Above are some photographs of my surroundings on the day of the first Tom Pope workshop. Our task was to get into groups, and each member would have to write down a task that everyone must perform for a minute.
The images above are the outcomes of a very intriguing experimentation with Tom. We had to throw the oranges in the air to another partner, and take a still-image whilst they were coming towards us. I left it in color when editing because i wanted the orange color to stand out. I had to use a very zoomed out camera lens, so that i could capture the fast moving object. This relates to Tom Pope’s work because he’s always trying to find new ways and perspectives to capture images. This also relates rather well to the theme of
For this outcome, we were told to stand on one leg whilst taking pictures. I really like how the lighting coming from the direct sunlight creates a shadows and contrasts the people’s bodies.
I edited this picture to add a violet tone. This picture was taken whilst performing. We each had to come up with an activity to do for a while, from each member in our group. We were told to hold our camera upside upside down for this one, which gave me these outcome. they turned out to be perfectly aligned, and i didn’t have to rotate them to make the horizon straight. The purple tone and orange highlights make this image look very mysterious and unrealistic, which i like.
Here Tom Pope was demonstrating a third activity to us. The aim was to try and take as many selfies as possibles, but on the other persons camera.
Above, is another one of my outcomes from this day. The camera was being held upside down and at an angle. I spontaneously took this, whilst moving around. I also managed to capture someone else during their performance in background.
Neo-Dada is a visual art movement that has similar methods to earlier Dada artwork. It has revived some forms/objects of Dada and has put more emphasis on the importance of the work of art produced rather than focusing on the concept creating the work. Dadaism was rediscovered by a group of art students. It is seen as the foundation of pop art. Neo-Dada uses modern materials, popular imagery and absurdest contrast.
Neo-Dadaism was made popular by the American art critic Barbara Rose in the 1960s.
A man called Marcel Duchamp was part of the Dada movement in 1913 and came up with an idea entitled ‘Readymade’. This came from the concept where you can take any object, remove it from its normal context and put it in a new on. You can change your point of view on it completely. For example you can take any old chair, put it behind some glass in an art exhibition and people will look at it as if it is art and something really amazing.
A lot of people were offended by Duchamp because they thought that he wasn’t taking art seriously and was trying to make a mockery out of it when in fact he was just part of the Dada movement, in which it isn’t supposed to make sense anyway.
Fountain
Bicycle Wheel
L.H.O.O.Q.
Bottle Rack
Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2
Fresh Widow
I don’t really like this movement as I think it is just completely random and, to me, it doesn’t really hold any meaning. The one thing I would take from this is that some people go crazy over art work that a famous painter has created but it isn’t always the most amazing pieces. I think that often people get carried away and stop thinking for themselves and just go along with what art critics or the rest of the world is saying. This is where I think spectators become passive and just go along with it for the sake of it and are led to believe something is great when in reality it really isn’t that spectacular.
This movement came around in 1913-1930. This is where layering photographs comes along. This act was often used in Communist society back in Russia after the Russian Revolution of 1917, when the Bolshevik party won lead by Lenin. This movement was created in favour of art as a practice for social purposes.
A famous Russian film maker called Dziga Vertov. He was a Soviet pioneer documentary film director and cinema theorist. His ideas influenced the style of documentary movie making, he was a radical filmmaker active in the 1960s. He created a film called The Man with a Movie Camera because he became so interested in the idea of filming and what it could bring to the world. In this film he carries around his heavy camera and films various different things, when put together the film almost looks random and out of place but it is embracing the film world.
Russian avant-garde This was a large and highly influential wave of modern art that flourished in the Russian Empire and Soviet Union. Here many images were put together, much like photo montage, in a new and unique way. Some of which was used as propaganda for the benefits of leaders like Lenin and Stalin.
I find this movement very interesting as the photo montage’s are quite unique and use many geometric shapes to make up the image. There also always seems to be a smiling person, looking up at the leader or trying to persuade its spectators to follow what the posters want.
