Format Festival, Derby 15th-17th March 2019

Friday - University of Derby, Markeaton Street Campus

I have visited Derby’s biennial Format Festival since 2013. This year the University ran a one-day conference. The day was interesting and varied. It was good to meet fellow students and Derek and Helen (OCA Tutors). A number of papers were thought-provoking although some speakers crammed so much into their 25-minute slot that the pace was too fast to take notes and follow the ideas. I preferred the sessions where the speakers did not read entirely from their papers because their passion came through making the sessions more engaging. The sessions followed 3 strands; myths, narratives and histories, archiving the future and territory, identity and memory. I am interested in all 3 so choosing without the speaker bio’s was a bit of pot luck.

Edgar Martins

The first keynote speaker was Edgar Martins who worked in collaboration with Grain and HMP Birmingham exploring the social context of incarceration (imprisonment), exploring absence, ethics, visibility and aesthetics through the medium of photography, presenting his images as a short film (like Schrodinger’s cat experiment). Edgar’s use of narrative gives the inmates a different voice and encourages the viewer to question rather than using straight documentary photography. The film is also installed in Quad’s exhibition space.

This installation made me think about different ways to present images and narrative within a slide show.

http://www.edgarmartins.com/work/photography-common-empty-vase-2018-2019/ last accessed 21/03/19

Stephanie Rushton “Revolving the doors of perception: The phenomenological relationship between body and world through the realms of perception”

This work is from the Format festival 2017 which I saw and enjoyed at the time. It was interesting to revisit the images and explore the context behind the body of work. Inspired by JG Ballard and painters such as Van Gogh and Ernst, Stephanie compared their work to hers, explaining that they had been seeing in a dreamlike or meditative state whilst she experimented with technology to produce images. She used the word “pareidolia” which means “the perception of apparently significant patterns or recognizable images, especially faces, in random or accidental arrangements of shapes and lines” (OED, 2019) I could relate this back to my work on the trees in Sherwood Forest which started off by seeing faces on trees which I later manipulated actual faces onto. Stephanie also explored psychological links to Freud and schizophrenia, ways of seeing and drugs.

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/pareidolia last accessed 21/3/19

Alys Russell “Locative memory and photography: A study on the psychology related to place and memory in domestic photography”

This work looked at found domestic photos pasted onto billboards. Memories are geotagged in the brain based on location. Places and event memories become fused together. When people stumble on photos (not necessarily their own or people / places they know) it triggers a memory. I started to explore this a little in my last course with archived photographs of the village coal mine. This work looked at simulacrum (Baudrillard), punctum (Barthes) described as a prick of emotion which I noted as a succinct way of explaining it, using swear words on billboards to generate emotion and long-term memory. Discussed “3 billboards outside Ebbing Missouri” (dir. Martin Mcdonagh, 2017) which having seen, I thought related to the presentation.

Tim Daly “Beyond facsimile: the haptic photobook as a distributed archive”

Haptic -touch, optic – vision. Tim presented examples of photo books which were collectors’ pieces. Useful for the visiting the book fair on Saturday. (look at the following for inspiration)

Stephen Shore’s Road trip journal (2008) ephemera e.g. newspaper cuttings, tickets

Marcel Duchamp - Etant Donnes (1987) facsimile book

Christian Bottanski - Sans Sourci (1991) handmade book like a photo album feedback loop from feedback to mind

Robert Frank - Come again (2006) fold out pages, exposed spine binding, enhanced handling experience

Dennis Wheatley (1936-39) dossier format –different types of paper, formats, artefacts. Paper for viewer to write answers to clues. Bound with 3 holes and tied in a figure of 8. Journey of speculation, engagement.

Desires no publicity – Tim Daly (2015) Dossier as distributed archive

Long grove asylum - Tim Daly cover mimics found ephemera e.g. documents, books. Visited archives and photographed again. Used insitu ephemera.

