Pressure

You're pushing me too far
And who will take the blame

Alfredo Jaar ,"We Wish To Inform You That We Didn't Know",

Sitting on the floor and watching the video installation telling stories of a tragedy I’d barely known about made me feel initially small. This was a type of art I’d never really come across before, sort of like a documentary. It made me question whether it was even art, whether the suffering of people documented could be considered to be art. Can art be anything we simply name to be art?

I agree that the video was powerful, and it was obvious by the quiet and people’s still, silent faces during the pause between the end and start of the replay that it touched them as well as touching me.

It made me feel guilty for not knowing much about what had happened in Rwanda, it made me feel small for not being able to do anything about it, and once again it brought up questions in my mind about our current government, whether they are actually able to live up to any promises they have made.

The video made me think about human life and how many people there are on the planet, how many people there are in the world that I will never know.

Often when I am walking down the street I realise how little I know of the world, how many strangers I see makes me realise that the world is bigger than my small family, somehow I wish I could know every one of the strangers I see, but I’m still in my own little bubble like everyone else.

I found the use of 3 screens really interesting, how he paused and repeated scenes on each screen to really let what was being said sink in. I also like where the video installation was placed and how dark it was in the room, it felt like almost a rustic environment when we were all jammed in. I think the music he used towards the end was just perfect and really helped to set a scene for the type of environment it was at the time in Rwanda, and how sad it was and still is to the people involved.

I think Alfredo Jaar’s video accomplishes the task of making us more aware of what happened, obviously the artist was interested and touched in what happened to go and look for answers regarding the tragedy, which I admire.

>1038 hours

Self portrait done from a recording of myself playing a competitive gaming match online.

Royksopp - Remind Me

One of those videos that reminds me of how small I am

Do Ho Suh, "Bridging Home"

I can’t count how many times I have walked past this work in town and have never paid it any attention. I feel the idea of the building being held up by two others fascinating but the way it has been executed questionable. When first looking at the slanted Korean style building I couldn’t help but think to myself that it was false, the way there was a blockade in front preventing us from getting too close to the work made me feel disconnected. I would have liked to stand underneath it, to feel what it was like to see a building over me that looked like it could fall down any moment. (Probably why the barricade was there in the first place) I feel that this may have made the work really push itself into the environment rather than being an obvious temporary structure. I think I wish that someone lived inside the building however impractical that would be, to bring the building to life.

I do like the work however, I like how the building is different to a lot of the buildings in town, how it is slanted and in a way I like how it is hidden between two buildings, part of me wishes it was more on display but another part of me likes the intimacy of it being almost hidden.

Zbyněk Sedlecky

"Airport", 200x140cm, 2010

Sedlecky's work shows that even in the broadest of brushstrokes you can create an immense atmosphere. The great cityscape subjects are by right given a large scale to be represented on, and I feel that it wouldn't have had the same impact on a smaller scale. As I walked into the room where his paintings were mounted I couldn't help but stop and look, to admire the colour and the shapes the brushstrokes formed in the appealing compositions. I could tell that other people felt the same way, with a queue forming in front and behind me of people staring at the work.
My favourite piece was definitely "Airport", as for me it really captured the essence of an airport and the brushstrokes confirmed the feeling of constant movement and busyness within it.

Time flies by

The quick strokes of the violins and cello still rung in my ears hours after the performance, I felt touched by the strange sounds alien to a person who constantly listens to heavy guitars. The artist showing his work accompanied by music that synced perfectly in time with the moving images, the quick shuffle between close and far away displaying the scale of the gigantic heavy sculptures made me feel like they were somehow more alive.
The sound of the rolling ball descending the spiralling multicoloured complex made me imagine one of his giant sculptures rolling around a canyon road, which made me laugh a little bit.
It felt like it lasted only 5 minutes, I think that is a good indication that I enjoyed the performance.

The Feeling of Art

My mum always respects art that has taken a lot of time to create and that takes skill and practice to make.
The last time we walked around the Walker Art Gallery she made many comments on the paintings she liked that the artist must have spent a significant amount of time on the piece.
In a lot of ways I feel the same way she does, I like work to be aesthetically pleasing or to make me feel something, something I often can't explain.
Perhaps I like the familiar, maybe I'm stuck in the past, I can try to understand a lot of work, but that doesn't mean I'll have an amazing attachment to it like many images I love that some people may only see as being a pretty piece lacking in meaning.
I like what I like I suppose. I'll probably grow out of it. I can already feel it happening.