New Possibilities

Today I am rather excited about the future of this project merely because of all the possibilities which can manifest from this moment.  Some new directions have come forth since my critique last Monday (21st of August, 2017).  One was this turns into a complete and utter fabrication that is all dependent upon my recollection and memories of my relationships, what I think they felt and thought at each moment and adding in an element which is entirely of myself.  By this I mean I am going to use my own enemy images, character analysis and self-producing prosecutions to construct personalities.  I am rather excited about incorporating it into a single piece.  Another idea which I liked was using myself as means of playing out each character.  That way I can truly capture these enemy images or mine while also having this quasi conversations between myself and my perceptions of the other person that I carry with me and perpetually recreate.  For today I have a couple of task to complete and not entirely sure if it will be possible but why not try.  Here is what I am aiming to complete by the end of the day;

• Update information sheet
• Send out two disconnected relationships questionnaires
• Send out five connected relationships questionnaires
• Construct and fill in three questionnaires

  • About them (from my perspective)

  • From them (from my perspective about them and their understanding)

  • My own enemy images (how I’ve come to see myself in terms of negative associations and understandings)

• History Presentation

  • Introduction (250)

  • 10 Reliable Examples (750)

  • Thinker/Theorist (500 – 600)

  • Two Artist (500 – 600)

  • Conclusion (250)

This is all that I am wanting to finish either today or by end of tomorrow night.  Is it possible?  Only time will tell.  Until next time.

Terrified and Stunned

So the weeks seem to be disappearing this semester/term.  We are already into week five and I have a fair amount of work to complete before the end of this week.  Here is a list of what needs to be finished;

• Critique Talk
• Information Sheet
• Presentation
• Video Diary

I think what would be of value for now is to breakdown those sections into further task which are easily manageable before tomorrow and next Monday.

Critique Talk

• Introduction into work and thinking behind work
• Two artist which I’ve been looking at
• One theorist/thinker

Information Sheet

• Reasons behind the work
• Connected artist
• Outcome and process

Presentation

• Introduction/10 Examples (750 words)
• Theorist/Thinker (750 words)
• Two artist (750 words)
• Conclusion

Video Diary

• Daily updates

What are my priorities at the moment would be the critique talk and the information sheet and what I need for those are connections between my work and thinkers/theorist/artist and what I believe my work is doing or how can I go about enticing another person to become involved with this project.

Firstly I am going to breakdown the outline of this project and what the expected outcomes will be.

• Questionnaire relating to myself (how you perceived me) and our relationship.
• Answers given to questionnaire will then be performed by actor to play the part of the one answering the questions.
• In order for the actor to understand their role, accompanying the answered questionnaire will be a brief description of the other person through my eyes.
• First outcome could just be a single shot interview with the actor playing out the role with their responses being guided along by questionnaire and description.
• Second outcome could be a two way conversation between myself and the one being questioned.  These parts will be played by actors and their understanding of who we are or our personalities will come from the questionnaires and descriptions.

That seems to be the basic structure of this work at this precise moment.  I think the next step is to think of what themes I am trying to explore through this work and who and why I am using them.  Which current/past artist and thinkers are going to guide me in the way I word this document.  Here are the themes I believe I am looking at.

• Relationships
• Disconnected Relationships
• The Past/Present
• Memories as Truth
• Identity as Performance
• Impression Management
• Re-enactment/Recreation of Memories/Histories (Personal)

I’ve found a couple of artist and thinkers which I need to research thoroughly and I shall do that in this post.  They are;

Artist

• Candice Breitz
• Guy Maddin
• Julain Rosefeldt
• Jeremy Deller
• Sophie Calle

Thinkers/Theorist

• Ervin Goffman
• Mark Granovetter
• Judith Butler
• Jenny Sunden

I feel the first step from here is to review the artist and their works and breakdown what I can take.  Either in terms of stylistic/artistic methods and approaches or parts of/wording for their rationales.

Lets start with the artist.

First up is Candice Breitz.  I am going to initially explore her art project Love Story.  This work consist of a seven channel video installation in where six individuals whom are seeking refuge from oppressive circumstances are interviewed about their situation. Its divided into two sections, the first part you enter into a room where you are greeted with a single montage video consisting of snippets taken from the original interviews and performed by two well known actors.  They are Alec Baldwin and Julianne Moore.  They are staged in a green room and nothing else. You then move onto the next area where the original interviews are displayed on six different screens without any adjustments.

What do I take from this particular approach to art and art making, since I clearly disagree with whatever she is trying to question or engage with through an imagined audience.  What are the aspects that I want to make clear in my work through using her language?  I think these might be it;

• I enjoy the distancing of people and events or relationships and memories from the actually story tellers.  Even though she is questioning the empathic nature of our society and how we seemingly connect more easily with the reconstructed over the original, I feel I’m wanting to use the actors in place of myself and my connections as a way to disconnect the audience from any actuality.  What I mean by that is I want any narrative or rationale the audience comes away with to be a complete fabrication (even though I believe they will construct their own narrative no matter what is before them).  For them to become lost within the movement and words of the actor, forgetting that its all staged and the actors never had any real contact or connection with those they are portraying.

I am not really taking anything else from her as an artist or anything else from this work.  As I stated in a previous post, I completely disagree with all she is questioning and her approach to these topics. So I shall move onto another artist whom may inspire far more within their work.

