Claudio's PMOMM

(accidentally deleted some stuff that was on my wiki page, so this is not everything I wrote in the first sessions. sorry bout that.)

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Claudio

https://pzwiki.wdka.nl/mediadesign/CldtlGRS2023

SESSION2 21-09-2023

PMOMM VERSION2

Project that may or may not be made 1

What do you want to make?

This PMOMM is intended to be a somewhat reasoned account of the

ongoing, open, fragmented, speculative

gathering, collection, compilation, editing

of

visual materials/outputs  

such as: short video works, appropriated-and-re-edited imagery, drawings, graphic works, short texts

that, together, as an unstable, cumulative body of work give form and explore the core themes/topics that my practice has been mostly concerned with during the first year of this program.

In short, the focus of this PMOMM - and my overall work as an artist - can be summed up as the theory and practice of image-making, and, conversely, of the experience of images, considered in their complex, layered implications - technological/technical, material, semiotic (?), affective/existential (?) - with particular regard to to the digital realm - but not exclusively.

I am aware that, at this early stage, it is a rather wide and loose field of research, that I will need to narrow down and define in a more precise way.

Some keywords - most already featured in my Text on practice - that further outline the field of this PMOMM:

seeing/not seeing

showing/hiding

seeing watching staring gazing

Blindness

Human eye structures

visibility/invisibility

transparency/opacity

representation

black/white

0/1

on/off

being/not being

making images

materiality of images

lenses, sensors, screens

software/hardware, digital/analog, virtual/physical

dispositif / device / apparatus -(e)s

technology/the technical

experiencing images

human eye structures

blindness

affective (?) effects of (digital) images

existentialism

nihilism

lostness

loneliness

displacement

disconnectedness

sadness

struggle

description - tautology - self-reflection

edges/borders/thresholds/margins/limits/interfaces

appropriation, recycling, reusing, sampling, remixing, copying, stealing ownership/authorship

visual cultures, media theory

errors-glitches-failures

Why do you want to make it?

During the first year, my practice has revolved quite consistently around topics related to (contemporary, digital) image-making and experiencing, which I now acknowledge as the main focus of my work and I therefore want to further develop and delve in.

In the past year, I challenged myself in operating more as a film-maker - making short essayistic pieces as outputs of a rather structured, research and text-based workflow, but I realized it is a way of working that I do not feel fully connected to.

With the guidance of one of my LB tutors, I recently realized that the most fertile and possibly honest and personal part of my work is a constant, initially intuitive, practice of sketching - in a variety of forms  - short video fragments, drawings, re-edited screenshots … - which I have always put aside - literally, as a pile of paper on my desk or neglected files on my desktop - as byproducts that are not worth too much attention and less valuable than my “safer” intellectual research-and-theory based pieces.

I now want to focus more on this instinctual, raw, B-side, undercover part of my work and embrace it - make it the A-side, as I feel it could turn out out be the most effective one in exploring and delving into the core topics and interests of my artistic practice - that my more intellectual/rational approach often struggles with.

How do you plan to make it?

In this b-side practice of “constant sketching” I recognize some obviously recurring topics, elements, features and attitudes that come to me naturally and that I would like to retain and embrace as tools to develop this practice.

Some of these are:

use of a simple, reduced, minimal language

short video fragments, still images (often screenshots from somewhere else)

editing / post production techniques as ways of layering new meaning on appropriated imagery

lo-fi, DIY attitude

black and white / monochrome / grayscales

structural elements and devices of (mostly digital) images and image-making (pixel grids, screens)

(video) loop form.

minimalism

reduction

abstraction

[…]

While keeping on making new work in the way that I described, I plan to go back to previous outcomes of my practice, reconsider them trying to understand what they mean to me and my research and finding (a) way(s) to gather them in a coherent body of work.

Of course I am also interested in situating all of this into a larger context of artistic and theoretical references - which however will come as a consequence rather than a starting point. This could be (part of?) my thesis. Look for theoretical/artistic references that might help me in understanding and situating better my practice.

What form all of this could take in the end? I don’t know yet.  

A multimedia installation in an exhibition space?

Some kind of artist’s book?

An open-form, interactive website/archive?

Workflow (two or three sentences)

In making new work:  

a step by step workflow led by making rather than thinking - making one thing leads to making another and so on. A constant practice of sketching, editing, gathering, observing, classifying, archiving, in loop.

using a limited set of techniques-tools - which are the ones that I use more naturally - as an intentional, self-imposed limit to make my practice more rigorous and straightforward:

(Yet to be defined)

Black and white only

Short video, in loop form

Text used only as a visual/graphic element - as an image

Editing softwares

[…] ?

