So,
it’s been two weeks. Two weeks of art, one week of uni and one day of Frieze.
It’s been an interesting time, thinking about new work and simply experiencing
a new studio, which will take some time to get used to. Even though a lot of my
work is created through the screen of my laptop, the environment that I’m
within is very important to me, as it is with everyone it’s safe to assume.
New
work is being generated, including some 3D printing which is very exciting!
This first piece looks at the ‘Spiny Shell’ (or Blue Shell) from Mario Kart.
The Spiny Shell is an item that one picks up on their journey traversing the
tracks of the various Mario Kart games, particularly when they’re lagging
behind the other racers. In early iterations of the game, the weapon is fired
from the back of the race, and sent hurtling forwards towards the player at the
front of the race, flipping other racers over if they happen to be in the
middle of the track. When the shell finally gets to the front, the player in 1st
place is flipped over and paralysed for several seconds, hopefully ruining
their entire race in the process, going from 1st to 2nd
and sometimes slipping into 3rd. Of course one can dodge or get away
from the shell, but this takes skill and practice. In a book I’ve been reading
titled How to Talk about Videogames,
Ian Bogost talks about how the spiny shell is ‘the most profound existentialist
element of the Mario cannon’, as it goes against everything the player has
learned through the other objects in the Mario universe. I was intrigued by
this statement, and was interested by how Bogost later talked about how the
blue shell is like a trump card, the trump card of life, that the skilled can
dodge and rise higher up in the ranks whilst the lesser in life will fall by
the wayside, just missing that promotion or job application deadline. The blue
shell is a symbol of chaos, where anything can happen. I decided to 3D print a
blue shell, attempting to capture this chaotic, ‘anything can happen’ idea that
people silently say to themselves as they fall asleep at night. Unfortunately,
taking away the item from the screen of your television in order to preserve it
as a sculpture does the exact opposite of that. Now the shell is frozen in
time, kind of like a trophy that has no real aim but to be looked at. I chose
to 3D print the item in an attempt to stay as ‘digital’ as possible, hopefully keeping
the relationship with the screen, containing some of that chaos that’s so
interesting. The sculpture could be viewed as an idea of what society is like
today, contained within their own shell, similar to how in The Truman Show Jim
Carrey is contained within a bubble of his own, surveilled existence. When the
shell arrives, I’m still unsure of whether I will paint it or not, or keep it
in the pristine white condition that it’s going to arrive in. I’m also thinking
of showing it beside a screen grab from the 1996 original Mario Kart, a
captured moment of when a player is about to be hit by the shell, before the
chaos ensures, or the lack of chaos if they happen to ‘dodge the bullet’. I’m
still unsure. For now, I’m waiting for the 6cm³ shell to be deposited into my mail
box.
Another work that I’m in the process of
creating, one that I’m not fully sure of, is a video piece utilising footage captured
by me on my PlayStation 4 of The Witcher 3. In the original 15 minute clip the
character, Geralt, is shown to be repeatedly killing a cyclops, enacting a
glitch where you sleep every time after you kill the monster, and then respawns
again and again and again. I took this footage and then cut up the clip and put
it into a grid-like experience, where every time the cyclops is killed another,
different video, of the cyclops being killed pops up, until the whole screen is
filled with the same beast being killed multiple times. This work looks into
the repetitive game mechanics involved within video games, as well as the idea
of the glitch in video games, as well as the notion of online play and viewer
choice (at the end of the video each screen slowly switches off, as if the
players view count on Twitch is slowly degrading). I’m unsure if this is an
interesting piece or not, and need to continue to craft it. For now, here’s an
early rendition of the work:
One more piece that I’m continuing
forwards with is my Sims project. I’ve created my family on Sims, as one used
to do when they were ten years old, but I’m unsure of where to go now, or what
to do with them. Do I kill them off one by then? Or let them live their lives,
in order to see where my own life will lead in the coming years? Or do I simply
create a family photo album of my virtual family in various locations? I’m not
fully sure. For now, you can see the picture of my surrogate family:
Another, non-videogame related, work
that I’m currently collating data for is one about the idea of internet friendships,
or friendships being facilitated or encouraged by social media. At the moment I’m
just screen capturing every time I see someone celebrating an anniversary with
a friend on Facebook. Every time you have a friendship anniversary with someone
on Facebook, the site tells you and invites you to share a short video that it
puts together for you that features various photographs where you and that
friend have been tagged. It’s a weird collaborative effort between the user and
the website, alongside the fact that the user chooses to share this information
with their friend list, and can actually curate the images themselves. Every
video is exactly the same, with only the images being different. Instead of
personalising the friendship, to me it trivialises it, making every video I
