Tutorial with Vicki to discuss ideas for the degree show. I have been reading The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction by Walter Benjamin and this has made me question the consequences of reproducing art and what this means in relation to authenticity and the presence or loss of an object’s or subject’s aura.
I liked the idea of posing questions for the viewer, and also inviting the viewer to participate somehow in the artwork, so that to some degree they can choose how much or how little they become involved.
Vicki suggested I look at the artist Nam June Paik whose piece in the Tate involves Richard Nixon making a speech. Paik has placed magnets on the televisions so this distorts the image giving a sense that something is not quite right, a tangible parallel with the lies that Nixon is purported to have told whilst in office.
Another artist Hiroshi Sugimoto, goes into cinemas and uses long exposure to create one photographic image of what is an entire film. He talks about how film brings past images to life, a kind of resurrection and what he wanted to do was stop and restore them to their rightful inertness.
By using the vintage projector and camera, it feels like a way to recreate or resurrect a specific time in history. The sounds and images are iconic of a particular era, before the immediacy of digital images.
Watching the found footage without sound, seems to make the images more colourful and crisp, whilst the sound of the projector clicking through each of the images, creates a nostalgia (for those of us of a certain age!) of a different time.
I liked the idea of making some more random film clips, playing on the viewers expectation and presenting them through different media with the use of sound. I also met with sound artist Simon Keep who suggested instead of using speakers, I use different devices to project sound so that sound is emitted from more than one location in the installation space.
