Essay Structure Powerpoint - Tiffany Singh and Richard Orjis

Term 4, Week 2: Fran Allison and William Hsu

Fran Allison is a jeweller and lecturer at MIT. Her jewellery is inspired by household duties and she creates these forms with found materials, she then disguises their previous functions by incorporating them into pieces where materials such as silver, steel, metal, copper were also included. I like how she is able to take kitchen utensils and other household tools and repurpose their uses into a solid, reliable piece of jewellery. 

One of her works that stood out to me the most was the crown which she had constructed from old cake tins with imagery and symbols that represented the royal family's past celebrations. Even though the decorative aspects of the tin doesn't actually advertise the actual product, there are similarities between the functions of a cake tin and the symbolism in the imagery, like that fact that both the cake tin and royal family events and rituals hold valuable importance, not only do these tins hold an edible kind of treasure, but the imagery on the outside shows the power and dominance that those of a higher rank have over everybody else, and how accessories such as jewellery are a part of their lifestyle and traditional protocol. I can also see how it can relate in a separate form of historical context, it reminds me of the young French Queen, Marie Antoinette and her alleged reaction after hearing that the peasants of her country had no bread. Although it was never proved, she had supposedly said, "Let them eat cake."  

"Queen of the Bake Off," by Fran Allison

Marie Antoinette

Her solo art practice is more conservative, compared to the works she created as one quarter of the collaborative group, "Weeds." Working with other artists within the same field, but using different mediums has allowed her work to become more loose and has let her approach her work in a fearless manner. She had basically put her guideline of rules to the side and just let the work flow, making this experience as a collaborative focus more on experimentation and trying things she wouldn't normally do with her own work. A lot of experimentation and regenerating was based on how she viewed her peers' working process and the creative input that she received from them. However, it was nice to hear that they all made a shared effort, there was no power struggle or dictatorship in the group. As successful as they have been, they aren't a constant practice and the chances of them coming together and hosting more exhibitions is unknown as they tend to catch up with each other on the odd occasion, which is a good way to approach things if you have other commitments, but I think it's good that Fran has her own practice to focus on as well.

William Hsu also came in and talked to us about gallery spaces and the advantages and disadvantages of becoming a part of certain spaces. It seems as though the more professional a space was, the lesser the chances of collaborating on projects. The space that he is a part of seems more down to earth and more open to experimenting and improvising, I like how they try and include the public with their projects, like the t-shirt design activity, for example. Each participant was provided with an over-sized t-shirt. then they had to mark parts of the shirt and co-ordinate certain points together, creating a completely different design by folding and joining. Afterwards, they had a small fashion shoot and took photos of each model wearing their masterpiece which was a cool way to finish the activity. Overall his gallery space came across as a warm, and inviting environment. 

And of course, there were shows that weren't as popular. The concepts were innovative and simple but it didn't really catch on. I saw this as a reminder that although we as artists see our own ideas as genius and our works as masterpieces, the public are the ones to judge it. You have to remember to set yourself up for a few fails before you can make a win.

The One Million Masterpiece is an online collaborative art project and one of the worlds biggest record holders. The aim is to create one big mosaic piece of art by getting 1 million people from around the world involved and submitting one of their own drawings for the piece. It doesn't have to be a professional drawing, as you are asked to create the drawing by using computer software. Anybody can join, you can also check up on how the project is coming along by viewing the digital canvas, which is in the style of a satellite map. A great way to get people involved from all over the world by the click of a button.

Links
RM (William Hsu)

http://www.rm103.org/

One Million Masterpiece
http://www.millionmasterpiece.com/
check on the progress
http://www.millionmasterpiece.com/view

Term 4, Week 1: Deborah Crowe and Filipe Tohi

 Deborah Crowe's preferred style and medium is hard to define.By trade she is a qualified weaver, having graduated in weaving/textiles. But the material she uses for her works vary, from nylon and string to industrial type surfaces and materials such as mirrors, glass and metal.  They are also presented in many different ways – in photographic prints, installations and collaborative moving image pieces. Not only does she like to regenerate and reconfigure these materials for other works, she does this with her concepts as well, some ideas may carry on from one work to another. Her work sits between different mediums, she said that not only is it an advantage because it allows her to be different, but it's also a disadvantage because people are unsure of her style because it's constantly changing. This is due to her fascination with space, pattern and construction (architecture, scaffolding, etc.) Cantilever is a word that Deborah brought up a lot during her discussion, it's a term used in building where a panel for example, is joined and supported by one point (or two) only. This relates to how she responds to different structures and how she interprets this into her own work, whether it be sitting under bridges or watching movies and theater productions that focuses on construction/architecture that has been manipulated in some way. In terms of space, she recalls how as a child, her sister used to lock her in the closet . Years later, she nicknamed her work space, "Paradise Prison," since the garage that she was occupying was surrounded by a serene, picturesque garden. Space plays a major role in how she creates her work, she is interested in how we experience the space around us and how we control our bodies in this space.
She has also applied this along with her weaving talents to other areas in the creative field, including fashion design, which she has won awards and made television appearances for. Again, the main inspiration was how we control the body, how we as women are willing to go the extra mile to look good, by sacrificing our own comfort. The clothes that were designed and created do look uncomfortable, they range from very stiff looking headdresses to corset-styled dresses. A model who worked with Deborah Crowe and her collaborating designer friend, Kim Fraser was asked by television personality, Mary Lambie if what she was modelling felt uncomfortable, which the answer to her surprise was "no." Comfort is something that I'm guessing Deborah took into consideration while creating these pieces, as she is interested more in how a structure is built, not the decorative effects.  
The overall effect of her works gives this optical illusion, her work with line plays a trick on the viewer's eyes but it's very clever how she has managed to construct these works from many different kinds of materials. The diversity in her materials also gives her an advantage when playing with light and shadow.

