Thoughts, Findings and Research

Academically this term’s projects have come to an end. I didn’t score as highly as I had hoped to when I started on this, although over the last few weeks I had begun to anticipate this. I often get too involved in my research and as a result my attention was focused too much on the conceptual and less on the technical. I need to start finding a balance.  Also, a last minute decision meant that I displayed this piece as an installation and I didn’t have enough time to properly explore this aspect. As for the project, it still very much interests me and for the moment it will be shelved. Whether or not I continue it at some point remains to be seen. Below is the image I used along with my project appraisal.

Through an adaptation of defamiliarization, I will attempt to visually isolate examples of automation in pre-existing environments. Using the power of physical presence within a space as a metaphor for functionality and purpose, my project is a study on the configuration of social structure and interaction around these objects. The aim therein is to present these examples as singularities and question their relevance as participants in the mechanics of society. By means of renewed representation I want to encourage a conscious awareness of their existence and invite the viewer to re-establish a relationship with them.

In the above example, via an observation of optical stanzas, I sought to break down the visual sentence of the scene, much like the structure found in poetry in which only the essentials would be used to convey distance and alienation. The poem The Red Wheel Barrow, by W.C. Williams is a good example. For this reason, absolute attention was paid to its lighting, surroundings and colours  in order to achieve a sense of simplicity. With consideration given to the immediate, I aim to advance a heightened sensitivity to the things we interact with today.

In order for this to take place, the way in which the viewer encounters the work is essential. When displaying my current progress, I took influence from Anish Kapoor when considering the locationing of the piece. His use of object placement in relation to space is effective in creating mood and atmosphere; something that I had to take into account. The area I chose is secluded and darkened, and with the image being the only source of light, it is able to cast its gaze into this space. The result is the viewer stepping down and into an environment largely dominated by, and constructed through its presence. A life-size transparency of the image placed on a lightbox – à la Jeff Wall – and then mounted into the wall, is the predominate method in which this should be displayed and effectively viewed. Naturally, the area would need to be bigger and more accommodating for this.

Through a development in my on-going research, the focus of this project has shifted from an emphatic preoccupation with what and why, to a more broad and conversant how. By incorporating aspects, such as Freud’s study on the development of the Ego via association to – and interaction with – objects and surroundings into my frame of reference and applying them to today, I plan to take more informed steps.

Although this framework within which I have come to function has helped direct me, it has also narrowed the margin for error and visual deviation. The specificity of this approach forced the display of only one image. Ultimately, I plan to make this a series spread across a number of areas for viewers to engage with, and – supported by the availability of a comprehensive summary of my research – consider.