AV Social at Late at Tate Britain- 4 April

This video I took from Black Out Arts installation at the Tate Britain interests me as, like in Ceal Floyers' virtual lightswitch displayed with projector and the image, and Anthony mccall the process work and the technology to make it -in the projector, objects, beam of light- all becomes the work. I like these ideas in development of the space-in-between piece- the nature of the technology becoming part of the narrative.

From Black Out Arts website;

"Underlap
North Duveen Gallery (far end) - 6pm-9.30pm
Rod Maclachlan and Jem Noble from Blackout Arts unveil their latest audiovisual installation at the AV Social. Rod's live-camera alchemy transforms his simple, kinetic light installations of dust, chop sticks, mobiles and houseplants into large projections of elegant shadow-play and dramatic abstraction. Jem treats the sounds collected from the installations using light-sensitive theremins, contact and mini-condenser mics. These sounds create an evolving, reactive soundtrack for the shifting forms."

from the local studies centre- on the-space-in-between....55 Leroy St, Bermondsey

News article on the st, 1964


1976- Annette Display wigs ok, so my trip to the local studies centre in borough wasn't as useful as I had hoped in that small businesses had very little written about them and very few photos existed of the site/street- would need to contact the businesses direct for records although most out of business and impossible to track.... I have a list of the nature of the light industry firms including the following (from Linda Duffy, thanks, from Post Office records );

1893-1900 – Sowle Thomas, wheelwright
1908 – Million Advertising Novelty Co Limited
1912-15 – Simmons W F and Co under-clothing manufacturers
1916-17 – Newey Brothers Ltd hook & eye manufacturers
1928-9 – Barclay, Roberts and Co Ltd trouser press mfrs
1937-39 – Stanley and Woodward Ltd coathanger mfrs
1947-9 – British Novelties (Model Manufacturers) plaster figure mkrs
1970 – nº 51/55 Frederica Display, figure manfrs.
1973-83 – nº 51 Annette Display, Wig Co. Ltd
1983 – No 55 H&M Fashions, ladies’ fashion mfrs
1988 – nº 55 Stacey Ltd. Ladies fashion manfrs.

The ~H& M Fashion may be of interest- is this the current high st retailer? Like the range of businesses listed.

Am also interested in the fact that the article above is talking about reportedly appalling housing conditions on the street with 'dangerous, dilapidated landings,' when this currently dilapidated site at end of April is being demolished and becoming contemporary appartments- there may be material in this.

EVA Conference

Looks very interesting-

EVA London 2008

Electronic Visualisation and the Arts

When? 22-24 July 2008
Where? British Computer Society, London WD2E 7HA

REGISTRATION OPEN

EVA London 2008 will debate the issues, discuss trends and demonstrate the digitial possibilities in:
• Performing arts
• Visual arts
• New technologies
• Interactive media
• Museums, archives and galleries

If you are interested in the new technologies in the cultural sector – if you are an artist, policy maker, manager, researcher, practitioner, audience evaluator or educator – this conference is for you.

Registration and outline programme
http://www.eva-conferences.com/eva_london/

Noble and Silver- stand up-multi-media-theatre

ok so two completely unconnected people have now mentioned these guys when i have talked about my storytelling photography work and my forthcoming stand up evening class.both coming form fine art backgrounds, kim noble works on the photography, video and performance and stuart silver on text and performance. guardian review describes it as a 'fluid multi-media happening.' they also undertook a residency at the beaconsfield gallery

i am particularly interested in how they work with irony, projections (sometimes arguing with projections of themselves, and also what else) and audiences- unfortunately i can't find any film documentation of their shows to see what i'm missing out on- so need to look at if they have any gigs coming up.

this interests me;(from above link to beaconsfield gallery website)
"the performance looped around itself, spliced with video images that were seldom quite as they seemed and meticulously timed conversations between Noble and Silver and their recorded selves. "Its about putting something funny next to something that deconstructs itself, next to something quite tragic."

in my nunnery performance, the sense of loss of the over developed image dying, set against the many amusing exchanges of funny stories was a striking contrast which i could push further.i'm also keen on the review on the beaconsfield website which says, 'video images that were seldom quite what they seemed.' How do you make an image not quite what it seemed? How can an image be changed- changing content/context, use of different technology. was it the visuals and/or the sound/words that changed? why did they use this? how did this work with the live action? how does live self work with mediated self and why?
i think the question i should investigate with their work is from the Digital Arts conference post I made earlier today;

"How does the increasing digitalisation of media affect the experience of seeing?"

laura and i will be exploring live and mediated self alongside writing workshops shortly to support one another. i think noble and silver's work could be a useful contextual reference.

bobby baker box story 2001

Taken from DAILY LIFE SERIES: 5

2001

Remembering Pandora, Bobby delves into a selection of boxes unleashing the ills of the world and attempting to conquer them with hope and unsettling humour. Eight exceptional singers, performing music especially composed by Jocelyn Pook, accompany her on her quest, providing a touch of irony to her valiant but vain efforts.

