Artist-in-Residence Journal, Centre for Projection Art.

last updated 10.02.23

Documentation of residency from 22 November, 2022 to 30 April, 2023.

Centre for Projection Art’s Artist-In-Residence program pairs an artist who is emerging and experimenting with projection through their contemporary art practice, with an artist mentor for four months. This provides opportunities for artists to develop their creative skills in the projection field, develop new artwork for public presentation, collaborate and expand their professional networks.

centreforprojectionart.com.au/residencies

What do you wish to achieve or learn throughout your residency?

I wish to become projection literate in order to expand my film and digital work beyond the boundaries of screens and into activations in three-dimensional space. Extending upon my experience and interest in technologies, I am looking to construct immersive and interactive experiences that promote juxtaposition and exchange between virtual worlds and physical environments. In particular I will focus on developing a forthcoming exhibition that is an unconventional hybrid of documentary, narrative and publication. I also hope to find ways to integrate projected imagery into the traditionally non-digital facets of my practice including wearables and objects.

Induction and a site tour of the Mission to Seafarers was held on 29 November, 2022.

A projector was collected from Centre for Projection Art after an induction to Collingwood Yards on 14 December, 2022. Playing with the projector in the studio commenced the following week.

Some research and critical thinkinging about the form of publications occured across December and January.

Goals:

Aspects to build on:

Aspects to re-consider:

What a book generally consists of:

What a book generally does not consist of:

Book alternatives:

Other formats to borrow from:

Late January and early February were used to play with a projector in the studio and thinking about works that could be shown at the Mission to Seafarers.

The projection masterclass lead by Yandell Walton took place 11–13 January at the Mission to Seafarers.

Masterclass day 1 consisted of an introduction to the different applications and considerations when using projection, as well as examples of artists that use projection.

Exploring projection in art:

Site considerations:

Examples of artists:

Masterclass day 2 focused on the technical aspects of projection.

Specifications:

Getting started:

Resolution:

Throw Ratio:

Projector Offsets:

Set Up:

Mapping and Masking:

After Effects:

Day 3 of the masterclass consisted of installation proposals, as well as beginning mapping and the set up of projectors.

Residents and the invited artists had self-led access to the space 16, 18–19 January to continue installation.

The files for the two projectors were updated just before the exhibition ‘Skylight’ opened on 20 January. The exhibition ran 20–30 January. The files were re-adjusted on 26 January. The closing event was on 27 January.

A lot was learnt quickly during the masterclass and the tight turn around time for the exhibition. The opportunity was taken to play with the presentation of content for an exhibition in development showing in September.

What worked:

What could be worked on:

Next steps:

On 30 January an accidental meeting occured with Centre of Projection Art CEO, Priya Namana, when early for another meeting at the Centre of Projection Art space.

Off the back of a brief conversation the previous day with West Space curator, Sebastian Henry-Jones, an idea was mentioned of work involving projection that could take place at Collingwood Yards during Sāmoan Language Week. Priya gave a lot of advice, suggested writing a proposal and to start planning the project as soon as possible.

Also on 30 January was a casual meeting and brainstorming of ideas with Jamali Bowden, after first meeting at the Blak Dot Gallery closing event and discovering a mutual interest in typography, projection and collaboration.

Time was spent becoming familiar with each other's work, and discussing things such as audience participation, live mapping with projection and other experimental approaches to performance. Also spoken about was labour and class society in relation to art, as well as division of labour including extremes in terms of roles and songs that accompany particular tasks. Jamali gave the example of different songs sung for fast and slow rope pulling, and noted how rhymes, alliteration and choruses are used to remember tasks.

The first meeting with mentor Abeera Kamran occured via Zoom on 1 February. It included introductions, talks about some of Abeera's previous working including mapmaking, website collaboration and working with Urdu in relation to typography.

Mapmaking:

Examples of projects Abeera has worked on:

Typography:

On 3 February was an outing to ACMI to see ‘How I See It: Blak Art and Film’ with fellow residents Tahlia Palmer and Lilah Benetti.

The first week of February was spent putting together applications and proposals for forthcoming work and potential projects.

Quarry Pedagogies:

Sāmoan Language Week:

On 8 February was the first of ten Siva Sāmoa lessons with Le Masiofo Siva Academy. The focus was on harmonising in groups through song.

