Emma Price Fine Art

After trying out the Explosions installation I'm still not sure that the viewer would set off the explosions piece by just wandering around the space. I don't want to have to spell out for the viewer what to do as this would ultimately ruin the element of surprise which I wanted for the piece.  I've put a semi cryptic message outside the space and by the plinth which essentially says 'What's in the box?". I'm hoping they'll work it out from there.

As a last minute addition I decided to use the red curtains I made for the Twin Peaks marathon. Although they were originally intended for the 'black lodge' I feel they are appropriately cinematic looking. As the space doesn't seem like much without the film clips I thought it would add a sense of wonderment prior to entering the space. It also alludes to the cinematic film clips used in the piece.

Alongside Explosions I will show the piece Underwater Challenge 2.0, seeing as I received good feedback on Underwater Challenge 1.0.

Most of all for this piece I want the explosion to be a surprise. I'd want the viewer to wander around the space with the light (much like Wile E. Coyote) and set off the explosion without any prior indication of what will happen.

Inspired by Dawes' Play-Doh Interface, I too would like to create an interactive film based installation. A while ago I was collecting various clips from films and collating them together. For a mini project I collected clips of explosions with the intention of carrying on from Ticking Time Bomb. I never used them but this seems the perfect opportunity. The above Looney Tunes clip might seem fairly ambiguous but this sums up the image I have in my head for an interface project. The viewer goes into a darkened space and searches around using a light and BOOM, an explosion is triggered on a screen. Shaun Duke from Interactive Arts has previosuly done work using interface program Max/MSP - he has agreed to help me achieve my idea.

About two months ago I had the fantastic opportunity to attend an artist talk by Brendan Dawes. I think that it was the most inspiring talk I had all year as Dawes has a really down-to-earth attitude towards work making. I found this piece particularly interesting as he has connected two completely different objects with completely different aesthetics and format. By altering the shape and size of the play-doh, the Bruce Lee movie slows down and speeds up. Dawes stated this piece was essentially made just for fun. This is a perfect example of a piece of work where audience intervention can cause a reaction on the screen. 

Finished couples clips. Although they share the same screen now I intend to have them playing on two separate TVs simultaneously (opposite each other). I've slowed down the clip speed to further parody the 'love at first sight' moment in films. It's a literal representation of the romantic prospect of time slowing.

After showing my first attempt at Underwater Challenge I received feedback that perhaps I should attempt to actually do it in the water. As I thought it might be difficult to get permission to do it in a pool I used a glass tank and filmed it from underneath. I found that it was a lot harder to hold my breath actually in the water but that could be partly due to the fact I had to bend over to get my face in the tank thus expelling some air from my lungs. At least I still survived Titanic and Castaway.

Whilst I've been exploring the idea of interactive cinema I attended an event that does exactly that. Secret Cinema is an evening of interactive viewing culminating in a film showing. The film is kept secret until the event but ticket holders are told to come in costume and bring props that allude to the film genre and title.  For Secret Cinema 21 we were told to come in 1920's dress and given a character persona. In the time leading up to the film we could freely explore the various rooms which included a speakeasy, casino and court room. The setting was very shambolic as there was little direction of which order to go through the rooms. Some actors gave you small tasks to complete which might have given it order (I'm not sure). While all this was going on actors would suddenly begin a mise-en-scène without warning, you had to be in the right place at the right time to witness it. After traipsing through seemingly endless rooms we heard that the film had started in a huge ball room, but after all the previous anarchy and excitement it seemed anticlimactic to sit down and watch a film. Secret Cinema was a truly amazing experience and is in a league of it's own in regards to creating an immersive cinematic experience. It was coincidence that I attended the event just as my practice is leading towards a similar subject matter (I bought the tickets last year) but it's given me an example of how the definition of 'spectator' can be pushed to it's boundaries.

I feel this explains my own motivation in my recent film pieces where I want to provide a spectacular viewing experience that surpasses conventional cinematic viewing. I want to create a piece that embodies Griffith's definition of 'immersion'.

This is a small clip from an idea I have where I'd separate clips from romantic films where the couple first see each other for the first time. The idea is that this clip and others like it would be played on two screens facing each other as the characters would in reality. This stems from my interest in an interactive viewing experience where the boundaries between film and reality are broken down. However, I suppose this is more inter-screen activity as opposed to audience and screen activity.

I have noticed that an encompassing theme that has featured in several of the pieces I have made has been interacting with cinema, with the aim of creating a more interactive spectator experience. This is most obvious in the Blue Velvet inspired set piece where I wanted the viewer to take on the simultaneous roles of actor and spectator. Similarly, whilst Underwater Challenge and Ticking Time Bomb both aim to challenge cinematic time the piece also encourages viewers to test themselves against the film characters, again creating an interactive viewing experience. Finally, although the event wasn't a success, I wanted the Twin Peaks marathon to be a semi-interactive viewing experience where the audience would watch the film in a setting similar to the Black Lodge, surrounded by the characters of the series (attendees in costume). If I reflect on some of the artists I have been inspired by; Lindsay Seers, James Franco and Pipilotti Rist to name a few, it is evident I am interested in methods of creating an immersive viewing experience. This is what I want to explore in the final few weeks.

Twin Peaks marathon

In an attempt to raise money for the degree show I organised to show every episode of David Lynch's 'Twin Peaks' back to back at Fallow Cafe. These are all the bits I got together for it including posters, twin peaks themed raffle prizes etc. Unfortunately the event was a flop. I suppose Twin Peaks isn't for everyone, that, and it was held over Easter holidays so the student population had depleted. Oh well!

Art School conference – Benize Building Underwater Challenge and Ticking Time Bomb were selected to be in an exhibition that coincided with the art school conference. Woo!

Hanna Schygulla Traumprotokolle at Akademie der Künste.

Memorial to Homosexuals Persecuted Under Nazism – Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset