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Andrew Robertson

Student Number: REDACTED

BA (HONS) Contemporary Art Practice 

Creative Enquiry

Critical Review

Word Count: 1612

“If you build it, they will come”

(Ghostly voice from the motion picture Field of Dreams 1989)

I have chosen to open with this quote as I feel it both, speaks of my approach to my art production in general and more specifically regarding the topic I have been working with thought-out the Critical enquiry module.

Starting in September of last year, after a year and half of all out war in Ukraine, I decided this was a topic worthy of my attention and creative efforts.

During much of my life I have taken a keen interest in world events, sometimes to the determent of my mental health, most probably watching far too much news and consuming vast amounts of media across a variety of platforms.

I think about these issues every day, these are perhaps my Roman Empire

The plight of the Rohingya people of Myanmar forced from their lands, their villages burnt.

In what the UN has declared as ethnic cleansing.

The on-going civil war in Sudan leading to the famine and displacement of hundreds of thousands of people.

The Global warming crisis that is said to currently be responsible for up to 5 million deaths a year and rising. A crisis that will affect us all yet will affect the poorest of the world in disproportionate manor.

The treatment of ethnic groups in western China.

The Crisis and ethic cleaning of Gaza, something which I fear my government are partly responsible.

And of course, the actions of our and other western governments in the middle east and beyond

I could go on……

After February 2022 when Russian forces commenced an all-out attack on Ukraine something which the Russian establishment titled a “Special Operation” I began to look more and more in depth at the workings of war, considering the politics of alliances and the relationships between nations and weapons producers. 

Asking questions of the actions of NATO (The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation).

Should they have come to Ukraine’s help in more direct way? Committing troops and air support during the first phase of Russia’s attempted invasion. Would this have led to all out war between NATO and Russia and its allies, would it have nipped the whole thing in the bud, showing Russia this type of aggression was unacceptable.  Perhaps NATO did as much as it could, without risking what would possibly transcend into World War 3.  Yet two years later as the war has ground on, I can’t help but question the approach that NATO have taken, the slow and insufficient shipments of military aid, just allowing Ukraine to keep it fingernails grasped to the edges of its controlled territory within its own borders I fear has led to perhaps many more deaths on both sides that may have been avoided if a different strategy was utilised. In essence could the actions of western governments including my own be making the situation worse for the people of Ukraine? This is something I am not able to answer, yet I see only one winner now, and this is the weapons industries, their shareholders, and investors, and certainly not the hundreds of thousands of bereaved families of both Ukrainian and Russian soldiers.

This outlines some of my motivation for the work produced during this unit and in regard to the Quote from field of dreams If all these weapons are being built there probably going to get used. 

Perhaps in a way this quote From the Motion picture Braveheart (1994) would suit better

“We Didn’t get all dressed up for nothing”

You will notice I’m using Film quotes…………..

This ties into another theory I have regarding war and more specifically the US’s relationship to it. The US military often works with Hollywood in the production of films about war. Miliary equipment is loaned and operated by members of the US miliary to be used in Movie productions on the specific requirement that the US military are shown in favourable light,  this is one of the methods utilised by the military as a means of recruitment. Over the years I’ve noticed how prevalent this is and how quickly Hollywood now brings “based on true story” movies of events taking place in ever more current wars and operations. Movies such as “Lone survivor” (2014) and “12 strong” (2018) glorifying US actions in Afghanistan along with an assortment of movies about the Iraq wars.

So, this might sound silly but, I believe on some level that America needs to keep on having wars to keep on making movies about them. A way of cementing their position in the world. This ties into neoconservative theory perhaps most prominent during the George W Bush administration of the early 21st century yet still prevailing today.

The narrative of good versus evil used to disguise altera motives, such as control and influence over assets such as oil.  

These theories I found best explained in the Adam Curtis documentary series

“The Power of Nightmares” (2004)  

I then took time to research artists that had created work on similar topics, from Picasso’s Guernica to works of more current artist such as Darren Cullen and Peter Kennard. I looked at the works of William Kentridge and considered the responsibilities of creating work on such topics. 

All these thoughts and ideas came together and evolved to become an installation of various elements relating to this topic, brought together in a cinematic way. As I further researched the situation in Ukraine, I became more and more aware of the roll played by arms producers and the choices they make on the speed and scale of production.

My ideas ran a little wild at this point. Could I create an arms fayre expo or perhaps a munitions dump. The more I was exposing myself to this information the more and more the algorithms relating the content I was viewing pushed more and more towards this content. I found myself for the first-time reading articles in publications such as the Defence Journal and Eurasia times. As I delved deeper, I became aware of the huge amount of artillery being used in the Ukraine Russia war, and most specifically artillery shells, the type often used to arm tanks and howitzers. Becoming aware of the struggle for both sides to source and keep up with supply of these items. I decided the ramp up in production and use of these weapons was notable.

