Have any of you...
seen a film called 'what the bleep do we we know' or 'the secret' (you can watch it online www.thesecret.tv) I think they are made by the same people. 'the secret' is a bit of an online explosion- i have been told to watch it by loads of people- manly from the states- people who get into it, really get into it. it's more like a movement, verging on a cult, than just a film.
They are quite possibilly the two worst films ever made, but they are based on interesting concepts and have provoked me into more research and have given me ideas to make new work. The films are dredful and amazing at the same time, they seem to tie in with ideas i have been working with for a long time: our conseption reality, the power of mental imaging processes etc... I am gonna think about how and why i am provoked by these films a bit more and write properly about it later, and hopfully find a way to show you some images. would be interesting to talk to anyone who has seen them or has an opinion.
hope all is well with everyone. Looking forward to the resedensy. I am currently trying to find some equiptment to edit video on during the week. Artsadmin apparently have no video editing facillity at toynbee, so i am begging to borrow equiptment from my fammily at the moment. is anyone else in the same boat?- Biggi i know you are also looking.
They are quite possibilly the two worst films ever made, but they are based on interesting concepts and have provoked me into more research and have given me ideas to make new work. The films are dredful and amazing at the same time, they seem to tie in with ideas i have been working with for a long time: our conseption reality, the power of mental imaging processes etc... I am gonna think about how and why i am provoked by these films a bit more and write properly about it later, and hopfully find a way to show you some images. would be interesting to talk to anyone who has seen them or has an opinion.
hope all is well with everyone. Looking forward to the resedensy. I am currently trying to find some equiptment to edit video on during the week. Artsadmin apparently have no video editing facillity at toynbee, so i am begging to borrow equiptment from my fammily at the moment. is anyone else in the same boat?- Biggi i know you are also looking.
posted by Anonymous at 3:02 pm
12 Comments:
Hey Jacob,
these films sound really intriguing and like something I want to indulge in. Will definitely watch them.
Hm. with the laptops that turns into a problem. I just rang the Apple store on Regent street and they haven't heard of a single place that would hire out i-books or similar. I think the only option is to track either a friend down who is willing to lend it or..
The other option would be to concentrate on something more accommodatable during that week... I was thinking about working with some photographs. It might shift a bit my excitement but hey, that's what being an artist is about: finding creative solutions to problems...
but for now I will still try to hunt one down. Being an artist is as well about taking on challenges... hehe.
couldnt find the right film . there were so many "secrets" the only one i found reasonably possible you had to pay for.
Hello
Just wanted to add a few thoughts on the residency... I know it'll be different being in London than the experience I had last year, but I found it invaluable to let go of usual processes and respond diectly to the people and space I was with for that week. If I had had a choice of where i went perhaps I would have stuck to something more familiar, I certainly wouldn't have been aware of Wysing as a destination. As it happened I found and drew out of that site all the things that spoke to me and related to my work. In a way the objects and sites I found and used were quite serendipitous in terms of being easily related to concepts in my work... but this easy relation was also maybe because I was open to finding my 'idea' everywhere. So I agree Biggi that its also about finding creative solutions to problems. And what that did for me was open up way of working i'd never tried, at a scale i'd never tried, with materials i'd never tried, which ultimately has expanded my work and made it more honestly a part of me, and me a part of it... Before I went I had a good meeting with Domanic who said the most sucessful residencies are often for people who either plan meticulously and are controlled about it, but wheres the fun and challenge in that, or those that just let go and do something silly.
I've always been quite caught up with outcomes, probably as a result of my training. I somehow let go of the fear i'd always had of not having something tangible to 'prove' that i'd worked hard (thank you Franko for dissolving this!). And strangely I did have an outcome, a kind of piece at the end. But it felt a lot more honest.
The other thought I had was that maybe the time consuming part of editing would be something to do after the residency when you can review the week as a whole, leaving the week to generate material? Without knowing your work I wouldn't wish to assume your process, but that was a thought that occurred.
Look forward to meeting you properly one eveing post Toynbee.
Mx
sorry just re-read that and it seems a bit rambly and inarticulate! ah well, hope there is some sense there!
Hi Madeleine,
it was not rambly or inaccurate at all. It was actually very very helpful. I feel like - scrap the computer - start the creative LIFE. yippeeeeee.
I liked the bit as well where you talk about the honesty - which I seem to be lose sight of sometimes. I don't mean that I am not honest about my work - but not honest to myself about the reasons why I do it. I rely on others telling me what I should read sometimes rather than trusting myself and opening up - listen to myself.
