So,
after missing out last week, I now have two weeks to catch up on; mostly
centering on watching films and indulging in tv shows whilst sitting in the
sun. Surprisingly, some art was made, and even more surprisingly some art was
actually seen.
Focusing
in on the art making for a moment, a few works are now in development, some
more promising than others; with most of them visualising simple ideas that
have been had, cobbling together some sort of narrative in my head and simply
putting something together.
I
– sort of – combined both the copyright project together with the Vaporwave
music idea. Taking all of the previously gathered footage from the top music
videos on YouTube, I then proceeded to overlay a Muzak soundscape on top; basically
elevator music, smooth jazz, etc. This is used to highlight how the music
videos are basically all the same; incredibly generic, dull and catering to a
mass audience, alongside the music that usually accompanies these videos. They’re
songs that are subconsciously played at a party, as it’s something that
everyone knows or turned up on the radio and isn’t turned off automatically.
Now
that the piece is basically finished I need to consider how to install the video
in an installation. This could manifest simply as a laptop on a bland desk;
something that can be distorted and changed. A more interesting approach would
be to imbed the video in a stereotypical person’s room who would listen to the original
music. Ironically, this is probably everyone who has had access to a computer,
due to the extortionate view count on the original YouTube clips. I’m currently
envisioning the installation (or set) that Jon Rafman created for the video
work Sticky Drama of the teenage boys’
room. Obviously minus all the weirdness, but a simple child’s room would work I
think. Maybe I need to ask someone if I can use their room for an ‘in situ’
photograph; although I don’t want to be too stereotypical… I’ll look into it. For
now, the video can be found here: https://vimeo.com/173250243
The title is ‘consume’ in Japanese, referencing the many links to Japanese
culture within the Vaporwave genre.
Another
work that’s manifested itself this week was due in part to the lack of good quality
internet at my home. For some reason or another the 3G and signal completely
cuts out every now and then, which ultimately leads to anarchy in the
household. In order to gain signal on my phone, I went for a walk to see if I
could find any ‘bars’. I discovered that about 100 metres into a field behind
my house there was a small singular bar available. Throughout the day I
returned to this spot every hour or so. During one of these trips I took a
photograph which I uploaded to Instagram with the caption ‘the internet is
down.’ This formed part of an installation that I created later that day whilst
the internet was still down. It reminds me a lot of the work that Evan Roth’s
been doing recently; getting closer to the internet by visiting the various
sites where fiber optic cables come out of the ocean to connect to the land.
The act of journeying out of my house in order to connect with people over the
internet was really interesting to me, mixing the real with the virtual. I
decided to display the original Instagram photograph on my iPhone, alongside a
bundle of dying Rapeseed plants, which is included in the photograph. Combining
the real and the virtual once again, the dying plant combined with the image which
will never die; as long as the phone is kept on charge. I think it was a fun
mini project. You can see the finished work on my website here: http://www.bobbicknell-knight.com/#/the-internet-is-down/
Another
video based work that was made in the last few weeks looks at the continuing
advances in AI technology. Instead of looking at that from ‘now’ however, the
video takes the viewpoint from someone in the past, considering what’s to come.
This is a slight extension of my video work from earlier on in the year Utopian Realism. Although it takes a
different form, I feel that it has the same time stamp being put upon it,
reflecting on the future to come from someone in the past. Although in saying
that, this aspect of the work isn’t very apparent in either works, apart from being
subtly hinted at by way of the software used/the films being referenced. I
could take a very didactic approach to this work, creating a narrator among
other things, but as of yet I don’t feel quite ‘up’ to that. For the moment
this new video contains two clips, the backdrop contains footage from Videodrome; a film that considers the horrors
of television and new media and how they corrupt the body and soul. The particular
clip features James Woods as Max Renn seductively stroking a television screen.
Overlaid on top is a found YouTube video, showing a man apparently having sex
with a computer. For the moment there are two iterations of the video, one with
Computer Love by Kraftwerk happening
in the background, and one without. The videos can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrxjSHM2zn0
and here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pM5wzJigBa8
The title references the classic scene in Titanic, you know the one.