“Box Story felt good from the start and is one of my favourite shows. While I was writing the first application I was a resident in a crisis house. The show is about misfortune and I felt overwhelmed with the bleakness of it all. One of the staff, Bill Briscombe, told me the bit of the myth that I had forgotten – that Pandora finds Hope left in the box. Hope became my sharp knife to get out with.”


bobby baker box story video

again in looking at development of performance persona- use of personal stories in performance- and how referential to spectators lives stories can be. in my girl scout story at the nunnery in feedback many people said how connected they felt to it- for example then remembering their own defining moment of loss of innocence in their own childhood.

spalding gray- swimming to cambodia extract

looking at ways of re-telling personal stories, using a soundtrack, minimal props/set- mic and glass of water, monologue.keeping the attention on the real life story- not 'dressing it.' not being someone else.

links to the closet for my nunnery performance- pretty much used closet as found- mops and screws and all- a simple real life backdrop, non theatrical, amateur darkroom, cupboard, den. soundtrack to immerse you in this closet- radio in background- working atmosphere. my story from childhood- more engaging/humorous/relaxed nature depending on whether i knew the participant and how comfortable i felt in this intimate space with them. how would this change in an open space- retaining the intimacy of storytelling without the physical spacing/environment a closet encourages?

Biography for Nunnery show

(in)visible exchange
live photographic performance in the Nunnery closet (durational)
28 February-2nd March 2008

Harriet is a visual artist and educator based in South London. She specialises in creating, teaching and co-ordinating projects within the visual and interactive arts, experimenting with live performance and media arts.

Her current MA work explores theories in the work of Roland Barthes and Tino Sehgal, the first for his theories of the ‘mortality’ of the paper based photograph as an ‘impossible’ record of ‘now,’ and the latter for the fleeting materiality of his art works. Harriet is researching principals of non-matrixed theatre and audience participation through the subversion of time based media practices. She pushes the temporal nature of performance through marrying with the temporal nature of photography, placing the process of image making intrinsically at the heart of an intimate performative experience. In (in)visible exchange, made site-specifically for this Nunnery show, stories told in a closet surface momentarily through a photogrammed memory of objects, referencing those tucked away spaces maybe under the stairs, amateur darkroom in the attic, child’s den, inventors quiet paradise to be able to sit and consider one’s thoughts, make new discoveries, or share secrets. The fleeting exchange of memories between two strangers is, as is the problem with photography, of the moment that has passed. This performance thus culminates in marking this fact through the death of the photographs created, as either to become treasured relics, art objects or to emerge carefully under the door of the closet denoting the end of a period of togetherness as two strangers then leave one another.

Previous work has seen Harriet creating a photographic installation exploring invisible performances in a commercial setting. In Give me a new look in August 2007, she asked shop assistants at stores on Oxford Street to give her a new image based entirely on their perceptions and to photograph with a disposable camera the outfits for her, posed as though requesting them for her partner to see how ‘good’ she could look. Other work has included collaborations fusing her work with other arts practitioners be it creating illustrative or interactive visuals for sound art, music, movement, spoken word. She has had a range of visual commissions including for large scale visual-music-theatre work, Sedna Stories, composed by Kerry Andrew, and a collaboration with voice (acapella group, juice), ensemble and electronica artist Paul J Abbott which premiered in York, in 2005 and then Cargo, London June 2006. This work embodied the theatricality of Inuit folk tales. In July 2006 she created a visual score (film) for silent improvisation for Hausmusik (Claudia Molitor – Klangsieben and Sound Source series for spnm - Society for promotion of new music) In September 2006, she created a film played live to sound art performance Solar Noise Generation (SNG- Ash Sargant -!PLOVA) screened as part of Wormhole Saloon at the Whitechapel Art Gallery London. In March 2007 she created live visuals for Gobsmack, an experimental vocals night at The Spitz, London.

Harriet is heavily involved in visual arts and design education, with a variety of experiences in directing, teaching and collaborating within local and international schools, colleges and communities. She is currently on sabbatical leave from her post as Director of Visual Arts and Design at the BRIT School for Performing and Creative Arts in South London, where she champions interdisciplinary and interactive arts projects.

