art installation evaluation

Art installation evaluation

In class we were shown different contemporary video artists work and discussed how controversial they were. This had taught me how bizarre and outrageous a piece of work could be and seeing the art behind it. Our first task was to research and write up information about 3 contemporary video artists and how their work is controversial. As well as it being just a boring written task I was able to educate myself on different artists, looking at their work and getting inspiration to create our own art installations. We then had to brainstorm our own ideas and create a moodboard of what we would include.

I was very excited by this project because this is the kind of thing that I am into. I could create absolutely anything and it could mean nothing but look good and cause controversy.  It has always been a habit of mine to visualize a video when listening to a song. Whether that be at home, on the train or walking I always seem to take my mind to another place and visualize how I would make a video to compliment the song. So although I had created a moodboard it wouldn’t be of much use if I didn’t have the music. So I started backwards and hunted for songs that I could create my art installation for. At the time it didn’t take me long because previously I had opened my eyes to a genre that I never really acknowledged. This kind of music would immediately put you in a trance and you would just zone out. In my eyes this genre would work best with a weird, artsy video. I picked the song XXYYXX – About you. This song is quite slow and dreary with lyrics that are played backwards which is strange in a cool way.

My first idea that came into my head was a red liquid pouring out of different people’s mouths in the same frame. This frame would stay the same throughout the whole video and would only include the head and shoulders. I made this decision because I thought it would look much more professional, slick, clean and I wanted to keep the video simple and easy to edit. I used Karina, Tyler and Ilya as characters. I directed them to keep their faces neutral throughout the whole video unless advised not to. Before hand I had bought a few different colours of food colouring to mix in with a bit water to create the red blood substance pouring out of their mouths. I shot the video in the TV studio and the equipment I required was a Canon 60D camera which I borrowed off Sammy, a light, a plastic tray for the red residue to poor into, different translucent sheets to attatch to the light to alter the colour and a tripod to keep the frame the same. One by one I had each of them stand in front of the camera, poor the liquid into their mouths and direct them from there. At the time I found that improvising the directions I gave to the characters worked very well. I chose to do this initially because of the foul taste of the food colouring and the stain and mess it had caused for each character. So letting them go up one at a time for a minute or two was needed. To my surprise I was able to shoot the whole video in under an hour which left me lots of time to edit the footage and meet the deadline.

I must say editing the video did take quite a while because the whole song I had chosen was just under 4 minutes. And I only had about a minute footage from each person in my video. So I had to really focus on different styles and effects because I would have to repeat a lot of clips in my video. So I picked simple techniques such as reverse, fast forward, slowing it down, syncopating the shots with the music etc.

The story behind the art installation was to show people losing their mind and I feel that I put that across effectively because of the content of the video. I made sure that there was a clear story and build up throughout the video. Starting out with them slowing opening their eyes, then pouring blood out their mouths, wiping the blood from their mouths looking mischievously at the camera; the point before they “lose their minds”, then losing it and then ending on them back to their neutral phase. I would install the installation in a dark empty room with a projector so the visuals in my video look more elucidating and the audience would get the real feel of the video without distractions from a white back drop.

I grabbed inspiration from a contemporary video artist Bill Viola. Specifically his soundless work 'Silent Mountain'. I feel that I matched up to his professional standard and produced something strange that would cause controversy which a lot of his work does.

As a result I produced the art installation very professionally and the footage was in high resolution. I received feedback from my class and everyone agreed that the video was weird and twisted but amazing. That was exactly what I was going for. 

Throughout the whole project I feel that I worked well and improved some personal skills of my own, one being confident in showcasing my work in front people how ever weird it may be. I must say that this was my favourite project of my two years studying this course and it couldn’t have come at a better time, I am very proud of my work.

If I could go back and improve I would not have been so thrown off by editing because of how long and complicated it would be. However I am pretty pleased with the final outcome of everything.