Mary is a wandering star

Today we have another great day at uni. One of those special Thursdays where every second counts, where every second matters. To kick off, we have a wonderful seminar about creative writing with Judith Findlay (Iain's wife). We've been asked to read two texts by her, one, a "transitional" piece (where she had felt she had been "too long away" from the art world, to write about it, but gave her impetus to do just that), the other, a short story / review of part of the Caterline arts festival.

The first text is pretty refreshing, it's written from an almost "outsider" perspective, "non academic" in tone and word usage, but still conveys all the points she wants to put across in an eloquent pace. "Write for an intelligent layperson" is her advice. I am sure Ken Neill would be shitting in his hat if he heard this, but we get into the realms of "what's it all for, this MFA malarkey?"...Are we training to be pontificating prim donnas, conceptual clap-trappers or people who make art, in a masterful way, which engages on many levels? Academic to lay (Surely that is a mastery of art, in this day and age? "You can't please all of the people all the time"...but who said trying was wrong? Again, all these arguments and discussions come back to one thing...audience. Who is my audience? Do I care about my audience? Why is an audience important? I should perhaps deal with these questions for my 1500 word essay? So many things to talk about, so many ideas...it's always the same problem...not enough ours in the day!

The one thing I liked about Judith's writing is it reminded me slightly of my own, or what my writing COULD be, if I tried harder. (Practice makes perfect, as she'd said). The more I write, the more I feel confident about it...I still lack form in my essay, this blog is fine, it's a blast of thought, the structure isn't that important...Judith's writing is peppered with parenthesis, single quotes and interjections of further thought (like I often do...see!). It's confirmation that writing as a conversation, as a diary entry is engaging, it's more intimate, you feel like the writing is speaking to you, or at least you can hear the writers voice through the style.

This seminar is about using written language to further your presentation of ideas, of art. It can be conversational, it can be academic, it can be anything you want it to be, so long as it communicates to people your intentions, your understanding, your point of view. Information is essential, but the communication of the information is also essential, if people are to understand, and ultimately progress in our existence on this planet.


Guest at Gray's was on today, but Susie and I had promised to help Mary on the start of her white space work...a performance of marking, territory, spring and ritual. I film the work, and Susie is photographing it. As performance art goes it's of the norm...that is it's not normal. People snigger and look on, bemused to Mary dressed in her "costume" and spray's with water bottles (or is it urine?...) objects and points around the interior of Gray's. We head down the stairs, along the printmaking corridor, down to sculpture, out the doors into the quad (it's lunchtime, many an "artist" having their dinner), back into the building where the refectory is, along past the shop, spray a girl round the corner, on past the giggling janitors, out the front entrance, off to the right (Clockwise, very important that), round the side, spraying air, railings, bins, trucks, corners anything that Mary sees fit to "claim". We head along the back of the building, up the left side, past some metal storage containers, almost industrial compared to the place not 5 feet round the corner...we're heading back along the front of Gray's now, following the yellow line some helpful car park company has put there for our safety, must stay behind this border, we'll be run over otherwise...into the front doors again, up the stairs and back into the room. Mary is shattered, no wonder, I think it was very brave to become anonymous is such a grand fashion!

The people Mary encountered on the way were incredulous, interested, stupefied, entertained, giggling, quizzical and down right too cool to look. The art school is full of artists...or is it? It's an interesting place to perform work. Surely everyone in the place would react with an artistic head on? I am not talking of liking the work (what is there to "like" of a woman in yellow cape, face covered in grey tights, spraying water on things?) I am talking of spending time (a second? 5 mins?) THINKING about why someone should be doing this. Why someone wants to place themselves in a realm of ridiculousness, mockery and rubbernecking? Surely, the question everyone should be asking is "what's this all about?" not "check-out the daft twat in the cape". A wolf whistle is heard in the Quad...This (to me) is a mark of someone’s embarrassment at his own ignorance. "What should I do...err...I know, twit twoooooo..(Yeah, that'll do it)." Susie thinks the opposite. "It's good that someone reacted to the work"...sure, he'd noticed...but in an art context, I'd expect more from people, but, (and here's my ageist hat), these are only people in their early twenties, what experience have they to draw on? We'd met a 4th year painter, who didn't even know that a painter had won the turner prize...and I thought I was lacking in the "contextual analysis" department!