In reflecting about work made:

write short notes about it, trying to be as specific as possible. Keep record of the process of making and of the thoughts/ideas/observations that arise from it.

Always try, while making, possible ways of bringing these sketches to an audience: display on screens, project on walls, print them out….

Timetable

• further define this project, also with the guidance of LB2 Mentor groups and tutorials - if I realize it’s not the right way to go, change direction to PMOMM 2

• reconsider previous work made, select pieces that are already there and feel relevant to this PMOMM, while keeping on making new work

• classify/index the outputs of sketching, keep/build some sort of organised, easily accessible archive (ask Steve, had interesting advice on this

• experiment with pairing them, putting them together, building a whole, a system, a coherent body of work. What form will it take?

Short term goal: give a clear overview of the project at December assessment.

Long term goal:

Relation to previous practice

This PMOMM is meant to embrace a side of my work that has always been present yet never fully developed as a practice in its own terms.

In a way, the practice - previous, ongoing and future, the theoretical reflection on it and the search for the right form/framework to present it is the PMOMM itself.

Relation to a larger context

Books

[…]

Artists and works

[…]

Others

[…]

Choices made (two sentences)

• Embrace a side of my practice that, until now, I have not been confident enough to consider and bring to the front of my work.

- Work with an intentionally limited set of “tools” - black and white, short video loops, still images, digital drawings, text, editing softwares.

• Let the making guide my research and not vice versa.

PROTOTYPING

A) Sample existing pieces of work/sketches that I consider as part of this practice. Write short notes about each of them: where they come from, how they were made, why I think they are relevant, how I think they could possibly be shown/exhibited […]

Try to associate a set of 3-5 keywords.

B)  Identify and list tools I am using. Write reflections about why I am drawn to using them, what do they mean in my practice

e.g. B/W

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Claudio (missing some parts, will add later)

What? (two sentences)

This Project that may or may not be made is a(n)

ongoing, open, cumulative, fragmented, speculative, recursive, obsessive, endless

gathering, collection, contemplation, exploration, compilation, editing, reflection / speculation

of / on

visual materials/artifacts/outcomes (such as: short video works, appropriated-and-re-edited imagery, drawings, graphic works, short texts)

resulting from the most instinctual/intuitive side of my artistic practice that has always been present alongside my - until now - “main” work, yet never fully embraced, explored, understood.

In this b-side practice of “constant sketching” I recognize some obviously recurring elements, features and attitudes that I would like to further develop, investigate, understand.

Some of these - to be expanded - are:

black and white / monochrome / grayscales structural elements and devices of (mostly digital) images and image-making (pixel grids, screens) seeing and not seeing

minimalism reduction abstraction

loop structures

[…]

Why?

I feel that alongside my “main” practice - which has consisted until now in making self-enclosed, mostly found-footage-and research- based, essayistic video works - I constantly produce a raw, instinctual body of work, which I would define as a constant practice of sketching-and-editing in various forms - (analog and digital) drawings, appropriating imagery through screenshots, making short video fragments mostly in the form of loops, graphic photoshop works - and which until now I have put aside - literally, as a pile of paper on my desk or neglected files on my desktop - as byproducts that are not worth too much attention and less valuable than my “safer” intellectual research-and-theory based work.

I now want to focus more on this b-side of my work, embrace it, and understand its reasons, as I feel it is possibly my most honest, personal and fertile artistic approach and that, also, could turn out out be the most effective one in exploring and delving into the core topics and interests of my artistic practice - that my more intellectual/rational approach often struggles with.

How? (two sentences)

Embracing things - and ways of making them - that I’ve always done, fully unlocking a “make-things-first” approach, trusting the making process and the direction it shows.

It’s likely to be a tough and challenging project for me as it will mean to let go of structures and ways of working that I am used to and that I feel safe and acknowledging and adopting new ones.

Of course I am also interested in situating all of this into a larger context of artistic and theoretical references - which however will come as a consequence rather than a starting point. This could be my thesis (?)

Workflow (two or three sentences)

A step by step workflow - being led by making rather than thinking - making one thing leads to making another and so on A constant practice of sketching, editing, gathering, observing, in loop

What form all of this could take? I don’t know. A multimedia installation? Some kind of artist’s book?

Timetable (Sept 23-July 24) […]

Relation to previous practice (two sentences, draw on Text on Practice)

All of this has always been present in my work, some (scribbling and sketching) even way before even thinking of being an artist of some sorts, yet it has always been left out because - probably - not enough based on theory.

Choices made (two sentences)

Work with an intentionally limited set of “tools” - black and white, short video loops, still images, digital drawings, text, editing softwares.

Let the making and forms guide my research and not vice versa.