Time Out: An exploration of the possibilities for archived time-based media as a tool for exploration within a fine art practice-based research enquiry

ABSTRACT

An increasing number of contemporary artists such as Christian Marclay, Douglas Gordon and more recently Oliver Laric have been utilizing, plagiarizing and re-appropriating film sourced from digital moving image archives since the early 1990s. This has been made possible through the relatively new cultural landscape created by a growth in accessible technologies for experiencing and handling film content. There have been a number of significant collectors who have released materials free from copyright (under the Creative Commons classification), and, subsequently, there has been a dramatic increase in the availability of source material archived and accessible from the Internet. Specifically, and especially pertinent to this reflection, is what has become commonly termed as the sponsored or ‘orphan’ films.

This article is primarily concerned with my evolving arts practice and my current research enquiry exploring the appropriation of meaning and interpretation in pre-authored didactic film narratives. Each experiment starts with a period of searching, of collecting and harvesting instruction and information films. These resources are assembled into archives of found and ‘orphan’ film footage that will provide material with which to speculate. The research approach depends on discovery and serendipity as much as procedural methodology. There are two primary tactics: the reconstruction of narratives plus the reconfiguration of interpretation and meaning by altering the space and site for viewing. Chance, algarhythms and detached systems are devices that rupture, reorder and re-present narrative through the editing process. Equally significant is the disruption of audience reception and readership through the manipulation of context, location and alternative media platforms. My purpose is to use creative play as an interrogative strategy that both deconstructs and re-evolves content and therefore disrupts linear time (narrative).

KEYWORDS:

• détournement re-appropriation archive-art orphan films digital platforms installation-art QR codes