The curating of the piece was highly influenced by the ideal of cinematic seperation which is discussed in Laura Mulveys Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, 1975. Within this text Mulvey talks about the erotic elements of the spectacle and further elements of voyeurism, in terms of cinema experience and objectification. It is claimed that the use of light, darkness and shade can heighten the voyeuristic experience. This suggests to the viewer the ideas of exhibitionism therefore allowing a viewer to connect with said performer in an attempt to release repressed sexual desires. It is for this reason I had previously had the ideal of using one chair within the room to allow a one to one experience with the screening. However this alike my previous works should be up to the viewer to decide whether or not they want to connect with the piece. For this reason I will be having a small plaque on the wall explaining how the audience may close the door behind them when entering the completely blackened room at their own discrepancy. An example of an artist who uses similar elements in their work to manipulate the viewers experience in Kohei Yoshiyuki’s The Park, 1972, exhibited at the Open Eye Gallery at Liverpool Biennual in 2012. The application of darkness and light (within the handheld torch) suggested to the viewer the voyeuristic experience upon viewing the pieces in a blackened room.
Within our Summer show meetings I had requested the small black room upstairs for my installation, I had been advised that Helanie’s installation would be in the small white room opposite and Joe’s video piece would be screened in the Seminar room. This worked well as I was aware that by having my video on loop with others it would change atmosphere of the space so I preferred having my own installation. Also due to discussions with the fellow artists exhibiting upstairs we were able to realise that each of our installations would no affect eachothers.
Within the set up of my install some of my curatorial decisions had to be adapted for instance the use of dim lit red light to highlight the red leather chair and to enhance the grainy texture of the video. This experience of having to adapt my work allowed me to realise the curation of the piece and allowed it to develop into a stronger piece entirely. Upon installing my red light not only was it bright pink it was also alot brighter that I had anticipated, this affected the video and space by changing the atmosphere of the room in a different way, it was for this reason I decided to remove light altogether allowing the viewer to fully submerse themselves in the action of the video and the sound alongside it.
Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. 1975. [film] Laura Mulvey (Accessed 27th May 2014)
Artist As Curator 