come across basically exactly the same. The same pictures in the same club, the
same pictures around the same dining room table. I’m not entirely sure what I
want to do with these yet, whether to simply display them on a phone or
something else. For now, I’m still collecting them, and maybe thinking of displaying
the finished product alongside a phone hooked up to the dating app Tinder,
allowing the viewer to personalise various trivial internet friendships in real
time. They would make an interesting companion piece if they were two different
works… For now, you can see the various clips that I’ve been collating here:
Apart from all those, I haven’t really
been making much. I still need to look into the web project, although I’m not
really sure if that’s as interesting as I want it to be anymore. We’ll see what
happens with that one…
I did get into a bunch of stuff,
starting with ‘ACTIVA’ 2017’, which seems to be an online international
festival of sorts, where every year 30 or so artists are presented on the
platform. The artists then watch each other’s videos, and then vote for three
of them to ‘win’. Whoever ‘wins’ then gets their video shown in exhibitions and
events all over the world, which is pretty cool. The website is here: http://www.kaosart.org/ACTIVA/2017/ACTIVA-2017.htm
I also showed my video work ‘Who Needs
Teachers When You’ve Got A Computer-Aided Education?’ at the welcome back show at
Chelsea. I showed them with the emoji pillows which viewers were able to sit
on. Unfortunately, this didn’t really go that well, as the pillows are so
small, and the piece didn’t have headphones attached, so people just stood and
watched. If I were to show it again I’d have multiple headphones placed on the
pillows, making them more inviting for the viewer. I did get some fairly good
feedback from the crit. The new academic year also brings a new tutor, Sean Dower,
who actually makes some interesting work. Here’s a link to his website: http://www.seandower.com/
Some of my videos are going to be shown
as part of another club night in Bristol later this month, which is fun. I kind
of like the idea of people encountering my work in a club setting, whilst drunk
and/or high. It definitely makes a change from showing work in a white room in
front of ‘art people’.
I’m also going to be in an exhibition
in Boston called ‘A Group Thing’ at the Thomas Young Gallery. I think I submitted
my video ‘Utopian Realism’, but I’m not entirely sure. It’s quite an exciting
thing, but I won’t actually be able to go and see it in situ, so it’s more
about the CV than anything.
I also might be in a student led thing
in a few months’ time at Bones and Pearl Gallery in London. I’m not completely
sure if this will be a thing for me or not, but if it is, it should be fun, as
most of the things I was in over the summer were very hands off, with no real
effort going into the setting up of the space on my part.
My sound version of ‘Utopian Realism’
is also going to be included in ‘Lightworks 2016’, a mini festival in Grimsby.
The link is here: https://www.facebook.com/LightworksFestival/
I think that’s everything that I’m
going to be in. Isthisit? continues to be great, with new designs of the
website every so often alongside other stuff. I’m beginning to plan an
exhibition that I’m going to curate as an extension of isthisit? called ‘isthisit?
afk’, utilising a spare room in my house to show some work. There will be an
opening night, and then the show would be ‘open by appointment’ for about a
week or so. I’m still deciding on the theme, as well as whether to keep all of
the stuff like cabinets still in that room. It’s a very small room, so these
are just a few things that I need to sort out, before I even begin to make an
event, etc. In the meantime, I’ll keep planning.
Last
week, isthisit’s 23rd exhibition was titled ‘You Don’t Own Me’, taken from
Lesley Gore’s song of the same name. The song focuses around the singer telling
a lover that he does not own her, that he is not to tell her what to do or what
to say, and that he is not to put her on display. This was a starting point for
this week’s show, which attempts to take a glimpse into the portrayal of women
in the online world, as well as in first world societies. Each work is
centralised around Amy Dunwoody’s film ‘I'm Addicted to You’ which endeavours
to present an uncanny reflection of screen-saturated teen culture and questions
whether our internet obsessed society has damaged both generation Y and Z’s
feminine subjectivity. Bearing this in mind, all the other works find
themselves implicitly responding to her video, simply by locational
association. This is an interesting phenomenon to consider going forward.
Nicola Parker’s series of photographs ‘Perfection Obscura’ considers ideas of
body image and how the very meaning of beauty has gradually changed over
generations while Rose Sinclair Doyle’s fragile sculpture ‘Obey’ seeks to
symbolise the hidden psychological abuse that can occur within a marriage. A
collaborative video work by Sian Fann and Susi Disorder is the final piece of
this week’s puzzle, considering an idea of ‘the selfie’ alongside female
identity in the digital age. Inserting the artist into an 80s esque digital
landscape, we see the multiple figures being slowly consumed by the screen
until there is no more. “You don't own me, I'm not just one of your many toys,
You don't own me, Don't say I can't go with other boys.”
Now,
I’ve been going to a lot of galleries, alongside Frieze yesterday. So this is
going to be a big long list of stuff! Some will be mentioned quickly, others
not so quickly.
