Group Meeting 19th April

We had a really good chat the next day at our Friday meeting. We updated Charlotte on the events of the Table Top Sale and talked about our individual ideas.




Viki, Charlotte, Me and Katie

 

Table Top Sale Day 18th April

We had a really good day at the GasLamp Table Top Sale. There weren't nearly enough people at the venue, but the few that did participate seemed to really enjoy it. I was nervous at first and felt quite shy about asking people over to have a go. And the first person saying no didn't help. The second was really awkward and embarrassed, and I was getting ready for a really difficult day. But everyone after that was more than happy to play and my nerves went away. I now feel really comfortable interacting and engaging with the public. I didn't think many people would be comfortable saying the tongue twisters into the dictaphone. or having their photos but nearly all of the participants were quite happy with both. One girl didn't want her photo taken, but after being offered a mask to wear she was more than happy. Viki brought in a yellow table cloth as we are in the yellow group Play. We also wanted to make the whole thing as bright and attractive as possible. So Viki made red and orange envelopes, both containing one of the two questionairs. She also made green and purple felt bags to put the tongue twisters in. I think making the table look fun and bright really helped grab peoples attention. We also had a selection of sweets in a giant upside down fortune teller for people who took part.

I would really like to set up the game again, somewhere that has more people. Other than lack of participants, the whole thing was a success. I think we bonded as a group through out the process. We shared being nervous together and not knowing what to expect, and learnt how to intereact with the public doing something that was well out of all our comfort zones. It was also a sucessful collaboration between the four of us. We all contributed with the different elements of the game and couldn't have done it with out each other. A big learning step for me was sharing the work load. Usually I would have wanted to make everything myself so that I knew it was made how I would want it. But what would be the point in that. Everyone worked really hard, and everything looked great! 



Viki having a practice run at uni before we set off







Kerry drawing herself





Katie after drawing with her eyes shut

 


Me with one of the fortune tellers






A few of our Celeb masks for people to wear if they choose

 


The instructions inside the fortune tellers

 

Distortion Through Grease Proof Paper

I have been playing around with greaseproof paper as we decided as a group to use it as a starting material. It is translucent so I thought I could photograph things behind it. I asked my group during our meeting last week hold it in front of their faces and as you can see it kind of works, but not as well as I had hoped. Katie's on the top right was the most successful. You can make out her features from the shadows around them which is looks really good. The others have too much shadow from the silhouettes so aren't as effective. I tried to use the light coming in through the window which I think helped. I also played around with  different areas of my body which I think are really successful. Wearing striped leggings makes my legs look really visible. These were taken just sat at the table during the meeting so I didn't use the direct sunlight as much and I think they look better for it. I really like this technique but now my ideas have developed into wanting to physically distort and manipulate the body as opposed to distorting through obstruction/camera technique. However I am not ruling it out as an option.

Planning for the Table Top Sale

After our group meeting on Monday we arranged to meet again the next day to plan what we were going to do for the table top sale on Thursday. We knew we didn't really want to use the opportunity to sell anything, but instead interact with the public with some kind of game to do with our theme of 'Fear'. Only me and Viki made it to the meeting so we went ahead as there wasn't really time to wait until Wednesday as we needed to pretty much have it sorted by then. The main question was "What do we want to get out of the experience?"  Did we want physical material to work with? Opinions? Reactions? Or just the experience of interacting with the public? I think we wanted all of the above to some extent.

So Viki and I came up with a game using an origami fortune teller (inspired by the ones at the Escape exhibition at 2022NQ) as the starting point, containing 8 different instructions. We wanted every aspect of it to be fun and playful and not just straight forward, obvious, boring instructions. We came up with 3 categories for people to communicate with us. Drawing, Talking and Writing. We also didn't want the game to be a scary experience, but more to approach fear in different ways and see how people would react to that. For some people just playing a game with strangers would be something that would make them feel uncomfortable. So we came up with a mix of instructions that would test peoples confidence, push people out of their comfort zones, but ultimately just have a bit of fun.

