CAST SOME LIGHT
a private view in a public sphere
The Scene is set:
A Muslim man dressed in white is moving through a cityscape – he is marked and segregated from the crowd, even though he is right in the middle of it – like a performer he is imposing his identity on to the unsuspecting crowd. A change of scene, now in a true cinematic style: a young blonde man with blue eyes is running through a corn field on a warm summer’s day – soon he (along with the audience) will experience an emotional and overwhelming scenario in the back of a truck.
Cut.
Suddenly the gaze is fixed on a familiar setting: peeping into someone’s bedroom – it is private and yet very public, seen through the lens of a webcam – an awareness that someone is looking at the couple in the bed, makes the scene feel less voyeuristic, but we are still watching as the man undresses himself. The couple seem somehow disconnected from each other and the situation; the line between personal relations and public persona becomes blurred in the light of a telly flashing in their bedroom.
Flash.
A woman is sitting in front of her computer in a living room. The camera tracks her, following her movements in a documentary style, as she plays with her cats. The perception of documentary is torn and leaves traces of uncertainty as a mechanic voiceover describes a woman’s love affair and marriage with the Berlin wall, and how she repress the fact the wall has almost been torn down. *
The line between public and private, space and relations, is seemingly being eroded in today’ s society. What was traditionally viewed as the public sphere is disappearing whilst simultaneously there is the rise of a new realm of private space; one that is becoming increasingly public.
The public sphere was historically a place where people could physically come together to discuss and debate issues of public relevance. As the public realm has become subsumed by a capitalist culture, this physical space has diminished and face to face interaction on matters of public interest receded.
However rather than disappearing entirely, this space has been replaced, in some part, by the ability to communicate ideas through technology. Now it is possible for people to air their thoughts and views to an international community from their own private space via blogs, internet forums, social networks and chat rooms. Although it is to be celebrated that this space for expressing ideas exists, it also has its limits, as frequently these ideas can only be conveyed as a monologue and the truly discursive act of exchange between strangers is lost.
By using three different arenas for presenting the works in Cast So me Light; the art institution, the commercial cinema and the internet, we hope to traverse differing public and private spaces. The spaces themselves provide a place in which ideas on the changing nature of public and private space can be reflected upon, reinforced by the content of the works. We are interested at the point at which the artwork meets with the audience, and devised the format of the project to investigate this. Through creating different spaces for the audience to encounter the works we hope to impact upon how the language of the works are read in these contexts.
Through inserting works individually into a cinema presentation the audience's expectations are questioned. Those encountering the works at the Glasgow Film Theatre will typically be a movie going audience, for whom the works are likely to be an added extra to the programme, rather than what they specifically came to see.
Historically the placement of a short before the feature was common practice and offered the opportunity for directors to do something more experimental in approach. This space before the feature is now dominated by advertising – for products in general and other movies. The language of these 'shorts', using the different tools of advertising and a bombardment of information, is very different to that of the works presented within Cast Some Light. Through the change of pace and tone in the artists’ works, we hope to create a small rupture in the viewing process, and create a space for the viewer to consider not only the content of the works, but also alternative ways of working with moving image.
The decision to present the works online allows the project to be launched worldwide, and it represents how information flows through geographically distinct places. Taking the works out of a fixed geographical location allows the viewing experience to be affected by an infinite number of different environmental situations specific to each viewer and completely beyond of anyone’s control. Cultural nuances of the works can be picked up upon or totally ignored, depending on the context.
This viewing situation is also essentially private; be that seen from a pc in the office or a laptop in the bedroom, the viewer picks their situation and decides where and when they will log on. This autonomy means the viewer to be in control of what they see; they decide what works they want to watch, if they watch them all the way through and if they want to share them with others, by sending links to people they know. It is left it up to the viewer to take an active role in relation to the project.
By using the Art institution (CCA) to screen the full programme of works, it allows single pieces to be interlinked with others, contrasting and complimenting one and another and building a wider picture, in a more traditionally ‘curated’ approach. It is hoped that audiences from the cinema, having seen one work there, may be encouraged to come and see the whole programme here.
Like all public institutions, the art gallery has its own audience to whom it is perceived as public and open. There is of course though a large section of the public who are unlikely to visit the art institution on a regular basis, despite the reasonably recent government policy making the majority of these institutions free in the UK – simply because a lot of people do not feel comfortable in this setting. The reason for this is often described as a set of codices some find it hard to relate to. The project aims question whether these unwritten codes can be challenged without compromising content of the programme and whether audiences can successfully cross over between the three venues, breaking down some of the borders that might exist between ‘them and us’.
Cast Some Light has selected 18 film and video works by artists who are all examining issues relating to public and private space from different personal and cultural perspectives in their practice.
*The narrative above is based on Shahram Entekhabi’s Islamic Star, Jesper Just’s Bliss and Heaven, Cheryl Sourkes’ Bedcam and Tova Mozard’s Wall of Love. These works represent some of the diversity of topics being explored in the programme; reality and fiction, space and place, gender, performance and domestic space to name but a few. Through these themes recurrence in different works throughout the programme, this disparate field is loosely tied together, pointing the viewer towards critical issues within current debate about ‘public and private’ and how they are viewed today. The artists presented demonstrate a diverse range of techniques and ways of working with film and video and none of them are afraid of dealing with subjects that might leave the audience with awkwardness and questions unanswered
Helen de Main and Maj Hasager
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