"Shig," Deborah Crowe

We went to Mangere Arts Centre where we saw sculptures created by artist, Filipe Tohi. The cultural context was that of Tongan, with his art practice focusing mainly on an ancient Pacific Island artform by the name of lalava (lashing - patterns) his main medium of choice being stone but there were also a couple of works I saw where he had combined wood and steel. He believes that lalava is a prominent part of his culture because of the memories and historical values, so he decided he would carry this on throughout his own work but presented in his chosen medium: sculpture. He attracts the viewer by changing the composition of these national treasures, this way he could "manipulate space and pattern." The similarities I noticed between his and Deborah's work was the consideration of space and the intersecting of lines to create these abstract patterns. They don't appear to be grounded to just one medium and there is a wide variety of materials used in their works. They both manipulate their surfaces and produce different quantities of light, by buffing or building up on different layers (like Filipe's stone sculpture, "Mata Tangaroa," for example) and incorporating the different media to show different textures and a change in pattern. Just like Deborah's work, the lalava patterns also has that optical illusion effect, you can see how Filipe has deconstructed the traditional pattern of lalava and added his own twist to it by changing the levels and dimensions.

Filipe Tohi (traditional lalava)

"Mata Tangaroa," Filipe Tohi. (Rock sculpture, 2002)

Clapham house (in London, England) is a good example of line and pattern being incorporated into an architectural design. It reminds me of when Deborah was talking about how her work for the 2005 exhibition, "Reconstruct" was focused mainly on line and how she wanted to achieve this moire look with each piece. She said it would somehow mess with the viewer's head and make them "develop a form of psychosis" The interior of this house is also quite a strange set up and I like how the line continues onto the wall and forms this wavy pattern, it definitely makes you think twice about whether or not this pattern is a part of the decorative design or a part of the architecture.

Clapham House, London, England

 The Aragon Pavilion (designed by Olano and Mendo Architects, Spain) also shows a great understanding of weaving through architecture and how using hard materials with different surfaces can project different qualities of light. I can also see what Deborah Crowe means when she said for us to have a look at the construction and the pattern of a building and see if we can imagine it being broken down and viewed as cloth/fabric.

Aragon Pavillion, Spain

Links
Filipe Tohi
http://www.tautai.org/sopolemalama-filipe-tohi/
http://www.lalava.net/nav.html
Clapham House, London
http://www.wallpaper.com/gallery/architecture/clapham-house-london-by-atmos-studio/17052623#50054
Aragon Pavilion
http://maisdcharlottes.blogspot.com/2010/06/aragon-pavilion.html

Week 8: Grant Thompson and Auckland Art Gallery

Form and function is an aspect of modernism and it plays a prime role in how we look at objects, from language to art and architecture. Being a modern concept, it rejects the past and looks into the future. As an example, Grant Thompson's approach to the theory of form and function came down to the chicken or the egg dilemma: which came first? Answer: The chicken, according to scientific researchers. The egg cannot exist if the right sources of protein found inside the chicken's ovaries weren't provided in order to create it in the first place. So there you have it - form follows function. An object is looked upon judged on how you can use it and scientifically, it's seen as a language that anybody across the world can understand.
Being your own person however, you can make up your own mind about how you look at things. You might have a formalist approach, where you find an object and come to an understanding of how it works. Or you might have a functionalist approach, where you understand how an object works by how it looks.
American architect and inventor of the skyscraper, Louis Sullivan is a good example of somebody who would have a functionalist approach to form following function. His solution to the increase of space used for building at ground level was to work with height so his skyscrapers were designed and built to save on space. And because he worked with the concept of going up, the high rises themselves were given an advantage that other buildings were restricted to having: more space. Just by making this observation you come back to the laws of form and function.

Old Chicago Stock Exchange Building, by Louis Sullivan 1894

Sullivan comes to the conclusion that everything has a purpose, everything has a function.
In both natural and social sciences, form is said to predate function, the form comes first but if it has a function, then that's good as well. So this would be a formalist approach. I guess this would apply to art works, such as paintings, drawings, sculptures, etc. It's there to look at and it's your first reaction: to look at the piece.. but what does it do? It isn't until you actually dissect the form of the art piece that you will come to an understanding of what it's about, what it means for you and what kind of role it will play in society.

