Slow TV
The first research task was to search for and document examples of "Slow TV". The notion of Slow TV was a little confusing to me. To experience video art in real-time requires so much patience and investment. I can understand the attraction to other time-related videography techniques like the time-lapse or slow motion. These other techniques attract us because they allow us to see and experience the world in a way that is different to our day-to-day. It gives us the opportunity to notice, experience and appreciate aspects that we might normally be oblivious to.
It made me ask the question: "What does Slow TV give the viewer that they might not normally get?" I think the answer is presence. We normally rush through our lives to the detriment of our mental health. Slow-motion appeals because it allows us to see things that go by in the blink of an eye, only to be left behind as the pace of the world continues. Time-lapse allows us to appreciate the slow progress of things in a way that is palatable to our fast-paced world and need for instant gratification.
Slow TV requires us to be present. In fact, it gifts us with the space to be still, and to enjoy an experience for its own sake. To take it all in without having to worry about where we are going or where we have been. It's like vicarious mindfulness.
Take this train journey from Bergen to Olso. I find the steady and relentless pace mesmerising. The noise of the train tracks repeats meditatively. Of a similar vein is the long video by Audi of a car journey. The shift here is the way that they are not just focusing on the external. The car is an important part of this video. It is about the calm, yet joyful, experience of the road trip. (And implicitly, they are showing us how this Audi makes that experience richer).
My research then led me to discover Slow TV which focused not so much on movement but on being present with the sense of a place. Take this scene of Bison grazing:
Here the slow TV seems to shift - it doesn't demand as much attention or focus. It lets you drift in and out, with no pressure. You can choose to be fully present, and notice every detail, or feel happy to drift away and miss some details. There is a contentment in that, the lack of "FOMO" (fear of missing out). I also noticed how this static Slow TV has been adapted to suit the needs of those trying to relax, concentrate or study. Youtube has many videos which feature calm, ambient sounds and music to a backdrop of a single scene which has the sense of existing in real-time. Every so often these scenes are peppered artificially with little animations and scenes. I am not sure if these are to bring you back to focus on the video or just to help you be more present generally. Sometimes they seem to be used to insert little easter eggs, which I feel detracts from the meditative quality.
Fast & Slow Art
For this research task, I started by selecting and collating information about all of the listed artists and their works. I took time to try and absorb the works, so I could process and compare each of them.
"Koyaanisqatsi" (1982) - Godfrey Reggio
This film is very interesting. I found the simplicity intriguing. Whilst it's a very long watch (which I found difficult to retain attention) I think the work is very powerful. I particularly liked the expertise of the score's composer to tell stories and convey context and meaning to the images on the screen.
It's interesting seeing this film forty years later in the midst of the climate crisis. It feels eerily prescient. Not so much real-time, more like an endurance event. It's slow but it isn't serene. The relentless cuts between scenes combined with the music accentuating the imagery make me think of this work as an ecologist's version of The Manchurian Candidate - a rhythmic brute-force attempt to try and reprogram the viewer's brain. I feel the desperation of Reggio for the viewer to see, and understand, what he sees is happening to the world.
"Longplayer" (2000) - Jem Finer
I loved this work. I find it almost incomprehensible to think that the music will last 1000 years! It gives the same sense of awe as looking out into a clear night sky. It gives you a frightening sense of scale. It reminds me of how small we all are, and how cosmically insignificant our lives are.
That is also the genius of this work. When one listens to it live, you will likely be one of only a handful of people in existence to listen to that part of the composition. You will not see the end. That's scary, yet comforting - as the music slowly continues it feels like you are passing a torch to the future.
So, yes, I may not matter on the geologic or cosmic scale of things. My life is less than a blink of an eye in those terms. But what this piece creates is the space to remind us that all of our tiny interactions with the world matter. No matter how small, we leave behind a footprint - and the window for that imprint is finite. It is special. Our little individual sparks do matter. It reminded me to appreciate a moment, for the moment's sake.
Andy Goldsworthy
I wasn't sure how Goldsworthy's work fit into the subject matter of fast and slow. The sculptures are not really slow, and all the photography of his work is a snapshot - it didn't seem to fit the pattern of time I was asked to look at.
So I mused that perhaps slow meant the pain-staking process of creating the artworks.
It felt like a tenuous link. As I read more about his work and took in the wide varied range of his work, I started to realise that his work was 'fast'. Just not in the conventional context. His work is juxtaposed against the relentless slow revolution and evolution of the Earth. His sculptures do not, can not, last. They are designed to be created, observed, appreciated, and then obliterated by the forces of time and nature.
He seems to favour the use of natural shapes like holes, cracks and serpentine curves in his imagery. They focus our attention. They draw us in, demanding that we appreciate their fragile and finite simple intricacy. Then they are gone - the only evidence of their existence are the photos taken at that moment. In this way, they feel similar to the Longplayer - they celebrate the special nature of a moment. And reassures us that it's only special because it must, at some point, disappear. Just like our lives I suppose.
