When one stands in silence..
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.
Information please..
I have made some progress with my work. Much of my time has been spent finding and gaining access to places in order to photograph the examples I found. It’s proven to be quite challenging, and a lot of the time I received a very straightforward No in response to my inquires. I must say though, I enjoyed and am still enjoying the challenge.
With regards to what I have managed to photograph, some have been successful and others not so successful. This is primarily due to technicalities as I am working within a specific aesthetic end in order to effectively bring across the conceptual. The significance of composition, distance from subject and surroundings have been reinforced over the course of the last few weeks, and I have tried to remain consistent with these elements in order for this project to be successful as a series. Although this strict approach has limited my choices, I feel that those that do match up are a lot stronger. I have posted two examples of what I have managed to photograph thus far. I’m posting the first to simply display as an example of the access I managed to gain. Photographically I hate it.
One of the references I have come across in my research is the book Information Please, in which the author, Mark Poster, discusses an approach to these information machines (as he calls them), similar to the one that I am taking with this project. He has a whole section in which he discusses Freud’s idea of the body as an input-output machine, and adapts this theory to our modern day ‘intercourse with information machines.’ He comments on Freud’s idea that as one grows one is influenced by objects towards ‘which to orient the release of desire (object choice), or [to] incorporate the object into his or her own psycho (identification).’ This takes place at the stage in which the “Ego” emerges, which for Freud was the crucial aspect of a child’s development. This process of identification was limited to the smallest possible circle of others: the immediate parents. The social nexus of Freud’s study ‘thus figured the child in relation to a small circle of adults, organizing the child’s libido in relation to these adults.’ The controlled conditions under which this study had taken place are no longer relevant to today, in which (as Poster correctly highlights), these machines we interact with are serving to reprogramme this development of the ego by acting as objects of desire, or identification. Later in the chapter he comments that ‘these objects of mechanical reproduction alter social relations by substituting machine mediation for face-face relations. They reconfigure space by altering the relation of the public sphere and the private sphere, [thus] altering the configuration of the subject.’
It is not my goal to add any emotional subjectivity to the project as I intend for it to be a study. However, Poster’s use of the (apparently true) short story about a boy and a telephone operator in the introduction of his book is very effective in setting the tone for what follows. I encourage you to read it. It’s not very long at all, and is quite touching. It’s called Information Please, and here is a segement:
The telephone! Quickly, I ran for the footstool in the parlor and dragged it to the landing. Climbing up, I unhooked the receiver and held it to my ear. “Information Please,” I said into the mouthpiece just above my head. A click or two, and a small clear voice spoke into my ear. “Information.” “I hurt my fingerrr-” I wailed into the phone. The tears came readily enough now that I had an audience. “Isn’t your mother home?” came the question. “Nobody’s at home but me,” I blubbered. “Are you bleeding?”. “No”, I replied. “I hit it with the hammer and it hurts”. “Can you open your icebox?” she asked. I said I could. “Then chip off a little piece of ice and hold it on your finger. That will stop the hurt. Be careful when you use the ice pick,” she admonished. “And don’t cry. You’ll be alright”.
Controlling you, Controlling me
I have received a new project from University; the brief can be found here and below is my proposal outlining my approach.
Title: Entfremdung
The key question that I will be looking at is: does a notion of society imply or even require that there be a relationship of control and/or power between persons, between citizens and a government, between subjects and a law?
The angle at which I’m going to be approaching this question is one that attempts to study the increasing alienation of man in society and the diminution of human interaction. In addition, I will illustrate the increasingly disconnected manner in which we appear to be ‘controlled’ by third parties completely devoid of empathy. Although currently specific to technology and mechanization, I wish to make my use of the term third parties broad, perhaps including other elements that demonstrate my approach. The use of the word control will not always be linked to that of a government, but also to the way in which we have come to lead our lives.
My hope for the outcome of this project is to explore the parallels in the way in which we control nature and our micromanagement of society. Through this I will attempt to make the familiar, strange and unfamiliar. To quote Viktor Shklovsky who developed the concept of defamiliarization in literature:
“The purpose of art is to impart the sensation of things as they are perceived and not as they are known. The technique of art is to make objects ‘unfamiliar’, to make forms difficult, to increase the difficulty and length of perception because the process of perception is an aesthetic end in itself and must be prolonged. Art is a way of experiencing the artfulness of an object; the object is not important.”
I am employing two references to illustrate particular goals of my project. The first – from which I primarily draw visual influences – is the work of J Bennett Fitts, in particular his Industrial Landscaping series. Here is a selection of his photographs that interest me:
[My interpretation] In the above photographs, Fitts visually demonstrates his ability to evoke an awareness of our control of nature by isolating its’ elements against a backdrop of rigidly smooth industrial architecture and design. For me, the juxtaposition of the two provides an insightful glimpse into the relationship between man and nature, and the absence of any human presence within the images highlights the disconnected manner in which many of us have come to structure and lead our lives. A description of an exhibition of this work by the Kopeikin gallery, describes the trees as “afterthoughts, isolated representations of nature thrown in for good measure.” What strikes me the most is the simplicity of the work; the style relates to the content and works beautifully. For my project I want to adopt certain aspects of this style – particularly the focus on the odd placement of trees – and apply it to my attempt to visually isolate examples of objects that represent the apparent mechanization of society and diminishing social interaction. By placing them in the context of being the odd one out, my goal therein is to make technology – on which these examples are based – seem foreign.
My second reference, photographer Tyran Simon, is in relation to content. Her most recent work, An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar, goes hand in hand with the above when thinking about my approach to Entfremdung. Here are a few examples:
Avian Quarantine Facility
Cryopreservation Unit, Cryonics Institute, Clinton Township, Michigan
U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Contraband Room
With this highly ambitious and successfully executed project, Simon brings to the forefront of our attention that which is not known or rarely seen, creating – as the body is aptly named – an “..index of the hidden and unfamiliar.” The examples of the illusive and the unknown depicted within this piece – gaining access to which took up 90% of the time spent working on this project – are perfect in the context of the work. I take strength from this project in the sense that I also seek to find as strong examples for mine as she has done for hers. However, my content will consist not of what is hidden and unfamiliar, but that which is familiar and integral (if you will) to the functioning of society as we know it today. As mentioned, I will then attempt to make these objects unfamiliar. My only limitation is the time frame within which I have been given to work (Deadline, December 2nd), which might inhibit me from having enough time to gain permission to photograph some of the more extreme examples I have come across (1). I am however very excited about the possibilities that this brief presents.
Feedback is welcomed and appreciated.
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