ARTISTS TALKING

# 31 [11 August 2009]

Posted by Lighthouse, Digiville.

Tina Gonsalves: CHAMELEON - prototype 8
10 - 15 August 09 - exhibition open: 3 - 5pm

Tina Gonsalves' residency is now in its second week, and there are some spectacular experiments appearing in the Lighthouse basement spaces... Working with two types of screens, Tina is playing with space and bodily relationship to her video work, recognising the importance of the body's place in emotional experience. 

Both the work with Experientae Electricae and with the Solent Rapid Prototyping Lab have created opportunities to site Chameleon's interactive videos in relation to bodily space. They have also produced some exciting and captivating images, drawing in the viewer not only bodily but visually and aurally, using a multi-sensory allure, that is possessing and ultimately emotional on a base physical level. The PIXY screens are especially alluring, appearing like hundreds of fireflies in an intelligent mass attempting to communicate with humans with a deep visceral pulse. 

The space will be open between 3 and 5pm for people to come and view and interact with the video pieces. Tina and the creative team are here, and will be around to talk to about the work. 

There will be a closing residency talk by Gonsalves and the creative team on Saturday 15th August at 3pm, where the team will discuss the progress they have made and the lessons learnt in developing, programming and using the screens. There will also be an opportunity to interact with Chameleon and the PIXY and rapid prototyped screens. 

Lighthouse, 28 Kensington St, Brighton BN1 3BD. 
http://www.lighthouse.org.uk/whatson/exhibitions.htm

# 32 [11 August 2009]

I shot Julie last week in the studio. We spent about an hour and a half together. I asked Julie to write about how she felt in the studio. Again, the post is cut into two sections.

Julie  08/08/09 Contagion Experience for Tina Gonsalves Lighthouse Brighton

part one.

When I volunteered for Tina I didn’t know what to expect.  I knew she was working within science and the arts about facial expressions, and emotions, and I also knew that she worked with film.  So I wasn’t sure if she was going to put weird suction cups onto my face and hook me up to some machine, or if it was going to be more film work.  I volunteered because the subject interests me, and because I am feeling a bit emotionally raw I thought I’d be a good subject – plus at 42  I’m a bit older than most people who probably volunteer. 

The artist made me feel very comfortable and relaxed.  I enjoyed the conversation throughout the experience.

The experience was odd in a number of ways.  It’s a bit egocentric being in front of the camera with a close head shot. I enjoyed that because it made me feel like a film star or something.  I felt like: ‘wow!  I hope she chooses to use me for her work, I’m going to really try to please her!  I’ll be really good and do exactly what she says.’ This says so much about me actually...

So when Tina asked me to do ‘happy’ I am a master of happy – I am so happy – man o man am I happy – oh yes I can do warmth and ooze happy I am so good at happy and sharing happy and loving happy love vibes throughout the room and thinking about little JoJo and Gabe as babies gurgling away and smiling up at me oh how sweet yes happy and also I remember Santa Fe along the Pecos River sun swimming free peaceful friends freedom youth happy sooo happy

And then I was back in the room and I was getting a little tired of happy that suddenly I felt like that Barbie doll in the film Toy Story smiling, waving goodbye and then saying ‘Are they gone yet?  My cheeks are killing me!’

# 33 [11 August 2009]

I shot Julie Watson last week in the studio. We spent about an hour and a half together. I asked Julie to write about how she felt in the studio. Again, the post is cut into two sections.

Julie Watson 08/08/09 Contagion Experience for Tina Gonsalves Lighthouse Brighton

part two.

Tina said, ‘Okay we’re going to do sad next,’ and before I had the chance to turn around from the camera, the sadness came.  It came so quickly and from such a deep space I felt as though I filled the room with this overwhelming deep grief and sadness.  I felt messy and really really sorry for myself and very very lonely which made me feel even sorrier for myself.  Rejection, mid-life crisis, fed up stressed out pissed off.  Half of me felt the need to explain which I sort-of did, but then Tina left me to it.  So I just carried on but I was still a good girl and tried to keep looking in the camera (maybe if it’s good she’ll use me and so they’ll all see I’m sad – I’ll be famous for sad!)  Then as quickly as it came, it left.  And I felt so much better.

Tina returned to the room and I felt like she had been my therapist and that I owed her £50 for the session.  I also felt bad because I really invaded the space with all this personal stuff and I felt like Tina is so open I didn’t want to contaminate her with all this stuff!  After a powder room break we carried on.

I barely remember the other emotions.  Surprise was like slapstick, I couldn’t think of how I display surprise – although there’s fast surprise (what was that noise?) and slow surprise (did I really win the lottery?  Are you serious?!)

Anger wasn’t fun because I just felt like I looked like my Father who used to fill the room with anger and clenched teeth. Yuk.

Disgust was also difficult – Tina was guiding me through and we were thinking about shit like in the film ‘Slum dog Millionaire’, but for some reason shit wasn’t doing it for me and I relied more on my (very dormant) acting skills.

