Melanie Menard Arts

January 31, 2011

List of blog posts for Unit 1

September 2009

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2009/09/13/my-background/
My background and practice in other media pre-MA

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2009/09/13/my-project/
Project proposal as presented when applying to the MA

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2009/09/20/the-ghost-house-project-map-urban-exploration-in-ireland/
The genesis of the Ghost House project

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2009/09/23/the-ghost-house-project-urban-exploration-in-ireland-june-july-2009/
Map of location visited in Ireland Summer 2009

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2009/09/27/how-to-pitch-my-project-%E2%80%93-space-and-consciousness-the-unpremeditated-%E2%80%93-surrealim-is-dead-anyway/
Trying to isolate key points of what I do for project proposal. Methodology issues: trying to make sense of working intuitively. Trying to make sense of what attracts me in other’s work.

October 2009

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2009/10/04/psychogeography-in-popular-culture-%E2%80%93-rural-space-%E2%80%93-ambivalence-towards-the-city/
Psychogeography, concept and early practitionners.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2009/10/11/project-proposal-draft-1/
Project proposal draft 1. ‘Metaphysics of places’ and simulated madness in Surrealist practice.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2009/10/22/new-hall-college-guided-exploration/
Report of a ‘Psychogeography’ related art performance.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2009/10/24/cellar-door/
Photography practice experiment at my grandmother’s house.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2009/10/25/dadaderive/
Photography practice experiment: Dérive in Marcel Duchamp’s birthplace village.

November 2009

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2009/11/03/project-proposal-draft-2/
Project Proposal draft 2.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2009/11/08/project-proposal-final-version/
Project Proposal Final version. Explicit reference to Surrealism has faded a bit. The core of the research now concerns the relationship between the artist and the audience via the artwork as a communication medium.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/a-filmmakers-guide-to-freaking-out-your-audience-1-sound-design/
How to use sound design in a moving image work to create specific feelings in the audience. This post will later inspire the research paper.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2010/01/05/a-filmmakers-guide-to-freaking-out-your-audience-part-2-camera-placement-and-editing/
How to use camera placement and editing in a moving image work to create doubt and confusion in the audience. This post will later inspire the research paper.

January 2010

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2010/01/14/an-idea-of-home-the-photographerss-gallery/
Photographs selected for an online show by The Photographer’s Gallery.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2010/01/16/jerry-uelsmann/
Short presentation of the work of photographer Jerry Uelsmann.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2010/01/24/disciplinary-places/
Parallel theory: explanation of the concept of “Disciplinary Institutions” developed by Michel Foucault in “Discipline and Punish”. My practice: how this concept influenced my new photography and video project: “Disciplinary Institutions” started in summer 2009 for the MA.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2010/01/30/lars-tunbjork-and-small-town-sweden/
Presentation of the work of Swedish photographer Lars Tunbjörk, and how I feel his way of looking at his subjects reflects my own concerns.

February 2010

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2010/02/05/cultural-blogging-in-europe-survey/
Cultural Blogging in Europe survey conducted by the European Cultural Foundation.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2010/02/07/new-post/
Presentation of work of photographer Paul Seawright.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2010/02/11/mark-ellis-protect-and-survive/
Presentation of work of photographer Mark Ellis. How the look of the photographs creates an uneasy ambiguity between documentary or fiction, and how I aim to achieve a similar effect in my own photographs.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2010/02/11/donovan-wylie-maze-prison-long-kesh-h-blocks/
Presentation of Donovan Wylie’s photographic series “Maze”. Reflection on the difficulty of creating artworks on a politically sensitive subject, because every little detail such as the choice of a word can spark unplanned controversy.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2010/02/11/new-topographics/
Presentation of the photographic work of the New topographics and Wim Wenders. Conclusion drawn from this post and the previous ones presenting other photographers: “I think what catches my eye in a documentary photograph is a cinematic look with dramatic lighting and colours that creates an ambiguous contrast with the unstaged nature of the scene.”

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2010/02/19/the-womens-art-show-2010-basingstoke/
A photograph selected for the Women Art Show in Basinstoke.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2010/02/26/jacques-derrida-on-the-ghostly-nature-of-photography-and-film/
Jaques Derrida comments on the ghostly nature of photography and fim.

