I have experimented in a range of medias and found my interests lie deeply in performance, installation, video, sound, experience and audience interaction work.
I have also designed all of the COME flyers, posters, websites, videos and visuals.
This is the documentation of my use of these medias:
Installation/ Performance/ Interactive/ Experience:The Brand New Ritual and House of COME
This is a performance, installation, video, interactive, experience project made up of; The Brand New Ritual performance and three videos; The House of COME installation, interactive experience. The theme to the project being rituals.
I feel youth culture is fading out traditional relgions and practices and replacing them with more modern beliefs and ways. I have built the House of COME so that we can praise youths' new religions: vice and culture. Throughout this project I have been concerned with my vice and culture related rituals: art, music, sex + drugs. I want to grasp these passions and emit them in an explosion for the audience to experience and interact with. The rituals I have looked at are; going to clubs, pubs and parties instead of church; creating new exciting art instead of painting; having dirty sex rather than copulating; dancing and creating music rather than listening; and a host of other rituals that exist in this youth 'underground' culture I'm active in.
In the House of COME bell tower you can kneel before the cross, connect the current and pray with me:
Our Father which art in heaven, Vice and Culture be thy name. Thy kingdom COME collective, Thy will be done in bed as it is in public. Give us this day our daily booze, And give us our temptations As we give them that we tempt. And lead us into vice, But deliver us from evil. For COME is the kingdom, The power and the glory. For ever and ever.
To The Brand New Ritual, Culture, vice, freedom and thought. Immerse yourself in these philosophies. Know your science. Party, sex and bullshit.
Create destruction. Do it now! Do it when your young, As quick as you can my dears.
This is our black ritual. This is our white passion. This, This is ours! So get used to it. Amen.
This even was cancelled which I'm pretty annoyed about it. I put a lot of effort into making this project and the fact that only a couple of people will see it annoys me. This was meant to be an experience not only created by the installation itself but also by the people attending creating the atmosphere.
The videos from House of COME installation:
Ritual 3. This Is Ours
Ritual 2. Paint Your Face
Ritual 1. Cross Your Chest
Installation/ Performance: Riddle
This was an interactive installation performance I did for my seminar in the seminar space. The installation consisted of two boxes at either end of the room, myself tied up at one end attached to one of the boxes with a cross on my chest and 10 riddles laid out in a line on the floor inbetween the boxes. In the box across the room from myself there was an amplifier humming loudly with the attached jack hanging out of the top. At the other end I am tied to the pully system previously installed high above my head and attached to the second box containing a dvd player.
The idea behind Riddle was that the artist usually isn't in the space where their artwork is exhibited and so can not communicate their ideas directly to the audience. Instead the audience is left to figure out the riddles the artist has left behind for them. These riddles are pieces of art which can only be read in the visual language of art. In this case the riddles were short pieces of text and symbolic diagrams and drawings each instructing the viewer in how to solve the problem and thus complete the artwork.
The soloution to the riddle was for the audience to all hold hands and, at each end next to the boxes, hold onto the jacks to create a circuit which allows the current from the DVD player to flow through the jack, the audience into the second hack and then produce the sound piece I created out of the amplifier. The sound piece was a distorted recording of mmyself (the artist) applauding and repeating the words "Bravo! Encore!".
Thankfully the audience solved the riddles and completed the artwork. The performance ended after they completed the work and I untied myself to applaud and say "Bravo! Encore!"
Video Documentation:
Photo Documentation:
Performance: Master of COME
The Master of COME is a character I have developed for speech performances to express my views on art and to inform people about the COME collective.
I have developed my character in many ways through my costume, appearance, persona, the usage of video and sound during performances, collaborations, dialogs, .One of the main developments is in my understanding of why I use this specific character. This being my anxiety towards speaking in groups, presenting and perfoming live. I have become interested in the 'Fight or Flight' theory of performance anxiety. My research for this has been looking at performers from all the arts, watching live performances, going to lectures, speaking at crits and reading books and essays. The essay that I have taken the most from is 'A Discussion on Performance Anxiety by Carole B. Miller. Which you can read here. You can read my notes on the essay, which concluded in a performance called "M.O.C (Master of COME) Me - Slipping Up, In and Out of Character", on the research page.
Here is the video of the performance out come during an Intermedia crit on the 4th of February 2009:
Here is a collection of photographs taken during performances and rehearsals:
The first performance I did as the Master of COME was at the Xjen exhibition opening at the ECA. The performance was called 'Art is Alive'. The performance consisted of a funeral march with mourners, undertakers, an urn full of glitter, a drummer/ trumpet player and The Master of COME as the Funeral Director. The performance group paraded around the balcony handing out copies of the speech on the way to a memorial point at which The Master of COME gave a speech on the importance of art.
I have performed as the master of COME at the following events and venues:
Xjen Edinburgh College of Art, Edinburgh March 2008
Grand Opening Edinburgh College of Art, Edinburgh April 2008
Wonky Wallpaper The GRV, Edinburgh July 2008
Standby Soloutions The Collective Gallery October 2008
Intermedia Studios Edinburgh College of Art, Edinburgh October 2008
Performance: Preacher Man
Preacher man is the latest character i have developed. He dresses in black trousers with a pointy black hat/ mask. His torso is bare with a black cross painted across the chest.
