I am becoming aware that within a lot of things I am reading, the idea of childhood, or things from a child's perspective is a regular consideration about the change in how we see/observe our (everyday?) lives. It keeps cropping up, but I am finding myself quite interested in all these different things, which is unusual, because, I don't really like children...
Unsure if these are yet to relate to anything...
- TACITA DEAN- ON COLOUR (PREVIOUS POST) 'Learning that colour is a fiction of light is one of the primary shocks of growing up...that nothing can keep its colour... are monstrous things for even my ADULT MIND
-RACHEL WHITEREAD- ON COLOUR ' When I was seven I was allowed to choose the colours for my bedroom, free will, 'lilac and orange' was my chosen colour scheme. When I was fourteen I changed the colour scheme to dark blue and white. Ever since then I have lived and worked in white rooms.'
-WALTER BENJAMIN- A CHILDS VIEW OF COLOUR. 'The child's view of colour represents the highest artistic development of the sense of sight; it is sight at its purest, because it is isolated...Children are not ashamed, since they do not reflect, they only see.'
-ROLAND BARTHES- PARIS NOT FLOODED- 'Paradoxically, the flood has created a more accessible world, manipulable with the kind of pleasure the child takes in wielding his toys, exploring and enjoying them. The houses are no more than cubes, the rails isolated lines, the herds shifted masses, and it is the little boat, the superlative toy if the childhood universe, which has become the possessive mode of the arranged outspread and no longer routed space.'
-LEVI STRAUSS- 'BRICOLAGE' Combining and re-combining a closed set of materials to come up with new ideas. Children play with whats at hand, looking at what's available, moving it around, thinking about it...
-SHERRY TURKLE- TRANSITIONAL OBJECTS- 'Concerned with the first possession and with the intermediate area between the subjectivity and that which is objectively percieved.' There is a trauma of realising there are things that are not us, and as we grow mature we realise a connection to external reality. Children use things (play) as a pivot for thoughts.
Quite a few points from WE ARE JUST PLAYING, Stuart Lesser, Shopping Hour Magazine...
-'Adult utopian desires see children as holders of the promise of a better future...
-The strangeness of children requires action to turn them into becoming the same...
-Acts of playing as moments of non-sense, are ways of bringing the mundane everyday events to a different form of scruting and expression in which the everyday becomes anything but everyday...
-Another way of seeing things differently representing the world through the inversion of the apparently natural state of things, conjuring up a picture of marvellous possibilities by a simple irrational connection. The 'montage' offers and unusual combination of events that surprise, make one look again and disturb habitual ways of seeing things. '
Again, this is just plastic food for thought.
Thursday, 13 December 2012
Quite a few thoughts about Colour...
I have been thinking a little about colour. And this has led in to a number of (related) thoughts.
I thought a bit about colour with the last project in terms of trying to 'map' my location/orientation, using colours around me, extracted from the film photography.
So I have been reading this book, COLOUR (Documents of Contemporary Art- a favourite series of mine) and a few of the writings were quite useful, and un-useful and are quite conflicting with each, and have made me quite confused...
NUMBER 1. Le Corbusier.
Argues that colour is subordinate to form.
'Painting is a question of architecture, and therefore volume is its means. In the expression of volume, colour is a perilous agent; often it destroys or disorganises volume because the intrinsic properties of colour are very different.'
FORM should come first, and no colour is needed (well, in architecture, but no-doubt this applies to much of his life-ideas). In THE LAW OF RIPOLIN he goes on to suggest that all our houses/spaces should be doused with a coat of WHITEWASH.
'When you are surrounded with shadows and dark corners you are at home only as far as the hazy edges of darkness your eyes cannot penetrate. You are not a master in your own house.'
I felt a little sad reading this, as I am partial to a white space or two, but to suggest to rid the house of dark corners and such, seems a little strange, and makes me think about THE POETICS OF SPACE, where Gaston Bachelard seems to think the nooks and crannies, nests, hidden spaces in our wardrobes and chests are beautifully necessary; its all about the possibility of what is hidden in these spaces, and it's crucial, and, we enjoy these spaces.
NUMBER 2.- Colour is LIGHT
Roland Barthes- Camera Lucida: I found this particularly interesting...
'It seems that in Latin 'photograph' would be said 'imago lucis opera expressa'; which is to say: image revealed, 'extracted', 'mounted', 'expressed' by the action of light'.
I have always been unsure and unnerved/confused by the notion, however scientific, that colour is only light, and I also find this quite sad, until I read a small extract by Tacita Dean, who also feels the same about the colour=light situation.
'Learning that colour is a fiction of light is one of the primary shocks of growing up: that this hitherto deeply physical thing is just a reflection and that nothing can keep its colour under the cover of darkness [makes me think to Le Corb.] are monstrous things to understand, even for my adult mind.
Yet there is something about colour's frailty at it's twilight moment of oblivion that also brings out its magnificence...The sky hangs like heavy weave tapestry...Detail is secondary and focus lost...The dullest window glows with evanescent glory and even streetlights dominate with an intensity normally unknown to them...'