I thought to myself, I want to get in on this action.  I decided the first element of my installation would be to produce 155-millimetre Artillery shells, what with them being so sought after. After much brainstorming and considering various production methods and possibilities, from truing them on a wood lathe out of logs or making a mould that I could cast them in concrete. I then came across child’s toy inflatable missiles, this instantly clicked with me. Children perhaps suffer the most in war and have no choice in it. That along with my notion of the normalization of war to those growing up in a war time situation. The idea that what we are exposed to affects and shapes our thinking and notions of what our life may be. i.e., growing up in war most probably makes war an option or possibility in the future.

I then took these children’s inflatable toys and decided that they could be used to create plaster of paris casts and could be cast to certain lengths as to appear as artillery shells.

I continued to investigate the world of inflatable weapons and realised there were many options to explore some of which have become parts of my final body of work.

I then turned my attention to creating the machine that would appear to be producing these shells, using a timber frame construction lined with aluminium sheeting utilising pervious skills accrued. I was able to bring together what I refer to as a war machine. This was more basic than I had hoped and this was mostly due to not being able to fund my ideas of using a conveyor belt system which items could be lifted off as it would feed out the next, in a similar way to a supermarket checkout, yet alas after much research and pricing I realised this was going to cost far in advance of 1000 pounds, something which I did not have access to. 

Throughout this module I also became aware of how much of this information I was consuming was in the setting of my living room, it made me think of the term armchair sports fan and pondered how I might incorporate this into my final installation.

Current state of play

The image above is where I am right now with this module, I believe the work I’ve produced has meaning and, it in some way, highlights an issue I think in some ways we should all be considering, especially when we come to elect our leaders and representatives. The idea that arms produced not so far from where I live are sold to various non NATO members to be used how they see fit dose not sit well with me.

Perhaps I could have looked more widely into different forms of production and done a little more research, however as coming from a photography background I feel I’m often most concerned with the end product and often find a route to this that where I perhaps do not experiment as much I could with the process. I could also probably pay more attention to the art world with my research, yet I feel my work in this case is based in what’s going on in the word on a geopolitical scale and the work is reaction to that, therefore I found to be as informed about these topics more valuable, perhaps to my determent.

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This will be my penultimate post

The Degree show is set up and things are coming to an end in terms of my bachelor's degree and studies and the City of Glasgow college.

I'm probably as happy as I'm going to be with the work I've produced during this module. I have worked on it throughout the whole academic year and has probably been my biggest project to date in a lot of ways. Researching these topics has taken a toll on me yet I think it has been incredibly important to have the knowledge and information to back up the work I have produced and I hope that this is apparent from reading this research and development blog.

Early on in the process I choose not to specifically go after specific states or people, knowing the degree show is a very public and shared platform for us to present our work. Had I been doing this work to be presented elsewhere and in solo show I believe I would have been more direct and critical of certain nations and individuals and perhaps had more of a focus on what I perceive to be the terrible injustice of the current actions in Gaza.

To put whats happening there in context, Putin's war on Ukraine has taken the life's of approximately 9 thousand children in the 2 years and 3 months it has been waged.

Netanyahu's war on Gaza has though to have killed over 15 thousand children in 7 moths.

These figures are hard to verify and but can be seen on the United Nations website if one cares to look hard enough.

back to the Images above and the final degree show instal. I would have liked more control over the lighting of the space and this is something I probably should have worked more to be able to achieve, however, I did not wish for my work to be boxed off within its own space and very much wanted it to feel part of our group exhibition.

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Studio Pin Up For Creative Enquiry Module

its been emotional

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I read this article from the Guardian on the 21st of April 2024. I found in lot of ways it validates my motives for the work I have produced throughout this module even if on various levels I feel the message within my final work may not be immediately apparent. Making art on this topic has fired my brain and I have often not known my exact direction during this module, However I feel I had a firm goal of highlighting what I've noticed more and more and more over the last few years. The world is producing and developing and funding new weapons at a rate never before seen in my lifetime (I was born 1981).

Some of the worlds biggest military players including the US, China Russia and the UK are producing and developing more and more powerful and destructive weapons. from Nuclear devices that are now becoming ever more powerful and devastating to new laser powered arms and of course the introduction and embedment of Artificial intelligence in weapons systems. I'm not suggesting that world war 3 will kick off tomorrow, but with this escalation in production along with the discardment of non proliferation treaties as well as the breakdown in geopolitical agreement in general. I think awareness of these issues is important, especially in regards to who we elect or let rule our nations.

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I first saw and considered Picasso's Guernica on a trip to Spain with my family in the early 1990s I think I was about 12 years old. It blew me away and has been a work I've though about and indeed referenced in my own work many times. In my 20s I returned to see it again this time with more understanding of what it was and what it meant. This lead to me reading George Orwell's homage to Catalonia, his writing of his experience of the Spanish civil war, somehow both charming and harrowing simultaneously.

