Author: Alexis

Symposium Script 2 – Final Resolution

Alexis

I have struggled with the script for the symposium video. What I have done, is write two very different drafts. The first, dense, allusion; the second, descriptive, easier to understand. Which way should I go?

I have felt all along that it is important that the narration should be my own authentic voice. As I read out the second draft, for a test recording, I felt it stilted, it did not flow. I felt as I read it, that I should be changing what I read as I went along. The silent reading the words on the page was fine, but when it came to speaking them out loud, it just did not gel. I had originally rejected the first draft, which incidentally took me minutes to write rather the days. I rejected it because I felt it was too personal, too much about my relationship with the process and not enough about the process itself.

After discussing this with Jonathan during the latest tutorial and Janet. it became evident to me that the first draft was my voice and said far more despite it containing less overt information. I was able to put the case for it much more persuasively, because I believed in it more.

This means that the imagery in the video becomes doubly important. Images not only illustrate, but they also add another layer of descriptive information not picked up in the audio. As Donald rightly said, there are ten minutes of information in the video, 5 of images and 5 of audio. Combining the two can convey far more if looked at that way.

Interestingly, not only did the second draft take much longer to write, it ended up being nearly nine hundred words which I had to reduce to 672. The first draft was a mere 402 words. I have incorporated some of the second draft into the first and edited it a little. The final word count is 555; it takes me four minutes and twenty seconds to read slowly. This gives me time to read even more slowly, introduce pauses and have an intro and credits with ease.

I mentioned above, that the original draft was too much about my relationship with the process and not enough about the process itself. It is clear to me that the two are inseparable, I am part of the process and it is part of me: that is how it should be. As far as I am concerned, that is an aspect of being an artist.

I have learnt a lot from all this. It has drawn out the essence of my practice. Statements will change, context and purpose alter, but the core will in all probability remain constant into the future. This does not mean that I am locked out from other work or contexts but quite the contrary. I will be able to understand future briefs, commissions, contexts and audiences in the light of my core concerns and be flexible enough to deliver an authentic response without feeling that I have not been true to myself. Conversely, I will know what engagements to set to one side. And should those ideas contained in my process change, that is all part of the process itself and I shall be aware of exactly what is going on… somehow, I think this unlikely.

Symposium 2 Script Outline

Alexis

I have written and rewritten the script for the symposium video and it is now in the final stages before recording.

I have found, no, am finding this extremely difficult. It is hard to summarise all I have done and thought into five to six hundred words. Each time I write something, another thought occurs. What is the purpose of the symposium, what is important to say and what to leave out?

I need to give an idea of what the work is about without closing down on interpretations. The script has to read easily and be as light of touch as possible. Each word has its weight and each phrase its meaning. It is a fine line between the literary and the prosaic. How much to I leave to the viewer and how much do I have to explicate? Is what I say engaging, clear, inclusive?

These are all questions that I have wrestled with. I have found it difficult to keep things open and not get bogged down in detail that I think essential as explanation. I know that images are all important and create another layer of understanding, but there also needs to be a sequential sense to them and to not divide the attention between the narration and the imagery and loose focus.

As I write, I try to imagine what is happening on screen. I try not to say things that can be easily infered while including other ideas that enrich the video. I know that someone can replay the video but it is in the first viewing that the impression is made and sense is grasped. Replays merely open up new avenues of thought, but should not create the overall sense. If this is not present in the first viewing, then I have failed.

The video should draw together research done and the emerging practice. How can I do this without coming out with a simple list of, ‘I did this because… and I did that resulting in this…’, and so on. The time during the MA is more than that, it is a building of a new world view expressed in process and outcome leading to an expansion and deeping whilst implying a continual beginning.

I see the symposium as an important synthesis that presents the work and practice as it is now whilst indicating what might be its potential and future. Together with the critical evaluation, it sets a trajectory: it is key that this should be set correctly.

What to leave out, what to say

One of the hardest things I find is how to imply something and not just fill the space with information about my work. It is a learning curve that prepares me for what is to come after the MA.

Ideas for New Work 1

Alexis

As the MA nears its end, the inability to prepare a physical show at Camberwell has come as a great disappointment. Presence was something I was working towards and very much depend on for conveying the essence of what I do. As I have already mentioned previously, an online show in no way substitutes for this lack. Physical work is what I am about as will be made obvious in the symposium. However, in working around this negation, not challenge, erasure, not threat, my mind has filled with other possibilities for the future. I do not see them so much as oppotunities as latent additions. They have arisen from designing the online show, observing responses to lockdown and restrictions. But they also arise from the work itself, filling in gaps that I have often thought about. Ideas that once seemed caprices or sidelines to my main activity now looking like interesting and viable augmentations to my practice.

My aim over the next few weeks is to compile lists of ideas as they occur in a cluster of posts:

  • large format and/or pinhole and lens based photographs;
  • essays, some based on some of the ideas arising out of the blog journal;
  • learn cables and create online shows/presentations;
  • video works – portal – planetary body – parade;
  • prose poems stand alone and/or accompanying work;
  • book/magazine/pamphlet/zine type publications for online and print;
  • develop the use of instagram as an alternative means of communication.

Day Eleven and Twelve – WITD

Alexis
5th an 7th May

Progress is now slow. as I develop and give each individual form its unique characteristic and internal properties while maintaining the group identity. A population seen from outside appears homogenous. But as individuals become familiar, their identities start to become more apparent and demarcated.

Day Ten – WITD

Alexis

This was the state of the work two days ago. I have started some detail as I continue to work on the large areas. I have to continually look at it from all angles. It would be so easy for something to go awry in terms of composition. It is high relief, but in the round; a spherical or ovid frieze.

My mind is buzzing with so many ideas. It is frustrating to work on things which take so long. I have to choose carefully what I do and not be swayed by whims of the moment. I need to think a) how does this tie in with my work and ideas, b) does it take things further and or add depth c) am I merely responding impulsively to something I have seen or heard?

Today (4th) Janet looked out of the window at the apple blossom and saw the porcelain piece reflected in what she saw. There are so many things that connect, often in unexpected ways. It is a form of poetry, and from such tropes and metaphores ideas spring into plain sight. Some persist others fade and become irrelevant. This is why experimenting is so important, I throw things in the air and see how they fall allowing my agenticity to come into play. But this is not a senseless or arbitrary process. It is one in which I have learnt through practice and research to recognise patterns and understand structure. It is the way I have been able to seek clarity, simplicity, and depth.

Three forms under wraps. Threes witches, three muses, three blind mice. Fine works hidden or veiled, an interesting proposition. A reciprocal exhange of experience. The artist is often rended mute of their work and intent by the noise of opinion and perception, what if the viewer were to be deprived of site of the work and were able to listen only to the artist? ….. One caveat with this idea, is there anything worth listening to, or looking at beneath the veil? Prior knowledge of the area is a useful thing in the arts. Even the ‘shock of the new’ comes with some of that.

Day Nine – WITD

Alexis

The piece is set up on its new work stand. I am pleased because it is remarkably stable and easy to turn round, just what I wanted. It also proves that the scaffolding components can be used for stands of all sorts… and furniture. This was the system I was going to use for the physical show. So it serves as proof of concept. And there are two added bonuses, dismantlable takes up little room.