OUAD603- Critical Reflection

Lily van Lennep

Critical Reflection

I started this module with the intention of furthering my research in the areas of The Webcam and Porn Industry. My experience of the performance art piece, Prurience, directed my research more towards the porn industry and it’s effect on young viewers. I realised how necessary primary research is.

Going to the Calls and working on a big space at the beginning of my process made me realise I wanted to work with projection on a big scale, however I needed to do more research to know what my content was. The more I started to research pornography the more confused I became. My opinion was not black and white and it became difficult to see where my project was taking me. I was very aware of my work sounding like I was preaching, and that my audience should take a certain stand on what is right and wrong. I think this is where my primary research and finding articles of people’s first hand experience with addiction etc. helped me to direct my focus to where I am now. I began thinking about the roots of addiction and unhappiness and eventually realised what question I wanted to ask my audience: What age are our children accessing and seeing such explicit material? My work now raises a necessary discussion. I think it is thought provoking; with out taking a black or white stand on the industry. In this respect I am very happy with how the visual outcome poses this question.

There were occasions during the process where I found it difficult to practically test out certain visual outcomes due to my small space in the studio. However when I went home and had a room to myself I was able to drive my practise out of my safe research zone, and work on a bigger scale. Returning to college with more direction on the practical side gave me confidence, then being able to test things out at Pudsey gave me the critique and feedback that I needed. After the feedback at Pudsey, I realised I was over explaining things too much visually. I was not letting my audience figure out the connections in my work for themselves. Meaning that it was less thought provoking. I realised I had to strip back a lot of the noise and simplify. After I was able to do this, my final idea took shape. I have really learnt how important feedback, and listening to my peers is, for getting across the message you want.

This module has also given me great experience with team work. From the very beginning we have had meetings for the degree show. People’s presence and input have worked so well in resulting in what will be a great end of year show. Megan and myself were head of the Curation team, and I feel we have both worked very well with the rest of the course, resulting in everyone being very happy with their space. It has been such a beneficial experience and something I will definitely be able to refer back to in my future career.

At the beginning of this module I set out to learn more around the subject of Webcamming and Porn. It directed towards Pornography and I feel I have learnt so much in this process. I have realised a piece of work, experimenting with projection and imagery and I am so pleased with its result.

OUAD603- Final Title?

I am going to carry on thinking about this right up until the final rehang for the exhibition, however I am really leaning towards using the word residue. Residue makes one think of what is left behind, however it does not have took much of a negative connotation like smear for example. I don’t want my work to sound too much like i’m preaching.

I am thinking either Digital Residue

or

Browser Residue

Both reference the internet, but also make one think of what is left behind, what impact this trail has on the children who see it.

I am worried about digital residue however because that could seem like i am referring to the videos.. being the residue.. left overs of the digital age?

Maybe Browser Residue is better? Because a lot of the time children are browsing the internet and stumble across porn with out even intending to. I am still going to think about this more.

OUAD603- Final Look

It is hard to get a good picture through the viewing slot. The above picture you can get an idea what of it will look like. I couldn’t project the film onto the screen to test it because I didn’t have an adapter from the projector to the laptop. Will have to test it out tomorrow morning. Howveer I am really pleased with the result. I bought more black material and have attached it to make a ‘ceiling’ to keep the light in. The projection is clear and I am excited to see how it will look with the video.

Above are images of how I have decided to place the blocks. This might change a little. Howver I have decided to put them how they are so they are not in the way of people viewing the slot, slightly to one side as if they have been ‘played with’ and not put away. I want them to be reference rather than an actual tool for children to use to view my work. If they are used, then it just proves my point about the accessibility of porn on the internet.

OUAD603- Solution to viewing tunnel

The material I bought for the “roof” (black out type material to keep light in for the projection) I decided to hang from the top of the viewing slot, along the sight line string, to the top corners of the video wall. It means that when you look in, you can see the entire breadth of the video wall without cropping too much out. As for controlling the sight line for the top and gotten, I used bent black card. Although this crops out a line of videos at the top and the bottom, it works perfectly or controlling my audience’s sight line. Now I need to buy more material for the top to keep the light in.

OUAD603- Making the Viewing Tunnel

Now that the wall has been built and I have painted it. When you look through the viewing slot, you can see around the edges of the video wall. I want it to be completely dark around the video wall so you are not distracted. And so I have had to test making a tunnel so I can control what my audience see. Below are some pictures at my first attempts

I attached string from the corners of the video walls to the corners of the viewing slot so I could see what my audiences sight line would be. Then I played around with cardboard flaps and angles and lengths. However it was really hard to cut out the edges of the video walls from certain angles without cutting off a large amount of the video wall when you looked at it straight on. So I needed to come up with a better solution.

As you can see below form this picture I have taken looking through the viewing slot, you can see the white wall above the video wall which isn’t ok.

OUAD603- Trying to decide on the title

My title has to reference the internet age, because at the moment, the audience will not be making the link between  why i am projecting porn images onto the video wall. They don’t know that these images are from the internet. All the other visual clues are there. The blocks, and children being able to view, the screen referencing what we think we are protected by, the viewing slot at an adult level that can be accessed by children, the look into the past with the video tape reference, but then the pornographic images aren’t necessarily from the interment and I think it is now the titles job to some how reference that without being to literal. So that they it comments on the transition from video to digital. This is so tough I have been thinking about my title through out making my work, and it is really tricky.

