STATIC

Static;

inert, motionless, stagnant, stationary, immobile, fixed, constant, changeless were a few words to trigger the ideas process. When I considered further I thought about ideas of interference and interruption, at first in a conventional sense, but what if interference and interruption were applied to something else.

Four key words describe my interpretation of static.

Interference

Routine

Possession (s)

Influence.

How could I interfere with a step by step process, perhaps removing a step or interrupting a step. Shaking the printer whilst it was printing, moving an image whilst it was scanning, drawing something, perhaps rubbing it out DeKooning-style. I began taking photographic slides and interfering with the developing process. Scratching the slides, obstructing with shapes, covering faces with fish net, drawing pins and electrical tape. Even removing the film altogether and creating photo-grams from my belongings.

From interference I began to look at influence. How an influence can be an interference within someone’s life. Everyone is exposed to millions of different influences. Another type of interruption of process, the process being our lives. I wanted to map my own influences, painstakingly attempting to collate everyone who's ever influenced me. I decided to hone in on artistic influences and then eventually feminine influences, mapping each woman who has inspired me and trying to smash and collide these images together to create an amalgamated female form

I thought about what it is that makes up a person, routine being one aspect, influences being another and I felt that personal possessions were important also, I explored my purse containing ephemeral things that make up a person day to day, ever changing collections of receipts, scrap of paper, stamps, copy cards etc. Things that were material yes, but also individual and bespoke to a person. No two purses would ever be the same.

I thought about how routine can be something static, people develop a living pattern, have rituals, obsessions, these can be quite mundane things, I thought about how I could map my own routine, instead of it being mundane, it would have a new context and perspective, allowing me to re-think and analyse.

I needed a way to bring all of these these themes together in one coherent way, I decided on the idea of a book-box format. The box resembles an expander file, hinting at the archival nature of the contents, and inside each word is represented by a separate entity of beak book, each book has a definition of the word and my response.

Animated Routine

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Needs more work on the timing to reflect the actual action the map is portraying, but here's my first attempt at animating the map.

Heath Bunting, The Status Project

The Map Of Normality

Status Project, Heath Bunting

Cornerhouse, Manchester (cafe)

29 September - 21 November 2010

Outline:

The Status Project.

Our identity is constructed as human beings, that

can possess one or more natural persons (straw men)

and control one or more artificial persons (corporations).

Lower class human beings possess one severely reduced natural

person and no control of an artificial person.

Middle class human beings possess one natural person and perhaps

control one artificial person.

Upper class human beings possess multiple natural persons and

control numerous artificial persons with skillful

separation and interplay.

The status project is surveying these class systems of

human being management and is producing maps of influence

and personal portraits for both comprehension and

mobility.

The status project is also considering the border between

ascendant private supported blood hierarchies such as facebook

and descendant public owned infrastructure such as the world wide web.

Heath Bunting was asked to create a 'map of normality' for the AND festival. The map consists of data drawn from governmental databases and the internet, making a vast number of connections between class, status, personal information etc. Bunting's map making does not end here. As I researched further into his work, I realised the relevance this had to the current project: STATIC. I was more interested in his 'Maps of Influence' and his 'Portraits.' Buntings maps of influence relate to a spectrum of subjects including:a terrorist map of influence, a woman map of influence, a man map of influence, being normal map of influence, a christian map of influence etc. The maps take into consideration a series of detailed criteria, for example in the woman map of influence i.e state of residence, a mother, a daughter, in receipt of child benefit, presence of a human head, torso etc. The maps are extremely intricate and are quite beautiful as pieces of info-graphics. The sense of tedious research and investigation comes through in the cross- hatching of lines and grids. Bunting has also created a 'Portraits' series

For my journal last year, I decided to map out my influences in terms of projects, which ended up like a timeline of influences and how different things interconnected and related to eachother. Initially I wanted to create map where I took everything in my life into account, considering that my life influences my design work and vice versa. I still want to pursue this idea. When thinking out static I came to realise that static could be interpreted as interruption or interferance, what happens if we interfere with influence?I wanted to create a map of my influence, including any interruptions in my life and how this has shaped me to be who I am today. I have also been looking at interferance with process, eventually I would like to combine these two outlets, essentially interfering with my influences using process.

Bunting has also created 'Portraits based around the idea that any reflection of the self is incomplete without consideration of the outside world. The status portraits represent the self in terms of its relationship to the united kingdom. My approach would probably be more emotional rather than technical, and this would be reflected in the presentation of information.

Map of Normality

Map Of Influence

Portraits

.

