Our performance today has been an overall success! From a good sized audience to a well rehearsed structured performance. Setting up today was a lengthly time due to the technical requirements needed for the performance. Ashleigh provided us with the projector for us to use for the John Charmicheal painting which slowly fades into a realistic, harsh, gritty picture of the Brayford water front. The reasoning behind us having this painting still projected on the wall above Venus de Milo drawing is because it reiterates the idealized society that we are in today.
The preparation behind this performance has been well rehearsed. Technology is used through out performance with the use of projection and sound both of which are on a loop. We had plenty of time to set up to make sure the volume of the recording was a good volume so that the audience could hear it. The sound scape was a recording of Kirsty, Sam and me reading out make-up techniques found of the internet on make-up websites telling you how to apply make up in the perfect way. There is also a combination of painting techniques which interlinks make-up and art becoming a combined piece of masking. These recordings was to highlight the technique of how women are TOLD to look their best emphasizing on key features in their face giving an extra definition of their face. The impact of these recordings were to show the difference between how we apply the make up in the beginning of our piece, neat, tidy, the “normal” way but the piece develops and how we apply the make up becomes abstract, which contrast with the recording. This heightens the effect of make up technique as what we are doing contradicts to what is being said. The use of understanding where the sheet (a white sheet that is draped along the top of the surface to give a simplistic and neat look) goes is vital for us so that no make up touches the surfaces in the usher gallery, the sheet gave a nice finished touch to the finalized image.
Having the clock in our performance was not only used for the timing and structure for our piece, it was also there to show the durational time of the on-going idealized effort that women/ artists go to make a perfect image of themselves or something else. The ending of our piece is when the alarm goes off all of us just stand up and leave the room. Towards the ending the make-up is just all over our body, making a masking of ourselves so when the alarm goes its ironic that we just leave, allowing members of public to give their own interpretation of the piece very similar to how they would interetate a painting.
The connection between us and Tom was significant as we was showing the relationship between men and women. The idea of men watching women and women impressing men, power, status, which becomes a cycle just like our movement within the performance. His drawings draw upon the importance of the theme within our piece, as he is making ‘copies’ of us, again reiterating what we are doing, making an idealized copy of ourselves. Where Tom is sat throughout the piece is substantial because he is sat in front of drawings that are idealized copies of faces, body and Lincoln which shows a strong correlation between the site and our theme.
I am very happy with the development of piece which has created a important, meaningful performance which can only be specifically performed in the Usher gallery. The process of this finalized performance has been a learning experience which has helped me understand the importance and reasoning behind the minor details of our piece.