Yet
again, I’m unsure of how to display this work. It would definitely work to show
it on an old style television accompanied by David Cronenberg esque props. Or
maybe that’s continuing on with that theme a little too much. I need to think
about this a little and consider it some more. For now, the videos are there
for anyone to view.
Another
piece that’s currently in progress is going to be looking at the difference
between the virtual and the real once again, considering the dying environment
and the seemingly invincible nature of the virtual. For the moment, the plan is
to harness two of my huge screens, with a video showing a tree being cut down
on one whilst on the other a virtual tree, swaying in the wind. It would be
interesting to add in a dialogue, considering the tree or the environment,
maybe taking a passage from a book or something. I’m unsure as of yet, but it
would be great to actually do something like that, as I’m yet to actually attempt
it. This will develop as time goes on.
I’ve
been continuing to apply for things regularly, with one such application
requiring ‘abstract video work’. None of my video pieces are that abstract, so
I decided to make a purely aesthetic video using various assets from the
internet. You can see the video here, not my best work, but a submission
nonetheless: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhaG-8UJSEI
Those
are some of the things I’ve been working on alongside going to ‘British Art
Show 8’ in Norwich, which actually had some fantastic work. It’s a huge show,
spanning three different venues throughout the city, with about ten incredible
works to see. One of my favourites was Yuri Pattinson’s installation that
contained a video work alongside a bitcoin mining machine. The video showed
these machines being made at a farm in China whilst the machine IRL continued to
mine for coins in real time. It was a very good piece and made me very excited
to go and see his solo show at Chisenhale Gallery.
Another
favourite was Rachel Maclean’s long form film Feed Me. Like most of her films, it was political, distressing and
incredibly well done with a sickly sheen of sparkles and saturation. The sheer
amount of green screen involved in her works is astonishing and hugely
impressive. Just the amount of work being put in is awe inspiring, not to mention
the quality of the content involved in these complex masterpieces. Unfortunately,
I wasn’t able to watch the whole thing as it was an hour long and only teaser
trailers are available online; maybe I should go back at some point to watch the
whole thing. Is it worth it?
Other
high quality works included various sculptures and creations by Ryan Gander.
These were all very clever and ‘solid’ works as usual, with my favourites being
a series of works titled The way things
collide, familiar objects in seemingly random pairings protruding
half-formed from wooden bases; very slick and refined.
Laure
Prouvost had a really exciting installation which made participation non-negotiable.
The room that you walked into acted like a living organism, with various
appliances turning on and off to a steady rhythm accompanied by a ghostly voice
confronting the viewer. I’m really enjoying her recent works, especially the
installation A Way To Leak, Lick, Leek,
with the floor distortions being a high point for me.
Melanie
Gilligan’s series of video works coming under the banner of The Common Sense was kind of
interesting, a drama set in a fictional future world where you wear a device
called ‘the Patch’ that allows you to rate and review everything; showing your
feelings with a click of a button. I enjoyed the premise, but it was badly put
together, with the acting not as good as it should have been alongside some
very weak special effects. It was made even more painful as these ideas have
been looked into in high quality tv dramas like Black Mirror or any number of sci-fi films, with a lot better
acting and a fully realised storyline. I enjoyed the premise but was
disappointed by the outcome.
Benedict
Drew’s crazed installation was visually impressive but didn’t give me any
substance to hang on to. Lots of things but not a lot of ideas; saying that
though, it was a very impressive thing to actually see.
That
was the one and only art based show that I went to. Other than that I’ve been slowly
working my way through some tv shows. After finishing Curb Your Enthusiasm (which I highly recommend) I went onto watch Seinfeld, which is not as good, but
still funny. It feels like one of ‘those shows’ that everyone knows, like Friends but for a previous generation.
The theme song is now my ringtone, which is also Jon Rafman’s. I’m eagerly
awaiting the return of Bojack Horseman
and Mr. Robot, so Seinfeld will do for the time being.
I
also began watching Knight Rider, a
combination of total shit and hilarity. I’m unsure if I can continue on or not...