While performing as the Preacher Man I act drunk with a bottle of alcohol in my hand improvising a Dada inspired poem.
I act drunk to suggest that not all preachers know what they are talking about. Just as I, Preacher Man have no idea what I will say next in my drunken speach/ chaotic poem.
The duration of the performance is determined by how bad the audiences perception is and my ability to keep the speach going. If the audience becomes distracted and/ or I run out of things to say I end the performance in a drunken form. Either by smashing the alcohol bottle, passing out, throwing up or any other drunken act.
You can watch one of my Preacher Man in the Ritual 3. This Is Ours video in The Brand New Ritual section above.
Performance: GET MESSY
GET MESSY are Callum Monteith and myself. We work together as COME club nights DJ/ VJ residents. At each event we play music, perform, project visuals, and create dance floor/ DJ installations for the audience to interact with. We also DJ as guests at other club nights and events.
We try to make a connection between art, music and the audience during our DJ sets. We've done this through two way mirrors; lasers; UV lights; strobes; bubblewrapped the entire dance floor; created a black cube tower installation which the audience could go inside and draw on while we DJed on top of it; installed painted matresses on the dance floor; and in many other ways.
Embassy Gallery's Annuale opening The Arc August 2008
COME [religiously] Forest Hall August 2008
COME [on girls] Wee Red Bar September 2008
COME [spontaneously] Forest Hall October 2008
$5 shake club Wee Red Bar November 2008
COME [play] The Bongo Club December 2008
NME/ Black Sugar Records private party Sneaky Pete's January 2009
Black Tape Sneaky Pete's March 2009
COME [perform] The Bongo Club March 2009
Indie Club Together Cabaret Voltaire March 2009
Confusion is Sex The Bongo Club April 2009
Performance: The GET MESSY Clowns
The GET MESSY Clowns are Callum Monteith and myself. We dress in matching T'shirts with "GET MESSY" stenciled on them, the COME face paint in white with clown caps. Callum's clown hair and trousers are red and mine are black.
We sometimes use these characters during our GET MESSY DJing performances to enhance the entertainment value and audience participation in the dancefloor installations. The first reason the characters help us do this is that it's an unusual site to see two clowns DJing (Although it can be repelling if you have a fear of clowns) so it can be entertaining watching us. Secondly because a clown is seen as a silly character not to be taken too seriously this breaks down the first barrier of audience participation, to not want to interact with serious art. Finally we perform circus and party tricks that entertain and involve the audience.
Some of the tricks we have done are cream pies, acting out scenarios, playing poi, spraying silly string and popping party cannons.
We have performed as The GET MESSY Clowns at the following events:
Indie Club Together Cabaret Voltaire 26.03.09
Go COME [it's yo' birthday!] Sneaky Pete's 06.06.09
Installation/ Performance: Deunglish
Deunglish was an installation/ performance created by Callum Monteith and myself at COME collective's Gesamtkunstwerk exhibition @ the Bongo Cafe, February 12th - March 16th. The installation consisted of: table, chairs, wallpaper, clock, two pictures framed (one by Callum before leaving to Germany and one by myself on his return), black carpet, t.v and mask. The performance was written and performed collaboratively. The idea behind the performance was communication. Callum had been in Stuttgart for the majority of 5 months. The performance is a dialog of our struggle to communicate with; each other, especially in the organisation of COME events; the audience; and, for Callum, to other people in Germany. We developed a language called Deunglish which consisted of improvised words and sounds which reffered to both the English and German language. The performance begins with the dialog in English which then erodes into a confusing argument in Deunglish. I then start to talk to the audience directly in "plain English". The Dialog between Callum and myself then fades back into the final scene which is spoken in English. The performance wasn't rehearsed as Callum returned to Edinburgh on the night of the opening. We used a script and improvisation in some parts which lead to a few mistakes which were healed by a few jokes. I was also heckled durign my dialog with the audience. I found this funny with everyone else as well as a challenge to my performance.
Video Documentation:
Photo Documentation:
Video/ Interview: Excerpt from Natural Interview
Excerpt from Natural Interview is a segment from a long interview between Cathrine Johnstone (studying BA Painting at ECA) and myself. At the start of the interview we question each other on everything and anything gradually working our way onto the subject of art. During the interview I experiment with answering questions as my Master of COME performance character (hence why I am wearing face paint). As the interview goes on I feel very un natural and start to answer the questions in a very personal way as myself although I am still baring the face paint and so have a mask to hide behind.
The selected question I have decided to excerpt is on the subject of the Intermedia trip to Kyoto. Firstly as it is an indepth answer of my feelings on how I felt my work went during my trip and secondly as the video tape I use to document my trip broke and so I don't have any actual footage from Japan.
