BEING HUMAN
10 issues that are the most important to the idea of “Being Human”
In no particular order:
- The disparity of wealth/ power
-socialism
- the idea of communism, but it’s never been done well
- Meritocracy doesn’t exist| class
- Food distribution| Poverty
- Education and equal opportunity
- Gender equality- patriarchy
- Corruption and political violence
- Mental health
- Rise of the alt-right and marginalisation
- Technology and the digital age
- Racial politics
Adam Curtis
THE BOOK: Utopia for realists
YOUTUBER: Contrapoints
Other ideas:
- Self-destruction
- Social divide
- Materialism
- Privacy in the modern age
- Human psychology: Ego, the herd mentality, and the sense of self
Further philosophical ideas:
- All prejudice and inequality are based on visual appearance!!!!!!!
- Apparently mental health issues stem from when humans moved from living in smaller villages to large metropolis’. >What does this reflect about humanity as a whole? Are we fickle?
- Human psychology: Ego, the herd mentality, and the sense of self
- ->Who are we? Feel the need to stand out and lead but it contrasts with the supposed
- ->If you are trying to fulfil an image, you are bound for mental issues
- ->When who you are, who you desire yourself to be don’t match up
- ‘innate’ desire to fit in and the sense for a need for community and understanding.
- Information wars: CONTRPOINTS on YouTube
- Poverty and the vilification of the poor
- ->J-wick???? The poorest place in Britain
- Liberty and freedom
- Religion
- The more developed a country is the more secular it becomes
- War and terrorism
DAY 2
For the Being Human project, my final trail of thought developed from my initial ideas of creating something.
My final idea was to create a series of post-cards, which depicted the racial politics in wealth inequality and poverty. There would have been 3:
1. China Town :
- Depicting stereotypical religious Chinese architecture, lots of stray animals and caricature depictions of eastern asians.
- A commentary on the history of the persecution of eastern asian's (e.g. the "Yellow Fever" phenomenon)
2. Negro village :
- Depicting American ghettos/ projects with black people depicted like the racist caricatures popular is western countries from the late 1800s to the mid 1900s.
- A commentary on the pervasive anti-black imagery, which is still common today.
- Also, about the historic government actions taken to keep black people at a systemic disadvantage.
3. White-is-right city :
- A traitor park, with images of the stereotypical "white trash" caricature.
- A commentary on how there is not solidarity between people of the same race; there can be no one-ness in an institution where progression requires disloyalty, falsity and chauvinism. The entire system was built on inequality, hatred and fear.
RE-EDIT
The re-edit project was a way in which to introduce us to working with digital editing softwares, however, I was already quite well-versed with both editing, and the software. So I used this project to experiment with and develop my style of both editing and sound engineering.
We were tasked with finding existing footage via the British Archives and Prelinger, and re-appropriating it (hence the title). So I spent the first day sifting through the archived videos, and eventually chose two to begin editing. The first was a presidential debate from 1960 between Nixon and JFK, the second being an informational video about health and home-life from 1941.
I began by splicing clips from the health video, with no discernible plot/ idea in mind. It was only as I began to incorporate speech from the presidential debate, did the idea for a commentary on public information and news-speak begin to sprout.
Until today, I was mostly used to working from videos I had taken myself and editing with an idea in mind (even if it is vague), so this was a learning curve. I had not considered the possibility of working from existing footage, so much as old archived clips. For development, I would like to see how I could change the meaning behind these existing clips so much as to completely change their inherent meaning.
DATAFIED
Day 1
IDEAS
- I take a series of photographs, detailing something in regard to my identity, then create a series of “photo-glitches” from them.
- It would represent the digitalisation of my identity; how in an age where socialisation has become a form of media, andyou don’t exist unless you have a digital presence- where do I stand and who am I?
- Take an interview of people I don’t know, ask them to go through my phone and tell me what kind of person they think I am, based on my online presence.
- Chimera: As an embryo, sometimes twins fuse at a very early stage to form one individual. There was a case where this happened, where a woman applied for welfare after her husband left her had to supply DNA evidence, he was actually the father. But the DNA showed that she wasn’t the mother, and the children were taken out of her custody and she was sued for fraud even though she insisted they were her children.
- As it turned out, she was a chimera, and her ovaries were apparently developed from cells that had belonged to her twin. And later on, tests showed that while the woman’s skin and hair DNA didn’t match her children’s, DNA taken from her cervix did.
