Leeds Arts University Repository (CREST)
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RBMK1000
No full textRBMK100 is a short film inspired by the experiences of the residents of Pripyat during the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986. Research Process: The film takes its name from the reactor that exploded on 26th April 1986. Accounts from residents of Pripyat and ‘Liquidators’ who took part in the clean-up inspired the verses in the first part of the film. The official report of the disaster was analysed and ‘factual’ information was extracted to give the ever-growing numbers in the second half of the film. Found footage from Pripyat filmed before the disaster was interspersed with the text. The style of the film was influenced by ‘La Jetée’ (Chris Marker, 1962). As the film progresses, the ‘film’ begins to become damaged from the bottom of the screen, a reference to the photographs of Igor Kostin, who’s pictures taken at Chernobyl were damaged due to the high levels of radiation. The soundtrack to the film is the sound of an RBMK100 nuclear reactor. Research insights: The methodology of making ‘RBMK100’ came from Young’s Reductionist Manifesto. Reductionism is defined as ‘storytelling through absence’. What is absent in this story is a sense of the truth. ‘Truth’ becomes increasingly abstract and points to what was left out official accounts. The film ends with the official number of fatalities - 31. Given all the previous information, this is intended to make the audience question the authenticity of this figure. Young found that the quantitative data alone did not tell the human story. Adding verses told from an eyewitness perspective made more of a human connection. Dissemination: ‘Storytelling as a Means of Communication in the United Kingdom’s Creative Industries’, Fifth International Conference on Media and Popular Culture, UK. 12th January 2019. The Fashion Institute of Technology New York. 28th February 2018. Mediendesign DHBW Ravensburg, Germany. 10th May 2017. Turku University Arts, Finland. 28th February 2019. Desiatka Hotel, Ukraine. 20th April 2016
Lost and found
No full textThe output is an installation called ‘Lost and Found’ within a disused tower block
in Grimsby. It was produced by a collaboration between April Virgoe, Patrick
Holley, Chris Lillywhite (visual artists) . The work was funded by the Arts Council
and supported by the Shoreline Housing Trust. Research process: The installation was created in response to the East Marsh tower blocks, formerly occupied by the residents of the Freeman Street area, which is the centre of the former fishing community in Grimsby, with a strong connection to the sea. The project was the result of a continual process of negotiation with Shoreline Housing, who supported the positive effect of the project as a ‘farewell’ to the tower blocks before demolition. Research insights: The installation was located in one of the vast garages between the tower block on Grimsby's East Marsh Estate. The intention was to respond to the seafaring history as well as the space itself. The installation comprising a boat, models, projections, sound, a 12ft smoke drawing of a ship and a disco ball, and, over the course of two weeks, underwent several transformations in response to the site. Dissemination: The installation was disseminated at the Lightworks Festival, Grimsby, 15 October–13 November 2016
The prison project
No full textThe output is a series of artefacts comprising small scale smoke stencil drawings,
produced specifically for a cell in the disused Dean Road Prison in Scarborough.
Research process: The drawings are informed by a previous visit to the Barracks at Berwick-upon-Tweed, in which drawings and messages were stencilled onto the ceilings by soldiers. The drawings are made by holding a flame beneath the stencil, leaving a sooty deposit. This method became part of a working practice for a series of drawings which were included in the Scarborough Prison Project. Research insights: The drawings responded to the nature of the architectural spaces of the prison whilst imagining spaces of transition and escape. The use of smoke suggests an impermanence and provisionality, and the marking of time. The work was presented as part of a group exhibition of site responsive drawing projects in the cells of the Victorian prison. Dissemination: The drawings were disseminated as part of the ‘Scarborough Prison Drawing Project’ at Dean Road Prison, Scarborough, 12-14 February 2016. The work was also disseminated through an accompanying exhibition catalogue: The project was sponsored by Arts Council England, Coastival and Scarborough Borough Council
Leonora Carrington/Lucy Skaer
No full textThe output is a curated exhibition and catalogue of Viktor Wynd's impressive collection of Leonora Carrington artworks.This collection is macabre as it is unique, bringing together little-known prints and drawings which detail the surrealist bestiary of Carrington’s imaginative universe (explored further by Marina Warner), as well as four early canvases from Carrington’s pre-surrealist period (analysed in- depth by Susan L. Aberth). An anecdote by Wynd and short story by Carrington’s son, Gabriel Weisz, further nuance the visual narratives under consideration.