Now I am going to explore Guy Maddin and specifically his work, My Winnipeg.  Unfortunately I haven’t seen it yet so my understanding of this work comes from the words of those who have reviewed it.  Firstly, I’ll give a brief introduction into who he is;

 (born February 28, 1956) is a Canadian screenwriter, director, author, cinematographer and film editor of both features and short films, as well as an installation artist, from Winnipeg, Manitoba. His most distinctive quality is his penchant for recreating the look and style of silent or early-sound-era films. Since completing his first film in 1985, Maddin has become one of Canada’s most well-known and celebrated film-makers.

And now a brief description of the film;

My Winnipeg is a 2007 film directed and written by Guy Maddin with dialogue by George Toles. Described by Maddin as a “docu-fantasia,”^[2] that melds “personal history, civic tragedy, and mystical hypothesizing,”^[3] the film is a surrealistmockumentary about Winnipeg, Maddin’s home town. A New York Times article described the film’s unconventional take on the documentary style by noting that it “skates along an icy edge between dreams and lucidity, fact and fiction, cinema and psychotherapy.”^[4]

My Winnipeg began when Maddin was commissioned by the Documentary Channel, and originally titled Love Me, Love My Winnipeg.^[5] Maddin’s producer directed “Don’t give me the frozen hellhole everyone knows that Winnipeg is,”^[1] so Maddin cast Darcy Fehr in the role of “Guy Maddin” and structured the documentary around a metafictional plot that mythologizes the city and Maddin’s autobiography.

Now what shall I take from this work which can adequately describe my work in order for it to carry any weight with the assessors.  I think this is continuing the trend from the previous artist but here I go;

• This work more so than Breitz work, really embellishes the historical events of his childhood and his time spent in Winnipeg.  Even though most of the events are greatly exaggerated and at times completely fabricated, the sense that there is a connection to his past.  That you are witnessing something that possibly happened but are never quite sure when it drifts away.
• Using actors in place for myself and others with whom I’ve had the pleasure of sharing the same space with, is a way to continue this separation from fact and fiction.  The playing out of these roles may give them impression that is acting out past relationships/events but how much of this memory is fabrication of myself or the other person or fact doesn’t become obvious to an onlooker.
• Recreating old memories and past events through a lenses of distortion (actors and constructed narrative).

That is all I can think of presently for this artist.  I will be making many edits over the next couple of days whenever I can think of ideas that I want to borrow from this artist. For another artist which I feel I might not take much from, Julian Rosefeldt and more specifically his work, Manifesto.  This work consist of a 13 channel-film installation where actress, Cate Blanchett, is reading out manifestos from varying people across the ages.  They range from  Futurists, Dadaists, Fluxus artists, Suprematists, Situationists, Dogma 95 and many other artist.  Cate positions herself in the shoes of everyday humans while reading these sacred text out.  From a homeless man to a puppeteer. After watching some of these videos, I’m not entirely sure what I am trying to retrieve from this work other than what I’ve stated from above. But I’ll try my best;

• The continuation of separation between the original and the recreation or fabrication of the past or memories.  Moving acts of the past into re-constructed instances of the present.  A way to present something which is no longer immediately available for the viewer before the work.

I feel I am struggling a bit to find any other connection between the artist, their work and the work which I am trying to produce.  The only aspect I can think which I find interesting within their work is the connection between using actors to play a role of someone.  To fill in as a representation of something which no longer is.  Not so much with Candice because she did include the originals but for the other two so far, they have definitely used a stand in.  Not sure what else I can take from them or their work. Possibly the next two artist will bring forth different approaches for this work.  Now onto a particular work by Jeremy Deller.  This work is entitled The Battle of Orgreave.  The work consist of a video re-enactment of striking miners being chased and run down by police forces.  It was performed by 800 re-enactors and 200 former miners who were part of this historical event.  Now this is slightly different to the previous ones as it doesn’t have the same immediate lens of interference.  Where you can recognise that this is all an act that is rather distanced from the original.  This work rather convincingly places you into the moment where striking miners faced off with the local police force.  I think I know what I can take from this work.  First I need to quote Jeremy from a section about this piece.

“I was asking the re-enactors to participate in the staging of a battle that occurred within living memory…”

• The idea of using living memories as means to create and construct a fabricated drama or reality for another person to experience.  Basically to take my own recollections and the recollections of another (of our experiences of one another) to recreate their personality and my own.  This comes is the form of actors playing a part based upon information received via various sources (questionnaire/my description) which are text based only.  Ultimately the end result is entirely dependent upon the interpretation of the actor.
• Re-examining  old moments of existence in order to find clarity, either personal, social or historical.  As a means to investigate an area of life which has slowly slipped away and the connections which seem so easily available have become blurred and are in need of restoration.  This restoration, although will come in the form of re-imagined experiences, will be the way in for an outsider.

Finally, the last artist which I shall be investigating goes by the name of Sophie Calle.  I am going to look a series of work this artist has produced to get an understanding of what I may take from her.  This first work, The Hotel – Room 47, finds the artist earning a job at the Venetian hotel as a chambermaid for three weeks.  During this period she investigates the belongings, possessions, and evidence left by the occupants in order to paint a picture of those who presence are no longer obvious.  The next project which I feel is closer to mine that her first is called Address Book.  She was invited to publish a series of articles for a french newspaper.  She had recently found an address book on the street which she quickly copied and returned to its owner.  From here she decided to call various people from this book to paint a picture of the owner and someone she had never truly met.  These writings laid next to pictures of their favourite things.  Now what can I obtain from these two works;

• It is an interesting approach to construct an identity from small fragments of information, especially when you don’t have connection with the person who is being re-created.  This somewhat applies for my scenario except I had more interaction with the people being portrayed.  Then again, all this is based upon mine and their memories of events long gone.

