Tuesday 13 March 2012
Tuesday 3 March 2009
to re-present
[Click images to enlarge]
April-May 2007: artist residency at Kashi Art Gallery (Kochi, Kerala).
The intention was to use this residency to make new works along the lines of my on-going 'HISTOIRES' series, in particular the INDIA series I had begun during an earlier residency in Bangalore:
and extended during a visit to 'Alliance Française', in Pondicherry:
with objects bought in antique shops:
During the residency at Kashi, I was able to photograph a range of figures and objects, from the collections of antique dealers; which lead me to reconsider my initial intentions.
The large number of tribal masks , in two of the shops I was allowed to take photographs:
opens up new avenues for making works.
Unlike in my Histoires series, in which I staged fictional encounters with figurines from different cultures (and often from different periods of human history), here the compositions turn hybrid: half-way between the still-life genre and museum display, as in (Warpu.Head):
Whilst attempting to generate new works in my 'HISTOIRES' series, I photograph these two monkeys (click to enlarge) made of painted wood, which an antique dealer-friend had brought-in to show me...
which I later pair with a kerosene iron, dated by the owner of the shop as from the 1930s:
Although I produce a few HISTOIRES the works takes a new direction which I term Museo-graphies.
This new format may have been influenced by the conditions under which I had to photograph the objects: causing minimum disruption to the activities of the shops I was 'borrowing' the objects from (operating in a back alley or in a courtyard at the back of the shops, in the midday sun, on an improvised portable studio consisting of a tripod, a borrowed chair or a trolley, a telescopic music stand, a sheet of white card and four cloth pegs).
Examining the material I had collected at the end of each day, in my studio, I consider various pairings which lead to the 'MUSEO-graphies' concept, with 'Four Heads':
Two years on, as I am preparing an exhibition at the Pitt Rivers Museum, in Oxford — titled 'OBJECTS IN PERFORMANCE' — I am reminded that the setting/staging of the two monkeys in profile was not neutral nor merely formal, but resulted from (semi-conscious) choices, which makes the photograph more than a literal illustration of an objet d’art, but makes an artistic statement as well; by 'opening up' the object to our interpretation.
HOW?
Isolating the two monkeys from the physical background against which they were photographed highlights their capacity to function as ‘objects-signs’.
In the context of my on-going 'HISTOIRES' series, this made sense, as it placed the object in a situation where it could come face to face (and interact) with another figurine or object, like the iron.
Placing the monkeys on their own, however, had different implications as they became self-sufficient (free agents rather than captive artefacts); half- way between portraiture and figure study.
This photograph does not just show or document a collectable artefact from India, but set up an implicit narrative in which the object becomes an actor in an unspecified scenario that the viewer is invited to unravel.
Photographing the monkeys in the active act of looking at something which eludes us, situated outside the picture frame, transforms the photograph from mere documentary illustration into an acknowledgement of the object as sign/text.
It transforms the object from inert, passive (captive) artefact (bibelot, objet d'art, ornament) into an individualised subject with a distinctive identity.
The photograph fulfills two functions simultaneously: it is descriptive and, thus, could be used as a catalogue illustration, to document the object as a cultural artefact and/or as objet d’art.
At the same time, the added narrative dimension extends the meaning/s of the object into another sphere; enabling it via the relay of photographic re-presentation to make 'open' 'visual propositions' which open new perspectives for interpretation.
Almost two years on, between HISTOIRES and MUSEO-GRAPHIES, the two monkeys open up a third avenue for making photo-based work without having to pair them with other objects and figurines: OBJECT PHOTOGRAPHY, as a genre in its own right, distinct from still-life, but hybrid in its cannibalisation of other genres, such as portraiture and 'genre', etc.
This confirms that, in the same way as people and places are a legitimate subjects for creative photographic works, objects and artefacts, too, can offer as much scope as do living subjects, urban views, industrial scenes or panorama; provided that their re-presentation extend their mode of reference beyond the literal or tautological.
Capitalising on the research carried out during my Kashi residency, and drawing from the objects I collected:
and from the photographs I took there, the exhibition 'OBJECTS IN PERFORMANCE' will explore different ways of making objects speak in the context of an anthropological museum, alongside thousands of objects from the permanent collections, and invite visitors to explore and imagine...
For this project, I propose to reinterpret the CABINET OF CURIOSITIES in a contemporary vein, to liberate the objects from museum and scientific taxonomies and open up new avenues for interpretation and appreciation, along the lines of a THEATRE OF OBJECTS…
Two years after buying a polychrome centurion (from an 18th century crucifixion) in Pondicherry I carefully open the package and photograph the figurine; then carefully replace it in its cardboard package, which communicates something stronger; about the transfer of objects from one culture into another, something normally edited out from museum displays:
Ultimately, the project aims to make a contribution to what may be described as a poetic, visual anthropology....
