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Chance, Change and Challenge
For this particular part of the coursework we are looking at the three words ‘chance, change and challenge’. To me this is exactly what performance photography embodies. In order to make a great photograph/film you need to take a chance and try to anticipate what your audience are going to think. You also need to change your perspective of photography and not do what is expected, something that isn’t conventional to photography. You don’t need to concentrate too much on the composition of the photograph just as long as your subject is in frame. Finally performance photography is a challenge as it challenges the way I think and how I plan a photo shoot. This style of photography is all down to chance and how you as an individual photographer can create something great just on the spot in the environment you are surrounded by. I am excited to see how this project turns out as it does challenge the way I think about photography. Your work can either be really great or something that only the spectators who were there are able to see.
Tom Pope 2015 Photographer in Residence
Tom Pope is a British photographer born in 1986. He lives and works in London. Pope is the 2015 Photographer in Residence at the Jersey Photo Archives. Last Tuesday we worked with Pope alongside the Jersey Archisle where we did a few workshops to develop our understanding of Performance Photography. Pope is a performance photographer who usually goes on impulse and finds objects when he goes to where he is going to perform.
Pope’s performances are all recorded where he will find an image within each film. Often Pope’s spectators are those who happen to be on the scene at the time as he doesn’t pre-plan or tell anyone where he is going to be in a place.
So It Goes Project:
http://www.tompope.co.uk/soitgoes.html
So It Goes project interview:
The So It Goes project is filled with many different concepts that Pope has managed to create and are displayed on his blog which is linked above. The story of the Grandfather clock has a deeper meaning of living a life without time, which explains destroying the clock and carrying it around in a hearse. I like the idea of this project as in many ways people of our generation would be lost without time. They wouldn’t be able to do the usual things that we are expected to do, such as getting to work and school on time. What if time didn’t exist? What if we didn’t have to live in a world were time was the most important aspect and that we wouldn’t have to worry constantly about not having enough of it.
Another great project of Pope’s is the Fountain Bike. Here Pope made a bike with a mannequin hand holding up a hose pipe which was filtered from the rain water at the side of a road in the UK. Here Pope simply cycled on the spot in the rain and whoever was walking past was his audience and spectators.
I like the vibrant colour of his yellow rain coat and the bright colours on the bike which make it stand out, as well as the obvious that water is shooting off the front of the bike through a hose pipe which is being held up by a mannequin hand and the water being produced from the rain water on the side of a road. This film still show many spectators of Pope’s performance. The first is the woman walking past on the street, moving to the side to avoid getting more wet from the water coming off the bike. The other spectators are the children on the bus who are looks at Pope in an entertained/confused way. I like that Pope will just go out and create something completely random to make an impact and to perform for the people who happen to be there at that time.
On Wednesday 17th the photography group are going to St Malo for the day along with Tom Pope and the Archisle people to show our skills in the art of performance photography. I am excited to see how this turns out and if we manage to come up with visually interesting pieces.
Yury Toroptsov 2014 Photographer in Residence
Yury Toroptsov was the photographer in residence at the Jersey Photo Archives in 2014. He was born in 1974 in Vladivostok, in Russia. Toroptsov is a photographer who focuses on the common denominator for distant cultures. He looks at people and their identity and the permanence of myths. Memories, metamorphosis, profane and sacred are the recurring themes in his photographs. He currently lives and works in Paris.
During Toroptsov’s six month period in working in Jersey, he found some old videos from the Second World War of the Battle of Flowers which still went on even throughout the duration of the war.
http://www.toroptsov.com/en/projects/fairyland.htm
Toroptsov was influenced by a particular float called ‘Fairyland’ which is developed in the first video on his website of the Fairyland page. This interests me as he looks deeper into Jersey and uses the Archive as a way to access the present day. This backs up what the Archisle man stated that ‘you need to understand a history to anticipate the future’. We as a community need to reflect and understand the past to move forward.
One photo in particular which I like is the one of a bench with a plague on it that says ‘In Appreciation Of Being Jersey Born – K.J.H.’. The reason I really like this image is because of the simple message that we should be proud to be Jersey born. Often people tell me that they wish they weren’t from here or that they don’t consider themselves as from here but instead from the background of where their parents are from. I am proud and happy to have been born and live in such a beautiful island. Although the island has many setbacks and is very cushioned compared to the rest of the world, I think that it has so much to offer. In the beauty of its landscapes and all the different cultures we have on the island. I like this image because it is simple yet powerful.
Michelle Sank 2013 Photographer in Residence
http://www.michellesank.com
Michelle Sank is a South African photographer who moved to England in 1987. Sank is a social documentary photographer, with her work illuminating issues around social and cultural diversity. Sank was in Jersey for six months working on a project called ‘Insula’.
These set of images follow the Archives of the past with photographers such as Henry Mullins who recorded his photographs in rows of four in large photo albums. This set of images shows the people of today living in Jersey and how different cultures and social classes live rather than just the higher social classes which were recorded in the past. I like these images as they can show the different personalities of the people of Jersey as well as letting the spectator in on the environment surrounding the subject.
