Nam June Paik

I found 'Nam June Paik's' collection at the Tate Galley fascinating; although the limit of 30 minutes in the exhibition is most definitely not enough time to explore all of the works presented and so I will be visiting the show again before it closes on March 13th.

'Video artist, performance artist, composer and visionary: Nam June Paik (1932-2006) was one of the most innovative artists of the 20th century. Tate Liverpool, in collaboration with FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology) present the first major retrospective since the artist’s death, and the first exhibition of Paik’s work in the UK since 1988. Nam June Paik at Tate Liverpool showcases around ninety works from all phases of his career, many shown in the UK for the first time, alongside a rich selection of documentary materials from Paik’s performances and early exhibitions.
The exhibition celebrates Paik as the inventor of media art.  At a time when television was still a novelty, Paik foresaw the future popularity of this new and exciting medium.  Thought provoking works like TV Buddha (1989) explore the clashing cultures of east and west, old and new, while Video Fish (1979 – 1992) considers nature versus the man made featuring both television sets and live fish in aquariums.
With artworks ranging from scores of early music performances and Paik’s involvement in the Fluxus movement to TV works, impressive robot sculptures and large-scale video installations; Tate Liverpool’s exhibition will both entertain and inspire.'

 On entering the first room, the piece to automatically catch the eye was the 52 Television sets piled up creating a video wall 'Internet Dream 1994'. Representing the channel suffering culture, awareness of developing technology and the amount of information it would offer; this piece definitely draws the viewer to stand and stare. I found myself in a trance almost, staring, trying to take in every image, every colour which flickered across each individual television set. After viewing all of the works presented for the exhibition I came back to this piece, still eager to gain my own interpretation of the work, this I am still unsure. 

Paik said: 'I did not consider myself a visual artist. But I knew there was something to be done in television and nobody else was doing it, so I said "Why not make it my job?"'
This statement inspired me alone. 

I would have to say my favourite piece in the exhibition was 'One Candle 1989', a closed-circuit installation with candle, camera and five video projectors.
Despite the works lack of mystery with the technology that produces the image, it retains a spiritual and medative feel. I love the combination between the old and the new; the old showing a candle, one of the oldest sources of light and the new being the technology itself. The primary colours of red, green and blue projected onto the wall creates a contrast with the warmth of the flame itself, making me question how to interperet this. It was deffinitely a relaxing environment, making me feel instantly warm (wether this was psychological because of the 'large flame' I don't know) in comparison to the flickering of the bright images and colours in most of the other works which created a different reaction.

'Untitled, Tie Drawing II' didn't particularly catch my eye like majority of the other pieces did but it almost immediately made me think of  the 'anthropometries' (body paintings) works of Yves Klein who I researched into previously in my development. Whilst Nam June Paik created the markings in the piece by soaking a tie in ink; juxtaposing the convensions of action paintings. Yves Klein used the naked body of women, using them as a human paintbrush....creating similar looking markings.

The interconnection of natural and technological collection of works were exciting, especially 'TV Garden 1994-77'. The installation with 60 television sets and 260 plants and diverse materials created an immediate wow factor, which stole most of my attention. The sound played throughout the space was pretty weird, making me cringe almost but I liked that. I liked that it was kind of bizzare and random incorporated with the plants and imagery flickerering on the screens. The idea alone inspired me the most, keeping me thinking about the piece even now.

From visiting this exhibition I suppose it made me think more so into technology in art and other ways in which it could be used, maybe even in my own work. I also started thinking further into exhibition presentation, on how to make the works flow throughout. The show deffinately inspired me in general, although hasn't particularly pushed me to change the work I am producing at the minute.

Tuesday 8th February

Today we met up as a group again at the Student Union with Jess Green (a member of the Union) to view the space which is available for us to hold our exhibition. The space is ideal and deffinately has the potential for all of our works together or seperate; with extra room for anyone else who wanted to join. The area of the building we are interested in is a large space with long corridors, seperate small rooms, (which is perfect for the Installation I will be putting together) and a large middle space joining the rooms together, with plenty of wall space. The whole area links together quite nicely, flowing our works from one another and is a great size, although as the space is usually used as working offices it looks a little commercial....not what you really want for an art exhibition; and so a few members of the group are a little wary of what to do. Obviously Wolstenholme would have given a much better atmosphere but with that now out of the picture due to limited availability and there lack of acknowledgment towards our proposal, the Student Union is the next best thing. It is okay for what we are hoping to achieve from our exhibition but it is what we do with the space that matters. We are all creative students and if we think positive, plan and work together with our ideas then I'm sure that we can put together a great show; 'Introducing art to the SU.'

Above is the room in which I am planning
to use, although all of the furniture will be
removed from the roomand I will be
 blocking off the windows with white
boards as I will be adding my own
source of light to the room. Adding to the
presentation of the work itself.

Jess seemed eager to work with us and was very interested in each of our works and what we wanted to do in the available space; making us feel more comfortable with the venue. Although each of our plans and ideas may change slightly to fit better with the space itself.

We also mentioned the dates in which we were hoping to have the exhibition (24th March- 26th March), alongwith a few days prior to this in order to set up our works in our chosen spaces; but as the rooms are used as offices for meetings, it was stated that it may not be a deffinate although shouldn't be a problem as things could be re-arranged to fit our timetable.   

Basically all we are waiting on now is an e-mail from Jess with the date information. After that we can start planning the exhibition properly alongside the development of our individual works.