Afterwards I walked back through town in a trance.  I kept bumping into people I knew (Cue happy face!).  There was 1 person I saw who I knew I could talk to about the experience and he was really understanding which was nice, and by the time I rode my bike to my friend’s  Birthday party on the beach, the experience was still with me, but I felt grounded and peaceful and confident.

The experience has since stayed with me, and I still feel bad for the artist having to deal with my meltdown and was worried that she might think I’m completely nuts! She has since reassured me she doesn’t..

# 34 [11 August 2009]

I shot Ron Hassell in he studio last week. Ron is 86. We spent about an hour and a half together. Below he writes about his experience in the studio, of being asked to express 'emotions' in front of the camera. Earlier in the week he wrote to me about an article in the guardian - "Extract from an article in today's Guardian, (no, not the Independent), about an exhibition at the British Museum. Thought you might be interested". 

Tina Gonsalves - the ariticle writes about the exhibition at the Natural History Museum, which these project is currently part of. "After Darwin: Contemporary Expressions"

Ron Hassell.   "Scientists also saw the benefits of photography and there are grimly fascinating portraits of the French neurologist, Guillaume Duchenne de Boulogne using electrical stimulation to activate individual facial muscles and forcing his patient to look happy or angry". 

Ron Hassell : Recollecting incidents 

Recollecting incidents in one’s past that gave rise at the time to feelings, and often expressions of, sadness anger, etc., does not necessarily mean that these earlier reactions will repeat themselves. This does not imply that these reactions were in any way ‘wrong’ or ‘false’, merely that life has moved on and that whilst these memories remain important they no longer evoke the same physical responses.

There arises then the situation that should one be asked to recall some of these earlier incidents, in order to portray various emotions, one feels obliged to simulate or act them. This does not imply duplicity in any way. But the ‘director’ may feel the need to encourage, or illustrate to, the ‘interviewee’ a little, as did Tina, if the acting abilities of the subject are limited. It is a very fine point as to whether these expressions are true or accurate or genuine.

# 35 [11 August 2009]

I shot Sereena in the studio last week. Sereena is 24 years of age and  going into her second year of University studying Music Visual Art and performance. She is of mixed heritage of Iranian/Jamaican decent and was born and brought up in London. Her Father is Iranian and came to Britain at the age of 23years old just before the Iranian revolution in 1979.

Sereena "I do not really know where to say I'm from, I was born in London raised there and in greater London with both parants till the age of 6years then with my Mother."

"I used to sing in a Trip Hop Blues band which I absolutley loved. Before starting this course I probably saw myself more as a singer, but now I think of myself as more of as a performance artist. I love traveling like the majority of people that seem to live in Brghton. I Love food, cooking it, eating it! I like swimming as I'm a bit of a water baby! I love socialising and bringing a smile to friends and strangers faces".

Sereena :

The whole process from entering the darken studio, to being confronted with a camera that stood only half a metre away from my face, I instantly thought would promote a perhaps less sincere and maybe uncomfortable response; but I was amazed to find how easily my recalling of these particular emotionally significant events unraveled, and how moments of embarrassment were soon ousted. The process in a strange way behaved as a form of therapy - as how your emotion pour out when you go to see a counselor. In previous years I had always just pushed my emotions to aside without really acknowleging them, but as I've got older I've learnt that all that does is turn into an unhealthy repression which subsequently, only damages myself. 

# 36 [11 August 2009]

I shot Helen  in the studio last week. It was our third shoot together. By the time she entered the studio last week, I felt like I knew her - as I had spent a lot of time in the studio editing her. Below Helen writes about her experience of being infront of the camera, asked to express different emotional states.

Helen : 
This intimate relationship with a camera lens was a new experience for me and I found its scrutiny a great challenge.  I learned that while it becomes possible to represent a range of emotions, the sudden and immediate proximity of some, particularly sadness and fear, was potent and very real.

# 37 [11 August 2009]

I shot Amy in the studio last week. It was our third shoot together. Its been great to get to know her a little bit more. Its interesting to look at the footage, as the more we got to know each other, the more at ease her face and body became. In the end, she revealed a lot of body movement, with out particularly realizing it. It looked like she could have been a dancer in another life.

Amy: 

I’d never been in front of a camera before so I had to ajust fairly quicky to talking to someone and thinking about things whist looking down a very close lense and being lit by a spot light. I did managed to feel the emotions I was asked to recall a little as I spoke, but being in such an unfarmilier environment it was hard to remove myself from it, athough by the second day things where somewhat easier.  How easy the emotion was to act out depended for me on how recently the incident I was talking about had occured, the event i talked about for “sad” was only days old and very fresh in my mind, but for “disgusted” and perticually for “angry” they were years old, so although they were both very strong instances of those emotions i felt more as if i was distantly remembering how i felt rather than truely recalling it.