That is all I can really gather from this artist for the time being.  Now its onto the thinkers.

This needs to be expanded on at a later date.  Enjoy it for the time being as it is.

Artist Reflection

Unfortunately, while trying to save this post I came across a particular issue.  It wasn’t saving nor was it able to be published for later updates and I decided to refresh the page.  Without even thinking about what would happen, all of the latest writings had disappeared and I wasn’t able to retrieve it.  I am now writing this again and feel it is missing something from the previous post.  Oh well…

In this post I am going to research the four varying artist which came up during my last meeting.  They are, in no particular order, Julian Rosefeldt, Candice Breitz, and Guy Maddin.

All of these artist which I’m inspecting all work in multiple disciplines.  They mainly focus on recorded acts but this involves text, movement, light, colour, various people acting various roles, and so much more.  For the first human I shall look into, I believe I will start with the order that is declared above this text.

Julian Rosefeldt

The first one then will be Julian Rosefeldt.  An artist and filmmaker who was born in Munich, Germany in 1965.  His work consist of “elaborate, visually opulent film and video installations” which is presented as “panoramic multi-channel projections”.  The work which was recommended for myself to research was his project Manifestos. This series consist of a 13 channel film installation presenting various manifestos from artist and thinkers over the ages.  These manifestos were constructed “Futurists, Dadaists, Fluxus artists, Suprematists, Situationists, Dogma 95 and other artist groups, and the musings of individual artists, architects, dancers and filmmakers”.  In order to breath new life into the words of the forgotten, Julian acquired the performative artist, Cate Blanchet, who disguises herself as thirteen everyday characters.  Ranging from a teacher, homeless man, puppeteer and newsreader.  From what I can gather the artist is paying homage to artist manifestos while also raising the question of the significance of the role for the artist within today’s society.  Another aspect which is perfectly summed up in these words.

Rosefeldt’s work reveals both the performative component and the political significance of these declarations. Often written in youthful rage, they not only express the wish to change the world through art but also reflect the voice of a generation. Exploring the powerful urgency of these historical statements, which were composed with passion and conviction by artists many years ago, Manifesto questions whether the words and sentiments have withstood the passage of time. Can they be applied universally? And how have the dynamics between politics, art and life shifted?

I am trying to think of what I take from this artist and what informs me in regard to my own work.  I like the idea of having another person play the role of someone else.  Especially the distance it creates between the original and the remake.  In my work this would be created through the actor having to use my description of the person and the answers given to arrive at a conclusion on how they might be and act.  This could be consider as presenting something/someone that is utterly removed from what may be experienced if you encountered the person in the flesh.  Through doing such an act, would people still feel they are engaging with the one who provided the answers and interacted with me or would they be more consumed with the performance presented/creation of the actor and nothing about the original person would come to mind.  I’m not entirely sure at the moment, this will probably present itself later on.  Also I enjoy the idea of using someone else to read the words of another, pretending as if they are of their own.  I know this is common in all film media but somehow I feel I am differing slightly because the words spoken haven’t been generated under the pretense of a narrative or story. They are all produced through a questionnaire which are concerned with another persons interpretation of their interactions with myself and the behaviours and responses I presented while in their presence.  I am not entirely concerned with how Julian shot this work or even his own excuses for creating the work.  I am far more captivated by using another person to play the role of someone they’ve never met and most likely never will.

Candice Breitz

Candice Breitz is a South African born (Johannesburg) Berlin based artist who’s work primarily focuses around still photography and the moving image.  He work is focused around the varying influences which help guide an individual to arriving at a sense of self.  These influences range from the everyday interactions with family, friends and community to the imagined and real communities which are shaped by the properties of race, religion, sex, sexuality, gender, etc. but also by mainstream media in all of its forms. The focus of her work or notions behind her work have slowly morphed and now seem to focus on the different empathic responses received from the public towards constructed moments of theater and the media against the seemingly lack of response to those in real turmoil. The work is titled “Love Story’ and it consists of a seven-channel installation split into two rooms.  One room has recordings of talks made by those fleeing “oppression” while the second one has the same talks but instead of the people who experienced this first hand, they are performed by people who are easily recognized amongst the masses.  I assume this is to bring awareness to the difference in response we have towards those who are exposed daily and those who are hidden from sight.  This is what the artist has to say.

What kind of stories are we willing to hear? What kind of stories move us? Why is it that the same audiences that are driven to tears by fictional blockbusters, remain affectless in the face of actual human suffering?

Love Story (2016), a seven-channel installation by Candice Breitz, interrogates the mechanics of identification and the conditions under which empathy is produced. The work is based on the personal narratives of six individuals who have fled their countries in response to a range of oppressive conditions: Sarah Ezzat Mardini, who escaped war-torn Syria; José Maria João, a former child soldier from Angola; Mamy Maloba Langa, a survivor from the Democratic Republic of the Congo; Shabeena Francis Saveri, a transgender activist from India; Luis Ernesto Nava Molero, a political dissident from Venezuela; and Farah Abdi Mohamed, an idealistic young atheist from Somalia. It evokes the global scale of the so-called ‘refugee crisis,’ evolving out of lengthy interviews conducted with the six participants in the countries where they are seeking or have been granted asylum (two interviews took place in Berlin, two in New York and two in Cape Town).

