I've been looking at strategies of artists who use video, in particular recent Turner prize winners Duncan Campbell and Elizabeth Price. Campbell's piece 'It for Others' is about the relation between objects and value systems. I've watched some of it and find it quite hard to get through in parts, but I like his strategy of narration. Elizabeth Price's piece 'The Woolworth's Choir of 1979' is only available in small snippets online. Her strategy  of split screen and text narration is also of interest to me.

Duncan Campbell: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IpQv2SFA0A
Elizabeth Price:  http://www.motinternational.org/ep-projects-woolworths-choir.html

Duncan Campbell, 'It for Others', Installation View

Duncan Campbell, 'It for Others'

Elizabeth Price 'The Woolworth's Choir of 1979'

I've been editing video with Adobe Premiere Pro, but need to find some decent tutorials on how to use it properly, my exported files end up being a very small aspect ratio. Also either my internet is slow or blogger won't let me post videos correctly. Anyway, I've been playing Premiere Pro, a Nasa sequence of an asteroid and also some Nasa audio and interspersing it with a sequence of a rock that I recorded. I've attached a test video and I find that as I'm making it I'm thinking of putting in other filmed sequences and flashes. I like the idea of the asteroid being in constant motion, oblivious to any human concerns, and then flashes of points of contentious ideas coming on screen. The clicking sound comes in as the ideas flash - wanting attention, 'hey look at me'- anyway that's the idea for now. Also I had the idea of making two videos, the same imagery in both but different audio - one the nasa audio and the other is a prayer sequence that I found. The presentation would involve the two videos facing one another and opaque glass or perspex in between - the idea being that the same object or events are being viewed with different interpretations; the different view points know the other is there but cannot see the other clearly. 

Credit:� Solar Dynamics Observatory/NASA.

Looking at material that interests me. NASA , footage of sun spots - stuff we can't see with the naked eye; science, the lens shows us that is, so we believe it. Who would not believe it? 

Finished proposal was sent in to tutors on Sunday, so that was interesting in that it got me to sit down and try and think logically about what my project is about - again, what am I trying to communicate? So I narrowed it down (ha) into an investigation into themes of opposition and perspective, and the delivery of work that illustrates certain divergent views, which are truth and reality to the respective holders, yet cannot (will not?) be reconciled.

 I had mentioned in my first proposal that Niamh O'Malley's work is of interest to me. She's currently showing at the Douglas Hyde Gallery, a really nice exhibition . I'm very interested in her use of glass, as a method of delivery, and as a conceptual aid. The idea of using glass as a viewing mechanism, or as screening device could I think be applied to my own work.  O'Malley also uses video as part of her installation, a medium I'm more drawn to using as part of the creation of my own project. She breaks up sections of her previous  videos with a kind of sliding, screening device. My interpretation would be that it's used as a method of showing fragmentation, not seeing the whole picture.

                                             https://vimeo.com/45720125
                                             http://www.douglashydegallery.com/niamh-omalley/

Niamh O'Malley Installation Vew, Douglas Hyde Gallery

Tutorial

During the tutorial today a keyword for me to reflect on was 'perspective'. In relation to my project this word can give it a base and a starting point from which to grow and develop. Rather than getting tied down to a narrative based photographic body of work, the tutorial helped me to consider a more conceptual approach to the project. So, if I consider the two perspectives that are at the heart of my topic, how do I visually articulate the differences, and importantly, what is it that I am trying to communicate? Looking at work were two opposing views or differences are communicated:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2DNMG2s_O0

Shirin Neshat is an Iranian artist whose work addresses social and political issues within Muslim society and  'the complexity of certain oppositions, such as man and woman. Neshat often emphasizes this theme showing two or more coordinated films concurrently, creating stark visual contrasts through motifs such as light and dark, black and white, male and female.' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirin_Neshat)

In the work shown above, Neshat uses two screens, one showing a man singing and the other screen showing a woman. The man sings to an audience of males, the woman to an empty auditorium, signifying the voices of women who are not heard in some Muslim societies. The woman's voice and song is comprised of guttural sounds and noises, no decipherable words can he heard, once again signifying the lack of voice for women - her voice seems like a cry, a lament, a screaming for someone to listen or to those who won't listen, an assertion of her will.  The effect is simple yet powerful. In relation to my project, Neshat's strategy of using two screens is interesting, and could be an effective method of highlighting divergence and opposition.

Installation at Gladstone Gallery

A test still life image and scan of archive material that relates to my project. I'm hoping I can turn this into a coherent project, can I make archive material, still lives and other images work together? Need to get up to Antrim soon, probably not this weekend, but the next one. Also looking at locations that pertain to other elements of the topic, I want to do more research on these locations and pin them down.

Interesting work by Stuart Whipps - I'm interested in his response to archival imagery and information, building and creating his body work from investigative material and sources.

http://flattimeho.org.uk/exhibitions/stuart-whipps-birth-springs-death-falls/

A postcard of Victoria Falls leaning against a geological sample from John Latham's mantlepiece (2012) Digital C Print, 85 x 51.25cm

(2013) video, 2' sec looped. Courtesy BP Video Library. Original film dir. Ralph Bond, sponsored by Scottish Oils Limited, produced by Realist Film Unit

Researching my topic, some interesting background information emerges.

http://www.calebfoundation.org/ The  group that lobbied for the creationist element to be included at The Giants Causeway Interpretive Centre.

Edwin Poots, minister for the environment in Northern Ireland believes the earth is 4000 years old.

http://sluggerotoole.com/2007/12/02/good-heavens-youre-the-culture-minister/

 http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/11/northern-ireland-edwin-poots-creationist-anti-gay

Interesting article that sheds some light on the topic.

http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/politics/2012/07/creationism-and-political-power-northern-ireland

Initial proposal exercise - 12th February 2015

In the morning we were required to write up and initial proposal for our self-initiated project and then share this with a fellow student. We then broke up into two groups to discuss our ideas and proposals. I found the writing up of a proposal helpful in that getting ideas and concepts down on paper actually helps in gaining clarity on that idea. Making a timeline is helpful too - I sometimes find that I haven't given enough thought to the planning of the timeline of my projects,  and that life events and family commitments often curtail certain plans - making a proper timetable that is also flexible,  will help here (hopefully).

Group discussion: Each of us shared a brief synopsis of our project with the group and tutor. Interesting hearing the others ideas. My idea for my project was inspired by a creationist element of The Giants Causeway exhibition centre in Northern Ireland. I'm interested in the clash between the two elements that are opposed to  each other - how to visually articulate this concept? During our discussion I said that I wanted to be objective in my approach to this project - as an initial idea I want to put aside my own  religious or scientific beliefs and put forward two opposing views, and as an 'artist'? be the the creator, be in the middle. As an atheist, when I consider  creationism my own opinion would probably be one of derision, however, with this work I think that it's important that I put this view aside, and step away from my 'subjectivism' and to try to be objective. TM suggested perhaps to move away from objectivity, that maybe  the artist  should be giving an opinion? I can understand this view, perhaps the work produced would be stronger if taking one side. The obvious side for me is science, however wouldn't this make the work too obvious, too subjective, too cliched? Maybe, as the work evolves (ha), or not as the case may be (as has happened in the past), my own subjectivities will naturally surface. However, for now I maintain my objective stance!

Small group tutorial with tutor on 5th February.

Chosen unedited images.

Discussion about our exercise on the theme 'Consumption'. I shot images of discarded items left on Dollymount beach. After viewing these images we moved onto a discussion of how to show the work; I was interested in a gallery context. Initially I had thought of displaying images in perspex cubes or boxes. TM suggested a move away from this. How else to present? 

TM's  proposal of printing the work on bags, key rings or t-shirts was interesting in that a move away from expected forms of showing work can lead to an expansion of how the work is perceived and also developed. I liked the idea of printing on paper bags. TM's suggestion of an exhibition in which work was printed in these ways and then presented to the viewer, perhaps as gifts to take away was refreshing and compelling. I often find myself bored and losing interest in photography and the limitations that seem to surround the way it is presented; the idea that there are more provocative forms of presentation is compelling to me. 

TM asked for ideas of how else I could print the work, I suggested a cheap, disposable paper, similar to the waste paper that is left behind itself. TM asked how the presentation could be expanded further and proposed bringing in the waste materials into the gallery itself. I found this session very interesting in that it got me thinking about possibility of expanding, developing and presenting work, Afterwards I thought of printing the work on cheap paper, crumpling it up and forming a kind of heap or sculpture on the gallery floor; or asking audience participation, in which they are invited to either print or take a page and discard it on the gallery floor. I found it refreshing that opening up our conservative thoughts of presentation can lead to further development.