Mary's installation in the whitespace is loaded with meaning...again, we've told her to think about editing, but she insists that it is edited. Iain said "You need more room" (and I agreed), the work is wonderful, but there are so many elements, that I think it is a "show" not just one work in a whitespace. It's the hard choice of experimentation, you have to try to know (create to critique), and she has, but has she learned that too much is too much? (or is it?...it's her art, it's who she is.)

The show comprises of a lead roll leading out of the space. An electric fence round the walls of the Whitespace a visible barrier (or protection, depending on your perspective). Lime sprinkled on the floor with bottles of Mary's urine in jars, with "wings" of willow, almost as if they were a flock of birds on migration. A small Ash "finger" (burnt, from a previous work) in which She draws on the wall another "barrier". We also have the hum of a fridge, recorded when the urine was stored in the fridge for the duration of the preparation. She also starts placing recycled paper printouts of the yellow painted lines from outside Gray's, with sticks of willow under them (outside the room, and into the corridor)...plenty to see, plenty to talk about...or too much? (Again!)

The concepts behind the work, as I have said are protection, place, territory, past and present, body, self-portrait, history, journey…the list is endless. We're presented with facts about urine, lead, willow etc, we even chip in, Jonathan with his cheese covered in pee, as in the first world war, they stopped making the alcohol they used to roll the cheese in...all good stuff, but I feel it's almost detracting from the nub of the work. The strongest concept for me is the idea of marking territory. Urine is such a powerful marker, reactive agent for many things, and in this day and age of sterility (with bleach, not urine), the reaction to several benign jars of Mary's piddle causes quite a stir. (But we are in a building that houses several juvenile "artists" who can't cope with things that "are different / challenging" (as we've already seen today).


Mary's given context is Art Povera. Her use of everyday, basic objects in this context, sits wonderfully well with the ideals of Arte Povera, creating art from everyday objects, simple and obvious (?), but when mixed with concept and context, these objects take on new meanings, they can convey powerfully new meanings because of their newly acquired status of importance, because of their presence within a whitespace. "This must be art" (this must be looked at). Simplicity is often powerful. I applaud that concept.

listening to : helmet - meantime : !!! - !!!ep : alec emprire - tribute to Moog

Iain crtique of April 3rd video

April 3rd 2007 11.42 - 12.56

Today, Susie and I head in to see Iain about the video we've just finished, we just want some input from our tutor to see if we're "getting this art malarkey right" (?)

Susie and I have both come through a journey of sorts with this work. Collaborative working at its best. Susie had said today that she hadn't quite "got" the use of collaboration last semester, like it's something she does all the time, "work with people", but there is a subtle difference from working with people and working with someone...Collaboration is about two minds meeting, agreeing, disagreeing, conversing, discussing and taking the "best route forward". As I've said in this blog, Susie and I didn't always agree with decisions, so we'd reason why we should and shouldn't have parts included / excluded. I could easily have been a "technician" to Susie's vision, sure, I shot the shots and edited the work, but it was also with my vision of how the work should look, what feelings the work should convey that changed my mere "technical help" for this work.

I can see a concept in the work, it may be different to Susie's, and this is where I feel slightly removed from the work, as if I've "hijacked" Susie's beautiful vision...but still taken it in a new direction....

It was an interesting discussion based on the work today, I'd pointed out that "create to critique" is fantastic..here we are (Mary included) watching a video of leaves blowing down a beach, and we're talking about swimmers in the Amazon, global warming and bladerunner...It's important to create work, and show it, to have new perspectives arise, discussions from work, can lead you in new directions. This is one of my sticking points, with some of the more intellectual positions in creating "our art" (as a class / individual). I feel we are almost expected to consider EVERY aspect of the work, how can we? I am not everyone, I don't have EVERY perception of a situation...surely we can not think of everything? (not even Picasso would have!) It's almost a trap conceptual art can fall into, if you need to consider EVERYTHING, before creating work, it's impossible to consider EVERYTHING, therefore, you'd never get anything made. Create to Critique - Critique to create.