Surrealism is a different form of reality and is heavily influenced by dreams. This is the world that we create in our heads, often when sleeping things that we have no control over and often don’t make any sense but by the end of it we still gain something, whether that being we gain a moral or more of an understanding of something but sometimes we take nothing from them. Surrealism is the unconscious mind and a different world almost. This movement was created in Paris 1924.
I like the idea of surrealism because I am able to explore my dreams and express them in a creative format as well as creating something so out of the ordinary that not a lot of people would often think about. Everyone’s dreams are unique to them, we will never ever have the exact same dream as another person. I like the idea of being able to express this and show people what my dreams are like or even some crazy ideas of what a dream might look like. I think I am going to explore this as one of my ideas as it does really interest me and I love to find out about dreams that people have had as well as sharing my own.
There are many surrealist photographer including Man Ray, Maurice Tabard, Hans Bellmer, Dora Maar, Eric Johansson, Christopher McKenney and Stephen Criscolo etc. One of these photographers that I particularly like is Christopher McKenney as I find a lot of his work very interesting and the way it has been shot and edited looks very professional. I really like these two images because of the way you can see parts of the person’s body behind the sheet but you never see their full body or who they are. It is almost as it that person isn’t really there, just like in some dreams when one minute your stood next to a specific person and a second later they have disappeared. This to me is very dream-like and I really enjoy looking at this. I think it would have been tricky to edit this image as they would have had to take a photograph firstly of the background of the image and then got the subject to sit on the chair so he took take the second image and in editing use the eraser tool to get rid of the rest of the body which the photographer didn’t want to see in his image.
On Mckenney’s website he has a set of 100 surrealism photographs which I find very interesting to scroll through. He tents to go for the same pattern with someone not completely being in the frame, a part of them is always rubbed out as if in a dream world. I really like this work and find that you can be very creative with this style and are able to explore new things.
There is also a hugely iconic surrealist photographer, John Baldessari, born in 1931 and is still alive today. In the 70s Baldessari decided to BURN all of his work and stated ‘I will not make anymore boring art’. After which he created a new form of the digital photography world and put dots in front of all the people’s faces that he photographed. This, to me, is a way of making the person unidentifiable so that no one knows who he is photographing and why he has photographed them in that specific way. I like this as it is interesting and I find that sometimes in dreams you can never really make out what a certain person looks like or who they are and this is a great way of visualizing that and bringing your dreams to life.
Chance: A chance is the same as a possibility. It means that something can happen and there’s a probability. A chance can also be accidental, it’s very much based upon opportunity.
Change: Change is all about the difference. It could relate to the public’s changing reactions. For example, if someone has a sad expression and then becomes cheerful and happy.
Challenge: A challenge relates to taking part in something, it also is similar to a test. You must demonstrate your abilities and provoke an outcome.
Dynamo is an English magician and stunt performer known for his exceptionally surreal and visually outstanding illiusions. Dynamo was born in Bradford, England in 1982 as Steven Frayne. Dynamo started learning magic at the age of 10 from his Grandad, a former Navy Marine and amateur magician. Dynamo began his career performing street magic in the streets of Bradford and soon came to prominence through the Prince of Wales Young Talent Scheme. Since then Dynamo has exploded into worldwide fame with millions of YouTube views of his performances, and an extremely successful, award winning UK Television series ‘Dynamo: Magician Impossible’. He is perhaps most famous however for his stunt in 2012 when he appeared to be walking unaided across the river Thames.
