Gravity Week 5 - Thomas Yeoman

Lecture Notes: 

Video artist - Works with Current themes 

Koni 2012, most viral video of 2012 

   - Invisible children were accused of slacktivism due to poor explanation of what actually goes on 

Yeomans talking about his practice: 

   - Interested in audio visual language as communication, most work has been made for screen at on off events and specific times - temporary work. 

Sound is what drives poignancy and power of the work. Work has been described as Post internet, post emotional, post cinematic. 

Common future: 

   - Themes of emancipation self empowerment. 

Cadences Extract from Thomas Yeomans on Vimeo.

Preview from Thomas Yeomans on Vimeo.

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Transmission Week 5 - Mel Brimfield & Gwyneth Herbert

'Mel Brimfield's practice is rooted in exploring the vexed historiography of performance art and its relation to theatre and popular cultural forms. She makes work in regular collaboration with a broad range of performers, including comedians, choreographers and dancers, musicians, cabaret and theatre practitioners. In recent years, she has developed exhibitions and performances for agencies and institutions including Yorkshire Sculpture Park, the Government Art Collection at Whitechapel Gallery, Camden Arts Centre, Henry Moore Institute, and Ceri Hand Gallery.

Gwyneth Herbert is a critically acclaimed singer/songwriter with six albums to her credit, including the recent The Sea Cabinet commissioned by Snape Maltings. Paul Higgs is Brimfield's long-term collaborator, and has been the musical director, composer, arranger, and multi-instrumentalist for all of her large-scale live performance and film works in the last four years.' - http://www.transmission.uk.com

Transmission Week 4 - Warren Neidich

'Warren Neidich is a Berlin and Los Angeles-based post-conceptual artist and theorist who exposes the interfaces between Marxist inspired cultural production and its interrelationship to the brain and cognitive capitalism to produce an Emancipatory Materialism. His
interdisciplinary anarchic experimental works combine photographic and video elements, Internet downloads, scotch tape, painting, and noise installations. Selected international exhibitions include: PS1 MOMA, the Whitney Museum of American Art, ICA London, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the Walker Art Center, Kunsthaus Graz, Kunsthaus Zürich, and Los Angeles County Museum. He was a tutor at Goldsmiths College on the MA Visual Arts, and has taught at Harvard University, Princeton University, Brown University,
Columbia University, University of Cambridge, the Düsseldorf Academy, among others.

Selected awards include the Fulbright Specialist Program Award, Fine Arts Category, American University in Cairo, 2013, and the Vilem Flusser Theory Award, Berlin, 2010. His book The Psychopathologies of Cognitive Capitalism Part Two was recently published by Archive Press, Berlin, Germany. His collection of essays Resistance is Fertile will be published by Merve Verlag in 2014.' - http://www.transmission.uk.com 

Gravity Week 2 - Sophie Mollins

Lecture Notes:

Interactive Media Art, makes websites using images with links to various interactive content. Links form a 'maze' around the website giving the viewer/user an explorative sensation providing a personal   experience to the narrative of the work.

Meadow Arts commissioned her to create a piece of work about a gold antique figurine depicting a monkey chained to a harp while playing it.

Photographed mothers belongings after she died making an archive of her personal items; shoes, frying pans etc.
Developed an interest in the laces on her mothers shoes.
Again used the website form to generated an interactive archive of items
   - Interactive maze/ map/ story/ narrative.
Website called 'Don't forget about the monkeys'.
Photographed and documented
   - Lead onto Meadow Arts commission.
   - Similar kind of website for commission.

Idea of objects appeals to her. Being with an object made by our ancestors a long time ago really appealed to her.

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Gravity Week 1 - Dawn Mellor

Lecture Notes:

Held exhibitions nationally and internationally.
BA, Central St. Martins - MA, Royal College.
Intensity of work and studio practice.
Regularly featured/ mentioned in online discussion
Began presentation with a series of her childhood art (13 - 16yrs)
   - Heavily featured Michael Jackson and other male celebrities
   - Lack of black presence in pop culture at the time, racist culture - no understanding of context and                   or why this was occurred.

