Reflective Practice Project Research

Areas of research could be extremely wide-ranging for the 24 Hour Sibelius project. Already in crits, etc, I have been directed towards various sound pieces and artists, and whilst I will still obviously look at these and others it is up to me to signpost areas I am researching in. Sound art, etc, is obviously not irrelevant, but is not my direct source of inspiration or progression of 24 Hour Sibelius, even though that is initially a sound piece. How can I put it without being too paradoxical - yes it's sound, but it's more about time, more about stretching out time. I am intending that it will also be very much about the moving image.

Increasingly I see the point of indicating which artists, work and writers to refer to in talking about work. There are completely different approaches in the language and terms, and in the concepts, and so that research frames the concepts you wish to explore, and the terms of talking about the work. At least while that part of it is within control. I am a long way off from hearing a public view or an audience impression of the piece, and until then, it is totally mine.

In researching I also want to bear in mind the surprise questions, the oblique view, the unexpected response. In past times, I think I would have wanted to fend off such surprises, but now I feel more prepared to respond to the unexpected. You can't anticipate every response, nor should you. But that is different and positive when there is already a background of integrated knowledge - that could be another way of describing research. I have felt put on the spot before now when asked by a curator or viewer a question or aspect I hadn't anticipated, but feel I would respond better now.

I also want to remember our previous tutor Emma Bulley's approach. It took me a while to figure it out, but once I saw it I thought it was brilliant - she often asked left-field questions, or would respond to work in completely different language or terms than the discussion had been. I used to feel that she didn't understand what I was saying, or that she had picked up the wrong end of the stick, missed the point, and so on. But I think she very deliberately looked for an angle or new approach. It's as if she didn't go along with what you are saying or the way you are saying it - she didn't get seduced by your ideas but was always looking for a new aspect so that you could respond in a new way and look at work with thoughts and approaches you hadn't considered before. It's a sort of knowing, dispassionate empathy. I take that on.

I think in our MA group crits we have all seen a growth in terms of discussing work - before there was a certain level of defensiveness, and taking things a bit personally. I simply don't know if I include myself in this, but I certainly feel the benefit of a more critical approach.

I like the way I organised research in the previous Studio Practice unit.
http://eleanormacfarlane.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/research-search-for-context.html
It became almost like a separate little blogette of things that occurred, work that seemed logical to include or look up, or art, artists and ideas I happened across that seemed relevant. It was all about drawing parallels to the project, borrowing ideas to speak my own, or ways of expressing what I was seeking to express in my own way.

Keeping it all together also makes sense, so far. It is a repository, archive, collection, library of what I already know and am drawing in to this project. Collating all that is a big job, so I will start by listing what comes to mind to research, and then see where that takes me.

Research list:

Some Sibelius-related things - not everything, but I feel reading up on Sibelius' life, times and music will be fruitful.

Music and scoring - again, a brush up. I'll get the Symphonies' scores and see where they take me. I have visual ideas for the moving image which relate to the actual music.

Music theory, acoustic and harmonics. I don't need to go in too deeply, but there are principles here which may shape and inform the work.

Sound art - I'm pulling back from this a bit already. I need an awareness of what's going on, but I don't want to too heavily identify with a particular artist or piece. I think it's because I want to retain feeling my way, and that sense of not knowing - I want to invent.

Film and Video artists. It's really about time I pulled all this together in my work and created a small archive for myself. Got to be up to speed.

Other artists, composers, writers, science. A vast and open area. This is where I allow happenstance. Otherwise I'll just be researching everything.

Proper art books and writing.

Technology, devices, projection, logistics, etc.

Specific large-scale pieces - The Clock, 24 Hour Psycho etc.

Some of these are perhaps more for next year.

1st May 2013

...................................................................................................................................................................


Boyle Family & Keith Arnatt research:

http://eleanormacfarlane.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/street-compositions.html

....................................................

There are literal and metaphorical constructs of the mind where the idea of bricks is almost self evident:

Village of the Damned. film stills 1960. George Sanders

I have a very strong memory of watching this film as a child, and was fascinated with the cinematic device of the brick wall, used by George Sanders, as he tried to block his thoughts from the telepathic alien children. He was trying not to think about the bomb that would blow everyone up, and as the the children penetrated his mind, the wall crumbled. I loved to have such things explained over and over to me by my father. I realise this metaphor had a very strong fascination for me, and made a lasting impression.

Film based on the novel The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham, 1957.

...................................................................................................................................................................

Pink Floyd. The Wall. Album 1979.

The song Another Brick in the Wall is such a strong metaphor and cultural reference and idea which is in our common language - a cog in a wheel, the futility and repetitiveness of life, should you choose to look at it that way.

Run, Fat Boy, Run. Film 2007

The Run, Fat Boy, Run also effortlessly uses the metaphor of the wall as a psychological barrier. It is a very familiar shorthand.

1st July 2013

...................................................................................................................................................................

Video Artist Pipilotti Rist makes some interesting and inventive installation works.

http://www.hauserwirth.com/artists/25/pipilotti-rist/biography/

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/video/2011/oct/05/artist-pipilotti-rist-eyeball-massage-video

The choices in placing and juxtaposition with objects add a lot of play to her work.

Piplottti Rist. TV-Lüster (TV Chandelier) Installation view, Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, ‘Blutbetriebene Kameras und quellende Räume’, St. Gallen, Switzerland, 2012. 

http://cloud.hauserwirth.com/documents/dXquks0520tythgN44pdiO3u6Y8P1U6ushn3HG0hVeCHrr45tL/large/pr_tvchandelier_19931-4W4NLn.jpg. accessed 22nd August 2013

Pipilotti Rist. Yoghurt On Skin - Velvet On TV (Detail) Audio video installation. Installation view, Hayward Gallery, ‘Eyeball Massage’, London, England (Travelling Exhibition), 2011

http://cloud.hauserwirth.com/documents/dXquks0520tythgN44pdiO3u6Y8P1U6ushn3HG0hVeCHrr45tL/large/pr_2011_hayward4-85904z.jpg. accessed 22nd August 2013