Harriet has a Foundation in Art (Chelsea College of Art and Design, 1994,) BA (Hons) Fine Art (Staffordshire University, 1997) PGCE Art and Design (UWIC, 1998) and PGCERT: Innovation in Education (Warwick University, 2006) and is currently studying MA Theatre: Visual Language of Performance at Wimbledon College of Art.

harrietpoole@gmail.com
http://harrietpoole.blogspot.com
07900 563631

Please contact me for further information, to comment on my work or discuss it further

(in)visible exchange was developed from an original work in progress idea between Harriet Poole and Laura Smith, Cause for an Action, January 2008.

using a blog as a piece of work? the small world experiment

coming from my interests in devising work using participants material, this blog about the journey of jigsaw pieces through sending out to many different people got me thinking about the blog as a piece of work in itself or as a means to generate material to be used within a performance. however it doesn't seem to be that well used- how do you generate interest- what's in it for the participants? exchange of some sort, crediting? dunno, needs more thought.....bartering? aha....

those champions of nrla uninvited guests, used emailing out to liveart mailing list calling for song dedications to be used in their performance, telling through typing, the story about it's connection to a loved one, (with those email participants then present in the resultant performance.) this got me thinking about how to develop a relationship with participants, in sourcing/generating the participants material for the performance/artwork, and then the methods employed to re-tell it- live or mediated experience? me or them or others re-telling?

the small world blog allows for multiple and public audiences rather than the possibility of an email remaining one-on-one although of course it can be multiple but not in this way published online, allowing for comments, dialogue publicly, potentially keeping things fluid in the project, exchanging ideas and developing new possibilities.

The other consideration with public/private is the way that in telling personal story via email it loses the intimacy of the liveness- the physical closeness and use of voice effecting the reception; whispering, shouting etc, and therefore relies on someone else's interpretation or indeed their retelling may generate an altogether different reading.(thinking back here to group project where people played back my skiing accident story and it felt totally removed of the personality from it as it was me, my story.....)

the other thing i quite like is the use of a small box with hidden contents, the expectation of the exterior for its unexpected contents...judging a book by its cover and all....

have just set up a blog for the crystal palace artists collective i am part of, as a space for sharing, collaborating, networking, posting events, who knows....maybe this could be an interesting space for participatory developments...

Anthony McCall- The Solid Light-hybrid of performance and film

anthony mccall's work at serpentine gallery was described to me as a you-must-go-see-this piece,  by a composer friend. this was in response to me talking about using the technology as objects which begin performing themselves, he thought this solid light piece of mccalls'  was clever in the installation experience enjoyed through moving within a beam of light, the bit normally never drawn to your attention. however, doug was less impressed, saying its been so done before...best then to experience its liveness for myself rather than via second hand retelling or dare i say it, dead documentation of it.

i went to see it and the entrance of a exhibition of process work left me cold- looked like gobledegook token process work (all art students are dying to see an artists sketchbook so lets put them out- couldn't this have been at the back of the exhibition?) and ventured into the first room of more conventional style screenings of film- where you shuffle around sitting/standing/people annoyingly walking in front of you in viewing a projection. can't remember what it actually was though, interestingly. ( i have always hated this method of screening films in galleries, positioned where people keep walking through the image (back projecting where possible?), but even more so monitors so not sure which is worse)

moving into the solid light installation was then the complete opposite- the whole point was to be in the beam of light, and so very refreshing, not to be cinematically arranged with projector there, passive me here- and now we were in an inextricably participatory relationship. less important was the image- although the image curved was shaping the light beam.smoke also hit the beam of light, a naff effect but it was highly sculptural increasing the appearance of the lights solidity.

i loved this piece for many reasons; the interaction and playfulness of activating people in the space to react and interact (although was gutted that was stopped from photographic or videoing this (and who had dictated this- artist/gallery)- if it was in the turbine hall would have been! and was pleased to find sneaky vids on youtube for the purposes of in some derivitive way representing the experience or rather an aide memoire). i loved the solidity broken by a persons head/hands moving in the light, and how this then reshaped the projected light, and when they moved, how it was 'repaired' and solid once again- fleetingly material.

i thought that it would make a great space for a soundscape/ movement performance, maybe some development of the improvisation workshop neil, lena and i did along the crack in the turbine hall could have been situated here, but size of space would dictate the degree of motion and would have impacted on the audience thus more directly, slight repetitive movements  a possibility or holding screen over the beam to sculpt it.

the trouble with this show was when i realised that these digital  solid light installations had roots in celluloid film projected  installations 20 years previously was that i wanted to be able to experience that myself to explore the similarities and differences; the sounds of the projectors, their presence , lines or shapes projected, etc etc. why weren't they included in this retrospective? a great shame for me when in addressing the realtionship between traditional and digital means

Compact cameras have arrived at That Stage

25/1/08 The Guardian

Extract from ;

Compact cameras have arrived at That Stage

Column “Dork Talk” published on Saturday January 26th 2008 in The Guardian
“Compact cameras have arrived at That Stage - The Guardian headline

"I am in the jungle, filming in the heart of Amazonia. Not much room in my backpack for mobile phones, game consoles or laptops but just enough for a pair of compact cameras with which to attempt to capture the nuanced colourations of the red howler monkey, the pink river dolphin, the scarlet mosquito bite and the purple leech gash. I have a Sony Cybershot DSC-T200 and a Casio EX-S880, two cameras crammed to point of madness with the latest innovations in digital photography."

this article by Stephen Fry goes on to talk about 'face recognition' and 'smile capture' plus other uncessary functions trying to tease and lure you to buy a new digital camera when in fact, your current one is probably still just fine- all a desperate attempt to be one step ahead;
this absurdity also written about here;

