When we arrived at the gallery we were immersed into the confusion and hustle of taking down the immigration video exhibition. In order to pack up the show, all of the TVs, DVD players, projectors, speakers and screens needed to be taken down, wrapped in bubble paper and then packaged to be shipped back to their respective owners. There was a woman named Debra, who I don’t think works for Belfast Exposed, who was attempting to explain their specific process to us, but unfortunately, she kept talking in circles and contradicting herself. After her fragmented and rather mumbled explanation, we were confused and really had no idea what we needed to do, so we asked for specific jobs. Our first task was to unscrew the backs of the speakers and place them in their boxes. Turns out a screwdriver or wrench is needed in order to do detach the speakers, neither of which were available to us. This left us pretty helpless in the matter and also feeling awkwardly in the way in the small gallery space. This kind of process went on for about an hour when Nina and I decided that we should find another project that would actually be useful and of more interest to us.I, personally, was very excited about helping to remove the exhibition and help set up for the next one.
My senior year in highs chool I worked in a small art gallery in Albany, NY called the Upstate Artist Guild. There I helped deinstall and reinstall shows, so I have a general idea of what is needed in order to set up and take down shows. At the UAG, the process was much more smooth and organized and I remember it being a lot of fun because everyone worked together and chatted while accomplishing the work. I enjoyed being able to actually handle the artwork and having the responsibility of protecting it. For this exhibition though, the artwork was shown through televisions and projectors, so we weren’t handling the actual art. It was more of a matter of making sure the equipment didn’t get damaged or broken, which is not as exciting in my opinion.This could be something to say about the direction in which art is going today. There are much larger amounts of multi-media and new media projects surfacing in the most renowned galleries and museums. In the past art simply consisted of paint on canvas. Then slowly as new technology was discovered art forms like photography came into play. For a long time though, photography was not considered a true art form because it simply captured a moment that already existed and did not require much artistic talent. Now however, there are many ways that photographs can be manipulated to create different images. There are variations in shutter speed, lighting, focus, etc. that can be very precisely measured to create the exact image the artist wants. These elements have brought photography to the forefront of art today and have helped to establish it as a true art form. Now that even more technology has developed, there are more opportunities for the development of new media arts, including film.
The current show at Belfast Exposed is a video project exploring Immigration,
as you have probably already read a bit about. Film has been around for a while in mainstream culture, but has very recently made its way into the fine arts category. Maybe I am feeling the same way as those who were around at the time of emersion of photography into the arts and am limiting myself, but I feel that film is less of an artistic form and more a part of mainstream culture. I know that at least in relation to the Immigration video exhibit I find it hard to sit and pay attention to a long video. I would rather see an image, whether it be a photograph, painting, print or whatever and be able to find my own meaning and interpretations within the work. I feel that video art presents a much more obvious position and it is much harder for the viewer to find their own understanding of the message, they are simply being told information. In my opinion, film holds great importance in documentation and the passing on of information, but does not really create anything new.
This video exhibition is different than most shows at Belfast Exposed, a traditionally photographic organization. Sara, the gallery administrator and whom I have talked about in previous blogs, did not particularly like this show because of the questionable content and the constant noise being produced. She said that the sound was distracting because the numerous videos carried over each other making it hard to decipher each film as an individual. That could be the point of the exhibition; to show the overlap of different ideas in life, and more than just in the gallery space.
The introduction of this new medium into Belfast Exposed could also be an attempt to bring the gallery into the contemporary art world. However, I feel that as a photo archive and photo gallery that video exhibitions just don’t fit. This is reflected in the much smaller amount of visitors to the gallery. I think that Belfast Exposed can remain successful without giving into new art forms.
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