Installation with video projection
Installation with video projection
Installation with video projection
Installation with video projection
The Third Space was my first set-up space consisting of found objects within my home in England, photography of said objects, and a video projected over the photography.
The vision for this space came from the concept of liminal spaces and how they convey the uncertain transition from where you've been and where you're going. When considering how to reflect this atmosphere, I decided to have a mixture of objects and photography. I also made a sound piece to play alongside the video to make the installation immersive and to really translate that liminality as when experiencing liminal spaces, sound was a vital aspect.
Installation planning and research
2024.
Audio-visual piece produced for The Third Space installation.
(Turn sound on)
2.54 minutes
2024.
The video includes found footage from a mini DV camcorder of scenes in Manchester, filmed by my mum and dad when I was a child. This was played alongside a sound piece which was created to bring the space together as an environment.
The reason I chose only videos of Manchester was a development from previous work where I experimented with crossovers of moving and still image, referencing how time continues to move for me in Manchester, however my Irish side exists only through the still objects that I link to that place, and therefore my concept of Ireland stays still as if time does not move there if I am not there.
The sound piece was an amalgamation of both snippets from the video piece and also my own recordings, such as my dad playing the accordion and the kettle boiling. I overlayed these in such a way that you couldn't figure out which was which. This was my take on conveying translating confusion into a space which was a reflection of my own feelings towards my experience of belonging-confusion as to where I belong between the two cultures.
The kettle boil was a reference to my Irish family's obsession with drinking tea and England's connections and connotations to tea. It was also a way of translating a form of white noise into a space, something I found was part of many liminal spaces. The idea of the kettle boil was that it was never-ending, reflecting the idea of waiting for something that will never come, something that mirrors my journey of finding belonging, I am stuck in the middle so I will never find it.
Process
I wanted this room to represent a space of transition and with transition comes anticipation/ a waiting feeling so in order to reflect that I experienced and documented different liminal spaces so I could accurately replicate this environment.
Photography from my home in Manchester.
2024.
This piece began with photography around my home in Manchester. I documented objects that reflect either culture, resulting in only finding Irish imagery. I decided then that the English context for these objects would be that they reside in an English home.
I accidentally edited the sacred heart object to overexpose the glare, however once large format printing this, I found it became effective when projected onto due to the white space. This then became a theme in how I edited the rest of this series. I also notice how the white space removed visibility for part of the image, further reflecting the presence of something without the physical object.
Testing set-up concept for Third Space video using CRT TV.
The content of the video matched the aesthetic of the tv quite naturally due to the home videos having been filmed on an out-dated tape camcorder, of years where this tv was used. Sound muffled though and would have to be solved using speakers.
This set-up would work if I were to do an installation of only found objects of either culture from my home which was one suggestion in a group crit, to reflect an 'almost' home, however I decided by bringing those objects in I was removing the double context from them and they just became Irish objects and English objects therefore removing the importance of where they were found.
To solve this, I instead took pictures of the objects in their original setting. On reflection of this, I think it added an extra layer to the work by bringing back in the significance of thresholds and the image being the threshold into a new context. I also wanted to create the presence of something without the physical thing to reflect how I view both cultures within me, they may not both be obvious at first glance, however there is a presence of both within me.
Research
A theory by Homi Bhabha initiated the idea for this installation as well as the name for it. Homi Bhabha explains the concept of dual heritage as ‘the interstices between colliding cultures’ (www.amherst.edu, 2008) referencing a space between societies where they become a new, singular identity rather than just two overlapping contexts. This is categorized as the Third Space. This concept discusses the creation of a new identity based on the ‘inbetweenness’ of two categories which is what I was trying to achieve with the space itself: to have a space where both cultures can coexist and through that merge into one entity.
This further influenced the video and sound piece as once seen and heard together, one would not be right without the other. Moreover, with the chaotic overlapping of the audio clips, it took the concept of 'merging' to another level rather than just visually.
(click on Homi Bhabha to see further analysis into this theory and how language impacts this)
Reflecting on group crit and The Third Space installation.
Collage installation with video projection
Collage installation with video projection
Collage installation with video projection
Collage installation with video projection
After my group crit, I had to consider which route I was going to go down to progress, I decided that creating a liminal space was not an achievable thing as liminal spaces are already liminal for a reason, you cannot create such a space. So I decided to develop my other concept of projection collage, I wanted to do this on a larger scale to really utilise the possibilities of scale when it comes to installation. I used the wide format printers and printed them various sizes, the largest being a1.
I decided to use the corner of the room to project onto as a development into projection. I was interested in how the video would change as you moved around the room, distorting and highlighting different aspects of the prints and video.
Another consideration when using the corner of the wall was as it is the place where two areas meet as one, further reflecting the context of the installation.
Research
Concealing the original picture, removing the identifiability of the subject whilst keeping their presence - something I begin to do next - making the presence of an object/ concept known without using the physical object.
The Coral Reef. Mike Nelson, 2000
When researching installations, I was directed towards Mike Nelson's work during my tutorial with visiting artist James Sibley. I found his exhibition The Coral Reef useful for understanding how to use space to your advantage and to explore different compositions for an installation.
The installation consists of multiple rooms representing alternate belief systems.
a presence of human existence with a simultaneous abandonment of humans within the space. - (presence of something without the physical thing)
On photographing objects in their original environments. Allow environment to impact objects. - Allow surrounding context to define the object - which is why you cannot remove object from where you found it and not expect its context to change.
