Creative Reactions // Pint of Science 2023

Creative Reactions 2023 - Art Exhibition

May 16 to June 1, 2023 - Lincoln Cathedral, Minster Yard, Lincoln, LN2 1PX

After the success of Creative Reactions last year, I was thrilled to be able to put time aside to participate in this year’s iteration. For those of you who have not heard of Pint of Science, it is a non-profit organisation ‘to provide a space for researchers and members of the public alike to come together, be curious, and chat about research in a relaxed environment outside of mysterious laboratories or daunting dark lecture theatres.’ The sister event, Creative Reactions, provides an alternative interpretation of these research topics in a creative way that broadens its’ accessibility.

For Creative Reactions, I was paired with PhD student, Lauren Bourn and supervisor, Niko Kargas, who are researching the positive impact of Forest School on young people with autism. After our initial discussion, it sparked my interest on the impact and use of trees and woodland for all, whether this was used as a resource, or for our mental, physical and social wellbeing. My original intention was to place a real tree in the exhibition to bring the woodland to the viewer, but the realities of keeping the tree alive for a 2-3 week period meant that this was not a realistic option. I began researching alternative methodologies to fabricate a tree using materials such as paper and cardboard, both derivatives of trees with a metal structure underneath. This was something that I had not done before, but by extension, was not too dissimilar from my paper sculptures in 2019.

During the labour intensive making, I began questioning the why? Why present a recreated tree to the viewer and for what purpose? What experience was I trying to present? I could not present an entire forest to the viewer, so how else might a tree best serve them and were there any historic traditions I could draw from? From this thread, I realised that I, myself, had stumbled across several wishing trees that were hammered with copper coins in the Lake District in 2012. With this in mind, I decided to pursue a participatory artwork, where instead of coins, the viewer could leave anonymous paper wishes on the tree. No longer a static sculpture, the tree could continue to grow and change over time. Essentially, becoming a monument for a communities hopes and dreams.

Over the exhibition period, I was unprepared for the range of responses from the public. Some fun and light hearted, whilst others were deep and philosophical. I will need time to process these and consider the work moving forward. For me, the work remains unfinished so it is my intention to push this further, with time permitting, of course. Watch this space!

For further information: https://pintofscience.co.uk/events/lincoln

Postman Time in the Blue Room

‘Postman Time’ was a collaborative performance between MA Fine Art and Drama, which was inspired by Hans Ulrich Obrist who curated an event called ‘Il Tempo Del Postino’. For me, the concept of ‘Postman Time’ was to allocate time rather than space to creative practitioners to deliver a piece of work. What they did with that freedom was up to them and it was this freedom that led me to consider surface rubbings as a live performance, initially inspired by Do Ho Suh’s apartment.

Do Ho Suh (2014) Rubbing/Loving Project: Kitchen, Apartment A, 348 West 22nd Street, New York, NY 10011, USA

As I am interested in revealing hidden histories and raising awareness of materiality, I decided to produce a live surface drawing where an element of the space was covered by newsprint but slowly revealed through surface rubbings. My initial intention was to amplify the sound of this process by using contact mics, unfortunately these were not sensitive enough for the live performance, which meant that a pre-recording was required. This led to an interesting dialogue where the sound would sync and fall out of sync so that it became a dance between current and past time. Once the performance had concluded, the surface drawing was torn down to reveal the fireplace underneath where the fragments were subsequently given to members of the audience as a memento of the space.

Overall, this was a fantastic opportunity to collaborate with creative practitioners from other disciplines and work in an alternative space. This has led me to consider new ways of working, which I hope will lead to some ambitious work that envelopes whole rooms and environments. Keep an eye out for some exciting developments in the future!

Video to follow.

Frequency Festival of Digital Culture

In August, I received an email saying that my proposal had been accepted for the Frequency Festival of Digital Culture 2017, which was a surprise seeing as the project in question didn't exist yet. My initial proposal intended to create an interactive, site-specific response to a place utilising projected visuals from the archives but in reality, the end result was very different... By early September, I had chosen the Lincoln Guildhall as my venue and point of focus. It was an intuitive decision more than anything as I was struck by the fact that as a local to the area, I had never been in the building but had often walked underneath it. After speaking to the Mayors Officer, I found myself drawn to the local guilds and how they had been dissolved despite their power and influence between the 14th and 16th Century. These were essentially early trade unions which were designed to protect members, maintain standards and regulate businesses in the local area.

As I studied the archives, I began to formulate a list of local historic guilds which could be reintroduced into the space. I decided to focus on craft-based rather than religious guilds as I thought it important to celebrate the craftsmanship which helped build the city, both literally and metaphorically. These ranged from specialisms such as: butchers, shoemakers (cobblers), stone masons, bakers, plasterers, bricklayers, pavers, pointers, blacksmiths, textile workers (weavers, dyers and fullers) etc etc.

As a heritage site it contained fixed furniture and narrow walk ways which placed some limitations on what could be achieved in the space and in the time allocated. Ultimately, I wanted to produce work that sensitively responded to the place and create a dialogue. This led me to consider sound rather than visual material because for me, the visual was already there; I was simply introducing a subtle element into the space which drew the viewers attention to an element of time and history. The description for the site-specific response was as follows:

In Sian Wright's site-specific installation, 'disPLACEment' is introduced in sounds recorded from local trades that are displaced into the historic Guildhall. The Esoteric explores perception and spatial experience in response to the Guildhall, which is designed to reflect the local area and its history.

Interested in perception and interaction with space, The Esoteric creates an immersive experience that presents a dialogue between memory and place. Archived material has been used to inform the selection of sounds introduced into the very essence and action of the space highlighting notions of 'the present and the absent, the near and the distant, the sensed and the imagined.'

Sian Wright explores how buildings and places structure our understanding of reality and the fluidity of time. With an interest in aesthetics and immersive experience, she embraces a multi-disciplinary approach which typically encompasses print, photography and installation.

To conclude, it's been an eye opening experience to develop a site-specific installation for Frequency Festival, especially working in an unfamiliar medium! I feel as though my work with sound is just the beginning and that this project has kick started my practice into the exploration of place which had otherwise become stagnant this past year. Whilst it has been a tad stressful, it has been a worthwhile journey and I look forward to continuing my research utilising conceptually appropriate mediums rather than just falling back on the familiar.

A brave new world...

I don't know how it happened, but somehow it's already May 2017. I told myself that I would blog at least once a month and my previous blog post dates December 2016... THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE. Anyway, what have I been up to? Good question. For those of you who read my blog which are probably very few, I bought an Intrepid large format camera which arrived in the new year. It's taken five months to get round to using it but I got there. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the first decent test image I've taken:

I've had a few problems regarding film development, dropping my wet negatives on the carpet were one of them so excuse the flecks of dust.

For whatever reason, FP4+ film and Rodinal have produced mixed results for me so I've ended up using the standing development technique for the first time. Unfortunately, as I was using the MOD54 there is a gradation in tonality where the image is darker at the bottom than the top. If this was developed in a tray I think this technique would have worked really well, particularly for lazy people who can't be bothered to agitate!

Those of you unfamiliar with processing black and white film, you would normally load the film in a spool/holder in the dark and dip the film in developer, stopper and fixer chemicals for specific amounts of time. Throughout the development phase, you would agitate for 5-10s every minute to ensure that the film processes evenly but with standing development, you just agitate for the first few minutes and leave it for an hour in a water bath (optional). With standing development, it produces the appearance of a sharper image by contrasting the blacks and highlights very similar to an unsharp mask but it can result in haloing. This can work in some images but not for all.

People might wonder why there is a fascination with analogue film when digital photography is more cost effective and produces immediate results which has streamlined the entire industry. To put it in simple terms, a normal full frame DSLR is the equivalent to a 35mm frame which takes an approximate image of 22-32mb. A large format 5x4" film is the equivalent to 200mb; that's 8K. New televisions don't usually reach this resolution! Now, I am often quick to judge when someone preaches about how more mega pixels equals a better image. It's really not. If you have an awesome camera but a poor bit of glass then you may as well be looking through fog.

Next purchase... two more lenses to complete the large format kit for my trip to Normandy this summer. Watch this space!

COUNTDOWN - UK Young Artists National Festival: Derby 2016

UK Young Artists National Festival: Derby 2016 Friday 4 - Sunday 6 November

All events are FREE.

I am delighted to announce that my installation Shell (2015), as well as Obsolete (2016) and Monumental Ruin (2016) has been selected for UK Young Artists National Festival in Derby this November. The festival showcases the work of the UK’s best artists aged between 18-30 working across visual art, applied art, performance, moving image, music, digital art, sculpture and spoken word, and takes place in all of Derby’s brilliant arts spaces and various pop-up and outdoor locations. All events are free, so do come along to the festival to see my work, alongside the work of 80 incredibly talented artists. There’s also a programme of free workshops and professional development talks that you can attend.

Hope to see you there!

Full programme information available at www.ukyoungartists.co.uk