Reflection

In its entirety, I found my experience with this assignment – along with the whole course more broadly, to be extremely constructive and engaging. The opportunity to further explore and refine ideas from our previous assignment instead of starting a new topic allowed for a sense of familiarity and investment unlike most other tasks. In reflecting on queries that arose, influences gained from exhibitions along with ‘entanglement’ as a whole – there is an abundance of learning that I am eager to explore in future work.

In working on and completing this group assignment and thus concluding the semesters studio as a whole, various questions and ideas did arise that I would be interested in exploring further. Firstly, in terms of technical queries, I would like to explore with further detail the adjustments of elements and effects, particularly within audio work. Questions arose such as how to fade in/out or blend soundtracks more seamlessly, how to minimise background noises and avoid ‘grainy’ audio, how to enhance clarity of sound and where to source a wider range of backing tracks/soundscapes that are royalty free. More conceptually, both as a group and individually – many queries on how to emphasise narrative threading within our work and how to truly entangle media also arose and are certainly questions to delve into in the future. Through exploring questions surrounding narrative threading in particular, although we did make considerable efforts to tie the work together – taking on feedback from our previous assignment and engaging with various exercises and workshopping in class, there was still a grey area. As the assignment progressed, I begun to understand the notion that media works were intended to tell stories – stories that are not always so straightforward and objective. Consequently, it would appear slightly limiting and one-dimensional to simply group media works with a similar theme together and assume they all contribute to one clear narrative. Further, stories don’t simply ‘fall from the sky’ or ‘emerge from the self’ but rather they are ‘composed and received in contexts – interactional, historical, institutional and discursive – to name a few.’ (Riessman, 2008) so as media makers presenting said stories, we need to ensure a clear narrative thread and context. In the spirit of narrative threading, to draw this reflection back to the questions intended for further exploration – another would centre around how to recognise and then integrate a sense of flow or direction in your own media work, particularly when exhibiting the work. Specifically, during and after experiencing the exhibition of our assignment, the question did arise of how you decide on an intended order for an audience to consume or engage with the work. Although on the other hand, as our exhibition did mostly consist of our one (1) page interactive PDF which assumes its own order with numbered pages ‘1,2,3 & 4’, I found there was questions surrounding the intention of our accompanying photo visuals and our small water installation. As a whole, I look forward to taking my aforementioned queries; whether they regard technicalities, narrative threading or exhibitions and exploring them in more detail – further entangling my knowledge of entangled media itself.

After attending Rosslynd Piggott’s I sense you but I cannot see you exhibition, I did begin considering various elements of engagement with our work that I hadn’t previously. I realised there is quite a distinct difference in seeing an exhibition for pleasure or entertainment as opposed to seeing an exhibition to inform or influence your own. Although the obvious difference in scale between our exhibition and Piggot’s cannot be overstated, it was still an invaluable exercise in analysis. In further contemplation, I do enjoy that whether engaging with an international exhibit or a high school art show, there remains similar entangled elements that can be recognised and appreciated in all forms of media and art – an innate connecting principle of creativity that arguably draws me to this field over others. Getting back to Piggot’s exhibition specifically, there were assorted elements of space, positioning, sound, lighting, intended audience engagement, direction and overall flow that contributed to the comprehensive ‘meshwork’ (Inglold, 2011) of the exhibition that I took into consideration. After seeing the effective use of large dividing white walls within Piggot’s exhibition, I did give thought to our own use of space in presenting our work. Particularly after the modification of our exhibition space (editing suites – classroom) and thus presenting our work collaboratively in the same room as other groups, I did consider how we could emulate division within the space without the use of solid walls like Piggot. After further progress and planning in class, I thought the plan to spread each group to various corners of the room along with the use of stands and curtains where necessary was a reasonably effective compromise. Further, on the day of the exhibition itself although this did extend set up/ pack up time – I found this to remain effective in its manipulation of the space under the circumstances. In analysing exhibition engagement in terms of lighting, I found Piggot’s intentions to differ from ours quite considerably. Piggot’s work seemed to utilise soft, warm white/golden lighting with spotlights positioned to various pieces, possibly chosen to best compliment the light colour palates seen in much of her work. Conversely, when this prompted my consideration of our lighting intentions, I realised our interactive digital PDF page would work best in a darker setting to illuminate the screen. Broadly speaking, visiting the exhibition was extremely worthwhile and prompted many considerations surrounding our own exhibition. In both influencing similarities with the use of space or contrasting ideas about lighting – Piggot’s exhibition presented relevant insight in both the similarities between exhibitions along with the differences and individual nature of engagement.