The personal accounts shared by the interviewees are articulated twice by Love Story. In the first space of the installation, re-performed fragments from the six interviews are woven into a fast-paced montage featuring Hollywood actors Alec Baldwin and Julianne Moore (who are cast in the work as themselves: ‘an actor’ and ‘an actress’). Each was asked to channel excerpts from three of the first-person narratives on a green-screen set, without the support of fictional backdrops, costumes, props, accents or interlocutors. Breitz’s edit intertwines the six renditions, plotting the diverse socio-political circumstances and personal experiences that prompted the interviewees to leave their countries. Her polished restaging of the six stories strips the source interviews of their depth and nuance, of their imperfect grammar and accented English, provocatively mimicking and exposing the logic by means of which ‘true life stories’ migrate into popular entertainment. In a second space that is accessible only via the first, the original interviews unfold across six suspended screens in their full duration and complexity, now intimately voiced by the individuals whose lived experience they archive.

Suspending viewers between the gritty firsthand accounts of people who would typically remain nameless and faceless in the media, and an accessible drama featuring two actors who are the very embodiment of visibility, Love Story raises questions around how and where our attention is focused. The work deploys the hypervisibility of Moore and Baldwin to amplify stories that might otherwise fail to elicit mainstream attention or empathy. At the same time, it reflects on the callousness of a media-saturated culture in which strong identification with fictional characters and celebrity figures runs parallel to a widespread lack of interest in people facing real world adversity.

I don’t agree with most of what Candice is pursuing through this work.  Primarily (this is what I am hearing) she is putting people into an us and them category as if a viewer on the other side of the world or even neighbouring country had an empathic response to what was before them then something would be done about the situation.  I understand she is raising questions but I feel they don’t ask anything.  Another problem I would have with this approach is understanding the difficulty of empathy if you have enemy images of another person or even a group of people who identify with a particular label.  If you cannot see beyond the labels towards your own suffering or pain then it will be extremely difficult for you to see the humanness of the other.  Apart from that, this continues that disconnect between the original and copy.  If I am to hire actors to assume the position of an old lover, boss, friend, acquaintance or even someone I still have contact with, will someone viewing this buy into the actor as a convincing replacement or will they become lost to the aspects of the acting.  I am not entirely what I want from the viewer or what sort of response I want.  Stylistically, I don’t think there is much I am wanting to take from this, maybe the angle of the camera and how that is positioned against the one being interviewed and the way in which she talks about her work doesn’t seem to have any connection with my own intentions.

Guy Maddin

Guy Maddin was born in 1965 in Winnipeg, Canada and is now working under the banner of screenwriter, director, author, cinematographer, and film editor.  His has created works such as Dracula, Pages From a Virgin’s Diary, The Saddest Music in the World and most notably, My Winnipeg.  This last one I am going to review after I’ve watched it but for now I will inspect it through the eyes of others words.   This film comes under the title of docu-fantasia which blends personal life events, civic tragedy and mystical hypothesizing into what forms a surrealist mokumentary of his hometown, Winnipeg.  This seems like an interesting approach towards making a reflection of ones life into this quasi fantasy documentary.  For me a its an interesting way to reflect upon memories, both ones that we’ve experienced but have transformed into something entirely different because of thought and those which we were never part of.  The second one being historical and social events which have been passed down through the generations via story telling.  This is what I am seeking to do with my work in a way.  Getting those from my past to reflect upon moments which no long exist and to construct a plausible story.  From here I am getting actors to play the role which I feel adds to the drama of it all and how it has now become a reconstruction of a reconstruction.  What I mean by that is someone else is playing the role of a person they’ve never met with the guidance of not only my own constructed rationale around this person and where they lie on this scale of social value but also how the other is doing the same with me.  Since some of them are going to be from 10 years and maybe even longer.  It will be interesting to hear the responses I receive and what the actors playing the roles can create with these responses.   I don’t think there is much else I can take from Guy without actually watching My Winnipeg.  Once I’ve done that I shall add more information into this post.

Update: 17/08/2017

Since there was a bit of confusion or possibly different interpretations, on my part, of what I was trying to retrieve from the artist statements and articulations of the artist work.  It now seems what I am looking for is particular ways in which the articulate themselves and the various themes/styles I wish to take from their practice.  For whatever reason this seems to give weight to ones artwork rather than relying heavily upon your own words, if you make a connection between your work and other artist and thinkers then you work carries far more weight in the eyes of those reviewing your work.  That is what I shall be looking for in my next post.

 

Progression Through Thought

After rescheduling my meeting with Andrew to Friday and having a good discussion about the direction of this project, it has now become more than just the questionnaire.  The questionnaire is just the beginning of the works which leads to a performative area.  Depending upon the responses I receive from those I engage with in regards to the questionnaire, this will inform the actors I hire to play the roles of people from my past and present.  I am going to construct a description of the individual and this will be all the actor has to understanding the other person.  Of course they will also have the questionnaire to read off and that may also inform them on the other persons behaviours, mannerisms and personality.  I am excited to see what shall come from this and what performances will be revealed through this process.  What seems to be important at this present moment is finding out all the ethical and legal procedures one needs to take in regards to people being questioned and the actors, reviewing artist and finding the right wording which easily allows the outsider to connect with the work, and people to want to be part of it and the various video concerns I need to think of.  For now I shall focus on the artist and what I can steal from them.  This shall be under another post. Until then.

A Quick Update

I am now looking at various styles that I want to incorporate into the questionnaire.  I shall post various ones that I enjoy on here.  As I am finding out, its a tad bit of a struggle to find questionnaire designs which are similar to what I am seeking.  However I did find some that may be useful for colour combinations or layout.

As you can see they don’t really seem all that well designed (or at least not from my perspective) and I may just need to take certain aspects from them.  I’ll find out in due time.

