So it’s been another month and a half. I’ve been quite busy working on a number of projects, seeing shows and submitting applications, alongside being away for the entirety of April on a residency in Vilnius, Lithuania. I learned a lot whilst I was there, and am excited to undergo more residencies in the future.
Whilst I was away in Vilnius at Sodas 2123 I produced an interactive experience using the game development software Unity. I’m hesitant to refer to it as a game, as there aren’t really any game mechanics, or an end/failure state., but it is in essence a 3D video game. It was my first time making a game to completion. Previously, a couple of times over the past 5/6 years, I’ve played around with the software and made bits of things, but I never actually dedicated a proper amount of time to making something playable in a finished state. Although I got to the point of completion with this project, I wasn’t too happy with the outcome.
At the beginning of April, when I first arrived in Vilnius, I had my initial idea (the one I applied for the residency with) of making a game where you explored a village and tried to uncover why no one lived there anymore. You would supposedly find different answers to that question, from a rare virus being released to nuclear war breaking out. Now, instead of thinking more about this concept and properly fleshing it out over a duration of time, I kind of jumped head first into developing the game. Maybe because I was anxious about time, or maybe because I just wanted to start making. I ended up building a forest/valley like landscape, complete with mushrooms and felled trees, and started importing various tech/apocalyptic models I found online, alongside making items pick-up-able, seats that you could actively sit on, and a variety of other game elements. This obviously took lots of time and was a huge learning process, but towards the end of the residency I realised I had made a very boring, very intricate, experience. One that didn’t have a very thoughtful concept, and just ended up being a very big forest with some tech/apocalyptic elements. I’m basically saying that I’m not totally happy with what I made, and see it probably as a work-in-progress that I’ll never really see through to full competition. But, and this for me is crucial, after spending a full month making this game experience I now know how to use those tools and can take those tools into future artworks without feeling the time pressure. I think over the past few months I’ve also been trying to find a new idea to hook onto, and this residency came in the middle of that.
Anyway, overall I had a really lovely time in Vilnius. I’ve only really lived in London and the countryside for an extended period of time, so it was great to experience a smaller city, one that can be walked around easily on foot, for a longer time period. I think I’m interested in living, or at least experiencing, living in a smaller city. It feels a lot more open and calmer than London. It was also really nice as an artist I’ve worked with a few times, Tom Kobialka, is now based in Vilnius. So it was lovely to have some link to the place, as otherwise I didn’t actually know anyone who lived there. Whilst I was there I also did a few studio visits with a couple of artists, Ignas Pavliukevicius and Povilas Vincentas Jankūnas, which were really great, and I did a small artist talk at Vilnius Academy of Arts.
At the end of the residency I had an end of residency presentation at Swallow, a project space based within Sodas 2123. It was a beautiful space, and for a day people could come by, play the experience and watch two screen captures that I took from within the game world. It was great to get feedback and watch people play through the experience, although it kind of reaffirmed everything that I have already stated above. When people play something, especially in a gallery context, they want instant gratification. There’s no slow burn with an interactive work, you need to grab people. And the thing I produced just didn’t do that. It was a big open world, where you had to observe the minutiae, which a lot of people didn’t actually do. So yeah, a big one month learning process for me. On the one hand it’s a shame, as I would have loved to come away from the residency having made a great new work, but on the other hand I’ve now learned a lot that I’ll be taking forwards. All the photos can be seen here - www.bobbicknell-knight.com/the-forest
Anyway, moving on from the residency, since being back in the UK I’ve finally been moving forwards with my curatorial project. It took a while as the new ACE app is very different, and a lot more complicated, than it was previously. I’m now basically waiting to hear back if I’m going to receive funding from ACE for a project I’ve put together, bringing 6 artists and 6 writers together mixed in with online residencies, a physical exhibition, workshops, a private collector and some mentoring sessions. If it all goes through everything would begin in August 2022 and continue until May 2023, so about ten months in total. The latest I’ll hear back is July, so let’s see what happens.
