#Abstract Expression

[creativeselfdiscovery]

What is the symphony you hear from life? What parts make you stop and consider things? What moments bring joy, what sadness?

[burning-beneath]

Perceptions…

What defines our perceptions, shaping the way we see and feel about someone or something in those fleeting first moments? Why do some first impressions strike us as good or bad, even before we have the full picture? What drives that split-second decision—an unspoken energy, a gut feeling, or something deeper? First impressions are curious things, often formed in an instant but capable of leaving…

[brandonjohnbarnard]

Production history around: Tinguely Feeling

Tinguely Feeling was one of the most complicated projects I have done so far. The seed of this idea was originally planted in June of 2024, when I started reading into Nouveau réalisme. Jumping down rabbit hole after rabbit hole eventually dropped me onto a page about Jean Tinguely and Métamatics.

Métamatics was a series of works started in the 1950s which used robots and automation to create works of art. Often, these works would use chance elements, meaning that each work created by these machines was unique in some capacity, with interesting results being churned out.

That really simplifies it, though. There were pieces that exploded, many water fountains, and pieces that evoked many of the themes that Duchamp’s readymades did as well. I really recommend reading further into the topic yourself.

At this point, I was still on a DADA high, so the similarities between the areas was compelling to me too.

I was really drawn in by many of the points made with Métamatics, and how they parallel a lot of the arguments currently around AI art and ownership, creativity, and the ‘soul’ present in art.

Métamatics also explores an aspect of chance which I am very interested in: destruction. Often Tinguely’s machines would destroy themselves in the process of being shown off, with this being part of the performance. Homage to New York (1960) and Study for an End of the World №2 (1962) are both examples of this.

I had explored destruction before with Eggistential, but like most chance investigations I want to explore them all more thoroughly. This destruction aspect of Métamatics influenced the dancing stages in the film having debris that got knocked around everywhere, like the buttons, rice, and sea glass.

It was also inspired by the works of Robert Morris, like his untitled 1968 piece. The way the work fell was inspired by chance, further amplified by the actions of non-human actors, which I thought was a fun idea.

This film is also an offshoot of my exploration into non-human agency. Previously I had explored that idea with animals in ‘Doggy Style’, with its medium article explaining the reasoning.

Having the robots decide what the narrative of the piece ending up being was actually a lot more fun that I expected, and not nearly as stressful. The robots did actions which would have been so difficult to plan, but ended up being the heart of the piece. Them dancing in the ring, both falling over at the same time. The comedy they brought was great. In a way, it feels similar to improv.

A week after this reading into Tinguely (July, 2024), I found a cosmojetz wind-up toy, created by the company Kikkerland, at the Children’s Hospice charity shop on Mutley. At that moment, I knew what I was making next.

This led me down the path of trying to see if I could learn more about these Kikkerland robots. I learned way more about the designer, how many robot variants and colours there were, and also about how hard they were to acquire on the second-hand market. The UK and Europe do not have many available compared to the USA.

I ended up getting: a pink Pea, a Cosmojetz, a Pintacuda, a Cranky, and two Katitas. I still look occasionally to see if any are listed, as they are fun to collect and play with.

Originally, I wanted to merge this Kikkerland robot idea with a separate found object idea. I used to regularly litter pick in Plymouth (this stopped after I got my dog Toffee — not enough hands when walking), and while litter picking, I would find people’s faces. Torn up IDs, polaroid pictures, key charms, etc. I saved these oddities, among others, as it was something fun to do. I was thinking of sticking these face to the robots to add a weird ‘look where you ended up’ type of energy to the film. The main one I wanted to use was found in 2021 at Freedom Fields Park.

Though, the robots moved around too chaotically for this to work, and I also worried about privacy concerns.

I bought the walking robots from Cancer UK charity shops. These were Halloween themed since it was October. I bought 2 of them, thinking I may use them for something. Early on in production, I wanted there to be some purity of only using Kikkerland robots, though this waned over time. After playing with them, decided to buy many more.

These robots meant the idea of attaching faces to the non-human actors came back, but in a different way.

The nodding sunlight cat was bought in Japan, back in April of 2024 during my honeymoon (when Gacha’nce was filmed). The cat normally sits on my wife’s desk, agreeing with everything she says.

Originally, I wanted the robots (bugs) to be dancing around in a vase. I bought one and tested it out, and while the sound was cool, it didn’t really have further directions it could have gone (feel free to play with the idea and prove me wrong).

The rule of three was there in the beginning, in terms of there being 3 dances, and 3 skits. Also, having a wind-up phase, a release, and the slow down captures was thought of near the beginning as well.

Recently, I have been thinking more about visualising chance, and why film is a good mechanism for its capture.

With an explosion, what do you capture? The object before it explodes? Well, that’s just an object. After, it is just a mess on the floor. In the middle, it is neither a mess, nor an item. There is no semblance of what type of transformation took place, just that one is taking place. That’s why I think its best to show pre-prompt, prompt, and post-prompt.

