This post contains a methodology….
This set of instructions came with 3 lenses that I forgot to take a picture of, but I can guarantee, one was triangular. I made the paper look older by dipping it in tea.
Here is the digital version : Methodology
Studio – One Hundred Words
Induction to Screenprinting – Textile
This post is about the induction in screenprinting on textile.
At first, I wanted to learn how to print on textile, but to do so, I needed to do the induction for screenprinting. Once, this induction was completed I was able to sign up for the induction to screenprinting on textile through the orb sytem.
Screenprinting on textile uses the same techniques as screenprinting, though the mesh on the screen is different than the one used for paper.
The picture below show examples of different way to create a screen from a photography.
The instructor showed us how to stretch and hold in place the textile.
Then we learned how to mix the ink for the print.
And we were shown how to hold the screen in place to realise the print using marking and sandbags.
The printing process is then the same as screenprinting on paper.
We could them heat up the textile to fix the pigment.
Studio – Un-Boxed !
Everybody brought their experimentation box to class.
Here is a selection of some of the boxes that I found cool. But this is far from being exhaustive, because everybody’s work was interesting and inspiring.
Studio – Through a Filter
Using the list of words we came up with, we were given the task to find 5 objects in the Victoria and Albert Museum that would represent 5 of the words we had written.
FIGHT
This bracelet represent a fighting fish, and with the lighting used in the museum, the shadow looked like two fish fighting.
GHOST
During the 19th century, this was used to keep the dresse’s shape. But when I saw the red little shoes they put under, it really looked like a ghost could be standing there.
SOLITUDE
This poor mural ornament was mounted all the way up in an alley of the museum where no one noticed him !
MERCIFUL
For some reason, I always associate sword or blade with the notion of mercy. If you have a blade, you can attack or protect, kill or spare.
DEMISE
This is part of a painting on the wall. This kind of boat reminds me of Charon, the Greek deity who was carrying the soul of the departed to the world of the dead. Somehow, an empty boat with white textile like a shroud could be a metaphor for demise.
Studio – Exploration and Play
List of Words:
Shades of green:
Experimentation:
Studio – Experimental Markmaking
A selection of what I found interesting.
And for the second part of the class:
Exhibition – ‘No Ordinary Protest’ at Whitechapel Gallery
You enter a dark blue room with dimmed black light and an ambient sound you’ve never heard, like a wailing drone. It feels like entering a cave to another world.
On one side you have the portraits of monsters masks under a strong black light and in the other room, is projected a documentary, followed by a short film. The documentary presents 7-year-old children discussing about environmental issues in class. Then, in the short film, we see the same children wearing monster masks made of recycled material running in slow motion toward us, edited with images of mountains dissolving. But there is a constant disturbing sound, made out of the voice of all the children, like a creature howling in deep pain.
This project was commission by the Whitechapel Gallery, Film and Video Umbrella and Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art to the British and Greek artist Mikhail Karikis. His performances and short films are focused on the sound and the human voice. He explores the emotional and physical impact sound can have on us, and he explores new way to create sound. But his work is deeply anchored with social and human reality. He exposed his films in multiple biennales and exhibition around Europe.
For this particular project, he worked with a class of 7-years-old children through workshop about sound. The children were reading the book ‘’The Iron Man’’ from Ted Hugues, which gave Karikis the idea of studying with them the sequel of this fiction: ‘’The Iron Woman’’.
This book tells the story of an iron woman appearing on earth to destroy the humans because of the way they are treating earth. She gives a ‘’disease’’ spreading by touch to a little girl that allows the little girl hear the sound of the earth, of the animals and of the plants. But they are all suffering from the pollution, and the sound is a perpetual cry from all the livings. The little girl decide to warns the adults about the suffering of the earth by spreading the disease. Fortunately the book has an happy ending.
The artist had the children debate about the book and their concerns about the future. The he asked them to create the sound from this book, using whatever they wanted (their voice, objects, etc), to finally mix the sound they created together. It wasn’t the first time Karikis was working with children (see his previous work ‘Ain’t Got No Fear’ and ‘Children of the Unquiet’).
In an interview, Mikhail explains the process he went through with the children and why he chose certain imagery in the short film. There are close-up of sand (to form the ‘’mountains’’) vibrating and changing aspect with the sound, as if they were disappearing and reforming. The artist wanted to show that the action of the children could move mountains with their voice. He has the feeling that new generation are stronger and capable of more than they think they do.
The name of the installation is important: ‘No Ordinary Protest’. It is a protest you’ve never seen before, that is out of what is commonly done. You walk into a dark room were you are greeted by real size pictures of the children wearing creatures mask in the darkness. They seem to be standing in front of you, looking right at you, as if they were directly confronting you. You’re facing an army of children wearing creatures mask.
The mask hides the faces of the children and therefore their individuality. It also hides their humanity and they seems to belong to another kind of being/creature. They are one force together that pushed aside their human nature to show their animal/creature side. With this, they show they sided with Earth, with the environment and all the being that are suffering.