- I find this exceptionally interesting- the idea that data can reveal, tell you who you are and take away. Yet I find the idea of being morphed with something yet completely unowning to be a grotesque thought. When reading this story, I was completely taken aback, but my mind drifted to the idea of “Big Data”
- Who am I according to the information gathered and stored about me? How can I be so completely fabricated and morphed into an individual, devoid of soul?
- “THE MATRIX”
- The movie explored the idea of living in a simulated reality.
- The fundamental idea of this is fascinating, that people can be built. Their complete and specific ethnic makeup, from the shape of their moles to their taste in music.
- It’s not the idea that we are living in a simulated reality that scares me, but it’s the idea that who I am and who I am believed to be is nothing but a fickle reality.
- This reminds me of the Big Data, because that’s exactly what specialist large-scale corporations are doing. They’re building these specific profiles based on everyone with an IP- a “digital-self” for lack of a better word, then figuring out ways in which they can subtly influence you and change you. From your political opinions, to how your brain works and how you see
REFLECTION
Everyday information is collected about where I spend money online, how long I stay on what site for, what I view and when, and for how often. That information is then used to tailor marketing directed for my individual online experience. For example, Amazon may record what items I view and buy, so they can suggest me more of that product and items similar.
DAY 2 | TUESDAY
Today was spent creating collaged to generate ideas. I found mine were mostly about identity, and how we interact with our space.
I think I was subtly influenced by Robert Rauschenberg style of collage, because his work is gracious and telling.
I think I will continue to expand on these ideas of how we exist with in an environment, and how we therefore in terrace with it. Mostly, I'm intrigued with the differences in the ways one interacts with the digital landscape, and the physical.
What do these difference mean?
DAY 4 | THURSDAY
Today I found myself particularly interested in the ways in which one may present themselves online. If I am living in an age where you don't exist, unless you do online then it must be important how one develops their online presence and the image they cultivate.
Who are we in terms of:
1. The information gathered about us (ie. the Big Data profiles on us)
2. The online image we try and cultivate
So I did sone investigating and came across the CGI influencer. Ultimately, I found that they are these character sprites concocted by people to play on the insecurities of the Instagram age, and gate a following of people who all live vicariously through something void of the laws of human nature.
So I response, I pulled up The Sims and made a couple of my own.
They lacked the sense of realism that the CGI influencer brought, because the people behind them had created entire lives from those characters- relationships, habits, quirks. And there was no way I would get subjected into the wormhole that surrounds a topic like that, so I took a shortcut.
I made note of all my favourite personas cultivated over time, and photoshopped them onto various of my selfies. MY OWN ELVISH SELVES.
Virtual persona | SIMS
MONDAY
DAY 5 | DATA CENTRE VISIT
The data centre visit was mostly informative in regards to the corporate side of data storage/ processing. The company I visited today was called "Virtue", and was definitely not much for thought.
The building was wide and twisted like a labyrinth, with limited access, long winding corridors and big metal doors. It was very corporate.
It made me feel some type of way- the same feeling I get when trying to manoeuvre through airport security or that feeling of entering a shop for the first time and everything is unrecognisable.
The more I think about it, a data centre is like purgatory. It's where my online essence goes to be process, recorded, stored, sorted and delivered. It's a disgusting thought- maybe sacrilegious?
Somehow, I'm finding my thoughts drifting to the way in which they seemingly couldn't go two sentences before talking about their eco-friendly nature and sustainable efforts. It's strange that a corporation who prides themselves on their ability to remain secretive and private as to their location, partners/ customers and how their building runs are so open and promotive of other things. My Uber driver native to Slough had trouble locating the building, and outside I was told how they pride themselves on their privacy, how their building is unforthcoming and inconspicuous- yet once inside I was given a rundown of their entire establishment: where each building was located and what it's purpose is, what machinery is in each part, I was even given a history of their establishment and corporation as a whole. They told me that they never see the information that is passed through their database.
What am I supposed to think of this? it's a walking oxymoron.
THURSDAY
DAY 8 - didn't come in
Today I carried out some research into spirituality. First I came across a street preacher called Todd White who operates through the spiritual to directly affect the physical- and it is beautiful to behold. I witnessed videos of him performing real-life miracles, like legs growing and supernatural healing. How can one flow so effortlessly in a realm of existence that they can operate with its laws to directly influence and alter the rules of another?