I have researched internet terminology for some inspo. Below are some stabs at it.

Broad Banned – No sounds like i am making the audience take a stand/ side on porn

Transititon to Digital– Maybe

Hardcore software– Not sure

Pop virus – Pop is viral simply because of popular culture and its prolific intervention in media, advertising etc… however i’m not too sure about suing the word pop.

Digital virus porn– Thinking about ‘crossing out’ words.

Replay? – Referencing what it says at the end of an online video

Authorisation confirmed- Not sure

Rewind to Reply– From video to internet video? Not sure

Web shift– Shfit to the web? Not sure

Failing firewalls– too much alliteration? Sounds a bit gimmicky

Digital Distribution– Again too much alliteration?

Digtial Residue– Quite like, because it references the internet, and the residue it is leaving behind, the affect on children?

OUAD603- Film projected onto video scene/wall

For obvious reasons I do not want to show this on my blog. It has extremely “hardcore” pornographic imagery on it, and Im too scared that my blog will be shut down or something. I sourced the images from the internet when I was looking for the ethical/ feminist porn producers. The film is sort of living proof that despite the efforts of these producers, if people were looking for them they are still being confronted with violent dangerous porn. A lot of the time people just stumble across this stuff without even searching for porn.

Anyway, I have been playing around with making a film out of stills. The film I am most happy with, is one that consists of 45 images, one frame per still, on a loop. When you first see it it looks like a blur of fleshy images but then as you carry on watching it the repetition of the loop starts to make sense of the images. And you quickly start to realise what you are seeing. I am trying to imitate that feeling of confusion when a virus first hits your screen, and then the quick realisation of what is actually happening. It needs to act like an overload of information, and quite intense, and the final video that i made from pornographic stills really  does this.

OAD603- Building the final video wall

Above is an image of the nearly completed video wall/screen. I am really happy with the size. I just need to finalise playing the size of the viewing slot.

Quite late on in the project `i realised that I would need a projector that can project as big as my screen but from a very close distance. luckily I was able to borrow one of these projectors, which are called “short throws” for a day off a friend, to see if it would work.

Although you can’t see the projected images on these images, the experiment worked well, the image filled my entire video screen. Now I need to get my hands on one of these.

However They are about £450 to hire, and £550 to buy. After a long process of research and negotiation. I have arrived at the decision to buy a projector, and then sell it on after. The model I have decided to buy, varies quite drastically in price from shop to shop, and so when I sell it on ebay, I my even make a profit, you never know!

OUAD603- Making Cubes/ Boxes

I decided to make them 40cm x 40cm x 40cm. I wanted them to big enough for the children to have to climb onto, if they do so at all. I don’t think it really matters if they do or not, because I think just having them there next to the viewing slot the height of an adult, references them being able to view it well.

I ordered three colours of paint, primary red, primary blue and primary yellow.

I bought ultra high gloss, because I wanted them to look almost plastic. Referencing plastic toys etc.

My first layer went very well and I was happy with finish.

As you can see below they were very reflective.

However my second coat has not gone very well (It has bubbled) and I am currently in the workshop sanding it down. Fingers crossed the next layer will be better.

OUAD603- Making a mock up screen

I wanted to play with the idea of censoring my work. And to do this, I thought of how I would prevent children from viewing my work. I then decided to build a mock screen, with a viewing slot, too high for children to see. Then playing with the idea of having a lower viewing slot, but obstructing  their sight line.

I made a video screen by attaching the four video walls `I made before, but I think I still want it to be bigger. To perhaps fill a whole wall. I think this is necessary to make my audience feel aware of the overload of media and information. So they feel almost bombarded by the enormity of a virus.

Above I playing with the viewing slot.

The bigger I make it, the more you can see around the video wall. I really don’t want my audience to see the adages of the walls, not only for the aesthetics, but they won’t feel as consumed.

The smaller I make the gap the better, but I think i will still have to build some sort of tunnel so that my audience won’t see the corners.! However I don’t want it to be as small as a peep hole. Peep holes as I have learnt in my previous project have very specific connotations. INstead I want to build the viewing slot, wide enough for people to fit both eyes comfortably.

I asked people to look through, with various viewing slots. The feedback I got was good, and seemed to get part of my idea across very well. However I realised a fundamental error in how I was visually representing my idea. I was making the lower viewing slots.. the ones the height of children obstructed. However my point is that children ARE seeing the stuff I am projecting onto my video wall. I need to show that children ARE seeing what adults are seeing. I need this message to come across in my work without it seeming like I am taking a black and white opinion on the porn industry. For it is such a nuanced one, and my opinion is multifarious and pretty balanced. I just want my audience to question the availability of the porn industry now.

So I started to think of how I could visually represent this. I started to think of the plastic little step chair children use, say when they need to get up onto a high piano stool etc. I think now I want to make something similar but out of the left over children’s video tape cases?

However I think these won’t reference children playing, say on the internet, stumbling across imagery that they are fear too young understand/ see. I have started to think about the possibility of making blocks/ cubes that reference children’s building blocks.

I’m not sure how I would colour them? Perhaps with primary colours?