Some of the technical criticisms Iain "gently" brought up, were that he felt the work too slow, or long. "some" shots were un-necessary. He did think that the mix of moving shots Vs still shots didn't work. We had felt that they were essential transitions from the leaves moving TO The camera vs them moving away...

Some of the action points to come out of the critique were to create a body of "beach videos", to try and push how minimal we can go, perhaps only one shot will do (I do like the towards / away vibe of the video though). Susie is also going to work on a juxtaposition / mirror (in a different context) to the work, her digger in the pond theme would come into play...) All these possibilities...

I'd also linked the work to Spike Jonez's "the woods" short video (click here to see it).

listening to : martyn bates & mick harris - murder ballads

devil is in the details

Once susie left on Friday, I watched the video the next day, only to discover that it contained human voices (Susie and Mary having a chat...tsk tsk!) There was also a helicopter sound in one shot.

I spent saturday tidying up the sound and smoothing out the fades...

Susie came round today, to view the "final cut". Again, with fresh eyes, we spot several things that need tweaked. We lengthened fades, changed the title (from Rush hour to April 3rd 11.42 - 12.56), I also removed the overlayed alpha channel "border", as it seemed to create a grid over the video. I'd then clipped the original video, instead of using an overlay...

I will upload the video to youTube and link it here.

Needless to say, we're very happy with the result.

Listening to : various - electric lady land IV : various - min 2 max : bolthrower - warmaster

collaboration work - s.hunt p.thompson

Susie comes round today so we can edit the footage we'd shot on the beach, for our collaborative video we're going to submit to Aberdeen artists 2007.

We'd shot about 40 mins of footage, only to whittle it down to 6 mins.
It's amazing what our first video "sketch" (what we thought was a final cut) had done for us. We could understand what new shots we needed. When we started looking at the individual shots (14 takes of various angles etc) we could refer back to the original, knowing what worked and what didn't. We had 4 types of shot, the leaves advancing to the camera, panning shots (left to right), leaves heading away from the camera and some static shots with leaves heading from left to right. We had discussed the order of shots, and with an idea of "rush hour" (working title) we had a plan to show 1/2 of the video with all the footage heading to the camera, mid way, we had some transitional shots linking the final "away" section with panning shots...

It was a very easy, harmonious way of working. Susie would direct me when using premier, I would also offer suggestions, even disagree with certain shot choices, we'd discuss the merits and the failures of a shot. All in all a great, free way of working. Susie's vision and my technical / aesthetic filming created an accomplished video work.

The concept behind the work, and this is Susie's baby, is to invoke a sense of reminiscences, a wistful recollection of memories of walks, on a beach (physically), a sense of daydream. The video has no reference of humans in it, other than a jeep track in the sands, this denotes a sense of journey. The idea of leaves on the beach in itself is disjointed, it's the clash of two "environments" that creates this sense of travel, where have these leaves come from? Where are they going? We indeed become the leaves, our minds lock onto them, we imagine the journey they take, the interactions they have with their "fellow leaves", the pointlessness of their journey, the finality of nature stopping them in their tracks...the metaphors for the leaves and human interactions are very strong.

several points of interest in the video are:
the varying light conditions
the interaction / path of the leaves
the framing of the shots
the title (april 3rd 2007 : 11.42 - 12.56)

the titles traps this event, it's passed, it will never happen again. What were you doing on that day, at that time? Not as memorable as remembering where you were on 9/11, or when they set foot on the moon, but it's certainly important to remember every hour of our lives, to know that our lives are fleeting, so making the most of this life is so important...

two teas thompson

I need to start thinking about my 1500 word essay for the end of this semester. It's in less than 6 weeks time now...

I need to know what it is I want to talk about...I've got a "rough" idea. It'll be something on the lines of quantification, value, simplification and abstraction...Susie came up with a great Idea the other day, based on something I'd said last semester. I wanted to "interview myself" last semester, but ended up not doing it, but, it seems that Susie has a great Idea to convert our conversations into written works, therefore satisfying the brief. Ace. Now...all I need is a solid understanding of what it is I A, want to talk about and B, what indeed I want to talk about! (simple!)