As such, I wanted to capture the wind up, the placement, the movement, and the eventual stop.

Before filming, one of my major initial stresses was trying to figure out where the dance scene going to take place. I decided on using a shelf in one of our under-used rooms.

It’s funny how engaging in an activity can transform a space for ever. Now whenever I see this shelf, I think about the film. The film transformed a mundane part of my life into something special. This is a reoccurring aspect of my filmmaking journey.

My wife and I had just finished watching Twin Peaks, so creating a red room felt like a fun idea. I’m very happy with how the curtains turned out.

I also wanted to reference my other films in some capacity. So, I made one of the rooms tinfoil and M&Ms to match Tinfoil Candy. I was also going to have a scene with the dogs that called back to ‘Doggy Style’, but I changed my mind as I worried about the robots either scaring or hurting the dogs.

Though, after making Disseminate, and how many self-references that had to my practice, I decided to tone back other ideas, and rather create something more original.

All of the buttons were a last-minute find, from the Barnardo’s charity shop in Armada Way. I really like how the robots kick the buttons around.

The Pintacuda robot (we called it the Snitch) broke during the dance. Interesting to think about items breaking mid-production as a chance event. It also echoes back to Tinguely’s robot’s destroying themselves mid-performance.

I knew I wanted to do three skits, but really struggled on finalising the final one. I knew that the boxing scene would look iconic, and that the painting scene would be a mess/potentially break a robot, so doing the former scene first was a priority.

Robot wars was an inspiration: gameshows where two robots would be put in a ring, and the last one to survive would be the victor. I used to watch these shows a lot as a kid, and they really stuck with me.

As a side note, I love that in robot battle events, often a ramp is the most powerful piece of offensive tech. The ability to wedge and flip. It does feel kind of judo in a way.

Seeing how crazy the Kikkerland robots looked bouncing around, I thought they could easily do a faux clash in the middle of a ring.

Making the ring was not too difficult. It was, and still is, a box which is being used to store some anime figurines. Madoka Magika x Bakemonogatari figures to be specific. The idea that they are hiding under the ring while the battle is taking place is kind of funny. I stuck some cut up sosatie (kebab) sticks into the corners, and surrounded them with string.

Someone on one of the Discord servers I frequent said that the boxing scene reminded them of Raging Bull but in colour. Another friend, Ocean, made a comment that when the boxers started holding hands, and going around in circles that it evoked thoughts of yin and yang.

I love these accidental associations people are making from my works — that they poke the brain and something else falls out.

As can be seen in the film, my original plan of using Kikkerland robots for the boxing scene failed dramatically. They instantly shot off and got stuck in the ropes. So, from this I decided to use the walking robots instead. Seeing how well they did instead of the Kikkerland robots are what inspired the marathon scene, as well as broke me away from the idea of having the film being so ‘one type of robot’ oriented.

The participants of the marathon, from left to right, were Isobel (my wife), me, my friends Zoe and Louis, Chico Bicalho (Kikkerland robot designer), my dogs Toffee and Noodle, my PhD supervisor Dylan Yamada-Rice, and the creator of Métamatics and namesake of the film, Jean Tinguely.

Getting them all to stand at once and not run off from the starring line was quite difficult. I tired many times to somehow hold them all at once by myself but failed. So, my wife helped me with it the moment she came in the door from work (sorry hun, and thanks!).

My robot winning at the end was not planned at all — I feel like it actually looks quite bad! I did consider re-running the race to avoid this, but that would be completely against my ethos of embracing chance, so it is what it is.

I wanted to do this since the start. An homage to Tinguely’s own drawing robots, as well as a homage to many of the chance methods I have learnt about so far being focused on mediums like painting more broadly.

The moment where the one robot would not walk is so funny. They got stuck to the paint, which I guess completely countered their mechanics.

The ending of the film was the cherry on top in my opinion. Hanging a painting to say, ‘it’s done!’ is such a fun way to end something. The painting is a permanent fixture in our home now.

Originally, we wanted to use a music box as the backing of the piece. We bought a Kikkerland make-your-own-music box kit, and were working on producing our own three songs for the piece. This mechanical energy, and the doubling down on the Kikkerland brand I thought would be fun. Though, the energy of the songs produced did not match the fast energy I wanted from the robots dancing around.

For the dancing scenes, I ended up using the song Den Wölfen by Fania_Katz. I really like its chaotic energy, and it has elements which remind me of older machines twirling. Beeps and boops.

A note I got from my friend Abi has stuck with me a bit: “love that in all your films you have a distinct aesthetic and vision 😊 you’re really consistent with your work”. A week before posting Tinguely Feeling, I did a talk, and one of the lecturers after came up to me and said my works all have a cohesion to them, a shared style. This has been something I have thought about a bit. What are the hallmarks of my films. What is that intangible energy that I leave behind?

[arthursgardener]

Attempts at shapeful colorations and still accidentally drawing spooky staring faces like one every five or six times I do these

[kafkasapartment]

Elizabeth, 1948. Franz Kline. Oil on canvas.