Lesia Maruschak “Will you remember Maria? Photography and the making of a mobile memorial”

Leisa’s work is based on the 1932 famine in Ukraine. History, what happened, and memory are all different. She looks at how memorials function. Space is important. Memory making – exploration of what it is to make. Her work is a dance among the audience in rhythm, time and materiality. She explains her work as performative – if a photo is altered, painted on and handled, it changes over time (materiality of the photo). Maria is a space for viewers in the present to move into the future creating a collective memory or a memory to be created in a public space. This reminded me of the book by David Levi Strauss “between the eyes” regarding atrocities but being distant enough to make work marking the event to remind people of it.

Anne Braybon and Craig Easton “Tethered in time: how SIXTEEN interacts with FOREVER/NOW”

Craig Easton gave us an insight into his collaboration on the work 16. All the teenagers were born on the same day, sharing their 16^th birthday with the Scottish Referendum. I was interested to hear from Anne Braybon from the National Portrait Gallery on curating this exhibition.

Paul Hermann “Digital legacy: Questions on the long-term survival and accessibility of digital photography”

What happens to your work that is on the computer if you die? How much can you store on the cloud? And what if there is a power outage and your work is lost? Message – sort and back up. Leave instructions for people. IPFS. Digitallgacyassociation.org The digital beyond photolegacyproject.com

Carla Mitchell, Patrizia Di Bello, Les Monaghan and Nicola Muirhead “Reactivation the archive: Camerawork Magazine 40 years on”

Some of the issues raised in Camerawork magazine 40 years ago are still pertinent today. Nicola Muirhead’s work around Grenfell explores the gentrification, regeneration of the tower block, social inequality and how the name Grenfell identifies synonymously with the tragedy.

Jaakko Kahilaneimi’s work was on display in the university. I liked the way he mixed various types of photograph together.

Saturday

Helen and Derek brought books to look at and discuss before visiting the book fair. Discussed self-publishing (expensive) and many ways of making books to fit with your body of work – ranging from pamphlets and zines to bound books, to inserting photographs and ephemera into existing books. Paul Gaffey – magnetic books which join together (one black and one white) whole thing thought through from inclusion of postcards to the jiffy bag for shipping.

Most expensive book I found was £1000, collectors’ book from Overlapse (Beyond Drifting – Mandy Barker) which bought you a handmade box, signed book with 59 photographs and 104 pages, artists research notes, 2 prints and a microscope specimen slide.

We visited the Maurice Broomfield exhibition following yesterday’s talk from Martin Barnes (curator at the V &A). Met photographer John Angerson who explained his work. John worked with archived photos and explained copyright and gaining consent to use archived material.

Shawn Records – “Now is the time” (in Deda dance school) hung photos on the wall along the top edge only. Did they curl naturally, or had they been curled? Was there a pattern? Portrait and landscape appeared to curl differently. But then we noticed that portrait and portrait curled differently. Had we missed the point? The photographer enabled us to question the images and keep looking until we unpicked the code and discussed what the work was about.

Tristan Poyser – “An Englishman’s search for the border” (Derby Eagle market) was work which Hazel and Derek had seen through Redeye. It is current (Brexit) and participatory. People were asked to rip a photo, stick it back together in a book and leave a comment on their thoughts over the Irish border. We had a chat with him later; 100 photo spaces were available for the exhibition. He had more work on his stand and his work is ongoing. It’s much harder than it looks when you have just seen the exhibition.

Portfolio walk

Anna, a current level 3 student, had participated in the portfolio reviews. I was able to see how her work was presented to people and have a chat about her work. I found the portfolio walk interesting as people presented their work or parts of it in diverse ways. It was an opportunity to ask lots of questions and find out about people’s work. I networked with David Severn (local photographer) re his current work and chatted about my ideas for my BOW.

Sunday

Crit session

This was my first crit. I found it useful to discuss my ideas with students. Hazel took notes for me. Came away with a couple of books to read and knowing I need to start an artefact collection. Just got to find a way into my BOW as it has many different strands and paths it could take.

One collective exhibition in Quad was Mutable multiple which displayed work from Amani Willett “the disappearance of Joseph Plummer” (2017) I liked myth and legend surrounding this and the presentation of text with image. I watched a video on the accompanying book on line which had inserts of small text included.