Liz Reviews New Media Concepts

Last night (29 March) I attended the opening of an exhibition by five
fourth year students from Leeds Universities Fine Art
Degree. It was a show that they had organized
themselves and was held in The Merrion Centre. The
Merrion Centre is a shopping centre not far from the Uni,
however, not unlike Gosford, there are quite a few shops
that are closed.

The exhibition – in one of these shops was an exploration
of conceptual art through new media, so many works
included the use of film and sound. I found the works to
be extremely interesting, and three in particular
innovative and exciting.

The first work that caught my attention was by Eva.
She had set up a television monitor at the back of the
shop, this was connected to a small camera at the front
of the shop that went unnoticed by passerby’s. The
camera, pointed to the ground and recorded the
shadows of light, people passing, moments that are
still and moments that change.

I talked to her after the show about her work, it
was a work that revealed her fascination with time
and place and these two ideas intertwined to create
ephemeral moments where the viewer, unwittingly
is part of the artwork, yet does not realize this until
the moment has passed.

The second work that fascinated me was by Rosa.
She had set up three booths at the back of the shop.
Each booth contained a disc player for the audience
to listen too. Each disc contained a conversation of
sorts between the artist’s sister and their
Grandfather. All three conversations consisted of
a German word (their Grandfather is German),
reflected back between the two, each time the word
becoming more meaningless as the rendition
becomes more ridiculous. This work looked at the
linguistical meanings of the three words and how
that falters under the misrepresentation, or
mispronunciation of the word.

The third work, that actually links into my current
research to do with the body, is by Hammam. His
work, through the use of sound, maps his body,
recording its experience in a certain condition.
Lined on the wall were approximately 60 tapes.
Each tape contained a recording of the sound of a
microphone tapping on the different parts of his
body. You could select a tape and listen to it on
the walkman provided. I listened to his left jaw.
This work was interesting to me because of its
reference to phenomenology, or the
representation of an experience felt by his body
(and thus consciousness).

This exhibition showed a quality of work,
conceptually and practically that reveals the
potential of these students to show at an
international level. It has shown me the
advantages of living in the UK ( or Europe), and
having easier access to world renowned artists
that push the conceptual boundary, and how this
can inspire art students here to do the same.

I am not criticizing the remoteness of Australia
at all – that can have its own advantages,
however, I am glad to have had this opportunity
to see the standard of student work here in the
UK, by some truly talented artists.

Liz Wright.