i'm thinking that this phd degree is like a project - with a particularly defined territory of operation - that populates and articulates its terrain with multiple series of artworks.
so, anyway, with this next show i'm working through my ideas and trying to massage them into something interesting and a suitable contribution to the body of work produced here in melbourne.
here's some recent sketches of ideas. i'm enjoying how the work is starting to form itself, just through the process of drawing the ideas as if they were real physical things. i'm going to continue this approach until i'm happy with the last drawing i do, or i run out of time!
i was thinking here about where to have the seedlings going from, or in. i was thinking this is a good object to have in one's language. as an object, the container of the seedlings will evoke a certain interpretative meaning depending on what it is. and it's a great opportunity to introduce something unusual into the combination of elements.
i have been thinking glass containers would be good, mostly based on the aesthetics of glass in combination with cables, speakers and microphones. in the picture above i was thinking about piles of newspapers. like the piles people bind together with string for their recycling.
seedlings growing out of the news, or out of piles of paper, is an interesting combination of materials - they are seldom seen together and therefore elicit something fresh in the viewer's mind. if i was writing a text book, i'd call that something like, the novelty affect.
and yes, with the 'a' in affect.
also, there's an anthropomorphology being applied with this imbuing of the mechanical elements with some sort of apparent consciousness. the speakers have been merged with desk lamps. not sure about this, as it's a bit strong. but that might be a good thing. i can't tell yet.
i do like how the speakers emit sound from what is normally a source of light. that's nice slippage of meaning. if i was writing a text book, i'd call that something like, the slippage affect.
also, desk lamps are commonplace items in rooms like the one in which the installation takes place. that ties the materials back to the context of the space and makes the work more installation-y or site specific. and one of the important elements in this artwork is the extraction of sound from the pipes in the middle of the room, that connect to various other parts of the shopping centre building and infrastructure.
here's some other thoughts - drawn out.
originally i had intended to build robots made of plants and electronic parts that would be poised on the pipes, listening to the sound of the pipes with sensors in their limbs. i've since turned away from that idea because i was worried it would translate as too theatrical. robots can work, but they have to look legitimate.
i decided it would be cleaner if the contact microphones (which i am going to mostly make myself) were attached without any authority from an obvious source. the sketch above gives me a chance to better visualise what it would look like with clamps holding the contact mics to the pipes. i quite like it, it's dry and clean.
the lower image is getting a better look at desk lamps, the way they look. they are very anthropomorphic and bring pixar to mind. this could either be a distracting new meaning to introduce as a new element in the combination, or maybe it's good to introduce, acting as a catalyst to stimulate a broader set of possible interpretations. perhaps even interesting ideas. oh - and i'm also thinking about the seedlings growing in nests. maybe nests of shredded papers. maybe real nests.
not sure how many rounds this will go through, there's the sound mixer to think about too. how to present that. if that wave of transition from portraying objects with obvious or implied consciousness - to - making objects cleaner and drier, continues, then the objects will become less and less dressed up, and more and more become just the pragmatic functions they are.
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