Concept Statement
Art and design often explore relationships between humans and non-humans, the environment and ecology. How can contemporary art and design propose new possibilities for imagining the ‘human’ and the environment?
“We have different eyes now, we used to see this table as solid but our practises have told us that the table’s not solid at all, it’s actually a bunch of energy that holds up in a particular way” - David Haines (2015) My major work, ‘Sensing’ is greatly inspired by the work and philosophy of David Haines and Joyce Hinterding as they explore the forces and invisible data present in our environment. Providing new lenses in which to view our surroundings.
‘Sensing’ is an wall hanging/ object that depicts a busy road at night, but in a format that one wouldn’t instantly recognise. In fact ‘Sensing’ represents the busy road through the change in light and colour frequency. The data was taken from a video I filmed of a road at night. Each sheet is a frame from a segment of the video. The sheets overlap every 3cm, allowing for a timeline to be formed. In this way the viewer can map out the change in colour and light during a 1 and ½ minute recording of the busy road.
My major project is an extension of my assignment one poster, in which I presented the viewer with the question “what can you see?” The concept of ‘seeing’ and making sense of our surroundings lead me towards researching types of senses and how we use them to understand our environment. Further research proved that many contemporary artists and designers are exploring the idea of representing data and sensory experience. This provided me with a diverse range of works to be inspired by.
I found great inspiration in William Anastasi’s work ‘Sound Drawing’ (1987) as it quietly challenges our understanding of sense and how they should be categorised/represented. I found the simplicity and analogue nature of his piece to be very powerful, an aesthetic that I wanted to emulate in my final work. Katie Lewis’ '201 days’ was also a source of great inspiration as she took the concept of scientific data and made it into something tangible and ultimately subjective. She makes works that question the refuting of science vs subjectivity of 'feeling’. Her work inspired the scientific data element of my project as light and colour frequencies are presented in formal format. But her work with texture and materialising data inspired me to print my work on vellum so that viewer can 'touch’ the data, making the work feel more relatable and less scientific.
Whilst reflecting on my final work I found it interesting and a little ironic that for me to view the data I have presented I had to enter an editing program ( premier pro) The data I have used is referred to by Adobe as the Lumetri Scope. Its purpose isn’t to show you an alternate and perhaps more dynamic way of viewing your footage but rather to provide you with the tools to change the colour and light values in you me footage, presenting the concept that we often go to digitally edit and refine documentation of environments rather than exploring it and understanding ways to view it as it naturally is.
Ultimately, 'Sensing’ aims to provide the viewer with an alternative way of viewing a mundane element of our environment so that new meanings, aesthetics and ways if sensing that environment can be formed. Personally the experiments, research and final outcome of this project has given me new perspective and 'lenses’ in which to view my surroundings.
Bibliography:
MCA. Haines & Hinterding- interview (2015). Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWPGLRi3CwI
Lewis. K. Statement. Retrieved http://katiehollandlewis.com/statement/
SNC. Tahoe. Tahoe Gallery: Katie Lewis (2012). Retrieved from: https://vimeo.com/48918157
John cage award: William Anastasi (2010). Retrieved from: http://www.foundationforcontemporaryarts.org/recipients/william-anastasi
(The sources used for my earlier research can be viewed on my 'Research Investigation’ posts bellow)
This is a fantastic example of a concept statement. Well done! (And on the project itself, which is fantastic!)