March 2010

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2010/03/01/long-exposures-and-ghost-houses-norwich-arts-centre/
Photographs and video art in a joint exhibition in Norwich.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2010/03/10/ghost-house-video/
First edit of the Disciplinary Institutions and Ghost House videos, shot in summer 2009.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2010/03/13/photos-from-norwich-arts-centre-exhibition/
Photos from my joint exhibition at Norwich Arts Centre, showing how the work was laid out and displayed.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2010/03/26/ghost-house-video-at-last-friday-shorts-southend-on-sea-tonight/
Screening of a pre-MA work of video art at a festival in Southend on Sea.

April 2010

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2010/04/07/ma-digital-arts-midpoint-review-presentation/
Mid Point Review Presentation. Where I explicitly express my concern in communicating with the audience on an intuitive level, not just an intellectual art criticism level, and try to devise an experiment to find out how the audience reacts to this aim.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2010/04/12/decode-digital-design-sensations-at-va/
Report of ‘Decode: Digital Design Sensations’ exhibition at the V&A museum.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2010/04/18/comments-on-my-work-for-mpr/
Comments from classmates on my Mid Point Review presentation.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2010/04/26/jane-louise-wilson/
Presentation of work of video artists Jane and Louise Wilson.

July 2010

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2010/07/18/research-paper-abstract-draft/
First draft of the research paper abstract, focusing on the ambiguous nature of lens-based images, and to use use them to interact with the viewer on an intuitive/subconscious level.

September 2010

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2010/09/11/canterbury-university-symposium-video-art-between-documentary-and-fiction/
Reading notes from the Canterbury University Symposium “Video art: between documentary and fiction”, that discussed lens-based images creating an awkward feeling of ambiguity regarding their documentary or staged nature, something I came to identify as a key concern in my practice.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2010/09/19/surrealism-photography-cinema/
Theoretical research on photography and cinema within Surrealist practice.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2010/09/27/history-and-theory-of-surrealism/
Surrealist art theory, studied through historical surrealist texts.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2010/09/27/walter-benjamin-on-surrealism-and-photography/
Walter Benjamin on Surrealism and Photography (historical critical theory).

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2010/09/28/interesting-articles-from-%E2%80%9Cpapers-of-surrealism%E2%80%9D-journal/
Review of contemporary critical articles on Surrealism.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2010/09/28/the-concept-of-chronotope-and-its-relevance-to-cinema/
The Concept of Chronotope and its relevance to cinema (Critical theory).

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2010/09/28/documentary-fiction-and-the-problem-of-truth/
Review of various critical articles discussing documentary, fiction and the problem of truth, which I identified as a key concern in my practice.

October 2010

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2010/10/03/freud-the-uncanny-the-unconscious/
Reading notes of Freud’s ‘The Uncanny’ and ‘The unconscious’ (parallel theory). I am interested in psychoanalysis both because of its influence on Surrealism, and because of my interest in affecting my audience on an unconscious/intuitive level.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2010/10/06/critical-essays-on-david-lynchs-movies/
Review of lots of critical essays on David Lynch’s movies. David Lynch is one my key influences, I love the look and ambiguous atmosphere of his films, and share his concern with producing work that does not come with a ready-made explanation, that requires the audience to come up with their own explanation.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2010/10/06/carl-jung-his-theories-the-shadow/
Presentation of the psychoanalytical theories of Carl Jung (parallel theory). Particularly his concept of the Shadow because it came up in critical articles about David Lynch.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2010/10/09/jacques-lacan-the-symbolic-the-imaginary-the-real/
Presentation of the psychoanalytical theories of Jacques Lacan (parallel theory). These theories are rather obscure and clear sources are hard to find, therefore this piece is research probably contains many inaccuracies.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2010/10/13/deleuze-cinema/
Reading notes on Deleuze’s Cinema 1 and Cinema 2 (Critical theory).