But when it comes to art galleries, we look at the function of the building first, we know that this is a building that displays art, but the way the building looks also comes down to it's marketing scheme and engagement with the public. After Grant's lecture, we went to the Auckland Art Gallery which had been newly renovated. Grant had mentioned that director Chris Saines had wanted to give the gallery a transparent look by adding large windows, so the public could look in from the outside and would feel welcome to coming inside and learning more about the art. The structure reminds me of both a library and a museum: in some cases, libraries would also have large windows so you can see the people inside, reading or taking books out, so it draws you into the building because you know that this is open to the public. The staff members were very kind but at that same time they reminded me of museum curators, they were very informative but also quite stern and very precious when it came to protecting the artworks from anybody who was about to step outside the boundaries, which is fair enough. For educational purposes and for the public, I think they have managed to create a space where form follows function, once you have seen a particular feature of the gallery, you know exactly what it's for. The white seats for example, were supposed to imitate the way a person rests or sleeps, as soon as you see them you immediately feel comfortable and you're already thinking of ways that you can sit or lie down.

There are certain aspects of the gallery where form predates function though, mainly because they are viewed as features first, you aren't exactly aware of their function or what it means until somebody has made you aware. Of course I know that the column is there to support any extra weight but I would not have thought twice about the design that was carved onto it. They were carved by Maori kaumatua, the intricate details of the designs represent that of birds, which is a guardian figure for the gallery. There were also water features there, which were to represent the sacred springs. The flora artworks by Korean artist Choi Jeong Hwa were immediately seen by me as a feature. The guide then informed us that these pieces were made based on the artificial flowers you buy from discount stores. They are usually bright in colour and very popular with customers. Jeong Hwa made these large scale art pieces as a way to make people smile, "your heart is my heart," the guide said.

There is a form of art that makes you question whether or not you have a functionalist of formalist view. Kinetic art depends on motion in order for it to gain movement. The most effective form of kinetic art for me would be works that are dependent on the weather. A great example of this would be the kinetic sculptures of  Dutch artist, Theo Jansen, who creates these skeleton-like creatures that rely on the wind to move. I focus more on what it does before I examine it's physical traits because it doesn't entirely look like an art piece for me until it is moving.  His work cleverly crosses over from art to engineering, so these "creatures" are made to function in some way. The quality of these structures have also improved over time, so he has plans to eventually  "put these animals out in herds on the beaches, so they will live their own lives."

"Rhinoceros" by Theo Jansen

Watch his work in action
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVLja80RWA8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcR7U2tuNoY


Links
Form Follows Function
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Form_follows_function
Chicken or the Egg?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38238685/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/which-came-first-chicken-or-egg/
Formalist/Functionalist approach
https://litigation-essentials.lexisnexis.com/webcd/app?
action=DocumentDisplay&crawlid=1&doctype=cite&docid=22+Harv.+J.L.+%26+Pub.+Pol'y+21&srctype=smi&srcid=3B15&key=0e154507bf915fd0e70aabc17393fdb2
Louis Sullivan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Sullivan
Auckland Art Gallery
http://www.aucklandartgallery.com/
Kinetic Art and Theo Jansen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetic_art
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theo_Jansen
http://www.strandbeest.com/

Week 7: Emma McLellan and Xavier Meade

Emma McLellan is a staff member from MIT and is also a print maker. Her inspirations vary, from interior wallpaper designers, deformed hybrid animals and taxidermy displays. I wasn't there for the screen printing module for semester 1. But from what I've heard and seen, it is quick but also timely, making the actual print layer apparently doesn't take too long, but there is a lot of thought and preparation that goes into it. The process again, is something I'm unfamiliar with. But what makes Emma's work different is the fact that she also paints on these prints, or between layers. Screen printing  is apparently good at getting on lots of different surfaces. Over the past ten years, Emma has been working on wooden panels and paper. She also keeps visual diaries handy and collects patterned wallpaper and fabrics with the possibility of maybe using these in her future works, by combining them with images of old paintings which she has appropriated. I see her interest in certain patterns relate closely to the clothing and decorative qualities of the Victorian/renaissance era. I like how she has incorporated the two by adding the pattern to the subject's clothing. It's something I've thought about before, because that's what I think of when I see those designs as well. I just haven't seen this plan in action until now. The rest of her works that look at the manipulation of animals are also quite interestng, the wallpaper patterns fused with the silhouettes of different animals were like optical illusions, it took me a while to tell the difference between the negative space and where the subject began.

