Tayla Van Loggerenberg

When looking at materials I could potentially use in my own practice, which is still in the development process, I chose to look into glitter. I found it rather funny that I was researching glitter because I personally don’t like glittery things at all, so I initially was reluctant to use it in my developing practice but here I am. 

In prehistoric terms, glitter has been made from many different materials including stones such as malachite, and mica as well as insects and glass. This is what ‘natural’ glitter was. But it seems we cannot find that anymore and instead it has all been replaced with plastic or artificial materials. In modern terms, glitter uses a variety of materials including paper, glass and plastic. Plastic and foil rolls of many different thicknesses are cut into squares or hexagonal shapes. But Scientists want to ban it due to its harshness on the environment. 

When it comes to glitter in terms of colour and reflexivity, this is where glitter becomes more than just a kitsch thing girls put on their faces at festivals. As well as making glitter pieces of specific colours, manufacturers sometimes simply mix together numerous shades of glitter particles in the proportions needed to create the overall colour desired. The colour of the individual pieces of glitter in a container are usually completely different from the colour that the glitter appears to be as a whole. The reflexivity comes into play by light reflecting off the flat surface and edges of each piece of glitter to create sparkle, also most glitter is cut into a hexagonal shape in order to create more edges to reflect light off of.  

I plan to incorporate glitter into my practice by continuing from my glittered asthma pump and using mundane or usually ugly/gross objects and making them ‘glamorous’ through glitter, therefore changing the position of the object in a space from object to art work o to something desirable/aesthetic. I want this to comment on how us as humans use make up & cosmetics to make ourselves more appealing but use the objects as a metaphorical version of people & the glitter being the make up or cosmetic changes. 

Make undesirable objects desirable. 

A rough idea of future projects, this practice of glitter has started with an asthma pump as I suffer from asthma yet I have come across people who ‘wish’ they had a disability or health issue to get attention or because it ‘looks cool’. 

‘Yeah, Kid You Owe Me Your Life’ 

Glitter & craft glue on asthma pump, 

2019. 

Three artists I looked at who work with video, sound and performance go by the names of Mika Rottenberg, Maya Deren and Carolee Schneemann. All of which are female video artists whom I admire and take inspiration from in my own ideas about performance in video. 

The first artist I looked at was Mika Rottenberg and her video titled, ‘Tropical Breeze’ (2004). Mika Rottenberg is a contemporary Argentine-Israelii video artist, best known for her surreal video installation work that often deals with the subject of female labour. In the film, ‘Tropical Breeze’ a body builder drives a converted truck that functions as a shop, packaging her sweat. In the back of the truck, another woman pedals a makeshift device, picking up tissues and using gum to stick them to a clothesline, transferring them to the body builder woman, who uses it to collect her sweat for packaging and later for sale. 

For context of the film, Rottenberg says in an interview,“Every product contains part of the lives of the people who were involved in its production. It is very basic, but I find it beautiful because I like the idea of measuring the value of something not by its ‘use value’ but by the processes that were in its making - the amount of 'life’ that was put into it.” Although the context is very provocative, I found the physical & visual attributes of the performance-based video much more interesting and relatable to my own work.

The element that interests me the most in Rottenbergs’ film is the colour combination and repetition throughout. The sounds made by the movements of the characters/performers in the video is repeated throughout. I was also drawn to the ‘Tropical Breeze’ video for it’s set design and general aesthetic. The artist has used the sounds of the body builder woman wiping away her sweat and the clipping/mechanical sound of the make shift device repeated over and over, to emphasise the concept of labour throughout the video. I find Rottenbergs use of sound interesting & unique in this respect. Although, I am most drawn to the use of colour and set design. Like Rottenberg, I also have used a very consierate colour pallet in previous work and I also enjoy drawing on subjects in relation to female-identifying persons/bodies. 

Below, a still from ‘Tropical Breeze’ (2004), Mika Rottenberg. 

To continue my research, I looked at the 1943 film by Maya Deren and former husband Alexander Hammid, “Meshes of The Afternoon”. It is an experimental film that shows uncanny and surrealist imagery in relation to the abstract body, with an essence of forties horror. Maya Deren was a Ukrainian-born American experimental filmmaker and important promoter of the avant-garde in the 1940s and 1950s. 

A woman returning home falls asleep and has vivid dreams that may or may not be happening in reality. Through repetitive images and complete mismatching of the objective view of time and space, her dark inner desires play out on-screen. The film is shot in black and white 16mm film and has been highly saturated so the blacks and greys appear extremely dark, and therefore blur out details in clothing or shadows. This high saturation makes the characters appear ghostly and ominous, bringing about a horror-esque sense to the film. I personally responded to the film very well, as I have taken a strong liking to it. I am particularly interested in the camera angels and camera trickery. As well as how the artist has placed themselves at the forefront of the film, staring in it as well as writing and editing it.  

The most obvious yet effective camera trickery is the movement of the camera in particular scenes. The camera rotates at one point and films upside down, as if the character is falling, being dragged or spiralling downwards. There is also a use of low angles, which make subjects appear larger than they actually are, and more intimidating or powerful. I find the camera work and performance to be a large quantity of why this film is such an iconic piece of work. Deren was very forward about placing herself in the film and performs a character, unlike herself. 

I related Derens’ work to my own in the sense that, I would like to place myself directly in my videos and ‘perform’ in a way to the viewer.  It will be a challenge for me but also very exciting and new. I enjoy using different angles and editing tools to give off different effects & provoke thoughts from the viewer. Deren is by far one of my favorite video/performance artists to have existed. 

