memory trace

Graduation

2008-07-20T18:19:00.023Z

Over the course of 2008, the Memory Pool pieces continue to be shown extensively, with a selection of work shown on the BBC Big Screen in Liverpool during January and February. Surveil was shown by FInal Cut in Brighton in January, Flicker was included as part of Live Screen at Sadler's Wells in April, and the central section of Three Orchestral Variations is being shown as part of EDIT in Budapest in October. Trace and Splice have both been shown at a variety of festivals this year, including Dance and Media Japan in Yokohama; VideodanzaBA's touring programme in Mexico; Il Coreografo Elettronico in Naples, VDance in Tel Aviv, Xontakt in Split and Lumen Eclipse's I-Minute Film Fest in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Trace has also been shown as part of Independent Exposure's Best of 2007 programme in Houston, Texas, and at ADF's Dancing for the Camera in North Carolina in July, and at ReelDance's Sydney-based festival and touring programme, which is reviewed at RealTime85. Splice was shown as part of the South East Dance-curated Dance for Camera Shorts at British Dance Edition, Liverpool, in January, and subsequent touring programme; Moves in Manchester in April, Final Cut's screenings as part of the Brighton Festival in May, Videoholica, Varna, in August, and is being screened as part of Danca em Foco in Brazil during September and at Instants Video, Montreal and Oslo Screen Festival in October. In March, I travelled to Switzerland where the piece was awarded second prize at Gstaadfilm, and reviewed at Gstaadonline.

A final end point to the PhD came at Middlesex's Hendon Campus for graduation in July, and the process would not be complete without thanks to Professors Alexandra Carter, Christopher Bannerman and Susan Melrose, who guided through three and a half years of very intensive work.

A last entry for the Memory Trace blog, but new work and new projects can be accessed at

Phase Shift
unspooled
hand held

Dissemination2 - autumn/winter screenings

2007-12-14T09:32:00.000Z

During the final months of the year, Trace has been shown at Screendance Basel and Festival Temps D'Images in Lisbon. Both Trace and Splice have been screened as part of Frame 2007 in Portugal; Festival Internacional de Videodanza de Buenos Aires and EDIT 07 in Budapest. Splice was also shown at Dance for Camera in Brighton

In addditon, Trace has been selected as part of Independent Exposure's Best of 2007 programme, screened in San Francisco in November, which provides a good point to bring to a close three years of blog entries, following the development of work from initial ideas to screenings, and which has charted the progress of PhD research from preparatory reading to viva.

2008 will see new a new Shiftwork project in development, with a new blog to record its progress.

Dissemination1 - Summer Screenings

2007-07-15T14:30:00.000Z

Knotwork, Partial Visibility and Splice were shown as part of papers given at the Moves Screen Choreography Conference in Manchester and the Society for Dance Research New Scholars Conference in London in June.

Splice was also shown at Cinedans in Amsterdam and ADF Dancing for the Camera, North Carolina during July. Splice and the central section of Three Orchestral Variations were shown as part of From Actuality to Illusion at Chisenhale Dance Space, London, and Flicker is being shown as part of Danca em Foco in Brazil.

Memory Pool screening

2007-05-03T21:56:00.000Z

Series of photos recording the showing of the whole cycle as a computer-based installation at Trent Park, representing the culmination of three years of making work.

Screenings7 - Memory Pool

2007-04-26T13:43:00.000Z

During 2007, various of the pieces have been shown at festivals and events. Expanse was shown as part of the Fresh: Overground Screenings in Bracknell; Splice as part of 700is in Iceland; Trace and Flicker are screening as part of Videodance07 in Athens, and Trace is also screening as part of Independent Exposure 2007 in Houston, Seattle and San Francisco. Flicker is included in the compilation DVD Final Cut - Take Three, and Trace and Surveil are being shown as part of the Final Cut screenings at the Brighton Festival.

The entire cycle of work is being screened at Trent Park on May 3rd as a computer-based installation.

Connective Tissue 9 : Early February

2007-02-03T13:25:00.000Z

The final series of images from footage filmed in and around Petersfield and Mill Road Cemetary for use as interval films.

Duet For Two Hands

2006-12-10T19:12:00.000Z

'Something in the work process comes through, that I am not capable of thinking along the lines of thought.'
Stan Brakhage

Series of stills from footage fimed at Trent Park in June '05

Series of stills from footage filmed at Trent Park in October '05

To view the piece click here.