One image which I find really interesting is the one below of Liberation Square on Liberation Day 2013. It interests me because of the Union Jack in the background because I would have actually expected to see the Jersey flag and not the British. One reason being that the Prime Mister at the time of World War II, Churchill, chose not to defend Jersey against Nazi invasion and also failed to announce that the Channel Islands were unarmed resulting in 47 innocent Jersey farmers to be shot and killed when the Germans arrived. Although, I realise that the reason the Channel Islands were liberated the day after Britain was because of the great effort the British and the Americans put into defending the rest of the world against the German Nazis.
I like this image because it shows how the people of Jersey will come together on this one day, 9th May, to celebrate the freedom and liberation of its past people and its ancestors.
Societe Jersiase Photo Archive 2015
On Tuesday 9th June 2015 all the year 12 photography students were invited down to the Societe Jersiaise Archives to learn more about the photo archive we have on the island and as an introduction to the 2015 Resident Photographer Tom Pope.
Throughout this workshop we were put into groups to work with. At first we watched a presentation made my one of the people who work at the Archisle Jersey. In his presentation he taught us that photography is a tool for questioning what art is and what it can be. This can be developed in art history and the sciences.
http://societe-jersiaise.org/photographic-archive
Photography is used for many things, such as; advertising/criminal/passport/travel/family/marketing etc.
The archives can tell a story about you, for example the photos you take and choose to save. The photos that you keep can tell a lot about your personality and what interests you. I like to print out my photographs so that I have a physical copy of them to look at as memories as I grow. I also have a huge archive of photographs on my old laptop and my new laptop. This is where I store the bulk load of photos that I have accumulated over my life and am still gaining more and more each day. I prefer to have physical copies of my favourite photographs so that I can access them and look at them without having to search through my laptops for a load of photos from years ago. I think this is because my family have so many photo albums filled with memories and good times. I like the idea of using photo archives as a way to reconnect with my past and to show how much I have changed and developed to the present day.
A man called Henry Mullins [1848-1873] had the first ever photography studio in Jersey! He was very successful as most people in Jersey came to him for their photographs to be taken. He took photos of the most wealthy who lived on the island, which has now become a large archive for the Jersey people of today. Mullins would put all of his images in rows of four with the persons title below so that he would know who was who which has proved very helpful today as we are able to look at these photo albums and see who was around this island many years ago.
The man from the Jersey Archives also said that the Archives can show how portraits have changed and developed over the centuries. This allows us to see who was around in Jersey in the past. It also shows the difference in social classes from the past and now. It shows how the only people who were ever photographed in the past were of a higher social class whereas nowadays pretty much anyone is able to take photographs.
– photography is always contradicting itself
– Michelle Sank is one of the photographers in resident in Jersey a few years ago [2013].
http://www.michellesank.com
– Yury Toroptsov was the photographer in resident in Jersey last year and was very much influenced by the Battle of Flowers as part of his 6 month project in Jersey [2014].
http://www.toroptsov.com
In photography we need to learn to look beyond just what we can physically see in front of us and instead look at the connotation of an image or set of images. We need to understand what the subject can make you feel and how it influences you as an individual. We as photographers need to anticipate what our audiences’ are going to think and feel about our work.
Research Photographic Archives
Workshop at Société Jersiaise Photo Archive 9th June 2015
Using the Photographic Archive as a Resource for Research and Ideas
Picture Research Exercise
At the beginning of this workshop your group will be assigned a photographer from the archive. Your group’s task will be to research the work of this photographer and to select a photograph by them that illustrates performance in some way and or the theme: CHANCE/CHALLENGE/CHANGE. Think Laterally!!!!
Choose between one of these names:
Laurens, Phillip Morel
Ouless, Clarence P
De Faye, Francis George
Dale, Edwin
Baudoux, Ernest
Dunham, Percy
Smith, Albert
Guiton, Emile F
Foot, Francis
click here for further instructions
Research: Tom Pope
2015 Photographer in Residence is Tom Pope
This means that we will be working with him on the following days:
- Tuesday 9th June: Workshop at held at the Photo-Archive/ Societe Jersiaise
Tom Pope Intro – talk about his own work/practice.
Students research task about how to engage with the Photo-Archive
Photo-shoot with Tom Pope - Wednesday 17th June St Malo: On location shoot/performance with Tom Pope + teachers in St Malo. Please make sure you have completed relevant paperwork and returned payment.
- Friday 10 July: Hall at Hautlieu School.
Plenary/ feedback/ assessment with Tom Pope
http://www.archisle.org.je/tom-pope-appointed-archisle-international-photographer-in-residence-2015/
Here is a clip where Tom is talking about his work Over the Edge
Here is a link to Tom Pope’s website where you can see a number of different works exploring the relationship between Performance and Photography using both video and stills photography to records his public performances and events.