Say Cheese: Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T200 camera waits for your smile before it snaps you

the idea of overloaded and unecessary fuctions fascinates me, maybe even making switches and buttons on technology that really do not actually have a function but just look pretty-kid in a sweet shop. [also i am amused by the fact that although my archos 605 isnt as sexy it outperforms the ipod touch hahahahahaha dominic!!;

The touch alternative: The only player capable of beating the iPod touch at the moment is the Archos 605 WiFi. With capacities up to 160GB, a massive touch-sensitive screen, full Web browsing via Wi-Fi, excellent sound quality and support for DVD-quality video, the 605 is an absolute killer gadget. The touch may score top marks for elegance, but with 10-times the capacity and a larger screen, Archos owns the only potential 'touch killer'.]

in looking to the fondness i have for my holga, pentax K1000, pinhole polaroid,what i love is their non gimmicky honesty and lack of pretensiousness. you use them to take pictures! - what they say on the tin, no thick manual required.the inventiveness i can bring to them, offered by their simplicity is great, however subversively i am also slightly attracted to the alluringness offered by meaningless fuctions in high end gadgets too..hmmmmmm lets look back at my archos for one and see what it can do that appears 'useless' and also its not supposed to do- uploading to youtube.....

sian robinson davies video/performance/objects

artists who explores language and objects through performance, like the above ground video making a boat out of the word boat and setting it sail....

Research Proposal - Performing Stories: Disruption of time based media practice

Research Proposal

Working Title:

Performing Stories: Disruption of time based media practice

According to Michael Kirby, in The New Theatre, (Kirby, 1965) the non-matrixed theatre performance model places emphasis on time and not on the traditional theatre of narrative and character, allowing for performances using a variety of materials borrowed from art, most commonly witnessed in the Happenings of Allan Kaprow, (1958-66.) Happenings drew from real life and unfold peformatively in compartments or discrete alogical events; the spectators are participants performing within a given frame work experiencing the act of making. (Kirby, 1965.)

It is understood that the exploration of time in photography, through exposure, is a necessity to achieve a desired tonal balance in a photographic image. However, in considering photography performing interdisciplinarily within the remit of non-matrixed theatre, there is traditionally a technical emphasis on a frozen moment creating a photograph, set against a duration over a given period for a performance. This gives rise to the issues of documenting liveness, they cannot be one and the same thing; the work of Hayley Newman, Connotations-Performance Images (1994-1998) exploits this by exhibiting photographs of performances that actually never happened, adopting the “mannerisms of an archive” (Heathfield, 2004). In looking at interdisciplinary visual non-matrixed performance, the issues of mediated liveness I wish to pursue further and relate to the work of Phillip Auslander, Gunter Berghaus and others in addressing the synthetic presence of absence in the, according to Auslander, relationship between the Live and Mediatized within a performance, specifically when using different forms of time based media (Auslander, 1999.)

In the Performed Photography work of Paul Jeff, in which he feels he is, “Bored of the ‘spatial’ picture making that has thus far mainly defined photographic practice,” (Jeff, 2007) he concerns himself with a merging of the traditional artefact ‘image’ of photography as the sole viewer experience of this medium, with a witness to and/or participation in, the photographic act inherent in the process, displaying how he, ”…makes a subtle and also contemporary shift towards intervention and fiction and away from the phenomenon of empirical observation.” (Jeff, 2007). This also demonstrates Jeff’s’ desire to extend the time taken for the act of photography through a prolonged engagement with it, making it a durational performative event. In Polis, (2006) audience members are invited as witnesses to performances in a series of night time events in bars and clubs around Cardiff, UK recording staged encounters and situations based on normal club activities, themselves on their cameras, but also receiving a copy of the Polaroids that Jeff takes. Witnesses are then taken back to studios to assemble all the photos taken and thus reveal the visual slippage of the same event through subjective responses to it. The witnesses become strangers to places once possibly familiar, taking photos of people they don’t know as if they did. Audience members and Jeff are therefore co-authors in the performative act of recording, the experience and relayed memories of the taking photos and the resultant outcome becomes, as Jeff explains, singularly the artwork.

In contrast, in Tino Sehgals work as a visual artist there is no physical artwork, i.e. no visual documentation, no materiality, only the memories of the participants based on a singular or collective experience as relayed by actors on behalf of Sehgal. In his work This objective of that object (2004, ICA) a viewer in an empty gallery space is surrounded by 5 people talking to the viewer to prompt a discussion, failure to do this or the entrance of another viewer and the work ends and moves to the next person. Lucy Steeds (Steeds, 2005) in Art Monthly, describes how Sehgal's artwork never becomes, “….enduring traces.” The artwork, like in Jeff’s work, concerns the viewer as participant to exist, explores social interactions within process, but with the marked difference being no art object ever exists in Sehgal's work.