The Instructions we came up with were:

Draw yourself with your eyes closed- maybe this will reveal the persons true vision of themselves?

Draw yourself with your eyes open- maybe reveal a distorted image that the person wants people to see themselves?

Draw something you associate with fear

Write down: A fear you have; A fear you have learnt; A fear you have overcome

Answer a series of hypothetical questions about doing certain things with or without a mask on - we wanted to find out whether being hidden would affect peoples ability to do something that ordinarily might embarrass them. I was influenced by Derren Browns experiment about gang mentality and being anonymous.

Write a work with the letter R in it followed by a synonym of that word without the letter R- this is related to Viki's ideas about her fear of the English language and not feeling confident to speak at times for fear of being mocked. Also her fears in her own language (Spanish) and avoiding letter R as she cannot roll her tongue for the correct pronunciation which she was is made fun of for by her class mates.

Pick either an English or Spanish tongue twister to read out of a bag- Viki made a video of herself saying a Spanish tongue twister with the letter R over and over to see if she could feel more comfortable.

Tell us what your best quality is and then what your friends would say your best quality is.

For the instructions requiring the players to speak, ideally we wanted them to let us film them or record them with a Dictaphone  but realise that some people would not be comfortable with this. So we planned to make a selection of celebrity masks for people to wear if they wanted to. We wanted to see whether this would affect people confidence, being behind the face of someone the media tells us is beautiful. This links with my ideas of distortion, as we are fed a distorted idea of perfection on a daily basis by the media and I wanted to see people reactions to this.

The next day on Wednesday Vicky discussed the plan with the rest of the group at a meeting and everyone seemed to be on board. It would have been better if the rest of the group had been involved with the planning the day before but as we had a deadline for Thursday there wasn't time to wait. 2 members came to the meeting who had not attended the last 3 which was good, but at the same time, we had worked on so much this week that it was going to be difficult to fill them in completely and make sure everyone was happy with every element and it wouldn't be fair if they wanted to change something when they hadn't been involved from the start, although I doubt they would have wanted to anyway. Vicky suggested that instead they test some of the questions out on people around campus. She told me later on when I got there and I think it was the right decision  all though I probably wouldn't have been able to say that to them myself. But I care way to much what people think of me and can't handle anyone thinking anything negative about me, so that's why I could never say anything. But hopefully this experience will help me not to care so much. She said they didn't seem to have a problem with it and understood the reasons why. It's really difficult to make that kind of decision as you don't want to push people away but if they haven't attended a load of meetings and haven't made an effort to engage and contribute to the planning of the project then I feel it's only fair. 



Group Meeting Monday 15th April

Another really succesfull meeting! We had a very special guest, Georgina, who is on Fine Art and also doing Unit X. It was great to discuss our ideas and plans with someone else to get another perspective. Viki managed to book the last table at Gaslamp so we talked about what we could do for it. I am slightly apprihensive about people willing to take part so I think we need to give people an incentive. Maybe food? Or even just tell them it's for an art project. We can also use this opportunity to advertise our exhibition. Maybe we could start a mailing list.

Ideas

Get people to write/draw their fears
Recoed people talking about their fears and the story behind them
Get people to draw with their left hand
Draw with their mouths
Draw with eyes closed
Word search
Take photos of people through grease proof paper
Make paper fortune tellers for people to play
Questionair
Wrap peoples hands in clear tape-distortion

We also taught Kerry and Georgina to knit! They both got the hang of it really quick and it was good to share our textile knowledge with non-textiles students.