Xavier Meade is a Mexican artist who also works in screen printing. Not only did his collection of posters come from his interest in the Cuban/Mexican revolution, I see he also had a passion for working with people from his native homeland, the poster series that came to Te Tuhi Gallery was put together by 12 artists, all from New Zealand, Mexico and Cuba. He also exhibited in all three countries.
He also talked about the struggles that some of the artists faced in South America, how they had to improvise during the screen printing process because they had limited resources. Some even went as far as taking the glass window from one of their doors in order to make the print. It was inspiring to see that even though they come from a country that is behind in the latest technology they make do with what they have and are still able to produce decent posters. Xavier talked about how in Mexico, literacy is still a problem, so the storytelling with their posters have more to do with the images than the text. I think by doing this, the viewer doesn't lose focus of the cultural context, if anything it makes people think more in order to decode the meaning of the image.

 "Santisima Virgen de la Barrikadas" by Xavier Meade 

(You can see Xavier carries on this tradition in his own work.)

 The closest I have gotten to printmaking in my own work was the very basic kind where you don't rely on the help of computers, or silkscreens. Wooden boards are used and the image is etched into it back to front with the details reversed. The results with this kind of printing however doesn't give you the result you were hoping for, the layer of ink rolled onto it may be even but you can't guarantee that all of the ink will transfer to your chosen surface. Aquatint printing would be similar to what I am talking about.

 David Hockney is also a print maker, he used the aquatint method for his "Blue Guitar" series. Aquatint is a kind of printing process where the end result has a watercolour effect. From what I have seen, it starts out with a copper plate with an image etched into it. The artist will then cover this plate with acrylics or powdered resins that have been dissolved in methylated spirits and then take the plate through a small rolling machine covering the wet surface with the material they want the print on.

"Figure with Still Life" by David Hockney, 1976/77 (Etching and aquatint)

"What is this Picasso" by David Hockney, 1976/77 (Etching and aquatint)

Links

Xavier Meade

http://www.waikatomuseum.co.nz/news/pageid/2145870928/Purakau

Aquatint print making process

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquatint

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBhiCGDChJE

David Hockney

http://hockneypictures.com/blue_guitar/blue_guitar_10.php

Week 6: Dion Hitchens, Bill Riley, James Ormsby and Auckland Museum

Dion Hitchens, Bill Riley and James Ormsby are a collaborative group of artists by the name of SEEK. They have exhibited around New Zealand and Australia with James' drawings, Dion's sculptures and Bill's paintings/installations. There were a couple of things from their lecture that grabbed my attention – I have respect for them after hearing about their achievements with community work and how they managed to bring people together through art. Bill Riley  is a professional painter, but the works I saw from him have been unique and experimental, from the painted card stack installation (which was an interactive piece) to the 1200+ origami penguins that were made with the help of several children. The three went on to talk about how important it was to make an effort when getting involved and also collaborating with the community, how you lose authenticity if you aren't engaged with others.

Also, all three artists come from different backgrounds and have different religious beliefs – buddhist, christian and agnostic. They all have their own individual style, but they share ideas also, in order to make their work compliment each other's. 

I notice how Dion and James' work share identical qualities. Dion's sculptures may imitate an architectural based drawing that James has created. Guests from their exhibitions have even gone as far to comment on their visual similarities and have thought that James' ideas were based on Dion's work.

 "What is This Canoe That Swims My Way /Ko Wai te Waka a Kao Mai Nei" by James Ormsby, 2011 Graphite on Paper 760x560mm

 "Dragon King's Kingdom" (Installation) by Dion Hitchens, 2011

These are the two pieces where I see a greater resemblance and presence of collaborative ideas. There seems to be an ongoing theme of constellations and jewel-like properties in both mediums. What makes it even more uncanny is the fact that Orsmby's piece is a  representation of the sea and Dion's installation/sculpture piece is made up of three diamonds, with each one representing a particular sea creature: dolphin, humpback whale, and blue whale. His way of doing this was by inserting a recording of the creatures' distinctive sound into each diamond. "Dragon King's Kingdom" refers back to Buddhism, the reason why Dion chose to use diamonds in his work was because of the spiritual traits that they held. Ormsby didn't go into too much detail about the story behind his drawing, but I know that they were both based on their own spiritual beliefs and origins, I think it's quite clever how the two works managed to overlap. 

  

Later on that morning we met with Finn Ferrior, one of the museum display coordinators. The main thing that I noticed throughout the entire visit was his passion and enthusiasm for the displays as well as his general dislike of the way the artifacts in the NZ European exhibit had been displayed. He showed us some metal mounts that are used to keep the them in place, but didn't like how over time, the mounts become unstable and the artifacts shift. After looking up close at these mounts, I don't blame him. They are quite flimsy and look as though they wont last long. If I was to display something of mine in an exhibit I would like to think that it would be safe. We also saw a shelf display where the larger artifacts were on the bottom shelves and the smaller ones were up top, they were way above eye level yet they were tilted so they facing up towards the ceiling. His colleague, Fuli Pareira had said that they wanted to incorporate the displaying techniques of art galleries into the museum, but it still didn't look right to me. Back when artworks were displayed in salon style, the smaller works were below and the larger works were up top. So really, it looked more like a shop window display, everything was squeezed in together and didn't have much space to breathe, it took the whole meaning away from each individual piece. The Maori and Pasifika displays were an improvement, however, and was probably the best part of the visit for me. The mounts were solid and most of the artifacts had their own space. There was also a lot of information written up about each display, I also like how each subject (e.g.different islands, traditional wear, cultural/religious beliefs) had been separated into their own section as it was easy to follow.