Frieze
was pretty great, as it too was last year. Although Frieze, and art fairs in
general, have a lot of negativity associated with them, I’m still a big fan. To
just walk through all of these various galleries is really interesting as a
thing within itself, not to mention the amount of art that you see in a condensed
amount of time. The fact that you could just walk past various famous people is
a pretty interesting phenomenon too. I also went to a panel discussion with Lauren
Cornell hosting Yuri Pattison and Jill Magid. Both great artists with a lot of
really interesting things to say, highly enjoyable.
My
favourite work from the fair was probably always going to be Jon Rafman and his
piece ‘Trans Dimensional Serpent’. This is literally a huge sculpture of a
snake, which is eating itself. The viewer sat on the snake, put on a pair of
oculus rift goggles and dived in to an intriguing experience. In it, you’re
surrounded by grotesque figures, circling the serpent that you’re sitting on in
the virtual landscape. Within the 4-minute escapade, various things happen, like
gliding through a forest, or being transported to a desert realm. The most intriguing
part of the experience was when the program seemed to ‘crash’. Obviously it
didn’t, but how Rafman played with perspective in that moment, when a crash
error message on a computer screen window popped up inches from your face, was
a lot more immersive than a lot of his previous VR triumphs. Yet again, I will
always be interested in VR work. When’s your new video debuting John?
Yuri
Pattison’s installation within Frieze was also one of my favourites. Featuring
an amalgamation of various televisions and surveillance technology, the piece
was replicating something Pattison had seen at Gatwick airport, a mass
surveillance device. It’s a very interesting work, which is too complicated to
explain with the amount of time I have to write this post. It was a great work,
and you can see the surveillance happening at Frieze over the weekend by
following this link to the live YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tP3cip0t8w
I
also found myself knowingly looking up at the camera:
I
went to see the Turner Prize nominees at Tate Britain, which was incredibly disappointing.
Just a lot of shit assemblage work alongside dumbed down versions of various
pieces. After riding Josephine Pryde’s train piece in Berlin, I assumed it
would be rideable again. To my disgust however, it was not. One can argue that
that in itself is a piece of work, not allowing viewers to ride the train, but
in reality we all know the Tate wouldn’t allow it. So, once again, fuck you
Tate. All the other works were just dull and crass...
Richard
Serra at the Gagosian was, as always, incredible. That’s a given by this point,
and I’m completely fine with the repetitiveness of it all. I love the
simplicity and beauty of the massive steel structures. Just very powerful and awe
inspiring.
I
had a similar experience going to see the Antony Gormley show at the White
Cube. Exquisitely crafted sculptures that fill the space. It’s all taken at
face value, but I think I’m okay with that, just to marvel at what’s in front
of me. I really enjoyed one piece which involved walking inside of the work,
which was basically a long corridor of bronze shaped like a square man. The
viewer was invited to walk into the darkness, walking until you touched the
wall, and then you walked back, into the light. Really powerful and just really
nice.
Bruce
Nauman at Blain Southern was yet again one of those works that are just
beautiful and simple. I admire them for 2 minutes, and then I don’t think about
them anymore. Simple work, work that I’m not interested in making, but will
definitely appreciate the beauty of.
I
went to the Vitrine gallery, which is an interesting space. It’s basically a
window, where artists are invited to use the space innovatively. Sam Porritt
had a fun piece that involved various cogs turning, with faces drawn on each.
As the cogs turn, the emotions change. Much like the metaphorical ‘cogs of life’.
Very ‘nice’ work.
I
went to a student show called ‘Intimacy’ being put on by Brooks and Groves. It
was interesting seeing what not to do, with the plinths being badly made and
the space being poorly utilised. Some good work, which was overshadowed by the
poor design choices.
The
Zabludowicz has an interesting, performance focused, exhibition by Donna Huanca
on at the moment. Lots of naked bodies, lots of paint and lots of skin. All
centralised around the body, with the work reflecting that. Definitely not my
type of work, but work that I can appreciate and enjoy. I’m also a sucker for continuous
performance pieces, where the performance continues throughout the duration of
the show. This is always an impressive feat within itself.
A
similar show at the David Roberts Art Foundation saw a group of artists all responding
to ideas of the body, etc. Really well curated, not my type of work, with a
huge space tucked behind some shops. Very satisfying.
I
did get a chance to go to the Bjork exhibition at Somerset House. My God it was
good and worth £12.50. You’re led through various rooms, with almost all of them
offering a different VR experience. Very exciting and incredibly competent
work. It’s a must see for anyone who’s interested in interactive art, and VR in
general.
Tony
Cragg at the Lisson Gallery did, as my mother always says, ‘what it says on the
tin’. If you want to see some beautifully made sculptures, go to this. If you’re
familiar with his work, there’s nothing new here.