I'd been sent a last minute text from Jonathan, asking if I'd pop round, as he was in on his own, and he'd said there'd be "LAMB ROAST"..of course I said yes! before this, I'd had a delicious gnocchi and cheese sauce + salad for my tea (6 pm). I'd then popped to Jonathan's place at 8...and had Roast Lamb, potatoes and broccoli on a bed of ripped basil, boy oh boy did I find space for that!

We'd had a great chat, as I always do with Jonathan, he's got his head screwed on, he's got his essay / dissertation planned to a tee. Post war generation, and the threat (or perceived threat) of war and death...ooh!

It was the start of summer today, or it felt like it. We sat in his back garden, drinking red wine, and chatting about the MFA, and how it's made us jaded...well, "hard to please, or fucking lazy"...lazy in that it's made us really think about things before even attempting to make anything "arty". I'd told J that I was "disappointed" that my slate drawing had got into the SSA...and not my new work ("I don't have a dream")...I mean, "disappointed" I got SOMETHING into the SSA...what a tosser! We talked about "having no time", or feeling tired, because of the thinking that goes into the MFA...condensed, crammed and rushed, it feels so vibrant when at Uni, but that's all fine, if there were no deadlines, hand in dates, external examiners etc...it's all getting very serious (was it never?)...Time is always niggling at the back of my head, my blissful "year off" is hurtling to an endpoint.

We checked out the Suzanne Lacey video "the roof is on fire", an "art work" of conversations with American teenagers, held in various cars on a car park roof, where the public are invited to "listen in" and experience the many viewpoints, seldom heard, due to social setups in the US. (young, black, poor etc). It's a fascinating idea, but all too futile. It's a thin line between social work, social change and art. Some scant, and rather trite road signs are placed around the place, to give it a more "valid artistic presentation"...something for the ley-person, no doubt. "ah, signs that don't mean anything...this must be the art..."

It's great to see that these social arts projects can empower individuals, as well as groups, but sad to see that the "impact" (for all the good causes it presents) is flash in the pan. I hope that the participants do take strength from their actions, but don't lose hope or impetus when taking things further (how far is that?)...

My biggest comment to J was that I really couldn't comprehend the state of play for young, black Americans, I couldn't begin to imagine what sort of social constraints are placed upon them "in reality", as I am mostly only every presented with media based stereotypes....(which the work was fighting).

preaching to the converted springs to mind, and most "good causes" (on a small community level) only ever seem to attract that. It was astonishing to see the liberal white audience...it could have been seen as patronising..that's the hard line, balance etc. how do you educate the "white man", yet not become a victim to a larger political machine?...so many complex issues and points to be made....

listening to : liars - drums not dead : basic channel - BDC

Susie's Leaves part 2

After Susie and I had reviewed, edited and "completed" the collaborative video work, of Susie's "Leaves on an Empty Beach" vision, we'd decided the footage we had, was just not good enough. We'd sat and watched the video and understood where we went wrong with it, shots too short, badly placed leaves etc. We also didn't have enough "ambient sound" (I'd had to loop 15 seconds of waves + wind, as we were all talking in the original footage). We'd considered this work, in the end "a sketch". With this in mind, we made a date to film more footage, knowing what we were looking for this time.

We pick up Mary from her house, and head to Balmedie beach...again. Susie did it again...take 2 heavy bags, full of soggy leaves...these buggers don't budge in a light - middling wind (which is exactly what we have today!). We get to a spot where it's fairly quiet (everyone ...and their dog is on the beach today!). We discuss what shots we need, how we might achieve them etc, and set up. The wind's a strange one today, mainly blowing down the beach (not across, which would be ideal), but, we feel that this can help us get longer, "wistful" shots..and does.

I needed to get some "panning" shots, but, two things kill this for me, we need leaves blowing in, but can't get a pile without getting Susie / Mary casting them out to start, people are not supposed to be in shot. Second, when I do "pan", the tripod is jerky and sticks, so we don't get a smooth transition / tracking shot. I am not sure there are any panning shots I could use in the final version (the pan felt too fast too)...we get a heap of nice into the wind / out of the wind (with leaves rushing past the lens), on a tripod, on the sand etc. All good stuff, unlike the hand held, shaky nonsense I'd filmed last time...I need to capture it and start editing, with Susie. I think out of the 20+ mins we got, there is plenty of scope for a 5 min film.