Number patterns:

Savalivali song:

On 8 February was the second catch up with mentor, Abeera Kamran. The session went for two hours and was structured to focus on design in the first half (dissection the publication and installation feedback), and typography in the second (a presentation of Abeera's masters research and laying foundations for typographic research).

‘Skylight’ installation feedback:

Dissecting ‘the publication’:

Reflection on current practice:

Typography and culture:

Typographic research pointers:

On 9 February was a grant workshop session with Auspicious Arts at the Centre for Projection Art space.

Auspicious Arts:

First step – Research:

Second step – Strategy and Planning:

Third step – Budget:

Fourth step – Support Materials:

Fifth step – Application:

Sixth step – Outcome:

Timeline:

In-kind Support:

Benefits:

Contact:

Viability:

General Advice:

References

Crafting Aotearoa: a Cultural History of making in New Zealand and the Wider Moana Oceania

‘And why Moana Oceania, rather than the Pacific, the more common name for this part of the world? That name “Pacific” was given to this region by a Portuguese navigator and explorer in 1521. Ferdinand Magellan’s “Mar Pacifico” —the peaceful sea— emphasises a narrow perception of the peoples and places of Moana Oceania as peaceful, tranquil and passive, which is not how Indigenous peoples from this region see themselves. Pacific has become Pasifika, Pasefika or Pasifiki, but these transliterations are derived from the same root. Moana means ocean in the Māori language and in other island nations such as the Cook Islands, Hawai’i, Sāmoa and Tonga. While it can never be truly inclusive because of the diversity of languages and cultures of Moana Oceania peoples, it has meaning and relevance to this place.

Oceania is another foreign name that was first used in the early nineteenth century. Today it is a popular alternative for Pacific because it suggests a sea of islands connected to each other, rather than isolated islands in a far sea.1 It is a name that is more meaningful to island nations that do not have the word moana in their languages.2 Together, Moana Oceania empowers and privileges Indigenous perspectives. It embodies a worldview that is strongly connected to Aotearoa but has its roots in the wider region.’

1. Se ‘Epili Hau’ofa, ‘We Are the Oceania: Selected works’, University of Hawai’i Press, Honolulu, 2008, for an indepth understanding of the term Oceania. See also a great discussion paper on imposed terms of convenience called ‘Terms of Convenience’ written by Ioana Gordon-Smith.

2. ‘This was higlighted by Julia Mage’au Gray at a talanoa of Moana Oceania artists, acedemics and professionals around the term “moana”.’

Decolonizing Research: Indigenous Storywork as Methodology

‘Archibald coined the term, “Indigenous stonework” so that storytellers, story listeners/learners, researchers, and educators can pay better attention to and engage with Indigenous stories for meaningful education and research. The outcomes of Archibald’s story research included the development of an Indigenous theoretical, methodological, and pedagogical framework comprising seven principles: respect, responsibility, reverence, reciprocity, holism, interrelatedness, and synergy.’

Marinade: Aotearoa Journal of Moana Art 01

‘A new arts journal co-edited by Ioana Gordon-Smith and Lana Lopesi. Marinade marks the overdue need for more writing on Pacific art, becoming the first Aotearoa journal focused explicitly on Moana arts from Aotearoa. It aims to capture the wealth of not only Pacific art, but the discussions that have followed and driven Pacific arts in Aotearoa over the past few decades. With texts written by leading scholars, artists and extraordinary new talent, Marinade offers a critical resource for all enthusiasts of Moana art.’

‘Because “I wuz hia”: A Message for Lulu, the Emerging Arkheion’ by Teresia Teaiwa.

‘Can we trust Google to do all our remembering for us? Can we trust Archives New Zealand to do it? National Library of New Zealand? Auckland Museum? Te Papa? Lulu thinks not.

If Jacques Derrida were still alive, he might declar that Lulu is experiencing “archive fever”. Antoinette Burton summarises the condition this way: "contemporary archive fever is bound up with convictions about the power of science to get at the truth. Indeed, the most popular archive stories of the new millennium are shaped by a belief in the capacity of material evidence to create and sustain tests of verificability.”

It’s pretty rich for cultures that have built rapacious empires on their ability to exclude or marginalise whole categories of people from official memory to now suggest that the desire for verificability is problematic.’

The Form of the Book Book

Foreword by Sara De Bondt & Fraser Muggeridge.

‘Yet what the texts collected here have in common is an interest in the book as a material space for critical self-reflection and exchange.’