Katie, Me, Georgina, Kerry and Viki

Group Meeting Friday 12th April

Viki, Katie, Kerry and I attended the meeting and we had a really good chat about our ideas and I left feeling really excited about the project....Finally!! We decided to change the meeting day to Monday so we can discuss as a group the week ahead. Viki suggested we hire a table at the Table Top Sale at Gaslamp on Thursday 18th, and use it as an opportunity to interact with the public and acquire some research. I really like this idea, so I need to get thinking what I can do for it. We also discussed getting started with making stuff together and thought paper would be a great starting point. I want to use grease proof paper as a way of distorting things as it's translucent. Kerry has a a paper making kit so we thought about having a go at that and if it's successful maybe holding a workshop for the rest of UnitX to take part in. Kerry has some really interesting ideas about the unknown and hiding behind masks. We discussed her using the computer to merge all of our faces together to make a mask, and using papier mache to make masks too. I think this could relate to what I'm looking at with the unknown and a distorted view. I was a little disappointed that half the group didn't attend as it was a really successful meeting and I left feeling really excited. I wrote a message on our UnitX facebook page to fill them in. Hopefully with the new meeting date it will be easier for everyone to attend.

                                 

Real Beauty Sketches

I found this video today after a friend posted it on Facebook. What are the chances. It's an advertising campaign from Dove showing how we see ourselves compared to how our peers view us. This links to my ideas of people's distorted view of themselves. It's a bit cheesy American style, with the music and the ways it's filmed, but it worked because I had a lump in my throat. Enjoy...

Physical Distortion

A lot of my research has been on distorted images, through photography, post production or some kind of layer/covering. Wes Namens 'Scotch Tape' series made me think about physically distorting the body by manipulating its shape. I found loads of artists who play with this idea and want to start experimenting myself. 

I'm thinking about wrapping my body parts with string/tape/clingfilm to see how I can manipulate my shape and even focus in on areas I am perhaps not so comfortable with-tummy/thighs etc..if I'm brave enough!

I have also been thinking of other means of distortion

Having a distorted view of self/body dysmorphia

Distorted view of reality

Distorted Memory

Distorting the truth

Distorted perceptions

Creating a distorted view for others to see you as- Facebook Profile/choosing what people see

Distorted conversation/chinese whispers/miscommunication

Distorted sound through walls/underwater/far away

Distorting yourself which make-up/plastic surgery

Jenny Saville-Closed Contact/Gillian Lambert-Self Deception/Rut Mackel-The Ugly Truth /Ana Mendieta-Glass on Body

Tadaocern-Blow Job

MOSI and John Ryland's Library visit

During the Easter break me and Katie arranged (using Twitter with some difficulty!!!) to visit the Museum of Science and Industry for some inspiration. I was thinking down the lines of Manchester's textile heritage, and all the old factories and mills that I had touched on with my research. I also had my ideas of distortion so wanted to see if I could link that somehow. It was a really nice day out, but I could really find anything to get stuck into. I took a few photos anyway and maybe they will inspire further down the line. I also photographed some of the other buildings in the area that looked like old mills/warehouses/factories. 

We then wandered over the John Rylands Library which I am ashamed to say, in the 3 years of living in Manchester, I have never visited! It's a beautiful building covered in detail. I would say it feels a little out of place plonked on Deansgate, but then again, the whole of Manchester is a mishmash of architecture, so in a way fits right in. We explored inside and there were a couple of exhibitions. 'While Dreams Sleep' by Geoff Brokate is a collection of stories and portraits which document the lives of women living in Pakistan. 'Lit from Within' is the sister exhibition by Kay Martindale which shows stories and portraits documenting the lives of British born women of Indian and Pakistani descent. I couldn't take any photos but but I really enjoyed the work which is the result of a series of workshops run by Kay Martindale created by women staying at a local refuge.

Also being exhibited was 'Burning Bright' which displayed the designs and prints of artist and poet William Blake. Its amazing to think that every page in the books on display were hand printed!! Everything must have taken such a long time and would have been more expensive too.

One of the machines on display at MOSI

Outside the Museum

John Rylands Library

This is a magnifying sheet you can take round to have a closer look. Using it to distort my face.

@katiedunitx ur right!! cant find my post anywhere! but yeah good idea haha xx #58yellow
— ellie birkenhead (@elliebirkenhead) April 8, 2013

Didier Faustino

Molly sent me a link to this artist thinking about my idea of distortion and my Wes Naman research.

