#
Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W3909
20.05.2011
Unrealised proposal for Saatchi New Sensations, 2009 - Petra Swais and Najda El-Amriti
WWW
  • Having worked for three years alongside one another, but never producing work collaboratively, we have come to realise the strong connection between our individual practices. The most prominent link between our works is the notion of manipulation. By mani ...

    Having worked for three years alongside one another, but never producing work collaboratively, we have come to realise the strong connection between our individual practices. The most prominent link between our works is the notion of manipulation. By manipulating the medium, we obsessively question its capabilities to the point of absurdity, and encourage its evolution into 'otherness'. The works play with the location and coherence of meaning by challenging conventional understandings.

    Combining both of our practices, we propose to create a knitted cuboid structure that will function as a pinhole camera. The Camera will be life size, allowing us to be inside whilst capturing the image. We will perform the photograph; therefore experience the obscure nature of photography.

    For this, layers of knitted constructions will be assembled together, disabling any light from infiltrating through. The yarn will be specifically chosen, it will be high tensile, impermeable and ideal for knitting. The inside layers will be coated with Silver Gelatin so that the structure will be exposed in its entirety. The camera will become its own photograph. Each layer will be exposed individually; creating layer upon layer of distorted imagery, which will be superimposed by their predecessors. The materiality of the installation will contribute to the image caught, as will the aesthetic and fibrous value of the yarn.

    We intend to expose this camera construction in Fair Isle, Scotland. The Island is famous for its knitting tradition, producing its very own knitting pattern, known as ‘Fair Isle’ knit. The island’s is completely self-contained, only 5km long and 3km wide, with a population of seventy, it is almost desolate. It is the natural beauty, as well as its history of textiles that has drawn us to this island. We propose to invite the islanders to work with us on this project, making it a cultural revival.

    As well as realising the collaboration between our own practices, we hope to take this opportunity to achieve a historical and cultural exchange that perhaps is not prominent within contemporary art today.

    Having worked for three years alongside one another, but never producing work collaboratively, we have come to realise the strong connection between our individual practices. The most prominent link between our works is the notion of manipulation. By mani ...

    Having worked for three years alongside one another, but never producing work collaboratively, we have come to realise the strong connection between our individual practices. The most prominent link between our works is the notion of manipulation. By manipulating the medium, we obsessively question its capabilities to the point of absurdity, and encourage its evolution into 'otherness'. The works play with the location and coherence of meaning by challenging conventional understandings.

    Combining both of our practices, we propose to create a knitted cuboid structure that will function as a pinhole camera. The Camera will be life size, allowing us to be inside whilst capturing the image. We will perform the photograph; therefore experience the obscure nature of photography.

    For this, layers of knitted constructions will be assembled together, disabling any light from infiltrating through. The yarn will be specifically chosen, it will be high tensile, impermeable and ideal for knitting. The inside layers will be coated with Silver Gelatin so that the structure will be exposed in its entirety. The camera will become its own photograph. Each layer will be exposed individually; creating layer upon layer of distorted imagery, which will be superimposed by their predecessors. The materiality of the installation will contribute to the image caught, as will the aesthetic and fibrous value of the yarn.

    We intend to expose this camera construction in Fair Isle, Scotland. The Island is famous for its knitting tradition, producing its very own knitting pattern, known as ‘Fair Isle’ knit. The island’s is completely self-contained, only 5km long and 3km wide, with a population of seventy, it is almost desolate. It is the natural beauty, as well as its history of textiles that has drawn us to this island. We propose to invite the islanders to work with us on this project, making it a cultural revival.

    As well as realising the collaboration between our own practices, we hope to take this opportunity to achieve a historical and cultural exchange that perhaps is not prominent within contemporary art today.