Xavier Cortada is an artist of Cuban and American descent, he collaborated with more than 600 people on a project called "Art Bouquet" which was donated to a place called Saint Marie's Health Care in Grand Rapids, USA. Each artist had a limited space of 3x4 inches to work with and were given the choice to use any  medium, e.g. marker, paint, ink.  What I find interesting is the fact that he collaborated on an art piece with people he didn't know, I'm guessing the end result he received from each person was a surprise but I'm betting from that, they not only did something good for the community, but also created a new found bond within the art community. 

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2008/10/artists_unite_to_offer_hospita.html

Here are more links showing other examples of some collaborative work that he's done.

http://www.cortada.com/2006/moca.htm

http://carta.fiu.edu/500/default.aspx

For more on Dion Hitchens, Bill Riley and James Ormsby

http://www.paulnache.com/exhibitions/current.aspx

Week 5: Eldon Booth and Elephant

Today, Eldon came in and talked to us about his work in film and his different approach to it in terms of genre - which he said was a mixture of experimental narrative films and docudrama/experimental doco. By the sounds of it, making films is an around-the-clock job, with Eldon recalling stories about how he would gather footage from real life events, set up acting workshops for amateur actors and so on.

He became interested in this style of filming after watching television shows like "World's Dumbest Criminals." He explained that in most shows such as these, they tend to have amateur camera handlers. But because there is so much spontaneous activity going on the camera tends to pan erratically and the image appears out of focus a majority of the time. In saying this however, reality tv and documentaries are probabaly the most attention-grabbing, as the subject is followed around we become aware of the fact that there is indeed a camera crew present and we're made to feel as though we are a part of it.

We were shown a few of his works, "Withdrawl" stood out the most to me. It was presented in the style of a split screen and the camera follows two men, (one younger, one elderly) during different stages of their lives and how certain issues had affected them both. Eldon had used a lot of long, continuous shots as the camera follows each actor. But being infuenced by these reality shows, the camera was hand held and it was shot in the persepective of somebody who was actually there. The camera shots range from extreme wide shots to close ups and the light source is provided by the sun/daylight and street lights so this contributes as a key factor to the piece being more of an  experimental documentary. He also mentioned that he and his friend wanted to use the old cheap VHS tape to shoot their video to create this illusion of reality.

"Five Good Reasons" is a good example of how Eldon wants to blur the line between fact and fiction. He had hired the actors to talk about an event that had taken place. In between there are shots of an actual car accident that took place in Papakura, with hoards of people flocking to the scene to have a look. I like his way of improvising, how he looks at a concept and decides to film something completely candid and work it into his films.

We also saw a quick teaser from his upcoming feature film, "Finding Honk." There are definitely cinematic moments in there that he should be proud of, like the scenes that had been filmed with a phantom camera. The phantom films at around 2000+ frames per second, which is around 80 times more than the original 24 frames per second and is one of the hardest cameras to gain access to in the world. I like how the intense build ups in anticipation for certain actions had been shot in slow-mo. Again, the camera handling is also quite unstable and somewhat random at times, Eldon said that he didn't really tell his camera operator what was happening most of the time so he would have to react the same way as the actors.

"Elephant" is a documentary/drama directed by Gus Van Sant that is based on the Columbine killings in America. I see how Van Sant had also done what Eldon had with Five Good Reasons, trying to blur the line between fact and fiction by taking real life events and putting them into a film context.The story reveals itself through the points of view of the high school students who may or may not have actually been there in real life. Just like Eldon's work on "Withdrawl," the light source is completely natural and the camera shots are also very long, there is a lot of walking (as the film/situation took place in a high school) so it is basically fixated on these subjects the entire time. Although the camera shows a smooth transition while following the subjects from the style of documentary to drama, there are times where the content within the frame shows a shallow depth of field to give momentum, like when one of the shooters is walking down the hallway towards the end of the movie. I prefer how Eldon had used slow motion in his movie, as opposed to this one. There are parts where Van Sant had also played with slow motion to emphasize on a particular action. Although it is a good method, I'm not too sure whether he used it at the right parts (boy playing with the dog, girl checking out football player) I personally would have preferred to have seen it at the most intense points of the movie.

"The Fourth Kind" is a mockumentary/science fiction film that also tries to blur the line between fact and fiction, it follows a psychologist whose patients have been haunted by the apparent encounters/abductions that were carried out by aliens. What was claimed to be a true story was actually a sham, which I think would've been the main contributor to their world wide failure. In most scenes, the movie was shown as a split screen, with the supposed real life footage being shown from the perspective of the psychologist's as well as the police who had been brought to the scene. On the other side we see the re-enactment of the events. I think the movie was quite well done, but apart from the documented footage, the rest of the scenes are shot in a cinematic style so the camera is less obtrusive.