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2010/10/17/madness-and-cinema-patrick-fuery/
Reading notes from the book ‘Madness and cinema’ by Patrick Fuery, with discussion of some arguments.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2010/10/18/place-%E2%80%93-tacita-dean-jeremy-millar/
Reading notes from the book ‘Place’ by Jeremy Millar and Tacita Dean, which surveys different interpretation of the theme “Place” in contemporary art. I found a few relevant critical quotes and artists whose practice is similar to mine. Further iconographic research on these artists.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2010/10/18/video-art-%E2%80%93-sylvia-martin/
Reading notes from the book ‘Video Art’ by Sylvia Martin, and further iconographic research on artists relevant to my practice.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2010/10/22/film-noir-sartre-on-the-fantastic-lost-highway-mulholland-drive/
Various reading notes on critical theory loosely linked to David Lynch. Focussing on the genre of Film Noir and introducing the concept of the modern condition as a labyrinth via Sartre.

December 2010

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2010/12/14/random-quotations/
Various quotations relevant to my concerns on place, cinema and art.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2010/12/14/all-sources-for-mental-space-the-concept-in-general/
Long post containing full reading notes from all books read for the research paper concerning the concept of ‘mental space’ in general.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2010/12/14/all-sources-for-mental-space-in-lost-highway/
Long post containing full reading notes from all books read for the research paper concerning the concept of ‘mental space’ as present in David Lynch’s “Lost Highway”.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2010/12/14/all-sources-for-mental-space-in-stalker/
Long post containing full reading notes from all books read for the research paper concerning the concept of ‘mental space’ as present in Andrei Tarkovsky’s “Stalker”.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2010/12/14/all-sources-for-mental-space-in-last-year-in-marienbad/
Long post containing full reading notes from all books read for the research paper concerning the concept of ‘mental space’ as present in Alain Resnais’ “Last year in Marienbad”.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2010/12/14/research-paper-directors-cut/
Link to submitted version of research paper. Removed sections presented for information, along to discussion as to why they were edited out. General criticism of my paper, what I feel I could have done better and why I did not actually manage to do so.

January 2011

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2011/01/11/my-blog-yearly-statistics-provided-by-wordpress/
Statistics of visitors to my blog, and discussion of what people seem to find useful on it and why.

The following posts were written ‘late’, that is they present research and practical work that I had done all through Unit 1 but had never blogged about.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2011/01/16/relational-aesthetics/
Reading notes from Nicolas Bourriaud’s “Relational Aesthetics” and discussion.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2011/01/16/camera-lucida-roland-barthes/
Reading notes from Roland Barthes’ “Camera Lucida” and discussion.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2011/01/17/surreal-friends-leonora-carrington-remedios-varo-kati-horna/
Review of Exhibition ‘Surreal Friends’ featuring Leonora Carrington, Remedios Varo and Kati Horna.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2011/01/17/myth-manners-and-memory-photographers-of-the-american-south/
Review of Exhibition ‘Myth, Manners and Memory: Photographers of the American South’.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2011/01/20/ghost-house-video-at-electrofringe-festival-australia/
Ghost House video shown at a video art festival in Australia.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2011/01/20/festive-spirit-photographs/
Photography experiment inspired by Lars Tunbjörk.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2011/01/20/ghost-house-ii-2-selected-for-royal-west-of-egland-academy-open-photography-2011/
A photograph selected for the RWA Open photography exhibition 2011.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2011/01/20/ghost-towns-in-the-usa-detroit-and-new-orleans/
Review of an article about Ghost towns in the USA (Detroit and New Orleans), their link to ‘disaster capitalism’ and their status of contemporary icons.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2011/01/21/ruskins-concept-of-illth/
John Ruskin’s concept of illth.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2011/01/21/flaneur-vs-derive/
Comparing the concepts of ‘flâneur’ (decadent and surrealist) and ‘dérive’ (situationist).

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2011/01/21/robert-polidori/
Robert Polidori, his visual style and philosophy, and why I feel my own photography work shares similar concerns.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2011/01/24/sarah-turner-perestroika/
Sarah Turner’s film ‘Perestroika’, dealing with memory, truth/fiction and psychogeography.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2011/01/30/photographs-from-the-catacombes-of-paris-december-2010/
Preview pictures from the Catacombes of Paris, where I shot photographs and videos in December 2010.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2011/01/30/le-jardin-aux-jouets-raw-art-house-in-gravelines-59-france
Documentary pictures of a Raw Art House in Gravelines, 59, France.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2011/01/30/st-johns-college-library-cambridge/
Photographs taken at St John’s College Library, Cambridge. Architectural Photography experiment.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2011/01/31/ghost-house-and-disciplinary-institutions-continued-during-summer-2010/
Preview of places visited in Ireland during Summer 2010, where I shot further photographs and video footage for the ‘Ghost House’ and ‘Disciplinary Institutions’ projects.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2011/01/31/detroit-street-photography/
Street photography in Detroit, Michigan.

http://melaniemenardarts.wordpress.com/2011/01/31/detroit-the-heidelberg-project/
Photographs from the Heidelberg Project, an outdoor Raw Art environment in a Detroit neighborhood.

January 31, 2011

Detroit – The Heidelberg Project

The Heidelberg Project is an outdoor Raw Art installation on Heidelberg Street, Detroit. It was started in 1986 by Tyree Guyton, raised as a boy on Heidelberg street, assisted by his grandfather, Sam (Grandpa) Mackey (deceased), and his former wife, Karen Guyton. Tyree started the project as a form of political protest against the deterioration of his neighborhood following the Detroit riots, and as a way to help the local community feel safe and proud of their street once more. Assisted by local children, Tyree started to paint abandoned houses and decorate them with found objects, to transform them into outdoor art installations.

The Heidelberg project faced destruction twice from the city of Detroit, in 1991 and 1999. Both times, a handful of decorated houses were destroyed. Today the Heidelberg Project is recognized as one of the most influential art environments in the world, and attracts tourists from all over the world who come to visit a street whose inhabitants were once scared to stroll in daylight. Its capacity to generate hope and a sense of community in decaying neighborhood is respected and it was one of 15 projects representing the United States at the 2008 Venice Architecture Biennale. Art workshops, talks and various activities are regularly organised on site.

I spent 2 hours walking the site, taking pictures and also shooting a video, which might turn too shaky because I had no tripod, limited time and freezing fingers!

The first 5 pictures are from Detroit Industrial Gallery, an artist studio/home that was later purchased and maintained by Detroit artist Tim Burke.

Heidelberg Project, Detroit

All the following pictures are the original artworks by Tyree, aided by the Heidelberg street residents.

Heidelberg Project, Detroit

January 31, 2011

Detroit – Street Photography

I was sent to Detroit last week for my day job and was able to take a few pictures. However I had limited free time during daylight, limited access to a car, and no time to find a local guide in advance, so the possibilities were rather limited.

As said in a previous post about Ghost towns in the USA, there are loads of abandoned houses all over Detroit. However, some of these areas are very dangerous and the Ghost Houses in the relatively safe areas are often inhabited by junkies, so it’s not safe to go in without a couple of tough local guys. Sadly, I had to look from the street, however frustrating that was!

Detroit

Those street photographs have nothing special about them but I really like the light in them, I think it has a ‘Stephen Shore’ feel to it 🙂 I was lucky to have such beautiful ‘American dream technicolor’ light that contrasted with the general setting of urban decay. I would have liked to take more photographs of large freeways lined with abandoned buildings because outdoor photographs were safe enough to take, but sadly I had to give back the car to the day-job-colleague I was sharing it with. I hope to be able to go back for a proper art trip and be free of these frustrating limitations.

Detroit

Traffic lights dangling from a cable over a deserted street: an iconic ‘Twin Peaks’ image!

Detroit

The corridor from my hotel which reminded me of Kubrick’s ‘The Shining’.

Detroit

This is the ballroom from the hotel which for some reason caught my eye. It looked like a set from a Roy Andersson movie in its creepy blandness.

Detroit

The Mc Donald logo and Spangled banner juxtaposition is so very cliché, but I could not resist 🙂 (but WordPress does and censors the flag on the right !)

Detroit

The hotel, ubiquitous malls and 6 lane streets made me think a lot of Marc Augé’s book ‘No Places’ (‘Non lieux’).

