On Monday, Jenny O’Meara came in to give us feedback on our rough cuts. It was really good to have professional feedback, as Jenny was very critical in a good way, picking up a lot of things I wouldn’t have otherwise noticed. For example, I thought my ending was pretty good but she suggested that I found a line that had a more natural ending to it, so I ended up changing the end. This ties back to the discussion we had in class about skills an editor must have, and one of those being to not to get too attached to your work and being able to let go.

She also suggested I create more space between the last two sections, which should be straight forward to fix up because I’d created space earlier in the portrait so I can easily apply the same technique.

I’m struggling the most with what music to use, as most of the creative commons music is typical youtube vlogger electronic music and doesn’t really suit the tone of the portrait. Even when I think I’ve found something I put it in to the timeline and it doesn’t really work after all.

Other than that, everything is on track and I just need to keep on editing and refining.

It’s getting to the pointy end of the semester and our videos are well into the production stage, with most having begun editing their rough cuts.

I started editing my rough cut last week with the intention of catching up with Peter so I could show him the rough cut. However, as I was editing I was running into problems. Firstly, I struggled to cut down the interview to a manageable length, and I was finding that I really didn’t have enough footage or stills to be able to cover the entire video.

So on Monday I arranged to meet up with Peter to do some more shooting in his studio. It was really easy this time around because I knew exactly what I needed to shoot to cover parts of the video that needed extra footage, and it was a breeze to put it all together after that.

So at this point I have a rough cut that’s conveying the overall narrative, with most of the footage in the right place. After getting feedback on the rough cut today, I know what problems I need to address to try and really lift the video. It should be fairly easy to finalise the edit in time, and to address the other materials that need to be prepared for the final due date.

On Wednesday Joyce seitzinger dropped by class to talk to us about social media strategies for our video portraits. She stressed the importance of starting on social media campaigns as early as possible. Start by doing research – analyse the competition, find communities and their platforms, find out which hashtags to use. Most importantly – begin connecting.

One way to begin connecting is to identify existing channels, i.e. people who are already posting about related content, or people who are in any other way related to the project. For instance, for our artist profiles, we could connect with the artist, their gallerist, friends/family, publishers, funding bodies, and other similar people if they have social media accounts.

In terms of curating the account, aim for a 20/80 ratio. That means that 20% of the content is about the project, and 80% sharing content that is still of interest to your audience.

Other important things to remember is to be polite and respectful at all times – you don’t want to offend any of your audience. Think twice before you post anything personal, as it’s impossible to take something back after it’s been posted.
Another thing to consider is the importance of visual content, as research has shown visual content generates 800% more clicks. For example, posting backstage photos of the production process.

Still from the video portrait

So far my project is tracking along pretty well. I have (hopefully) completed all filming/recording of interviews, and I’m now working on creating an edit script that will inform the final video. I completed filming for the Portrait spread over two days in the semester break, mainly in Peter’s studio, but also with some outdoor shots around Brunswick and the CBD. I also filmed his Love Letters Project when it was exhibited at Spring 1883 last month, so this will also be used.

Everything went reasonably smoothly during the recording, aside from a slight misunderstanding. I had proposed to Peter, seeing as he didn’t like formal to-camera interview set ups, that we take a more casual conversational approach, which he seemed OK with. However when I turned up on the day with all my gear it turned out that he didn’t want to be on camera talking at all. If I’d known this I would’ve brought a Zoom recorder instead of a lapel mic and my camera, and I would’ve been able to get better audio. This means it’ll also be more difficult to edit the portrait as I’ll really be relying on visual material to tie everything together. It shouldn’t pose any major issues, as I’ve got plenty of footage and stills of Peter’s work, which he has given to me, and he has communicated that he’s happy to do reshoots if I run into problems.

I have around half an hour’s worth of interview audio, which is more than enough to edit down into a 4 minute video. I’ve transcribed all the clips into a google doc which will help me to create an edit script. I really want to have a solid idea of what the final video will look like and which shots I’ll use where, etc, as I know from last semester that it’s super difficult and annoying to try desperately to piece shots together if I don’t have any shots of the interviewee talking to the camera.
Despite that I’m pretty well ahead of schedule, this isn’t all good because some things have been brought up in class that would have been nice if I’d known before I filmed everything, such as some tips about recording ‘professional audio’ using the Zoom recorders. This means that my audio isn’t as good as it could be, but I’ll definitely keep this in mind for future projects.

I’d been pretty preoccupied over the last week with two major assignments due for other classes, but now that’s done I hope to make a lot more progress with the portrait and hope to start editing by the end of the week and have a rough cut done pretty quickly. That way if I do end up finding it too hard to cut together with just interview audio I’ve got time to shoot additional footage.

The third iteration of Spring1883 was presented at the Windsor Hotel over the last weekend. Spring is an art fair set in the unusual setting of a grand hotel, where the rooms are filled with artworks from contemporary artists, presented by galleries.

I had a chance to visit on Sunday, as I’m producing a video portrait on artist Peter Atkins, whose Love Letters project was installed in the Prince Albert Suite. The hotel provides a very unique backdrop for the artworks – it’s quite a contrast to see a conceptual modern artwork presented in a tiny antique hotel bathroom. Compared to some of the other artworks, Atkin’s art married the space very well, as it was quite understated and nostalgic, and the Windsor Hotel is definitely nostalgic.

Whilst Spring is definitely unique and interesting, it was difficult to move around the rooms because they were so small. Even with just a few people in a room it became almost impossible to enter, and visiting the event involved quite a bit of manoeuvring through crowds and patiently waiting for a spot to open so you could enter a space – this had a bit of an impact on my ability to peruse the works and my enthusiasm toward the ordeal.

Besides that it was a really cool atmosphere – also for having a sneak peek into what the rooms at the Windsor are like. Especially in the wake of the Melbourne Art fair being cancelled this year, it’s great that events like this are still happening.

Image courtesy of Peter Atkins.

Love Letters, Peter Atkins, 2016

On Monday we found out which artists we’d be paired with for our artist portrait videos. This meant, of course, that we were finally thrust headfirst into our major assignment. I will be working with Peter Atkins.

I went home that day feeling super overwhelmed, but once I broke down everything that needed to be done and began filling in a production calendar I was feeling a lot better. I organised to meet Peter in his studio on Wednesday – it was fantastic to talk to him and exchange ideas, as well as see the studio space and artwork up close.

Peter Atkins’ love letters project is exhibiting at Spring 1883 over the weekend, and he is giving a talk on Sunday, so I will sure to make use of those filming opportunities.

I think I will film the portrait on a DSLR as their small size is advantageous as the Peter’s studio and other places I will be filming are quite small. I’d love try to use lights when I’m filming as I haven’t used them much before.

Peter has indicated that he would like the video to be more than just a to-camera interview. I’m more than happy to take up the challenge to create something that is different and exciting and reflects Peter’s work well.

An example of Banksy’s street art. Source

A question that is often posed is what makes street art ‘art’, rather than just graffiti? There are similarities: both are in public locations, rather than in galleries. Also, both are ephemeral types of art, which means that, unlike most art in contemporary and public galleries, the work is not long-lasting.

Graffiti artists are not necessarily interested in conveying ideas towards the general public – they just want to communicate towards other graffiti artists. Conversely, street artists do want to create a public understanding of their work, in order to create an impact. This means that they are reaching a broader audience than street artists, rather than the ‘secret club’ that graffiti artists are interested in. Graffiti tends to have negative connotations, so some graffiti artists prefer to be called street artists. Indeed, there is a great deal of crossover between the two types of art.

The two art forms also differentiate in terms of materials and techniques. Graffiti art is generally created using spray paint. Street artists also tend to use spray paint, but they also use paste ups, stencils, paint, and stickers. A main elements of graffiti art is tagging, which involves the artist painting his name or nickname. These are often difficult or impossible to read for the un-initiated, further emphasizing the exclusivity and subversive culture of graffiti art.

Banksy is an example of a famous street artist who uses stencils and spray paint to create art that often has political and social messages, or is simply humorous.

By David Shrigley

The ancient Greeks admired the human form as the epitome of beauty and strove to represent it in beautiful statues as offering to the gods. The impressionists saw beauty in light and nature and strove to represent it on a canvas. But has beauty become a thing of the past?

If we describe beauty as the ability of things to grant us aesthetic, visual pleasure, contemporary art can be far from it. Contemporary artists seem to shun beauty en masse, to create art that can be shocking, irreverent, ugly, or just plain odd. Artist David Shrigley recently exhibited a show in the National Gallery of Victoria that featured a giant urinating statue. And that’s only the tip of the iceberg of wonderful oddities that can be found in contemporary art.

The goal of art was once to create beauty, and it is only in the last century that we have seen a shift towards anti-beauty. However, perhaps not every beautiful thing looks good at first sight, as Maria-Alina Asavei argues in her article Beauty and Critical Art: Is beauty at odds with critical political engagement?

I used to be one of those people that would point at modern artworks and say “I could do that.” Now I realise that yeah, maybe I could do that, but I didn’t. The way I see it, that’s largely the point of contemporary art – to put forward new ideas, to dazzle, to confuse, to question, to critique, to comment.. I could go on. Art doesn’t have to be aesthetically beautiful to beautiful through what it is saying. After all beauty is, in the end, subjective.

One of the things that sets us humans apart from the other mammals is the ability to make stuff, so we should do so. We should keep on making art of all kinds, aesthetically beautiful or not, as art can only contribute to the wonderful texture of our lives.

Referenced:

Maria-Alina Asavei, Beauty And Critical Art: Is Beauty At Odds With Critical–Political Engagement?, Journal of Aesthetics & Culture, Vol. 7, 2015, 16 June 2015

Untitled Film Still by Cindy Sherman

In the Artscape doco we watched earlier this week, the presenter mentioned some interesting tidbits regarding gender equality in the contemporary art world. He stated that 9 out 10 ten art students are women, but less than half of artists who have representation with a gallery are women. Oddly, however, most gallery directors and agents are women.

I decided this garnered some looking into for this week’s blog post.

92% of artist at New York evening auctions are male. Not only that, but work by male artists sell for more money. The combined value of women’s work in the New York auctions only accounts for 3% of the sales.

There are a few women who have achieved success in the art word – women like Tracey Emin and Cindy Sherman. Yet it still seems like the history of art is being written by white men. Almost all of the world’s highest earning artists are male, and similar things can be said about the highest earning jobs and most powerful positions, which are all held by men. Women are grossly underrepresented in Australian government, comprising less than a third of all parliamentarians.

Connie Butler, chief curator at the Hammer museum in Los Angeles, which showed an almost equal ratio of men and women in 2015, declared a “cultural shift” needs to take place, but, despite this being desperately overdue, it might be a long time until men and women are equally represented in the contemporary art world.

Articles sourced:

Hannah Gorashi, Inequality Endures: The Price of Being a Female Artist in 2015, <http://www.artnews.com/2015/12/30/women-art-status-in-2015/>, Accessed 28/7/16

Editors of ArtNews, Are the November Postwar and Contemporary Auctions a Boy’s Club?, <http://www.artnews.com/2015/10/24/november-postwar-contemporary-auctions-boys-club/>, Accessed 28/8/16

Let’s ignore the fact that I should have remembered more from my Studio Arts exam and let’s take a look at what ARIs are. Not to be confused with the music awards, ARI stands for Artist Run Initiative. They are run by artists for artists, to showcase their projects, and can exist in many different forms and different spaces, from laneways and tunnels to more traditional gallery spaces.

I’m forever a proud Melburnian and it pleases my heart to see the amount of Victorian ARIs vastly outnumber those of our other great states (and territories). ARIs are as important to our cultural scene as commercial and public galleries, and crucial for supporting local and especially emerging artists.

Examples of ARIs in Melbourne include BLINDSIDE, Kings ARI, Rubicon ARI and Knight Street Art space.

A photo I took at Platform Art Space – located in the Degraves St Subway- last year