Ria and I were asked to put together a presantation on Ian Forsyth and Jane Pollard. This is some of the information i colected for the piece of work and also the bibliography I put together.
Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard are pioneers of the current trend exploring re-enactment as an artistic genre. The World Won't Listen, was their first live project in 1996, setting them up to create some brilliant re-enactment live art. Since then they have created many more pieces including their critically acclaimed A Rock 'N' Roll Suicide at the ICA in 1998 and, more recently, their film File under Sacred Music. As their work progresses they have engaged on the fact that society’s engagement with cultural and emotional expression is increasing.
In 2005 they recreated Vito Acconci’s Walk-Over. For this piece they worked with Plan B, a young MC. By doing this they were bring in the more up to date sound of urban music, which update the script and gave new ideas when re-shooting the video. Then in 2006 they presented their most ambitious project to date, Silent Sound, which Ria will talk about.
When creating a new piece of live art they find work by other artist, performers or musicians and begin their research on them. Most of the time their re-enactments are exact and there for the research has to be very thura. They try and adapt the piece to fit in with the modern times but they do not change much of the piece. They allow the work to stay in its natural form so the small changes they do make are more powerfull and meaning full.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/shootinglive/2003/forsythpollard/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/shootinglive/2003/forsythpollard/background.shtml
http://www.afoundation.org.uk/greenlandstreet/details.php?id=11
Since The World Won’t Listen, their first live project in 1996, to their critically acclaimed A Rock ‘N’ Roll Suicide and, more recently, their film File under Sacred Music, they have had the timing and insight to key into contemporary society’s increasing engagement with simulation and artifice as a vital part of cultural and emotional expression.
http://re-title.com/artists/IainJane-ForsythPollard.asp
Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard colaboration of both mine and Ria's work
Brief Summery
Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard have collaborated together since 1993 while studying fine art, and graduated together from Goldsmiths in 1995. ‘Forsyth and Pollard are collaborative visual artists who work with live art, film and video, and are pioneers in establishing re-enactment as an artistic genre’. (A Foundation, 2006)
Silent Sound was a live performance and installation presented in 2006 as a part of the Liverpool Biennial. It has been described as their ‘most ambitious work to date’.
(Forsyth & Pollard, (2)) The work was inspired by the history of the space, St. Georges Hall, Liverpool. In Victorian times the hall was a platform for the work of the Davenport Brothers, a duo that would convinced their audience of super natural presence by illusion. Silent sound was inspired by the Davenport Brothers, and the artists created a soundproof booth that resembled the original ‘spirit cabinet’.
The Performance Installation was divided into two parts. The first part was a message repeatedly spoken by the two artists within the soundproof booth. Outside of the booth was an orchestra playing a live music recital. The messages were played out alongside the recital through a specially designed machine, although this was inaudible to the audience. The second part of the piece was a day later where the live performance was incorporated into a large scale installation. (Forsyth & Pollard, (2))
Genealogy
Marcel Duchamp, Vito Acconci (walk over), plan B,
Dr. Ciarán O'Keeffe,
Technical
The Installation
The Installation design was supported by John Bell, architecture. The live music recital was composed by Jason Pierce, from the band Spiritualized.
The soundproof booth and silent sound machine were made by Charles Poulet and Andy Bolton.
Iain and Jane worked with Chris Bigg and Vaughan Oliver at V23 on all of the graphics for the project. Other collaborators to the project are Charles Poulet as audio consultant, Noah Roase on the design and production of the cabinet and machine, John Bell from FXV on the design of the installation, ARUP on the ambisonic recording and installation and Live Here
Iain and Jane worked with FXV architect John Bell on the design of the installation. At the heart of the installation is a dark listening chamber, the Silent Sound machine is housed in an ante-chamber visible through a window. The live recording is played back across 12 hidden speakers and a sub-bass - the resulting sound is enormous. With the support of ARUP and Charles Poulet the sound in the chamber sonically recreates the 3D space of St. George's Hall inside the installation.
Technical Influences
Jason Pierce (Spiritulized)
John Bell
Brief Opinion
Bibliography
A Foundation (2006) The Blade Factory: Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, Silent sound [online] Available from: http://www.afoundation.org.uk/greenlandstreet/details.php?id=11 [Accessed 18th January 2008]
Forsyth. I. & Pollard. J. (1) Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard: About the Artists [online] Available from: http://www.iainandjane.com/about/index.shtml
[Accessed 15th January 2008]
Forsyth. I. & Pollard. J. (2) Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard: Silent Sound at the Liverpool Biennial [online] Available from:
http://www.iainandjane.com/shows/silentsound/index.shtml [Accessed 15th January 2008]
Forsyth. I. & Pollard. J. (3) Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard: Words & Pictures - Ultra-Paranoid (Extra-Spatial) Portable Art [online] Available from: http://www.iainandjane.com/work/wordsandpictures/index.shtml
Taylor. T. (2003) Ghosts of the Prairie: The Davenport Brothers [online]
Available from: http://www.prairieghosts.com/davenport.html [Accessed 18th January 2008]
Bell, J. (2006) Interactive Arcutecture.org: FXV [online] Available from: http://www.interactivearchitecture.org/fxv.html [Accessed 18th January 2008]
ARUP. About Us [online] Available from: http://www.arup.com/aboutus.cfm [Accessed 18th January 2008]
Noahrose. Silent Sound: Performance, Installation, Experiment, Re-enactment. [online] Available from: http://www.noahrose.co.uk/MODULES/GALLERY/noah_GALLERYmoduleASP/GALLERYMOD_level3.asp?level1id=2&level2id=116&level3imageid=518 [Accessed 18th January 2008]
List of References
We felt our presentation went very well. Covering many aspects of their work and describing their style of performance in detail.