a serious problem for me as it made the TVs fall into each other and was not completely safe. I really liked the colour of the racking and the way the cylindrical poles down the edges contrasted to the squares of the TVs, I also liked how you could see around the edges of the work and I liked the way that the wires were tumbling down the back and when it was away from the wall you could see all of these interconnecting much like many of the things mentioned in the films. The racking though was at just the wrong height as from standing you were looking down on it and when sitting you were looking up. There was something about this that wasn’t quite right and I realise now that I was being blinded by what I was seeing and couldn’t look past it. We discussed many ways of making the shelves stronger and adding new materials as well as using found objects. However, I felt that if I was to do any of these I would be adding an aesthetic to the piece that I did not want, and I felt harsh materials would be disrespectful to the what is being said in the work. 

After discussing this for a long time I was at a stage where I was getting really concerned about how the TVs were going to look for the show as at this point my ideas were all over the place. My friend Sarah asked me what is it that I really want the audience to get from the work, what do I really want it to be able. I said that I want the audience to engage with the films and enjoy looking at what the different artists think and perhaps come to various conclusions in their own minds about the topics discussed. Sarah suggested that this then was what I needed to achieve, and to do this I would have to take it down to basics. At this stage I knew I wanted the audience sat down as I feel that this means they will stay for longer and therefore engage more fully with what was in front of them. I played around with doing various positioning with the TVs and desks and placing the chairs in front of them and seeing what that felt like to watch. I focused more closely on the experience of viewing the films that I did to what it looked like at this stage. I know now that the racking was becoming sculptural and something more than the films, refining it like this made sure that this wouldn’t happen. 

This is the final set up that I came up with for the TVs. After playing around with the tables I realised that I wanted them to be on one long table as this way they could still be seen separate but they were still a part of the whole. The space for the TVs made it easier to view the films as you were not immediately distracted by the other TV sets directly beside it, it also meant that I could choose the TV screens with better colour as I no longer had to worry about the shape and size of the TVs. They will be placed next to each other on a table and in front will be four chairs with no backs, I want the chairs to be indiscreet so that they do not start looking like furniture as this is something that I wanted to avoid, and something I also felt was a problem with the racking. As for the DVD players, although I still liked the way all of the wires were on show on the floor and running down the back of the table, I felt these could be hidden in small slots attached to the bottom of the table so they you can still operate them but they could not be seen. As for the viewing height of the work, the table at that height and chairs meant that the screens were directly in front of the viewers face. I felt that the chairs meant that you gave the audience no option other than to pick one of the four films and watch it, it felt like you became a part of the interview and the conversation between the people shown on screen. I think its all a weird experience when the same thing is happening to another three people next to you, some of which you may not know. I have ordered 8 legs for the table, that are standard worktop legs, and I will attached these under each TV to bring stability and avoid any bowing issues as this was one of my concerns with the racking. I could have had six but there would have been a possibility of the wood bending after a period of time because of the weight of the TVs. The legs as well as rounded, much like the edge of the frame of the racking which I felt contrasted well with the square shape of the TVs, this is another element from this format that is reflected in a more refined way in the new style of presentation. As for the colour of the table and the style of the chairs, I am going to first attach the black legs and then go from there as to whether I will paint the table or not. I think this is something that I will not know until this stage, and I have gathered pieces of wood similar to the cut that I have so that I can test different kinds of paint on it. I wondered as well about including a larger piece of writing in the work that is something I definitely wanted to do, however I know that giving the audience a booklet when watching the films will distract them and also adding a fifth place with a book would be pointless and look too intentional, therefore I am going to have it attached to the wall near my work so that people can go through it as a longer artist statement. 

I feel that this way of presenting the TVs is respectful to what the people have said within the films, it looks refined and complete, it is not too complicated and not trying to say too many things all at once. I also feel that it is not giving off any other ulterior concepts because of how basic the set up is. Most importantly I think that this will fully engage the viewer and put them in a situation where they will sit and consider what the videos are trying to say. Not only will it be about watching the films but it will also be an experience. I hope to get some more feedback on this set up after I have finished the films. My aim for next week is to get the legs attached to the table and also the holders for the DVD players, then begin to consider paints and other finishing touches. I also plan to attempt to completely finish all of the films, maybe except for a few extra clips of footage that I may need to gather at a later time. I hope to continue to critique the films by sitting and watching through them for longer periods of time in order to see if anything doesn’t work quite right.