Whilst I was away in Vilnius I was also invited to put together a solo show in Kassel for late July. It was very late notice, but it seems like a nice opportunity to work with some young artists/curators who are inhabiting a space in the centre of Kassel. They don’t really have a budget, but I think, part of why I’m in the countryside right now, is to take these budget lacking opportunities. It’s also a good excuse to show new work, and to push myself to create new work too with a deadline in mind. I thought about potentially showing previous work, like the work from Eat The Rich or Digging History, but in reality I kind of want to show something new. Perhaps that’s a foolish idea, as those projects have longevity and scope for future showings, but for now I want to move forwards. So the show is going to be all about NPCs, video game Non-Player Characters. The main focus will be my current video that I’m working on, featuring a series of enemy NPCs falling from the sky and crumpling on the floor of a white space. This will be the main focus.
For the video, and the upcoming show, I’ve been researching a lot about NPCs. How they function, embedded elements, game development terms, etc. The show will feature the new video accompanied by a new series of paintings, some sculptures perhaps and maybe a VR (my first!) artwork. I’ve been looking into the idea of NPC barks, phrases that NPCs will repeatedly say to the player. You’ll often hear barks far more than you would a “meaningful” cutscene conversation. Sometimes these barks are far more memorable than actual plot moments. For me the NPC bark speaks to how repetitive the NPCs lives are, doomed to repeat words and phrases over and over again, never moving past these throwaway texts into meaningful conversation. These catchphrases are what players remember, especially in open world games like Skyrim and GTA. So for this new work I decided to go into various games from both my childhood and later in life, games that I have played a lot, researching what NPCs repeat to the player. I then took these texts, alongside a number of images from inside the game world, and put together a series of new text based paintings. Below is the result of the first, inspired by Skyrim, maybe the game that most people know and can relate to in some way.
So this is what I’m currently working on, a series of NPC related paintings that references this throwaway language and the game worlds, whilst further referencing them in their fonts and other bits. Incorporating text in the work is a very different direction for me, one that I’m intrigued by. I’m currently working out whether to produce them as large-scale pieces, or just very small, screen-sized works with 3D printed frames. Either way the ratio references their screen-based beginnings, but we’ll see what happens with time and cost.
I’d also like to make some sculptures, and have been thinking a lot about junk items in video games, sometimes called vendor trash or grey loot. It’s basically in game items, usually found in RPGs or MMOs, that have no function other than being turned into the video games currency via selling to in-game NPC vendors. Pushing all of your worthless junk onto NPCs is just pushing the point about how NPCs are seen in video games, as sub human algorithmically generated objects. I liked the idea of reproducing a bunch of grey loot from games, to be stacked in a corner or heaped in a bin, but am unsure whether that’s going to be applicable for this show or not as the budget is non-existent. Anyway, it’s something I’m thinking about.
The final thing I’ll mention about the Kassel show is the seating for the video. For a little while I’ve been thinking about the install of this work and, taking into account the cost of shipping to Kassel, have focused in on the idea of creating a massive pillow with its form replicating a giant’s arm from Skyrim. The giant is one of the falling figures in the video, so I felt it was apt to have an arm seating the audience. The arm would be made out of canvas, to be stuffed in Kassel with pillow innards. I think this would be a very fun thing to put together, and I’ve always wanted to make a big pillow for my work. I would have loved to do some 3D printed stools/seats, but the weight would just be too much for shipping to Kassel.
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I think that’s it for Kassel stuff. Here’s another painting made over this time, thinking about game development again and ragdolls, procedural animations used in games to create dynamic death animations. It might turn into a series at some point. Other than that I’ve just been applying to lots of fellowship, exhibition and residency opportunities.