January 31, 2011

‘Ghost House’ and ‘Disciplinary Institutions’ continued during Summer 2010

In June/July 2010, I went back to Ireland to shoot some more photographs and video footage for the ‘Ghost House’ and ‘Disciplinary Institutions’ projects. I mostly revisited previously explored locations; My aim was to try and rely less on the automatic settings of the cameras, make better use of the tripod, and generally be more thoughtful about my images. I have not looked at the video footage in depth yet, but for the photographs, the result were mixed. I did get some good images I did not get before, but some scenes I re-shot look no better in the newer, more worked versions than on the older version where I only specified the ISO and let the camera do the rest of the work.

This is a Ghost House in co. Galway that I visited in 2008. The first picture with the stairs is my favourite of everything I’ve made this year.

Ghost House

This is a Ghost House I saw from the road. I could not go inside because it was locked up, but I thought the exterior shot was very interesting because the walls appear to be bleeding.

'Bloody' Ghost House

I was granted authorisation to go into Woodlawn House, co. Galway. The house is empty and awaiting renovation but the elaborate interior architecture was enough to make interesting pictures.

Woodlawn House

I went back to the High Park Magdalene Laundry in Dublin, but I did not get much better pictures than last year.

Magdalene laundry, Dublin.

I went back to the Good Shepherd Magdalene Laundry in Cork and got better pictures, especially from the upstairs floors. Some of these photographs need to be straightened because my tripod was not straight on the uneven floor (I need to find out how to do that).

Magdalene laundry, Cork.

(The book says ‘Ecclesiastical Law’).

Magdalene laundry, Cork.

I also got more pictures from Eglington and St Kevin’s insane asylums in Cork.

Eglington insane asylum, Cork.

I found by chance a Magdalene Laundry in Kinsale, co. Cork. The building itself was gutted and being transformed into flats, but the inmates cemetery was still there at the back of the building site.

Magdalene Laundry Cemetery, Kinsale, co. Cork.

Our landlady also tipped me to go see Letterfrack Industrial School: Industrial Schools were the equivalent for boys of what Magdalene Laundries were for girls. The School is now a normal school, but an information panel in the hall tells the story of the former Industrial School and the inmates cemetery has been turned into a sort of memorial.

Of course, erecting memorials afterwards does not change anything for the victims, but the contrast between the tended memorial of the Industrial School and the rusty, abandoned graves of the Magdalenes made me bitter. The wrongs done to the little boys are at least publicly acknowledged and apologies are at least paid lip service to. But the Magdalenes do not even get this: the Catholic Church still refuses to acknowledge any wrong done to the Magdalenes, despite campaigns from inmates’ descendants, and public authorities are all to eager to eradicate the Magdalene Laundries from the face of the earth, turning them into overpriced apartments without as much as a commemorative plate. Seeing this contrast made me all the more determined in my project to document the Magdalene asylums.

$Letterfrack industrial school$

January 30, 2011

St John’s College Library, Cambridge.

Thanks to a friend librarian at St John’s College library, Cambridge, I was allowed to take pictures inside. I also wanted to make videos but I could not find any way to make travelling shots that were interesting and long enough, due to the layout of the bookcases. I wanted to make images in the atmosphere of Alain Resnais’ ‘Toute la mémoire du Monde’ but was a bit disappointed with the final result, due to the library layout that forbade any interesting shot apart from close ups, and light from the windows always causing reflections on the books.

This is the best picture I managed 🙁

St John's College Library, Cambridge.

I quite like this stairs picture though. I think it looks striking even though a bit cliche. Sometimes there is a simple reason why many artists end up repeating a standard picture: because it works!

St John's College Library, Cambridge.

January 30, 2011

‘Le Jardin aux Jouets’, Raw Art House in Gravelines, 59, France.

On my way to a David Lynch lithography exhibition last summer, I stumbled upon a Raw Art House in Gravelines, 59, France, and stopped to take pictures and videos. There was no sign and I could not talk to the owner, but I found out from the blog of Jean-Michel Chesné that this place is called ‘Le jardin aux Jouets’ (‘The toy Garden’) and the artist is Cyril Roussel, a retired slaughterhouse worker.

I have a long standing interest in Raw Art, especially in those artists that turn their whole house into their lifelong artwork. I feel this is the most literal illustration of how we reconstruct the outside world to match our inner world. What most people do secretly through secret imaginative play or repressed fantasies, Raw artists do it literally on a physical territory.

