A multi-layered workshop this one. Individual and then collaborative and it could be extended even further, if so desired. First things first. Part one was to go out and observe mechanical obstructions to our daily lives, CCTV cameras, one way glass, physical obstructions, visual obstructions. Observe and sketch rather than photograph. Tis would ideally mean that we would be free to record any of these type of obstructions without too much interference from Big Brother... Although I did get asked what I was doing in Castle Mall as I was drawing their camera. They suggested I spoke to management. I said I was finished and walked off. Ironic really when I had just spent five minutes in Lloyds Bank drawing on of their cameras and nobody bothered me at all...
Rubbing from a grated fencing at Norwich Playhouse.
Norwich University of the Arts CCTV camera.
Door peephole.
Lloyds Bank CCTV.
Castle Mall CCTV.
Norwich is hardly an area that you feel you are being watched or constantly under observation. However the more you look the more you see that there are many places and ways in which you are being monitored. We all have swipe cards at Uni. Do these record our comings and goings, surely they can if they needed to. We are registered for many of our workshops, tutorials and lectures. Our presence is recorded.
Stage 2 of our workshop was to take a large sheet of paper and combine our findings into one large collaborative piece. This not only meant we had to work together as a group and decide how the various elements could work but also discuss how best to tackle this. Decisions over method, marks and the relationships between the individual elements were made. This was quite an intuitive piece and time was limited, we added some text to reflect our findings, we were also aware that we would be taking this onto Stage 3 where we added a further layer to the piece.
This part of the workshop was for quite a short period of time but the piece soon developed and an interesting composition started to develop. There was interaction between the elements, overlapping and joining using several techniques. Colour was used sparingly, this again a conscious decision based on our findings and sketches. Scale was also an interesting element as some of the CCTV cameras dominated the piece, their normal hidden, innocuous presence brooding over the rest of the image.
We then looked at disrupting the image by spraying water and blending the work to create a further development.
As we continued to work on the piece and continue the disruption it created some very interesting details, these were becoming more interesting than the whole. The closer you focussed in the more abstracted the image became. These could be something in their own right but equally could become start points for further iterations.
These do create opportunities. Images like this can be iterated time and time again. The abstraction becoming more and more.