Upcoming things for me include a group exhibition at Liliya Art Gallery in London with my painting Sum, opening on the 31st May and continuing until the 28th June. The solo show in Kassel at Galeria.Kollektiva, opening on the 29th July and continuing until the 21st August. I’ll also be part of the 9th Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture in Shenzhen, China with my video We’ve Been Here Before, opening on the 27th August. I’ve proposed showing the video in the middle of a room full of water, which would be quite cool, although I’m unsure if it will be done.
For the duration of October I’ll also be going on the High House Working Residency at the Antony Gormley Estate in Norfolk, something to look forward to at the end of summer. But yeah, I think I just need to continue applying to things, keeping busy, although if the ACE app goes through I’ll be very focused on that. As I live quite near to the gallery where the physical exhibition would take place, and have access to a car, I’m very excited to think about what kind of things I could do to alter the architecture of the space for the exhibition, rather than simply putting art on walls.
Moving on, let’s go through the recent shows I’ve seen, mostly, if not all, in Vilnius. Many of the photos I’ll show are my own, simply because a lot of spaces in Vilnius don’t seem to want to share photos of their exhibitions. First was a trip to Contemporary Art Centre, basically Vilnius’ version of the Tate, but sadly it’s been closed for a while, so instead of seeing a show inside I just went to see the sculpture garden. It was full of works by pretty contemporary artists, mostly Lithuanian but some international. Highlights were Pakui Hardware’s patent drawing sculptures and Augustas Serapinas’ invigilator chair, a work I did very much enjoy from the 2019 Venice Biennale.
Aukse Miliukaitė’s solo exhibition river flowing in the veins at the Rooster Gallery was interesting, with work made on a residency in Iceland. All about water and ice, with the show being held in a disused water pump facility by the main river in Vilnius. Aukse is another artist that I got to know during my residency.
Gintarė Sokelytė’s solo exhibition Second Brain at montos tattoo was okay. The press release spoke about the nervous system, a copy and paste from a clinic treatment website for how the gut and brain are connected. The space, an empty office room, had been transformed into a cave made from papier mâché, accompanied by bodily forms. I liked the transformation, but the work felt a little bland and not really for me.
Jānis Šneiders’ solo exhibition The Book of Sand at Meno Niša was a surprise, stumbled upon during the opening whilst on an evening walk. The work, blocky endless corridors, felt quite beautiful and delicate. I liked them visually for what they were, and would definitely have one.
Birute Lemke’s solo exhibition PAPRAG GARDEN at Galerija Akademija VDA was okay. It was all about gardens and creating complex excel spreadsheets for watering plants. I liked some of the paintings, like the one on the left, but others, like the one on the right, were really not my thing.
I kind of liked Eglė Norkutė’s Decision Maker at Pamėnkalnio Gallery. It was an all painting show, like many are in Vilnius it seems, featuring a series of works taking inspiration from art history and the artist’s life. This does sound bland, but I did enjoy it, especially the works that were slightly more than paintings, moving away from the traditional nature of the medium, works that were hanging off of chains and exhibited within other larger paintings. Although I wouldn’t want this work, I enjoyed its playfulness.
Rūta Palionytė and Ieva Baranauskaitė’s single-work exhibition Daydreamer at apiece gallery was fun, although I was more interested in the gallery than the actual work being displayed in it. It’s a vitrine space, open 24/7. There are a lot of these kinds of spaces, saving on overheads whilst being open 24/7, but I think this space did it well.
Niche by Vika Prokopavičiūtė at Editorial wasn’t my thing. Abstract painting. It was a bit of a shame as I was really looking forward to visiting the space as it’s run by Pakui Hardware.
Algirdas Jakas and Elglė Ruibytė’s duo show Hermit Crab at Atletika Gallery was interesting. Personally the artist work’s didn’t really sit well with each other, and I wasn’t too sure about the placing in the show. There were some beautiful drawings that were hung and connected to sculptures, work by Jakas, but the other pieces weren’t really for me.