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Images of some of the final completed components of the installation

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The work on the test site exhibition spurred me on to get my work to a more complete state, spending much of the second week of my spring break in the studio working on ideas that would become much of my final degree show output. I took time to consider the aesthetics of movies such as "Apocalypse Now" 1979 as well a as taking time to look at the work of photographer Julia Fullerton-Batten, someone I consider a master of setting scene and lighting. This was all part of of creating the image above which would become a central element of my final degree show installation. I regret not contacting the photography department and asking to use some of there equipment as I know I could have lite this image better.... but thems the breaks

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Test Site Exhibition, part of the Promotion Module( Propaganda)

This is a stopgap animation crated using multiple long exposure digital photographs as to create an a documentation of the moving element of this small installation.

I found the Test Exhibition useful, however at this stage my work was very much incomplete and I was aware my final output would be quite different. Yet by taking the time to do this it helped me with visualising how my final work may be presented

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Bit of Fun

R. Mutt 2024

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"Hiroshima and Nagazaki"

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Working with pattern and motion

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Here's a wee artwork off my instagram showing our lovey little war mongering defence security Grant Shapps. (original image lifted from the BBC news website)

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Working with Plaster of Paris and Inflatable toy guns to create the aesthetically pillow like guns for the final exhibition.

In some ways I feel these guns echo work of Jeff Koons, Giving a playful nature to something which I consider one of the worst things ever created. Yet these advancements in weapons and weapons technology can not be put back in the box.

Unlike the artillery shell casts the shape of each inflatable gun meant that only one item could be produced from each casting. I would have liked to do more but once again due to cost I was unable, originally I produced 5 of the smaller MP5 models and 3 of the M16 models (the types of gun). I think certain multiples often look better when presented in odd number, something I learnt from my time working in catering. Anyway one of the smaller cast broke during production and we ended up with 4 and 3.

The removal of the PVC from the casts was a delicate task and I found myself thinking of both medical procedures and excavation archaeology.

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Building the "War Machine"

This would become an Important part of my Final Installation. I have looked into the production of Artillery shells and they don't really come off of a conveyor belt, however i thought is would be a recognisable way of presentation of the production of these items.

Initially I had wanted to have a moving conveyor belt, but after much research and costing I became aware this was finically unavailable to me therefor I decided the final war machine would have no moving parts.

The construction and planning of the war machine took some time, size was a concern due the unknown factor at this point of what space I would have to display it along with the logistical factor of being able to move it. This was also a factor in the choice of metal sheeting used originally looking a steel but settling on aluminium sheeting as to make the fine work lighter and more moveable. The frame of the war machine was constructed of pine joists screwed together, the side panels where parts of unused laminate flooring dressed in aluminium tape and the conveyor belt was created using an off cut of a tarpaulin left from my tobacco packet from the divergent practice module.

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Above images of the finishing of the artillery shell casts

At this stage I was still unsure of what my final output for this module would be, I had notions of creating a tongue and cheek weapons factory outlet shop or perhaps an installation of a munitions dump. However no full knowing my end goal I proceeded with the pieces I was working on knowing they would be used and would work for my final degree presentation, and that could be used to convoy my message which throughout the process was also being refined.

I had also worked with a 3D printer to produce the military drones, I at this time knew I wanted to work into a larger scale version of my previous mobile, created in October.

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I find all of documentary film maker Adam Curtis's work fascinating.

This 3 part documentary series released in 2004 looks at in detail the geopolitical situation, proceeding and after the attack on the world trade centre in New York on September 11th 2001.

It explores the role of politicians and governments in a post 911 world.

Curtis suggests, that it was once the politicians roll to sell dreams of a better life to the citizens of their nation as way to gain power, however there was a shift in this political roll post 911. Political figures took on a new roll no longer as the seller of dreams but the the protector from nightmares. This was perhaps seen most prominently within the actions of the Governments of the USA and indeed of the UK post 911.

The film 2018 "Vice" directed by Adam Mckay, is a biopic of the life of Ex Vice President (USA) Dick Cheney, with a focus on his time in Government. It details the use of of these nightmares mentioned by Curtis in the power of nightmares, and how they were used to force the attack of Iraq in 2003, It is now widely known, the reasons for the USA and UK's invasion were not about Iraq having weapons of mass distraction and was very much about the greed of western nations, in regard to the control of oil. Much of the evidence used to make this invasion happen was in-fact anecdotal and many other pieces of hard evidence to the contrary where disregarded, not by the intelligence originations but by the people at the top of government tailoring the evidence, to fit with the perceived nightmare scenario of Iraq using these (made up) weapons against western nations.

The company Cheney is now Chairman of and was CEO for before his time as Vice President is believed to have made over 8 billion US dollars out of its operations in Iraq post 2003, most of this money has come from securing of Oil Fields in cooperation with the US government and western oil companies.