Printer Developments (Need all photos up for this)
Took photos up on Calton Hill – of the view and of the hilltop.
A continued hatred for printers: bought ink from tesco because it was cheap. Obviously my printer rejected it.
Managed a smaller version which I printed as a tester – margins a bit of an issue maybe – may have been because printer wasn’t aligned. Think it could look interesting having skyline on one wall and reverse view on the other – what it might do to sense of space in my room – site/nonsite into interior design, immersive.
Printer ink is very expensive – is it worth it? need to buy new ink anyway
Used online rasterbator converter
Next day (Thurs) – waste of money and time using own printer – just go to a printers
Print sponge or Edinburgh Copy Shop – £25-30 for colour – not worth that, just went for black and white draft.
WALL DEVELOPMENT
I really enjoy repetitive, durational processes – where I can have music on in the background – where I can spend a whole day doing it. But think I also enjoy knowing roughly where I’m going with the process, otherwise I question what I’m doing.
The day I completed the first wall I became aware of the change in daylight and began thinking of using daylight as an organisational/time-keeping tool. Morning/early light consider what I aim to do in the day, make a list – Late morning/afternoon make work – darkness of late afternoon into evening, reflection (blog). Obviously not possible to follow this every day but perhaps Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.
Could explore more DIY/interior design processes – did enjoy making my wall – had a long-term process (was it really long term?)
I’ve used a lot of paper for one development so need to consider how to use this paper afterwards – how can I best make an A4 booklet? What else can I do with the paper?
Have realised I’m a page short at the bottom of the wall – how will it look? Will I need another row from the copyshop? – no that won’t deal with it – would need to rasterbate the image again to be 15 or 16 wide, 8 or 9 tall. May not really be an issue because will need to move everything back against the wall.
It’s up and I’m happy with it.
WE ARE WHERE WE ARE – this is a collective phrase – could I make the work interactive? encourage people to point out or mark where they stay – would satisfy collective aspect of the theme.
For some reason I was fixated on having colour printouts for the wall but black and white works really well – primarily because it matches my monochrome room (grey tartan curtains and grey tufted carpet) – The blurred grey stones on Calton Hill are of a similar visual texture to my tufted bedroom carpet.
Had issue of paper coming away from wall once I got halfway down – only used one central piece of blu tack so it would blow apart as I moved back and forth – I started using tack on both top corners of the paper – the slight overlapping of the margins holds the arrangement flat against the wall.
The images come together like a digital mesh which I think works well – the view isn’t real it’s virtual.
People actually have these kinds of things on their walls – the New York skylines – an interior design fantasy or aspirational interior design.
INTERIOR DESIGN ASPECT – it matches the carpets, matches the curtains, matches the white furniture – I’ve domesticated Calton Hill – It’s interesting with curtains shut – shutting out the window view – a dichotomy. It’s actually nice to look at, though at the same time imposing. A sense of distance and claustrophobia at the same time – looking into the distance and the wall in front of you.
The calming/grounding effect of a view – getting out of one’s immediate environment and out of one’s head. A lockdown relevance to this – mental health, confined spaces, indoors/outdoors, fantasy, stir-crazy.
Relating to contextual research – this is a displacement of a site by reproduction of views from/of the site – my room conceptually becomes the site. – Is this accurate? Can you make a nonsite out of documentary/photographic material? In a way like Adam Chodzko’s Better Scenery – conceptual rather than physical displacement.
Looking forward to getting the other wall done and seeing what it all looks like with furniture in place. V. satisfied with the symmetry, which was necessary to create the sense of an actual view.
Could work as a photography piece – can I get people to view it in another way? – virtual reality? – 360 view
What is it? – photography and installation
What am I trying to communicate? – That place is becoming less of a site specific reality and that it is no longer only a physical thing – google maps, currently covid (has that not been true for as long as photography?) – Nah, place has always existed strongly in the imaginary. – Trying to communicate an imaginary/fantastical sense of place – like Adam Chodzko – turning my room into another location/setting.
I was following the strand of the view being a defining feature of a place – which is interesting in that the view on Calton Hill is everything that it isn’t.
THAT FACE ON THE PATH DOWN PAST SCOTMID
My space has been changed by the work – the making of the work required the rearrangement of my room and the finished work changes the feeling of the room.
LET JENNIE KNOW WHEN DONE WITH THIS
1-1 with Jennie
Nancy Holt – Charlotte Prodger made a good film about her, was Scotland’s representative in Venice last year.
Calton Hill – gay scene, boy racers, Jewish burial ground, David Hume walk – enlightenment and enlightenment thinking – The sublime, Emmanuel Kant – Calton Hill is a strange viewpoint in that it feels separate from everything.
Bedroom work – A vast landscape positioned in tight bedroom space – an interesting contradiction of vastness and claustrophobia. Kind of performative, I’m living within it.
One concern is how do I develop from something that looks/feels finished?
RESEARCH the site
Two defining features are follies: Nation’s disgrace and Observatory – national vanity projects.
calummartin 