"The Blairwitch Project" is another example of a mockumentary but the footage is very raw and shot in the style of a home video, with scenes in between of the subjects working on their documentary about the legend of the Blairwitch, a creature of supernatural origins who had supposedly kidnapped a group of children and killed them. We see the events unfold from the perspective of each subject in this film, as they all take turns at holding the camera. The camera handling is very amateur. There are plenty of establishing shots as the three friends trek through the woods and we see the camera follow them as they struggle to find a way out. But other than that, the shots are very shaky and out of focus, with very little use of clean cut camera angles used towards the end. Just like Eldon's piece "Withdrawl", the lighting is provided by the sun and also by torches, which I think creates that ominous mood and comes across as more believable.The movie is good, due to interviews they conduct with citizens who live in the area so they pull you into the story, making you think it's real.

http://io9.com/5397359/the-fourth-kind-is-a-hoax
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/nov/09/the-fourth-kind-sleep-paralysis

http://www.blairwitch.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blair_Witch_Project

Week 4: Leilani Kake and Te Tuhi Gallery

Leilani Kake came in and talked to us today about her work as a video installation artist. She said that she doesn't make a lot of money from this line of work, but I'm guessing by the inspirations behind the works that she does it purely out of enjoyment. The first thing I noticed was her strong family and cultural grounding and how every piece she had worked on was inspired by her origins (Maori/Cook Island/White American) and her family,
Her moving image piece that touched me the most was Tino Rangatira tanga, which was shown to us after her lecture. The piece consisted of three stages focused on her father, Richard Kake: firstly, there was the tattooing scene, where he was receiving his tamoko. The very first thing I noticed was the combination of green and red ink. I've seen it in small Maori designs before, but never on the face, so it was new to me. Although I was aware of the traditional protocol when having a tomoko done, I admit I was taken aback to see him emotional once he had gotten up off the table and had his blessed, but I came to the realization that it was probably due to him feeling like he had made a great achievement, he knew he had earned the official marking of his iwi (tribe) and ancestors. The second stage was of Mr Kake in hospital, after suffering a stroke. He had family surrounding him, serenading him and taking care of him during his final days. Thirdly, we see his tangi procession and the camera pans through the marae at loved ones as they sing waiata in celebration of his life. It was obviously a very emotional piece, Leilani mentioned that during the family kapahaka group performance for her father, the air around her was buzzing and electrifying. She wanted the actual installation exhibition viewing to be restricted to one person at a time so they could capture the raw emotions of love, life and the loss of life. My reaction to the piece came down to a mixture of emotions, I was proud to see that there was a strong sense of culture within her family and how having the right connection through a great person brought people together. You really get to see how great the Maori culture is. I also like how Leilani wasn't afraid to be different with her video installation by taking her camera into the marae - which is usually not allowed. But I'm pleased to see that she went ahead with it anyway so she could document this part of hers and her father's life. It also made me sad, to have to see him in pain and also because I come from a large, but dysfunctional Maori family on my mother's side. It was a painful reminder that the chances of me enjoying the full experience of my culture and sharing it with those family members would be pretty slim.
After the lecture, we all made our way to Te Tuhi Gallery to see the exhibit Rapid Change, which focuses on the economical and environmental issues facing the world today, resulting in many homes being foreclosed on and abandoned. The large scale photograph and video piece that gave us an insight into the architectural installation, “Ice House Detroit” was fascinating, it was shown on the news a few weeks back so I was definitely looking forward to seeing this and learning more about it. It turns out this work was created in the middle of winter, the two artists who worked on it: an architect, Matthew Radune and photographer Greg Holm spent 24 hours a day, for 30 days straight freezing a house by blasting it with water to build up on the layers of ice, they did this after seeing a house in a similar state after a pipe had burst. Also, while researching as a student, Matthew Radune had played with the concept of architecture that had been affected by the forces of nature. To me, the overall effect had a sombre energy, but after hearing the story behind the installation, it kind of reminded me how with cryopreservation, when a cell is close to death, it is preserved in low sub zero temperatures so when it's recovered, the chances of it dying are reduced. This house had been foreclosed on and was due for demolition. I like how the artists were able to rescue this house, visually enhance it with all of their hard work and then were able to give back to the community by deconstructing the house after the installation had run it's course so the left over materials could be used for other projects around the city.