Performance/ Installation/ Drawing: The Drawing Project
The drawing project was a brief issued to us. I started the project by stopping my usual practice of writting everything down in notebooks and instead drawing all my thoughts and ideas. This made me question why we draw. I came to the conclusion that drawing is a form of language, narrative and pleasure. I had many ideas of how and what I'd do to create the final 10 drawing to be presented in my space. The idea i choose to do was to involve performance (both by myself and the audience), installation, sound and drawing. The performance aspect came directly from myself performing the 10 drawing to 10 short sound sound pieces I collected and mixed together. The audience performance aspect came from the installation. I constructed a 5 x 5 x5 ft box with a 2.5ft high platform around it. My performance was in the box with transparent plastic over the top while the audience were stood around the box looking down. Thus reversing the usual role of performer with audience raised on a stage out in the open. This role reversal experiment worked in some ways but with my performance being slightly uneasy to watch (I was expressively and almost violently drawing to the music) it did'nt work to its optimum.
Documentation:
Installation: Black Cube
The Black Cube Installation was an 8ft high x 5ft wide, 2 floored, interactive/ performance installation. I installed it at COME [play] @ the Bongo Club, 11/ 12/ 08 on the middle of the dance floor. It was made of found materials such as; tables and wooden boards.
The initial idea was to create a black cube space (a play on the usual white cube gallery space) which the audience could enter during the COME event to experience an installation called Shoot The DJ. This idea progressed onto actually having the DJs GET MESSY perform ontop of the black cube making it more into a tower. This change of use meant I had to sacrafice allowing the audience entering the black cube due to health and safety. To keep the interactive aspect of the work I decided to allow the audience to draw on the outside walls. On the side was written "draw on me" with a box of chalks next to it. This interactive aspect was taken on well be the audience who had covered the entire installation in drawings and writings by the end of the event.
Callum Monteith and myself performed ontop of the installation during the event. The postition of the instalation, the middle of the dance floor, was an interesting perspective as usually the DJs are on the stage facing the crowd. Instead we were in the thick of the audience looking down at the dancers. This was interesting as it gives your more of an idea of how the music is being reacted to and so effects your music choice. The position also allowed us to interact with the audience a little more during the performance. We sprayed them with silly string, flashed lights and came from our tower to dance. We found a large tower on the dance floor with two DJs on top of it is quiet a spectacle.
Installation: Poly' Room
At the very first COME I installed my UV lit polystyrene room in the back corner. It went down well with everyone who entered via the polystyrene cave like entrance. By the end of the night it had experienced many poly’ fights and alas was destroyed as the polystyrene blocks, acting as the roof, got taken down and used as poly weapons. I felt my installation was successful. The idea behind it was to break down a barrier between the viewer and the artwork. I wanted people to crawl inside, have fun, and act like children. All the while questioning “is this art?” From the feedback I have gathered from conversations with people I know they did all these things. The installation showed all who interacted with my work that art can be anything, exciting, fun and have a concept behind it. My concept being: childhood dens/ imagination and the breaking down of the artwork/ viewer barrier. It’s a hard job tidying all the poly’ up though. Yet I still went on to install and develop that same installation at other COME nights, exhibitions and even a party.
Installation: Poly' Pit
Poly' Pit installation has the same idea as Poly' Room but instead of being in an enclosed room there is no roof. This stops the installation being demolished too soon. The installation had the same effect at COME [spontaneously] as it did at the first COME. Except this time there were more people involved and the installation was more involved throughout the evening as people spent there time dancing and playing around inside it. I like the idea of both the installations in clubs. The first one being more of a chillout room and the second being a chaotic pit.
Documentation from COME [spontaneously]:
Installation: Two Way DJ
This was an installed at COME [on girls] on the dance floor infront of the DJs. I consisted of two curved two way mirrors in total 5ft wide and 6ft high. The idea behind the installation was playing on the set theme of gender. It allowed the viewer to view themselves dancing in drag in the distorted reflection of the mirrors. This opens up the relationship between art and viewer. If they can see themselves in a humorous manner then they can concider the art in the same way. Allowing the viewer to enjoy the artwork in a relaxed, yet exciting setting.
Documentation of the making:
Installation: COME mock installation
This installation was an attempt to simulate the experience of a COME event. It was situated in the darkened project room. Before the viewer entered the room I supplied them with a can of beer and some DJ headphone which played a mix from resident DJs GET MESSY. As the viewer entered the UV lit room the first thing they noticed was the arcade machine which was playing the promotional video for COME [on girls]. They were then attracted to the light emitting from around the corner of the room where a UV reactive blanket laided on the floor as an invite to stand on while looking at photographs taken at COME [on girls].
Video: Zombie Holocaust
This is a visual sound video I collaboratively made with the Band Bacchic Frenzy. The video shows the narrative of the band members going on a journey to launch a model zepplin airship. But when they get to the top of the hill they realise that there isn't enough helium to float the ship and so throw it off the hill side in frustration.
Drawing/ Writing: Selected Drawings and Writings from my Notebooks
Here are some selected drawings and writings from my notebooks from the past year:
