Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Breakout
victoria wareham
Breakout
victoria wareham
Contents
Foreword. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .pg 3 My Way/La Ci Darem La Mano. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pg 6-9 Trumpet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pg 10-11 Looking Back. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pg 12-13 Concerto Incognito. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pg 14-17 That Joke Isnt Funny Anymore. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pg 20-21 The Amateurs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pg 22-25 Chatshow / The Juggler. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pg 26-29 Make up for your alter ego. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pg 32-35 The Visitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pg 36-39 Disjunction Parts 1 & 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pg 40-43 Biography. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pg 46
1
Foreword
The perception of ourselves and how we are viewed by our peers is an essential part of how we understand and interpret the world around us. In a time where facebook profiles, twitter feeds, blogs and instant messaging are all ways that we are able to present our edited selves to the world, are we now all creating lives that are beautifully crafted feature films when in fact, what we are more excited by are the deleted scenes and out takes? Because ultimately, our ability to relate to one another is not in the facade that we carefully sculpt and tailor for ourselves, but is through the exposure of our mistakes, errors and humanity. One of the simplest mechanisms for exploring this notion is through the vehicle of film. The transcendental quality of this medium and its ability to both create and shatter icons is central to my current practice. Working with the moving image in physical space, my practice addresses theoretical concerns relating to cultural mimicry, performance and social mutation as defined by popular culture.
musicians
La Ci Darem La Mano 2008 video projection on glass/perspex polymer screen exhibition still The Truman Brewery, London
Musicians
My Way/La Ci Darem La Mano
My Way An attempt at differentiating between taught and true emotion, My Way depicts a young girl attempting to sing a song of reflection, endeavoring to portray emotions she cannot possibly have experienced. La Ci Darem La Mano The seminal love duet from Mozarts Don Giovanni, La Ci Darem La Mano sees two opera singers subverting their traditional roles in an attempt to demonstrate their perception of one another.
My Way 2007 video projection on satin mesh screen exhibition still Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth
Musicians
Trumpet
Trumpet is an exercise in humour and surprise, object and function. The work uses performance as a vehicle to question and subvert the perceived function of a device traditionally used to record performance.
10
11
Musicians
Looking Back
Looking Back is an exercise in deconstructing a musical performance. The vocals and visuals are disseminated across a space to allow the viewer to experience a performance in three dimensions. The viewer is forced to work to reconstruct each of the performative elements to be able to view the performance as a whole.
12
Looking Back 2011 four screen video projection commission for The Millais Gallery, Southampton
13
Musicians
Concerto Incognito
A bizarre mixture of vocal intonations, tones and syncopation, Concerto Incognito requires its audience to challenge historical fact against local mythology. Broadcast from a public bandstand, audience members are encouraged to collect a musical score and to sing their interpretation of this musical score.
14
15
16
17
Actors
18
19
Actors
That Joke Isnt Funny Anymore
An exploration of semantic satiation, the full duration of That Joke Isnt Funny Anymore sees a comedian rehearsing a stand-up routine 25 times to the point where the repetition causes the jokes to lose their original meaning.
20
21
Actors
The Amateurs
Taking a London amateur dramatic society as its focus, The Amateurs turns the rehearsal space into the subject of the film, and provides an intense contrast between the resting and performative states of the actors.
22
23
24
25
Actors
Chatshow / The Juggler
Chatshow Set in the living room of two old age pensioners, Chatshow, takes the transcribed dialogue of a day time television talk show and asks the viewing audience to read out the conversations, highlighting the obscure nature of passive social voyeurism. The Juggler The Juggler is a piece that challenges our perception of performance. We see an elderly woman performing to a street crowd and are presented with mixed feelings of humour and awe; revitalising the excitement and nature of true showmanship.
26
27
28
29
Residencies
30
31
32
32
Residency
Make up for your alter ego
Completed during a two month residency at Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne, Make up for you alter ego is a selection of site-specific works produced in Australia. Hollywood Miosis is a site-specific series of new video works that recreate iconic scenes from The Shining and Vertigo in the Studios of Gertrude Contemporary. The work is presented as a multi-screen, layered projection that plays with the physical and virtual properties of the cinematic image allowing the viewer to inhabit and navigate through the work on multiple levels. The circular incisions made in the projection screen remove the work from its inherent cinematic qualities and replaces them with references to the mechanical operation of the camera and perception and interpretation of the image by the eye. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly is a sculptural work that makes clear reference to the final eight minutes of the iconic film of the same title. A sculptural representation of this iconic cinematic scene, the work transforms this fictitious two-dimensional reality into a theatrical prop which, when activated by the presence of the viewer, is a clear three-dimensional reconstruction of this scene.
34
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (2013) performance sculpture
35
36
37
Residency
The Visitors
As part of a residency at the University of the Arts London, The Visitors is a site specific project that forces the resident artist to embody an unwanted visitor in the form of a domestic house fly. In this guise, the visitor must sit in student studio spaces and borrow objects from them to form a nest.
38
39
40
41
Residency
Disjunction Parts 1 & 2
The product of a residency at the former Dean Hill Army Munitions Depot, Disjunction Parts 1 & 2 simultaneously presents the viewer with a factual story of a former soldier with its theatrical interpretation. The viewer is able to inhabit the space between the fictitious performance and the documentary and to experience the transformation of the story as it occurs.
43
About
44
45
About
Biography
Based in London, Victoria has exhibited film installations across the UK and internationally. After completing her Undergraduate degree at the Arts University College Bournemouth, she then went on to complete her Masters degree at the Wimbledon College of Art. Working with the moving image in physical space, Victorias practice addresses theoretical concerns relating to cultural mimicry, performance and social mutation as defined by popular culture. She has taught at a number of higher education institutions including the University of the Arts London.
All images copyright Victoria Wareham 2013 Cover image: Animate Icon 2012 digital photographic print
46