The last couple of days have been dedicated to group crits. We’ve been both the presenters to 2D and the audience for 4D. Unfortunately, the 2D group weren’t hugely talkative but the tutor did engage in discussion and provided a new response which was helpful. The general discussion seemed to be in relation to whether or not the content they were watching was in fact a genuine YouTube video or a fabricated one. This was fairly unexpected but only because we made the film and therefore didn’t see it from that perspective. Amalia Ulman was brought up, someone we’re quite familiar with already but not someone we directly associated with the work even though now it seems like an obvious link. Perhaps it’s due to us not really thinking about this work as ‘internet art’ per say (something that we think about Amalia Ulman but something we now believe to be slightly reductionist) but more that YouTube was the appropriate medium for the message.
We were also recommended Carey Young – not someone we believed we hadn’t heard of before but after looking into her work we realised we had! Also, her website has an excellent amount of information on her work which is excellent since her ideas are subtle yet highly considered. A good example being her work ‘Before the Law’ which is a series of photographs featuring courthouse doorways. Named after Franz Kafka’s 1915 parable in which the protagonist is continuously denied access to ‘the law,’ the series depicts these doorways as metaphors for the legal system itself. Courtrooms are glimpsed in various ways – a red glow emanating from one entices us with its surprising warmth and seductiveness; a red velvet curtain in another calls to mind law’s reliance on aspects of theatre; in a third, a courtroom visible through a frosted glass window glows like an abstract painting, as if law’s abstractions may connect with artistic thinking in ways which have not yet been fully considered.
It made us think of James bridle digital renderings of ‘invisible’ spaces. These are spaces which are illegal to photograph such as the detention centres, closed courts, luxury lounges and private jets Britain uses to deport people.
She also employs the notion of the footnote quite frequently in her work, this is something we’ve been thinking about for a while due to our thoughts on authorship and how nothing is original and everything is somehow referential to what came before it.
Having a chance to see the work from other pathways was a valuable experience. However, it did get slightly annoying when we were continually told that what was on show had only been made the night before (and you could tell). Not that we have any objection to working up to the last minute, but leaving it up to the last minute is very different. It merely demonstrates a lack of care which is frustrating at this level. This is only due to the fact that we really get excited when we’re blown away when we see thorough, well considered, skilfully executed art made by our peers.
