lsmithidentity2017 - Tumblr blog

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Martine Aballea

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Psychogeography

"The reimagining of the city proposed by psychogeography has its roots in dadaism and surrealism, art movements which explored ways of unleashing the subconscious imagination."

The term was invented by Guy Debord in 1955, who was inspired by Charles Baudelaire's concept of 'flâneur' (an urban wanderer). Debord was interested in an approach to architecture which was less functional and more creative. Pyschogeography became popular in the 90s amongst artists and filmmakers.

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"Due to its particular features, a space has a way of relating with sound, understanding sound as a series of compressions and decompressions which move through the air, so that the geometry of the space itself and the elements in it will influence the movements of the sound and finally our perception of it; adding to this entire stationary system a chaos of infinite variables from the most minimal movement on our part, the installation examines how we interpret our own position in a sonic landscape."

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Initial group ideas

-Explore sensory experiences of sound + dimensions of sound (vibrations, visual effects of sound e.g. vibrations in water

- Use an installation to create a sensory experience, using video alongside sound and possibly an experimental display

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Earthworks, 2016. semiconductor

“Earthworks is a five channel computer generated animation, which creates an immersive experience of the phenomena of landscape formation through the scientific and technological devices that are used to study it.  Masses of colourful layers are animated by the sound-scapes of earthquake, volcanic, glacial and human activity, recorded as seismic waves, which form spectacular fluctuating marbled waveforms.”

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HALO, semiconductor, 2018.

Data captured by CERN (a particle psychics laboratory) is projected around the cylinder as points of light, which then triggers the piano strings that surround the cylinder, to create an immersive experience. 

I think the use of scientific data presented as an installation has a unique effect of linking contrasting subjects of science and moving image. Even though the installation has a very technical approach, it creates a space that can be disconnected from that aspect and interpreted in different ways. 

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Final Statement

I first started researching the theme of identity by looking at the works of John Akomfrah as his work focuses on feelings of diaspora and identity. The intention of this piece was to explore the experiences of living in London and being mixed raced, focusing on how this influences forming an individual identity. I initially had ideas of creating a fairly abstract piece as more of a study of fabrics, music etc associated with different cultures, however I found it required a lot more time and research.

I then decided to focus the piece on my auntie, Petra, born to my Jamaican grandad and Italian mother, Marcia. I wanted to touch upon her childhood, experiences as a young black woman and negative and positive associations with London. I recorded her talking about these experiences in quite an informal manner which I think accentuated her honesty and humurous personality. This became the backbone to the film as I used the footage as a visual representation of the thoughts/topics being discussed. I think the use of documentary footage created an apt link between present day and 70s London as well as the use of family photgraphs which personalised the piece.

Overall I am fairly happy with the work I created as I learnt a lot about the process of producing a short film entirely on my own and know what I can do to be more efficient in the future. I do think the piece communicates the ideas I initially had as it has a very personalised element due to the focus on Petra, yet links to a lot of relatable points on identity. To improve I feel like I should have put more time into the planning process so I had a really sound idea from the beginning that would have made filming and editing much smoother. I also struggled with sound so I think learning more about making the audio sound the best it possibly can will help prevent setbacks at the editing stage.

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Still from La Haine

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Concept

Explore the themes of diaspora and experiences of minority groups in the UK through contrasts of urban landscapes and associations with different cultures (clothing/fabrics, music etc). Use of still shots of photographs of family members/family portraits. Confirm appropriate locations for landscape shots.

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Curate a collection of old photographs for still shots (black + white, family portraits etc)

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Lorna Simpson Five Day Forcast, 1991

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Lorna Simpson Photo Booth

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