"Faustino in this video is filmed chewing gum and slowly sticking it onto his face creating a mask. The chewing gum eventually becomes part of Faustino acting like a second layer of skin. He molds the gum onto his face eventually covering the entire surface area except for his eyes and mouth that pop out of the mask boldly. The eyes and the mouth are the only two indications that the viewer has to infer that this is a man not a monster." Quote from http://www.h-kage.com/CityORama_Artist.html



(G)host in the (S)hell 2008 video

First Day of Term and 'The Tree of Fear!' 9/4/13

First day back after the Easter break and I was slightly nervous and didn't really know what to expect. We hadn't really been working as a group last term but I was hoping people would come back really positive with lots of ideas to share. It was great to hear peoples ideas and where they were planing on taking the theme of Fear.

Molly- Fear of Perception. People's perceptions of others both positive and negative and words.
Charlotte- Superstitions, 13(1+7+5), superstitious rituals/counteractions. Ladders/Mirrors/Salt over shoulder. Plans to experiment with salt, colouring and water.
Viki- Fear of English language (1st language Spanish), not being able to say everything she would like to.
Kerry- Fear of the unknown/hidden. Look at masks/comic book characters.
Katie- Manchester Cotton/Textile Industry- fear felt from the factory workers.
Gurjinder- Not too sure yet, will hopefully have ideas next week.
Zen- Wants to make a film about Fear/create a fearful environment/atmosphere.

There is still a bit of dysfunctionality within the group with certain members being particularly disruptive/negative/immature. But hopefully they will start to engage soon, have a more positive out look about the unit, and respect the rest of the group more.

We were asked to make another poster so this time we decided to make one together which I was really happy about. As a group we came up with a list of words associated with FEAR. We aimed for 175 but ended up with about 75. We also cut out words from the new paper and then layered our finding over a tree to represent how we will all be branching off with our own ideas about fear. I am really proud of this as it's our first piece of collaborative work!

FEAR! Week 2- Poster Reveal

For my A1 poster I printed my 4 favourite photos from my bus journey A3 size and stuck them together. I chose the most ambiguous ones with strong glares of light and the most distortion from the condensation on the windows. Viki had put together a series of images related to childrens toys in the Vicorian era. Some of the others did further mind maps on their ideas and presented facts to do with 175. (I will add photos to this post if people still have their posters, as I forgot at the time)

 I felt that I wanted to show people my ideas visually without any text, to see what their opinions were without being influenced what I'd written. The response was good and my group seemed to get the distortion.

I remember worrying at the time as we listened to all the other groups presentations, as they had all come up with a theme to work from, and some had done group posters. I was frustrated that we hadn't had chance to talk about it as a group as people weren't attending the meetings and didn't seem to want to. So after the presentations, we had another go at a brainstorm to see if there was anything that linked our research. We decided on Fear.

Linking it with Distortion?:

Fear of unknown

Ambiguous

Masks

Loss of sight/senses

Blurred

Hidden

Shadows

A few days later we had a crisis meeting as people really weren't happy with the dynamic of the group. We talked it out and all agreed to forget the first 2 weeks, have a nice break over Easter, and come back more positive, engaged and willing. I felt a lot better after that.

Slow Shutter Speed

I took this photo on my SLR using a 30second shutter speed. I would have liked to use 175 second shutter speed but that doesn't exist so this was the next best thing. Viki and I had been talking about our group 'PLAY' and how maybe we could play a game at some point, instructing each other. This made me think about dancing and dance moves, so for this photo I did a series of movements to get this effect. I really love how distorted it looks, and I unintentionally wore a bright yellow hoody and bright orange scarf, so the colours have merged. Last project I did a lot on bleeding colours so maybe I will carry on with this. Or maybe I should steer away from it. Its eaarly days but I would like to take some more of these photos, maybe wearing different colour clothes for each?? And I would like to paint from them.