Friday 4th February

As planned, another group meeting with Peter took place today to discuss progress with the exhibition venue and our individual works. We have decided against holding our exhibition at the Wolstenholme venue as the dates the space is available isn't a possibility for a number of the group members and so we have moved towards our second option; the Student Union. This space is also ideal, although our meeting at the Student Union to visit the space and discuss plans isn't until Tuesday and so we couldn't explain what we want to do with the space we are now hoping to hold our exhibition. However dates were discussed and due to assessment dates, easter holidays and trips four members of the group are taking; possible dates are limited. And so the appropriate date for the opening of the exhibition would be Thursday 24th March- Saturday 26th March and hopefully we will get the space from the Monday to begin the set up of our works.

Sophie Calle

After a discussion with a member of the Royal Standard Group, I came across the artist 'Sophie Calle', whose work and ideas instantly made me relate to my own. Not by how the work appears to the eye but how she thinks and uses her personal experiences and feelings to create the work; inviting the viewer into her own life, as I am trying to do with my own.

Sophie Calle is a French artist who works with photographs and performances, placing herself in situations almost as if she and the people she encounters were fictional. She also imposes elements of her own life onto public places creating a personal narrative where she is both author and character. She has been called a detective and a voyeur and her pieces involve serious investigations as well as natural curiosity.

Putting her own private life on display whilst getting involved in others’ lives, Sophie Calle began by photographing people in the street (Filatures parisiennes, 1978/1979) or sleeping in her bed, including actor Fabrice Luchini (Les Dormeurs, [The Sleepers], 1979). Then she hired a detective to follow her, and afterwards compared his report with her own account in her diary (La Filature [The Shadow], 1981). Since then she has continued to represent and show her own life and the lives of others, making use of chance happenings according to rules she sets herself, in an abundant and multiform body of work, somewhere between the photo-novel, private diary, confession and travel diary.

Calle's work is very much tied up with a process. Her art unfolds as she goes through each stage of preparation and execution. She says that the form of the final product - the thing which the gallery viewer actually sees - is the least significant part.

La Filature - The Shadow
In 'The Shadow', although Sophie Calle knew she would be followed and photographed as she went about her daily life in Paris..."...These works had involved me so much in the act of following that I wanted, in a certain way, to reverse these relationships. So I asked my mother to hire a private detective to follow me, without him knowing that I had arranged it, and to provide photographic evidence of my existence."...She had no idea which day the detective would be following her. She kept an itinerary of her own movements and wrote a description of what happened each day as well as making a series of photographs of what she saw herself. These two contrasting points of view of the same period of time - the detectives' report and photos and her own diary and self-portraits - were exhibited as the final piece of work.

Sophie Calle has often written about her own life as if it were a fictional narrative but she has also been featured as a character and her own art activities have punctuated the narrative in "Leviathan", a novel by American writer Paul Auster.

Wolstenholme Projects

An e-mail was recieved from a member of the Wolstenholme Group, basically apollogising for the confusion and late response to the e-mail and proposals we sent and that it is possible for us to view the space as a group to discuss our ideas further. Although the dates the space is available isn't ideal for the group as three members will not be in Liverpool. This has been explained to the Wolstenholme group and so we are hoping something can be arranged for another date as we are still wanting and are eager to hold our exhibition at their venue. If this is not a possibility; we will be sending our proposals to our second option which is the Student Union as again the venue and space available is ideal and much easier to organise around. This will be discussed further in the group meeting with Peter tomorrow morning.

Student Mentor

I have had the opportunity to work with the Royal Standard group with the first year fine art students as a student mentor. This is a great experience for me to get involved with to gain knowledge on art groups outside of the university and working in a proffesional environment and as I worked with the Royal Standard last year in the same module, I can relate well with the project and hopfully help the students with there works and ideas for the upcoming exhibition.

Yesterday morning I met up with Rick Creed and two members of the Royal Standard group where we disscussed plans and whats expected in the project. A theme of 'Radical' has been set for the exhibition, getting the students to become involved and think more so about the area that they are working in; creating a debate with different opinions and interests. After the sharing of notes and Ideas, we met up with the group of first years working on the project where we sat and discussed what each individual wanted to achieve from the project, each idea was different which was interesting; leading to a disscussion on what everyone thought 'radical' meant. I took this opportunity to get to know the students a little, taking the time to listen to what they had to say and answering the questions they were keen to ask. Getting a little more involved we each individually spoke about what we are interested in and the art we are working on at the minute; setting five minutes each to show us around their spaces and what they hope for their development. This was really interesting to simply listen to, just like our groups in the second year, the individual works are so very different, creating different opinions and making it easier to share ideas.

I will be meeting this group once or twice a week to discuss the works and plans of the students; whilst sharing my own ideas and then later look more so into the exhibition space and how the works will be presnted. I am deffinately excited about this opportunity and am looking forward to getting more involved with the organisation and meeting more people working in the art industry; it will also be interesting to see if anything has changed from when I exhibited my work for the project last year.

Second Audacity Workshop

This weeks workshop seemed to be much more progressive as I have become more confident with the software; and after asking Peter a few questions about certain tools I was able to edit my recordings in the way I wanted and put them all together. After spending my day playing around with the different sounds and settings I have completed my first draft of the soundtrack which will be played alongside my final piece in the exhibition. At the minute it is five minutes long, however this will be edited and added to further once I have produced more recordings throughout the week. I have already decided that I want this played quietly; making the viewer listen more carefully as to whats included, although I'm not sure whether to play the sound from a number of speakers (hidden of course) or from just the one. Again, this will be experimented with.