The final place I visited in Vilnius was the Radvila Palace Museum of Art that had a couple of different shows on. The main feature was Chambers of Radiance by Emilija Škarnulytė. I really like their work, beautifully made films, although sadly, after entering the main exhibition room, I realised that I had already seen the main work on show, t ½, at the 2019 Future Generation Art Prize. I was more into the light boxes on show, large scale CGI images (I think made in Unity or some similar programme) of landscapes with nuclear equipment.
There was also a group show, The Art of Protest: The Disobedient of the Soviet Era, all about artists who made work under Russia. There were some quite interesting, although very weird, works. I was quite drawn to this work by Ivan Chuĭkov, a multidimensional painting of subtle absurdity.
That’s it for exhibitions, not much for a month away in a different city, but I think I was just very concentrated on the game making, so stopped focusing too much on going to shows. After returning to the UK I went to a talk in Norwich at the Norwich Castle, called The Challenges and Opportunities of Curating in a Digital Age with presentations from Pip Laurenson, Sarah Cook and Jago Cooper. It was okay, I didn’t really learn anything. For me it didn’t really talk about digitally curating, rather, curating as we always have done, but with digital artists. So yeah, not so interesting. It needed a young person to be involved, probably a young, non-white person.
Let’s move onto films, TV, games and books. The Adam Project, a film about time travelling Ryan Reynolds teaming up with his 12-year-old self, was pretty dull and forgettable. We all knew that this would be the case, though.
I fell in love with Thermae Romae Novae, an amazing anime about a Roman bath architect who, after falling into various water sources, gets repeatedly transported to present day Japan. He then goes on to steal their present day ideas about bathing, taking it back to ancient Rome and becoming a famous architect. It’s a truly amazing and hilarious show and, after watching the entirety, I discovered that there are previous versions, alongside two live action films. I’m yet to indulge in them, but they’re on my to watch list.
I wanted to like Windfall more than I did. I’m a big fan of The One I Love and The Discovery, previous films by the director, but this felt a little too reduced perhaps, and not enough sci-fi elements to really grab me. It’s about an unnamed man who breaks into a billionaire’s holiday home. The billionaire and his wife turn up, with consequences. It’s very subtle and slow, elements that I wasn’t put off by. I liked it and it’s worth a watch, just not as weird of inspiring as the other films.
The Bubble had its funny moments, but was overly long and slightly tedious. A bit funny but overall quite dull. A covid comedy that got increasingly implausible.
I kind of liked Human Resources, a Big Mouth follow up all about the monsters and the people they help/take care of. It was fun, but not quite as good as Big Mouth.
Bad Vegan: Fame. Fraud. Fugitives., a documentary series about vegan restaurateur Sarma Melngailis who becomes brainwashed by a man, was an interesting story told very badly by the documentary makers. After watching quite closely, at the end of the doc I didn’t really have any idea of what Melngailis was seduced into believing. They never really spoke about this, they hinted at him saying that people were after him, that he was a reincarnated person, a spirit, a dog healer (although this is barely mentioned but seems to be in all the promotional material). So yeah, I walked away wondering what this guy had actually made Melngailis believe. An interesting case, but badly told.
Jackass Forever was fine, quite bland in the scheme of things. I am desensitised.
I wasn’t so into Josee, the Tiger and the Fish, an anime about a guy who starts taking care of a slightly older woman in a wheelchair. It tries to do lots of different things at once, and, at times, didn’t really handle the fact that Josee has a disability very well. Bad, uninformed writing.
Bull, an 80-minute English revenge thriller about a man, Neil Maskell, seemingly coming back from the dead to wreak havoc on those that wronged him. It’s a wild, fantastic film, full of raw violence and distressing moments. Maskell in scary roles continues to be just pure greatness.
The documentary Jimmy Savile: A British Horror Story was just bleak, unpleasant and very distressing. If you don’t know the story it’s well worth a watch.
I liked The Boys Presents: Diabolical, an animated spin-off series of The Boys, a series that focuses on how superheroes would be treated and act if they were real. It’s a gritty take on the marvel movies. This animated series was fun, with each episode being helmed by a different well-known animation director bringing their own style. Fun, but not great.
I really wanted Deep Water to be far better than it was. It’s about a married couple where the women has multiple, overt affairs, with the husband making subtle remarks about killing each of her past lovers. After watching the trailer it felt like a Gone Girl like film, and not just because Ben Affleck is the main focus, but in reality Deep Water sadly turned out to be a knock off version. I kept thinking that there would be a double cross, or perhaps something cleverer happening, but it turns out the film was seemingly made by dull people who don’t trust that their audience can follow a complex storyline. A shame. Ana de Armas is great though.
Eternals was… Fine? I should just stop watching marvel shit.
White Hot: The Rise & Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch was quite an American documentary, all about the clothing company and the racism that was engrained within it. Really horrible to learn about, but not that good of a doc.
One of my favourites from this time was Severance, an amazing TV show that I would really recommend to everyone. It’s about a company that offers certain employees the ability to undergo a procedure that would sever their brain, effectively creating two versions of themselves. One who lives at work and the other who lives outside of it. Your memories, personality and overall self are completely disconnected. This disconnection is of course abused and is part of a wider conspiracy. It’s a wild show, full of very odd happenings and a fantastic opening sequence. I’m eagerly awaiting season 2.
Moonfall was totally trash, a terrible film with a terrible conceit. The moon is moving towards Earth, and only a washed-out astronaut can stop it. Also, spoiler, aliens built the moon. It feels like a film that will validate conspiracy theorists, both dangerous and shit.
Uncharted, again, was a trash film, based on the video game series of the same name. The series, as we all know, is much better. Although really, they’re not amazing games. The fourth game was fun, but to get there you have to travel through a lot of cover shooting.
The Lost City was like Uncharted but with some occasional jokes. I won’t go into the plot, as it’s really not worth it, but Brad Pitt is pretty hilarious in it, with Sandra Bullock having some funny dialogue. An okay film.
Tacoma is a video game made by the same developers as Gone Home, a fantastic game about a young woman exploring their family home after returning for a visit. Tacoma is similar in that it’s an interactive exploration simulator, with the protagonist exploring a space station whilst piecing together what had happened there. I really loved the game; the visuals, the storyline and general ethos and feeling behind it. It’s very clever and worth your time.
Another game I’ve been playing, and will probably be chipping away at for some time, is LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, a compilation of remastered Lego games from 9 of the Star Wars films. It’s a pretty wild, huge game, that has overhauled a lot of the old games in the series. Although I do enjoy it, the game is truly bastardised and doesn’t feel like a Lego game. It has skill trees, side quests and very short cinematics, with each new area being a massive open world space with bricks to find. It's good, don’t get me wrong, but whose idea was it to turn Lego games into an open world with RPG elements? Very odd, good, but weird. Maybe I just haven’t played a Lego game for a while, is this what getting old feels like?
I finished Uncanny Valley: A Memoir by Anna Wiener, a bleak account of silicon valley from 2012 (ish) to 2018 (ish). Wiener describes terrible working environments, run by 20-year-old white men who know nothing about managing people, and all about monetising technology. It’s quite a fucked story that works well with my next book, or my previous book, The Every.
I also finished Sex Robots and Vegan Meat: Adventures at the Frontier of Birth, Food, Sex and Death by Jenny Kleeman. It’s about all these different, technology focused, industries that are being rapidly developed. It’s a little dated now (released in 2018 I think), but it’s still a very interesting look at what’s happening right now, unbeknownst to many.
The final book was Red, a short play by John Logan about Mark Rothko and his studio assistant whilst producing a series of murals for the Four Seasons restaurant which, as we know, never actually happened in the end. It’s an interesting observation of the artist and artists in general.
Annnd I think that might be it for now. Back to concentrating on my upcoming show in Kassel, among other things. It’s also my birthday in the next few days, so that’s something to look forward to.
