An interesting day...

Just had a tutorial with Tim who threw some interesting questions at me. Here is my attempt to remember these interesting questions and answer them in preparation for my next attempt to begin to write my report.

Why am I doing this project?

I have been the Mobile Cinema Coordinator for almost three years now. In that time I have coordinated over 20 events. Most of these have been as hires meaning the Mobile Cinema was hired as a venue to screne an organisation's curated programme of works. My role thus far has primarily been as a project coordinator: managing hires, coordinating schedules and publicity (including the Mobile Cinema Website), managing funding and budgets and arranging invigilation and towing.

I am viewing my project with Allenheads Contemporary Arts as an opportunity to expand on a)my own personal interests in the curation, production and exhibition of moving image work and to also develop my curatorial role within the organisation.

What are my Interests?
Since graduating from a BA Fine Art at Newcastle University I have become increasingly interested in alternative models of exhibition of Artist's Film and Video (AFV) partially from my own artistic practice, which is focused on the use of newer mobile technologies such as mobile phones to shoot, edit and distribute short films and also as a result of my role as Mobile Cinema Coordinator. The Mobile Cinema (MC) is a unique venue not only in it's appearence (as a caravan) but also in it's function as a mobile venue, which allows artist's and organisations to screen moving image work outside of the more expected gallery setting. The mobility of the MC also allows these works to be more accessible to a more majority non art audience by which I mean those who do not frequent art galleries, exhibitions and events and may even have not experienced AFV previously. Thus far my experience and encounters with this audience have been extremely positive and have allowed both myself, other MC team members and artists to engage in interesting dialogues about both the work and the MC. The majority of people leave saying that it (The MC) is both exciting and a fantasitic opportunity.

So how does all this lead to What I am doing at Allenheads?
In late 2006 Alan Smith, one of the founders of Allenheads Contemporary Arts (ACA) approached me with the idea of bringing the MC the Allenheads annual village show, held in September. I was very keen on the idea, however time restraints and other commitments meant that the idea was put on hold. Then earlier this year, around March, the MA Curating group visited ACA and I was reminded of Alan's suggestion and we arranged to meet. I then decided that the MA final project would be a perfect opportunity to combine ACA's interest in the MC and my interest in developing my curatorial role. After a few discussions with Alan and Helen we came up with the Village Life Project.

Why Allenheads?
Allenheads is an interesting place, it is not just a beauty spot in Northumberland but a hive of creative activity since Alan Smith and Helen Ratcliffe founded ACA about 12 years ago. ACA now hosts a series of opportunities for Artists to do residencies in the Area and as a result have produced a diverse back catalogue of moving image work, ranging from documentary of performace to films such as Marcus Coate's 'Bird Song', which has been exhibited Nationally.

As a result of ACA the surrounding community have the opportunity to experience work and meet artist's that many communities do not. Alan and Helen do not by any means force this 'opportunity' upon the local residents but remain open and willing to welcome visitors and locals to see, experience and discuss what is happening or been produced at ACA.

I can not catagorically state that as a result of ACA the Allenheads community are more open and willing to engage with art, but I do expect this to be partially the case.

I am keen to find out what the response the MC and the Village Life Project will be at Allenheads, so far Alan has reported that there has been a very positive response to the call out for moving image submissions from residents, some even asking 'how much do we want!'

I have also applied for the a place on the Graduate Placement Scheme at ACA due to begin in July for which I hope to further develop the project and possibly include some Digital Storytelling workshops to further add to the archive that will be left as a result of the project.

This is pretty much where I am at for now...

Digital Storytelling

"Digital Storytelling" is an emerging term, one that arises from a grassroots movement that uses new digital tools to help ordinary people tell their own 'true stories' in a compelling and emotionally engaging form. These stories usually take the form of a relatively short story (less than 8 minutes) and can involve interactivity.

The term can also be a broader journalistic reference to the variety of emergent new forms of digital narratives (web-based stories, interactive stories, hypertexts, and narrative computer games).

As an emerging area of creative work, the definition of digital storytelling is still the subject of much debate.

Final Call out

WE WANT YOUR FILMS!

Allenheads Contemporary Arts (ACA) and The Mobile Cinema want your videos of local life. These can be your home movies or be more broadly about your local community.

The videos will be included in a programme of work, which will be screened in The Mobile Cinema on the 6th of September as part of the Allenheads village show.

All formats welcome.

Please let Alan or Helen have your videos by Friday the 15^th of August.

Or send them to, Allenheads Contemporary Arts, The Old School House, Allenheads, Hexham, Northumberland, NE47 9HR.

For more information contact Clare Ruddock.

T: 07708098696

E: Ruddock.clare@googlemail.com

www.acart.org.uk

Week 13 (still I think)

This Tuesday I joined the MFA course students at Sunderland for a trip to leeds. Our first port of call was Leeds Art Gallery. As it was quite a traditional gallery I took myself off to Leeds Met to see the 2008 degree show "Eat Cake". There was a good range of work overall and I was pleased to see a good amount of film and video work, some of which I documented (see previous post).

There was a mix of approaches to display, but overall I would say it was mainly installation. I liked the use of overlapping/layering images in the first images (previous post) which produced a quite painterly feel. The room was very well blacked out and the images were very crisp. However it also made me feel quite inadequate in my ability to conceptually analyse the work.

This weeks reading: M. Rush, Video Art, Thames and Hudson, 2003.

