Wednesday, 25 May 2011
Thursday, 12 May 2011
Wednesday, 11 May 2011
Tuesday, 3 May 2011
Interview write up
Telephone box series
Interview
Pollyanna Hodson interviewing herself to help explain her practice.
INTERVIEWER:
Pollyanna Hodson in your performative practice, what are you currently doing?
POLLYANNA HODSON:
I have been getting into phone boxes and using forms of non-verbal communication to the outside world (the people on the street).
What I have been communicating is a response to the era we are in, the information era, there is so much information around. Bombarded every waking hour. These little bits of information, do they mean anything? Do we need to know? And when you do know; what are you to do then?
Confusion, bewilderment, despair and frustration are how I respond to it.
I am using the phone box as an outpost for these feelings and by doing it within a context I am subverting its meaning and use in society. By walking in and ‘misusing’ the space. Adding to the confusion of what to do in a situation/space.
INTERVIEWER:
How do you see it being displayed or worked on?
POLLYANNA HODSON:
I have been recording these events from different angles. The ones shot from above being most successful. Realistically I am going to have to show the films. Ideally I would not be shown in the gallery context. The films are meaningless and one dimensional, the whole situation is not captured. The best ones from above only capture the act and not the interaction and the response of the people outside. The idea that I am in public can be lost.
If I were told ‘we will give you this exhibition space to display your work’ I probably wouldn’t take it. My reply being ‘ I’ll just go outside and do it live’.
I would much prefer it if everyone walked past me in a phone box and witnessed it directly.
By removing the context of the phone box and the public display I am removing the intention, within an exhibition context the viewers expect the unexpected. Thereby removing the impact of the work… It’s about the outside world so why not keep it in the outside world.
The phone box is important. They are my glass vessels; they are situated in busy, high profile areas, generating a lot of opportunities to the viewed. But then I am also protected behind the glass, caged and shielded. If I was to step out of the limitations of the space it would be too much, the only element of control removed. I would feel threatened by the public and in turn that would feel threatened by me. By being behind glass everything is much happier and secure. The act is caged turning the threat into humour.
I don’t see a future in this and how it can evolve. This is it.
INTERVIEWER:
Is there anyway you can think of getting around your problem of displaying?
POLLYANNA HODSON
I have several ideas. One is to play on the mental bombardment with several screens/projections within a small area. The viewer would step into the confined space and not know where to look, the footage upon each screen changing every few seconds therefore only by moving their heads rapidly will they be able to view all of the footage. And confusion taking over… Where is the most exciting? What am I missing?
The second is simpler… beautiful performances, in their entirety, they don’t need over complicating like that. By being shot from above it is obvious it is a phone box… so you know that it is in a public and people and around, so I don’t need the mental bombardment just good movements. I don’t want to tamper with them.. they are a flow of consciousness.
It has come to the point where it has to be simple. In one great stretch of time and responding… there are instances where I am threatened by people outside so I stop and stay still and pretend I am not up to anything… they are beautiful and they show the relationship with the outside without showing the outside directly.
INTEVIEWER:
Have you tested this out?
POLLYANNA HODSON
I did a test screening of my current favourite alongside other film works in Video and the Artist curated by Becky Elliot. The looped footage was played on a TV monitor placed directly upon the floor. You were looking down on an above shot. It worked well because the viewer was at almost the same angle as the camera. While at the exhibition and with encouragement from others I turned the TV onto its back, lining up the viewer and the camera angle.
I could have more than one, in a grid or scattered, but in the intention of keeping it simple one is all I need.
By having to peer in to view the work, I am leaving everything else in the room behind… changing the angle of viewing.
INTERVIEWER:
Are there more things, explanations and motives flying around?
POLLYANNA HODSON:
The point at a basic level… I am not going for an aesthetic; I am going for a feeling. I think the feeling is frustration, ‘what should I do?’ and total abandon at the same time. I am not worrying about how it is conveyed on the screen because ideally the audience would view it first hand. The best part of it is the people who are walking by; most give a few glances and try to ignore the occurrence. They would never stop and stare the way that street performers and buskers are received… it would be weird if they did. Should they stop though? I don’t think that they do or would especially the setting of phone boxes, the busy are and the situation of the phone box gives a level of privacy, people probably feel like they are intruding on something they can just experience a snap shot of the absurdity of freedom of it. If they get a feeling, even momentarily. That’s good in my books.
INTERVIEWER:
Do you see your practice on a hole?
POLLYANNA HODSON
I’ve been thinking my practice is not particularly strong. It is not based in or upon something solid…unless the solid thing is me. I am happy with that though… Having some sort of definition is limiting I find… I prefer things in flux. If I have some sort of statement I thought this maybe most quizzing;
‘My art is shit because the world is shit’ if you think my art is shit it is only because I am responding to shit…Or ‘Happiness is only in bubbles and my bubble is a phone box.’
