In order to see how things were progressing with our projects and intentions for this final year we were tasked with putting work forward for an Interim Show. As both of my directions are at the very early stage I thought it would be an interesting prospect to see how one of my Morse Code Eyes would work.
I submitted the work with instructions that I need to see it ideally projected, although if it was on a screen that would provide me with information going forward. However, there was one or two issues with the curation team, where they thought it would work best of all the digital art was put in a 'virtual online' exhibition. I was very unhappy about this as that wouldn't provide me with any information and ability to reflect on the work displayed, positive or negative and I really needed to see it for real to inform me going forward. Fortunately after a few emails things got sorted and the curation team got things all sorted, which was much appreciated.
The thought process to get me to this stage is documented in a previous blog (https://carldurban.wixsite.com/website/post/non-verbal-communication-the-eyes-have-it) but seeing it here in situ does raise further questions as I look to develop this idea. Although I chose to develop it as a retro style piece by taking a lot of the colour out and leaving the glitch in (a line appears down the image from an issue with the camera) and working with that to develop a style and effect to embrace the technical 'happy accident' for this iteration I believe that is wrong. I need to re-film this version and try to focus sharper on the eye and get it more centre of frame to dominate the space, this is after a discussion with my Tutor as questioning my decision. I will also look to film other people's eyes as I can then control the image and film. I am intending to write several short phrases I want different eyes to 'speak'. If I can make it work I can then set these up to 'talk' to each other by displaying them in various different ways. First things first though and that is to think about what I want the eyes to say, translate it to Morse Code and then get some more eye footage.
The idea of projection is one option and it was really interesting and informative to see how it worked. The idea of scale is something I may explore further and I have thought about how I could really play with this. As part of a recent Workshop where we used Diagrams to examine our practice and look to see how we could develop ideas I had an idea of actually projecting an image of a blinking Morse Code eye onto Norwich Castle...
I have no idea if this is possible, allowed or whether I can work with Norwich Museum Services to achieve it but at the moment it's an idea and if I can develop the footage and message and then perhaps put together a proposal we shall see...
Another interesting aspect of the Interim Show was actually seeing the work in situ and working with other pieces, how it worked, interacted and blended. There was another piece on show that was on of the small screens and although both images were playing it was more the voice of the other piece that cam into play. As my piece has no sound (at the moment) and the other piece had a narrative to it when you were viewing my piece you couldn't avoid hearing the spoken word from the other one. They overlapped and in a good way, especially as both were using miscommunication and missing information.
Having seen this piece projected it has made me consider as to whether the final piece should be shown in this way or should I look at other methods to display. I am leaning towards multiple images/films on multiple items. Almost as if the eyes are having a conversation in a room with each other.
At the moment I am thinking of a variety of display items, looking to reflect how everyone is different, yet the eye is still dominant. This could all be in one place or spread over several sites so you keep encountering them as you go round the show. Lots to consider and explore but the Interim Show certainly kicked things off and raised many questions as well as hopefully focussing my attention on where to go next.