Owen Eric Wood is a video installation/performance artist, whose work, “Quality Time With the Family” was inspired by his family, but with this piece, he had a different concept in mind. Instead of showing a tight knit bond with his relatives like Leilani Kake had shown with her father and extended family, he recreated the experience of having dinner with his family (for the performance part of the work) Instead of having his family there with him, he sat at a table on his own with TV monitors in their place, but he had a video playing back on every monitor of  each individual relative eating dinner and talking. The whole idea was to emphasize on that feeling of exclusion that some family members often experience when they are ignored or left out of conversations during dinner discussions, or anytime spent with them in general. It was also a response to what the artist said was part of typical American culture, how TV sets have taken over and come between the bonds of family and friends. I thought it was an interesting concept because I haven't really seen a work like this before, but I understand why the artist would do this.

http://www.owenericwood.com/qualitytimewiththefamily.html
http://www.owenericwood.com/qualitytimewiththefamily/installation.html
http://www.dwell.com/articles/ice-house-detroit.html http://icehousedetroit.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2010-01-15T17%3A56%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=7
http://icehousedetroit.blogspot.com/

Week 3: Mary Curtis

Mary Curtis' way of collecting objects and presenting them in her work was very impressive, the way she would use household or industrial objects to enhance a piece of jewellery, making it her own unique design. Her concepts are also very clever, like her ring made from light panel screws, for example: from a first glance, they looked like jewels comprised from a kind of stone. The part that stood out to me the most was her love for museums and the way they display their exhibits, as well as how she was able to incorporate that into her own work. I admire the fact that she went through the difficult task of collecting vitrines from all over New Zealand for her exhibition and how she displayed one piece of her jewellery in each one, so the viewer could walk around and examine the piece from every angle.
At one stage during her career, she collected small round objects with holes in them, a project that was actually kick-started and influenced by her colleague, Frances Hansen. This would eventually become a part of a show at Fingers Gallery called "Stuff." The objects were displayed in a strategic manner, where the public were able to witness a moment in the life of a determined collector, but at the same time they are given the opportunity to observe each piece individually, so they could see why she would be attracted to such objects. As one of her biggest influences, Herman Junger said, "You have to observe something to see the beauty in it." Her collections and the way she displayed her works weren't just inspiring, they also mirrored my own habits of collecting during my childhood and brought back many fond memories.

As for my own personal experiences, displays that stood out for me the most were at the New Plymouth museum in the late 1990's (now called Puke Ariki) When I was about 6 years old, our school used to go on field trips to the museum on a regular basis, I remember 3 displays from that time:
As you walked into the entrance there were about 2 or 3 flights of stairs you would have to walk up to get to the main display area of the museum - opposite to each stair case there were mannequins dressed up as miners descending down the walls. They were displayed in vitrines and there was also mining equipment surrounding them, either suspended from hooks or on glass shelves, complete with flickering light bulbs to give that whole underground effect. The entire display was so convincing. But also from a child's perspective, the mannequins were so big, it was quite intimidating walking up the steps and seeing these giant miners leering down at you.
 Around this time, there was also a big display room with Maori artifacts, including kahu huruhuru, (feather cloaks) tools and weapons used for hunting, gathering and preparing food.There was also a miniature version of a marae (meeting house) right at the end of the room, a pātaka (storehouse for food) close to the entrance of the room, and a waka, that was actually blocking the entrance, but there was still enough space for us to fit through to the other side. I remember thinking that this method must've been used as a way to show that this was a sacred area, I also remember feeling scared when told by the teachers that we were allowed to go through but we had to be quiet and extremely careful. They had the entire area surrounded by bush and ferns with different coloured lighting contrasting against the various shades of green. All in all though, out of all the Maori displays I've seen in museums and art galleries during my lifetime, this one moved me the most, it definitely had to do with the way it was displayed and the energy it gave off – it felt as though we were actually there, reliving that moment in time.
There was also an old wooden table with drawers built into them. When you pulled the drawers out, they were covered with a glass top, to protect the different breed of butterflies that were preserved inside. I remember being amazed by these butterflies, of course I was 6 years old at the time, so I thought they were still alive and that at any moment their wings would start to flutter, they were perfectly mounted into the drawer, wings fully splayed out . Even now, I still think the way butterflies are preserved and the method used to display them is very clever.
Burning Man is an event that occurs once a year in America, thousands of participants gather in the Las Vegas Black Rock Desert and they create their own community called Black Rock City. They all stay there for a week, the whole point of the event is to make new connections through art and music. Something they are most well known for are their large art installations, which they display in the desert, for everybody to enjoy.

Balloon Chain, by Robert Bose, NYC

Duel Nature, by Kate Radenbush

Big Rig Jig, by Mike Ross

 I like they way they just leave it out in the open. It also has a surrealistic vibe, the installations teamed with the surroundings reminds me of Salvador Dali's paintings where he had combined odd subjects with a desert landscape.Hopefully I will be able to participate in Burning Man one day, I've seen many photos over the past few years of the people, the activities and the art and I'm just amazed at what some of these talented artists come out with.  

http://www.burningman.com/installations/11_art_honor.html

http://www.magazine13.com/the-coolest-art-installations-in-the-history-of-burning-man/

http://www.wired.com/underwire/2007/08/big-rig-jig/

You can see more photos from past events on Brad Templeton's website.
http://www.templetons.com/brad/burn/

Week 2: Frances Hansen

Frances came in and talked to us about some of her recent projects. Although the overall look of the work she exhibited isn't my preferred style, the collecting process behind her works were unconventional and quite fascinating. I'm amazed that she was able to come up with a piece of work just by recycling bits and pieces of found paper, product packaging, and other materials and surfaces. I was most surprised by the face cloths she purchased from the opshop and then had embroidered with real estate text and talk, which were actually memories from her childhood.