The
past two weeks on isthisit? have been
quite successful, with week #10 showing work by Kez Dearmer and Eden
Mitsenmacher. I feel that Deamer’s simple pastel piece reflecting on life and
the various colours that become prominent when summer occurs worked well with Mitsenmacher’s
video, focusing in on the hand and how it’s used to dream, and escape ‘to the
woods’. Check it out here: http://isthis.wix.com/isthisit#!10/e6o4j
This
week, #11, has a soundscape by Mel Azevedo accompanying some images by William
Dalton. The soundscape was created by recording the various sounds in Oxford
Circus; capturing the highpoint of consumerism and capitalism. Dalton’s images
show him touching the tallest buildings in London, bringing them down to a
human level of interaction whilst kind of admiring their beautiful structural
integrity. Both consider wealth and monetary value, so I thought they would
work well together. Check this week out here: http://isthis.wix.com/isthisit
I’ve
been watching many films too, mostly great with the rare instance of utter
boredom. One of my favourites was A
Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence. It was just so absurd,
making you constantly think ‘what the fuck is happening?’ and over analysing
everything that’s going on. Anything I say at this point can’t do it any
justice; just go and watch it, it’s so worth it.
One
of the failures was Warcraft: The
Beginning, a film that didn’t really give me anything. From what I can remember
a battle happened, someone betrayed someone else and there was a baby, with no
real explanation as to why it was so important. That is literally what I got
from the film; the plot was terrible alongside some characters which weren’t
really likeable or interesting. I know I’m not the target audience (having
never played the MMO before) but you have to give something to non-players. The
really annoying thing for me is that Duncan Jones could have been working on an
original project during this time. I love Moon
and Source Code so much that I
just felt betrayed by this director. I think I was just disappointed…
Green Room
was incredibly ‘visceral’ and ‘raw’, buzzwords that sum up Jeremy Saulnier’s
previous film Blue Ruin alongside
this newer, more dramatic release. The premise is basic, with a group of musicians
being trapped in a green room, but the layers are slowly peeled back with
amateur violence and some fairly good acting. I look forward to his next
project.
Tom
Hiddleston in I Saw the Light made
the film for me. His acting is always incredible, really encompassing the various
characters that he portrays. Elizabeth Olsen was also pretty great, but never
really being able to surpass her role in Martha
Marcy May Marlene, but still good nonetheless. It’s also always vaguely
enjoyable to learn about things that I only know a little about, obviously this
isn’t a ‘pure’ biography, but still…
I
was surprised by the fact that I hadn’t seen Galaxy Quest, which was quite fun. It was a nice, family friendly film
that slightly surprised me. It was fun and that’s about all I can ask for.
Repo Man
was interesting to say the least. I don’t really know what I saw, be it a
comedy, be it a sci-fi or a mixture of the two. It became slightly nonsensical
as it continued on, but it wasn’t unwatchable. I just had no real idea as to
what was actually happening; a weird 80s film.
I
was kind of disappointed by Me Before You,
all the controversy surrounding it made it seem a lot more interesting and ‘edgy’
than it actually was. It’s the fact that it’s a PG film, so it doesn’t actually
confront any of the intricacies of being disabled. Obviously there are PG films
out there which are interesting and have a very real message, but this was just
kind of dull, with some really bad dialogue. Although I’m a fan of Emilia
Clarke in Game of Thrones, in this
her acting was just terrible. This may be because of the drastic tonal shift
between the two characters that she’s known for, but bearing that in mind, I
just couldn’t cope. To be honest, I didn’t really get the controversy
surrounding it, but I’m not disabled in any way, so that may be just me being
ignorant... Instead of the film saying that ‘every disabled person is better
off dead’ it’s preaching that everyone is unique and is able to make their own decisions,
rather than being forced to do something or be someone that you don’t actually
want to be. That’s just my view of a below average film, that probably got more
people going to see the it because of the controversy that was surrounding it.
Girlhood
was very good, with really great performances by the main characters alongside
a vaguely original story. You get to see a really interesting transformation of
Marieme (the protagonist) over the course of the film, from shy teenager to a
high class drug dealer. I was thoroughly captivated throughout the film, which
would make a great accompaniment to Boyhood
(an obvious statement but still worthwhile).