To look at how both Sehgal and Jeff (and the others to follow) are intrinsic in my critical thinking, I need to look first to Barthes in Camera Lucida (Barthes, 1980) to see how he describes what is unique about the experience of viewing photographs, using the notion of the ‘trace’ to discuss photographs as witnesses of ‘what has been’, and his issues of, “Life/Death: the paradigm [of picture taking] is reduced to a simple click, the one separating the initial pose from the final print.” (Barthes, 1980:92 ) He goes on to describe how the photographic image, being that it uses paper and that paper is perishable, it is mortal and is, “…Attacked by light, by humidity, it fades, weakens, vanishes, there is nothing left to do but throw it away.” (Barthes, 1980: 93). So here we see how Barthes understands photography as temporal, existing only to represent the moment, which has already passed.

Other key photographers directly exploring photography-performance relationships include Peter Richards and Julia Bardsley, both exploring the early image making technique of pinhole photography in very different performative ways. In Bardsleys work, Trans-Acts, she, “…forges an intimate dialogue between the audience and the performer, the artist and the creative process, live presence and the visual art object.”( Julia Bardsley website, 2006) This performance staged at Shunt Vaults, London, Spill Festival 2007, described as an exhibition, installation and performance in three acts, using pinhole photography as, according to Bardsley, “little theatres, little shows,” as exhibit and installation. This is to represent the passing of time in her Foolish suicide attempts in Act One, allowed by the long exposures pinhole image making requires, leaving a ghostly trace of the body moving through space. This was used alongside film both pre-recorded and live and the notion of ‘self as double’. (Bardsley lecture, 2007).

In Peter Richards Pinhole photography work, The History of Performance Art, in 1998, in which he which he builds a giant Pinhole Camera to record invited participants dressed for the camera as a key figure of choice from the history of performance art, Richards examines the dissolving of boundaries between photography and performance where, according to Sofaer, in Conflict of interest, Performance as a Spectator Sport, (Soafer website, 2007) Richards presents photographic image as artefact that is made during performance and which survives it to be viewed in the site of the event a day later. Sofaer states, “The giant cardboard obscura [is]site (as the stage in theatre) and source (the text - the actors) of the work.”

In a digital age and thus changing face of photographic practice giving rise to the closure of many traditional darkrooms, the reinvention of, for example, traditional wet photographic processing through non-matrixed theatre gives to me many possibilities; the entire consumption of the photograph for example testing Sehgals and Barthes methodologies. How does high and low media arts technology work within non-matrixed performance (Happenings, Fluxus?), both together and alone? Referencing technological advancements, how can digital processes destroy traditional ones? In looking for a theme to explore beyond mere disruption or subversion of photography and time based media that works with the same structure and ideals, I am potentially interested in Fractured narratives in Storytelling (orally, and as mediated through objects and images)- both photography and storytelling are commonplace in working with the denoting of fact from fiction; the fictitious Untitled Film Stills of Cindy Sherman (circa 1977) posed as real life film photographic stills, as well as Hayley Newman mentioned previously and the Trachtenberg Family Slideshow Players who create performances that, “Interpret the Lives of the Strangers [within found vintage slide collections.]” (Burgess, 2007.)

In conclusion, my research areas are identified through the intended rubric for my practice below;

1. A viewer/participant who offers their subjectivity (personal artefact, story etc) as material for the work

2. An artist/performer (me and participants in co-authorship or participants via instructions) who articulates this subjectivity through time based media

3. An object, artwork, outcome is created, OR the participants sense that their experience has been objectified.

Annotated bibliography for research proposal

Annotated bibliography- Articles, books, websites

Bardsley, J., 19/11/07 lecture at Wimbledon College of Art.

Bardsley discussed chronologically a range of issues and projects she has explored.

Bardsley, J., 2007. Julia Bardsley website

http://www.juliabardsley.net/ accessed on 3/1/08

Barthes, R., 1980. Vintage ed. Camera Lucida, London: Vintage.

• theoretical and critical examination of photography exploring the nature and thus inherent problems and interpretations of photography being cited a model of objective truth, including examining the relationship between photography and theatre and the ‘death of the image.’

Burgess, M, 23 August 2007. Trachtenberg Family Slideshow players

http://www.list.co.uk/article/4331-trachtenburg-family-slideshow-players/ accessed on 3/1/08

Article reviewing a performance of their work and explaining their concepts.

FrenchMottershead- 2007, FrenchMottershead website

http://www.frenchmottershead.com/ accessed on 1/2/08

Information about all their participation projects exploring social engagements, such as Borrow Me, and Shops.

Gilles M., 1997. Photo Speak, Abbeville Press, London.

Guide to the ideas, techniques, and movements of photography 1839 to the present day.

Hall, J., 15 December 2004. The Trachtenberg Family Slideshow Players, Soho Theatre, London

http://arts.independent.co.uk/music/reviews/article24783.ece accessed on 3/1/08

Discusses the band who are "an indie-vaudeville conceptual art-rock pop band" who "take vintage slide-collections found at estate sales, garage sales, thrift stores etc, and turn the lives of anonymous strangers into pop-rock musical exposés."

