SALON: Open Critique

Taking part in the SALON gives us the oppertunity to temporarily put up work in the South London Gallery and then present it to both our peers and members of the public. It is a very daunting experience first off, however, one I found to be extremely helpful influencing the progression of my work and also my confidence when speaking about my work.

I decided to show part of an installation I had been working on, which was the combination of a 35mm slide projection still, a large piece of rectangular styro foam and a table top; however it was very much in an experimental stage, and therefore not quite yet quite resolved.

The cream table top sat ont the floor of the gallery, whilst the foam on top of it presented the projected image of my brother and father sat at breakfast table drinking. In order for the projection to be seen, the lighting had to be partly dimmed; if too dark it would cancel out the image which was already printed on the material. The projection was to act as an alterior dimension to complete the breakfast scene image. However, I wasnt convinced myself that this was neccessary once the installation was put together. Was this giving too much away?

My initial aim was to re create or re stage this speciffic scene using the inherent qualities of the materials and the combination of image and object. I was drawn to the styro foam because of its power to absorb an image, presenting a very seductive and cinematic quality, which I felt contributed to this sense of place and nostalgia.

Even though initially, my plan was to build an actual breakfast table in order to reference the scene quite literally; after seeing it set up in the space, I felt it worked as an interesting piece sat on the floor. I just needed a set of objects such as cups, saucers, plates and glasses to be placed on the table to make it more on the way to completion. If an actual table and set of 'props' were to be incorporated into the piece, I felt this could look very theatrical and 'too' set up and perhaps an installation that is not 'believable' to the viewer which is something I really do need to think more about. How are the objects functioning and how is the image functioning?