The Geranium Project (R&D) 25

A week that promises to be fraught started with me getting to the shop early and installing the new white cloth projection screen for the installation. At firt it didn’t work too well but with the back material hanging behind it, it functions pretty well.

It did highlight the need to address the video, video with high contrast works much better. I then had to rush home.

Monday afternon I workled some more on the painted garden for the VR world. I also started to write up the text snatches to be recorded for the gardens and the installation.

Tuesday I continued to work on the painted garden, worked on the new videos and began to write this weeks blog so it doesn’t seem so thrown together. I got the open event advertised through Axisweb, but although I’d agreed an advert in doncopolitan (a local mag) I don’t think it has happened.

Wednesday was spent finishing off in the studio, sorting the hang and titling the paintings.

Thursday I made the labels and voted!

So Friday morning I rewired the sound system for the installation and set everything up for the open day.

On the day I had two visitors so in the afternoon I worked on putting some mist between the sections to make the transitions less stark.

On the Saturday I had no visitors at all, unless you count the man who was looking for the Junk Food Project who haven’t been at the address for two years or so. I worked on the VR section and got a lot done, finishing the mist, adjusting some scale and normal issues and introducing colour to the painted garden. I also made separate skies for the different sections and did some height adjustments to floors and so on.

 

The Geranium Project (R&D) 24

Another truncated week spent sorting out the space at the studio and organising the VR space at home.

The video shows how far I got on Wednesday with the installation, I’ve got until Thursday next to sort it out to a finished state.

I should be working on getting an exhibition together in a few days, instead of which I’m studying procrastination. Yesterday I spent time clearing the garden, today I cleaned off the yard and washed the car. I have at least four ictures to frame for the exhbition and hang next week, all the labelling to be done, and I still need to title the pieces. I’ve got two drawn gardens to put together and import to the VR that I need to be working and I’ve still got to work out the transitions between the gardens when I’m there. The projection needs to be resolved for the installation and I’ve should really change the video and work out the sound. Additionally I’ve not yet bottomed the PIR for the raining section of the installation. All this needs to be resolved in the next four days!

I’m rounding this post off with a few shots of the space as it stands today.

View of the Gallery

View of the Gallery

Progress of Drawings

Progress of Drawings

There are a combination of drawings and paintings which have informed the content of the installation and the VR world. The user should be able to recognise the paintings inside the VR space, how far that works remains to be seen.

Geranium Project (R&D) – December Open Event

‘Geranium’ 02/12/2019

Introduction

‘Geranium’ began as a room, approximately 5mtrs by 4mtrs, that depicted a garden as a drawing and by projection onto one wall. The audience can explore the drawn surfaces which include text and interactive elements, watch the filmed garden where shadows drift across the lawn suggesting people, and listen to the birdsong and poetry playing in the space. It has turned into a more confined space that channels you towards and through the projection into a Virtual world.

The Geranium Project:

There is a purple or pink flower with five petals, it has long palmately cleft leaves that are broadly circular. Drifts of these used to grow in my mother’s garden and in my own garden now, and I’ve always loved them. For a long time I’ve had a blind spot about the name, when I see the flowers I’m suddenly at a loss but when I can’t see them I can remember. It has reached the point where my wife refuses to tell me what they’re called. This is why the project is called geranium, after this lethologica (an inability to remember a particular word) I’ve suffered from for a number of years. I have wanted to create a space that tells a story since I completed my MA in 2005 and became fascinated with non linear narratives or stories that can be navigated by the audience. My intention is that encountering this space, listening to the poems and hearing snatches of the narrative offers one or two clues that can be explored through an online space or using virtual reality. I see the project as an opportunity to find out how to best present the idea to an audience and to use that initial audience to help refine the experience so that it becomes coherent and strong enough for exhibition.