For my individual study, i’ll be looking at two different performance photographers. The first one will be Bruce Nauman and the second one is Vito Acconci. I’ll be taking inspiration from their work and creating some pieces of my own.

This week I have begun to select and review a number of outcomes which I have made over the course of this 6 week project. I have recently pieced together my manifesto of the type of work and am hoping to create. When reviewing images and video for potential final outcomes, I will compare them to the principles of my Manifesto, along with another forms of influence I have learned. I want all my outcomes to be diverse and varied, in order to highlight the many different themes which I have attempted to explore.

I want my work to reflect my developed awareness as a photographer and artist. The many political themes and ideas which I have learned over the course of this topic have interested me greatly, and therefore I want this work to be evidence of the progressive journey that I have undertaken. In order to achieve this, I will look at my outcomes in great depth and decide whether they are relative to any of the different artistic movements that I have learned about. The intent and meaning behind my work will therefore be critical in evaluating the success of my outcomes, due to the fact that this course primarily related to context and theme, instead of form and structure, which I covered in Units 1 and 2 of my AS Year. I will also consolidate my ideas with Mr Toft, and review the advice and suggestions that he gives.

Experiments: Any outcomes which show evidence of me thinking deeply about meaning and ideas, and/or attempts o display any recognition of the contextual aspects related to performance photography, but which do not however result in successful outcome, I will treat as an ‘experiment’. I few of my experiments I feel worthy of some form of recognition will be put onto the blog under ‘experiments’, and I will briefly describe and explain the meanings behind what I have done. I will do this in order to show evidence of my development of thought processes, as well as my ability to take risks.

Finals: After I have selected and edited my final outcomes – both photos and video –  I will then create a new blog post for each outcome and explain my reasoning behind why I have chosen it, what I like about it, and how it relates to the overall theme of ‘Performance and Photography’. I will then evaluate the effectiveness of my outcomes and compare it to a few examples of my own influences behind what I have done.

I am looking forward to putting together my final outcomes as a way of reviewing how well I have responded to this challenging but extremely interesting topic.

Following the research that I have done Manifestos and Artistic Movements, I decided to start to think on a deeper level about my own viewpoints and political ideas, and how these views effect the basis of my own photography. Over the course of the last few weeks I have subsequently started to brainstorm and jot down my own ideas for a potential artistic movement, based on what I have learned over the series of this project. From the basis of these ideas I have decided to piece together a Manifesto of my own hypothetical art movement. This movement I have named ‘Maxism’, a satirical play on my own name with Marxism. ‘Maxism’ is an artistic movement which involves the use of metaphors, writing and symbols as a means of satirically challenging issues within society. In this movement I have combined the political ideas of the Situation Movement, with the aesthetic principles of Formalism. My artwork, if I was to develop this movement would be a subjective and subtle form of protest. My artwork would have a sense of intrigue and mystery that would invite the audience to come up with their own perspectives as the its meanings. Also, my work work be light-hearted, deliberately not meant to be taken seriously.

Here is the set of rules that form the basis of my Movement

The Maxist Manifesto

1. All members must produce work of good  quality. The time spent on the artwork reflects how effectively the message intended is delivered.

2. The meaning of the work mustn’t be obvious. The audience must have a chance to interpret the intended meaning.

3. The artwork shouldn’t be too serious. It should instead be satirical and fun.

4. Symbolism should be used at all times.

5. All work must be credited as work of the Maxist movement, indicated with the Maxist signature at the bottom right.

6. Anyone can join, as long as they do their best to follow, honor and respect all rules.

7. Artwork can be of all formats; film, sketches, painting, graffiti etc.

8. Maxist Art is all about interpretation, as long a symbolism is used to some degree then the art will count as Maxist work.

9. All aspect of society are open to be explored. interrogated and criticized though the work.

10. All art should be vibrant and colourful.

 

This week we were given the opportunity to travel to France with Tom Pope.

I think that this will be a great way to experiment with new ideas. This will give me an insight into the different methods which I can use to photograph. I will be using concepts/ theories such as situationism,

First Idea/ The Disposable Camera:

In my group, we will be placing a disposable camera on a specific area of the town. It’s essential that we place it on an easily seen area, so that the public can easily see it.

In groups, we will place a disposable camera on a certain area of the town. We will use some string to tie it on and write a notice asking the foreigners to take a picture. It will be interesting to see how many people actually take pictures and the amount of people that are hesitant. The outcomes will also be very unique and will have varied angles and expressions.

Second Idea:

This idea arose when we got to France. We found a lost blanket, which we decided to carry with us to wherever we went and create a story. We placed in on several locations and displayed the name that was sown into it. At the end of this shoot, we threw it into the air and saw where it landed.

Third Idea:

This idea was spontaneous. We spotted a very long balcony leading up to a school and decided to have a member from our group slide down it. It took several minutes to slide down on. We also shot some video of the performance.

My first final outcome is from the disposable camera from St. Malo.

I like this set of images because it shows the progression of what happened from both angles, behind them, where we were sat, and the camera from which they took the photo themselves. 

My second final outcome is also from this shoot. This includes the central image showing our setup, with photos taken by the people all around it. I really like that the quality of the photo in the centre is different to the other images because it shows the disposable camera in the picture and so people can figure out what is happening and what relevance the images all have without words being needed.