WhatHowWhy

The specific outcome for the RW&RM seminar of 2013-14 will be a 1500 word text which reflects on your own method and situates your work in relation to a broader artistic and cultural context. The various texts produced within the RW&RM seminar will serve as source material for your text on method. In common with all modules on the course RW&RM serves to support the other elements of the course (Self-directed Research, Issues in Art & Theory, Practice-Group Critiques &c.). Therefore, the text on method will inform your Self-Evaluation at the end of the third trimester and provide the basis for your Graduate Project Proposal that you will produce in the fourth trimester.

Nicholas

Piece one You can tell a leopard by its spots. 2013

What

A semi darkened room is filled with 5 videos projected onto the four walls of the space. Together with large furniture like objects they create a chaotic situation. In these chaotic and nonlinear looping videos we see two kids between the age of 9-16 playing out the tense drama of adolescence by re-enacting popular scenes from TV and movies

How

The objects are clearly hand made, with hard corners and heavy posture. They are constructed out of wood and are colored in semi neon greens and purples. On closer inspection they have patterns that resemble the patterns of the domestic space these children inhabit.

Why

This video material is found footage from my own childhood. The two boys are myself and my former close friend. Upon finding this material, I was struck by their possibility to become unpacked and reactivated within a larger context of an installation where both the viewer and material were constantly forced to move between the physical, formal structure of the experience of the space and the cinematographic content.

Piece two Noodle de Poodles. 2015 (second piece of Cuddle On a Puddle. 2015

What

Noodle de Poodles, is a body sized object. Glossy and long. Fleshly and brightly colored. The ‘front’ part of this object is made out of two football sized spheres, that are attached with a short neck. On top of the upper sphere we find a smaller sphere, red like the nose of a clown. The body that connects the front, and the end part comprises two loops, with the thickness of an adult arm. The end is another football sized sphere with another red nose on top pointing towards the end.

How

This work is on one hand perceived as a representation of a living creature of some kind. Its shape might evoke feelings in the spectator, he/she might laugh at it, feel empathy towards or develop a variety of different emotions and connections.. On the other hand, it is possibly perceived as a tool, symbol, toy for either dogs or infants, which evokes another set of behaviours and emotions.. It is made out of styrofoam, Acrylic cast, epoxy and paint.

Why

Because the title for this work is of autobiographical nature. Love and lust for another.

A “duality” that splits itself into: poodle as a show dog on one hand and a loving domestic animal on the other. With its imposed non-animate characteristics this dog is often presented on a pedestal due to its beauty - but in domestic context there very opposite.

By playing on its ambivalence this object seeks to create a tension between the viewer, object and the relation the viewer develops toward the object.

Connie

First work

Jules Verne Op-Object

What:

Jules Verne Op-Object is a digital photograph, painted with oil. The photograph is of a small sculpture made from clay, Sellotape and fabric. The piece was made for a group which was held in a private house, whose owners had a collection of the British Op-artist's Michael Kidner's paintings.

How:

The piece was made by working with clay, fabric and Sellotape, to make an object that when photographed would resemble a land mass or glacier. The printed digital photograph was then painted on, changing its status from a multiple to an original.

Why:

The piece was made in response to a visit to Iceland, where I encountered vast landscapes. I began thinking about Vules Verne's 'Journey to the Centre to the Earth,' and the resurgence of interest in 19th century science fiction in the 1960's with the advent of psychedelia.


Second Work

Theory of The Romantic Sportsman

What:

This piece is a single dub plate with a three-minute sound recording on each side, made in collaboration with Sophie Lee. Side A is a spoken word rap over a beat produced by Killian Immervol, and side B in the instrumental version. The cover artwork was also produced in collaboration.

How:

Sophie Lee and I worked together to write and record the lyrics to create the three-minute spoken word rap using the sound editing software Logic. We then sent to file to a carvery, which cut the track onto a dub plate. The cover artwork was produced by working with a model and fashion photographer.

Why:

The words for the rap were produced in response to Tiqqun's publication 'Theory of a Young Girl.' The character of the Romantic Sportsman was a joint creation between Sophie Lee and myself, based on a young white male city-dwelling fine art graduate working as a gallery technician and consumed with creating his own aesthetic world to reside in.

Anni

First work: Vibes

What:

A piece made by a seven-member collective called Vibes. It is a total, perennial piece consisting, for example, of one-off performances, gatherings and videos. Vibes deals with collectivity – being and doing together – in art as well as in life and the world in general. It deals with commitment & freedom.

How:

Vibes is made through, for example, gathering, writing, creating performances and videos. Sometimes the collective keeps these activities and their outcomes to themselves. Often the outcomes are made public and occasionally the public can also participate in the activities. Autobiographical material gets frequently mixed with fiction, and utopias with dystopias.

Why:

The members of Vibes want to experience, experiment with and investigate different modes of living and making art together. They also want to share different ideas and experiences of collectivity with the public. They do all this because they find it fascinating, meaningful and urgent in the current cultural moment.

Second work: Egg

What: The piece consists of objects and a performance presented together although the objects can also be exhibited alone. The objects are modelled after birds’ eggs and are made of clay, plastic and other materials. The performances also deal with birds’ eggs and humans’ relationship to them.

How: Egg will be made through looking at the historical and current relationship between humans and birds’ eggs as well as through an attempt to establish new connections between the two. This happens through studying the issue, making artificial eggs and creating an oological performance with text, sound and aforementioned objects.

Why: I was invited to a show called Egg and the name inspired me to start dealing with the humankind’s relationship to bird’s eggs. I find it important to imagine and discuss alternatives to the usual ways eggs are approached and experiences by us.

Jess

White Horse

WHAT The White Horse project spans two years in several parts. These parts include interviews, workshops, a photographic series, a parade and still more to unfold including a book and a video installation.

HOW Situated in Bloemfontein, South Africa and expanding out from this geographical location The White Horse of Bloemfontein is the central character in this project. In particular the contestation over this landmark’s origin - who put it there and why is a matter for great debate between different cultural groups.

WHY The White Horse exists in the space between written and oral history, between mythology and evidence based reason. This project resists the temptation to search for truth in this space, rather opening up space for creativity to play a role in the understanding and unfolding of a malleable historical narrative.

Parade

WHAT Parade is a procession. A group of children marching down the main street of Kandos, in rural NSW, Australia. A town that was once in service of a now defunct concrete works. These children are the first generation not to seek employment in this factory. Their procession is in ode to cement.

HOW A series of workshops where undertaken with local children to imagine an embodied cement factory. The industrial concrete buildings of the Cement Works of Kandos past formed the basis of the costume design. The children where then free to explore the materials at hand to create their own interpretation.

Why This project was commissioned by the Cementa Festival healed biannually in Kandos, I engaged with the children of the town as a way to understand how regional towns with dying industries continue to operate. The lack of employment that confronts much of rural Australia became the material of the project.