Looking back over the semester, I can distinctly see how my understanding of entanglement along with the process of making ‘entangled media’ has grown, like the ‘ever-evolving weave’ (Ingold, 2011) of entanglement itself. I have learnt that entanglement knows no bounds, existing as an inherently subjective, interpretive and thus limitless concept that means something slightly different for every individual. In revisiting my first thoughts surrounding the concept; as simply connections and relationships between one thing and another, I can now acknowledge that understanding as merely one small perspective of the larger ‘meshwork’ (Ingold, 2011) of entanglement that rejects any perimeters or boundaries. Typified by the varying exhibition focus’ of our group assignments, with themes from environmental activism to life after death – entanglement can truly exist in which ever form one intends. Moving forward, despite concluding the studio and starting afresh with a new concept next semester, I can still envision entanglement as an integral part of my media making in the foreseeable future, and even in my everyday life. It exists as an intriguing and multilayered concept that prompts deeper contemplation, critical thinking and looking ‘outside the box’ – traits that are uniquely valuable in many facets of life itself.

As for the process of making ‘entangled media’, it has since developed since the beginning of the semester in a similar way. Looking back on the media created; both individually and as a group in these last two assignments, I have genuinely enjoyed navigating the affordances and creating varying media of many forms. In acknowledging my pre-existing strengths and weaknesses coming into the course, the criteria for entanglement in works created really allowed me to build on my familiarities of writing, creative brainstorming and extend my more basic skills with editing video and audio. Looking further into the process, as I mentioned earlier – there was another added complexity in ensuring an entangled narrative thread throughout the media work. Specifically, a thread that was somehow more underlying and unifying than merely presenting various work together. This thread could consistent of a communal theme, complimentary perspectives on an issue or simply parts played in the story by each media work and its medium; writing, audio, photo or video. To reflect critically, I would say this element of narrative threading was something that I struggled with throughout the semester, in both individual and group work. Although, veering towards the end of the semester I felt I was beginning to grasp this element more closely and in saying this – it is something I intend to remember and utilise within future media exploration. Generally speaking, the idea of entanglement was not exactly what I’d expected it to be coming in to this course. Rather, it exceeded my expectations, challenged my thinking and contributed to my media making experience in an invaluably entangled way.

References

1. Sorokin, S., J. Fromont, and D. Currie (2007) “Demosponge Biodiversity in the Benthic Protection Zone of the Great Australian Bight.” Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 131.2: 192-204. Web. <https://www-tandfonline-com.ezproxy.lib.rmit.edu.au/doi/pdf/10.1080/03721426.2007.10887083?needAccess=true>
2. Dril (2011) National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Offshore. DEEP WATER The Gulf Oil Disaster and the Future of Offshore Drilling. Perseus Distribution Digital, Web. <https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/rmit/reader.action?docID=679968>
3.  Bennett, J (2010) The Agency of Assemblages. In Vibrant Matter. A Political Ecology of Things. Durham, London: Duke University Press, pp. 20–38. (page 37)

4. Ingold, T 2011 ‘Rethinking the animate, reanimating thought’, Being alive: essays on movement, knowledge and description, Routledge, London, New York: 67-75 (pages 69-71)
5. Reissman, C.K. (2008) ‘Narrative Methods for the Human Sciences’ Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage (page 105)

Link to interactive page: 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1S0X9FZzLoL077d4PI3m5SKVlPR_Iju8n

Reflection: 

As a collective, although we had our own individual interpretations of the concept, our group had a shared understanding of entanglement as an “ever-evolving weave” (Ingold, 2011) that is continuously able to link things such as ideas, concepts and relationships together. Putting this understanding into practice, we attempted to replicate this through both the conceptual entanglement of; activism, sustainability, surfing culture and environmentalism as well as the physical (or virtual) entanglement of technologies and media formats of; video, audio and written work.  In navigating the projects clear instructions to creating a single page format to display the media works, we discovered a few initial limitations – as no one in the group really had any substantial experience with Adobe InDesign or any similar programs. Initially, this did slightly stump me personally as it was difficult to envision the finished format without past examples. Although moving forward, after we delegated media modes for group members to focus on and I saw the single page format slowly form I gained a greater clarity and understanding of the task. In delegating our groups tasks, I received the focus on text/ written media. I found working with text media to be slightly trickier than anticipated, as it is a medium that can sometimes be innately less engaging than video or auditory media.

Particularly in considering our concept for the work (Oil drilling in The Bight) was quite serious and literal rather than abstract, it was a struggle to depict written media that was informative without being too dense. Looking past these perceived limitations of written media, I did find it to  be effective in its entanglement with the mediums of photo, video and audio within our project – as text can create context, substantiate ideas and initiate further meaning. There is also the added complexity and perhaps entanglement within written media forms as they can require more research than other formats. Again, particularly regarding our topic, I found my research into the Bight as such a biodiverse and “geographically unique” (Sorokin, Fromont and Currie, 2007) attraction juxtaposed with the risks of oil drilling and previous disasters and “government oversights” (Dril, 2011) within these operations almost further entangled my understanding of the issue – considering further implications and stakeholders.

