Anna

[nehaponnala]

ADAD Sem 2 - Assessment 3

Name of Project: Conflict in Collaboration (Community and Collaboration/Interference)

Job Roles: Hamish - Research Anna - Screen Recording and Editing Neha - Reference List and Research Kye - Research

Materials Used: Computer screens Screen recording software (Quicktime Player)

Other Artists:

Emile Zile Emile is an performer, filmmaker and artist that specialises in creating art through digital mediums. He dabbles in many forms of digital creation, such as re-using and re-encoding media broadcasts, communication protocols and online platforms etc. Building on a background of live and single-channel video, his work utilises site-specific performance, portraiture and filmmaking to capture the traces of humanity within an accelerating digital culture. His work concentrates on a disturbed humanity within the modern transcendence of digital communication, a concept we wanted to adapt through conflict in communicating.

Work: Desktops (2015) Solo Performance For his exhibition Desktops at Fort Delta, Zile further explores our attraction to communications technology and their ability to translate and encode our lived experience through a series of collections. This work focuses on communication in particular through our screens, an aspect we adopted into our work through documenting a group project on social media.

An Xiao: The Artist Is Kinda Present (2010)

As a response to Marina Abramovic’s The Artist is Present, which was taking place at MoMA at the time, An Xiao developed a performance piece held at the New York Zen Meditation Center called The Artist Is Kinda Present.

Visitors received the following instructions upon arrival: “Sit down with the artist. Find a comfortable position. Be present with the artist in any of the following ways: A text message to a phone number  A tweet to @anxiaostudio. The artist will respond. When you have reached a satisfactory connection, or you simply grow bored, you may leave.”

This performance provided us inspiration through the piece simply being communication between individuals. The things that people say through texting provide an interesting glimpse into community and collaboration. All people have different ways of communicating to form connections and conclusions, and we wished to explore that in our assessment as well.

Tom Smith: The New Spirit of Capitalism 2015

https://vimeo.com/147025369

Tom Smith’s “The New Spirit of Capitalism” uses technologies such as sound and the internet to produce artwork and music. This performance piece consisted of Smith shopping online for costumes and fast cars, all while his voice is distorted by auto tune.  While he was shopping, he plays drum beats and music samples to make a song. The combination of auto tune, music samples and the visuals of Tom Smith shopping creates an entertaining sensory overload. Our video work utilises similar components such as layering of sound and a recording of a computer screen. As we layer sound bites throughout the video we too create a sensory overload.   

Kusum Normoyle

Kusum Normoyle is a creative practitioner who works with her voice and sound. Her works typically involve her screaming into a microphone which is plugged into an amplifier. She works with the feedback that comes from the amplifier and uses it to her advantage which creates distortion within her voice and performance. In this artwork she edits in glitch effects which distorts the background as her voice changes. Similar to Kusum Normoyle our work explores noise and the glitch. We do this by layering sounds on top of each other to create a somewhat overwhelming experience. We also play a certain sound bite when a gif of a person appears on the screen and this acts like a glitch.

Rachel Maclean Rachel Maclean is a multi media artist from Scotland that word in the fields of photography and film, using various characters and artistic creations to explore and pose social commentary on politics, society and identity. Maclean uses herself in her work and plays every role in her films herself. She often constructs narratives that have comedic undertone, or touch.

After seeing her work at the Artspace Public body exhibition, we took inspiration from her work and used it to influence the way in which we approached creating our event. Her use of imagery surrounding social media and the emojis brought us into the sphere of using a social media platform to address our event and underline an element of social/political commentary and its conflict with identity.

https://www.artspace.org.au/program/exhibitions/2018/the-public-body-03/

[anna-mclennan]

Link to completed work:

Youtube link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHDBUIoCfYk

[anna-mclennan]

Creating the event

To make our event come to life we all had to sit down together and record our drastic and satirical group chat. In it, we are sort of examining Politically Correct culture on the internet through a satirical lens. Alongside this, I though that it would be prudent to make the effect of this satire even more powerful, with the combined addition of glitch sounds and a bit of drastic editing (actually quite challenging when editing a group chat- which is naturally not highly awe-inspiring).

Here are some process shots showing how our video got down from 20 mins to 4 min 30sec, and then back up to 5:04min, and how glitch was incorporated to really make the event more powerful in a different way.

Because the video would otherwise we incredibly long, I had to edit out even tiny gaps where no one was speaking, and layer many layers of sound effects to create the right degree of noise pollution.

I created sounds on garageband, but also gather up some typing sounds. We wanted the video to almost accelerate and become even more bizarre to highlight the conversation happening within. I looped the gifs and sped them up to crazy levels to really make them stand out.

[anna-mclennan]

Finding inspiration...first steps

When we were initially deciding what event we wanted to do, we decided to start by choosing an interesting week topic and see if this gave us any inspiration. We initially chose the Glitch week, but we moved away from this pretty fast when we came together to brainstorm events.

We then initially chose a event that has kind of political inspiration. This would have had people coming together and writing on butchers paper, a jumble of words to do with politics to show the conflict between them. We would have created a video where people wrote on the paper (in red and blue), slowly coming together, to make a purple jumbled mess.