Trying to understand the culture and how racism is raised within people and children from a young age - people articulate racism from around the age of 13, racist terms, slang etc.

Contextual Information:
   - Racial tension within society
   - Economic crisis at the time
Portraits were an attempt rot understand the situation. 'Drawing full of naivety', 'Obsession with American celebrity.'
Recognised and understood there was a relationship between economic position and cultural understanding.

Portraits of celebrity Actresses
   - Celebrity 'Troll culture'
   - Offensive
   - Censoring out of 'ugly women'
   - Sense of being closed down - forced into target markets (clashes of personalities with gallerists)
   - Displayed work featuring Dame Helen Mirren in a Southend Library (Mirren had previously made controversial remarks about Southend - irony of 'bringing her back to Southend.)
   - Satirical comedic element of bringing her back to Southend
   - Library display, 'worst place to display work' - public connection
   - How we build a relationship with were we are born/ brought up.
   - e.g. Known as 'Queen' after playing a role as Queen Elizabeth.
   - Exploited class positioning when it suited the occasion; 'Down to Earth, Southend girl', Aristocratic Russian descendant who emigrated to Southend.
   - Narratives of exploitation of Actors/ Actresses.

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Transmission Week 1 - Felicity Allen

'Felicity Allen is an artist, writer and curator/educator. She is currently producing Begin Again Chronicles (Verisimilitude), an image/text document based on 160 dialogic watercolour portraits with 75 sitters, interviews and written reflections. Recent publications include:
Textual Intimacies: Letters, Journals, Poetry - Ghost Writing Telegraph Cottage, with Simon Smith, The Installation (Intercapillary Space), and Education (MIT/Whitechapel Documents of Contemporary Art). As a visiting scholar at the Getty Research Institute. 
Felicity Allen has been working on the implications of feminism for artistic practice and its overlaps with education and employment. She has published several articles about artistic practice and gallery education, and has considerable experience in producing local, national, and international gallery education programmes and teaching in art schools.' -  http://www.tranmission.uk.com

Felicity Allens talk mainly focused around her latest piece of work, 'Begin Again' (July 2009 - September 2014). Her book 'Begin Again Chronicles' is made from a series of 150 watercolour portraits accompanied by sort quotes taken from the conversations during the sittings. The sitters themselves feature people she previously worked with at the Tate Gallery. She  described this as being a sometimes uncomfortable experience due to the relationship between some of the sitters. She also described how it was interesting to see how people reacted to being a sitter, some seeing it as a quick, formal and quiet process others seeing it as a more social meeting whereby conversation would flow with ease. The title of the work refers to her own personal journey as an artist having worked a full time job to then start using traditional artists materials again. 

Looking at her work my biggest question was why two portraits? and why watercolour? My initial interpretation was that she wanted to capture two different sides of the sitter, potentially a reflection of the conversation at the time. Following this idea I thought watercolour was used as to enable her to apply the medium quickly in order to catch said moment in conversation. Later during discussion Felicity Allen explained that she used watercolour as there was something quite unforgiving about watercolour and its something that was quick to use practically during the sittings therefore allowing her to make multiple portraits of her sitters. Allen went on to say that the watercolours played part in capturing and conveying the intimacy of the sittings to the viewers; I also think this, in addition to the text in the book, coveys a sense of fragility in conversation, particularly with those that she didn't initially get along with or found the sitting to be awkward. 

Upon seeing the book and reading through some of the text/ quotes which accompany the portraits I found it strange, however, thinking that they corresponded with the portraits and the conversations between Allen and the sitters during painting, reading through them it became quite interesting. I found it intriguing to see what subject the conversations had turned to within such a close environment this made me question whether it was due to the situation of painter and sitter being in such a personal environment and whether this effected conversation and perhaps, had they not been in said situation, whether these themes would even have been spoken about. Later in the talk Allen what on to say that the quotes were random in relation to the imagery. This then began to raise questions of stereotypes in my mind; how quickly we are to associate ideas and imagery with a person after only getting a brief glimpse into their lives.