A
really exciting show was at Rowing Projects titled WHEN U INSTAGRAM MY DEAD
BODY, USE WALDEN BUT TAG IT #NOFILTER’. It featured work by Andy Holden and
Steve Roggenbuck. The pinnacle of Holden’s work was a video piece that shows
the artist unwrapping various sculptures of cats whilst talking about their
various personalities. The cats were his grandmothers, and accompany the video
piece, all 200 of them laid out on a table. Roggenbuck was showing a bunch of
his visual poetry video pieces, which show Steve usually walking/running
through the desert, screaming various phrases and enlightening snippets of information
into the camera. Some great work.
Seventeen
Gallery had a group show on, which was just as obscure as it usually is. A
bunch of sculptures and paintings, all very innovative and weird, but a lot better
than a load of crap like many other galleries. I’ll forever be a fan of the
space.
Hauser
and Wirth had two shows on, one featuring Mike Kelley’s weirdly colonialist
work and the other showing some subtler pieces by Lygia Pape. Not exactly awe
inspiring, but lovingly crafted by Pape to say the least.
A
gallery that I’d never been to before, Block 336, had an amazing body of work
on show by Jennet Thomas. The main video piece, spanning 40 minutes in length,
considered a dystopian apocalyptic world centred around ideas of colour, with
Margaret Thatcher being the weird centre point to the whole thing. Yet again,
fully recommend going and seeing up close.
Herald
St had many incredibly sexual works by Cary Kwok on display. The high point for
me was a lamp shaped like a penis, with the shade being made up of the penis’
semen. It’s worth travelling to Bethnal Green simply to see that one piece.
Hannah
Barry Gallery was showing some industrial farm equipment, which was created by
the artist James Capper. These huge, beast like machines, actually work in real
life. Within the gallery space, they’re something completely different, which
was very refreshing for me to see. Weird but great!
South
London Gallery was crap, just one room of wanky bullshit by Roman Ondak. The
garden however, which is designed by Gabriel Orozco, was simply awesome.
The
final gallery (I think) was Arcadia Missa with Amalia Ulman which was okay, but
very similar to her simple part in the Berlin Biennale. I want more, dunno what
of, but definitely more of something or other.
What
else happened this week? I finished Modern Family, or at least caught up to
where it is now. I think I preferred the family when they were younger. The
show is a little too smart now, a little too ‘quick on the mark’.
I
also watched Transparent’s third season, which was quite beautiful. Lovingly
crafted script, full of such subtle wonderful moments, alongside times of hate
and sheer ugliness. I really enjoyed it.
As
I said earlier, I’ve been reading How to
Talk about Videogames, which has been incredibly interesting. Lots of talk
about the value of videogames and the meaning behind them. Due to me living about
40-50 minutes from uni now, and the journey being only one long bus, I’m
afforded a lot of time to read. Whereas last year I was jumping on and off of
tubes, I can now just sit and relax. Thus, I’m now reading a lot more than I
was, with my calculations being that I can probably read one book every two
weeks. I’m very excited by the whole process and the evolution of my literary
prowess as the year goes on. I usually listen to various ambient Brian Eno
albums, sometimes looking up from my Kindle whilst the sun is going down simply
to appreciate how beautiful the moment is, wanting to save it somehow. I don’t
know…
Have
I even watched any films? I find myself watching less and less films, due to
there always being something to do or someone to talk to in my house. It’s
weird, and obviously nice to be in a place where you can interact with people.
I just need to carve out a little more time to myself I guess…
I
did watch some films. One of which was Audrie
and Daisy, a very sad film about two teenage girls who were abused and
raped in real life, alongside the bullying that ensured online after the events
in question. A really heart-breaking documentary that just made me sad…
Another
film I watched was focused on animated plastic toys called A Town Called Panic. A very funny French film that I’m really happy
about making myself watch. Highly recommended.
And
I think that’s it! I’m very disappointed by myself, although now that I’m
finished with Modern Family I should have some more time to indulge in films.
Still, two films in 2 weeks is fucking ridiculous…
Oh
and I did play some videogames, a particular favourite of mine being Grow Home. A lovely little game which
involves you embodying a little robot, slowly growing a plant until you reach a
ship high up in the air.
The
game was so lovely that I ended up buying its sequel, Grow Up. Basically the same game, with more variations in gameplay
and a bigger world to explore. I loved every minute of the experience.
I
also replayed the first chapter from Life
Is Strange. Playing through the episode, I felt like I was transported back
to many years ago, when I first played through the experience. A very sad
feeling, a very real feeling. After that experience, I may continue to play all
5 episodes and see what happens, maybe.
This
week uni will actually properly start, with all the admin out of the way I’ll
be free to simply work on my art in the confines of the studio. I look forward to
receiving the blue shell in 3D form, alongside working further on my video
piece and finishing my book. How lovely…
Enjoi.
Instagram:
bob.bk1
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