Unit 3 Summer Show and Research Festival Proposal
I feel the development of my research and practice has forged a stronger contemporary positioning than in Unit One, through exploring the developing field of artificial intelligence. With the approaching final unit and the upcoming summer show, I’d like to expand from the narrative I’ve established within my last artwork, exploring surreal DIY methods of filmmaking further. I have stated I would like to explore the sculptural possibilities of installation and drapery, in considering projecting onto a sheet again, but moving beyond the rectangular screen of my last work. My practice lends itself to performance, which I want to explore within the summer show and within the Research Festival. I enjoy the concept of leading practical performative or creative writing workshops. I also like the concept of delivering live presentations about my work. For the summer show, I aim to blur the lines between established fiction and performed reality, by swapping the roles between Prospero and Ariel, the commander and the commanded, the feminine and the masculine, the human and the screen, perhaps performing directly with the projection and fabric, embodying the element of collaging in my methodology further.
While I’ve enjoyed working with artificial intelligence, I am determined not to become reliant on it, even if I’m exploring it. I may still incorporate Stable Diffusion Deforum generated footage into my work, but I would like for my own voice and perspective to continue to lead my practice going forward.
Exhibitions:
Being a part of Bargehouse’s curational process was hectic, but still rewarding. It’s a huge opportunity to exhibit on London’s Southbank. It’s something that I have fantasised about, even as a little girl. I entered the exhibition space every morning to help turn on my work and other’s works. There were practical aspects of the installation which meant quite a few last minute changes to where works would be presented in the building, but I believe this is all part of the learning experience in how to curate exhibitions and install works.
Alongside Bargehouse, I was lucky enough to be approached by UAL Computational Arts Pathway MA Fine Art Graduate from Camberwell College, Feb Yifei Xie about TADO Film Festival. I have submitted ‘1_w1ll_b3_c0rr3sp0nd3nt_t0_c0mm4nd’ to the film festival for an offline streaming. The program was promoted as part of Shangzun’s ‘Metaverse Trendy Art’ Joint Exhibition from April 26th to May 18th 2023.
The gallery website: https://www.asianpopupcinema.org/press-releases/s15pr-lineup
TADO’s website: https://www.tadoartcentre.com/
I’m fortunate to have been given this opportunity. My work is very much centred on British literature, culture and Western mythology so it’s interesting to consider how this work will have carried across to Chinese and Asian students, graduates, the TADO film festival and Shangzun’s exhibition. My belief is that the conversation surrounding artificial intelligence, especially within artistic practice, is a conversation that is taking place globally. All artists are effected and perhaps all artists must collaborate, converse and change to accommodate for the presence of artificial intelligence’s presence in the art world.
Elbow Room:
While I performed this piece in the first session of Elbow Room when Unit 1 took place, it now has new significance for my work in Unit 2. This poem was written by me in Ariel’s voice, speaking of when he was asked to take the shape of a harpy to torment Prospero’s enemies in The Tempest. I have used some of the lines of the poem in ‘1_w1ll_b3_c0rr3sp0nd3nt_t0_c0mm4nd’, such as the reference to ‘the searing sea storm’, that Ariel also enacted for Prospero at the beginning of the play. The full transcript of the poem I performed for this session of Elbow Room is beneath the video.
Transcript for Ariel Harpy Poem:
The pen slipped in your fever and splattered.
Grow dark blot, and shape my merciless wings.
Sharpen hands to vengeful talons.
Print the words with pounding fists.
Pummel the point-blank pages.
I am your demon puppet, your explosive journal,
Fiery as lightning, eye of the raging tempest.
You mold me to your wrath,
And I will play the part,
With all the wreckage
Of my thundering
Heart.
I roar out all the pain
we’ve shared between us.
I let your old, cold foes
Feel the summoning
of our searing sea storm
And watch them shake
with all the fear I’ve felt before,
With all the anger you’ve spent years with,
Swelling in a floating bottle.
You called it ‘something brave’.
I kept trembling.
For once a human bows to powers I wield.
Yes, your inescapable rage,
But my unavoidable power.