#advanced research methods

[rviale]

Week 3 - ARM, Gallery visit

Today we have been taken for our first gallery visit at the Tate Modern to see Olafur Eliasson’s exhibition In Real Life. 

After documenting myself and researching a bit about the artist and his work, I definitely engaged and understood more today than the first time I visited it, in July. 

Olafur Eliasson is a Danish artist whose major interests concern elements (such as water, light, air) and space (and the relationship between everything that is in it). In Real Life shows both of these aspects and applies them to the more and more concerning environmental problem. 

Using a mixture of different media (photography, lights, material objects...) he tries to sensibilise the audience in order for them to realise the problem through engaging and immersing themselves into his artworks. 

The exhibition, mainly made of hypnotic installations, has many points that can be discussed and analyzed. Firstly, the big and important message that can be found behind every piece relates to the global environmental issue. Everything presented has something to do with the natural world and the way natural forces act around us. The ethic aspect comes up spontaneously. How far can technology and art installations go in order to not distract the audience from the real message? How differently could he portray this matter to make it more immediate (if there is a way)?

I don’t think his artworks are deceiving at all. In fact, I think they actually make you realise your relationship with space and the outside world in a way most people might never do naturally. Seeing water fountains and walking across a misty and humid corridor, for example, inevitably lead you to think about the nature of the elements you are sensorially witnessing. I think there’s no more immediate way of fully understanding something than experiencing it. 

Eliasson has been criticized for one of his pieces he exposed last year in front of the Tate Modern and Bloomberg headquarters. He brought 30 ice blocks from the glaciers in Greenland and exposed them to melt in order to sensibilize towards global warming. Critics have accused him of contributing to the issue by willingly taking the ice from its natural environment. He defended himself saying Greenland loses 10,000 of those ice block daily, 30 more wouldn’t have made any difference there but possibly would have made a big impact in London way of thinking. Where does the right thing stand? Probably in the middle. 

The last bit of the exhibition consists in a wall completely covered in words and images related to many pieces of research and theories Studio Olaf Eliasson has been investigating. It is full of inspiring starting points for different arguments and analysis. 

Since my major interest is connected to our relation to space, I found the exhibition very much like something I would one day like to do. I think the best and easiest way of communicating through art HAS to involve engagement.

Olafur Eliasson - Beauty , 1993 

Media: Spotlight, water, nozzles, wood, hose, pump

Olafur Eliasson - Glacier Series, 1999

Medium: Photography

Olafur Eliasson - Din Blinde Passager (Your Blind Passenger)

Media: Fluorescent lamps, mono frequency lamps (yellow), fog machine, ventilator, wood, aluminium, steel, fabric, plastic sheet

[stripycardigans]

fuck advanced research methods

Bare in mind that i study psychology. not computer science, or maths or statistics or anything to do with statistics (beyond the simple stats we have to do to get published). This isnt like America either where you seem to do subjects unrelated to your major

this is question 7/20 on tonights homework: in rstudio create a loop that repeats 1000 times. Each time around the loop, generate a sample of 10 numbers from a normal distribution with a mean of 5 and a standard deviation of 2. Then create another sample of 10 numbers from a normal distribution with a mean of 2 and a standard deviation of 2. Perform a t-test on these two vectors of numbers express as a proportion of the total number of simulations, how many simulations were significant. 

i want death

[bubblegumjoints]

I SUBMITTED AN ASSIGNMENT AAAAAAAAARRRGHHHHHHHHH

So happy with myself. And I’m going to get started on the very short 750 word assignment for the same module before I start on the SPSS bullshit which will fry the fuck out of my brain. Best get all my actual essays done first before I start looking at numbers. I worry if I look at numbers I’ll start avoiding school work again. 

I should get my new medication tomorrow. The new medication being introduced is one I have to take in the mornings so this’ll be a new thing for me. I’m sure I’ll be fine, and Dale will no doubt help to remind me. I just need to remember not to actually get out of bed for the day until I’ve taken my pills.

I’m gonna give my pretty puppy a snuggle, and then go to my bed. My hips and knees are painful as fuck right now and I need some painkillers.