As a Christian who has personally witnessed miracles and experienced the spirit realm, it really made me feel deeply to see someone bring a sense of realness to something so perplex and shrouded in unknowing. I know that the spirit realm is real- it's realer than anything I can experience or exist in the physical in the same sense that the physical is more real than the virtual- but to what extent?
How can we move throughout these realms of existence? What exists that can alter/operate through all realms of existence?
It was this thought that led me to researching angels. I watched a series of videos from a YouTube channel called 'The Bible Project' and ultimately came to the conclusion that I had been shown nothing but colonialist indoctrination of what spirituality looks like. Cherubs are small white baby-like angels with rosy cheeks and angels are these strapping/ handsome beings with long hair, great big wings and wrapped in white and gold and the spiritual realm is a place of peace and rest, where nothing but miracles take place. Yet when I look to the scriptures angels are described as these great beings so perplexingly intricate and incomprehensible that it makes sense whenever they appear to people the first thing they always say is "Do not be afraid!".
So I got to thinking, the only reason why I've been so conflicted about showing the reality of my faith is because my reality doesn't match with the image of christianity I've been shown. I have a real, a beautiful and an unexplainable intimate relationship with God, and as a result of getting to know him deeper my experiences have been more spiritual and break the laws of the physical landscape as I operate in the spiritual. My reality has been a love and understanding so deep that everything becomes an act of worship; dancing, painting, creating, breathing. Sometimes I find myself so overcome with this agape, that I feel I exist purely in the spirit that my body will react. Like when I pray, and my body will just move- like a frog when given a volt of electricity, it's body moves and reacts. It feels as if my body is finally catching up to how I've been moving in the spirit. Yet when I look in a cathedral, there are paintings of docile white angels and a gentle white Jesus and I'm told stories of a spirit realm that only exists when performing miracles.
The colonialist christianity tells me that this is all demonic, so the only alike experiences I find are the videos of people experiencing the spirit through demonic means.
But I'm done with that. And I'm done with hiding my faith.
My angels are black, my spirit is real and that's what my project will be.
TUESDAY
DAY 10
I remembered how in the Being Human project I had decided to make the situation real to the audience, by having them partake in the action. So I carried that idea on, and decided that instead of the final idea just being a series of photographs, I would project them onto a surface and pray in front of it.
So I practiced projecting them onto a surface today, and designed how I would exhibit my art.
I was kind of conflicted though, because I didn't want this to just be a spectre or something to behold- like its just a performance for some pseudo-spiritual shock tactic. I didn't want to cheapen an experience that I value.
So I took it a little further and decided that I wouldn't just perform the action like it's a novelty, but I would literally include the audience. I decided that I would invite people to come pray with me, and pray for them. And alike the photoshoot, I would create an environment that was inviting and comfortable enough to cultivate the atmosphere for participation.
I would do this by:
1. Placing the piece in an intimate setting (i.e. a smaller darker environment)
2. Have the session take place on the floor, so we are grounded
and these would become the blueprints for my final.
THURSDAY | FINAL CRIT
Today was my final presentation.
It did not go as planned. Like at all.
There were too many people in such an enclosed setting, I was one of four who wanted to use the dark space for instillation. Ultimately, it required sacrifice so I had to relocate downstairs in an empty lecture space. Then because I was relocated, I had no audience at all- so no audience participation.
If I'm being frank, it was a mess.
SPACE-TIME
MONDAY
DAY 1
- lecture (my favourite artists from the list)
- how I think they'll influence my thinking
- space as both area & environment
- time as it's own entity
- representing time without video
TUESDAY
DAY 2
- generating ideas about things we could project onto
- practicing/ experimenting with use of space with varied time-based medias
- how it creates/ changes an environment but also how they combine to change their individual inherent meaning/ emphasis & create different narratives
- The ideas snowballed, and I got material for my portfolio
- The group dynamic somewhat dwindled by the ends our ideas developed and I began talks of experimenting deeper with 4D space in terms of physical performance and actual space
THURSDAY
DAY 3
- Began developing ideas
- played with the idea of space in a less literal sense
- more about the environment around you
- talks about collaborating with Joe and Evita
- idea generation in sketchbook
MONDAY
DAY 4
- final idea for performance
- began experimenting with latex to create props
- didn't work out so Evita knitted a piece of fabric that we poured latex onto
TUESDAY
DAY 5
- modeled piece
- set up for final presentation ideas
THURSDAY
DAY 6
- presentation
- crit notes
Ideas for artworks:
- Racial politics: why have some stereotypes persisted? Why is attention being drawn to systems in place now? who do they benefit?
-> A short mock-advert, targeting a working-class black person (reverse the roles). Adopt these traits, believe this, buy into this, if you want to live like this. We are superior, even if you are living in squalor.
->A series of postcards:
- White in right manor:
- Negroid projects
- ChinaTown
2. The desire for intimacy, and the affects of racial politics on this
-> An audio piece of overlapping sounds: someone reading the communist manifesto, a rant about immigration from an alt-right perspective, and taken audio from a black panther’s rally (this is our hair speech
Reflective questions
What were the three points your group highlighted?
1. Education
2. The disparity of wealth
3. Corruption
What other points made by your group interested you and why?
- the idea that every social construct in place, originates from a place of fear/ hatred and is pushed by the patriarchal structure of the world's social system + that meritocracy doesn't exist.
-Physical poverty can easily be eradicated, but poverty it is also a mindset which is a much harder subject to tackle. I find this interesting because, often you'll find that people in disadvantaged situations/ living in poverty would never admit to the reality of their poverty- or would rather defend the 1% (the wealthy who exploit them) because they'd rather Procter the idea that they could become like them (join the 1%), than destroy the systematic disadvantage that is in place. No-one wants to dismantle that disparity of wealth because they would rather protect the idea of becoming the 1% than face the reality of being poor- even if it is impossible.
What issues/ sub-themes are you going to explore?
I would like to explore racial politics. Why were they implemented in the first place? why are certain social structures still in place? who do they benefit?
What materials/ resources will you need?
For the ideas I have generated so far, I wouldn't need anything abstract or difficult to obtain: A short film would require a screen, the postcards would require card.
How will you get them in time?
I would either get existing postcards from the charity shop up the street from the campus, or card from the school shop. Then for the film, I would either rent a screen from the kings cross campus, use my MacBook, or rent a Dalek.
DAY 3
My idea developed again. When looking over my postcard idea, I thought there had to be a more encompassing way of commenting on racial politics and poverty. That's when I remembered the piece 'Art Destruction' by Ben Vautier, and realised that the more complex the issue I attempt to tackle, the more effective the opening for conversation becomes with the less imagery I use. I could create an intricate painting, filled with subvert meaning and history- but my aim is to open conversation, and to make on think rather than behold. The art which makes me think the most, are the ones with direction and purpose.
So I got to work developing my idea. I striped back all the imagery to its fundamentals by asking myself the question "what is it that I'm trying to communicate?"
I want to open conversation around racial politics, and lead people into introspective thought about their own racial biases/ misconceptions. Pictures are open to too much interpretation, and elicits one of two responses:
1. Beholding. It requires effort to open yourself to deeper thought, so simply beholding the art and 'appreciating' the aesthetics becomes your response.
2. Faux-analysis. Unless you are trained, in an open dialogue, or asked about it, no-one is really going to ponder the to the extent of the artwork or it's meaning for a prolonged period of time, so much as an alien life-form. if it's too layered a piece, then the audience won't linger on the meaning but on it's aesthetics.
ultimately, I came to the conclusion that action is the way to go. Invite the audience to participate in a relevant action, and that is a better invitation for thought and conversation. An alien could sit pondering as to what something could mean, but allow them to take art of the art (or the action being the art itself) and you are guiding the thought.
So in the end, I created a series of cards, all plain white with an invitation to carry out an action, and reflect on it.
RE-EDIT
My idea has progressed into creating a film about propaganda and brainwashing- does this mean the film is a form of propaganda in itself?
Fundamentally, my idea is to intercut clips from the presidential debate with clips from the American film "Don't be a sucker" about Nazi Germany, and how Americans shouldn't become 'suckers' and lose themselves to the forces of fanaticism and hatred. It will critique the hypocrisy of American politics, and their proficiency in proselytism. I aim to show how fundamentally, all propaganda is the same. Nixon, the nazi's, our very existence is an opportunity for consumption.
We're shovelled shit, and told "eat up, it's good for you!"
Final crit
Today was the presentation of the final group crit, and they didn't manage to get around to screening mine. So unfortunately, I don't know how my film would be received nor interpreted.