The type of artistic movement that Dynamo follows is surrealism. Surrealism relates to creating artwork/performance that displays something which appears to be illogical and supernatural, making the viewer perceive the event outside of their own notion of reality. Dynamo’s performances take this concept to the extreme, making events which are totally impossible and inconceivable appear realistic and viewable to an audience. Dynamo magic tricks are guarded totally by secrecy. This is a deliberate effort that Dynamo makes to keep the viewer/audience guessing exactly how he is able to pull of his remarkable illusions, and this also protects the surrealism of his magic, as the audience is allowed to fully experience to wonder out the performer, without the tools or knowledge to translate what is happeninginto something less then beautiful and miraculous. The surrealism that Dynamo creates with his magic forces the viewer to question what is really possible, and challenges them to world outside of their own concious perception. His magic is also a protest against the negative, limitating nature of society. As Dynamo says himself, “the most rewarding thing about what I do is to see the look in a person’s eyes and believe, even for a second, the that anything is possible”
Dynamo has stated himself that the biggest motivation and reward that gets from his work is the reaction of surprise, wonder and astonishment from members of the public after they have witnessed a performance. It is through the response of an audience that makes his work more surreal, as the reaction is a reflection of the nature of the performance. This reaction is impossible to predict as no one quite knows how to respond to witnessing something outside of possibility, and it is very entertaining to see people struggle to conceive what they have seen. An example of this is when Dynamo accurately predicted all of the results of the Euro 2012 two weeks in advance. The reaction of BBC Radio 1 presenter Scott Mills as he opened the concealed envelope and reaveled the accuracy of Dynamo’s prediction was one of complete shock and to some extent, denial of what he had just witnessed.
Dynamo’s performance style is non-conspicuous which means that he does not like to attract any attention towards himself as an individual and likes the performacne to be the most important aspect of the event. This is why after every performance Dynamo walks away immediately. He is not interested in gaining any credit or personal fame behind his work and instead he remains a fairly modest individual who uses his performances as a means of expressing. Though not quite to the same extent, this is similar to the concept of the French Mime Artist because the performer is de-individualised to give the performance dominance over the actor.
Remy Gillard is a French comedian and prankster who is famous for his many daring, satirical YouTube videos, wherein he pranks and surprises unsuspecting members of the general public. His videos are extremely funny, clever and in many cases simply outrageous. Gillard started to make videos in 1999 as a way to pass the time when he got fired from a shoe shop. Since then Gillard rose to fame and prominence with over 5 million YouTube subscribers, the sixth most subscribed comedian in YouTube’s history. He has been known to complete some very daring and unlikely achievements, for example: emerging form the stands and partaking in the lineup for the French national anthem of a televised volleyball game; dressing up as Mario and driving round France in an electric go-kart; and dressing up as a giant bee, capturing a police officer in a giant net.
The type of performance that Gillard specialises in is subversion. His objective is to test social barriers and boundaries to a great extreme. Gillard is also very daring in his work. He is not afraid to take extreme risks or challenge social taboos in an upfront and direct manner. An example of risk is when he dressed up as a giant bomb and walked around an airport, as a way of challenging the taboo of terrorism. It is an extremely controversial and unusual act, testament to Gillard’s fearless desire to use his performances as a reflection of issues within society. Gillard’s performances are very risky and he has been arrested on many occasions. This is however something that I find remarkable about his work, the fact that nothing is too extreme for him and that he would be prepared to try anything for the sake of his comedy. It is easy to dismiss Gillard’s work as reckless, stupid and distasteful, however this is most certainly not the case. Behind the pranks and anarchy, there is a much deeper and more serious side to his work. His work is effectively a protest against conformity within society. He is asking his audiences to question what is socially acceptable, because as he argues in his term “C’est en faisant n’importe quoi qu’on devient n’importe qui”, which means “It is by doing anything that we become anyone”. Through this Gillard basically is saying that nothing is impssible and therefore nothing is ‘too far’ in terms of challenging society
The main intention behind Gaillard’s work is to act as recklessly and subversively as possible. Through the unconventional manner of his performances, Gaillard therefore stands out greatly and is able to draw larger responses from the audience or intended subject. For example, he has done a series of videos whereby he dresses up as a clown and often at a random moment with no apparent reason, Gaillard will prank an unsuspecting member of the public by throwing a foam pie in their face. The shocked individual then often runs frantically and angrily towards Gillard, and a sense of chaos arises, almost like as in a cartoon scene. In many cases, it is the public’s reaction like this for example that creates the element of comedy. Gaillard anticipates these reactions beforehand is attempting to provoke the biggest possible type of reaction. This is comical because Gaillard is establishing a juxtaposition of a serious reaction against a trivial matter.