I’m
disappointed in myself that I watched Marauders.
I wanted something with guns, something with action. Basically, I wanted Jason Bourne to be released a month earlier.
I don’t know what I was expecting, Bruce Willis being one of the leads should
have hinted at how bad the film was going to be. There’s two hours I won’t be
getting back…
Sing Street
was lovely, a PG film that actually took the young people who would be watching
it seriously. It all just made you smile, the 80s music, the situations, the
yearning to get away from your childhood home. It was a good, solid film.
Z for Zachariah
was kind of basic, some basic acting alongside a slightly simple plot line. It
was maybe too simple for its own good; I understand what it was trying to do, I
just didn’t like what it was trying to do. It was okay, it passed the time, but
is that really a compliment?
Cold Souls
was another weird one, a nice premise stretched to 100 minutes with a very
confused plot. I wasn’t fully convinced. I wanted it to be more Being John Malkovich than it was, I just
wanted it to be more overtly something. It was missing that something that I
can’t quite comprehend, but it was missing it nonetheless.
The Lawnmower Man
was more interesting idea wise than anything (virtual reality, etc). It felt a
lot like Hackers; film makers exploring
aspects of life with either not enough knowledge or just too soon in various
technologies life spans. It was fun, obviously slightly dated (1992) but I
appreciated it for what it was at the time.
The
final film was Elvis & Nixon. A
film whose main actors acceded the quite basic premise and plot line. It felt
like they’d been paid a lot of money to be there. That’s not to say the acting
was bad, just the idea. Based on a photograph of Elvis shaking Nixon’s hand,
the movie poses the question of what happened when these two ‘super powers’ met
in 1970. It was light and enjoyable, just not what you really want from the two
incredible leads.
Now,
onto video games. A fair few have been played in the past two weeks and although
I don’t like to ‘overload’ on these things, the interactive medium is really
great sometimes; with amazing interactive stories and moments of pure enjoyment.
The
first game on the list coming under the banner of ‘pure dumb enjoyment’ is the
rebooted version of Doom. The combat is
so fun and fluid that there’s never a dull moment, accompanied by a bare bones
story that attempts to keep out of the players’ way. Highly recommended.
Another
game that’s ‘just for fun’ was OlliOlli2:
Welcome to Olliwood. An incredibly technical game that’s extremely intuitive
and very satisfying to complete. It requires nimble hands and quick thinking, with
similarities to Hotline Miami in
terms of how frustrated one can get in the lead up to the completion of a
level. The moment of euphoria that you encounter when you finally finish a
level that you’ve repeated countless times is a satisfying pay off and the
soundtrack that accompanies these various failures is also brilliant, tying
everything together perfectly.
Returning
to a younger self, I played the rebooted version of the first Ratchet and Clank
game. The whole thing is kind of a love letter to the original, which I’m
completely happy with. It was like I was transported back to a 10-year-old
version of myself, which is just a lovely feeling altogether. The visuals are
great alongside a new-ish story. I think I still prefer the original, which will
always be a favourite of mine.
I
also played the single player of Battlefield Hardline. It was just dull and
kind of unimaginative, yet again I wanted more from it, but it’s hard to expect
anything from a First Person Shooter focused on multiplayer as its main draw…
The
final game that I’m continuing to play is The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. I’m yet to
fully get into it, but if it’s anything like the first two games in the series I
know I’m in for a good time, alongside all the 5 star reviews that adorn the
various trailers for the game.
I
think that’s my two weeks; mostly spent doing nothing at all, slowly melting
into various rugs in the garden, but I feel like that’s okay sometimes. It’s
nice to relax and not think about things sometimes. Not all the time, but
sometimes… In the coming week I hope to continue the video works that I’m
thinking about, as well as finally starting on the video game creation maybe,
if it’s not too sunny outside. I’m also going to Latitude Festival, so
hopefully some art will be seen then, alongside listening to some good music,
although the majority of the music is about 5 years out of date for me. I guess
I’ll wait and see…
Enjoi.
Instagram:
bob.bk1
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