Thinking about temporality and printmaking
This week I've been spending some time in the Whitecliffe library and AUT print lab, talking to some of the print-media artists and reading up on the history of print making... Above are some examples of prints, some successful and some not so much, but I am loving the process of making all of them!
"By its very existence, the matrix suggests the concept of the multiple. The capacity of the matrix to generate copies has been a persistent component of the ritical discourse of prints, contributing to both affirmation and denigration of print artworks. On the one hand, the multiple suggests in the inherently democratic nature of the print. By existing in multiples, printed images can be distributed widely at a modest cost. Conversely, from an investment perspective, reproductibility can be considered a liability in that the potential for an unlimited number of identical copies to exist in effect devalues any single print. (Printmaking: A Complete Guide to Materials and Processes, p11)
One of the things I love most about the photo lithography prints I'm making currently is the incidental marks that emerge in each print. Even when using the same plate, the image that comes from it is never identical to the next; I think this is important; if not, I would probably be making digital print reproductions instead! Having my hand literally in the process, having a trace of physically being present there in that moment of making, helps me ground the work in the 'real' and (to me) parallels the geo-locational data element that is present in the image's making. Despite being digital, a sort of everywhere-nowhere-anywhere place, the images feel specific but ungrounded in any one space or time... and that feels good :) Speaking with Struan at AUT, he remarked that he often destroys a plate once he has made one print from it because the idea of trying to replicate it in the next (i.e. make a run of them) feels boring - the excitement is in the initial first image. I think coming from a Fine Art rather than Graphics background made me forget about this element of printmaking - that element of replication, copying, mass-producing... To me, I like that all of my work so far have essentially, under this definition of printing, been 'failures', because even when printing from the same plate, none of them look the same!
Speaking with Sonya about the prints, she also suggested trying out a print with a little colour mixed into the black ink to create an added depth to it - I picked up some red ocre ink, and I think I will try this in the coming week... She also raised the question of how I want to print and install them as images - does there need to be a white boarder around them? Can they be edge-to-edge prints? How big do they need to be? etc... After cutting down some of my initial first prints made with Greg, I think I like having a white boarder around those with visible edges (i.e. where the uncoated plate can be seen on the sides), but I think the edge-to-edge blackness works nicely for those without. Something to consider thinking about over the coming weeks!
Where to next with sound recording?
Early in the year, in looking out at Rangitoto from the Tāmaki Drive sea wall (build from quarried basalt from Mt Wellington), I was intrigued by the idea of these two volcanic entities looking outwards at each other across the harbour. The were both of the same material, but existed on vastly different timelines - one emerged from the ocean some 600 years ago, the other several tens of thousands of years ago, now having been dug up and reshuffled to a part of the city it didn't originally exist in... In thinking about these two mountains, in their various forms, existing in sight of each other, I wondered about the possibility of creating something similar revolving around sound... What happens if I record on site at the sea wall, and play that recording back in at the Stonefield's quarry site to resonate off the rock wall? What would happen if I recorded the farm walls in Cornwall Park and brought those recordings back to their quarry site at the far side of its peak? And the same with Mount Eden... what happens if I record the rock walls, curbs and footpaths and bring them back to the quarry wall behind the new hockey field at its site? Hmm..
I've also been wondering about how to present a sound work in July for the seminar/midyear assessment... Below are some videos from video artists with some examples of installation possibilities. Not sure if I would do something similar, but am enjoying exploring the field given that it's relatively unfamiliar to me... I really like the idea of using an object/plane as a sound emitting devise (see Adriano Abbado's work below) - I wonder if it would be possible to use some of the steel print-making plates I have for that purpose? Since speakers are expensive, I also found a few tutorial on how to do this if I need to DIY it :)
Robin Minard, On and Between (2017)
Site specific installation for the foyer of the Luxembourg Philharmonic with 64 mp3-player, 200 piezo loudspeakers and 68 channel audio.
Adriano Abbado, Slabs
This audiovisual installation is composed by six vibrating plexiglas slabs with which the audience can interact. The slabs, suspended by steel cables, are printed on one side and laser-engraved on the other. In addition, they are lit by both spot lights as well as LED light strips placed on top of each slab and hidden by a polished steel box. Inside this box two devices transform an audio signal into vibrations by means of a principle known as magnetostriction. The whole plexiglas surface then becomes a musical instrument and contributes to the aural environment, making this installation a space defined by real audiovisual objects. The sound emitted gets louder as the viewer approaches each slab: this way people can control its volume, thus modifying the global musical balance.
DIY tutorials
Comments