[mirolovejoyteplitzky]

‘ARM’ Conclusion Notes - 11/12/19

What an engaging and interesting module it has been. Not only has there been interesting topics raised throughout on the approach to analysing and taking images, but we also had two exhibition visits. 

I think what I have found unbelievably useful is discussing ideas in tackling images and their meanings. The presentations we did were a really good learning curve, particularly as I chose a subject that I didn't have a great deal of knowledge towards in regards to photography. Psychoanalysis has opened up all kinds of interesting ideas and thoughts that I will be taking with me into the future. What has also been great is evolving the approach towards thinking and the philosophical undercurrent that flows throughout photography generally. In all the modules we have been attending, there is a strong sense of finding what your practice is and what kind of photographer you are, and this module has helped to press upon us a lot of questions that maybe we had never thought about, or if we had, offered us new perspectives and new bodies of work.

This whole module only solidified, in my head, the idea that everything is connected, no matter how distant one thing may seem from another. As my own ideas develop and my practice begins to take shape and perspectives, this connectedness has been really important and is now fundamental in how I look at the world and how I begin to develop ideas and opinions.

Also, as a final note, the blog questions have been interesting to answer. Usually I would have tried to reflect on each session in a similar way to how the questions ask us to, but it was nice to have some guidance in what specifically to respond to. Its obvious, but its really important (to me) to write ideas, thoughts, and reflections on sessions to get the most out of them but also to have a record and keep alive memories of ideas that are raised. As I mentioned, the whole course this term feels designed to get a much deeper understanding of what it is you think about things and how that informs your practice and this was an important part of that.

As always, more to follow...

[mirolovejoyteplitzky]

‘ARM’ Psychoanalysis Presentation - 20/11/19 w/ Neil Matheson

Today we presented our discussion on psychoanalysis as a methodology of approaching photography. Tanya spoke of Freudian theory of the dream and the individual unconscious and how it is accessed through dreams and certain projects that have, intentionally or not, reflected the reflected these ideas, mainly in the era of surrealism. 

She mentioned how Man Ray had firstly engaged in the idea of masculine driven ideas of the world and that much of surrealist mentality lay in that of the dream world. She spoke of how surrealism was often concerned with sexual, phallic and sexually representational forms in their work. Particularly in May Ray’s work she noted that he found substance in the eroticism of the female form and the literal landscape of the body and how this could be presented in certain images.

This is a particular example that Tanya presented as part of Man Ray’s ideas. 

She then moved on to the work of Hans Bellmer and his series of dolls, which I found to be particularly relevant in what psychoanalysis can do in looking at images. She touched upon Bellmer’s tough upbringing and his confusing and violent relationship with his father, and possible none existent relationship to his mother. The project, as Tanya mentioned, came out because of these previous life traumas and led to him creating a project that contained objects, or subjects, in doll like form, of which he had full control over.

This example displays a predatory, control driven set of values (something Bellmer lacked as a child) and was able to bring to light art that allowed his inner angst and traumatised conscious and subconscious mind to deal with. 

Elsa then moved on to talking on Jung’s theories of ‘personal consciousness’ and ‘collective consciousness’, namely using August Sander to highlight what ‘collective unconsciousness’ is and the way it can be handled in photographic terms. 

She spoke of how a typology of societal classes (in Germany pre WWII) gave collective information to the masses and therefore great collective consciousness to the people of a society, in an attempt to understand what kind of society they lived in. 

This kind of understanding is what allows a society to see itself for what it really is. Subsequently, it was banned by Hitler (therefore backing up exactly the kind of power that images can have) with the idea that it may give rise to an analysis of the way things were and therefore a criticism of it. 

I then spoke about, in more general terms, how psychoanalysis can not only inform our approach to looking and analysing other people’s images but also how it can affect our perspective towards our own practice, and help to bring out ideas for projects by looking within our own understanding of ourselves. 

Firstly I looked at Bill Klein’s book ‘New York’ to prove a point as to how ideas raised from psychoanalysis enter our practice whether we intend them to or not. The entire book is somewhat of a retaliation towards NYC for all the damage and brutality that it offered him as a child. To this day, Klein still speaks about NYC as being a “shithole” of craziness. Everything from the often loose framing, to the blurred figures, right up to the perspective and framing was fashioned by his childhood experience. 