Another link to a video teaser about his work which was a solo-exhibition So It Goes at London Gallery George and Jorgen
For analysis of his practice and key works think about Tom’s presentation of his work at the Photo-Archive. Use your notes from your notebook as well as carry out independent research. Here are some of the key concepts that underpin’s his work and practice:
Performance
Photography
Chance
Humour/Fun
Repetition
Play
Psychogeography
dérive (drifting)
Situationism (link to a ppt: Situationism)
Dadaism
Public/Private
Challenging authority
Failure
DIY/Ad-hoc approach
Collaboration
Audience participation
For further context and understanding have a look at some of the artists on this list which in one way or another has influence or connects with Tom’s work and practice.
Vito Acconci, John Baldessari, Yves Klein, Bas Jan Ader, Erwin Wurm, Chris Arnatt, Chris Burden, Francis Alÿs, , Sophie Calle , Nikki S Lee, Claude Cahun, Dennis Oppenheim, Bruce Nauman, Allan Kaprow, Mark Wallinger, Gillian Wearing, Marcel Duchamp and the Readymade, Andy Warhol’s film work, Steve McQueen, Sam Taylor-Johnson, Marina Abramovic, Pipilotti Rist
Blog
The Arrival
April 27, 2015 by tom | blog, Tom Pope’s Blog
blog http://www.archisle.org.je/category/tom-pope-blog/
Good evening, I’m Tom Pope a London based photographer and film maker and this years International Photographer in Residence at Archisle. Archisle is an international photography programme organised and run by the Société Jersiaise. I have been commissioned to create a new body of work that records Jersey in my style of shooting photographs and film, a solo exhibition of these works will take place in Jersey in September. Alongside this I will be leading a series of workshops for the people of Jersey.
I intend to use this blog to keep you updated as to my progress while also using this platfom to invite those people based in Jersey to participate with the works i make. Taking inspiration from the Société Jersiaise’s extensive archive, photographs and films will be created through improvised game play and orchestrated situations.
“We must develop a systematic intervention based on the complex factors of two components in perpetual interaction: the material environment of life and the behaviours which that environment gives rise to and which radically transform it. …Our action on behaviour, linked with other desirable aspects of a revolution in mores, can be briefly defined as the intervention of games of an essentially new type.”
Guy Debord, Report on the Construction of Situations and on the International Situationist Tendency’s Conditions of Organization and Action, June 1957
Planner: Performance & Photography
In the first A2 coursework module you are going to explore Performance and Photography The aim of this module is to introduce you to a new way of thinking about image-making which involve the element of chance, spontaneity and play. We will be collaboration with Tom Pope, the Archisle Photographer-in-Residence who will run a few workshops to get us thinking about how to explore elements of performance in photography.
Here is a link to the Planner Summer 2015.
This module will explore different approaches to image-making across different genres such as performance,photography, video, multi-media, installation, land/ environmental art, experimental film-making and avant-gardecinema.
This unit requires you to produce a blog of approx 30+ posts which chart you project from start to finish including research, planning, analysis, recording, experimentation, evaluation, final presentation of creative outcomes such as film, prints or installation.
We will be working to complete a number of different creative outcomes in the next 6 weeks until the Summer holiday.
Deadline is Friday 17th July
Bruce Nauman Rinde Spinning 2012. Click on video clip below
St Malo Day Performances
Below are the performances we did within the first hour of our day trip in St Malo. I think this was the shoot where we collected the most images and had inspiration as we ended up with quite a few different finished products. I also took some stills from each of the videos which I found to be the most interesting.
#1
This performance was inspired by Tom Pope’s Weak Anarchy. As you can see this is very weak anarchy with the subject jumping over the off limits tape and sitting in the little crevice that they are keeping the public from running in. The subject then walks out of frame. It is simple but is a small way to go against the norm and to challenge the way people think by doing things that aren’t necessarily the right thing to do or what people are used to seeing.
#2
For this performance we also adopted the idea of weak anarchy and tried to see the reactions of the public. I came up with the idea to climb onto this window which has been barred over. I thought that the message of the window says that people aren’t allowed out but then I thought maybe it was there so people cant get in. This is why I decided to climb it and stand in various positions and in different ways to make for an interesting image. This barred window made me wonder what was inside it and why it had been barred up in that way. I thought it would be a fun experiment.
#3
Here I challenged myself to see if I could throw a small wheel, which Tania and I found, over the wall. On the other side of the wall was a small car park so we knew that no people would get hit by it. It did take me a few tries but finally I managed to throw the small wheel over the wall and triumphantly walked away.
#4
Pushing the limitations of the public. Here we decided to interact with the public and tried a few different things in order to get a reaction out of the public. Some worked better than others.
#5
Hiding in a bush. Here we took inspiration from Tom Pope, Weak Anarchy and basically did the same thing but instead of doing this to challenge the rules of private property, we decided to challenge the public and see what they thought of it. I simply walked into the bush, I got quite a few odd looks and some people took photos.
