Ashif Alucin
Welcome to my blog
UAL Level 3 Creative Media
Video Installation:
My class, and I, have been giving instructions to partake in a video installation with the topic of memories. We shall first discover how a Steenback 16mm filming works. We, as small groups, will meet with one the colleges technicians, Oliver, and will be taught how Steenback machines will be used, as well as having the opportunity to borrow 16mm film, chosen by us, and be able to use it for out final video installation project.
Steenback:
The pictures above shows my class interacting with the Steenback machines with the supervision and instructions of our technician. I picked out two films. One of a young men in class, yawning. I thought this was shot was funny. The other is a more recent film of a person entering a class. I thought the shot was interesting because it was a negative. I then drew some smiley faces on the film, thinking i can get interesting results when scanning the film.
Tate mordern
To gain more of an understanding about video installation and exhibits our college provided as the opportunity to go on a trip to an art museum. We visited Tate Morden! Above you would be able to see pictures of what we got to view during this trip.
I did find some inspiration in Tate modern. Picasso's and Van Gogh's work reminded me of my reaction to when i first saw their work - child like fascination. This inspiration should influence my final work. I walked around and saw how interactive video installation art is. I thought to myself, "i can be creative as i want with this project", but then i remembered there was a time limit. It would be unrealistic to go as free as i want like the installations i was looking at. There should be some compromise. There was one installation that seemed feasible to somewhat mimic. There was one big screen and a video projected into it. The message and imagery of the video was quite obscure. I found this interesting. I thought to myself, "i found my main inspiration for this project." I thought to add in a more interactive quality to my project. An interactive quality that will make it feel a little personal to the viewer, even better if it is something that they can reveal.
Ideas:
I started to think more into the the interactive aspect. My tutor had the idea of writing a question near my installation. Perhaps the audience can have the opportunity to answer this question in a obscure way, through imagery, or they can take the direct route of using words. I thought the question can be, "what is your first memory". My tutor thought this would be too tricky to answer, which is true, and perhaps i may ask an easier question, "what is your favourite memory". However, i insisted on the original question because it is a question that the audience will have more belief on and see as more person. The belief on the memory was very important to me because the distortion of memory is what i want to be the main theme of my installation.
After hearing the brief, I immediately thought of my theme for my final major project: distortion. This theme is relatively new because my ideas for my final major project is also new. I do not start my final project until a few months. I liked the link between distortion and memories, therefore I thought I can showcase the unreliability of memories through this project. This was a very fun idea. I can use distortion effects and obscure imagery; the project is coming together. Other ideas i had was showing pictures to that was a nice memory or take pictures of things i made as a child and compare myself now. However, i believe my first idea would be more fun.
Artist Research:
Banksy:
Banksy was the first figure that popped into mind when thinking off video installation because he was the first figure that i was introduced to, that was even remotely close to a video installation artist. Who's Banksy?
According to wikipedia: "Banksy is an anonymous England-based graffiti artist, political activist and film director. His satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine dark humour with graffiti executed in a distinctive stencilling technique"
This, except the film directing, i was familiar with. The primary reason that i am intrigued by Banksy's work is how uncensored it is; he is fearless with his art and has no care for the harm of controversy. His "street art" received a lot attraction because of this. A lot of people felt empowered by his strength to speak out with art, while others were afraid that his influence will cause chaos. I personally admired his courage to be political and most of all himself; he was able to stay true to his beliefs while the amount of art he created continued.
After writing on my thoughts about Banksy. I decided to have a look at video installations. Sue De Beer - a contemporary artist - caught my eye. The way she uses colours and her subjects together looks meticulous; she seems to use contrast and vivid imagery to enhance all other senses with her video installation. There seems to be purpose for her art, but the purpose you have to look for.
When i saw the image above, i immediately thought of my own idea for my video installation. She added on to my idea and made it whole by using the room as 50% of the art. The colours, seating, lighting, dimensions and ceiling of the room all added on to the experience of the video that was being watched. I will have to remind myself on how i want to use the room when screening my video.
Tony is the odd one out between the three artists. Tony actually specialises in multimedia and installation art, and by seeing how obscure and creative his installation his art seemed, i decided i must look into him. I found many ways he expressed his art using simple human body parts. It was strange to see how such body parts can be used as an instrument to art. Tony manipulated simple objects and lighting to project imagery into objects. This seemed like a cool idea that can be used in the setting of my room, however i would not want this trick to be the primary attraction of my installation.
Above, you should see a reference on his creativity on using the body. What interested me most about him was actually his thoughts about his installations. He emphasised how "the separation of the body and mind" is iconic in contemporary art and showed interest in psychology and the inward looking in the self. Self-reflection is something i am personally fascinated by, therefore i want to also ask and evoke questions with my installation. I will ask more direct questions to ground myself, do not want to get carried away.
Reference:
Pre production
After talking with my tutor, it was decided the best place, that aligned with my ideas, was the outside TV of the fourth floor corridors in my college. This was a very public and accessible place in our college, which would allow a broad range of people to see my installation. And this is my intended audience - adolescents and young adults. I would like to see the opinion of memories from this age group because they would be in a transitional period in their life, moving into adulthood, therefore, there should be some spikes in thoughts about memories due to existential dread, similar to ones people in their middle ages have.
Survey:
Survey Results:
The responses i got from the survey is more than what i needed, needless to say i have sufficient amount of information to go ahead with my production, however i do want to add in that i will not be efficient with how i use the information gained because i have a set view on how i want my end product to be, therefore i want to use some of the information i have gathered to create something more whole in the future, possibly for my final major project.
Describe your image.
I did also get responses after screening my installation to the public, however with a few modifications, i am sure i would have able to receive a far lot responses. I also had forgotten to record the verbal responses. The reason i did not get much written responses is because most people did not know there was one.