This is possibly why I like film photography and the colours from them; everything looks particularly good, and equally different, in different LIGHT conditions and times of day, which in some ways makes things look very strange, temporal and unreal. I think 'the everyday' makes an appearance to my thought processes here i.e the streetlights that are mentioned...Tacita dean definitely put a poetical spin on colour, and made me less confused about my approach to it... as did NUMBER 3.
NUMBER 3.- DONT THINK ABOUT COLOUR (?)
I don't think it would be right if I were to escape thinking about Rachel Whiteread at least once in every project.
'When I was seven, I was allowed to choose the colours for my bedroom. Free will. 'Lilac and orange' was my chosen colour scheme, I loved it. When I was fourteen I changed to dark blue and white. Ever since then I have worked in white rooms.'
She goes on to comment how colour is CONFUSING and how colour is really just a product of a chance choice of materials, and colour naturally moves in through a choice of these mediums and forms she creates, 'Collage-thats good for using other peoples colour decisions. Does that mean I have been let of the hook.'
This made me think about my colour-use and that maybe I shouldn't see It as a way of reflecting place, because it is just there, and a photograph (I have once mentioned) shows one of the many 'limitations of the visual' especially concerning place, so what it really should concern is maybe actions? So I have a colour palette to work with, but it is not and cannot be the sole representation of a place, or what I come to think about. Maybe.
The COLOUR BOOK editor itself, commented how he purposefully neglected to contain ideas about effects of colour in the home or 'harmonious use of colours in such enviroments' because he sees it as less interesting to other elements about colour...
'I love colour but there are too many decisions to make'. RW. Agreed.
I thought a bit about colour with the last project in terms of trying to 'map' my location/orientation, using colours around me, extracted from the film photography.
So I have been reading this book, COLOUR (Documents of Contemporary Art- a favourite series of mine) and a few of the writings were quite useful, and un-useful and are quite conflicting with each, and have made me quite confused...
NUMBER 1. Le Corbusier.
Argues that colour is subordinate to form.
'Painting is a question of architecture, and therefore volume is its means. In the expression of volume, colour is a perilous agent; often it destroys or disorganises volume because the intrinsic properties of colour are very different.'
FORM should come first, and no colour is needed (well, in architecture, but no-doubt this applies to much of his life-ideas). In THE LAW OF RIPOLIN he goes on to suggest that all our houses/spaces should be doused with a coat of WHITEWASH.
'When you are surrounded with shadows and dark corners you are at home only as far as the hazy edges of darkness your eyes cannot penetrate. You are not a master in your own house.'
I felt a little sad reading this, as I am partial to a white space or two, but to suggest to rid the house of dark corners and such, seems a little strange, and makes me think about THE POETICS OF SPACE, where Gaston Bachelard seems to think the nooks and crannies, nests, hidden spaces in our wardrobes and chests are beautifully necessary; its all about the possibility of what is hidden in these spaces, and it's crucial, and, we enjoy these spaces.
NUMBER 2.- Colour is LIGHT
Roland Barthes- Camera Lucida: I found this particularly interesting...
'It seems that in Latin 'photograph' would be said 'imago lucis opera expressa'; which is to say: image revealed, 'extracted', 'mounted', 'expressed' by the action of light'.
I have always been unsure and unnerved/confused by the notion, however scientific, that colour is only light, and I also find this quite sad, until I read a small extract by Tacita Dean, who also feels the same about the colour=light situation.
'Learning that colour is a fiction of light is one of the primary shocks of growing up: that this hitherto deeply physical thing is just a reflection and that nothing can keep its colour under the cover of darkness [makes me think to Le Corb.] are monstrous things to understand, even for my adult mind.
Yet there is something about colour's frailty at it's twilight moment of oblivion that also brings out its magnificence...The sky hangs like heavy weave tapestry...Detail is secondary and focus lost...The dullest window glows with evanescent glory and even streetlights dominate with an intensity normally unknown to them...'
This is possibly why I like film photography and the colours from them; everything looks particularly good, and equally different, in different LIGHT conditions and times of day, which in some ways makes things look very strange, temporal and unreal. I think 'the everyday' makes an appearance to my thought processes here i.e the streetlights that are mentioned...Tacita dean definitely put a poetical spin on colour, and made me less confused about my approach to it... as did NUMBER 3.
NUMBER 3.- DONT THINK ABOUT COLOUR (?)
I don't think it would be right if I were to escape thinking about Rachel Whiteread at least once in every project.
'When I was seven, I was allowed to choose the colours for my bedroom. Free will. 'Lilac and orange' was my chosen colour scheme, I loved it. When I was fourteen I changed to dark blue and white. Ever since then I have worked in white rooms.'
She goes on to comment how colour is CONFUSING and how colour is really just a product of a chance choice of materials, and colour naturally moves in through a choice of these mediums and forms she creates, 'Collage-thats good for using other peoples colour decisions. Does that mean I have been let of the hook.'
This made me think about my colour-use and that maybe I shouldn't see It as a way of reflecting place, because it is just there, and a photograph (I have once mentioned) shows one of the many 'limitations of the visual' especially concerning place, so what it really should concern is maybe actions? So I have a colour palette to work with, but it is not and cannot be the sole representation of a place, or what I come to think about. Maybe.
