NUA MA Show 2018
Praxinoscope Theatre on display at the NUA MA Show 2018
Now that the NUA MA Show has ended – and I had some time to gather my thoughts and reflect on my first ever experience of being in an art show – I wanted to write about it as a form of closure. First of all, it was an incredible (and probably one-of-a-lifetime) experience for me. It felt wonderful exhibiting my work amid some damn talented filmmakers and animators including Emmaalouise Smith, Fraser Brown, Gavin Spoors, Heena Song, Jérémie Le Colleter, Julian Hand, Kellen Playford, Luke Green, and Ryan Newell.
The overall experience of a masters degree at an art school was inspiring, especially since I was surrounded by industry professionals who were exploring film outside of the commercial spectrum or digital 4K footage. Their creativity pushed me to think outside of my producer, business-orientated bubble. It is exactly why I wanted to do an MA in the first place – to expand my creativity. I can't complain about getting what I wanted out of the experience including a Master of Arts title, new contacts and extra exposure. In addition to this, I also got a healthy dose of stress. Being a newbie to art shows, I still anticipated a decent amount of stress and hectic work; however, I managed to severely underestimate just how many breakdowns one can have in a single week. Bearing this in mind, would I willingly go through this hell of anxiety again? Yes.
My colleague described it well – to see someone watch his work is like a drug. I agree with him. It was great seeing strangers take interest in my work, even glancing at it. At the same time, this terrified me to my very core. I was afraid that they would hate it. But there is something far worse than a dislike for your work; it's indifference. As one of my fellow filmmakers pointed out the most heartbreaking aspect of creating, is having an audience who does not care about your work. He wanted any kind of reaction; be it admiration or hatred. I think this is why, when I saw someone approaching my installation, I turned around and walked away. Even though I wish I could talk to them, I couldn't. Only during the last day of invigilating, I gathered the strength to talk to a group of women who stood by my Praxinoscope Theatre. It was a fantastic experience and I wish I did it more often throughout the show. So, apart from making a piece of work which can be exhibited what else is involved in an art exhibition? Here are some of the things I was involved in.
YOUR CREATIVE WORK
Above are photographs of the Praxinoscope Theatre taken shortly after it was delivered to the exhibition space. I hired a van to transport it from my studio (AKA the shed at my house) to the gallery. It took about an hour to set it up and to insert the 2-meter strip of film inside of the Praxinoscope basket (the large, outer cylinder). Accompanying the installation was an online catalogue for which we were required to write a statement. It was then rewritten – in third-person – to be printed and displayed by our work. The online catalogue included the above photographs as well as stills from the stop motion animation itself. If you would like to read more about the project, you can find a full article here.
Other digital work created for this project included a poster which hung in the gallery space amidst posters from my fellow students. It was accompanied by a spotlight as the basement – where the moving image exhibition took place – was completely blacked out for the audience to enjoy the films in a cinema-style setting. I loved the overall look of the area. It was sleek but more 'edgy' than the rest of the clean, white spaces of the upper floors. I also created two digital versions of the stop motion animations. We entertained the idea of having them projected over the Praxinoscope Theatre since due to the broken glass on the inner cylinder it had to be exhibited as a tableau. Most visitors, therefore, did not experience the Praxinoscope Theatre as an interactive piece it was intended to be. In the end, we ran out of time to instal a projector; part of a very hectic process of putting together an art show.
PRIVATE VIEW
Here are a few photographs from the Private View. Thank you to my parents and best friends who drove from Cambridge to Norwich to support me. My dad, who has helped in the building process of the Praxinoscope Theatre, also deserves credit for it.
ADVERTISING & ITEMS FOR SALE
You would probably like to make money from your hard work so that you can keep on creating and buying the necessary materials to do so. To earn that money you could put your original work for sale; however, it is probably expensive and the average gallery-goer won't have a couple of hundreds to spare. A good way to earn money from a show is to sell postcards, posters, prints, publications etc. Having your business cards around is another way of making the most out of an art show as you can advertise yourself and network. Here's where the talking to strangers part comes into play which, as mentioned before, I failed at. This is interesting as my main interest lies in film production and normally I don't have problems with PR when it comes to promoting and raising funds for films. I think the reason for this is because when I produce, I'm supporting someone else's work. It's not my 'baby' I'm protective about; no matter how invested I am in a project. When it comes to my creative work, there is a level of anxiety I cannot explain to you.
END OF THE SHOW
The pack up process was as easy as the setup. It took about 30 minutes to clear out my space and I was honestly sad to leave despite the rollercoaster of emotions I felt throughout the show. At the same time, I was glad it was over as I knew that a lot of stress is about to end for me, allowing me to move onto other endeavours. This project was the most comprehensive one I have produced so far. Everything from the object itself to advertising and PR, items for sale and designs for posters were all completed by me and made available to the public. With some of my projects, I lack the patience to keep them going. Up to this point, I think I wanted to create as much work as possible to fill up my portfolio. This has sometimes resulted in work which was not up to scratch. I think that I have calmed down a lot and I'm ready to steadily work on a project. So what does the future hold for this overgrown version of a kids optical toy? Well, since it wasn't used as intended, I would like it to be exhibited in a museum or an educational institution so that it could be used to teach about moving image in a pre-cinema era. I want the Praxinoscope Theatre to have a life of its own and above all to be used and enjoyed. At the moment I'm contacting museums offering the device as a donation.