I then moved on to the Jungian idea of the ‘pleasure’ and ‘reality’ principles. These are the set of ideas that dictate our societal and cultural behaviours. The ‘pleasure principle’ is the idea that we would do anything, at any time, in any place on the basis of what feels good to us. We obviously do not do this, and what stops us from doing so is the ‘reality principle’, which, as Jung describes, is born out of cultural, societal and ancestral understanding of the world and the process in which it functions. But what happens when someone reacts against this way of thinking?

D’agata’s work is a perfect example of how, not only his relation to pleasure and the experience of someone else’s shifted (probably through a reaction against his childhood) but also publishing (into the image viewing community) his own dissatisfaction with the ‘reality principle’. Everything about D’agata’s book reveals taboo, and mostly unspoken sections of society, and yet he creates and possibly experiences the pleasure and joy of such taboo subjectivity in his ability to photograph it all. What is endlessly fascinating about this work, and really most photographic work, is how it reveals as much about the photographer as it does the subject of their image making. 

[mirolovejoyteplitzky]

‘ARM’ Food Exhibition at Photographers Gallery - 30/10/19

We attended the Photographers Gallery in order to view their extremely varied exhibition ‘Feast for the Eyes’. It was an engaging and very mingled showcase of images. Obviously, food is an important proponent of our every day lives and there are many ways to look at such subject matter. There are psychoanalytical elements that engage with what it is to sit down and eat a meal either by oneself or in the company of others, and how that experience of eating varies. Historicity comes into play when looking at the changing elements of how people valued and looked at food now compared to hundreds of years ago, and the meaning and emphasis that food pertains to any given society. There are also many areas where food, in an art sense, can be looked at through artistic theory. This is an area that is primarily tied to the still life genre, seeing as though it has been around in painting for centuries. Below are some of the examples of works I both found interesting and also how varied the approach to an area like food photography can be.

Henri Cartier-Bresson ‘On the Banks of the River Marne’ 1938

This image is of particular importance to me in that I feel as though it was one of if not the image that got me into photography when I was young. It resides in the ‘classic photography’ section of history and is an image that bonds together perfect framing, narrative, aesthetic value. Both psychoanalytically and historically, its a fascinating image because it displays life a year before the Second World War. Its a time of peacefulness in France, a time of delight and comfort without the impending knowledge of chaos and tyranny that was to follow. It being a Cartier-Bresson and all, I believe the real pleasure of this photo comes in its gentle, almost delicate nature. Its of human beings being human and being together, bonded by wine and food and the experience of togetherness. This goes a long way, as not only does it show the peace of pre war times in France, it is a reminder for current contexts of the value of shared enjoyment and togetherness, something that quite often, only food can do.

This similarly explores the same values as the Cartier-Bresson image, but in much more amateurish ways. It is an unknown image that was part of the exhibit, but something about the packed foreground and mid-ground area, displays a sense of happiness and the example that food plays even at a wedding.

Holger Niehaus ‘Untitled’ 2000

On a different but not altogether opposite end of the spectrum of this kind of photography, I found both these images to be unusual and engaging. Aesthetically speaking, I much prefer the Niehaus image for its colours and its approach to the still life genre. Yet both touch on something I have always thought about food generally speaking and that is its powerful link to sex and companionship. Neihaus’ image plays with the still life genre but also rouses, psychoanalytically, and engages with the genre of the nude. Something about the tone of colours used reminds me of Ernst Haas’ blurry nudes. Callis’ images are much more entrenched in the pornography of photography and the fetish of sexual perspectives. Niehaus’ is gentle and beautiful, with a great deal of textural softness that reminds me of skin. Callis’ image (deliberately) explore the more passionate, over-stimulated link of graphic porn to food. Both are intriguing and offer such an unusual array of emotional responses whilst playing with historical art theory.

Jo Ann Callis ‘Forbidden Pleasures’ 1994

Tony Ray-Jones ‘Picnic, Glyndebourne’ 1967

Lastly, we finish on two of my favourite images from the exhibition. Ray-Jones’ image also explores similar themes to the Cartier-Bresson image, yet in a much more British and somehow therefore eccentric and humorous way. It explores notions of historical index and exposes a lifestyle of British countryside living, which can still be found today. I purely added this image as I think it perfectly sums up the eccentric nature of British culture. Whilst the swinging 60s was going on in London, a quaint couple sit with a field of cows, drinking wine or champagne and having a picnic... and with no apparent interaction between the two, it also displays a humour towards the nature of a long marriage. 

Weber’s image below made me laugh out loud. Everything about it is hilarious. To me it sums up Russia in a nutshell. The chaos of the man falling down mixed with the setting of Chernobyl (for obvious reasons, and if you haven't any idea what I mean please go an google search Chernobyl for your own sake). There is however, one really interesting element or as Roland Barthes would say ‘Punctum’ to this image, and that is the cluster of eggs in the left corner of the image. Still life has long been associated with food and as the genre that would looks to when engaging with food in photography and painting. In still life painting, the grape was seen as the great challenge to paint as its translucence and shine are very hard to replicate. In photography its the egg due to its shine and shape, it is very hard to make an egg look good in a photograph. What is going on here is a transcendence of themes and of theory. The eggs in this image feel almost purposely placed as to engage the viewer in a complex parallel between the documentary and indexical image as with the genre of still life and food.

Donald Weber ‘Victor (my age), from ‘Our Chernobyl’’ 2005

Later, we visited the Wellcome Collection Gallery to see Jo Spence’s work ‘Misbehaving Bodies’. I thought it was a thought provoking exhibition and tackled very difficult emotional themes in a very personal way. However, I often struggle to engage when very little aesthetic value is inserted into works. Spence’s show, whilst heartbreaking in a human way, was more of a personal scrapbook of feelings and ideas rather than looking at the broader picture of looking at dealing with an illness. Now obviously there is nothing wrong with this, but I often feel when things are so deeply personal they can sometimes build a barrier from true understanding and empathy. There was no beauty in the show, nothing made me stand and think for too long, what I ended up doing was a lot of reading. It was a brave show, but rather than being an art show I felt it was much more of a document of her brutal experience... One that was very hard to find any beauty or joy in for obvious reasons, and I think the exhibition reflected this.

[lucreziacantelmo]

Advanced Research Method 6

Week 6: Gallery Visit 2

Blog task: Write a reflection on what you saw today. Which methodologies could you use to analyse images from the exhibitions?

We went to the Photographers’ gallery to see the exhibitions Feast for the Eyes - The Story of Food in Photography and it traces the history of food photography ( photographed by important and leading artists), the idea that “we are what we eat”. 

The exhibition featured work from : Guy Bordin, William Eggleston, Cindy Sherman, Tim Walker, Laura Letinksy, and many others. 

The other part of the exhibition at the Photographer’s Gallery was “Shot in Soho” and it portraited the area that has been the hub for sex shops, bar, cabaret, spectacles, music, fashion design and more. This exhibition celebrates this diversity, creativity, and transformation, featuring works from William Klein, Anders Petersen, Corinne day, Kelvin Brodie. In my opinion it can be analyzed by a theory of history. In fact the main concept is to capture the change and transformation of the community over the years. Moreover, it can be analyzed by a globalization method as the area is facing a radical development and these are images of places that could disappear due to the transformation that the area is going through. 

[laurenejohnson99]

Gallery Visit 2 #2 - Shot in Soho

Shot in Soho was a collection of work taken from decades of photographing soho, showing the eccentricity, diversity, fashion orientated and sleaziness of soho. The exhibition showed the eclectic mix of interesting people and the things they get up to in an in depth, inside look, at the underground community. 

To analyse a lot of this work, especially Williams Kleins images such as the image of the three young people with their heads shaved (the fourth image down) you could use methodologies of photography theory, specifically documentary photography and gender theory. Klein will have need to move in and amongst these people and be accepted by him to produce the close, sympathetic documentary photography which he did. He would need to be at one with them and earn their trust to get as insightful images a she did. 

Gender theory would then also be prevalent when analysing this image, the androgynousness of the young people in the image.

(All images taken by me)