The COLOUR BOOK editor itself, commented how he purposefully neglected to contain ideas about effects of colour in the home or 'harmonious use of colours in such enviroments' because he sees it as less interesting to other elements about colour...
'I love colour but there are too many decisions to make'. RW. Agreed.
Monday, 3 December 2012
Everyday Photos, Final Series.
I decided to take out my work for a final series of everyday photos that I would put into by books...
The photos came out amazingly well colour and clarity-wise and even had a few distorted over exposures in there too, bonus.
A final little 'montage' showing a (brief) backwards visual journey of the project...
Friday, 30 November 2012
Detail.
Inspire by Georges Perec and Peter Peri, A painstakingly detailed description of when of I was out and about observing 'the everyday' accompanied by a painstakingly detailed drawing of what I was looking at when I was describing what I was looking at, in Stevensen Square, NQ.
Visual display of my ponderous thoughts and narratives. Something I will continue alongside my future projects in notebooks and paper format...
Wednesday, 7 November 2012
Everybody's Everyday.
We never just look at one thing, we are always looking at the relation betweens things and ourselves.
Our vision is continually active, continually moving, continually holding things in a circle around itself, constituting what is present.
JOHN BERGER
I like the idea of thinking about other people, an interactive element, possibily gaining information about what other people are looking at; what is outside their window?
As I am quite interested in installation art and sculpture, It could be quite nice to think of this project about having looked at which is already installed, what my everyday and other peoples everyday is...
LARA ALMARCEGUI-
WASTELANDS: A GUIDE TO THE EMPTY SITES OF AMSTERDAM
This artist looks at new ways of envisioning urban space through the contemplating of the unseen and unacknowledged, she created a document that guided people away from the tourist attractions of amsterdam to more downbeat, contingent, empty spaces in the outskirts of the city...
REVEALS NUANCES OF SPACE
POTENTIAL DREAM SPACES
Could be interesting to build on the idea of engaging people and thinking about the more unacknowledged and everyday urban environments that surround us...
Grids;Montage
JUST PLAYING
Recently read an article in SHOPPING HOUR, which has made me think more about the meaning and context for my project...
The basis of the article relates to child's play...
'Such moments of nonsense, which occur within and between the mundane, everyday routines of children's lives offer an alternative vision of reality, in which the limits of the real world can be temporarily set to one side.'
Main words of interest here being 'mundane', 'everyday' and ALTERNATIVE VISION OF REALITY.
This connects to my ideas about creating nonsense in the mundane, offereing alternative views or windows of the everyday... Thinking about creating a nonsense book, back to front, images that have been messed or 'played' around with...
'Conjuring up a picture of marvellous possibilities, by a simple irrational connection. The 'montage' offers an unusual combination of events that surprise, make one look again and disturb habitual ways of seeing things. Both short stories here suggest this (montaging and unusual combinations) rather than ordering in an illogical order.'
I have been playing around, making a few test books, just thinking about layout and construction; next stages thinking about the actual content which in the book. Now I am thinking about the idea of 'montaging'; I have already begun to do this, but I was classing my arrangements more as grids, where montaging seems more fitting.
Going to push it further, thinking about sticking arrangements up outside on the streets,walls, taking lots more photos, and maybe even gathering other peoples photos of their everyday...
Recently read an article in SHOPPING HOUR, which has made me think more about the meaning and context for my project...
The basis of the article relates to child's play...
'Such moments of nonsense, which occur within and between the mundane, everyday routines of children's lives offer an alternative vision of reality, in which the limits of the real world can be temporarily set to one side.'
Main words of interest here being 'mundane', 'everyday' and ALTERNATIVE VISION OF REALITY.
This connects to my ideas about creating nonsense in the mundane, offereing alternative views or windows of the everyday... Thinking about creating a nonsense book, back to front, images that have been messed or 'played' around with...
'Conjuring up a picture of marvellous possibilities, by a simple irrational connection. The 'montage' offers an unusual combination of events that surprise, make one look again and disturb habitual ways of seeing things. Both short stories here suggest this (montaging and unusual combinations) rather than ordering in an illogical order.'
I have been playing around, making a few test books, just thinking about layout and construction; next stages thinking about the actual content which in the book. Now I am thinking about the idea of 'montaging'; I have already begun to do this, but I was classing my arrangements more as grids, where montaging seems more fitting.
Going to push it further, thinking about sticking arrangements up outside on the streets,walls, taking lots more photos, and maybe even gathering other peoples photos of their everyday...
Friday, 19 October 2012
Blank maps.
Blank maps- no direction
We are never in the map.
I have made a few blank maps, each slightly different, each colour has been taking from my 'colour mapping' representing the particular point or place that I have been to along my journeys...
'Maps suggest explanations' but these maps could suggest nothing at all, these ideas could begin to translate into ideas of how I am going to put my book together/ art directed piece together; so thinking about blank books of colour, or a huge book/map which is blank in parts...
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