There is also that sound played during the short things. Something again that we’ve never heard before. A mix of cries, drone sound, and other instrument played by the children. It gives an unsettling feeling. It makes you feel uneasy. I saw a lot of people leaving the room when the sound started to play as if this sound was unbearable to listen to for them. It is somehow, in context, shows that the humans don’t want to be confronted to the pain we cause to the Earth. They escaped from their responsibility, they could not confront the problem. But this is what this exhibition is about: to make us want to act about the environment problems we are all facing now. The artist exposed children to this issue and have them debating about it, but some ‘adults in the room’ just leave the screening? It feels like the next generation is more concern than older are to this problem. Are we waiting for the next generation to fix this?
The children are an anonymous force surrounding us and, like in the book, they are trying to touch us so we could also hear the cries of the Earth, so we could all fix this.
Reference:
http://www.mikhailkarikis.com/about-mikhail-karikis/http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/about/history/
http://www.mikhailkarikis.com/2018/08/30/no-ordinary-protest/http://www.mikhailkarikis.com/2018/08/18/text-by-prof-cathy-lane-no-ordinary-protest/
http://www.mikhailkarikis.com/2018/08/30/mikhail-karikis-interview-on-no-ordinary-protest-2018/
Induction to Screenprinting
This post is about the induction to screenprinting for paper.
Screenprinting is a printing technique using a mesh that will let the ink go through only certain part of it. It is used widely since the 1960’s from underground concert poster to multi-millions advertising campaign, including famous museum pieces (Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein….).
We were introduced to the press, the mesh, and the ink.
The ink is made out of acrylic paint, so, being a water based paint, it dries quickly.
We learned how to make a screen, though I didn’t a lot of pictures. This is where we clean a screen to create another design.
Than, to create a new design, we use photo-sensible chemical to block some part of the mesh and avoid ink going though it. t is necessary to work in a dark room.
Over all, the instructors gave us a very detailed instruction book describing the whole process in detail.
CTS – Transnational Histories
‘’When you go to a museum you are simply a tourist looking at the trophy cabinet of a few millionaires.’’
Banksy
In class about “Transnational Histories”, we were taught the “Elgin Marbles” controversy. It was the first time I was confronted to the problem and I wasn’t informed at all . My curiosity pushed me to look further into the issue and I went to see the famous marbles at the British museum.
First: the object of the controversy : The marbles + a bit of history.
The “Elgin Marbles”, or as the British Museum Trustees prefer to call them, the “Parthenon sculptures” are composed of the decorative element of the Parthenon, the temple of Athena at Athens. This includes the metopes, the pediments sculpture and the frieze. The Temple was finished in 430 BC in Athens and symbolises the greatest achievement of human kind at the time. As time went by, the temple served multiple function (such as a church, or a mosque). Though, in1687, the temple was tuned into a gunpowder reserve during a war against the Venetians. An explosion destroyed the roof of the temple and it was left in ruins. During the late 17th century, the archaeologist Lord Elgin brought to England most pieces of the temple in order to protect them as fast as he could. Once in England, the marble where subject to a few scandals (cleaning methods revealing to be harmful to the marbles, etc.) and were considered as imperial spoils.
The controversy concerns the return of the sculptures to Greece. In 1983, Greece formally asked for the marbles to be returned, but the British Museum refused. At first the English government was involved but it detached itself, leaving the responsibilities of the marbles to the museum trustees. The UNESCO couldn’t intervene because the marbles are not propriety of the government. An agreement has to be found between the museums. The British Museum would agree on a change of location instead of ownership. Though, the ownership of the marbles is contested due to how they were acquired by Lord Elgin (he smuggled them to England with the help the Turkish administration at the time). The museum trustees denies this fact and claims that they should stay in England for better visibility.
This controversy asks a lot of questions about art. To who does it belong ? To a nation ? To mankind ? Where should it be ? Is the misplacement of art objects part of History of the world ? Or part of a nation’s pride ? Is it moral now to keep stolen goods ? At the time it felt justify to protect the marbles, but now that time had change, would it still be a good thing to keep them ? Would it be moral now ?
I went to see the marbles in the British Museum. They look drowned into an empty room. Now one was there to look at them. I couldn’t help but feel uneasy next to then. It was clear they did not belong here. There was pamphlet justifying their choice to keep the marbles, as if they had to and it was their duty to keep them. But the moral choice would be to bring them back, wouldn’t it ? It feels like an decadent memory of a past empire that can’t accept it’s grandeur has faded. The British museum has tons of other Greek statues, why do they want to keep these ones ? It seems absurd to me.
In a perfect world, all wonders would be returned, and we would all be able to see them. But this is not a perfect world.
References:
– saving banksy
– Pamphlet From the British Museum
– Briefing House of Commons
websites:
– https://www.parthenonuk.com/
– https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Spoils
– https://web.archive.org/web/20090420232511/http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/article_index/w/what_are_the_elgin_marbles.aspx
– https://web.archive.org/web/20090513053304/http://ww2.jhu.edu/foundations/?p=8
www.parthenon.newmentor.net/illegal.htm
– https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-greece-marbles-idUSKBN1JM2T6
– https://www.dw.com/en/greece-could-use-brexit-to-recover-stolen-parthenon-art/a-40038439