‘The Matta-Clark Complex: Materials, Interpretation and the Designer’ by James Goggin.

‘Books are three-dimensional objects of which the designer must consider the aesthetic, functional and structural aspects. Effective use of materials can succinctly communicate a book’s content, imbue it with a certain character and simply compel a reader to pick it up.

A key role of the designer is not only to take interest in a book’s content, but also to research and understand it. Critical analysis of the content and application of this knowledge usually result in a well-designed book, both aesthetically and conceptually.

With particular artists, one risks reducing to parody the very content of the book, or even blurring the lines between ‘the work’ and ‘the document’. The book should subjectively communicate the work in a sympathetic way but not attempt to be the work, or risk being mistaken as such.

This last observation highlights a key dilemma: where does the designer draw the line between engagement with content and pure decoration? Although consideration of a project’s content and context remains crucial, the question reminds us to consider the book itself as a functional object. The quality of the book’s constituent parts can be prioritised, a particularly basic requirement that is surprisingly often overlooked by contemporary designers.

An awareness of over-interpretation needn’t imply a kind of unattainable (and undesirable) objectivity, but rather a thoughtful subjective approach, which does not involve second-guessing the artist. When the content and materials are interpreted and combined in a balanced way, the result can be greater than the sum of its parts.'

‘Ways of Seeing Books’ by Richard Hollis.

‘Rethink the book functions in their physical, optical and psychological aspects.

Despite considerable effort during the past thirty years to evolve a style of book design in the spirit of contemporary aesthetics and technology, the prevailing criterion of judgement is still the hand-printed-and-bound books of pre-Industrial Revolution eras... books which reflect the culture of their periods.

It seems incongruous that today (...) we should yet strive to design books with conventions perfected centuries ago. (...) we must turn our eyes ahead, not backward, in designing the books of today.

In short, the form of the book has not changed significantly over the centuries ... Once a craft, book making has become an industrial process ... And the standardisation and success of this form of printed text, its ability to convey a narrative and give it a structure and sequence, has been frustrating to designers. They are left with little scope for invention.

But the various historical avant-gardes – Futurists, Dadaists, Russian Contructivits, the Bauhaus masters – did not challenge the physical form of the book. They wanted to extend the ways in which the page could “speak” to the reader. They were asking for graphics to be updated, with slogans such as Moholy-Nagy’s: “Typography is the communication of ideas through printed design.”

The majority of our books today have come no further in their typographical, visual, synoptical form...

Moholy-Nagy did his best to break with traditional layout of film scripts in his “Painting Photography Film (Albert Langen Verlag, 1925)”, a book full of wild contrasts between words and images. The later “Vision in Motion” uses a more sober style, but deploys the main text, images and extended captions in the same way as illustrated magazines, allowing the reader to “operate” in two ways. First, to skim through, looking at the pictures and captions and, second, after this familisation with the book’s general ideas, to settle into the text.’

Connections

The books ‘Crafting Aotearoa: a Cultural History of making in New Zealand and the Wider Moana Oceania’, and ‘Decolonizing Research: Indigenous Storywork as Methodology’ were borrowed from Blakademy prior to the commencement of the residency.

A link to Norman Pritchard’s book ‘The Matrix’ sent by Jamali Bowden on 19 December as an example of how typographic layout has been used in poetry.

A link to an article about Michael Running Wolf, a Northern Cheyenne man who is using AI to reclaim Native languages, sent by fellow resident Tahlia Palmer.

Contact via email was made with mentor Abeera Kamran in the latter half of January.

A link to examples of work by art collective Get To Work was sent by Sebastian Henry-Jones when visting the exhibition ‘Skylight’ on 29 January.

A meeting with Jamali Bowden took place on 30 January to discuss potential collaboration involving poetry and projection.

The first meeting with mentor Abeera Kamran took place on 1 February. The second meeting took place on 9 February.

On 3 February was an outing to an exhibition with fellow residents Tahlia Palmer and Lilah Benetti.

The second meeting with mentor Abeera Kamran took place on 9 February.

About

This residency is taking place in Naarm across the unceded Wurundjeri and Boonwurrung lands of the Kulin Nation.

This Artist-In-Residence program is run by the Centre for Projection Art.

This research and development is part of Le Phem Era, an interdisciplinary research, archival and publishing practice.

Webpage design and development by Leitu Bonnici.