Telephone box series
Interview
Pollyanna Hodson interviewing herself to help explain her practice.
INTERVIEWER:
Pollyanna Hodson in your performative practice, what are you currently doing?
POLLYANNA HODSON:
I have been getting into phone boxes and using forms of non-verbal communication to the outside world (the people on the street).
What I have been communicating is a response to the era we are in, the information era, there is so much information around. Bombarded every waking hour. These little bits of information, do they mean anything? Do we need to know? And when you do know; what are you to do then?
Confusion, bewilderment, despair and frustration are how I respond to it.
I am using the phone box as an outpost for these feelings and by doing it within a context I am subverting its meaning and use in society. By walking in and ‘misusing’ the space. Adding to the confusion of what to do in a situation/space.
INTERVIEWER:
How do you see it being displayed or worked on?
POLLYANNA HODSON:
I have been recording these events from different angles. The ones shot from above being most successful. Realistically I am going to have to show the films. Ideally I would not be shown in the gallery context. The films are meaningless and one dimensional, the whole situation is not captured. The best ones from above only capture the act and not the interaction and the response of the people outside. The idea that I am in public can be lost.
If I were told ‘we will give you this exhibition space to display your work’ I probably wouldn’t take it. My reply being ‘ I’ll just go outside and do it live’.
I would much prefer it if everyone walked past me in a phone box and witnessed it directly.
By removing the context of the phone box and the public display I am removing the intention, within an exhibition context the viewers expect the unexpected. Thereby removing the impact of the work… It’s about the outside world so why not keep it in the outside world.
The phone box is important. They are my glass vessels; they are situated in busy, high profile areas, generating a lot of opportunities to the viewed. But then I am also protected behind the glass, caged and shielded. If I was to step out of the limitations of the space it would be too much, the only element of control removed. I would feel threatened by the public and in turn that would feel threatened by me. By being behind glass everything is much happier and secure. The act is caged turning the threat into humour.
I don’t see a future in this and how it can evolve. This is it.
INTERVIEWER:
Is there anyway you can think of getting around your problem of displaying?
POLLYANNA HODSON
I have several ideas. One is to play on the mental bombardment with several screens/projections within a small area. The viewer would step into the confined space and not know where to look, the footage upon each screen changing every few seconds therefore only by moving their heads rapidly will they be able to view all of the footage. And confusion taking over… Where is the most exciting? What am I missing?
The second is simpler… beautiful performances, in their entirety, they don’t need over complicating like that. By being shot from above it is obvious it is a phone box… so you know that it is in a public and people and around, so I don’t need the mental bombardment just good movements. I don’t want to tamper with them.. they are a flow of consciousness.
It has come to the point where it has to be simple. In one great stretch of time and responding… there are instances where I am threatened by people outside so I stop and stay still and pretend I am not up to anything… they are beautiful and they show the relationship with the outside without showing the outside directly.
INTEVIEWER:
Have you tested this out?
POLLYANNA HODSON
I did a test screening of my current favourite alongside other film works in Video and the Artist curated by Becky Elliot. The looped footage was played on a TV monitor placed directly upon the floor. You were looking down on an above shot. It worked well because the viewer was at almost the same angle as the camera. While at the exhibition and with encouragement from others I turned the TV onto its back, lining up the viewer and the camera angle.
I could have more than one, in a grid or scattered, but in the intention of keeping it simple one is all I need.
By having to peer in to view the work, I am leaving everything else in the room behind… changing the angle of viewing.
INTERVIEWER:
Are there more things, explanations and motives flying around?
POLLYANNA HODSON:
The point at a basic level… I am not going for an aesthetic; I am going for a feeling. I think the feeling is frustration, ‘what should I do?’ and total abandon at the same time. I am not worrying about how it is conveyed on the screen because ideally the audience would view it first hand. The best part of it is the people who are walking by; most give a few glances and try to ignore the occurrence. They would never stop and stare the way that street performers and buskers are received… it would be weird if they did. Should they stop though? I don’t think that they do or would especially the setting of phone boxes, the busy are and the situation of the phone box gives a level of privacy, people probably feel like they are intruding on something they can just experience a snap shot of the absurdity of freedom of it. If they get a feeling, even momentarily. That’s good in my books.
INTERVIEWER:
Do you see your practice on a hole?
POLLYANNA HODSON
I’ve been thinking my practice is not particularly strong. It is not based in or upon something solid…unless the solid thing is me. I am happy with that though… Having some sort of definition is limiting I find… I prefer things in flux. If I have some sort of statement I thought this maybe most quizzing;
‘My art is shit because the world is shit’ if you think my art is shit it is only because I am responding to shit…Or ‘Happiness is only in bubbles and my bubble is a phone box.’
Interview with Joanna Aldoori.
Continuation of the self interview. Joanna asks the questions i don't want to answer.
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