Examining The Book And Qualities Within The Video

In this post I am going to write down examples of questionnaires that I feel will be of use and even a sample set of questions which shall guide the questions for each category.  I’m also going to think of the varying elements within the video works that I need to consider and how each one adds to what I am wanting the viewer to hear.

So far in my book I’ve been writing down various questions that I’ve found doing simple google searches.  Such as “interview questions” and “date questions.  Some of the results have been rather useful in stimulating further questions as well as simple modification which can be made to those questions found.  Here is the basic questionnaire which I’ve constructed. At the moment, these questions are in no particular order.  I think once I’ve narrowed them down for each group then some sense of order will naturally flow and also a train of thought(s) I wish to guide the participant along will come forth.

Example Questionnaire

Describe me in five words?

What was your first impression of me?

What are my strengths?

What are my weakness?

How do I respond to criticism?

What should I know about myself that I’d never think to ask?

What is your worst experience of me?

What is your best experience of me?

What pet peeves do you have in regards to me?

What did your enjoy most about our last interaction?

How would you describe me to a stranger or someone I’ve never met?

If you could change one thing about me what would it be?

What is the most difficult situation you’ve faced with me?

What do I bring to everyday life?

This seems to be a good amount of simple/basic questions which can help form the varying questions for each category.  The categories which I am talking about, which I may have mentioned in a previous post, are family, friends, acquaintance, ex, old bosses, old friends.  I feel I am looking to obtain certain aspects of the relationships or certain perspectives in regard to each group.  For ex’s I would be looking to discuss the intimacy and affection and possibly the intense negative emotions felt during or after its demise.  Where as with family I am looking to talk about memories (either from childhood or their memories to me as a child) to various ages and how their perspective change throughout the ageing process.  I will first think of the qualities found within those relationships and then construct the varying questionnaires from there.  First off it will be family.  The aspects of this that i want to obtain, which I briefly mentioned above, is this transformation of perspective over the years we’ve spent together and they time they’ve spent watching me grow.  I was thinking possibly have two set of questions, maybe even three.  One would be for my parents, then siblings and finally extended family (grandparents, uncles and aunties, cousins).  This distancing in relationships will give an overall sense of how each group interprets me and the various stages of my existence.

Family Questions

Describe me in five words.

What was your first impression of me?

What are my strengths?

What are my weakness?

How would you describe me to a stranger or someone I’ve never met?

Fondest memories of me and why?

Describe me in five words at these ages. 5, 12, 18, 21.

Where do you see my position within my family and why?

If you could change one thing about me what would it be?

What is your worst experience of me?

Favourite part of me/my personality?

What is your best experience of me?

The next group which I am going to think about is friends. There seems to be a sort of intimacy and security or comfort which can be found with people who we call friends which some may not find within their blood relationships.  Possibly because we are trying to meet different needs through both groups but most people seem to be able to express ideas which are bound up and overflowing with anxiety or fear.  This could be because of what one might hear in return to what they say and instead of hearing a criticism or demand they feel they’ve been heard.  So what do I want to ask of these people?   Possibly questions that tries to understand the reason behind the continually communication and interaction over the years.  What they believe has kept them coming back for more.

Friend’s Question

Describe me in five words?

What was your first impression of me?

What are my strengths?

What are my weakness?

What should I know about myself that I’d never think to ask?

What is your worst experience of me?

What is your best experience of me?

How would you describe me to a stranger or someone I’ve never met?

Fondest memory of me and why?

Favourite part of me/my personality?

What is it about my personality that didn’t push you away and keeps you coming back?

Now we move onto acquaintances.  These group seem to be the most varied in the sense that they can be anyone.  From people you’ve met only several times through friends and family, to people you’ve spent time with on a regular basis but have yet to move beyond the simple conversations about daily interactions and life to those moments where part of your personality is before them, ready for their inspection and critique.  What I want to know from this group would be possible reasons why we never became closer, any reasons why they distanced themselves (which could be the exact same question as the first) and so on.

Acquaintance Questions

Describe me in five words?

What was your first impression of me?

What are my strengths?

What are my weakness?

What should I know about myself that I’d never think to ask?

What kept us from becoming closer?

What did your enjoy most about our last interaction?

How would you describe me to a stranger or someone I’ve never met?

If you could change one thing about me what would it be?

Any reason for our distance?

Next up, which is one I am most interested in or at least the category which I’ve been able to add more additions than others is ex’s.  These question seem to focus their attention around the more intimate moments and the other person understanding or rationale around why and how the relationship came to an end.  What was it about myself that created this possibly rift and would they want to change anything if they could.

Ex Questions

Describe me in five words?

Do you ever reminisce about our past? and if yes, what about it?

What was your first impression of me?

How do I respond to criticism?

What should I know about myself that I’d never think to ask?

What is your worst experience of me?

What is your best experience of me?

What pet peeves do you have in regards to me?

What did your enjoy most about our last interaction?

How would you describe me to a stranger or someone I’ve never met?

If you could change one thing about me what would it be?

Favourite part of me/my personality?

Why do you believe the relationship came to an end?

Do you cherish the moments of intimacy we shared?

What is your most missed part of our interactions?

This next one was a bit harder for me to grasp or think of various questions which can be asked of them.  It is old bosses and my thinking was more about what the expected from me and my involvement within the business they worked for or ran and if I meet those requirements.  I think it would be interesting to hear from the ones who I didn’t quite see eye to eye or struggle to hear what they were trying to say because of the enemy images I had of them.

Old Boss Questions

Describe me in five words?

