Month: April 2022

Doug Fishborn is an American artist who mainly works wish performance and video and seeks to open conversation around sensitive topics, Doug approaches this with humour and is not afraid of darker or taboo topics.

In his most recent work at Leicester Contemporary he tackles cancel culture, specifically the history of Jewish people in Leicester, and highlights details like the expulsion of Jewish communities in 1231 by Simon De Montfort, the Duke of Windsor’s visit to Nazi Germany in 1937, as well as the developing case around Prince Andrew.

In his discussion at his exhibition Doug spoke about these themes but also the technical challenges of installing exhibitions and the considerations needed for certain aspects, like holograms and inflatables. This makes the space noisy, which in the need required an artificial wall to be built, which the curator Andrew Birks added is not uncommon with most spaces and shows, some tweaking is always required to personalise the space the work.

The installation itself consisted of prints displayed around the environment encircling a giant inflatable of Simon De Montfort, there is also a hologram of Doug performing the role of an automated assistant offering and advertising useless or redundant products. For example a device that ‘collects your faecal waste so you never have to get up to go to the toilet’.

On reflection Doug’s work discusses topics I question and am interested in personally, though his approach differs from mine I think adding more nuance and humour into my issue-based work would be interesting. I also think the practical considerations were useful to hear, especially with my piece having multiple elements, such as a performative space and a viewing space with projection/video.

In discussion at the end Doug was asked ‘Is art impotent in the face of neo-liberalism’s progression?’. Doug answered by saying that he doesn’t understand a lot of art commodification anyway since its not his thing, but he did comment that he doesn’t think its hopeless especially if we can keep talking about these issues and reach a collective knowledge around things that ‘elites’ don’t want you to realise. It was comforting to hear a successful artist both acknowledge the problem but also state that it is not beyond change.

I was also able to speak with Andrew about invigilating at the gallery during Doug’s show, which he agreed to, this is a great opportunity to experience invigilating and get involved with the galleries’ workings. It it also a good chance to observe visitor interaction with a video and sound based installation in person, which may hep me develop my own presentation skills for Degree Show and beyond.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/apr/15/neoliberalism-ideology-problem-george-monbiot – An interesting article by George Monibot, explaining aspects of neoliberalism and its development in our society over decades.

This performance was the first thing I watched about dirty electronics and even though some of the sounds at times were quite abrasive I still found the experience enjoyable and more than anything thought provoking. The way it acted as a traditional orchestra but constructed in an unconditional way was really interesting, I also like the balance between the ‘composers’ movements and dictations coupled with the musicians improvisation and response. It felt like the work was a conversation between them which formed this collective and strange sonic environment.

This performance was the first thing I watched about dirty electronics and even though some of the sounds at times were quite abrasive, I still found the experience enjoyable and more than anything thought provoking. The way it acted as a traditional orchestra but constructed in an unconditional way was really interesting, I also like the balance between the composer’s’ movements and dictations coupled with the musicians response and improvisation. It felt like the work was a conversation between them which formed this collective and strange sonic environment.

John Richards is the person composing the collective and he also created the Mute Synth, which is a way of using the body to make sound. this concept is intriguing and I am exploring a similar thing but in a more physical and analogue way. The mute synth concept is something I want to explore further, especially since it reacts to such a wide range of inputs, whereas most instruments only respond to specified inputs.

One of the most helpful things I got from this research is that music/sound art can be very broad and encompassing, experimentation should be encouraged and so should play. This was very helpful as I know that sometimes I can get too focused on success that I forget my normally wider perspective, I put too much emphasis on an abstract ‘success’ instead of focusing on the practice. Instead of stressing out I should take action, go to the studio then make and experiment with objects and sounds, recording parts to capture process.

This piece was really interesting because at one point the collective start making sounds from each other, not from created objects or instruments directly, I am very interested in trying to explore this further after university. I feel adding electronic and synthesised elements is interesting however, it may confuse and conflict with the current themes I have around objects, familiarity, interaction and acoustic sound.

The end of this performance (24:40 onwards) was the most interesting to me because of the way the snyth transformed into a more musical tone but was still varied through oscillation and pitch etc. it also became much more visually atmospheric, in that to me there was much more visual stimulation from the later sounds. The earlier sounds felt very disconnected and spatial and abstract which was enjoyable also, however I think the incorporation of perhaps more musical structure and voices elevated the sound.

To me it turned abstract into ephermal, where the playful approach leads to flashes of harmony and discord alike. It was not overtly structured and attached to reality, but not so far removed that I felt I was in a vacuum or disconnectedstate of mind almost.

This was a fascinating topic to research and it reminded me of a digital Stomp almost, the two together have been prominent influencers on my collective and physical approach to creating sound as opposed to a technical approach.

I will look to explore this further with a performance in a collective event called Weird Garden, on the 26th of May in the Leicester Gallery, this is an opportunity in collaboration with Raisa Watkiss from the MA and various other artists from around the country.

I am looking to perform with at least one other person and work on communicating through sound using my everyday orchestra/instruments. This is far out of my comfort zone but I am excited to see the results, the worst thing is I fail in some aspect and I learn what not to do for next time.

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