"The Artist is Present" (2010) - Marina Abramović
I had seen this work before but had forgotten just how powerful it is. It juxtaposes the slowness of the whole endurance performance art, with the fast - each person has a small window to be with the artist.
I love the wordplay of the work's title. At a superficial level, it describes the fact that the artist is there, present to see in the work. But at a deeper level, it exemplifies what the artist is giving as part of her art. She is not just 'there' - not just sat there, reading a book to pass the time. For each and every interaction she is present in the moment. And shares that moment with each person who sits at the table.
It's an incredible act of giving. It must have been emotionally overwhelming for her at times. Again, I see a theme in these artistic works of appreciation for what 'is'. One of the most powerful parts of this work for me was the interaction shown in the video below. The depth of feeling, intimacy and communication that happens astounds me. As someone who is so used to masking in order to survive the world I live in, I am in awe of how vulnerable and open each of these artists is. How comfortable each of them is to show their authentic selves. All without speaking a word.
"One Year Performance" (1978-1986) - Tehching Hsieh
The work of Hsieh is the only one on this list that doesn't seem to exemplify an appreciation for the moment. Taking in his work, and reading about the artists' ethos, the central backbone he likes to talk about is the experience of life as the most extreme endurance event.
"But the perspectives are all based on the same preconditions: life is a life sentence; life is passing time" - Tehching Hsieh [10]
I find this perspective a little depressing, to be honest. His takeaway and focus on the perpetual linear movement of time reduce our lives to a prison sentence. It feels nihilistic. I assume this must be influenced by his own hard experiences. Whilst he says his work is not autobiographical [15] I feel that his experiences must have influenced or somehow coloured his art.
Exemplifying this aspect of experiencing time certainly is thought-provoking, but I can't empathise with how he spent so much time 'passing time' over 'living'. After all, science tells us that time is actually relative, and therefore subjective. Our perception of time is as conditional on how, who, and what we interact with in the world. So in a way our choices affect our perception of time. I find it sad that he chose to perceive time in the way that he did.
“People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it’s more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff.” - The Doctor [7]
References
Afzal, B., 2015. "A minute of silence" by Artist Marina Abramović. [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEcqoqvlxPY [Accessed 31 May 2022].
Ambient Worlds, 2018. Star Wars Music and Ambience | Moon of Endor. [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_gAoTPt1QA [Accessed 31 May 2022].
Audi Australia, 2020. The Drive | A 4-hour-long slow TV journey by Audi. [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_gAoTPt1QA [Accessed 31 May 2022].
Cummings, A., 2017. ART TIME, LIFE TIME: TEHCHING HSIEH. [online] https://www.tate.org.uk/. Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/research/research-centres/tate-research-centre-asia/event-report-tehching-hsieh [Accessed 31 May 2022].
Dainius, 2016. Magical Land Art By Andy Goldsworthy. [online] Bored Panda. Available at: https://www.boredpanda.com/land-art-andy-goldsworthy/ [Accessed 31 May 2022].
DasPlatforms, 2014. Tehching Hsieh: One Year Performance 1980-1981. [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvebnkjwTeU [Accessed 31 May 2022].
Doctor Who - "Blink", 2007. [TV programme] BBC One: BBC.
Dogwoof, 2012. Marina Abramović The Artist is Present - Official Trailer. [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvcQ39OBzzo [Accessed 31 May 2022].
Goldsworthy.cc.gla.ac.uk. 2006. Andy Goldsworthy Digital Catalogue. [online] Available at: https://www.goldsworthy.cc.gla.ac.uk/ [Accessed 31 May 2022].
Hsieh, T. and Abramović, M., 2017. Interview: Tehching Hsieh and Marina Abramović in conversation. [online] https://www.tate.org.uk/. Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/tate-etc/issue-40-summer-2017/interview-tehching-hsieh-marina-abramovic [Accessed 31 May 2022].
Jacquot, S., n.d. Andy Goldsworthy. [online] Living Your Wild Creativity. Available at: https://www.livingyourwildcreativity.com/art-gallery-1-mitchell-1 [Accessed 31 May 2022].
Longplayer.org. n.d. Longplayer. [online] Available at: https://longplayer.org/ [Accessed 31 May 2022].
NKRBeta, 2009. Bergensbanen. [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ql2qXpNVTjw [Accessed 31 May 2022].
Slow TV, 2018. Slow TV - Relaxing Scene Bison Grazing at Yellowstone National Park USA. [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCVpttxFREE [Accessed 31 May 2022].
Tate, 2017. Tehching Hsieh – 'All Art Comes From Life'. [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsF-4UJjTaQ [Accessed 31 May 2022].
WatchDocumentaries.com. n.d. Koyaanisqatsi (1982). [online] Available at: https://watchdocumentaries.com/koyaanisqatsi/ [Accessed 31 May 2022].
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