What was your first impression of me?

What role were you expecting me to fill and did I easily slot into this position?

Why did we end up departing?

What are my strengths?

What are my weakness?

How do I respond to criticism?

What should I know about myself that I’d never think to ask?

If you could recommend me to another employee, would you?

If you could change one thing about me what would it be?

What is the most difficult situation you’ve faced with me?

Finally, onto the last group of people and ones I am also greatly intrigued with hearing their own translations of my behaviours is the group of old friend’s.  These are people with whom I once had a strong connection with and spent relatively large moments of time in their presence.  It will be interesting to hear how they once saw me and if that imagine of who I was is still burned into their mind.  It will also be interesting to see why they felt we drifted apart and if there was anything I did (according to them) which they felt contributed to this or stimulated this desire within them to remove themselves from my presence.

Old Friends Questions

Describe me in five words?

What was your first impression of me?

When and did we drift apart?

What are my strengths?

What are my weakness?

What should I know about myself that I’d never think to ask?

What is your worst experience of me?

What is your best experience of me?

What did your enjoy most about our last interaction?

How would you describe me to a stranger or someone I’ve never met?

If you could change one thing about me what would it be?

Do you reminisce over our past interactions and if so, what memories do you become lost in?

What is it about our interactions that you miss the most?

These seem to be a decent first draft for questions that I can propose for each group.  Now I need to think of ways in which people can answer these questions.  Possibly I could send it off to most people, especially those who live within different states, via a online quiz generator.  Once I’ve collected the answers I could present them in any manner that I’d like.  I think using a typewriter font would be pleasing for me because of my connections to spy and detective movies, as well as war and old timely letters.  This simplicity in style may also allow for easier access into what I am trying to communicate and it also flows on with the sort of interrogation/interview vibe I am wanting to instil within the videos.  Also I assume once upon a time, back before we came to this point in technological development, many letters were written by type writer. These qualities can be discussed on Thursday with Andrew once I’ve established the questionnaires.

Now onto the qualities of the video I am trying to capture.  I need to think about atmosphere, lighting, camera, position/location/angle, sound, and colour/tone.  I previously discussed part of these aspects within my last post and considered the sort of vibe which I am trying to capture.  For this I would like to capture a combination of interrogation, job interview and journalistic interview.  The interrogation room would inspire the limited objects within the frame (just a table, possibly pen and paper for writing answers and the person in view) and the reduced colours used.  I think using black drapes in the background and possibly a white table cloth would help to reduce the external distractions and place our view (or concentrate it) upon the one being questioned.  I would also like to use a single light source that is mainly directed towards the face of the one in question and have the camera positioned in a way that gives the impression we are observing it all through the eyes of the interviewee.  This way it would give a sense that I there sitting before them and the individual looking at this work can place themselves within my shoes.  This would all add to the overall feel of the work and the interpretations presented after viewing.  Hopefully this information will allow for something of quality and value to come forth.  Although it wont appear in this post, from here I need to investigate the various ways I can present the questionnaires and what would be most useful and why.  Until next time.

 

Expanding Upon The Interview

In my school journal I’ve been researching various questions and trying to construct various questionnaires that I can hand to select people.  They are ranging from friends and family to old bosses and ex and maybe even people which I was once close with but have suddenly drifted apart.  Anyway that isn’t what I am going to be looking at in this update.  What I wanted to look for in this was the various ways I can perform these questionnaires and how one can present those performances.  By this I mean would the outcome of these questionnaires be the response to me requesting them to fill it in, either through recording (if I can occupy the same space as them) or through email and text response, showing the questionnaire and the responses found within, recording of these questionnaires either through a candid camera or interrogation/interview style approach.  These recordings could be kept to just the audio or the video and audio.

For now I want to inspect the last aspect of this approach and discover ways that I could record these acts and how other artist or humans in the world have done so.  When discussing with Andrew about the feel this project has, associations with candid camera and interrogation or journalistic interviews were created.  Stylistically I thought either journalistic interview/interrogation would be more suited or would be more pleasing to the eyes given the topic doesn’t seem to what you’d find being questioned usually in such circumstances.  That being questions about myself and how the other person identifies the person before them.  Here are a lit of interrogations that are available via the internet.

Interrogation One – Brian David Mitchell

Interrogation Two – Jodi Arias

Interrogation Three – Terri-Lynne McClintic

Interrogation Four – Clifford Burns

Interrogation Five – Dustin Paxton

Forgetting the actual context of these videos as I am actually looking for repeating themes or styles found within.  Most are done within a relatively small confined area (four walls and hardly any way to view the outside world), lighting seems to be created by singular source or possibly two but this is probably all about being able to capture as much information as possible, the camera is always located above the action and where all those in the room can be seen or at least all those participating in the interrogation can be viewed,  The colours of the rooms are simple and subdued.  Keeping it to a single colour/tone if done on the premises of the interrogators headquarters.  Now this is a completely different approach to an interview as they are trying to obtain certain information pertaining to particular events.  I mean an interview can be seen as this as well but they try to remove any response which can defend the person in question or allow for a positive personality to come forth.  they are after hard facts.  Where as an interview can be looking for more than just that.  An interview may be as means of acquiring information in regards to particular events but it could also be used to sell or increase the publicity of an individual and the chances of a defensive response in this circumstance seems relatively lower.  Now I am going to find examples of interviews and the stylistic choices that I can find within these.