These photos are not ‘art’ because I’m merely documenting someone else’s art, however, I am interested in documenting what I call ‘Raw Houses’ (i.e. Raw Art shown in the artist’s house rather than in museums) as an ongoing documentary project.

Le jardin aux jouets.

January 30, 2011

Photographs from the Catacombes of Paris (December 2010)

In December 2010, I shot photographs and videos in the Catacombes of Paris. In the late 18th century and early 19th century, bones from the inner city cemeteries in Paris were transfered to disused quarries because overflowing cemeteries caused sanitary problems. Since then, The Paris catacombes have been a source of inspiration for literature and art.

Here are a few preview pictures. I have not done anything clever with the photographs and video footage yet. Some pictures have annoying shadows because the poor light conditions forced me to use a pocket lamp sometimes, even with very long exposure. I need to find a way to edit those unwanted shadows out (for example on the picture with the cross), possibly using a light gradient. Otherwise I think there is the potential to make some of these black and white pictures very striking by playing with the light and contrast. I am still unsure what to do with the video footage, other than a pure short documentary.

Catacombes

January 24, 2011

Sarah Turner – Perestroika

In Perestroika, filmmaker Sarah Turner uses documentary footage shot during a trip made on a Transiberian as an Art School student in December 1987-january 1988, and footage shot on the same trip repeated 20 years later. The film explores psychogeography, the unreliable nature of memory and the ambiguity between truth and fiction. The film contains a voice over spoken by a fictional character called Sarah Turner who both is and isn’t the film maker and addressed to ‘you’, who is Sarah’s friend who accompanied her on the first trip but is now dead. However, the use of ‘you’ gives the audience the ambiguous feeling that they are being addressed directly.

As the voice over monologue becomes increasingly hallucinated, psychic reality increasingly replaces documentary reality, culminating in an apocalyptic hallucination where Sarah believes the lake Baikal is on fire. In an interview with Sight and Sound, Sarah Turner explains: “I wanted the indexical and the uncanny to change places by the end of the film. I needed to believe in my stomach that that fictional character ‘Sarah Turner’ believed that the water was on fire. There are real facts of life within a fictional structure, but what is evidence, fact, and what is affect?”

I went to see the film at Cambridge Film Festival and she answered audience questions and commented further on her film. She considers that ‘memory is as much fiction as it is fact’ and the film was a ‘conscious decision to play with the space of fact and fiction’. ‘Everyone that makes some kind of artwork uses their emotional experiences and connects them to the real world.’

About the use of autobiographical material, she considers that the 1987-1988 footage has a quality of ‘unknowing naïvete’: in 1987-88, Sarah Turner realised only after a day that the camera captured sound. So when the students talk among themselves on the recording, they don’t know they are being recorded. Today we are used to the constant presence of cameras, we constantly perform for them. Turner calls our attitudes resulting from our constant expectation to be watched a ‘register of performativity’.

Sarah Turner also seems interested in cinema as a social phenomenon. She considers that, nowadays, ‘our experience of the world is mediated by lenses’. Cinema is ‘a social experience that we have anonymously’, ‘a collective emotional experience, that actually also occurs in public transport’, which she links to her interest in trains. ‘The only two places where people sleep in public are trains and cinemas’.

This idea of constant surveillance is echoed in the sound design where the recurring sound of a shutter clicking symbolises ‘the violence of photography’. Sarah Turner worked on the sound design herself and ‘all the sound in the film is recorded by the tape in situ, including the music’ (people were actually singing in the Church).

Commenting on audience engagement with artworks, Turner considers that ‘the most active experience is reading a novel where people project their own canvas on the frame provided by the author’.

She also gave a technical about how to shoot landscape from a train: one needs to ‘focus beyond the dirt on the window’.

I was interested in this film because of the themes of psychogeography and truth/fiction ambiguity which echo my own concerns, but also because it is an ‘artist film’ almost entirely made by one person with just a bit of technical help from others. It made me wonder how I could introduce some form of narrative in my video art while still continuing to shoot documentary/unstaged footage.