Heathfield, A., 2004, Live Art and Performance, Tate, London

Survey of issues and ideas in contemporary practice. Includes Hayley Newman who fabricates performance by creating photos of a non-existent event.

Jeff, P., 2007, Paul Jeff website

http://www.morebeautifulthangod.com/ accessed on 3/1/08

Kaye, N., 1998, Art into theatre, Harwood academic Publishers, Singapore.

Exploring how art fuses with theatre including experimental practitioners Station House Opera.

Kirby, M, Winter 1965, The New Theatre, in The Tulane Drama Review, MIT Press, USA

Essay discussing non-matrixed theatre with reference to key practitioners in happenings and fluxus, e.g. John Cage, Allan Kaprow, Claes Oldenburg.

Speed, L., March 2005, Tino Sehgal, Art Monthly, London, UK

http://www.artmonthly.co.uk/seghal.htm accessed on 3/1/08

Article about Tino Sehgal- Devises instructions for others to perform, visual artist with no visual outcome. Work entirely exists only as an experience- no documentation

Sofaer, J., Spring 2000, Conflict of interest, Performance as a Spectator Sport

http://www.joshuasofaer.com/texts/write_coi.html accessed on 3/1/08

Article discussing the theatricality within the pinhole performance work of Peter Richards which Sofaer took part in.

Annotated bibliography- Performances/Exhibitions

Adamsdale, Will. Human Computer BAC, November 2007- “Cardboard cabaret stories.”

Bardsley, Julia.-Trans-Acts, April 2007, Spill Festival, Shunt Vaults, London. “Trans-Acts forges an intimate dialogue between the audience & the performer, the artist & the creative process, live presence & the visual art object.” Exploring using pinhole photography in different ways and live presence and video thorough dialogue.

Complicite- A Disappearing Number, Barbican, London, September 2007.

Exploration of the real and virtual, screen based image telling stories through becoming performer/action.

Smith, Caroline. Spank, Antenna Studios, Crystal Palace, UK, September 2007, and Intimacy Symposium, Goldsmiths College, December 2007. Real and virtual performer storytelling bringing together the autobiographical and the historical, using objects to tell stories.

Playback theatre- Untitled, Candid Arts café, Islington, November 2007.

Storytelling as therapy inviting audience members to share stories to then be played back by a team of actors. Focuses on the feelings and uses metaphors to aid depicting emotions. This event asked for short and then longer stories about what people were doing at 10o’clock that morning.

Playback theatre- In the blink of an eye, Newtown theatre, Sydney, November 2007.

Same idea as at Candid Arts but with a set theme and longer storytelling. Stories revealed included one audience member telling the story of, “the day I got my diagnosis aged 18 for MS.”

World as a Stage, Tate Modern, London, November 2007.

Included work exploring theatre and art practice, including Tino Sehgal, Jeremy Deller.

Intended bibliography Research proposal

Intended Bibliography

Auslander, P., 1999, Liveness Performance in a Mediatized Culture Routledge, UK

Baker, B. & Barrett, M., Bobby Baker: Redeeming features of daily life, (London, Routledge, 2007) Uses stories to play out everyday life events.

Bishop, C., 2006, Participation, Whitechapel MIT Press, London

Berghaus, G., 2005, Avant-Garde Performance: Live events and electronic technologies, Palgrave MacMillan, UK

Chapple, F., and Kattenbelt, C., 2007, Intermediality in Theatre and Performance, Rodopi, New York

Dixon, S., 2007, Digital Performance, MIT Press, Massachusetts

Gade, R., Jerslev, A., 2005. Performative Realism, Interdisciplinary studies in Art and Media, Museum Tusculanum Press, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Pippin, Steven 1999 Turner Prize shortlist announced, Steven Pippin, 3/6/99.

http://www.tate.org.uk/about/pressoffice/pressreleases/pippin.htm

accessed on 3/1/08

Web page discussing Pippin’s work in the context of being a Turner prize nominee in 1999, including looking at the pinhole camera container matching the nature of the subject photographed.

Paper Cinema- www.papercinema.com

Shadow puppets telling mythical stories, adopted through, tales of Edward Allen Poe in Masque of the Red Death, Punch Drunk., and 18/1/08, at the Luminaire, Kilburn.

Stand up comedy+ Cabaret- hyped up/embellished storytelling

Plan B, 2007 Plan B website

http://www.planbperformance.net/projects.htm Accessed on 3/1/08

Performance group exploring stories and video.

starting the group project- first attempt at a domestic diorama

ok- so not necessarily to do with my own specialism but to bring out two of my obsessions into our PAPER/CHOICE group project- 1950s and no-domain little paper puppet sets- this is a back blog am in-golly-need-to-catch-up-quick-blog-mode having just come back from SUNNY (missing it already-the sun that is, the lack of culture-no) sydney

here's the original idea which i first put into the pot when we were talking about PAPER and CHOICE and hot (distinct lack of choice, conflict, friction) and cold (many choices, calm,) areas, mixed with laura's real life doll dress up idea; i then made the above set for our first walk through on 22nd november with rebecca and andrew, combined with lena's ideas, who renamed it a domestic diorama and made an argos catalogue one for participants to play with and us to watch and learn....