Interview One – Deng Thiak 

Interview Two – Henry Rollins

Interview Three – Matt Stone & Trey Parker

Interview Four – Ryan Adams

Interview Five – Eminem

Interview Six – Adele

Interview Seven – Michael Jackson

Interview Eight – Mark ‘Chopper’ Read

Again, I am not interested with the context of these interviews but rather the stylistic choices which have been made in regards to recording.  Unfortunately one aspect which I find that exist within many journalistic interviews is this back and forth conversation scenario which they are creating (even though it has been double recorded from both angels).  I am feeling what would be more suited or at least what I would enjoy more would be an approach which is a combination of the journalistic interview, interrogation and a job interview but from the perspective of the interviewee.  I shall talk about the aspects which I enjoy about each one and what might add to the overall reading of this work.  The journalistic approach, possibly this applies for all three, is the way in which one goes about obtaining information through a relaxed questionnaire approach.  Unlike the interrogation and job interview, the questions and questioner don’t have the same intensity or driving force in obtaining information in regards to particular events or ones apparent suitability  for particular task and outcomes.  This is more relaxed and at times almost like friends talking with one another.  This approach is probably more inline with interviews which are aiming to increase notoriety or publicity or an individual or group rather than people who have engaged with acts that go against the established laws.  Although in a funny way these can be seen as acts of increasing ones publicity or notoriety.  I want to take this relaxed approach or atmosphere and apply it my work, although that may be hard given the topic is all about myself and how people see or interpret me through symbols.  What I find interesting about the interrogation videos which I watched and have linked about is the limited colour, lighting and the size of the room the recording occurs in.  I’d love to carry that across, one as means of giving greater emphasis on the interview and the one being questioned and also to give a sense of uncertainty through light.  Possibly use a direct lighting source which illuminates the person and takes away focus from the negative space.  Limited colour within the space may also give a feeling that all of the attention and ones focus is being forced onto the person in frame.  Now this may sound contradictory to what I said prior because the feelings and mood which I am taking from the interrogation are ones of anxiety and tension where as I wanted to take the relax feeling from the television interviews.  Maybe exploring the aspect of first person interviewee would allow for personal clarity. What I think would come from using a camera angel which gives the sense that we are looking through the eyes of the interviewee is the idea of placing ourselves in that position and seeing if this sort of internalized questioning which are being asked of another is a routine which many find themselves in.  One where they are constantly question how they see themselves vicariously through the eyes of others and the responses they receive from the others in response to the behaviours they present.  Now another question comes to mind in regard to this aspect is ‘would one use their own name, gender identification or just general identifying words which can be related to any person?’.  When questioning the person would I use Tim or Tim Fox or he/him or them/they?  Of course I assume if I use any name I associate with this could create a disconnect between myself and the viewer.  That these questions are specific to myself and aren’t questions which many ask of themselves.  I think this is something to bring up next time I am presenting this weeks work to Andrew.  But for now I shall look at more stylistic choices and what sort of vibe I am trying to obtain through varying stills of movies.

Oblivion (2013)

Post-apocalyptic Science Fiction

Tom Cruise (Jack)

Basic Instinct (1992)

Neo-noir Erotic Thrille

Sharon Stone (Catherine Tramell)

Interrogation (Polish; Przesłuchanie 1982)

Thriller

Krystyna Janda (Antonina ‘Tonia’ Dziwisz)

Skyfall (2012)

Action Thriller

Daniel Craig(James Bond) & Nicholas Woodeson (Doctor Hall)

The Dark Knight (2008)

Action Thriller

Heath Ledger (Joker) & Christian Bale (Batman/Bruce Wayne)

Now You See Me (2013)

Heist Thriller

Mark Ruffalo (Dylan Rhodes), Mélanie Laurent (Alma Dray) & Jesse Eisenberg (J. Daniel Atlas)

Behind The Scense – The Revenant (2015)

Semi-biographical Western

Leonardo DiCaprio (Hugh Glass)

Behind The Scenes – Drive (2011)

Neo-Noir Crime Thriller

Bryan Cranston (Shannon)

Behind The Scenes – Firefly (2002 – 2003)

Science Fiction Drama Adventure

Sean Maher (Dr. Simon Tam)

If I was to select three images which I find most pleasing and closer towards what I want to produce it would be Tom Cruise, Leonardo DiCaprio and Sean Maher.  What I am enjoying about these images or settings are the limited colour and the focus placed on the individual before the camera.  That is what I am aiming to achieve.  I don’t know if the angle and positioning of the camera is suitable to give the impression that you are looking through the eyes of the interviewee.  To capture this sense I could possibly centre the person within the frame or maybe even have it slightly above the person in order to create the sense that the interviewee is above the person.  I will need to think of various items I need in order for me to achieve this.  For next time dear internet world.

P.S.  I completely forgot to add this video into the mix.  Even though the context is absolutely nothing similar to what I am trying to produce, the way it has been recorded and the varying effects which have been added might be what I am looking for. This video is from a series called Hysterical Literature and this is the twelfth video in the series.  I shall add a still but what I enjoy is the positioning and framing of the camera, limited colour (this one is in black and white but I would have a touch more, and the simple set up.  This simplistic and reductive approach may be useful for me as it brings attention to what is happening within the video which is a interview regarding me.

Constant Change In Pursuit

It seems after Thursday the goals and aims of this semesters project have changed once again.  Now I am looking at various ways to record interviews with varying people from my past and present, from ex’s to old bosses, and ways of recording this data.  This recording or translation of data doesn’t necessarily have to be in the form of a drawing or painting but may be transcript of interviews, the video footage of the interview or even email correlations.  All of this could come in multiple forms and be showcased next to one another.  One of the significant questions that came from our discussion was the importance of drawing/painting for the outcome of my work or at least this work.  Although I greatly enjoy this form of self-expression and feel slightly anxious about abandoning it for the next six months, it could possibly be one way to expand upon my creative resume.  It seems (or at least what I gather from the talk) is that school is always about doing something which is going to elevate you above where you stand now.  Its something which will turn you into a better human at doing whatever it is the school is selling and advocating.