It was after this idea had already been technically settled, and we had planned the logistics together (when to meet, what materials to bring etc.), that we came up with a new one.

Here are some extracts from our group chat which details the idea that we had earlier overlooked:

We later came back to this idea and started thinking about how exploring the ‘group chat’ dynamic as an event could be really interesting- especially if we wound in ideas about politics or other aspects that interest us.

So, this was how our idea became loosely based around the collaboration week topic, but we also wanted to incorporation elements from other weeks (ie. glitch etc.)

[anna-mclennan]

Desire- Excursion activity

The object of desire as we discussed together was the gold, the wealth and prosperity in Australia.

Here, the object of desire seems to be the more English landscape. The desire is home, and the familiar. Beauty in natural landscape is what is desired, but it’s not a purely Australian landscape that is depicted.

Is this work of art, beauty and the myth of Pan is depicted. There seems to be a desire for the magic of myth as well as a desire for freedom of sensuality.

Artspace Works (I kind of forgot to take pictures)- also sorry for the quality of this one, I didn’t realise it was so bad at the time.

In the modern works at Artspace, the human body was distorted and depicted in many different ways by may different artists. The human body in relation to desire is explored- sometimes in more unappealing ways than others. Thus, the idea of the human body as an object of desire is changed, and allowed to be seen as more than that in many cases.

[kye-barnes]

Signal interruption part 1

Anna and Hamish

[anna-mclennan]

Interference with a stream of consciousness, train of thought. Creating distraction.

[kye-barnes]

Signal interruption part 2

Hamish and Anna

[anna-mclennan]

Our choice for signal interruption was the interruption of a drawing, interference with a drawing and a stream of creativity and focus.

[anna-mclennan]

Bibliography

 Carla Cescon Drawings n.d., accessed 10 September 2018, <https://www.carlacescon.com/drawings/>

SuperNature Exhibition FirstDraft 2018, accessed 8 September 2018, <http://firstdraft.org.au/exhibitions/supernature/>

Ugo Rondinone Arsty n.d.,<https://www.artsy.net/artist/ugo-rondinone>

Ugo Rondinone n.d. <http://ugorondinone.com/>

Paintings David Charles Williams n.d., <http://davidcharleswilliams.com/paintings/>

Charles Dickens BrainyQuote n.d., <https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/charles_dickens_121194>

[anna-mclennan]

Statement

My completed project is based around the topic of collaboration. In following on from my poster in the first task, I have still focused vaguely on how collaboration is a process of layering and compromising the different works of individuals.

Initially, I examined circles as a way to launch ideas and research onward from my last project. I knew that I wanted to work with paint in this project as another tool for the elevation of my previous work. Examination of David Charles Williams led to examination of the work of Ugo Rondinone. ‘Psychedelic circles’ were the predominant theme (in the work of both of these artists). The perfection in these circles creates an illusion, something that I really wanted to emulate in my own circles. A vortex, a passage of time, a flash-back into age.

Carla Cescon’s drawings became another source of my inspiration. They link with the previous rough, continuous line drawings that I already used. I believe that the imperfect, raw drawings show something as really truly human. Cescon annotates her drawings as though they are still in the planning phases- another element that is so beautifully human. I wanted to use this ‘annotation’ in my own final work, as another way to reference the planning and commentary that goes into anything in human creation.

This time, I wanted to properly involve the collaboration of different people, rather than just represent it. People, in collaboration, are part of an evolution that transforms their own work into something that is created in partnership. Humanity as a whole would not have achieve mush or gotten far without collaboration. Collaboration is, without a doubt, about learning and through creation.

By coming to this understanding, I decided that the best can to sort of reflect collaboration would be to use and build upon the drawings of children.

In this final project I aimed to reflect on collaboration as something so integrally human. The mythological creatures in my final project are still about the human collaboration in the creativity of myth- as something that is a completely beautiful and humanly contrived creation.

To create this, I collected drawings from my younger brothers, instructing them in the same way to draw a centaur. I then traced their drawings, and started to compile them in a different way. I see age (the different ages of my brothers) as the perfect way to look at the growth and development of humanity- as different skills combined served to create something totally unique. The roughness in the drawings, combined with the time vortex circles creates a bizarre sort of atmosphere in the work. The roughness in the drawings, their unrefined nature, is about making a reference to raw human creation- like ancient cave drawings.

My use of the circle canvas, inspired by Ugo Rondinone’s work, is also about trying to create something surreal. Whilst Rondinone’s circles are perfection in their bold and varying colours, my circles are rough and include only red and black. In this I am using Cescon’s rough drawing style in the actual colours and painting of the circle vortex- a contrast to the usual perfection of a circle. In maintaining the stark cleanliness of the centaurs in both transferred drawings, I intend for there to be something really fake about them- something very manmade.

“The whole difference between construction and creation is exactly this: that a thing constructed can only be loved after it is constructed; but a thing created is loved before it exists.” - Charles Dickens

I love this Charles Dicken’s quote, as it seems to really capture something that I’m trying to say about human creation. Creation- the stories, myths and magical mistruths, are the most lasting and beautiful things. Collaboration, is the conduit for most, if not all human creation (as every individual’s own knowledge is based off of knowledge of the past). Collaboration is the way that creations are ‘loved’, by more than one person, before they are even created.

