1. Dada Art Movement

• The Dada Art Movement begin as  a protest movement agaisnt WWI and the horrors that it entailed
• The artists and writers involved, many of which whom were exiled at the time saw the concepts of Nationalism, Rationalism and Materialism as entirely repsonsible for the war. In repsonse these artists sought to breakaway from traiditional ‘establishment’ art and instead started to produce more contemporary and politically based pieces of art, known as ‘non- art by non-artists’
• The art produced although serious in its intentions is  witiful, comical and has a ‘ridiculus factor to it’. For example of famous piece of Dada Art is Marcel Duchamps sculpture ‘Fountain’, which literally is a public urinal with a signature scribbled on it
• Tom uses the obseen nature of the Dada movement as a key influence of his own work, espacially the element of comedy within art

2. Situationism

• The situationalist movement (1957-1971) was the artistic faction of the Socialist Internationalist (SI) Movement. This was a political movement which supported a democratic form of Marxism and rejected Capitalism as a result of the inequalities and suppression that resulted.
• The art involved was very satirical, consisting mostly of posters, painting and photographs alongside a small message which subtly criticized and brought attention to major issues in society
• Although Marxist the movement was heavily against the oppressive regime of the USSR, and the artists sought to actively condemn the regime through their messages.
• A key concept of the situationalist theory is the idea of the ‘spectacle’. This term is used to describe how society is controlled by material possession.
•  Tom’s work uses situationalist concepts in his own work. For example his ‘Time Bound’ experiment explores how material possession (e.g. clocks) control people’s behaviors, in that case the measurement of time.

3. Physco-Geography

• Another type of influence that Tom explores in his work is Phyco-Geography. In this method, the photographer will ‘drift’ spontaneously around the environment to wherever they choose either consciously or sub-consciously
• Tom spoke of an observational project he did based on creating a paper  areoplane and throwing it around an art gallery, and wherever the areoplane landed is where he would view the next image
• Drifting is a way of the photographer guiding what they shoot based on instinct. It is a random process that means that if done properly, the photographer’s work will always remain original and exciting, because they are not influenced by any external guidance or pressure, only by thoughts which are spontaneous.

Tom Pope lives and works in London. For Tom’s photographs he uses a film camera and develops the images in a light room. When we went to the Jersey Archisle for a workshop with Tom he explained that his photography has an element of chance, he believes that a studio is too isolated to work in and he uses the theory of psycho-geography, whereby he gets inspired by the location he is in to take the photographs. To take Tom’s photographs he uses no post production or does not plan to shoot his photographs as he believes it makes for a more “truthful document”. Tom’s work involves “drifting around and seeing where the city guides you” i think this is an interesting idea of exploring the terrain.

Tom Pope studied photography at the Swansea Metropolitan University and the Royal Collage of Art and he is a champion Archer.  Tom is also interested in Philosophy.

Tom Pope sees his photography as him ‘recording a performance’ as the film is made until the video is over. For example Tom Pope’s video of him shaking a tree and the performance is over when the petals have covered the camera lens. In a performance there may be no record if the performance is trying to hit the shutter. Tom believes that photography and film is intertwined and that it is ‘lens based media’.

In addition Tom Pope says that he ‘subverts the meaning and lines of objects I see’ and he ‘subverts social situations’. I think by this he means that by going to different places and going to different situations then he can subvert how we would usually see people act in those places and shock the people around us. I think that in Tom Pope’s images this is shown by when he makes his videos the audience’s reaction in the back of the videos.

Dérive is an unplanned journey through an urban landscape which is led by the colours and architecture, with the aim of experiencing something different. It was made by a French situationist called Guy Debord in 1958. Dérive is closely linked to psycogeography which means exploring the urban environment being led by curiosity and allowing your senses to ‘discover’ the landscape.  I think that Dérive is also linked to our project theme chance because of the uncertainty that may not find a new interesting landscape.

Situationist theorist Guy Debord defines the dérive as “a mode of experimental behavior linked to the conditions of urban society: a technique of rapid passage through varied ambiances.” He also notes that “the term also designates a specific uninterrupted period of dériving.”

During our photography trip to St. Malo, we took some time to ‘derive’ we walked around St. Malo without a destination, we walked through the main urban area and ended near the beach taking photographs along the way and doing small activities which link in with Tom’s idea of pushing the boundaries of what is and isn’t accepted in society for example we climbed some tree trunks which were placed along the beach and seen as a tourist attraction because this isn’t seen as ‘normal’ behaviour in public. Overall I think that Dérive is a good and fun way of exploring new environments which I think could be more effective than actually planning places to visit.