new proposal brief

Please give a brief description of the work you intend to exhibit specifying materials and size.

Piece One: Bird Enclosure Projection on the ceiling.

Piece Two: 1-3 A1 Photographic Stills of Birds eyes

Piece Three: (possible) secondary projection on bottom section of wall of an extinct animal walking around

Piece One: Shooting in HD (1080i), and angling the camera upward, I took a watching position in a free flying bird enclosure. In shot is the warehouse-like roof, which cuts of the birds from the sky they are idealistically associated with. A man-made obstacle fencing off nature, controlling where it exists.

Occasionally, you see the birds flitting across the footage. The sightings off them are uncommon and often obstructed by the tropical plants used to create their unnatural natural environment.

The work would be exhibited by projecting the footage onto the ceiling of the gallery space, which is at a similar angle to the roof of the space I originally filmed in. The architecture of the space with the steel girders also has similar properties to the warehouse like enclosure it was filmed in. The existence of the birds in the gallery space would echo the unnatural environment they were filmed in.

Piece Two: Photographic Stills of the eyes of owls and raptors (birds of prey such has hawks and falcons). There is a reflection of the surrounding landscape in the eyes which comments on the environment the birds are kept in.

They are printed large so that the reflections become clear. I have focused on the eyes so that the animal it belongs to doesn’t become obvious. This reflects on the way we will never fully understand the animal, through lack of recognition. How as humans, we will never know what the animals is thinking, or even if it is capable of thinking in the way the human mind understands it.

Piece Three: A second projection in the same space as the birds. This one will be aimed at floor level. The imagery is that of the last of a species; the Thylacine, in captivity where it died. It walks up and down a confined cage. The concrete floor in the video is similar to that of the gallery space. The black and white footage from the 1800s is jumpy and reminiscent of old art videos like the performances of Joseph Bueys. This work is commenting on how human attitude towards endangered animals has changed. The Thylacines welfare management would not have met the standards of the animal protection act (2006) we have in force today.

Please give a brief account of the main themes in your work and how these are contained in the final show?

All three of my works contain a tension between the animal and the human world. The bird projection shows tropical birds freely flying around a large enclosure. However, the roof of the enclosure present in the video has a window revealing the sky. So the natural habitat the birds are traditionally associated with is cut off from them. SO these birds have never actually flown in the sky.

The bird piece will be shown in the same room as the Thylacine projection, which clearly shows a cruel environment to keep an animal, let alone the last of a species. It being shown in the same area as the birds will pull out the idea of the human control on the environment. The thylacine video is black and white and jumpy, in contrast to the high definition bird video. Both styles of filming are associated with different eras, thus highlighting how animal welfare has changed.

The animals in the prints are left ambiguous, zoomed right into the eye which reflects the animals environment. Not allowing the viewer to access the type of animal they are looking at, comments upon how, although now in our society where animal welfare is taken seriously, we still do not understand them. We do not know what they are thinking, or even if they are capable of thought. The landscape reflection in the eyes reveal the way the environment is viewed through the eyes of the animal. My aim is to raise questions and bring the topic of how we interact with animals forward, rather than commenting negatively or positively on the subject. I want the viewer to think about how  we as humans respond to animals.

Please explain the choice of spaces and how this helps you to ensure that your work is seen to its best advantage.

Plan A

The Ceiling in the space is built similarly to the ceiling in the space the footage was filmed in. The angle of the ceiling is the same and both spaces have steel girders. This would allow the video to be viewed at the same perspective as vistors would see the birds flying in the enclosure would see them.

The space is also big enough and has enough access to plugs to put my second projection in the same space.. The second projection I want to project into the corner, close to te floor, which is how, again the footage was shot. The viewer would also be looking downwards at the creature, again like they would to that in a zoo.

So just outside on the walls should be acceptable as id like the viewer to see my work in an order, go in through the door on the right, see the bird and thylacine projections and go out and look at the prints