Music References - Explosions in the Sky

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzIK5FaC38w

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Back in 2016 I went to see Explosions in The Sky, a band from Texas which I always listen to when making work. 
I thought I should include them in my research as a music reference as the lights they used at their show created a very suggestive atmosphere that, combined with the music, will always be one of my favourite experiences. When thinking about creating my box, I want the lighting to be very eye-catching.

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Eddie Peake - Concrete Pitch

 

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Earlier this year I went to visit Eddie Peake's exhibition 'Concrete Pitch' at the White Cube.

It is an immersive, constructed environment that contains autobiographical elements and is overall an exhibition where the artist carries an examination of self identity. The title ‘Concrete Pitch’ was inspired by the concrete pavements of where Eddie Peake grew up in Finsbury Park. What I found very interesting in his work was how he incorporated all the elements of his life that he didn’t find worth including in his work before in this exhibition. I found it very unusual to see elements of subcultures being exhibited and presented in a gallery such as White Cube because I never visited an exhibition where an artist exhibited his graffiti work or artworks that would have been seen as vandalising.

The exhibition included graffiti work, a constructed room from which DJs from Kool London, an underground station that the artist used to listen to when he was younger, would play music. There was also a tray-like surface in the middle of the room where objects the artist collected in North London were exhibited.

Eddie Peake’s work challenged my ideas on what art is but also inspired me to experiment with different ways on how to portray or visualise a personal experience: as soon as I walked into the big room where his exhibition took place I was hit by the vivid pink colours that reminded me of Petra Collin’s very feminine and soft-looking work. With the underground, drum and bass music playing, I felt that everything was very overwhelming. 

 

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The element of intimacy and the fact that his personality was very vivid in the exhibition helped me understand how to make my box more personal. I wasn’t sure on how to create my own world without adding too many elements to it so I decided on focusing on the theme of youth: I wanted to create an environment that could portray a major part of what adolescence looks like so I thought of creating a space filled with bright colours, fabric and shiny gel paper. The bright pink colours that Eddie Peake used in his exhibition inspired me to create a very overwhelming, immersive space that I created to portray the feeling of wanting to belong somewhere that most young people experience at their age.

Joseph Cornell

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One of the artists I researched for this project is Joseph Cornell: what I find interesting in his work is how it made reference to an experience, person or a thing that captivated him and combined two or more elements that he was curious about and placed them together in a box to create a narrative / story. I think his work derived from his inability to be able to leave his home and travel as he needed to take care of his brother who had cerebral palsy.  

His work inspires me a lot because it is something I have never seen before; moreover, the idea of creating work that is so small and having a very limited space would challenge my practice - as I usually paint or draw very big pieces. 

His boxes often remind me of children’s toys as they look very playful and joyful: this may be because of the colours he often chose for his boxes or the illustrations of birds and astronomy that resemble old drawings. By looking at his boxes I think I am going to try and make mine more playful and perhaps include very bright colours that catch the viewer's eyes. Ultimately what I want to create is a space where the viewers can immerse themselves and reminisce or live a party scene of a teenager - or perhaps just the dreamy-looking room of a young person. 

As Joseph Cornell was very interested in astrology and space, he used a lot of elements that portrayed space and the planets. Some of his boxes remind me of Antoine Saint Exupery's 'The Little Prince', a story of a boy who decides to travel but then his plane crushes and he has to deal with what's going to happen next. Some of Cornell's boxes not only make me dream and think beyond my imagination but they also give me a feeling of loneliness and isolation. Just like the Little Prince found himself alone in a different planet, I think Joseph Cornell also lived a lonely life where he felt very isolated from the rest of the world he wanted to explore which is why he created these boxes in the first place. This idea of exploring a narrative within such a small space is what interests me the most because it is something new that I have never done before. As I would like to create a dreamy space inspired by teenage hood and astrology where the viewer can delve into, I think I am going to create small planets that resemble a disco ball and, using fabric and coloured plastic, I am going to create a space that looks slightly odd but very dreamy.

