#discollective

hey im the carapace

i’m dat boi

oh shit waddup

In all honesty I would say that if I hadn't taken the step to produce the work I have as part of Dis. Collective I would not feel that I had gotten the most I could out of my degree. I am lucky in many ways that myself and Harry Watson work together so well in producing exhibitions and it is something that we aim to push further in the future. The two exhibitions we have produced so far have been very different and will probably be very different to future exhibitions. In part due to their context within student housing which lead to particular time frames and types of work only being suitable. But also due to the ways each exhibition has taught us different things from which we can grow and change. 

Dis. Is Serious taught us how to do it the first time round, how difficult artists can be to work with and that you can still carry a clear conceptual theme within an exhibition outside of the white cube. It taught me personally the power of the internet, that even an exhibition outside of an institution can gain a physical audience of 80 and a live stream audience of 141 in three hours. It also proved to me and Harry that we can work together and create an exhibition, even though we argue and disagree we can see from each others point of view and finally produce something we are both proud of. 

Dis. Supine Dossier taught me how to manage an open call. Which included a larger amount of artist, including artists I had never met, how to properly word emails and how to deal with the negativity that can stem from turning an artists work down but also how to make sure that artists who's work I am interested but their work wasn't right for this particular exhibition, will keep in touch. It taught me that sending out open call outs for artists are really good for finding new work but take a lot more time and commitment that I had realised. It also taught me that if we choose to do one in the future, me and Harry need to find a way to share the web based work, rather than just myself doing it, as it is so time consuming and often very difficult. Dis. Supine Dossier taught me a lot more about file formatting and working with moving image and that having a technical consultant with us full time, even at this small stage, is vital. 

Dis. Is Serious was the first exhibition we hosted within student housing. To create exhibition space we cleared out the entire downstairs communal areas of the house. However rather than creating the same exhibition space again, with Dis. Supine Dossier, our second exhibition, we chose to push the space in new ways. Inside the house we chose only to utilise the living room as exhibition space but also chose to use the front of the house and the garden at the back to show work.

Inside the house, four works where exhibited. We originally intended to exhibit five but the artist Joe Briars did not drop his work off in time for install. The four works consisted of three video works and an audio work. We chose to face the monitor screens exhibiting the video works, upwards in a "supine" position. 

All of the works shown outside the house focused on ideas of privacy and really pushed a notion of bringing the inside to the outside. Exhibited in the garden was a work by Alethea Koos of herself urinating. Playing on the idea that the work, already exhibited to the widest possible audience via the internet was showing a very private act, publicly, we chose to exhibit the work on the biggest screen we could produce. The artwork by Helen Billinghurst, a photograph of her neighbours underwear on the washing line without her neighbours knowledge or consent, we chose to exhibit in the most public was possible, on the roof of the house, facing out into Plymouth. We chose to exhibit this work on a television screen to fit with the aesthetic of rest of the exhibition, but also so that we could pause the image on the screen. Pausing the image on the screen gave the audience an uncertainty as to whether it was a still image or a moving image work that we had paused, so they were able to create a narrative for themselves as to what came before and after the image. We also exhibited another work facing out of the front of the house into Plymouth.

In preparation for Dis. Collectives latest exhibition, Dis. Supine Dossier we chose the spaces we wanted to exhibit in. In this case the living room, back garden and the front of the house. We then needed to find the best possible ways to exhibit six moving image works, including one dual screen work, one photograph and one audio artwork. 

Due to my preparations for my graduate exhibition, I already had in my possession five Sony Trinitron monitors. To use them for the Dis. Collective exhibition I just had to gain permission to use them outside of university. This meant that we had enough monitors to cover the dual screen work and three other works. I also own a projector, so we had that available for use for the exhibition. Joe Briars had also arranged that he supply the equipment for his work to be displayed upon, so that meant all video works were covered. 

To get the Sony Trinitron monitors to function I had to source three types of a adaptors for each monitor, power cables and media player per monitor to run the moving image works from. Myself and our technical consultant James Sergeant, then had to spend four days working getting all of the video files to function correctly, working to change file formatting, resolution and work around glitches caused by faults in files, all whilst I was in constant contact with all artists updating them on the progress. In this time we were constantly worrying if we could pull the exhibition off and trying to find ways to work around the possibility of the monitors not working. We found we could exhibit one film based work through a media player onto a regular television screen, which resulted in the way we finally chose to exhibit Wet & Warm & Tight (2014) Lisa Davison. We then constructed a projection screen in the garden using the sign we used for Dis. Is Serious and a white cloth we used for the hallway in Dis. Is Serious. This gave us the option of exhibiting most works on a loop, if need be. The creation of this screen lead to the exhibition of Just Spoke To Landlord Chris (2013) Alethea Koos on the screen and the idea of putting the livingroom sofa outside in two parts, so that there would be outside seating that pushed the notion of bringing what is usually seen inside, outside and exploring the idea of exhibiting within a house further. It also saved us time in terms of exhibition install and deinstall as we did not have to get the sofa upstairs. 

Luckily we got the monitors to function and the exhibition went smoothly. However even after meeting with an expert on live streaming events, who professionally live streams large festivals, who gave us access to his software sadly we were not able to stream Dis. Supine Dossier due to a last minute equipment malfunction. Another issue was that the artist Joe Briars did not drop of his artwork after agreeing to be exhibited and provide equipment, so we could not exhibit his work. 

The Act of Sisyphus (2014) Harry Watson

Our forthcoming exhibition by Dis. Collective is Dis. Supine Dossier. 

Supine:

1.(of a person) lying face upwards. synonyms: flat on one's back

2.failing to act or protest as a result of moral weakness or indolence.

Dossier:

1.A collection of documents about a particular person, event, or subject

Both definitions are sourced from the Oxford dictionary and are used in the title to serve a purpose. As the exhibition is a display of video based work, we want to explore the idea of our overexposure to televisions and our passive viewing of it. The way we watch tv and are "failing to act" or do anything else except stare at a screen. Unable to move as though lying "flat on one's back", an almost sleep like experience of passive viewing. The word dossier refers to the way we have created a collection of moving image works to exhibit, bringing together artists from different areas via an Open Call out.  

In preparation for Dis. Supine Dossier I produced a Open Call for artists. Which can be seen here. As a collective we decided to keep it open rather than specifying a concept or theme to allow a wider range of artists an opportunity to apply. The result was 22 applications from a wide range of artists. The applications came from artists who solely exhibit online, to artists with many exhibitions under their belt and from artists who produce performance work, to graphic designers. The process of applying only required artists to submit their name and a link to their work online. This allowed me to look through all of their production to find works that would best fit together.

Due to an influx in video works, we chose to have that as the focus of the exhibition, whilst considering what it means to view and exhibit moving image works via television screens. Considering this within an exhibition context but also within a house, looking at the way televisions exist within our homes. 

I feel like I learnt a lot from the Open Call process. As part of Dis. Collective I manage all of the internet based work, from promotion to creating contacts, With the Open Call I had to write the application and promote it. Then once submissions can in I had to record all of the submission details, look at the submission which was often one, if not two full blogs of work and reply to the artist to confirm submission, which often lead to full email conversations with the artist about their work and the exhibition to gain a full understanding of the artists work. Once I had done this I showed the works to the rest of the art collective and we chose the artists we wished to exhibit. I then had to email each artist, confirming their place within the exhibition or informing them that they were not successful, but with many artists asking them to keep in touch as we would be interested in their work for future exhibitions. 

Indefinite (2014) Harry Watson