January 21, 2011

Robert Polidori: photographing interiors as ‘metaphors for states of being’

Via 2010 MA graduate Esmeralda Munoz Torrero, I was introduced to the concept of ‘late photography’ as coined by David Campany in his book ‘Safety in Numbness: Some Remarks on the Problems of “Late Photography”’ (2003). ‘Late photography’ record the consequences of events after they have happened, their aftermath.

Of particular interest to me was the work of Canadian photographer Robert Polidori who photographed houses devastated by flood waters in his series ‘New Orleans after the flood’.He also took photographs of the abandoned buildings in the no man’s land around Chernobyl/Pripyat, the Chateau de Versailles under renovation and grand buildings of La Havana left to slowly decay.

I was first drawn to his visual style, with very vivid yet slightly faded colours, with a kind of ‘technicolor’ feel to them, not the type of strong colours you get in commercial photography. His pictures are both very sharp and detailed, yet they contained ambiguous shadows. This is exactly the type of visual feel I try to achieve myself, a feel I describe as cinematic. Indeed, Polidori works exclusively with natural light and long exposures, the way I do. He says that ‘the grammar of [his] pictorialism comes from pre-Renaissance and Renaissance perspective’. As a joke, Polidori compares his use of long exposure to spirit photography because he too aims to ‘reveal an inner truth’.

In an interview with artinfo, Polidori explains how the visual style of his images, including their high level of details, is crafted to emotionally involve the viewer:

‘ When images are soft, they just remain evocative, or in your imagination. You get a mood, and it remains on the emotional level. The viewer has to put more of him or herself into it. When there is more detail, it’s like that old expression: There’s no fiction stranger than reality. Reality will compose the most extreme paradoxes and contradictions and adjacencies, which can’t be understood.
So detail gives you more mental work to do. There are more things to look at, which suggest more and more questions. All that mood is still there anyway, so it’s like the double-punch effect. It’s a question of keeping the mind occupied while the emotions are being silently manipulated on the back burner.’

I absolutely loved this concept of camouflaging emotional manipulation aimed at the viewer behind an apparently straightforward, documentary style, making it all the more efficient that it is surreptitious.

Polidori also explains his interest in photographing interiors:

‘I’m interested in interiors, and I have been for a long time, simply because they’re indices of individuals’ personal values. They tell you a lot about the individual. Like I’ve said before, to me interiors are both metaphors and catalysts for states of being. You can take a portrait of somebody, and you might have a feeling looking at their face, but you know less things about them by looking at their face than you do when you look at the way that they compose their own interior space. What interests me are their values.’ He compares his work to that of ‘collecting evidence, like a detective looking to solve a case’.

That’s exactly how I feel about my Ghost House series: what fascinates me is trying to put back together the lives of their former inhabitants, gues who they were based on the belongings they left behind.

In an interview with Bombsite Polidori explains that he first became interested in rooms after reading a book about the Pythagorean School, where students would memorize empty rooms as a mnemonic aid to memorize events: rooms were turned into ‘a locus for memory’. Polidori himself views rooms as ‘ metaphors for states of being’.

He is particularly interested in derelict buildings because they hold more memories: ‘the rooms that are devastated by time are the ones that have the most traces. The brand-new, fabricated rooms only have graphic qualities. They don’t really have any soul to them.’

What interested him in his photographs of Versailles under restoration was the concept of ‘historical revisionism’: ‘when you choose to restore a certain room as it was in a certain period, the period you choose is based on your contemporary worldview. Each point of view of the present has its harmonics in the past.’ The Palace told as much about France of the Mitterrand years as it did about the times when it was built. He explains ‘what we are looking at in these museum restorations is the society’s superego, what a society thinks of itself, and how it thinks it should be seen by itself’.

He then widens the concept to relate it to the rest of his work: ‘this is what individuals do to a room. Again this same theme. It’s the exteriorization of the soul life or of personal values. What we have affixed on these walls is the superego, in the Jungian sense.’

I found this idea that a room reflects the philosophical values of its inhabitants fascinating. I think this is a similar concern that draws me to the religious imagery found in the Ghost Houses, what they say about the world-view of their former inhabitants. In the context of the Magdalene laundries, this religious imagery takes a darker undertone, when one contrasts the message of Jesus with the arbitrary imprisonment of innocent girls. Here indeed, we find society’s Superego, the values it claims to follow, clashing with the actual actions.

In an interview where he defends his New Orleans series, Polidori states in conclusion ‘it is an unforgiving fact that we are all born and die alone in this world. I consider it as the definition of the human condition.’

All in all, I think Robert Polidori is the photographer I feel closest to among all the artists I discovered in my research, both on the visual and philosophical levels.

Link to Photo Gallery: http://www.life.com/image/first/in-gallery/51801/robert-polidori-points-between

Versailles

Velours Frappé, Salles Du XVIIème, Versailles 1985. All images courtesy of the artist.

Marat De David, RDC, Aile Du Midi, Versailles 1985.

New Orleans: After the Flood

Robert Polidori, “2732 Orleans Avenue, New Orleans, Louisiana, September 2005”

Robert Polidori, “5000 Cartier Avenue, New Orleans, Louisiana, September 2005”

“Industrial Canal breach, Reynes Street, New Orleans, September 2005”

“2520 Deslondes, New Orleans, March 2006”

“1923 Lamanche Street, New Orleans, March 2006”

“5417 Marigny Street, New Orleans, Louisiana, March 2006”

Cuba

Calle Cardenas 27, Cantro Habana, Havana (2002)

Sala Alejo Carpentier, Gran Teatro de la Habana, Habana Vieja, Havana (2000)

Chernobyl and Pripyat

Unit 4 Control Room (June 6-9, 2001)

Classroom in Kindergarten #7, “Golden Key.” Pripyat. (June 6-9, 2001)

Operating Room in Hospital #126, Pripyat. (June 6-9, 2001)

Cafeteria in School #5, Pripyat. (June 6-9, 2001)

Waiting room in hospital #126, Pripyat. (June 6-9, 2001)

Hallway in School #5, Pripyat. (June 6-9, 2001)

January 21, 2011

‘Flâneur’ vs. ‘Dérive’

The ‘Flâneur’ (approximatively equivalent to ‘roamer’, ‘wanderer’) was invented by Baudelaire and was a key figure in late 19th century and early 20th century decadent literary movement. It is a gentleman who strolls the city in order to experience it, as a detached, gently cynical observer. The flâneur is a passive figure, he observes the dynamics of the city from a disengaged point of view. Baudelaire called the flâneur ‘a botanist of the sidewalk’.

The Surrealists reused the concept, putting a greater emphasis on the role of random chances in the activity of ‘flânerie’. The Surrealist version of the flâneur was to devise experiments involving randomness and chances in order to experience the city without being blinded by mundanity. For example, follow beautiful female strangers across the city, or visit a city while guiding oneself using the map of another city. The ultimate Surrealist goal was to reach a higher level of truth by attaining the point where ‘reality’ and ‘surreality’ converge. By playing with random occurrences while strolling the city, the surrealist flâneur expected to gain a higher awareness of the city, beyong immediate reality. Therefore, the Surrealist flâneur is already a more active explorer than its decadent ancestor.

In ‘Theory of the Derive’, Guy Debord defines the concept of the ‘Dérive’ which he explicitly defines as opposed to ‘different from the classic notions of journey or stroll’. The ‘dérive [literally: “drifting”]’ is ‘a technique of rapid passage through varied ambiances’ that ‘involves playful-constructive behaviour and awareness of psychogeographical effects’. The participants of a Dérive must ‘let themselves be drawn by the attractions of the terrain and the encounters they find there. Chance is a less important factor in this activity than one might think: from a dérive point of view cities have psychogeographical contours, with constant currents, fixed points and vortexes that strongly discourage entry into or exit from certain zones.’ A Dérive implies the ‘domination of psychogeographical variations by the knowledge and calculation of their possibilities’. This phrasing has connotations of the scientific explorer, almost of the military strategist. Indeed, Debord compares the mindset of the Dérive to those of the ‘ecological science’, and the act of ‘Dérive’ is a tool in the Situationists’ revolutionary project.

Debord explicitly takes position against letting chance take a too important role in a Dérive, because ‘the action of chance is naturally conservative and in a new setting tends to reduce everything to habit or to an alternation between a limited number of variants. Progress means breaking through fields where chance holds sway by creating new conditions more favourable to our purposes.’