Participants 'controlling' performers in simulated spaces which 'control' us....

Participants would be given a paper prop in their paper bag upon upon entry to the entire group show. Upon finding this CONTROL performance introduce into the model box type 'set' of a space, and integrate with theirs or others' CHOICE of a selection of cut out background, props, unclothed figure, and clothes with tabs on them, within it. They will then be asked to experiment with creating scenes getting little paper cutouts to play out actions in front of a video camera. There will be a live performer 'dictator' either trying to get the participants to make the set based actions 'behave' (to rules and regulations or social etiquette or sterotypes) or 'misbehave' in their chosen scenes.
The sets would be projected live (front or back- needs considering- space issues) onto performers who would have real props, clothes,etc same as the cut out ones on the set, and act out the actions controlled by the actions in the set projections. (I liked laura's idea here of the 'rebel' performer that confronts the 'dictator' performer)

Looking at issues of conformity in spaces- public and private- so spaces should be generic, and taken from mass produced sources, such as;
1. a living room with fixtures and fittings, furnishing, appliances, etc etc taken from argos catalogue, with kids or adults in them posing out on the garden chair etc

2. a family holiday in disney world, with souvenirs, sunglasses, holiday maker/tourist outfits

3. an era in which family roles were clearly defined

Is there a script or is there to be a performance living out this action in the scene? or is it just all live?

Is this projected into another 'world' later on when walking round the group show-eg a screen within a gilt frame above a mantlepiece in a steroetyped familty lounge??


this then became two ideas - family portrait and diorama- more to follow

julie rrap- body double at MCA, sydney

from this site- MCA, Sydney; This major exhibition of the work of Julie Rrap, one of Australia’s most prominent artists, brings together photography, video, sculpture and installation from the past twenty-five years of the artist's practice. Curated by Victoria Lynn, the exhibition explores the persona of the ‘trickster’ in Rrap’s work, the theme of the ‘body double’, and considers the ways in which the artist oversteps the margins of bodily representation.

i loved and hated this exhibition alternately; loved the body double video work where a projected body moves between 2 rubber casts of it as though asleep, the virtual and the cast being fused temporarily as the body appears to roll onto it creating a 'skin' and then just as teasingly rolls off again(top photo), and also the fragmented photography installation showing photograph of self as document, object, subject, photography as process, manipulated- torn, burnt, colour and black and white, photo in a photo....all defying the surface of the image and its illusion of 3D space and as artifact of truth..the camera does lie...(see next blog for images)

hated bit- my absolute hate is morphing bodies for pure non-sensicle effect, her body dips into a flashpool and pulls the body in and then she pulls herself out- why? and also body casts which didn't seem to present anything to think about-although i did like the head casts which had been then used as a mark making tool on walls. also nice use of flat screens in a line with film loops of tiny shoes in a pool, horse tail/ her with horse tail between her legs..

the other intriguing bit which i would welcome more at individual artists shows- a section of rrap's influences picked by her- cindy sherman included. julia bardsley also sprung to mind...more photos to follow

julie rrap- body double at MCA, sydney- images

in the blink of an eye- playback theatre sydney

ok- so having been to playback south in london, which was great to see how performance can come entirely from material (in this form of theatre- stories) offered by the audience and improvised back on the spot, have now been to playback theatre in sydney . this form of theatre uses metaphors focusing on feelings of the storytellers, relaying stories, moments, tragedies, dreams...and physically embodying objects and actions, it is a method used in psychodrama as a form of therapy- its therefore interesting to consider the type of audience member you get, why they are there.
there were many common elements shaping the evening but overall the sydney experience was much more cohesive and intimate- with a theme set for the evening to the stories- 'in the blink of an eye' and music accompanyment throughout to direct the mood, 8 rather than 4 performers,(audience of 50 in a tiered auditorium)but i guess that such an event can be shaped by those who offer their stories and how engaging these are to the audience- in this performance the stories were incredibly explicit of their situation-told to a room of strangers- and full of personal insight- the day i got my diagnosis with MS aged 18 to the day dad left aged 9 and then 15 yrs later my parents got back together and supported each other through cancer.the tellers sit on a couch at the front of the stage with the conductor who asks questions and once story had been told and theres a definite star middle and end defined, the teller picks characters, the conductor picks the style- eg chorus, and then watches it played back, asking the teller at the end how they felt about it. the story about the MS diagnosis used performers as the diagnosis envelope and as the disease attacking her legs simulating pins and needles as well as someone playing her...the playback was clever, real, emotionally charged and the teller was pretty choked saying, yes that was how it felt, it was good to visualise it. finding a new way of relating to or perspective on a difficult experience in your life?