Another work which caught my eye was two 8mm projections, at first i did not notice the second projector, as it's film had burnt out. Outside the space was a hand written notice stating that the film had unfortunately burnt out 3 days into the exhibition, I liked the way the artist dealt with conceptualising the fault by accepting that what was left was a trace of the previous film, which now exsisted as a memory in those who had had the opportunity to view it. As always it did feel slightly cringe inducing, due to the over conceptualising of work with accompanying statements, but overall I felt it was a worthwhile trip.

Second stop off was Allenheads. The main reason I joined the trip. It was good to catch up with Helen and to get some feedback on my call out which I had posted the previous night. Alan has reworded some of the content to make it more readable by the Allenheads community, which has made me begin to think more about the language we use to discuss art with different communities. This includes communities such as Allenheads, but could also apply to the differences between Newcastle and Middlesbrough and also the Arts Council....

A lot to do and think about this week...must also arrange another trip to Allenheads.

Leeds trip projections

Film Festival research - Berwick Film and media festival

Quick notes and research to compare and contrast my project(s) against.

• Berwick Film Festival was set up in 2005.
  
• The Aims of the festival are to showcase a national and international programme of moving image works.
• Described as "An inspiring, diverse and international celebration of the moving image, exploring the boundaries of film and art in one of the most unique locations in the UK."
• Programmes and exhbitions are devised in collaboration with guest curators and programmers.
• The 2007 festival showed around 100 films and individual art works over 9 days. The festival featured 46 programmes and exhibitions from 26 different countries, which were screened in 15 locations around Berwick (nice stuff).
• locations included The Ice Houses, Prison Cells, fortifications and other features of the Elizabethan Ramparts.
• The next major Berwick Film and Media Festival will be in 2009 and there will be a mini fest in Nov of this year.
  

The Aim of the Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival is to:

• Stage a world-class contemporary film and art event, which is seen as an important regional and international showcase of the moving image.
• Exhibit challenging and engaging moving image art of the highest level in terms of critical acclaim and conceptual relevance.
• Present a unique programme of artists film/performance, international mainstream film and independent film and explore the relationship and cultural dynamic between these different forms of media.
• Attract a wide and varied audience, both locally, nationally and internationally.
• Invest in the cultural identity of Berwick and its local communities and creatively reflect its rich architectural heritage and location.
• Contribute to economic regeneration of Berwick and the surrounding region by attracting in visitors, creating employment and diversifying the skills base. Raising aspirations and local participation.
• To establish and promote working partnerships between separate local organisations and communities.
• Increase media awareness and literacy through an education programme aimed particularly at young people and future generations of filmmakers and audiences.
• To establish a lasting showcase for artists and filmmakers.

Notes from screening of 100 minutes of non verbal communication by Alan Smith

This week I organised a screening and discussion centred around the works '100 Minutes of Non Verbal Communication', 2006-07, Alan Smith.

The object of this project was for Alan and sound artist Phil Ogg to make 10x10minute audio-video pieces. The challenge was to work separately, intuitively, unaware of one and others intentions.

The session was attended by:

Alan Smith
Tim Brennan
Jo Ana Morfin
Mark James
Louise Marchal

We began the session with a brief introduction to why we had arranged the session. I was very interested in the curatorial possibilities of the project as was Alan.

We then showed the first 2 short films as single screen shots, which we followed by the duel screen version that combines the films eg 1 and 2, 2 and 3. The sound for the films on the duel screen version, as Alan explained was a combination of the two films shown side by side, which changes from one to the other.

After watching the films Alan explained the project and it's concept in more detail and showed a diagram of the process which he had used. (I hope to get a copy of this at a later date).

We then opened the session up to a discussion regarding peoples impressions and possible curatorial approaches to the work.

• 10 single screen monitors
• 10 single monitors in a round - Alan added to this that in order for the sound to not bleed too much between the monitors the round would face outward not inwards of the circle. Alan was also keen to not have headphones as he believed some bleeding of the sound would add interest and dialogue between the pieces.
• Tim suggested the possibility of using a space such as the NGCA in Sunderland and breaking it up into 10 separate spaces with a single projection in each.

I asked how important the context of the project was to the final work, how important was it that the audience understood the process in which the works came to be produced?

• Mark felt that the process was of some importance to the work, but would probably prefer the viewer/audience to make their own interpretation. Therefore he would not provide supportive material alongside showing the work. - I wondered if by not giving the process too much prominence but supplying supportive material in the form of a booklet would offer the viewer the option to take it on board or not.

Tim felt that it was important to fix the work as an object, by deciding upon a format such as an ipod to display it on. This he suggested may help it to last longer.

Jo Ana stated that if they were all projected at the same time the viewer would be more inclined to see the 10 short films as components of a bigger whole work. The working title 100 minutes also suggests this. However if they were shown as separate films, independent of each other they would be seen as separate pieces.

Louise suggested the possibility of projecting in alternative spaces - outside, inside houses?

Mark also highlighted the length of 100 minutes required a lot of dedication from a viewer and reffered to the possibility of sequencing, such as that used in the Hattons Jordan Baseman exhibition.

Working Methods 1.

Week 13 b.

So as part of this weeks 'homework' we have been asked to make a table of contents, as part of this I also began to think about my working method.

This diag is the first attempt at visualising how I see my working methods on this project. the top arrow signifies the process/mechanics of coordinating the screening. The second, bottom arrow or dotted line signifies the research and critical arguments that shall come out of my ongoing investigations around the distribution/exhibition and archiving of the material in the programme.
I am never entirely sure how well I explain these things, any comments are very welcome.