#sp200

For this Lab 8, we were tasked to create a visual display (a hidden curatorial task!) of our terms work, discoveries and learnt information. The ‘atlas’ had to cover work from Lab1- Lab7. We could treat the space given as we wished, as long as we embraced our teachings from the term. 

My Atlas:

Close-ups of individual labs:

Columns (Top of wall)

Text: “Floor to the ceiling!” exclaimed our lecturer. In this lab we were challenged to create column forms that extend from the floor to the ceiling. Using found and collected objects, such as; bottles, dead flowers, chairs, scarfs, wire, etc, the space became filled with columns. We explored ways of connecting and stacking objects to create columns. Throughout experimenting with column forms many challenges facing balance and gravity came into play.

Stacks, Piles and String (Middle right of wall)

Text: Following themes of Stacking in the Column lab, we explored Stacking, Piling and String forms. Here we experimented with materiality and a slight focus on form. Factors such as balance and gravity also appeared in this lab. With the string we explored various ways of using string; with hooks, wrapped around things, tying, connecting, etc. This lab allowed us to explore many ways of creating forms with found objects.

Blobs, drips and Soft forms (Middle left of wall) 

Text: “it doesn’t have to be soft to appear soft!”- unknown student. Drips, Blobs and Soft form lab! This lab allowed for us to explore soft forms. We did this by stuffing packets, using fabric, soft objects and creating illusion of softness. Many of the hanging forms with this lab were very drip light, as if stretched. This lab also related to concepts of covering objects so they appear soft but retain form/ appearance.  

Screens and Lights (Bottom of wall)

Text: Screens and Lighting, to me, worked in conjunction, hence the merging of these two labs. The labs happened directly after each other, both relying on each other to function. We first explored drilling and putting up screen forms, dividing and disputing the space. The screens were made up majority of fabric being draped over a built or wire structure. The lights then functioned to manipulate these screens. The lights changed the mood of the screens. The lights varied from multi-colour, warm and cold bulbs. We explored moving around, covering and manipulating the source of light. 

Wall and Floor (Bottom string structure)

Text: While the first few labs have been focused on the floor, the Wall and Floor lab pushed our experimenting up the walls. In this lab we explored creating connections to wall and floor surfaces using various materials. We were given opportunity to paint, write, glue and draw all over the studio space. A strong sense of repetition and colour emerged from this lab.

Paper Craft (Top string structure)

Text: Paper-Craft has a lovely variety of books in the Public Library in Town. Our next lab focused around the use of paper. Many of us explored folding the paper to create origami shapes, while some explored manipulating the paper to create interesting forms and shapes. Here we explored cutting, folding, layering, gluing and taping paper.

Other Close ups:

A time like dust (2019)

When given the brief for the shmallery I sat and thought very hard about what direction to go in and how I could challenge and expand my practice further through installation. ‘If these walls could talk’ was a topic that prominently stood out for me and I had an internal feeling that I needed to explore that further within my practice, exploring further into the body. I plotted different ideas and ways to approach an installation and how I could push it to make it feel resolved and thought through. In contextual studies this term we explored psychoanalysis through the arts and I was very interested in the Freudian idea of the uncanny and how art can become an affect to people, specifically in installation art as it is immersive.

Through the work, A time like dust (2019) I wanted people to draw on their own associations and feelings that they have when looking and experiencing the work. I chose to draw a parallel between the idea of ‘If these walls could talk’ and how that evokes feelings of presence, memories, loss, remnants and how one can navigate through that. The piece consists of chicken bones that are crystalized, suspended in the center of the room that is from the floor to the ceiling, in a curtain like shape. The floor is covered in white fabric and the walls and door frame were wiped with bleach to give it an overwhelming clinical smell.

Upon entering the installation, I requested that people must enter the room alone and that they must remove their shoes.

The room felt very spiritual yet uneasy, the smell evoked a clinical feeling which I related to the idea of trying to remove something or getting rid of, however it will still always be there reminding you of what once existed. The bones are chicken bones, which I found was the closest association to miniature human bones, allowing people to reflect on the sense of familiarity through the materiality.  Semiotically, bones are a signifier of death and it is the remnants of life, evoking a sense of emotion to the person experiencing the work and their own associations that may have with death. The crystals grown on the bone also tie into the spiritual feeling of the work, clear crystals signify a sense of clarity or a longing of clarity through something. I interpreted the crystal as an exploration of belief in spirituality and how one can navigate themselves through that, whether it is questioning one’s position or basking in it. The white fabric was incorporated into the space to create this seamless feeling when walking into the room, again commenting on a clean and clinical feeling.

The process to make this work was rather extensive, the consumption that was involved as well as the preparation required a lot of work, research and testing. My partner and I ate chicken on the bone most nights for nearly 2 months for me to have enough bones for this installation, needless to say we won’t be having chicken for a while now that the work is complete. I did a lot of research around growing crystals and which would be the most effective method. There are multiple ways in which crystals can be made, however I chose to use borax powder to grow the crystals on the bones. To create the crystals, I had to boil water on a stove and then slowly add borax and stir until the borax could no longer dissolve, therefore creating a concentrated solution of borax. Once that is complete I poured the solution over the prepared bones in small containers. What I had observed in order to create larger and better crystals was to let the solution cool down as slow as possible, therefore growing bigger and better onto the bones. This process also comments on preservation and how that is done in many cultures when it comes to death and how a body will be treated in terms of embalming, and how that is connected spiritually to a culture/religion. The bones were removed from the solution when cooled and then dried out and hung by clear fishing cut tide to a white pole.

Roger Hiorns is an installation artist that is based in London, he fills rooms and spaces with crystals using coper sulphate powder. Hiorns is an artist I found very interesting and that is why I have chosen to reference him. His work Seizer (2008), is a work that I find very striking. A block of flats was to be demolished, himself and ArtAngel sought to relocate the flat to Yorkshire Sculpture Park, where the work still exists there today. The flat is covered from floor to ceiling in blue crystals, creating a vast sea of cobalt blue, preserving the flat. The intentions behind the work was to show that by preserving something, it can last and how people can be too quick to throw something away and get a new one. His work speaks to A time like dust (2019) in parallel by commenting on the preservation of life and the spaces that occupy them.

A time like dust (2019) felt like a successful installation piece as it had the ability to immerse people within the space, allowing them to draw on their own interpretations and associations within the work. The different elements involving the installation all added meaning in their own way, allowing for a space where narrative can grow. The title speaks to the time you get in life and how that could potentially end at any given time, therefore turning to dust. The bones and crystals themselves over time will become dust, only leaving us with the memories of once what was. The memories will remain until they themselves manifest into dust, it is how we can navigate through that time that matters.

[994]

I’m Afraid of Change

Jason Allen

Installation

2019