April-May 2007: artist residency at Kashi Art Gallery (Kochi, Kerala).
The intention was to use this residency to make new works along the lines of my on-going 'HISTOIRES' series, in particular the INDIA series I had begun during an earlier residency in Bangalore:
and extended during a visit to 'Alliance Française', in Pondicherry:
with objects bought in antique shops:
During the residency at Kashi, I was able to photograph a range of figures and objects, from the collections of antique dealers; which lead me to reconsider my initial intentions.
The large number of tribal masks , in two of the shops I was allowed to take photographs:
opens up new avenues for making works.
Unlike in my Histoires series, in which I staged fictional encounters with figurines from different cultures (and often from different periods of human history), here the compositions turn hybrid: half-way between the still-life genre and museum display, as in (Warpu.Head):
Whilst attempting to generate new works in my 'HISTOIRES' series, I photograph these two monkeys (click to enlarge) made of painted wood, which an antique dealer-friend had brought-in to show me...
which I later pair with a kerosene iron, dated by the owner of the shop as from the 1930s:
Although I produce a few HISTOIRES the works takes a new direction which I term Museo-graphies.
This new format may have been influenced by the conditions under which I had to photograph the objects: causing minimum disruption to the activities of the shops I was 'borrowing' the objects from (operating in a back alley or in a courtyard at the back of the shops, in the midday sun, on an improvised portable studio consisting of a tripod, a borrowed chair or a trolley, a telescopic music stand, a sheet of white card and four cloth pegs).
Examining the material I had collected at the end of each day, in my studio, I consider various pairings which lead to the 'MUSEO-graphies' concept, with 'Four Heads':
Two years on, as I am preparing an exhibition at the Pitt Rivers Museum, in Oxford — titled 'OBJECTS IN PERFORMANCE' — I am reminded that the setting/staging of the two monkeys in profile was not neutral nor merely formal, but resulted from (semi-conscious) choices, which makes the photograph more than a literal illustration of an objet d’art, but makes an artistic statement as well; by 'opening up' the object to our interpretation.
HOW?
Isolating the two monkeys from the physical background against which they were photographed highlights their capacity to function as ‘objects-signs’.
In the context of my on-going 'HISTOIRES' series, this made sense, as it placed the object in a situation where it could come face to face (and interact) with another figurine or object, like the iron.
Placing the monkeys on their own, however, had different implications as they became self-sufficient (free agents rather than captive artefacts); half- way between portraiture and figure study.
This photograph does not just show or document a collectable artefact from India, but set up an implicit narrative in which the object becomes an actor in an unspecified scenario that the viewer is invited to unravel.
Photographing the monkeys in the active act of looking at something which eludes us, situated outside the picture frame, transforms the photograph from mere documentary illustration into an acknowledgement of the object as sign/text.
It transforms the object from inert, passive (captive) artefact (bibelot, objet d'art, ornament) into an individualised subject with a distinctive identity.
The photograph fulfills two functions simultaneously: it is descriptive and, thus, could be used as a catalogue illustration, to document the object as a cultural artefact and/or as objet d’art.
At the same time, the added narrative dimension extends the meaning/s of the object into another sphere; enabling it via the relay of photographic re-presentation to make 'open' 'visual propositions' which open new perspectives for interpretation.
Almost two years on, between HISTOIRES and MUSEO-GRAPHIES, the two monkeys open up a third avenue for making photo-based work without having to pair them with other objects and figurines: OBJECT PHOTOGRAPHY, as a genre in its own right, distinct from still-life, but hybrid in its cannibalisation of other genres, such as portraiture and 'genre', etc.
This confirms that, in the same way as people and places are a legitimate subjects for creative photographic works, objects and artefacts, too, can offer as much scope as do living subjects, urban views, industrial scenes or panorama; provided that their re-presentation extend their mode of reference beyond the literal or tautological.
Capitalising on the research carried out during my Kashi residency, and drawing from the objects I collected:
and from the photographs I took there, the exhibition 'OBJECTS IN PERFORMANCE' will explore different ways of making objects speak in the context of an anthropological museum, alongside thousands of objects from the permanent collections, and invite visitors to explore and imagine...
For this project, I propose to reinterpret the CABINET OF CURIOSITIES in a contemporary vein, to liberate the objects from museum and scientific taxonomies and open up new avenues for interpretation and appreciation, along the lines of a THEATRE OF OBJECTS…
Two years after buying a polychrome centurion (from an 18th century crucifixion) in Pondicherry I carefully open the package and photograph the figurine; then carefully replace it in its cardboard package, which communicates something stronger; about the transfer of objects from one culture into another, something normally edited out from museum displays:
Ultimately, the project aims to make a contribution to what may be described as a poetic, visual anthropology....
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