In additional reflection on entanglement and the making itself of our chosen media, I found myself drawing unexpected similarities between entanglement theories and the whole oil drilling scenario in the Bight. From one perspective, the whole situation is entangled with stakeholders such as; Equinor, councils, government, protestors, locals and the media – like many links or pieces of a bigger picture. Looking forward, these groups may well find themselves with a moral dilemma, pondering extricating themselves from “assemblages whose trajectory is likely to do harm” (Bennett, 2010). In unpacking this idea relating to the project, Bennett’s ideas that it’s unlikely for one individual or thing to directly equate to another thing/ effect really resonated with me. No one person will be responsible if the drilling goes ahead, it’s trajectory or fate is shaped by many. In an unusual parallel, no one person or idea is responsible for our finished assignment, by it is shaped by many ideas and individuals – that is the beauty of entanglement.

Whilst working on and particularly when researching this issue for this project, we found questions arose about surrounding the opposing side of the debate. We wondered what the effects and implications were if the plans went forward with no issues and there was no spill. This led us to wonder about the oil and gas that would be provided, that admittedly our group members do all use (e.g. driving cars). In considering these queries, some ideas we’d like to explore in future projects would be oil consumption more generally, the sustainability of said consumption and even looking critically at our own personal consumption – considering if we are entangled in a larger problem.

References: 

1. Sorokin, S., J. Fromont, and D. Currie (2007)  “Demosponge Biodiversity in the Benthic Protection Zone of the Great Australian Bight.” Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 131.2: 192-204. Web. <https://www-tandfonline-com.ezproxy.lib.rmit.edu.au/doi/pdf/10.1080/03721426.2007.10887083?needAccess=true>
2. Dril (2011) National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Offshore. DEEP WATER The Gulf Oil Disaster and the Future of Offshore Drilling. Perseus Distribution Digital, Web. <https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/rmit/reader.action?docID=679968>
3.  Bennett, J (2010) The Agency of Assemblages. In Vibrant Matter. A Political Ecology of Things. Durham, London: Duke University Press, pp. 20–38. (page 37)

https://www.mediafactory.org.au/catherine-mccarthy/wp-admin/edit.php?ids=14

In comparing my proposed short media works with the works I ended up making, I found myself exploring a whole different concept with quite a different outcome. After further considering my idea of documenting an Op Shop item e.g. Vase entangled in its environment, with a combination of perceived difficulties; unsure how to record the sounds of a vase, and alternative inspiration I decided to change my concept to water. My main source of inspiration for exploring the entanglements of water were various recordings we listened to in class. These recordings of ships on voyage at sea, glaciers and local rivers inspired me to consider water through different perspectives and consequently prompted me to alter my proposed media works. On the other hand, as for similarities within the proposed and final works, I captured frames throughout my video of taps and plants in the same likeness as I intended to with my proposed vase footage – in short and static snippets.

Throughout the recording process of my works, I found a greater ease and belief in the story telling aspect when I was recording my visual work as opposed to audio. In my audio process, after a few takes when using the microphone and scouting for sounds, I felt the recordings were almost getting repetitive – as they were all some form of flowing water and as a result I struggled with how I would place them in creating a story in my work. Contrarily, when working visual media and recording the footage for my other work, I felt more comfortable in capturing videos that could embody meaning, ideas and ultimately tell a story. As I continued recording footage of dry plants, sprouting roots and cracking grass patches I began to envision how I could juxtapose the footage with a dripping tap to prompt a storyline of water wastage or droughts. When working with sound, I struggled with this aspect of creativity and entanglement to create a story and as a result, looking back I feel that my auditory media work lacks a strong story telling element about water – and instead is simply various sounds edited together.

Further, this same preference to the form of medium was apparent in the editing process of my media works, as I again preferred the ability to incorporate my visual footage with additional audio compared to my sound piece as a standalone work. When editing my videos together I was able to select accompanying background music, an ongoing flowing water sound (taken from my audio grabs) and a political speech recording about farming and Agriculture. Particularly through the last addition, I felt the political speech recording extended the idea of entanglement within the work. Presenting the audio alongside my recorded visuals, which although are two separate media works respectively there are possible connotations and connections to be drawn. I intended the images of dry plants and grass aligned with the speech to possibly prompt connections of water with growth, droughts, farming and essentially the importance of water in agriculture community and the economy.

On the other hand, looking back the three accompanying sound tracks alongside my visual footage in my media work do also present an almost overwhelming nature – in which I felt like more media would mean more entanglement. Although this is partially true, I think there is a fine line between complexity and chaos. Within further assignments I intend to be more aware of this and adopt the ‘quality over quantity’ principle in making more refined media works. As for future media works, along with strengthening my familiarity with auditory work and drawing more meaning from sounds, I would also enjoy further exploration of aligning speeches, philosophy’s and spoken word with visual media. Similar to the political speech I incorporated with my visual work, I am fascinated by the visuals that can be evoked from meaningful addresses and how they can prompt greater entanglement.