One Metre Pace – Tests.

I’ve continued to explore peoples estimations of one metre. I wanted to find a more direct visual way of presenting the results whilst directly linking it to the original action & moment of estimation. Lining up the camera level and straight at 50mm I took before and after photos of a single metre pace. The crop width is one metre and the height is determined by the original camera proportions. Any over estimations are simply cut off, as are some of the heads of the people – height depending of course. Not only am i interested in combining the variations & inaccuracies of peoples estimations with the measured, but I’m also curious about the graphic representations of the findings. I like the image composition being determined by something outside of the purely aesthetic. I’m also increasingly aware of the photographic plane as document of an area of time, distance & space.

Marey’s Sphygmographe, 1859

Something that is fascinating me about Marey’s work is the idea of graphic inscription and data recording being a direct result of a physical action. The picture above shows his Sphygmographe which recorded the beating of the pulse. I’m interested in the scientific approach not only to measuring but also to recording direct visual data, the graph-(ic) representation as a means of making the transient fixed in time.

Lars estimating one metre

Graph representing six peoples estimations of one metre

I asked six people to tell me how big a metre was, they held their hands up and then I measured the estimation. The two red verticle lines respresent one metre length apart and each of the six horizontal lines is one persons guess. Everybody underestimated, the closest guess was 99cm and the furthest was 62cm. I have also been taking photographs around the Artists Unlimited house, partly as a technical excercise (getting used to my new digital camera) & partly as a way to re-explore ideas around framing, light & composition. I hope that these two areas of investigation will meet at some point later on in the residency. You can see the photos in the folder Interiors on my Flickr page.

During the next three months i will be Artist in Residence at Artists Unlimited in Bielefeld, Germany. I’ve had a few areas of interest floating around in my head for a while which i intend to use as a starting point. Mainly based around the photographic and graphic image, I’m particuarly interested in the comparisons of the eye and the lens. My continued interest in scientfic approaches, namely ‘the measured’ as truth has left me wanting to explore visual data representation (graphs). This will no doubt also be linked to my interests in space, time and distance. I’m currently reading Picturing Time by Marta Braun a study of the work of Etienne-Jules Marey and The Eye, A Natural History by Simon Ings. The picture above was an idea that i was mucking around with in Finland, the masking tape marks the view of the video camera in shot. On a side note i’ve also learnt to knit!

For the next three months i will be Artist in Residence with Artists Unlimited in Bielefeld, Germany. An artists association and art house that combines living and working under one roof. It has been going since 1985, so this year is the 25th Anniversary, with lots of events and shows happening. Once I’m a bit more settled I hope to add a few things to my process / blog page. Towards the end of the three months I will exhibited the work i have produced in the AU Gallery.

Grow Sheffields Artist in Residence, Bob Levene has worked in collaboration with some of the local residents & growers to create interventions, installations and diplays or to simply open their gardens to the public for one afternoon only. The Imagined Winter Garden Trail is a chance to see the gardens and growing spaces of Sharrow in a new light, it will play with and awaken you to the unused or neglected spaces in our neighbourhood, sharing the visions, achievements and memories of some of Sharrows Growers. For more information visit The Imagined Winter Garden Trail

I’ll be showing Handmade at REopen, Pooles 2nd Open Art Exhibition, and a celebration of the act of Reusing, Reassembling & Rethinking, making new work out of old ideas, recreating in a new form and a new style, giving well known materials, objects, forms, ideas, concepts and behaviours a completely new life and appearance and approaching it in a subtle of radical way. For more Information go to Kube Gallery

I’m pleased to be exhibiting my Experiments for Microphones series.

Gallery North presents a major new exhibition of experimental performance work in collaboration with Wunderbar Festival – the North East’s new festival of contemporary performances, visual art and extraordinary happenings. Inspired by the North East’s proven history of producing experimental work of the highest calibre, the exhibition presents a series of ground-breaking performances showcased alongside video works and iconic archive footage to create a rare picture of experimental performance in the North East now…and then.

For more Information visit: Wunderbar Festival

As Far As The Eye Can See, 2008

HIVE GALLERY Elsecar Heritage Centre, Wath Road, Elsecar, S74 8HJ

OPENING TIMES: Thursday – Sunday 12-4pm 

Private View: Friday 18th September, 19.00 – 21.00

The solo show at HIVE Gallery is entitled The Art of Subjective Measuring. Made up of a new body of work resulting from a series of residencies and wanderings that I undertook in 2008 including time spent in The Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, Brooklyn, New York and The Archipelago Islands in Finland. For more information and directions visit HIVE Gallery website

Grow Sheffield is an active network of individuals and groups who promote urban organic food growing. They have a number of projects which you can find out about on the Grow Sheffield website. Over the next five months I’ll be artist in residence on the Communinity Growers Programme, which aims to get more people growing to help increase the production of local organic fruit and vegtables in the city. I’ll be exploring the gardens, backyards and windowsills of the local participants. You can read more about how this evolves in my blog.

I’m one of 23 artists that have been longlisted for this years Northern Art Prize.

For more information click here.