Recorders

• Manchester Art Gallery

Saturday 19th September - Sunday 30th January

I have had an obsession with vintage recording devices since I began my foundation. In the past I have explored recorders of sound and then later trying to devise a new type of communication, by literally trapping sound. So naturally I was interested in visiting Rafael Lozano-Hemmer's, Recorders exhibition at the Manchester Art Gallery. Filled with an array of recording devices via seven interactive installations.

The first room displays rather modest installations which are amusing to participate with. Exploiting the idea of sharing information, placing this experience into a physical space, makes us aware of the information we are sharing, mirroring the way we share information everyday, but in a more obvious way. the highlight of the exhibition is undoubtedly the pulse room, It is rare, if ever, that we are able to actually visualise our pulse, it is usually experienced through sound or feeling. A ceiling is gridded with hundreds of light bulbs, at the head of the room there are two metal handles, the visitor is invited to grab hold of the handles and then watch as the lights in the room respond to their unique heart rate, for a moment, the room represents the visitor, allowing them to see their pulse illuminated on a large scale. I found this experiential exhibition engaging a mixture of recording, ambience, light bulbs and interaction, in my opinion, is worth a visit!

Final Journal Map

After experimenting with many different prototypes, I decided on this for my journal 'map'

I wanted to get across my personality as a designer, but also create a useful navigational device to help de-code my journal. The map runs from left to right in chronological order with each of my projects being the central thread. Above and below the project title you can see my influences. These are organised into the following categories; Artists/designers/creative, exhibitions, Lectures, Miscellaneous.

Hopefully the map shows that my influences for each project also affect my year as a whole, as there are many intertwining connections throughout. My journal was bound, with a grey card wrap and embossed belly band. The map lined the inside of the wrap,and the journal could be completely lifted out to allow the user to simultaneously read the map and journal.

Journal Map So Far...

Heroin; The Velvet Underground.

I'm Gona Try... When asked to create a map based around the song 'Heroin' by The Velvet Underground, I pondered many things. I felt that a technical, mechanical or mathematical map would not be appropriate, and wondered whether a map which expressed emotion could be possible. Not a series of emotions presented in a formulaic way, but a map which actually expresses and evokes emotion. For this it was essential to look beyond the song, it wasn't enough to listen to the song itself (although this was important) but also to research the culture behind the song, the history, connotations, era, links, connections, feelings, lifestyles, movements, artists etc. Below is a map of what I felt were the most important connections; I began looking at Aspen magazine, a 3D multimedia magazine in a box. I found that issue 3 was designed and edited by Warhol and David Dalton. There appeared peices of art from the cultural gamut ( Litchenstein, Jasper Johns, DeKooning etc) aswell as quotes, ranting, ravings and various contributions from The Velvet Underground themselves....this became a priceless resource during the project and helped me gain a deeper understanding of the band. Credit where credits due, this website has managed to salvage the components from each issue and amazingly preserved them on this website. http://www.ubu.com/aspen/intro.html During the project I was amidst a moving image workshop, therefore a natural progression within my research was to look a Andy Warhol films... (torture a cliche), but I felt his presence and influence on the Velvet Underground could not be ignored. I found myself not looking at Warhol in the conventional 'mainstream' pop artist he is so often perceived as, but as an individual of his time, who had much influence on many people, and above all was authentic, which I admired. Some of the films I looked at; Beauty Number 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sF5O7YXUJfU Andy Warhol Eats Hamburger. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaf6zF-FJBk Through Aspen, I also began looking at Dada cinema, in particular Hans Richter, as he had appeared within a later edition of the magazine, when a film reel of 'Rhythm 21' was included within the box... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEgULqLn5iU To summarise, I knew I somehow wanted to use the idea of 'bad cinema'; distortion, purposely out of focus, maybe black and white film, but ultimately experiment with processes to see if any suitable outcome came through, initially I wasn't concerned with fitting the work to the song, that would come later. A Two fork road. Like I said 'process' was my first point of call, so I began simply with a sketchbook page, which displayed the song lyrics and proceeded something like this; Process-photocopy-enlarge-repeat-photocopy-enlarge-repeat until page is all black or all white- photograph-contact sheet- shred- tape together shreds- put through reel to reel tape player- photograph-print-photocopy-enlarge-repeat- wet in bath- dry- make collages.....create animation; (video displayed at foot of page) Second Road; after various tutorials, I decided the idea of processes alone, was not ambitious enough, so as well as carrying on with that I decided to take a completely new approach to the idea of mapping. I decided that after listening to the song, that the words I , I'm, I'll are mentioned at moments of particular intensity, I decided to highlight these words in each verse. I then counted the words between each I, I'm, I'll etc, and noted this down. I have always loved the idea of found images, and for this project I thought it would be interesting to perhaps experiement with 'found' video/film. This brought me to a charity shop back home, which was rich with a vast video collection, at a budget price... and lucky for me it was 3 for 2. I decided that the number of words between each I, I'll or I'm, should correlate to the positioning of the videos on the shelf. (i.e) 'I...3 words later ...I'll' would mean 'First video...three videos later pick another video) This would give me some structure, but also a completely unexpected outcome, as I could never predict which videos would be where. Here is the original shelf format, red dots represent videos I chose. Below is also the final videos with numbers which represent words between I, I'll or I'm. Once I had all the videos, I counted the seconds between each I, I'm or I'll and this determined the length of each clip. The results were interesting as once second there would be Postman Pat and the next a war film. The whole video was the length of the song, plus a few more seconds, due to the interval between each verse, in total around 8 mins.