One peculiar thing was although I produce some artwork myself which I have always wanted to be quite personal (I am currently doing an art foundation at the age of 24) I found recalling emotions when asked very hard. I do have a wealth of exeriances to draw from emotionally, but, (possibly because of having only done so under therapy conditions), I am incredebly guarded about talking and perticually about recalling such things.

# 38 [11 August 2009]

In June when I was in Brighton working with Fabrica about how we might approach the autumn exhibition, I shot Alice-Gale. She wasn't available for a third shoot, which was ashame. Below Alice writes about the experience of being in front of the camera and being asked to express different emotional states.

Alice-Gale:

For me it was a real eye opener; to become aware of the unsaid emotions and feelings that have been pushed to the back of my mind after the years of new experiences and new memories. 
The project was very prominent in my mind for the two days of my involvement,and I am still currently thinking about my responses, what I could have said etc. What i found most consuming was the thoughts about my emotions or lack of emotions and what this meant about me as a person.
During the shoot,  I felt i sometimes tried to convince myself of sadness or happiness as my mind almost went blank in front of the camera (an unnatural setting to expose yourself) I then became aware that I had not felt real strong emotion for a long time , or thought I hadn't; in the attempt to recreate the emotion, the feelings flooded back.

I felt quite moved both during and after as it bought up for me feelings about friends, relatives that i had forgotten or moved on from in the business of my mind and life. Sometimes i felt regret about thoughts and feelings..I feel I've learn t about the necessity of holding back on having to vocalize feelings when it could trigger a consequential negative response in myself.
I was surprised that i found it difficult, but equally surprised how liberating it was; I am more inspired to be honest with myself about emotions from now on.

# 39 [11 August 2009]

So far - the face reader seems to be crashing. I am still to work out whether this happens only when the pixy screen is added. So far - when I simulate the face reader I get no crash. When I have the face reader running with the pixy screen we get a 'timeout'. when I run the video engine without the pixy screen - so far no crash.

There are so many different parts to this project - the face reader - the algorithms - now pixy - the video engine - its hard to know how to get to the bottom of it all. 

I am hoping Gordon comes in today with more screens...its looking unlikely so far... not a great start. However, past 1pm I will start setting up next door - Jeff sent the new video engine that runs two screens.

# 40 [11 August 2009]

KARL BROOME

Chameleon sets out to explore the scientific foundations of emotional
contagion. Utilising the six key emotions of disgust, happiness, anger,
neutrality, sadness and surprise originally identified by Paul Ekman,
the ‘face reading’ software attempts to identify the emotional
expressions of the participant. As the individual emotes, both their
facial expression, and potentially their ‘mind’ are ‘read’. How should
we understand these emotions in the context of the ‘emotional dialogue’
that Prototype 8 affords: where do they sit on the explanatory continuum
with biological explanations on one end and social on the other? 
Sociological debates concerning emotions have been characterised with
the conceptualisations of emotions varying across a continuum with
‘organismic’ approaches on one end, ‘social-constructionist’ accounts on
the other, and ‘social-interactionist’ accounts somewhere in the middle.
At the ‘organismic’ end, we would find the likes of Charles Darwin, and
Paul Ekman, emphasising the innate, biological and ‘pre-cultural’ basis
of emotion and their expression - causes of emotion are wired in the
brain for instinct and survival. At the other end of the continuum we
find the ‘social constructionist’ accounts of emotion that have stressed
the  ‘social’ nature of human emotions, understanding the emergence of
emotions in terms of their social, cultural, and historical variability,
meaning and experience, with the biological being understood as largely
irrelevant. For Social interactionists, emotions are recognised as
having biological substrates, but socially shaped and subject to
hierarchical manipulation. In contradistinction to constructionist
accounts, Interactionists recognise the importance of biological
process, and recognise the ‘embodied nature’ of emotions.  Thinking
about ‘visitors’ experiences of interacting with the Chameleon project
provides an interesting opportunity to revisit some of these polarities
in sociological theorising.  The social ecology of the space in which
works such as Chameleon are exhibited significantly impacts upon
affective experience of the work. Mundane material, physical and spatial
elements, and their affordances in terms of movement, interaction,
proximity, distance and visibility all play their part in terms of
interaction with the work, and the various forms of social interaction
taking place.  Observing and interacting with people visiting the
exhibit today I became aware of people's reluctance to stand in front of
the face -reading camera for any extensive period.  Visitors appeared to
be much more comfortable in entering the dark room where the only source
of illumination was the relatively small amount of light produced by the
Pixy 'screen' - they appeared to be much more comfortable and interested
in watching Pixy from inside the room.  I heard various people comment
upon how they felt Pixy to be the most interesting part of the work,
although not quite understanding how it worked. I feel that at this
testing/evaluation stage it takes a bit of active engagement and time to
really experience what it is that makes Chameleon so special- at the
moment visitors seem somewhat distracted by the presence of the computer
monitor and the face reading camera. Undoubtedly, with a few more tweaks
visitors will experience a collaborative work of an exceptional intensity.