Anyway, what you said reminded me of Max Ernst, and how he said that he had always tremendous difficulties starting with the first mark on a blank canvas. so he somehow got the idea to start doing frottages (putting a white paper on top of a surface and moving the pencil over the paper to copy the surface) and it suddenly opened up a whole new world to him - his barrier had vanished - he was able to overcome his first mark struggle and found his own "signature". I just listened to the story last Saturday at TM. Very inspiring. If he had not tried to move away from the canvas and taken a risk, he might have stuck to it and tried and tried and tried to start marks on his canvas... without finding himself.
maybe there is a fear as well to actually not return to our medium but wander off to something we might not like - as if that is possible when we are honest to ourselves??? Actually that is only a danger when we stick to our stubborn ways and try to "break it over the knee" (as we say in German). What I mean is that he returned to the canvas but needed that excursion to open up to himself... :-)
xx
absolutely. Sometimes its the journey not the destination and all that. 'There's no place like home' (when your work is your home)
I think we all get that black canvas fear, and it feels even more difficult when the blanck canvas is in front of one's peers! hmmm maybe the preparation is to scribble over the blank page before you get there. For me I think that its the message not the medium thats important, and as long as I don't stray from what I want to articulate, it doesn't matter what medium I use to get there. Also take some text or image that you really connect with that will immerse you in the headspace you need for the most honest response in your work, it might help with those blank canvas moments mx
I was really excited to read Madeleine's post, as I think i had a similar experience to that... for me, i went to Wysing trying to keep in mind that it wasn't about producing work, but about a chance to give myself a break, spend time with other people....take the pressure off- which is always so difficult to do. When we get the opportunity of time to make work, that's when we want to make, or maybe feel we should(?). I guess it is similar to what Lucille was saying about taking teh pressure off. Of allowing time for the work.
I took a couple of books with me to Wysing, and i agree with what madeleine has said about taking something in order to get into that headspace.... from one perspective I guess may be i did sit and drink lots of coffee, (and eat numeous choclate bars), but it was the actual physical space/environment that drew me in and where teh work came from. i didn't need to go with ideas of work to make, or anything to work on....but allowing the space to not force anything proved to be liberating.
It is not something i feel i can put into words very easily.
I also think it was great to be able to talk to other people, to chat and for people to see each other working.... people see things in what you do and how you approach your work that you might not be aware of, or might not grasp its importance in your practice.
I find it easier to think through making and doing, rather than sitting at that blank canvas stage.....so in doing ideas are initiated....the physicality of doing something is an easier space through which to think about my work.
Katherine.
hello-
it is interesting what biggi and madeleine have been saying about using the time to do somthing compleatly different or to let go of our normal process. I don't really feel like i even have a process to let go of at the moment. I am very hard on myself, and because i have not been able to consolodate (edit together) or view my work properly recently i feel like am am doing nothing- am nothing!
i think that i am very concerened with outcomes, and i need to feel like i am working towards somthing. I like the idea and feeling of progress and i don't have that at all at the moment.
There is more to say and what i have said is not articulted properly (is that sentence even articulate - does articulated just relate to lorries?) anyway- i mean i am not expressing what i mean. I have to get off the computer now, but hopfully will come back to this with more sense later.
jacob
thank you ladies for the refreshing suggestions. i felt i was getting bogged down with worrying that i couldnt think of anything to do until i actually got there as i tend to respond to environments. so i am a bit relieved now. thanks.
Hey all,
I think I sort of have a feeling what you Jacob are talking about. It is the feeling that you are already wasting quite a bit of time in taking time out thinking (when there is time) and there is this huge hurdle (of actually getting on with some physical work) in front of you that is like a big mountain throwing a shadow on you - leaving you in the dark.
Then this fantastic opportunity appears - one week time out - where you can finally "hack into" some action. And then having to leave your tools (editing suite) behind is quite a bitter blow. The one week space is not only about freeing up some thinking and creative space but also a space to get on with physical work that has always been put aside because the time was missing. I feel that is what Dominic was talking about (either you are well planned) or you just let go (when you need thinking space?). Maybe there are two different approaches to the week: 1. to take the space and debate to become clear about your concept and work. 2. to take the space to finally do what you always wanted to do and get crackin' with the input of others and a certain flexibility.
Maybe this two foldedness is what tears us apart in the everyday life, especially when time is so precious and far too rare. I realise that I spend a lot of time to panick when I have time. The panick of neglect - if I do one thing I neglect the other...
you can't seem to win!
sorry, accidentally published the one earlier...
I wanted to add that if one is at the stage to finally have some video footage - the usual thing is to start editing the footage - to see what to make of it. This is an essential part of the process and pushes you to debate about some critical questions... as the footage you go out and take doesn't necessarily communicate what it was supposed to do. And of course the "binding" with other footage turns it into very intricate work that needs careful physical work but very much so philosophical questioning about intentions and outcome.
I am currently at that stage and must say I would love to work on that during the week. But there is some other work I want to do too. So I guess the editing has to happen at night or after the week but the edited bits I can show during the week and just take some notes while pushing my other project...
this is great input , thank you for been so genous. x x franko
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