Shooting Footnotes:
As this idea has been in my mind for some time, and I like the series of stills generated by two filmed improvisations, I decided to use them to construct a 'final, final' piece for the cycle. Also seems appropriate to end where I started - identifying stills and lots of hands...

Connective Tissue8: Interval Films

2006-11-12T15:56:00.001Z

'A large percentage of the programmes in those days were live, and camera breakdowns, even after all that tender, loving care, were sadly quite common. To cover these little interruptions, or when programmes were shorter than they should have been, there was a collection of 'interval films' that were shown. The most famous of these (in the U.K.) was the potter's wheel. Shot on film, it showed a potter making something on his wheel. All you saw was his hands and the clay as he worked, always pushing it down to start again, so you never saw the finished thing.'
Bob Lockyer

Series of stills from footage filmed over a two year period, which will be developed into a series of 'interval films', placed between each section of the Memory Pool's forty pieces.

Screenings6

2006-10-21T21:02:00.000Z

During November 'o6, Partial Visibility is being shown as part of International Screenings 1 at Dance on Screen, London, and Trace is also being shown as a One Minute wander as part of the Living Room programme. Expanse is being shown - along with Text Field - as part of Jump Shorts at the Leeds International Film Festival. Surveil is being shown in Seattle as part of Independent Exposure's Fall Edition 2006 and Flicker is being screened at the Festival Internacional de Videodanza de Buenos Aires, and also at Frame 2006, Festival Internacional de Video-Danca in Portugal. Partial Visibiliy is also being shown as part of Dance on Screen on Tour in Bassano, Firenze and Ferrara.

Endnote

2006-10-08T15:34:00.000Z

'When everything that can be told has been told'.
Bela Balasz

Series of stills from Endnote:

To view the piece click here.

Shooting footnotes:
The final piece of the cycle. Filmed in June '06 at Trent Park. Performer is Maddy Tongue.

15:12

2006-10-02T16:38:00.000Z

"As the eye moves, the body is in movement.'
Stan Brakhage

Series of stills from 15:12

To view the piece click here

Shooting Footnotes:
This footage, filmed from the Cambridge/Ely train in August '06, was also used for The Distance Between Points, but took on a life of its own. The piece is very obviously influenced by Michel Gondry's 'Star Guitar', and also by the work of Geoffrey Jones.

The Distance Between Points2

2006-09-28T13:31:00.000Z

'The individual moment or image is valuable only insofar as its ripples spread out and encompass the richness of many moments.'
Maya Deren

Series of still from The Distance Between Points

To view the piece click here

Shooting footnotes:
Footage of hands filmed at Trent Park in March '05, intercut with footage from the Cambridge to Ely train journey from August '06. I had originally intended to use a range of different footage in the piece, but the contrast between the hands and the almost subliminal motion of the train worked particularly well. This piece will begin the whole cycle of work, and the performer is Maddy Tongue.

Day Return

2006-09-10T19:34:00.000Z

Series of stills filmed from the window of a train travelling from Cambridge to Ely on August bank holiday monday 2006. The footage will be included in The Distance Between Points.

Connective Tissue7: Late August

2006-09-10T18:35:00.000Z

Stills from footage of the patterns and reflections in the River Cam, filmed from Grantchester Meadows.

Stills from footage of the patterns made by leaf shadow, filmed in Maid's Causeway.

Stills from footage of a variety of trees and puddles, filmed around Petersfield.

Connective Tissue6: Memory Pool

2006-08-26T11:25:00.001Z

These stills are from footage filmed in Oxford in August 2006. As is often the case, I had something else in mind entirely which didn't work out, and an alternative approach resulted in images which will be central to the project as a whole.

Had in mind for a long time the idea to film fish, and these stills are from footage taken at the Botanical Gardens in Cambridge in August '06. I like the stills very much, but am not sure whether I will use the footage.

These stills are from footage filmed around Maid's Causeway and the River Cam, for use in The Distance Between Points.

Screenings5

2006-08-26T11:15:00.002Z

Over the summer and into autumn, the new pieces are being shown in a variety of contexts, incuding screendance festivals, short film showcase and artists moving image events. Expanse has been screened at Max5 as part of Projektor in London; Trace has been shown as part of Fresh: Artists Showcase in Bracknell and at the Gstaadfilm Festival; Surveil is being screened in Houston, Colorado Springs, Seattle and San Francisco as part of Independent Exposure's Fall Edition 2006 and Flicker is being shown at Edit 2006 2nd International Festival of Dance Film in Budapest.

A full list of Memory Pool screenings can be accessed here.