Distortion Research

My 175 photos on the bus inspired me to look into distortion. It's really broad and already I've found loads of related stuff. I like the idea of physical distorting the body, or a distorted view of the body. Viki told me about Linder Sterling to look at after Dave Haslem talked about her work in the lecture she went to. She is known for her photomontage incorporating images portraying women as comodoties, such as porn/advertising, with images of household objects. But the image I'm most interested in is the one below as it physically distorts the face with clear film. Craig McDean, a fashion/beauty photographer pays homage to Linder in a 2009 shoot with Kristen Stewart for Interview magazine.

The condensation on the window in my images reminds me of Hans Haacke's 'Condensaton Cube'.

Diane Archer's 'Cling Film' series looks at the naked body distorted/protected/suffocated? by cling film.

Wes Namen looks at physically distorting the faces of his willing friends with Scotch Tape, consequently minipulating and changing the shape.

Hans Haacke- Condensation Cube 1963                    Random International- Rain Room 2012



Linder Sterling 1981  /  Craig McDean 2009

 Diane Archer- Cling Film 2 2007   /    Wes Naman- Scotch Tape 2012 

175 Photos on the Bus

To get going I decided to take 175 photos through the window on the bus to Didsbury. At first I was annoyed because it was raining and all the windows were steamed up from the condensation. But after a couple of pictures I decided I really liked the abstract feel, and the distorted view. I keeps wiping the window with my sleeve and this left really interesting marks. It was a weird day actually because it was pouring it down, but the sun was beaming through the clouds trying to get out. This gave some really nice glares in some of the photos, and depending on where the bus was heading, the light moves around the photos from one side to another. Some even shine from the floot where the sun has reflected off the wet cars and puddles in the road. Here are a selection of the strongest photos. I found that the more the windows were steamed up and the light was glaring, the better they look. I also like how I can just about tell where abouts each were taken on the journet and in some you can see people standing waiting for their bus'.

Ideas:

Distortion

Light

Ambiquity

Water

Rain

Steam

Mark making

Contrast

Group Brain Storm/Thought Shower - Week 1

A few ideas we came up with together to research further for our posters. We decided to do individual ones but hopefully the group will want to start doing things togther eventually. At this point I really wanted to collaborate but realised that it's an awkward situation being put with people you don't know very well and asked to work together. I also felt a bit lame for being enthusiastic, as I always am, as some of the group didn't seem interested. But as I said, we didn't know each other, and it's a weird situation to be put into. Hopefully things will get better as we get to know each other better.

Behind!!!

Ok so I have a load to catch up on with my blog, so the next few posts will be written about the first 2 weeks of Unit X.

Note to self: Keep ontop of things!!!!

Chara Lewis Talk

Chara Lewis a Manchester based artists and is one third of Brass Art. It turns out I had actually seen one of their installations Still Life No. 1 at the Whitworth Art Gallery as part of the Dark Matters exhibition last year. I've put the video on here which shows it in action. Brass Art use some of the latest technologies such as 3D printing. They experiment which light to create shadows and play with the scale of things.

Moments of Death and Revival 2008

                                 

Susie Macmurray Talk

I was slightly late for this lecture as I'd been sat in the wrong room for the first 20 minutes, along with others so it wasn't just me!! But we came in as she was talking about her balloon dress. What I've always loved about Susie's work is her ability to make unconventional materials look beautiful. Whether it be 1000s of needles constructing a gown, mussel shells covering the walls, or hair nets hanging in a church. The lecture was really inspiring, and it was great to hear how her career has progressed from when she finished he MA in Fine art in 2001 to now, exhibiting all over the world! 

Susie has done a lot of site specific installations including 'Shell' at the Pallant House Gallery in Chichester. Researching the history of a site is always important when realising a project for Susie as this will influence the outcome. The story of Pallant House is kind of tragic. The wealthy couple who lived in there in C18th put all their time and money into the house. But once it was finished they had nothing to hold them together as they were never really in love. Susie's installation consists of 1000s of mussel shells covering the walls of the staircase. The shells are filled with red silk velvet which just looks amazing. I would love to have seen it when it was exhibited as I'm sure it was even more stunning in real life. The wall looks really sensual and alive. Velvet was a really good choice to fill the shells. It's so luxurious and the light reflects off it too. Her work is also very metaphorical, the shells represent the empty shell that was the couples marriage, and the grand house they had devoted them selves to that had no love to fill it and be lived in.

Throughout the talk Susie was very clear that although she had created some beautiful garments, she is not a designer. Her pieces are 'garment sculptures' where by she felt clothing was the best suited to the materials. 'Widow' is a dress covered in 2 inch dress makers pins, which are lethal if rubbed the wrong way. This piece was created after she sadly lost her husband to cancer. Susie explained how she had found the reactions of the people around her very strange when they found out about her loss. As if they they didn't know how to react, and were almost scared of her. I get what she meant. Death is something most people do not know how to deal with, you don't know what to say to people who have lost someone, and can feel uncomfortable. Which is weird because this can leave the person grieving feeling like they need to comfort you. So 'Widow' was a metaphor to how Susie was feeling at that time, as if people didn't want to get too close. I felt a bit emotional when she was telling us about the piece. It's so beautiful, but created as a response to peoples negative reactions, when I suppose she would have needed comforting the most.

Another of Susie's site specific installations is 'Echo' displayed at York Saint Mary's. The room was filled with hanging hairnets which were stuffed with used violin bow-hair. The effect is really beautiful, and slightly haunting. The transparency of the materials makes them look so delicate, almost ghostly.

'Widow' 2009

'Shell' Pallant House Gallery, Chichester  2006/7

Echo

Site specific installation, York St Mary's, York Museums Trust 2006

Craig Atkinson Talk

Craig Atkinson is an Artist/Illustrator/Publisher. He studied Fine Art at Leeds in the late 1990s and left as a painter but after a while got fed up with how expensive it was and the gallery culture so quit painting and started to draw. I laugh every time I look at his drawings. They have so much personality and even though they could be seen as simple I think they are far more interesting than a photo realistic drawing. He draws a lot of heads which also makes me laugh for some reason. He then decided he wanted people to see his drawings, because deep down, as creatives, we ALL want our work to be seen whether we will admit it or not! So he set up a publishing company called Cafe Royal Books, and started to put out zines compiled of his drawings. He wanted them to be zines so that they were affordable, as they are cheaper to produce. He then went onto publish zines compiled of other artists work and collaborates with different people too. 'America' is part of the 'somewhere else' series which are photograph books. Craig said he still draws everyday, and tries to draw at least one head, and every so often he will publish a drawing book..

Solution/Problem are another series of "books" that are a delivered in the form of a plastic wallet, containing 10 items from around Craig's studio, each of which can be a solution to a problem. This is such a fun idea! I've never thought that anything can really be a book. The clever thing is, once you open the package, you actually destroy the book so it is no longer that. 

I loved Craigs talk, it was great to see that you don't have to stick to one thing, which is great for me because like Craig, I get bored easily. Well not so much bored, but something else will grab my attention. 

January 2010

Solution / 100
2012

America 29.01.13

Hetain Patel Lecture and Workshop

Hetain Patel's lecture was really inspiring. His work is very conceptual with identity being a strong theme throughout. He first showed us his body painting series, Scared Bodies, which started off as photographs, but were later developed into time lapses and eventually live performances. He asked a professional henna artist to take part in a series of performance, where by the henna artist would improvise a design onto Hetain's back, which was being filmed and streamed live onto a screen so that Hetain could see and he would then copy what the design onto his chest. They would not communicate verbally but through the application of henna.
Hetain showed us a performance piece where he uses dance and traditional Indian rhythms along side body painting. 

Empathy is really important to Hetain when collaborating and he is always very sensitive towards the other person and will not ask them to do anything they are not 100% happy/comfortable with. I will keep this in mind when working with my group during UnitX.