I draw many comparison’s of Remy Gaillard work to that of Tom Pope. Both artists use similar philosophies and influences. An infleunce in particular that both of them use to a great degree is farce, which refers to ‘comedy based satirical elements, punctuated at times with overwrought, frantic action’. Which effectively refers to the fact that both artists use extreme forms of physical comedy and nature to enhance the effectiveness of whatever message they are attempting to convey.
This outcome depicts a game of ‘selfie battle’ taking place between Ben and Mr Toft. I find that this image is effective because it captures both individuals completely submerged in the game, putting all their focus and attention into it. Whilst the game is taking place there is a small gathering of people looking intently at the game. This image is evidence to support the appealing nature that performance plays beacause it has created a ‘spectacle’ (see blog post on Situationism) by which people surrender their focus, time and effort towards. A question which is interesting to considered is whether the audience is concerned with the material aspects of the game itself (i.e who wins and who loses) or instead are they concerned with the moments of fun and interaction in which it creates.
There is something which i find very appealing about this image. There is a sense of positivity that it evokes form two people enjoying a simple, unplanned moment. There is also a certain intensity to it. You definitely can see a battle going on, and tension is evoked through the look of excitement from the crowd.
In this photo, I have captured a few people observing one of Tom Pope’s performances. What I find very interesting about this image is that the individuals appear completely drawn into awe and fascination by the performance taking place. There is a definate feel of intensity in this photo in the sense that all subjects seem to be diverting all of their attention and energy into exactly the same place, and all seem to be drawn into absorbing the feel of a particualr moment. This photograph I think shows how powerful single moments have in creating an effect on people around. This therefore explains the potential that performance has to convey important messages through the large amount of focus and attention that it seems to evoke an audience.
There is also a sense of mystery to this photograph. They are looking intently at something which the view of the image has no knowledge of. This therefore forces the viewer to consider the what type of performance or event that is taking place. A moment is created because of a completely separate moment, a domino concept which i find to be very fascinating.
This photograph shows a few oranges lying on the ground after the orange throwing game. Some of the oranges were dropped on the floor and therefore have been bruised, split and cut. This is a subtle image that effectively shows the consequence of an action. Because the oranges were thrown around they therefore dropped on the floor in some instances. On a deeper level this symbolises the fact that an action will allows be followed by a response. This logic can subsequently be applied to performance photography. The performance will always result in a reaction form an audience, whether that is sub-consciously, subtly or dramatically – it does not matter. The act of the performance will occupy the viewers mind for a certain point and temporally control their action, viewpoints and perspective.
The avant-garde are people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics.The avant-garde pushes the boundaries of what is accepted as the norm. This relates to the unit that we are studying, trying to creat videos or pictures that push boundaires. The avant-garde is considered by some to be a hallmark of modernism, as distinct from post modernism. This type of photography is what I am really interested as it focuses on manipulating a model by physically making them look unsatisfactory for society, and I love to be creative. These images have really inspired me to try and make someone look different so that I would get public reaction from walking down the high street.
Tom Pope was talking to us about the idea of surrealism in photography which basically means that when he takes a photograph the picture has a much deeper meaning than possibly portrayed which is hard to show through one photograph. Photoshop allows you to manipulate photographs to make the image more surreal and force the meaning to come through. Ultimately, photographers aren’t just taking a picture because it looks nice, mainly they are produced to show some sort of deep meaning that needs to be addressed. The questions you need to ask yourself when looking at pictures is why was it taken? What is the contextual reasoning behind this?
After the french trip, I used premiere pro to edit my videos to collaborate them together in a sequence to form a video. I did this by importing separate videos . This enabled me to fade in and out of the videos so that it looked smoother, my videos weren’t the best quality but I feel like the contextual side still made my final a good standard. Next time, I would like to improve by experimenting with the flowers more by tricking the public that i’m going to give them one and just holding it in front of them with the camera close to them to see how they deal with the situation. Also, I want to add the other video that has some people rejecting me so that I have positive and negative reactions in my video to show a contrast.
Also, I want to improve the video by possibly adding music to it to make it more interesting as the video as a whole isn’t at a high quality. However, I do like the idea of involving people in my videos and this was a very good way to interact with them, therefore, I am pleased with this video but improvements can always be made.
