Posts Tagged ‘art’

Mardi Gras by Keith Loutit [2009] is part of a series of videos that the artist made using a specific photographic technique. Everything seems small, like in a model city. People are merely figurines. However, Keith Loutit chose light hearted and positive scenes and soundtracks. Mardi Gras in Sydney can only inspire happiness, freedom and liveliness. But seeing it as if it was a model city shows that the event is actually fairly predictable. The public participated by their own choice and they probably enjoyed themselves. It does not make the event appear to be less orchestrated, as though it was part of a big figurine play. Is this an ideal, a planned, conditioned happiness? How much is happiness a sufficient condition for an utopist society? Brave New World* by Aldous Huxley surely proved it isn’t sufficient.

McCOOL!!! By Julian Roberts and Namalee Bolle [2007] is an episode of the series “Relentless optimism”. It is about McDonalds but is much more ambiguous than other videos, which usually present a negative picture of the fast food chain. In this video, the main character genuinely enjoys eating her Big Mac. This event is the story. She seems to have some ideals though; love is written on her hands. The world looks stressful and dark outside of the McDonalds. Inside, the music is light hearted and nobody disturbs the main character from enjoying  her meal. Only the viewer can decide if her pleasure should be embraced or discouraged; whether or not McDonalds restaurants are little places of heaven or symbols of dystopia. Consumerism is frequently attacked but still totally underpins how our society works. No other ideology has achieved the same level of dominance as consumerism.

Tokyo.Future by Ian Lynam [2007] proposes a scenario where the city becomes organic, a living being, after surviving another ice age, thousands of years of civilization and intergalactic exodus. Signs of human activity are visible at the beginning of the journey, but the city soon imposes itself as the main character. The viewer can then wonder if people are still living their own lives, or if they merely became the cells of a conscientious supra entity.  At the end of the movie, the city reaches its final destination on a green virgin planet next to a mountain, which is the same size of the planet. The city seems to recognize itself in nature and stops travelling. She takes her final rest.  Like previous videos in the exhibition, I have interpreted them as I see fit. All interpretations are open to debate. But what is sure is that the videos within the exhibition open the imagination. Tokyo.future goes beyond the few next decades and imagines what the ultimate destination of humanity will be.

-  -  -  -

• Back to the videos
• Curation of the exhibition

As part of the Children’s Art Day 2009 and the Dreams of Progress exhibition, a storyboarding workshop was organised for the pupils of the year 4 from St Clement Danes School. Children learned how to create storyboards from pre-existing video material. Besides the fun and practical experience gained from the workshop, kids also learned how the same video footages can be sequenced to create many different stories;  how what is showed everyday on TV is not an exact representation of reality but the result of a montage.

Children used the footages from the  utopian video ‘Design for Dreaming’ (General Motors  – 1956) to create their storyboards. The workshop was inspired by the ‘Same video, different use’ collaborative project initiated by the video artist Remyyy; where artists can each post online their remixes of the same archive video. The best storyboard from the workshop has been transformed in a movie and posted online next to the contribution from video artists.

Winning storyboard of the year 4 from St Clement Danes School.

During the workshop, children were first presented with the original video. I showed them thereafter an example of storyboard (two of them were created before the workshop:  ‘Once upon a time’ and ‘I had a freaky nightmare’). The kids were split in 4 groups, each having in front of them a little less than a hundred printed images representing scenes from the movie. They randomly picked up a sentence to start their story with, e.g. “1..2..3..Action!”,  “This is the future”, “Dance to my beat”, “It was a freaky nightmare”. The groups had 40 minutes to create their storyboard, made of scenes from the original movie and of texts that they could add in between. In the last 10 minutes of the session, the groups presented their storyboard to the rest of the class, so that pupils could vote for their favourite story.

The winners when they presented their storyboard to the rest of class.

Everyone listening at the story of the second group.

The third group busy making their own story.

The fourth group starting their storyboard with the teachers.

The storyboard of the fourth group.

The children didn’t have any problems understanding the concept of sequencing movie scenes. The main challenge they experienced was to not replicate the original film but to invent a new story; which they succeeded after a short time necessary to distance themselves from what they’ve just seen.

The storyboarding workshop would not have run so smoothly without the commitment of Rossella Black from the WRF, all the volunteers helping out preparing the session and the facilitation of the teachers from St Clement Danes School.

(press release)

6^th – 18^th July, Westminster Reference Library, London, free admission

Short movies from international artists have been gathered along with corporate videos to form the Dreams of Progress art exhibition. Taking place at the Westminster Reference Library between the 6^th and 18^th July, the event will showcase past and present visions of the future.

In these days of economical, environmental and sometimes ideological uncertainties, the exhibition ‘Dreams of Progress’ will take a look back at our previous visions of the future, how they materialized and the way that they relate to the dreams we nourish today. Videos of utopian visions will be presented along with the sensitive perceptions of emerging video artists.

Predictions for the 60s from General Motors back in 1940 are juxtaposed with the recent vision of Microsoft for 2019; bitter-sweet feelings from early memories of the artists Richard Jerousek and Brian Phillips are confronted with the galactic voyage of Tokyo imagined by Ian Lynam.  These videos and more will question the meaning of progress, between modernism and postmodernism, individuality and collective dreams, human nature as opposed to mega structures.

The videos will be displayed at the Westminster Reference Library, in the heart of London’s West End. The exhibition space, opened to the art reading room, will provide a relaxed environment to view the videos in tranquillity.

The exhibition is curated by Christophe Bruchansky as part of the Curated Matter project, a non-profit venture dedicated to the organisation of exhibitions that catalyse social innovation. The Dreams of Progress exhibition features a philosophical debate which considers the existence and possibilities of utopias as well as the fear of dystopias. Part of the national Children’s Art Day program, a workshop will be organized to teach children how to create artistic films from pre-existing video material. They will be encouraged to exercise their critical thinking by remixing the utopian vision from the video ‘Design for Dreaming’ from General Motors (1956).

Christophe Bruchansky, curator of Dreams of Progress, says “I’m very proud of this exhibition. I was impressed by the quality and diversity of the art videos and I’m pleased to present the work of emerging talents to the London public. The theme of progress is particularly appropriate in a period aspiring for change. I hope that visitors will be as inspired as I was by the exploration of past and present utopias, obsolete ideals and forward thinking visions. I’m also very grateful that Microsoft and squint/opera allowed the display of their videos for the exhibition. They offer along with the corporate videos from the Prelinger archives a rich material for thoughts on utopias and progress.”

Rossella Black, event commissioner at the WRF, says “Our wish is to generate a sense of excitement and inspiration. The aim of these events is to use a creatively dormant space such a traditional Library as a resource, study and temporary hub of debate and interaction, a ‘creative city’ which opens up to a new and ever changing audience.”

Art videos by Adam Pelling Deeves (UK), Julian Roberts and Namalee Bolle (UK), Keith Loutit (Australia), Ian Lynam (Japan), Richard Jerousek and Brian Phillips (USA), Sam Fuller (USA), Urizen Freaza (Spain) and Misty Woodford (USA).

Visions of the future by Bell, The Danish Royal Academy of Art, General Motors and Microsoft.

Westminster Reference Library

6^th – 18^th July, Mon – Fri: 10am – 8pm, Sat: 10am – 5pm

35 St Martin’s Street, London WC2H 7HP

Nearest tube station: Leicester Square, map

Free admission

Supported by

More details on http://curatedmatter.org/dreams-of-progress/