Connective Tissue5: Cloudwatching

2006-08-03T17:35:00.003Z

Series of stills from Cloudwatching:

Shooting Footnotes:
Filmed from St. Matthew's Gardens in late July '06.

Coda

2006-07-24T13:33:00.000Z

'Creativity consists in a logical, imaginative extension of a known reality. The more limited the information, the more inevitable the necessity of its imaginative extension.'
Maya Deren

Series of stills from Coda:

Shooting Footnotes:
Filmed at Trent Park in June '06, this material forms a coda to Three Orchestral Variations and will be screened by projection when the Memory Pool is shown at Middlesex next year. Performer is Alan Tongue.

Two of space and one of time

2006-07-24T12:47:00.000Z

'Editing is a construction in three dimensions. two of space and one of time.'
Walter Murch

Series of stills from Two of space and one of time:

To view the piece click here

Shooting footnotes:
Filmed at Trent Park in June '06, as part of a series of experiments using two cameras to film the same sequence simultaneously. All of the other experiments developed in different directions, but this particular sequence worked as a two-viewpoint piece. Performer is Dominique Bulgin.

Inward

2006-07-21T15:34:00.000Z

'Close-ups are often dramatic revelations of what is really happening under the surface of appearances.'
Bela Balazs

Series of stills from Inward:

To view the piece click here

Shooting Footnotes:

Filmed at Trent Park in June '06, I had a highly complex idea - originally planned for Endnote - which developed into something else entirely. Performed by Maddy Tongue, I particularly liked the delicacy and detail of gesture evident in the long shots, contrasted with the textural richness of the extreme close-ups.

Connective Tissue4:Early June/Early July

2006-07-08T19:58:00.000Z

'Instead of trying to invent a plot that moves, use the movement of wind, or water, children, people, elevators, balls etc, as a poem might celebrate these.'
Maya Deren

Series of stills: Early June

Shooting footnotes:
Filmed on a very hot Saturday morning at a variety of locations around the Petersfield area of Cambridge

Series of stills: Early July

Shooting Footnotes:
I have wanted to film 'rain in puddles' since last Autumn, but this summer storm was so heavy that the rain had to be filmed through the kitchen window.

A State of Being

2006-07-08T19:48:00.000Z

'The term 'point of view' may refer not only to a physical location, but a metaphorical one as well. Here, point of view may be a poetic, even abstract representation of place, or a visual reference to a purely emotional state of being.'
Douglas Rosenberg

Series of stills from A State of Being:

To view the piece click here

Shooting footnotes:
Filmed at Trent Park in June '06, I'd had the idea in mind for some time, inspired by the constant pulsing of my laptop, visible at night. The performer is Maddy Tongue, and with the piece I set out to capture some of the very particular qualities relating to Maddy's 'state of being' as she dances.

Spiro2

2006-07-08T19:40:00.000Z

'Body-centred rhythms, in the sense of cyclical energies, can not only be a source of inspiration for dance; they can also at times, and in a quite determined way, exercise a choreographic control over the dance itself.'
Maxine Sheets-Johnstone and David B. Richardson

Series of stills from Spiro:

To view the piece click here

Shooting footnotes:
At the third attempt, got the footage that I wanted for this idea, filmed at Trent Park in June '06. The performer is Dominique Bulgin, and I like that, although short, the piece provides a snap-shot of Dominique's movement quality.

screenings4

2006-05-20T15:03:00.000Z

'The filmmaker looks at his works and shows them to some friends or perhaps even a large audience, and begins to see that they hold up, that they have a form of integrity. And this happens much to the artist's surprise.' Stan Brakhage

The new pieces are beginning to be shown - During May, Flicker is in competition at Il Coreografo Elettronico and programmed at the Final Cut Screenings at the Brighton festival. Flicker is also beig shown as part of the Final Cut/Birds Eye View programme in Brighton. Magical Thinking is included in the compilation DVD Final Cut Take Two.

April/May

2006-05-15T17:58:00.000Z

'The natural landscape is the raw material of the human psyche.' Bill Viola

Selection of stills from April/May

To view the piece click here.

Early April

Filmed on a very cold afternoon in Coleridge Recreation Ground on April 6th. I like that the volume of traffic can be heard as a part of the piece.

Mid April

Filmed in Mill Road Cemetary on Good Friday, and featuring one of the trees which was previously filmed in Mid-October.

May Day

Filmed on the St. Matthews Estate on May 1st. I'd seen the tree in blossom last spring, and wasn't organised enought to film it, so had to wait a year for the chance to catch it again.