[anna-mclennan]

Final Work- ‘Unfinished Myth’

Fake and from the pages of history- the centaur.

[anna-mclennan]

Making the final work

I went back to the ‘collaboration’ origins of my chosen topic. I got my brothers to draw a centaur each. I have come to a point where I still looking at humanity and origins and myth, through collaboration. In getting my brothers, both at different ages, with different skill sets to draw the same thing, I’m trying to comment on human growth, through difference and collaboration.

Rough plan

Creating the vortex of time- inspired by Ugo Rondinone.

I used tracing paper to transfer the drawings and then liquid latex to preserve the tracings whilst I painted further vortex’s over them.

[anna-mclennan]

Last experiment

In this experiment, I was trying to combine paint and soft pastel. I was motivated by the colour palette of Carla Cescon’s drawings- red and black. I also tried to do a sort of ‘annotation’ style, rough-draft sort of thing. One thing that worked really successfully was the paint- as opposed to my last experiment, which just used soft pastel, the colours really helped.

[anna-mclennan]

These are the my experiments based off of my looking into the drawings of Carla Cescon.

I used soft pastel to create a rough and soft drawings. In looking at these experiments, I believe that the most impactful of these are the ones that inspire mystery, on hint at a story (like Carla Cescon’s). To critique these experiments, I would say that although I think there is some sense of mystique, they lack power and impact. I believe that perhaps the medium may be at fault.

In looking back, Ugo Rondinone’s circles had so much potency because of the strength of colour (in the paint too), and the actual canvas. I return to my original inclination to use paint (for the purpose of strength), however I think that there is merit to mixing pastel and paint in this instance. 

[anna-mclennan]

Carla Cescon- focusing back onto drawings.

These past two weeks I’ve really been struggling with my initial guiding focus on circles. I decided to go back to the first task and sort of reevaluate what my focus was on and what interest me. I look back, and I see my continuous line drawings. In looking at my feedback for the first task, I decided to focus on the suggested artist, Carla Cescon.

I looked specifically at her drawings. They are seemingly rough and have a strong mystical surreal sense about them, which I really find interesting.

Death/Study (2014)

In the last task I looked at the mythical continuous line drawings of Pablo Picasso, I am now wondering about how to create questions and story with simplicity.

Atmosphere Study (2013) Pencil on paper

Cescon uses a rough style, where the blank space seems to play as an important role as the drawn on. I like the mystery and intrigue. How can I look at collaboration, my initial question, as well as examine the myth and mystery of humanly constructed tales- which I am eager to continue working on.

Another element of Cescon’s drawings that I admire is the limited colour (black and red in particular) palette. I believe that it serves to emphasise and contrast the typical, rough black and white sketched drawing.

I think that my experiments following this will explore rough drawing in a more refined way...Charcoal maybe? I still want to use lines drawing somehow...

https://www.carlacescon.com/drawings/

[anna-mclennan]

Ugo Rondinone and his circles

Ugo Rondinone’s works often make us of bright ‘psychedelic’ colours. His circles, my main focus, were all about these colours. The colours are refined by the stark cleanliness of each individual colour, and the contrast of the white backdrop. To me, his pieces are as seemingly joyful as they are ominous.

His circle pieces are referred to as ‘Mandala Paintings’, and are described as: “Opening an imaginary vortex into the walls, the paintings evoke an infinite tunnel where the gaze would necessarily lose itself.”

One element in his work that I completely love is his use of the unconventional canvas. It really is hypnotic in it’s psychedelic illusion. This is something that I believe that perhaps I could incorporate into my final project. A circle seems to become even more impactful when it seems to shine out perfection.

https://www.artsy.net/artist/ugo-rondinone

[anna-mclennan]

These were some of my first experiments, which I created in the week 6 studio class. 

Initially, I had this whole idea that I’d create some kind of textured painted on a canvas using a hot glue gun. My research into David Charles Williams had me interesting in circles, but I wanted to continue experiments that were based on the black and white and layering.

At this early stage, my first thought wasn’t ‘collaboration’ (my topic), but artists and inspiration for the next stage of my project. Circles, in nature and symbolism are all about cycles and life and time. This seems like a powerful avenue to pursue when considering the focus of my poster: the man-made myth over time.

It was in this lesson that I was recommended the artist Ugo Rondinone for further research into the exploration of circles.

[anna-mclennan]

Artist research and drawings

I have been looking at the work of the painter David Charles William. This is because I was inspired by the circle that I featured in my poster. William’s beautiful paintings of circles have inspired me to think about ways to explore the circle- I really want to think about texture and rhythm, whilst still looking through a black and white lens.

http://davidcharleswilliams.com/paintings/

I also sketched out some quick drawings to continue the thought process of my work with the poster. Continuous line and the circle are my primary focus. Circles get me thinking about cycles and life and humanity and vision and tunnels and focus- I really like this train of thought.