Instillation narrative LO1

Spartacus Chetwynd is a British turner prize winner. Her work breaks boundaries
of civilisation by ignoring race, sex and religion by representing the human life as
primitively possible. Her work often includes people dressed animals to represent
the animalistic side of life conjoined with a dark humour of ridiculous violence.
Throwing faeces and fighting to show dominance while contradicting with the
artificial environment created by actors dressed up. Her work varies from video
instillations, to interpretive dance to paintings. Her video instillations create an
environment to view the video, she creates ambient lighting with an almost Andy
Warhol instillation, 70s vibe towards the boundaries of the room with geometric
floor and roof to express the degrading effects prejudices and politics have put in
to society. She has set it up like you are watching a video of a different topic
inside her mind. The ambient lighting
reflects her lust to be primitive by
evoking the idea of love and sex into
the viewers head while the geometric
boundaries represent humiliation she
holds against herself and society
degrading around her because of selfindulgence of opinions and beliefs. The
humour from this comes from the
irony, she is an artist to express
herself but giving it to the people to
see feeds her ego and wants them to
appreciate her work for what she is
showing. It is what I find so powerful
and yet annoying about her work. You can understand where she is coming from
and so people (including me) idealise that free mind but the hypocrisy to work
crave for attention is what I find annoying because you cant relate to her in this
sense.
The pyramid beside the chairs represent her and the audiences direction in the
world. People the 21st century are so driven by the media, they are injected with
ideas and beliefs that they never realise because it is so indirect that we look for
a direction on what our lives should become. As her work represents the
animalistic side to us the tv show us that we have become programed to watch
the tvs because we crave a wider understanding of what we want to do but it
also shows us how numb society has come to nature. It creates the realisation
that no matter how pretentious or free we think we are from the media or art
there is a man behind a screen pulling strings that we are all attached to. We are
more likely to be tempted to watch the tv beside the chairs because they are just
out the corner of our eyes and if we look (and understand something) that the
artist doesnt want us to see then we feel like we are breaking away from that
man behind the screen pulling our strings where what is real happening is now
the artist is pulling your strings. Its fascinating to see how the screens both the
tvs and projector can hypnotise us into thinking we are better than who we are.
This environment which she created strips the viewer down to their bare bones
and shows them for the narcissist for who they really are and make them
ashamed. This projects the idealisation they have for her primitive mind set and
work.

Patrick sadd

Instillation narrative LO1

Her work doesnt hold narratives, she focuses in on the feeling and aim for the
viewer to idealise purity. Much like Andy Warhols video instillations she focuses
in on the drama behind someones physical appearance. Stripping things down
to nothing but emotions and idealising the person who is feeling different from
watching the same work.

Marie Jo Lafontaine is a Belgian is an artist whose first exhibition was in 1982 and
shes been creating all sorts of work prior.
This video instillation is a reflection of the environment in which its showed. The
video is of a man looking over another mans shoulder whos is looking at the
viewer. You cant escape is stare because you are surrounded by the same video
all around.it is intimidating. It represents how the media and technology is
intimidating us and even if we think we use technology or media actively at the
end of it, we are always injected with a manipulated thought or belief on a topic.
The two men in the video could be acting out a goodbye. You just dont know
how, it could represent death. If so then the idea that the environment and video
intimidate is completely irrational. It could be a cell which helps the idea of death
circle around the viewer helping them get their emotions in order with death. The
environment and video both complement each other. The effect they both have
depends on how the viewer interprets the video and the emotions they have
towards confined space.
A lot of her work likes to isolate individuals. She uses very clean, either big or
really small areas. This is so that it creates a narrative to how the audience
viewer her work. The smaller the environment the viewer will see it from a first
person perspectives whereas with big areas it put the viewer in a third person
point of view. A small area captures the sense of entitlement and individuality
because it is just one person watching the instillation and you forget that there is

Patrick sadd

Instillation narrative LO1

an outside world.

Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller

A couple who were raised in Canada and have been working together since 1995
with their first project being an instillation video the represented a snapshot in
everyday life called dark pool. The environment in which the video was showed
played a collection of short noises like extracts from a conversation, cardboard
furniture and objects that only last for a short time. The instillation made people
focus on the video and appreciate the fact that it will end. It was a message to
the audience from the artists telling them that their art is temporary. They know
it wont last forever and they dont want it to. They want to evolve and not be
pinned in one corner of art by their fans. By letting the audience know that the
art will soon end makes them appreciate it a lot more.

Patrick sadd

Instillation narrative LO1

There is a piece of art they
created named the paradise
institute. The experience of an
empty cinema. They have
managed to create an
environment that tricks people
into feeling like they are sat in a
cinema that is made out of tiny
cardboard seats and the movie
is played on a tv. The audience
enter a wooden room with two
rows of velvet lined seats; one
for watching the instillation over
the banister and a perspective
row for people to watch people
watching the instillations. The
instillation is two parallel
narratives, there is the video and
the audio. The video is a classic French film between two lovers which
The film is a noir thriller about a murder, the more disturbing and exciting part
about the instillation is the audio. The viewer puts on head phones isolating them
from the outside world and putting the cinema idea as a first person perspective.
The audio is of sounds you might hear in the cinema; phone ringing, people
talking and the even more haunting the parallel narratives of someone being
murdered in the cinema as the footage in the film is a murder scene. The realism
and the surrealism coincide to create panic in the viewer because they are in set
in the first person perspective of the environment but they also feel helpless to
the murder in the cinema. Making them understand or even changing the way
they view death. It shows them that it cant be controlled. This upsets the viewer.
This is what I like about this piece, its no underlying message to it, no irony or
pretentiousness.it has its own meaning to each person, and some people may
find that meaning others might just appreciate the aesthetic of it. Its a piece for
everyone.

Patrick sadd