Today we had our intro sessions about our practices in studio. I chose to present two works from last year that to me were some of the more successful things I made: Self-field and Surface Tension (Bubble Up, Bubble Over). I think the former is much more resolved than the latter, but both incorporate themes that I want to continue exploring this year, and after reflecting on both works, I feel that a common theme between them is the questioning and exploration of boundaries - physical, psychological and conceptual - and a desire to visualize that state of liminality and flux.
Self-field, 2021 Site-specific installation LED light strips, MDF board, pine dowel, tinfoil, balsa wood, screws. Dimensions variable
Surface Tension (bubble up, bubble over)
2021
Multichannel video installation
6:11 loop
Both works draw on quite personal experiences as their point of origin and when asked if either work was autobiographical I initially said yes (to Self-field), however I'm not sure if that's truly the case - while it draws on data from my body, it is not about me, and my intention on drawing on that information was to explore the separations between mind, self, body and environment. As I mentioned in last year's pecha kucha "while mental health has influenced my practice, I consider it more of an energy source than a core theme" - I don't ever really want the work to be about me specifically, but I think it's innate to draw on one's experiences, whatever they may be, in some way or another when making our art. This was also the case with Surface Tension, in that while I drew on my experience of being in lockdown in a spatial and psychological bubble, I was interested in exploring the flux of information and the sense of collapse between interior and exterior realms (outside Covid happenings, household bubbles, mind states, mediated information or spaces, etc.). These themes, to me, weren't inherently personal - at the risk of making assumptions, I think at the time many of us were probably dealing with how to navigate new hurdles around how and where we could move, and were acutely aware of the boundaries and interactions between ourselves, others around us, the spaces we occupied and the mental, digital, and emotional noise that had arisen from the whole experience.
(Yes yes I know, "don't over-explain the work" Anna... But I hope that gives some context.)
In reflecting on these works, I came to the realization that I'm unsure how I want to be engaging with digital media this year - whether I want to continue exploring the idea of digital mediation or interfaces as a core theme, or whether I simply want to work with digital tools. As Noel pointed out, a medium will always lend its history to a work, so I think whichever direction I choose to go in there will be an inevitable overlap but it will be important for me to figure out what the intention behind doing so is. Matt D also asked what me position on digital media being an element of life is, and to be honest that's such a large question that I wouldn't know where to start in answering it! But it's something I'll be thinking about in relation to this question. At the end of last year, digital tech was both a convenient and effective choice of medium for me as it allowed me to both explore the themes around body, cognition and space I had been looking into despite a lack of ability to work in installation art at the time, and it allowed me to very quickly visualize the concepts I was exploring by literally being able to draw and put my thoughts in frame and to capture (albeit pretty haphazardly) the "bubble" space. As the flow of information and data has been a core theme explored in my work, the fact that digital technology had become an increasingly necessary and prevalent part of daily lockdown life - in communicating, sharing and absorbing information, etc. - was also a driver behind my thought process at the time.
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