DATAFIED
- How has data and technology affected your perception of the reality in terms of identity, truth, ambition, dreams and working life?
- If we didn’t have technology would we still want to be artists?
- How has technology affected peoples sex lives? Destroyed the erotic, there’s no taboo or mystery anymore
- Statistically, this generation that has the least sex, but we are the most connected gen
- How we never dream about our phones, but we spend a lot of time on it
- Technology affected our sleeping patterns too.
- Overall, technology has had a balanced impact on my life. It’s not necessarily good or bad, it is. Like I was born black, I cannot compare the experience it is just how I see and exist the same with growing up with technology
- Social isolation. I feel as if I am connected with everyone everywhere all the time, and it has become the Truman show. I am told it is a blessing, this inter-connectedness but
- “when you’re on the phone, the reason you pace around is because you’re trying to find the person you’re talking to”
- Web 1.0- the internet before it was colonised by corporations
- It wasn’t regulated, and was mostly chatrooms and a few “geo-cities”
- After the year 2000, it gradually became commercialised
- The aesthetic became less lo-fi and glitzier to draw you in and take up more of your time
- Documentary “Press, pause, play” about creativity in the digital age
- How do you feel about the data you create being harvested and sold on to third party companies?
- They know a lot about us, but we know nothing about them
- Where does the information go? Who can see it? Is it even used? There’s a complete lack of knowledge
- It could be used against us, politically and set for crimes we haven’t committed
- Lack of privacy: how do they know about us?? Is it all even true?
- There are protests in Iran, so the government completely shut off the internet for the entire country so that information could not be shared
- There’s a paranoia- these people and large corporations know us intimately but to what extent and how can they use that information?
- cookies
- each individual generates data is worth approx. £100,000
- Is internet a public, private or semi-public?
- Fundamentally, the Internet is public
- There may be 'private' spaces on the internet, but like a house it isn't aren't completely secure or free from access.
- but what is it to be private? does it mean for something to be private?
- A space/ place in which you control the access to it
- But if the internet has these spaces of 'controlled access', and alike a house it isn't completely secure from people who may find ways in, does this mean that the internet is public? or semi-public?
- I believe ultimately, the internet is public
- Do you have privacy online?
- Do you have more privacy online or in real life?
- We’re generating so much data, that there is no way we can process it all
- Most of it is left untouched, but the downside is that scientists and corporations are developing even more powerful systems which can amass and analyse larger sets of data
- BIG DATA HAS THE POTENTIAL TO PREDICT WHAT YOU DO IN THE FUTURE
- IT COMPARES YOU TO WHERE YOU LIVE, WHO WITH, THE AREA AND COMPARES IT TO PEOPLE IN A SIMILAR DATA FIELD AND WHAT THEY DO IN 10,5, 15 YEARS
- LIKE FACEBOOK LIKES CAN DETERMIND IF PEOPLE WILL BE DIVORCED IN 6 MONTHS
- AND TARGET WAS ABLE TO ACCURATELY PREDICT THE PREGNANCY FOR A WOMAN WHO WAS BUYING PRODUCTS THROUGH THEIR SITE
- Does that mean that companies have more power than countries? They have all your data
- Do you think you should be able to sell the data you generate yourself?
- Is my data actually mine? Comparable to walking in the park and leaving a footprint in the mud
- “to live is to leave traces”
- The digital world is public, and to live within these public spaces is to give up your rights to exist privately within those bounds
- Humans are obsessed with ways in which we can cultivate an experience, and ways in which we remember it
- That’s why we have museums, archives, galleries, etc
TUESDAY
DAY 6
After previously manipulating my photographs into fantasy versions, I found myself questioning wether I was technically playing God?
This thought had led to researching the 'Designer Babies' phenomenon, which had later reminded me of the story of the Chimera woman I had mentioned before. So in turn I found myself repeatedly asking the question "How can one be so completely fabricated and morphed into an individual, devoid of soul?" then I had an epiphany- we now exist in three realities:
1. The spiritual
2. The Physical
3. The virtual
and they all feed into each other. Information from the spiritual becomes the fundamentals for reality in the physical, information from the physical become the building blocks for the virtual- and they all bleed into each other.
So what does this mean? what is spirituality in a modern age?
MONDAY
DAY 9
I've created a Pinterest board to round out how I visually want the aesthetic of my photographs to look. The general gist of what I want to emulate is the tender carelessness of a renaissance painting, the languid affection of a Henry Scott but the translate into the visual language of a Tamino song (if that makes sense).