Until this exhibition, the collection had never been shown together. Leeds Arts University hosted the collection as a major part of its Leonora Carrington/Lucy Skaer research exhibition (15 July – 2 September 2016). The artworks included in the catalogue toured subsequently to The Viktor Wynd Museum in London.
Special thanks go to Viktor Wynd for his enthusiasm, generosity and support in realising the exhibition as well as Susan L. Aberth, Gabriel Weisz Carrington, and Marina Warner for their erudite contributions to the catalogue. The photography is by Chris Renton and the catalogue has been designed by D&M Heritage Ltd. Further grateful thanks and acknowledgement to: Chloe Aridjis, Jonathan P. Eburne, Sean Kissane, Lynn Lu, Steve Lucas, Wendi Norris, Jeffrey Sherwin, Lucy Skaer, Samantha Sweeting, and colleagues at Leeds College of Art
Leeds Print Festival x G.F. Smith Print Archive
No full textThe output is a creative project, Leeds Print Festival x G.F. Smith Print Archive. The researcher constructed an ‘archive’ of prints inspired by G. F. Smith’s Colourplan range. G.F.Smith’s iconic Colourplan was developed in 1936 and over the decades expanded to a range of fifty colours. Evolving from the relatively muted palette of naturals “Smoke” and “China White” to the explosive colours of “Mandarin” and “Vermillion” added in the 1960s. The colours developed are a clear reflection of the time they were created, with “Mist” a recent addition that celebrates a more natural and organic hue. Research process: An archive was created working with papers from GF Smith’s Colorplan range and using contemporary and traditional print making process to celebrate the paper’s colour by responding to associations the colour may hold. The intention was to document more just a collection of paper but to celebrate it, as becomes part of a printed image. The processes included deboss, screenprint, letterpress, monoprint and foiling. Research insights: The Colourplan range had previously not been an archive of papers showing the practical application. By combining print materials and processes, colour adjustments could be made during the printing process, thus creating a body of research through practical investigation. Dissemination: The project was disseminated by exhibition at Leeds Print Festival, Munro House, 2 – 29 April 2016
The pattern social
No full textThe output is an artefact comprising a collection of surface pattern designs.
Research process: Hughes has undertaken and developed a body of visual research using files, sketchbooks and digital platforms documenting a personal investigation in wallpaper archives. The aim was to investigate how the current wallpaper manufacturers incorporate the technical and design methodologies of difference periods, 1950s, 1970s and Scandinavian design, using a specialist design software package called AVA/CAD CAM to manufacture wallpaper design today without losing the quality of the original archive. Research insights: The research identified how ‘retro’ inspired design continued to make an impact
within contemporary textile design. Digital design within textile design has really
advanced in the last few years and is continuing to do so therefore it is crucial that
textile designers are fully aware of these new digital tools. Hughes has devised a
series of digital drawing exercises which allows the documentation of a variety of
different and innovative responses of exploring digital drawing. Hughes’ research
shows the importance of textiles archives and the reinterpretation of these archives in a contemporary design style using Digital rendering. The research also led to relevant insight into how software is best utilised in the textile industry.
Dissemination: The collection was disseminated under ‘The Pattern Social’ at the international Textile Exhibition and Fair at the Javits Conference Centre, New York, 15-18 May 2016 and 20-23 May 2017. The designs were also exhibited at the Great Northern Events in Manchester in October 2018
Building dreams
No full textThe output is a creative project comprising a light projection titled ‘Building dreams’. Research process: The proposal for Leeds Light Night 2016 was a further development of 3 years experimentation of filming with the high-resolution capability of an iPhone in creating digital film installations. The final film and accompanying sound track was constructed and rendered in Adobe Premiere Pro. From this master copy, 3 films were cropped, re- sized and rendered to create the projections for each floor of the building. Research insights: The intention and importance of Building Dreams was creating a new digital projection technique that opened different opportunities to re-imagining the urban environment. Light Projection artworks, to this point, predominantly used the architecture of the city as enormous screens, filled by a powerful digital projector and utilising techniques such as projection mapping to create a visual spectacle. Building Dreams used 3 synchronised standard projectors inside a building projecting onto screens set in 6 windows across 3 floors with a synchronised sound system playing the soundtrack. This innovative technique used to achieve the exhibit was only made possible through the technical experimentation of Lumen, a leading digital projection company who were able to synchronise the 3 digital projectors across 3 floors rooms of the building. Dissemination: ‘Building Dreams’ was exhibited as part of Leeds Light Night on 4-5 October 2016. The film ran for five hours and the majority of the audience viewed the exhibit from across the street. It was then recommissioned by Ghent Licht Festival and exhibited on 31 January – 4 February 2018. The audience in Leeds was estimated at 70,000 people over 2 nights whilst in Ghent 835,000 people walked the city centre route to view the 40 installations over 5 nights
Reflexive modernity: the work of Chris Paul Daniels
No full textA profile of the artist-filmmaker Chris Paul Daniels focusing on themes of artifice, authenticity and self-identity and considering his works Premier/Divisions (2013), A Tiger’s’ Skin (2014), You Are Here (2015), Safe at HOME (2015). Daniels’ witty and sometimes disquieting works are commentaries on our globalised contemporary culture. They probe the role that representations play in the construction of individual and national identity. Though often ostensibly documentaries they repeatedly use techniques that undercut the habitual authority of this format. The article was commissioned by the Contemporary Visual Arts Network North West (CVAN NW), as part of a regional critical writing development programme funded by Arts Council England
On innards
No full textOn Innards is a multidisciplinary project developed by artists; Amanda Couch, Mindy Lee and Andrew Hladky, that explores the changing conceptualisations of guts and digestion, their impact on the creative process and the role they play in constructing and destabilising our sense of self. Bookwork artist and designer Richard Nash joined the project to collaborate and lead on dissecting, reinterpreting, and reconnecting the record of this two-year project in the form of a limited-edition artist book, On Innards | Publication.
The project started with Nash setting the three artists a collaborative project to reflect textually, visually and materially on their three-way conversation presented at Body Horror, Athens (2013), onto a typeset concertina. Joined with Nash, this then extended into a 4-way conversation on the embodiment of the project and the form of the book. Working with artefacts, images, and stories from the On Innards | Exhibition and Event (2014), Nash examined, reinterpreted, and curated; extending existing research and making material interventions, in addition to contributing with graphic expressions and typo-concrete writing.
Along with artworks from Couch, Lee, and Hladky On Innards | Publication included contributions from Carlo Comanducci, Giskin Day, Dr. Simon Gabe, Kerry Gallagher, Nathaniel Storey, and Jamie Sutcliffe and Jenny Pengilly, from the fields of gastroenterology, virology, cultural theory, art history, yoga, performance and fine art, and the medical humanities.
With 200 pages of intersecting formats, Nash created an artists’ book as an embodiment of digestion. Its intestinal form interweaves, concertinas, fold-outs, pop-ups, gate-folds, roll-folds and reveals. Nash created an innovative custom ‘mesenteric’ binding, which, when unwound, allows the book to be opened further, unfolding to reveal hidden ideas, images and text.
On Innards | Publication had an official launch with a signing on the 12th September at the prestigious London Art Book Fair (2015) at the Whitechapel Gallery
Getaway
No full textThe output, a graphic story and creative project, narrates a story in response to the 2015 refugee crisis. Research process: As practice research, the comic looks to innovate approaches within the medium by attempting to use creative methods to tell traumatic stories sensitively whilst priming the reader to have an empathetic and personal response. It contributes to a body of contemporary comic work exploring and evolving sequential illustrative practice through unpicking and challenging its stylistic visual language. This piece investigates the aesthetic and tonal use of nostalgia as a means of personalising a narrative. Additionally, the comic actively explores using narrative structures such as misdirection, emotive character design and world building as prompts for the reader to place themselves at the heart of a global as a visual counter to metaphors such as “cockroaches”, “swarm” and “tropes of inundation” were all used in the media at the time. Research insights: The research contributes to knowledge of communicating realistic emotive accounts through illustrated fictionalised stories. Getaway is one of a series of comics by the author to explore the appropriateness of specific aesthetics within a comic to set the mood and tone. The author’s intention is to explore visual styles which create and build words most appropriate for empathising with stories as a counter to notions of ‘othering.’ Dissemination: The output has been published and widely shared online. In 2015, it was shortlisted in the Jonathan Cape/Comica/Observer graphic short story prize and showcased as part of the awards ceremony in the finalists’ exhibition at Orbital comics. The piece was also exhibited at Sunny Bank Mills, Farsley as part of the 2019 ‘Panel Show’ exhibition where Dawson also wrote about the methods and ethical considerations around the comic’s creation for an article in the arts funded publication which documented the exhibition