Poster for the event made by Ben Prior
In December I was approached by the head of our department to see if I was interested in putting on an exhibition. We spoke about how it was a shame that not all UCA students who put work forward to The Pixies tour got selected to be shown and that we'd like to showcase their work and efforts.
From there we planned and decided to use the projector premise from the Pixies gig with the idea of having multiple screens around a space for people to walk around and observe as the show played out. The event was planned as a screening, playing the Surfer Rosa album: an evening to showcase animation and video work for the Pixies by UCA students.
Empty space
Equipment ready
Setting up & testing
Projectors in use (tests)
Setting up equipment and testing
My first solo exhibition, I was given The Kirk Lecture Theatre at UCA Canterbury, (a 4 wall open space). The album Surfer Rosa is 32.50 long which meant editing 4 separate 32.50 video for each of the 4 walls so that people in the space could travel around and see something new but also become immersed by what's on the walls.
I got 4 projectors (1 on the ceiling and 3 based on the floor), 3 media boxes and 3 plinths (to hold the projectors and give them height). I positioned them in the centre of the room, each projector aiming at its own wall with a media box attached, containing a USB with the edited 32.50 film on. Ideally, I ideally needed a Raspberry Pi but there wasn't one about so I got two friends to help (and attempt) for us all to click the play button to each box at the same time for the films to match.
Journal plan "Something Against You'
Bridge and Verse planning
Screen selection and connection
In narrative terms, I always think in sound or music. In other words, when I hear music I think in narrative/ I see a story: this is how I decided to edit the screening. As the walls and screens were symmetrical I edited the projectors in pairs e.g if some went black, 2 (or 1) would always be on. I edited the videos as if they were instruments e.g drum beat, bass, rhythm and riff/ vocals etc.
By doing this it created layers around the room so that, not only were the videos moving but so were the projections e.g turning off after the other and returning or 2 playing while the others stayed dark. In songs like Gigantic, I used the same footage for the iconic bass riff and have that same footage return when the riff did. Other examples include 'Im Amazed' in the spoken word segment of the song. For this I had the text move around the room on each projector as if they were taking turns: the text flowing, until words were spoken at the same time (in the song) where 2 screens would play.
Photos from the screening (above)
The way I worked it was that, I wanted to visualise the sound of The Pixies and their album through the UCA student's work. If a song or song section was calm then I'd use more tranquil visuals and vice versa with the more chaotic films made.
Overall the screening was very successful and the room was full to the door with people sitting in all corners of the space. It got a really good reception and I had a lot students ask about my experience working with The Pixies. It was really nice being able to talk to people passionate about what I'd done but also what they do as well as a mutual love for the band. I really enjoyed my first show and the experience of doing it.