in london playback my friend told her story of a geeky trainspotter on the eurostar train home to paris who she found fascinating, however she was a bit annoyed with the playback as it was centering on the emotions of reuniting with her family in paris rather than the oddities on the trainspotter- maybe this was because the playback seems to centre on the tellers emotions rather more than the actions- she knew what actions the trainspotter was doing through seeing him but didn't not know why??

overall- i would like to look more at methods employed to improvise and the experience of an audience member through participating, and the relationship between the original event, the telling and the retelling-playback

ps not sure about this photo- seems a bit too carry-on......;)

Critical studies- notes from Tutorial

this tutorial was really helpful going through my critical research draft outline of ideas with sean- gave clarity to my wooly thoughts...

just to note a few things about areas for performance research;

research areas;the rubric-
1- a viewer/participant who offers their subjectivity (object, rayograph,story etc) as material for the work
2. an artist/performer who articulates this subjectivity
3.an object, artwork, outcome is created, OR the participant sense that their experience has been objectified

artists-

• tino sehgal- a GREAT one for me as has no documentation no material work (sharp intake of breath...it'll be good for me ;)

• allan kaprow and happenings, michal kirby and non-matrixed theatre

• aernout mix- recent show at camden arts centre

i think i felt happier as it went through my outline of research and re-presented common ideas in a more succint and developed fashion. lots to go away and find out more about :)

Critical studies Tutorial preparation (pre tutorial)

Ok- so here it goes- CRITICAL STUDIES RESEARCH IDEAS

My research proposal is to investigate storytelling through time based media within performance, shifting my photographic practice to a physically and virtually interactive level where it becomes subject/performer/action and less decorative object/illustrative backdrop.

The questions I aim to explore include;

• What is storytelling? How has it been used in theatre and visual arts practice?
Explore history and use of stories in culture, what makes a good story? What makes a bad story? Story telling methods, arenas, urban myths, fables and fairy tales, legends, personal stories told from the heart, the embellished, the old wives tale, the deceitful, the extract, the ear-wigged or overheard, the out of context, fictional, factual, manipulated, rehearsed, spontaneous, etc. How do we pull in the listeners intimately or unwittingly, and also leave them teetering on the edge of a cliff hanger....
Contextual references- Investigating use of stories in historical and contemporary performance using these ideas-
Bobby Baker, Uses stories to play out everyday life happenings.
Cindy Sherman, Untitled Film stills, invented characters in stereotyped stories within photographs
Will Adamsdale, Human Computer BAC, November 2007- “Cardboard cabaret stories.”
Caroline Smith- Spank, September 2007,real and virtual performer storytelling bringing together the autobiographical and the historical, using objects to tell stories
Stand up comedy+ Cabaret- hyped up/embellished storytelling
Playback theatre- storytelling as therapy, using participants in an audience and playing out their stories
Shadow puppets telling mythical stories, adopted through Paper Cinema, tales of Edward Allen Poe in Masque of the Red Death, Punch Drunk.

• How can time based media become performative, entirely consumed within the performance and less about pure documentation?

Looking at using real or invented autobiographical objects as aid memoire, props evoking stories, or as pinhole or hidden surveillance cameras, participants or self using these to ‘capture stories’ in the everyday to playback in a performance. Possibly a nostalgic object that poses just as that but secretly records, through video hidden inside, accounts given of reactions to it- what does it remind you of?
Contextual references-
Julia Bardsley-Trans-Acts, April 2007, “Trans-Acts forges an intimate dialogue between the audience & the performer, the artist & the creative process, live presence & the visual art object.” Exploring using pinhole photography in different ways and live presence and video thorough dialogue.
Peter Richards-History of Performance art- Group Pinhole photograph, dissolving boundaries between photography and performance, image as artifact that is made during performance and which survives it. “The giant cardboard obscura [is]site (as the stage in theatre) and source (the text - the actors) of the work.’ Sofaer
Curious- Camera as Participant, videos a performer performing to camera, a possible mechanism for storytelling
Sigmar Polke/Scott McMahon- experimental photographs abusing photographic processing norms
Zach Liberman+Theodore Watson- technique in Computer Processing-Virtual interaction with projected media

Practical context- Work underway
• Stories from participants objects that they couldn’t bear to throw away
Looking at the process of creating an image in a darkroom and exploiting the photographic ‘correct way to do things’ within an auditorium as a darkroom, photogram technique exploring objects and video projection of participants sharing their stories to camera will be employed to reveal and then destroy the photographic photogram image and at end encourage people to surrender their objects to charity or dustbin- the death of an object through the death of its shadowed image.

Reading- needs developing- Camera Lucida, Barthes, Joshua Sofaer, Conflict of Interest, Performance as a Spectator Sport.