Ann Veronica Jannsens

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Collection of images from her exhibition 'yellowbluepink', Wellcome Collection, 2015

Ann Veronica Jannsens is a Brussels-based artist whose work is concerned with light, colour and perception. She has been filling spaces with clouds of vapour that change colours and tend to render surroundings quite unfamiliar. I was struck by her work because she creates very immersive environments where the viewers are taken away from their daily, ordinary life as a way to feel more connected to the sensory experiences and the reality. As I went to her exhibition at the Wellcome Collection in 2015, I found it very interesting how, once in the room, everything was quiet. My mind only focused on trying to see what I was walking towards and on the lights that were constantly changing. The environment that she created almost forced me to live in the present and not overthink about the future or anything else that did not matter. 

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Jannsens' work very often seems to explore our consciousness of perception. Her work often requires time and physical immersion that is vital to the experience of the space and to experience her work. 

"Visitors are participants in an experiment which challenges habitual practices of seeing and accords a fresh emphasis to the simple fact of experience" - states an article on the Wellcome Collection website. I am drawn by how her work as an artist is very much based on neuroscience and the study of consciousness and unconsciousness and the way we all perceive the world around us. Although Ann Veronica Jannsens' work does not seem very personal to her, her outcomes are very personal to the audience as they gain an unusual experience very out of the ordinary. 

By looking into her work I was able to understand more about creating an immersive environment where a viewer can experience something they have never done before by not only using light but also by disabling the individuals to not be able to see but only to be able to experience things with their sensory experiences. I think I will think more about how a person can perceive my work and if their perception of my work matters or not when I am trying to create my final outcome. I also think that I will try to use colour more in my practice and understand the ways we perceive different colours. 

 

Bibliography:  http://www.anothermag.com/art-photography/8215/ann-veronica-janssens-illuminating-the-masses

https://wellcome.ac.uk/press-release/states-mind-ann-veronica-janssens-wellcome-collection

 

Olafur Eliasson

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From "The Weather Project", 2003

Olafur Eliasson's work evolves around the themes of perception, movement, and feelings of self. In his website it says that ' Art, for him, is a crucial means for turning thinking into doing in the world'. After looking at Ann Veronica Janssens' work I was drawn to Eliasson's exhibition 'The Weather Project' that he had at the Tate Modern in 2003. In this installation, the artist created a Sun-like sculpture that light the whole turbine hall with a very warm light. Throughout the day there would be mist accumulating into somewhat tiny clouds that would soon dissipate into the space. 

The installation, as the viewers may be able to recognise, is about the weather: the artist sees the weather as one of the main factors that connects us all; it is also one of the topics that British and English people most talk about when there is the possibility of having small talk. The weather is also the element that connects human beings to Nature - but the artist was mainly interested in understanding how the weather can shape a city and its inhabitants. In this installation the artist almost seems to bring the weather inside the space, making it possible for viewers to experience it in a very different way than the usual. 

To me it almost seems like the artist is trying to create an immersive space where the visitors are able to stop and take a good look at something that often gets unnoticed during the day; or perhaps something that we have grown to feel very disconnected to - Nature. Especially living in a big city like London, I don't tend to stop and enjoy the Sun as much as I would like to so being able to experience a 'fake' Sun somehow feels relaxing and enables me to take time to meditate and enjoy more the present moment. 

Olafur Eliasson The Weather Project in the Turbine Hall, Tate Modern 16 October 2003 - 21 March 2004

I think if I would have been able to experience this installation in real life, it would have evoked a strong sense of connection with Nature that I would have not been able to experience outside as much as in a space like that. By learning more about the ideas behind the installation I might think more about a way of lighting my box so that it evokes the feelings that I am trying to portray. As my idea mainly evolves around nightclubs and teenage hood, I will try and experiment more with creating a very illuminous space filled with light, colour and perhaps fog. I would like to experiment with various materials when trying to create the light for my box as I think this will be the most important element in my work. 

 

Bibliography: https://olafureliasson.net/biography

https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/unilever-series/unilever-series-olafur-eliasson-weather-project-0