So I had at my disposal two very different sets of film. The next logical step seemed to be to try and combine the video map , with my 'processes' animation and see which outcome prevailed. When I watched both the animation and the 'Video Map,' I found there were certain sections and small details of each which I felt were more effective than others. I wanted to combine the small successful sections, happy accidents, unexpected outcomes etc, to make something more deliberate. So, having the starting point and aesthetic of the animation, and the 'Video Map' I began an editing process.

Neither the stop motion or the 'Video Map' contained the song, this was a deliberate decision, but at this stage of the project I felt that the presence of the song was now neccessary to tie the whole thing together. I chose to focus on the first verse alone, as this was long enough to fairly represent the aesthetic of both outcomes, but not so long that my audience were falling asleep.

Final Cut

To refer back to the start of this post, and my question 'Can a map be emotional?' I feel that somewhere along this journey, sometimes unintentionally but often through deliberate choices I have managed to create a 'map' (of sorts) which expresses emotion. When listening to the song 'Heroin' I felt that it portrayed the drug and it's effects, as a dependance, but also with fondness, almost like a love affair. I never wanted to express the negative connotations of the drug, but rather to try and express the meaning of the song, and try to express it in a positive way, not to endorse it (far from it), but to represent the mind set of the band and people around the band and the culture of the time. The piece shows some some beautifully sensitive scenes (courtesy of Disney) juxstaposed with scenes of conflict, battle, journeys, confusion and sometimes just absurdity; portraying a kind of love/hate relationship on wheels, which reacts to the song.

By no means do I claim to have set out to portray these ideas from the offset, but ultimately that is what I think of now when I retrospectively reflect on the project.

Although I have encountered difficulties, and traumatic problems throughout this project, I am glad that I chose moving image, as it has opened up a few more doors for me, and has allowed me to step out of my comfort zone and take risks.(final video at foot of page)

NM.

Credit:

Footage used throughout the whole project (Some elements may not have made the final cut)

Disclaimer: Clips, which have been taken from Videos are not my own work, I do not claim credit for them and a list of videos I have used is displayed below.

(In order of appearance)

The Story Keepers A.D 64: Sink or Swim/ Roar In The Night. ©1996

The greatest Story Ever Told. ©1965

Nursery Rhyme Time; 60 Favourite Children's Nursery Rhymes. ©1995

Noddy and the Naughty Tail. ©1992

We're Back; A Dinosaur's Story. ©1993

Thomas The Tank Engine & Friends. ©1991

Ice Age © 2002.

Postman Pat 2 ©1986

Showdown in Little Tokyo ©1991

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels © 1988

The Green Berets © 1968

Babylon 5 Volume 31 ©1996

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers; Classic Ranger edition © BVS International

Inspector Morse; Episode 2; The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn © 2003

Cyborg and Blood Sport starring Jean Claude Van Damme © 1987

Tarzan © Disney and Burroughs.

Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone © unknown

Shrek © 2001

Edward Scissorhands © 1990.

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(Andy Warhol Eats Hamburger)

Beauty No. 2- Andy Warhol

Hans Richter- Rhythm 21

Andy Warhol Documentary.

Video Map Taster.

New direction for a 'Map' of the song 'Heroin' By 'The Velvet Underground'

Mapping With Sound

A one day project based around the word 'sound' The area of Oxford Road and 'The school of Art', is mapped using sound bars, representing the areas own personal sound track, including toilet flushes, apple bites, closing skips, footsteps, crowds, vending machines, printers, guillotines etc. The streets are mapped using Magnetic tape and buildings with masking tape, compass directions mean that the map is fully accurate despite it's unusual dimensions, the whole strip fits perfectly into a cassette case. (lining paper, magnetic tape, masking tape,tape case, ink)