We head back to Mary's, for a tapas feast. Spreads, Pate, Salmon, Salad etc...all great stuff. We chat about how the MFA is shaping up, the usual panic as we feel the deadline of another semester speeding our way. Mary is getting her "white cube" show ready, all capes and piss...more on that later...(it's sounding great, a performance piece I am tasked in filming, I'll fit that round my 1500 word essay and all that Jazz... ho ho).

NEOS has 202 entries int he Database...that's scary. I need to find an automated way of creating the setups....lets not think about that just now!

I also have to think about the work for Uni, the "self portrait" for Charlie Hackett, and, as Mary pointed out, we're expected to have some "creative writing" for next Thursday...as you can tell from reading this, I ain't no writer. (is that a double negative? fahknahs).

Listening to : Aphex Twin - I care because you do : UI - lifelike

SSA show - Edinburgh

Gabi, Poppy and I head to Edinburgh to check out the SSA exhibition, where we have works on show. Gabi has a 2ft canvas in, and I have the "la haine" slate up on the walls. The show looks great compared to the shambolic student rsa show, not 4 weeks ago. It's just got a more professional air to it there are actually three shows on, the VAS, the SSA and the RSW (check the rsa site).

There is a strange mix of traditional painting / drawing (of which Gabi and my work sits) and some rather perplexing, interesting sculptures. One work I was particularly enamoured by, was a diggers shovel, filed with knives, Like a metal, non-threatening porcupine (the knives pointed inwards). Perhaps it was supposed to present a futile attack on the building / construction industry? or is it "just" an aesthetically pleasing array of knives? It's also housed in a perspex box, I had a feeling that this had to be there, for safety reasons, or was it? (the classic "is that fire extinguisher part of the art question...). There were also some interesting fake stairs (squint, oblique angles etc), stopping access through one of the many RSA alcoves, I'd looked for the catalogue number, but couldn't see it, then, in the other room, I saw the "back" of the sculpture (what looked like a stage set), and there was the number...this made me think, is this the "front"? is this the part the artist wants us to look at? It looked temporary, out of context, whereas the "front" (to me), was perfect, odd steps (painted white) making me feel off kilter with the room...

I did enjoy the exhibition, but again, felt there was too much to see (with my mind on the parking ticket price accumulating with every second I spent in there...a real shame). The only thing that let it down, were the shabby staff, unhelpful, sometimes rude (wee man at the elevator acting like the usual jobs worth)..and, they don't take credit cards...how annoying when you don't have a spare tenner in yer wallet...bah humbug.

My MFA head needed "more art" (or should I say, refined, condensed and focused art). So I suggest we head to the Fruitmarket to see the Trenton Doyle Hancock work. It's a stramash of images and text (in a good way), an explosion...a battle. It's about "good vs evil" (in an imagined world of "Vegans and Mounds". I'd hate to live in this world, it all looks ugly and unwelcoming. oozing orifices, poking fingers, broken joints, hellish underworlds...not a nice place, but, from the other side, it's a fascinating place. I'd likened the work to Paul Guston fighting with Robert Crumb in a Hieronymus Bosch scene. It's a spectacular show, in that the blizzard like paintings are hung on walls that have hand written narritives, passages and texts by the artist. They do create a giant comic book effect within the building. A few "sculptural" (installations?) are seen, one giant skinny, bony arm comes from the wall, holding a bucket with "pink" in it. (I think the pink was the "good juice" that the Vegan Priest "Sesom" (Moses backwards) is trying to collect, to convert all the bad vegans into Mound Loving people....It's all a bit silly, but the conviction of Hancock (in his video) is astounding. this world exists in his head. He's had dialogue with these "people"..His history of the world, details of who's who (players) why these "people" have (are) fighting etc...if this was not in a gallery, it could be construed as mental health / art therapy outpourings!

Gabs and I got back the the car, 3 mins late...and for that, we have to fork out £9.60...bah fukken humbug indeed. (mah bawbies are precious, don'chaken)

listening to : heaps on the fantastic MP3 player all the way down and all the way back. (Dead brothers, bert jansch.....)