Anyway, today I’ve been looking at various interview and first date questions in order to make a questionnaire about myself that others can answer.  The interview questions have given far more to work with as they are trying to pinpoint someone down into a certain outcome or at least to give the impression that this person is able to achieve a certain outcome based upon the responses they’ve given.  That is what I trying to get from this experience.  I want to put forth question that in someway determining my character/persona/identity through this symbolic process.  I believe I’d have a fair amount of “ethical” issues to go through with this as the school doesn’t want any issues to arise if someone I’ve questioned isn’t happy with me using their identity within the work or even their responses.  I’m sure there are many ways for me to go about that but for now I shall focus on other aspects which still need to be fleshed out.  Now from looking at the date questions or interesting questions one ask on their first dates, it got me thinking that I could produce several questionnaires that will be relevant to certain people of my life.  They would go under these titles;

Family

Friends

Ex’s

Old Bosses

Acquaintances

Each of these questionnaires would have set questions that are relevant to the person in question.  I think they will all have a similar overall feel but say for my ex’s there could more in relation to intimate aspects of our shared experience and for old bosses it would be more around my productivity and maybe even reasons why I wasn’t effective or efficient in regards to work.  These are just a few possibilities that could come forth but I shall see by Thursday where I truly want to take this.

Expanding On All Possibilites

After much thought and consideration, especially after further investiagtion into the artist Charles Avery, I started to think of ways of expanding upon this project which no longer keep it confined to the two dimensional world and allow for a rich development of ideas and the characters.  Once I have completed each of the self-portraits I was thinking that I could breath life into each (or only several) portrait by constructing personalities and identities around each one.  This would come in several forms starting with their personal appearance, to possibly creating documents for them and so forth.  I am not entirely sure how each one would manifest and what process I would take to continue this cycle onwards.  It might be using a very similar one to what I’ve suggested earlier or I could change it completely.  Not sure what to but something that is equally as interesting.  I’m sure I will figure something out but for now I must discuss my ideas with the almighty Andrew and see what expansions will come forth in our dicussion.  Til next time internet world.

Artist & Cultural Exploration

Now I am going to research various artist and cultural/socially trends of representation.  First I shall investigate the artist and what aspects of their works I want to steal or borrow.

The first artist I’m investigating is Charles Avery. He is a Scottish artist born in the year 1973 and he work is focused around an imagined civilisations that inhabit a fictitious island. He works on constructing various people, customs, rituals, wilderness and societies through the use of drawings, sculptures, text, installations and moving imagines. These are some of his works.

Untitled (Pool, Onomatopeia Zoo)

2016

Pencil, acrylic, gouache, watercolour and ink on paper

214.5 x 149.3 x 7.5 cm

Untitled (It means It Means, Beuys, Square Gasjet)

2014

Pencil, ink, acrylic and gouache on paper

235 x 225 cm

Progressionist

2014

White Painted bronze and card

50 x 30 x 35 cm

What I’m finding myself drawn towards with this artist isn’t necessarily connected with the first part of this project or the thought process behind the work but this coming together of various elements to give the impression of a narrative. I was thinking that I could take those portraits, maybe they could even turn into full body shots and they would soon come to dominate a landscape. This could extend into the way characters interact with one another. Depending on the various emotional responses would determine how they are positioned against one another. This would then become a landscape of self-portraits through the eyes of the other.  Actually on second thought I was thinking if time is available I would be able to extended on the portraits once completed.  By this I mean, I would take each character a step further and give them bodies and possibly various naratives behind them which correlate to the initial rules I created which help guide said portraits and possibly even modify how and what they are.  It would become a self-reflection process that is initiated by response from others in regard to my personality and character or their interpretations and conclusions of the behaviours I’ve presented before them and the symbols others speak when I am not in their presence.

The next artist which I am going to inspect and currently completely unaware of the contributions this reviewing process will add to my work, goes by the name of Tehching Hsieh.  He is an Taiwan born performanced based artist who’s works extended over relatively long periods of recorded time.  Many of his works spand over a year in which a specific ritual or set of rules are placed onto the artist by himself.  He has completed five of these year long projects.  One of them, which I find to be the most interesting, was where he wasn’t able to enter an enclosed enviroment and spent the year outside.  This included buildings, cars, trains, trams and even caves.   The evidence was a collection of maps marking out his route over the course of a day and the accumulations of maps was spread across the gallery wall for the exhibition.  Below is a statement from another work of his.  This is typically how he would set out each one.

One Year Perfomance 1978 – 1979

What I am finding most interesting about this artist and his approach to creating works is how it doesn’t nesecarrily need to end up with a traditional work.  The artwork could manifest into documentation of the process being followed.  I think that is possibly something I could bring to my art but I still have this intense urge to draw and paint.  But maybe I could take his strict nature in sticking with these rules and apply it to my process.  Where the process I create for each in response to each answer given could be rather particular.  Rather than it being losely one thing it would have to be very specific.  An example of this could be the colours I use depending on the results. For the emotion of anger I could go with social cue and use various tones of red and blacks but since they are split into two different categories each red that is used would be cool if they disagree or warm if they agree.  Possibly something along the lines of that.  We will see where this takes us.