I love her book, Keepsakes. It is probably the most cleverly thought out recipe book I have ever seen and the amount of effort she put into this book by collecting so much imagery for it really shows. I had a good look at it one day when I was in Whitcoulls and noticed just how detailed each page was. I love how she collected and combined her own family photos, pictures from books and magazines and imagery of different textures to suit a particular recipe. One of my favourite pages was actually a recipe for a rice dish, on the opposite page there was a photo of what I believe was a close up shot of a knitted piece of clothing, the pattern of the knit looked just like rice grains. I thought it was pretty amazing how she could make two irrelevant subjects relate to one another.

I also noticed how I also collect, not just in my personal life (Music, books, movies...stationery, international travel catalogues) but for my own projects. I like to look at a lot of images in books and on the internet, I sometimes take screen shots from documentaries (on DVD or YouTube) that look at the earth, the population and different architecture from different parts of the world. I also buy a lot of nicnacs and craft packs from different stores and I listen to music and collect lyrics that I can somehow incorporate into my own work. I noticed how my process of collecting is somewhat similar to Seraphine Pick's, how she would take an image from a magazine and paint it in a different surrounding. Here's a drawing of mine where I have done something similar...

 

 "Porcelain", Charcoal/charcoal pastel on A2 paper. 

I drew this last year while I was enrolled in another art programme. The inspiration behind this was the song by Red Hot Chili Peppers, also titled "Porcelain." The aim of this project was to interpret the lyrics into a drawing, so I collected a lot of images over the internet and from my correspondence life drawing DVDs in preparation for this, including portraits, nude poses and several pictures of clouds showing different qualities of light. 

"Untitled", Plaster of Paris, Clay and Paint.

I bought a pack of seashells from a discount store I was working in at the time. I'm not too sure what the aim of this particular task was, but I remember wanting to try something different with my plaster of paris face moulds, because I had done so many of them but had only painted them, so I used this shell as a guide to mutate the face cast into a seashell.

So being a fan of documentaries about the earth, I ended up researching a Californian artist by the name of Jenny Odell, who has a very odd and interesting way of collecting for her art - she collects images from Google Maps, eg. she will find all of the golf courses all over New York city and compile them together into one piece of work. She has also done this with parking lots, swimming pools and even cargo ships. This project is called "Satellite Collections."The reason she does this is because she believes that land spaces like these are often overlooked and not fully accepted as a part of our environment. But when you see them from a satellite point of view, they appear to be visually pleasing as they stand out from their surroundings. 

My most favourite work of hers would be "81 Miles of the Great Salt Lake"  

Each square represents approximately one square mile of the lake. I took a liking to this one straight away - not only do I actually get to see 81 square miles of the lake, the composition in which the screen shots were taken are all different, from the various rippling patterns in the water to the different shades of blue and random tinges of red. I think that this is an interesting take on collecting for art and it's given me many ideas of my own, now that I've looked at her website. I am also a big fan of Google Earth and can spend numerous hours on there exploring the world in all of its wonder. 

To see more work by Jenny Odell, click here: 

http://jennyodell.com/

http://www.jennyodell.com/type.html

http://www.npr.org/blogs/pictureshow/2011/07/29/138766174/-collecting-swimming-pools-and-stadiums-art-made-from-google-maps

Week 1: Steve Rood

The lecture given by Steve Rood this week was definitely interesting. As a beginner in photography, I appreciated him coming in to talk to us about his work and how he has travelled around the world with it. I liked that he had a minimalist approach to his photography, “Less is more” would be the best way to describe it. In saying this, he worked a lot with light and movement, making his photographs more captivating. His work with food really stood out to me as a great example of what he is capable of. He believed that contemporary food photography was too predictable so he would liven up his own photos by using these tactics. The out-of-focus B&W photos he took as a fashion photographer were simple but were just as effective and made you use your imagination. The still life photos he took on the west coast and the story behind this project was also inspiring, although he didn't benefit a great deal from his client/employer, he was still very dedicated to this project and he benefited in a way where he was able to explore different surroundings and connect with each photograph, pulling his viewer in with the beauty of the west coast and what it has to offer. He said himself that his photography was kind of feminine, but so what, he enjoys it - which I think is the right attitude to have.

He also gave us an insight into the future, how “digital photography is a blip in the history of storytelling.” The constant changes in technology and its latest features is something I'm aware of and I do change with the times myself, but I prefer not to get too caught up in it all, otherwise I feel like I could be cheating myself out of learning about methods that have been tried and tested by some of the best fine art photographers and painters from the past. He said that photography was around way before it was even discovered and proved this by showing us an example of an artist using a concave mirror to project an image of the subject (in this case, it was a building) and then tracing the reflected image onto their chosen surface. It just comes to show that photography has played a huge part in the history of art and should be appreciated more.