Had a tutorial assessment this time last week. I think it went very well even though we only touched on a small part of my practice.
I started by talking about the work I had done in the summer, the destroying of Tatlin's Tower, and the main object it produced. I had not set out, you must understand, to produce and object, quite the opposite, but my actions and prompted me to write a film script. It wasn't that good, or at least not good for using as a script, but as an artwork I found it greatly interesting.
The 'unadapted' nature of the script interested my tutors and they wanted to know more, why hadn't I made it into a film, or more accurately, why wouldn't I.
I think it is to do with time mostly. When one is reading a book there is a timeless nature to ones experience of the text. When watching something, in an art gallery, one becomes aware of the time the film is taking. It is as though there is a set way to watch something, that there are codes one must obey.
But merely reading is a personal and intimate activity; it allows one to leave oneself and full engage with the piece.
Now I enjoy cinema and have films that I am intimately involved in - but they are a rarity, and I usually find myself thinking about myself watching (2001 style) and this clouds the object in hand.
Take for example a kiss. In a book when a kiss is described you can comprehend its intimacy, you can empathize and place yourself there and you are alone in your reading, no one else is looking over your shoulder. In a film, even when watched alone, there is an inescapability of character in screen, the characters are not you, where as in literature, they could well be. When watching people kiss on screen (I find anyway) I don't know where to look or what enjoyment I'm supposed to get out of it - is it empathetical? voyeuristic? I don't know. But the most alienating experience comes from theatre; where you cannot look away, where everyone feels some sort of embarrassment and where it is unavoidable to look in on the scene.
My work should engage on a personal level but be pluralist and overarchingly understood; so much so that even a replicant could empathize with its content.
R B Grange
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Hi, this is one of those annoying comments where I tell you you've been blog tagged and you check out my blog to see what the heck I'm talking about.
Feel free to delete this comment in disgust or to continue the game and tag five other bloggers. Either way, you now know I'm still checking in on your blog every now and again.
I don't really know what to comment on this post other than whether I read a book, watch a movie in a cinema or see a theatre performance in all cases I lose myself in the experience. In all cases it's an intimate experience for me.
It becomes like a dream. I don't have to be in it to be involved with the story, events etc. The story just 'is'.
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