21.04.21 (Tutorial)

Today we were in the studio and left to carry on with our projects. Although I anticipated I would collect footage for my film work today, I instead decided to make use of the workshops and my peers and tutors and do continue with my video bits at home. As such, I first went to casting to speak to Cat about creating a sheet of latex I could experiment with because I wanted to explore photography on different surfaces (Laila Majid). I took my panel from the wood workshop session and found that it would actually be more effective to not prime the surface and set the latex on the porous MDF to create a sheet that I could then use for experimentation.

Following this I then had a one on one tutorial with Emma where we went over my sketchbook and my work so far. This was really helpful as going through all of my project work allowed me and Emma to revisit experiments and ideas that could be developed further, such as my very first exploration in collecting text from people as a written test of authenticity. Emma was drawn to the aesthetic of torn paper and its involvement with an audience and suggested I could play with the scale.

When looking at my hand video, Emma suggested how I could explore making the video less 'legible', exploring what the hand is doing and its 'legibility' to coincide with the strangeness of its accompanying audio. I think this is something good to test as it will allow me to explore whether I prefer the juxtaposition of something clear and unclear or something more cohesive. For my drawing work, Emma and I discussed how this could be pushed further by relinquishing control of the action as a test of authenticity, almost through the subconscious. I was also able to identify that the notation like nature of the drawings could relate to my interest in the musical Avant-garde which I studied during my music A Level.

Another interesting aspect of this tutorial was how Emma likened by exploration with the hand and latex to prosthetics. Earlier this week I was talking to my friend Daisy about my work, who isn't an art student, and she too mentioned how it was very prosthetic like. This wasn't something I had intentionally looked into, but it is an interesting idea which could be researched and related back to my initial look at Gillian Wearing and the role of masks in her portraits.

In my tutorial, Emma and I were able to identify different routes of research that could help define my ideas over the next week. This is included at the bottom of this reflection entry as a list below.

Following my tutorial I decided to make the most of my classmates and gave everyone a scrap of paper to further explore written authenticity. I asked people to describe themselves and how they are feeling. Even in these interactions, people had different responses that I would have liked to have recorded in some way. For example, some people asked for greater clarification on the task whilst others asked if they could lie. It could be interesting to look into the psychology of what this could reveal; however, I do not have much prior knowledge on this at all.

When I was in casting I was working with Nicole who was also working with latex for its sound quality. This inspired me to look at how I could use sound myself, and as such I went back to my peers and asked for an audio confession. I promised anonymity if used in an art installation, but as the mediator, they would have to tell me their secret. As such, people were very much entitled to opt out, nevertheless, I was still able to acquire a range of responses and again, people used the task in different ways. Some used it as a place to vent or confide whilst others were more light-hearted and some asked again if they could lie. Again, I think this could be linked to psychology.

Through today, I identified how there were many different sides to my project. I felt my work with my peers had authenticity at the root of its concept, whilst my experimentations with film and latex seem to explore it as a process due to their off the cuff, speculative nature.

I also thought it would be useful to write a to do list for myself:

- Stick in stills from slow motion videos

- Record 'unmaking' latex peel footage in sketchbook

- Continue collecting footage using the hand (perhaps consider use of fabric and playing with legibility)

- Explore idea of installation with written work and collected audio (create a mini version, sketch out ideas?)

- Record collection of audio and written work in sketchbook

- Purchase photo transfer medium for Laila Majid experiments

- Experiment with relinquishing control when drawing

- Look into buying acetate for inkjet for next week

- Take speculative photos of the body interacting with latex

- Stick in images of blurred hands from previous video stills into sketchbook

And list what I am interested in researching:

- Aesthetic of black and white films (possibly Joan Jonas, Martha Rosler) (also, the Gothic, Frankenstein)

- Research from conceptual artists this week

- The ideas of 'Women and Work' and Carole Schneemann

- Documentary and Moving Image, using my Whitechapel anthologies

- Prosthetics, means in which characters are created, the theatrical

- Judith Butler, gender as something performed

- Language and notation, Berio and the musical Avant-garde

- David Burn

- Nick Cave

- Sol LeWitt

- Psychology

My big question is to explore how all of this ideas can come together to question how can we interact with authenticity?

Reflection

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