Below, a still from “Meshes Of The Afternoon” (1943) by Maya Deren. 

BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO IDEA:

In my previous long-term project, I explored materiality in glitter and associations with objects. I had a very particular aesthetic I followed throughout the body of work, which I thoroughly enjoyed working with. For this term, I do not particularly want to work directly with glitter in the same way I did before. Instead, I am proposing the idea of creating a video that has a very similar aesthetic to the previous semesters work. I would like to be using glittery backdrops, neo-lighting, textured and colourful aesthetics. The video would be more of an experimental idea, that has the aesthetics of last term following through it.  

Above are two stills from test footage I have been experimenting with in order to figure out the lighting, possible nuances and aesthetic. I have been experimenting very instinctually and by doing so, I have developed an idea of what I would want this video to be experimenting with. Key words for this idea are; pleasure, feminine mystique, witchery, magic and power. The 2016 film, “The Love Witch” (below) seems to be a good reference for what I might be going for in terms how angels and scenes will be used. It’s also been a great reference for aesthetics in a video context. I have also sourced images off of Pinterest to reference from.

Stills from ‘The Love Witch’. (2016) and Pinterest references from ToiletPaper Magazine.

HOW I WOULD ACHIEVE THIS:

I want the video to appear as if it’s something I made, without having to put my name on it. A big aspect of my video will be lighting, as I believe lighting sets a mood very well and assists greatly in getting across the mystique of things. Colours such as different shades of blue & pink and red will be throughout the video, this will be achieved through using cellophane and gels. I have tested footage in the shmallery by setting up my own little scenes but I am considering using proper lighting in the photography studio for the duration of shooting as I’d really like a clean and slick look to the video. Previous test footage seemed to come out a bit too saturated. Objects used will all be ones that carry strong nuances to womxn, bring a sense of mystique and power or intimidation.

The following body of work,  Live In Fiction, is an experimental exploration of performance and making. I have experimented with making props or objects to use in videos, as video & digital are my preferred mediums. I believe it has an effect on the way I might interact or not interact with the objects in the videos. 

I have explored materiality through the making of these props and masks, which in turn made me look at topics of identity and characterising myself as a ‘performer’ of some sort, without having to visibly be myself in any sort of way. I chose to use video as a means of showcasing this perfromativity because I felt it be more uncanny in a realm where I have complete control over the lighting, mood, sound and motions as I perform a fictional and experimental narrative. I decided to make the props myself as a means to get tactile, and I found that after making the objects, its interaction withit became naturally uncanny due to it resembling something but not being quite that.

Final Portraits

“Baby Love Waits For No Man”

Tayla Van Loggerenberg

2019

When looking at materials I could potentially use in my own practice, which is still in the development process, I chose to look into glitter. I found it rather funny that I was researching glitter because I personally don’t like glittery things at all, so I initially was reluctant to use it in my developing practice but here I am. 

In prehistoric terms, glitter has been made from many different materials including stones such as malachite, and mica as well as insects and glass. This is what ‘natural’ glitter was. But it seems we cannot find that anymore and instead it has all been replaced with plastic or artificial materials. In modern terms, glitter uses a variety of materials including paper, glass and plastic. Plastic and foil rolls of many different thicknesses are cut into squares or hexagonal shapes. But Scientists want to ban it due to its harshness on the environment. 

When it comes to glitter in terms of colour and reflexivity, this is where glitter becomes more than just a kitsch thing girls put on their faces at festivals. As well as making glitter pieces of specific colours, manufacturers sometimes simply mix together numerous shades of glitter particles in the proportions needed to create the overall colour desired. The colour of the individual pieces of glitter in a container are usually completely different from the colour that the glitter appears to be as a whole. The reflexivity comes into play by light reflecting off the flat surface and edges of each piece of glitter to create sparkle, also most glitter is cut into a hexagonal shape in order to create more edges to reflect light off of.  

I plan to incorporate glitter into my practice by continuing from my glittered asthma pump and using mundane or usually ugly/gross objects and making them ‘glamorous’ through glitter, therefore changing the position of the object in a space from object to art work o to something desirable/aesthetic. I want this to comment on how us as humans use make up & cosmetics to make ourselves more appealing but use the objects as a metaphorical version of people & the glitter being the make up or cosmetic changes. 

Make undesirable objects desirable. 

A rough idea of future projects, this practice of glitter has started with an asthma pump as I suffer from asthma yet I have come across people who ‘wish’ they had a disability or health issue to get attention or because it ‘looks cool’. 

‘Yeah, Kid You Owe Me Your Life’ 

Glitter & craft glue on asthma pump, 

2019. 

“Man stores Golden Potato” - a headline, the good news.

“Gatvol deer Dopey Hunter” - a comical headline that I wish was actually real.

“Free Burritos Today!” - an advertisement that I also, wish was actually real.

“Stop Polony! Man is Gatvol” - in regards to the listeria outbreak in South Africa’s very unsafe polony.

“Golden Sea Potato” - A food product that I’m glad doesn’t exist (or does it?). 

“Recreate the Vintage Into Art” - a motto or slogan, ideally for a vintage store.

“Revote” - A serious Political Statement

“Dopey Douglas” - a nickname I’m glad I don’t have. 

“Take On Today!” - a T-shirt slogan.

‘Wall Assemblage’ 2018 Mixed media. Variable dimensions.

Collaboration Project- Jason Cockbill, Britney Potts and Tayla Van Loggerenberg 

Stop looking at me; Keep looking at me. (Still)

Video and Audio installation

Curated Monitors, Videos, Cloth, Audio

2019

Statement;