Then I carried out the photoshoot.
It was the first time I've picked up a camera in a year, and the first time shooting in a studio setting- so it was definitely a big learning curve.
I had these ideas of creating images with a loving regard, but with subtle hints that allude to an underlying sense of unease.
(a contact sheet of a few images taken)
The most difficult thing wasn't remembering how to balance the ISO, shutter-speed and aperture, nor was it controlling the light- but it was actually DIRECTING THE MODELS.
The start was unexplainably awkward; there was dead silence and not much interaction because it was the first time some people were meting. It definitely showed in the earlier pictures. The most important thing I actually took away, is that you have to set the tone of the environment based on the feeling you want in the photograph (but mostly, just make the atmosphere comfortable).
During the editing stage, my idea was to originally edit the photographs so that they looked like how angels were described in the bible. However, once I started colour grading I just fell in love with the feeling the photographs gave on their own.
So I kept them as is.
LUX
MONDAY
DAY 1
- researched Cezanne
- researched mirror
TUESDAY
DAY 2
- poems, read the tasked text
- Began amassing footage
THURSDAY
DAY 3
- Thumbnail sketches generating ideas
- researched a few poems for ideas
- researched songs bjork and the velvet underground
MONDAY
DAY 4
- filmed scenes with Csarina, Derin and Evita
- began editing footage to bjork
TUESDAY
DAY 5
- researched the story of the eye
- revised thumbnail sketches
- filmed ending on the journey home
- finished editing
THURSDAY
DAY 6
- Presented
- crit notes
Contextual Review (Part One)
If I were to be asked what art is to me, I would have said it's a way of breaking down the world and presenting it in a new way. Up until now, I was taught that art is simply a means of expression. I was taught that it's a refined painting in a gallery, or a sleek sculpture in the Louvre. I was told how to work, how to think, what to imitate and what to create. I never really had room for deeper thought, and eventually I didn't care to have my own opinion. That’s why initially, I struggled with generating and developing ideas, and experimenting with mediums outside of paint. Art doesn't have to be the representation of something. Agnes Martin said 'Artwork is a representation of our devotion to life.', but the more I live and breathe and create, the more I find art is a devotion to life in itself. It's the film that made me feel, the book that makes me think.
Once I began to place equal attention to the way in which I was developing ideas, what I was drawing inspiration from, and how I would present my final piece, I final reached a place where I could truly begin to experiment with what and how I was working. Alike the works of Tra Bouscaren and Nam June Paik, I knew I wanted to create immersive experiences. Pieces where space and time merge into an after-thought, and the viewer becomes completely enveloped into stories and worlds of my design. I only really realised that I liked to work with 4D later on, during the later stages of the ‘Come here, I want to see you’ project, after delving into the unflinching film noir of Steve Mqueen and the borderline artwork Demi-finale des international from Gianni Motti. That’s when I felt in my element- I could work with sound, performance, film, etc. I feel, I was more interested in how the audience would feel in reaction to the work, because that’s equally as important as the work itself.
A good piece of art makes you feel something, but a great piece of art leaves you with something. Allowing yourself to be vulnerable enough, to cultivate an authentic experience for your audience is a very intimate thing. I found, the only real way I could create such a thing is to allow myself to be vulnerable enough to incorporate myself in my work.
For example, during the Place project I was utterly inspired by Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver where you have no choice but to become emotionally invested and intertwined with the development of the character; during the film the viewer and character become indistinguishable.
Also, Jean-Luc Godard’s À bout de souffle l where I was met with an unadulterated form of intimacy in the scene where Jean-Paul Belmondo’s character grasps Patricia’s neck. Godard said the film was the metaphorical “death of cinema,” and that “cinema is the only art form which (following Cocteau’s phrase in ‘Orphee, I believe’) ‘films death at work’,”. To which I came to the conclusion that Godard was full of shit. It was this revelation that helped me to create the later pieces of art- namely ‘THE DARKEST HOUR’ from the Place project, as I realised that every painting is alive- moving and yet completely present. A snap second, where every brushstroke is permanently caught in one motion, tamed and controlled into repeating that one single motion over and over again. A film is just a painting 24 times a second, so every stroke-now-pixel works together to tell a story over time. That’s why I find cinema the most beautifully immersive, artistic and intimate of the arts- which is why I’ve mostly experimented with filmmaking.
At the end of part one, I found my work became extremely personal. They became more time-based pieces of media presented through a screen, which later during part two developed into projection and the incorporation of performance. Initially, I drew influence from films like Dorota Kobiela’s ‘Loving Vincent’and Hirokazu Kore-eda’s ‘Shoplifters’, and the directors. Whereas later on, I began to research into music as well; songs like ‘It never entered my mind’ by The Miles Davis Quintet, ‘I’ll see you in my dreams’ by Django Reinhardt,’ and Le deux guitares’ by Opa Tsupa. I believe my work will continue to investigate ways in which I can engage the audience, be it through film, performance, photography, etc.
Bibliography
Agnes Martin
Brainpickings.org. 2017. Agnes Martin. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.brainpickings.org/2017/03/22/agnes-martin-happiness-river-of-live/. [Accessed 1 February 2020].
Glimcher, A., 2012. Agnes Martin: Paintings, Writings, Remembrances By Arne Glimcher. Phaidon Press.
Tra Bouscaren
Peripheral Vision Press. 2020. Tra Bouscaren: Escaping the Technological Panopticon — Peripheral Vision Press. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.peripheralvisionarts.org/journal/tra-bouscaren#_ftn3. [Accessed 10 February 2020].
Nam June Paik
Tate. 2020. Nam June Paik – Exhibition Guide | Tate. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/nam-june-paik/exhibition-guide. [Accessed 10 February 2020].
Steve McQueen
MoMA. 2020. Steve McQueen. Deadpan. 1997 | MoMA. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.moma.org/collection/works/98724. [Accessed 10 February 2020].
Anon., 2019. Moma Highlights. The Museum Of Modern Art.
Gianni Motti
ODLP. 2020. In the collection of the CNAP : Gianni Motti - The Eye of Photography Magazine. [ONLINE] Available at: https://loeildelaphotographie.com/en/in-the-collection-of-the-cnap-gianni-motti/. [Accessed 10 February 2020].
YouTube. 2020. Gianni Motti, Roland-Garros - par Pascal Beausse (VOSTeng) - YouTube. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uZ1edjeozg. [Accessed 10 February 2020].
Martin Scorsese
YouTube. 2020. Taxi Driver (1976) "All The Animals Come Out At Night" Clip #3 HD - YouTube. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFe8SD6Gsq4. [Accessed 10 February 2020].
Jean-Luc Godard
YouTube. 2020. Breathless (1960) Hotel Scene - Jean Seberg / Jean-Paul Belmondo - YouTube. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rzd-RQSeTLI. [Accessed 10 February 2020].
“A Bout de Souffle” by Jean-Luc Godard: How Did It Reinvent Modern Cinema? | The Artifice. 2020. “A Bout de Souffle” by Jean-Luc Godard: How Did It Reinvent Modern Cinema? | The Artifice. [ONLINE] Available at: https://the-artifice.com/a-bout-de-souffle-jean-luc-godard-how-did-it-reinvent-modern-cinema/. [Accessed 10 February 2020].
‘Orphee, I believe’
Albemarle - Archive. 2020. Albemarle - Archive. [ONLINE] Available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20101213041330/http://www.albemarle-london.com/Archive/ArchiveShow.php?Show_Name=Eurydice. [Accessed 10 February 2020].
Wikipedia. 2020. Eurydice (Anouilh play) - Wikipedia. [ONLINE] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurydice_(Anouilh_play). [Accessed 10 February 2020].
Dorota Kobiela
Odee - odee.pl / Strony internetowe. 2020. Loving Vincent - the world’s first fully painted feature film!. [ONLINE] Available at: http://lovingvincent.com. [Accessed 10 February 2020].
Hirokazu Kore-eda
IMDb. 2020. Shoplifters (2018) - IMDb. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8075192/. [Accessed 10 February 2020].
Music
YouTube. 2020. Miles Davis Quintet - It Never Entered My Mind - YouTube. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Np8PJDGq_A. [Accessed 10 February 2020].
YouTube. 2020. I'll See You In My Dreams By Django Reinhardt - YouTube. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNRHHRjep3E. [Accessed 10 February 2020].
YouTube. 2020. Opa Tsupa - Les deux Guitares - YouTube. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuFiBjNTB9o. [Accessed 10 February 2020].