[vaxolang]

Macabre Expression

Oil painting on canvas

Size 30 x 30 cm

[macaronichewtoyz]

Kid Pix 4d Angie

[animaorphei]

🔴 Je ne suis pas prêt… 🔵 mais je dois l’être. Alors, je suis prêt! 🔴🔵”

(I’m not ready… but I must be. So, I am ready!)

[sergeypalche]

Sergey Palche

Untitled, 2024

11 ¹³/₁₆ x 16 ¹⁷/₃₂ inches (30 x 42 cm)

Oil on paper.

[brunkenart]

Rabbit in the Grass.

••

22 x 30 inches, shellac and charcoal on paper

[miamaimania]

"Femmes et orangers fond blanc" (1947) by Baya Mahieddine

[wackywatchdotcom]

imo jax has no clue that hes miserable. like hes putting on a face for sure but i dont think he actually has the emotional awareness to know WHY hes doing that. he just wants to look cool and masculine and thats as far as he thinks on it. theres more to it but he doesnt know that. being sad isnt cool so he wouldnt even entertain the idea that hes secretly sad

[corviiids]

hello! how do you find consistent friends in fandom? as in, how do you find people who stick with you through different fandoms and listen and read your work. also, how long have you been writing for and how long did it take you to get so good at writing and character analysis.... your work is such an inspiration to me, genuinely one of my top 3 authors across ao3. i hope the writing goes well!

hey! this is really sweet, thank you very much for your lovely kind words. 💖

re: friendship: i don't mean to be a downer about this so i hope it doesn't come across this way, but i do think the concept of friends where you follow each other through all your fandoms and continue to read each other's work etc kind of... either doesn't exist or is just a rare phenomenon and not a 'type' of friend per se more than it is something that just happens out of luck. i am lucky enough to have friendships which have persisted through all of us changing fandoms, but the reason those friendships last is actually because we found connections that went beyond common interests. i think sharing a fandom/interest is great as an initial point of connection and a way to meet, but for a relationship to last, you need to have a deeper bond than both being into the same thing--so contrary to what you've asked about (oops sorry) those friendships im speaking of only last because we didn't follow each other into different fandoms, really. we didn't have to. along the same vein, i'd respectfully argue that it wouldn't be productive or fair of me to group 'reading my work' in as an element of friendship, so to speak--i definitely don't expect my friends to read my fic and vice versa, we all understand that we can support each other in our creative pursuits and lives in general / in the abstract without needing to be a fan of the same things or even necessarily being fans of each other's work (although of course it's always nice). i know this doesn't really answer your specific question but i hope it doesn't come across as pessimistic as it might sound. i truly and genuinely believe it's a positive thing that the idealised friendgroup traipsing through fandoms together doesn't really exist (or if it does exist, it's luck and not something to shoot for in itself), because this just tells me to look out for these great opportunities to form bonds that last beyond superficial interests.

in terms of how to make those friendships to begin with, im honestly even less help. my friendships kind of just happened to me. im actually quite terrible at reaching out to people and i am notoriously difficult to reach myself hahaha so honestly all the credit for my friendships goes to my friends for being patient and sticking with me despite that. i am honestly just very lucky in that i've been able to talk out loud into the void and have had wonderful people reach out to me because of it, but that's hardly a reliable strategy... i guess i'd encourage you to be more like my friends, who are the anime protagonists wielding the power of friendship to my prickly antagonist, or whatever. oh another thing to remember i guess is that some friendships just don't last this way and will stay within fandoms and may peter out, and that's ok. i don't consider those relationships less real or valuable for being less lasting.

re: writing: i want to caveat that i don't think i'm fairly able to say (or comfortable saying) that i'm particularly good at writing or character analysis, certainly not to an extent that i'd be willing to hold myself up as an example of it, but i really appreciate that you feel that way about my work and am incredibly honoured to be considered an inspiration in any capacity!!

with that disclaimer made, i'll do my best to answer for whatever it's worth. i've liked writing ever since i was a very little kid, but i will credit any actual progress i've made in developing the skill to writing fanfic because i think that being able to focus on building character and logical flow in plot progression over other things like creating characters, worldbuilding, inventing plots wholesale, etc--which has allowed me to sort of expedite those skills in particular and which i think are helpful in writing more broadly. (this also answers the 'character analysis' part specifically--when you don't have to/get to invent a character, you have to spend more time taking them apart.) anyway, i started writing fic about twelve or thirteen years ago, and there have been periods within that where i've progressed faster or slower depending what's going on in my life haha. i do think time played a massive role in any skill developments i've made, but i also know people take less time or more time to make similar progress (caveat again: progression is subjective, this is very approximate), so i think the other key ingredient besides time is engagement. if it's helpful, i went into that a little bit more here, but as stated i have a lot more to learn and would never present myself as an expert lol

[stanford-photography]

Follow Me Ljubljana, Yugoslavia, 1982 By Jeff Stanford, 2024 Buy prints at: https://jeff-stanford.pixels.com/