Mopomoso

I had the pleasure of being invited to the Mopomoso night at the Vortex in Hackney. John Russell and Chris Burn founded Mopomoso in 1991, the following is a statement on their website:

We hold a passionate belief that improvised music, sometimes called free music or free improvisation offers many exciting opportunities both to players and listeners alike.

I have not had much experience of improvised music. When researching I came across several videos on Youtube and thought that it looked interesting but beyond that I hadn't much knowledge of it as an art form. When I managed to make contact with John I found him to be very helpful and he invited me down to his night at The Vortex. I took Tom along with me and once we had managed to find our way in we were introduced to John who in turn introduced us to a plethora of extremely creative and open minded people.

I had some idea of what to expect from watching the Youtube videos, most of which were filmed by Helen Petts, but nothing really prepares you for the dramatic ambience that accompanies this kind of performance.

The first set came from Josef Klammer and Seppo Grundler. They used a variety of instruments and electronics during their set. There was a touch of the theatre about the way that they interacted with one another, sometimes resembling mime artists in their expressions, especially Klammer. I tried hard to ignore the fact that Grundler bares a striking resemblance to my dentist.


Josef Klammer & Seppo Grundler, Mopomoso July 18th 2010

The next set was performed by The Fantastique Quintette comprising of Dave Tucker (guitar), Dave Solomon (drums), Sonia Paco Rocchia (bassoon), Ricardo Tejero (reeds) and Pat Thomas (piano). Dave Tucker is also a member of the London Improvisers Orchestra (LIO) and someone else that I have been in contact with in relation to this project. Again, one of the most interesting things from my perspective was to watch how the musicians reacted and interacted with each other. What makes this kind of music so special is that there are moments of pure genius amongst the relative chaos of 5 people playing instruments at the same time.


The Fantastique Quintette, Mopomoso July 18th 2010

Earlier I had been discussing with John how the sound (for my triptych) might have to be recorded. He had said that it's quite important for the improvisers to be able to see each other so that they would react in their usual way, but as my track needs to be split into 3 parts it would be impossible for the parts that are to be separate to be recorded in the same room as the mics would invariably pick up the other instruments as well as the instrument it is assigned to. Having watched a couple of performances I can see that at times during the set it is important for the performers to be able to interact visually. However, in places it seems that the musicians are only concentrating on their own instruments and barely cast a glance elsewhere. I started to ponder this and wondered exactly what it would mean for the musicians if they were only looking at the animation, would it change the performance in a negative way?

I also spoke to Will Connor who was sound man for the evening. We have been exchanging e-mails and hopefully he will be able to pull some sound together before the deadline. His booking agent is another useful contact as I will be looking to exhibit after the MA show at NUCA. As Will has worked on film sound as well as improvised music it stands to reason that he would be an ideal person to have on board.

All of these people (As well as just being damn nice people to talk to) are useful to know given my current interest in abstract animation. As my image-making becomes more inclined towards abstraction I feel that the accompanying sound-world should reflect that. I have never been a big fan of just sticking a 'song' over the top of my animations. The world of the music video is quite far removed from the techniques that I am employing at the moment so I knew that if I were to use music it would have to veer strongly towards the avant garde. What strikes me is the parallel between artists and musicians and the way that improvised music relates to fine art. Many artists who end up working non-figuratively, conceptually or in a visually abstract way have first proven that they are accomplished artists in their own right. Likewise the majority of improvising musicians are skilled professionals in their musical field who wish to get more out of their art. Improvising is a good test of musical ability as the musician has to think on their feet and react instantly, sometimes dealing with constantly changing variables in the form of other musicians.

For the final act John was performing with violinist Satoko Fukuda. I think that their set was probably my favourite as it had a more delicate feel than the previous performances. This performance was still very intense in it own way as the pair played beautifully together but it was less chaotic than the previous set. In places it sounded mournful, possibly because of the violin. I really enjoyed the moments of disharmony as I always feel that slightly discordant music gives that uncomfortable but at the same time wonderful feeling of unease.


John Russell & Satoko Fukuda, Mopomoso July 18th 2010

Having had a wonderful night and with my current project looking all the more promising for making contact with some good musicians, I made it to Liverpool St with about 30 seconds to spare before my train departed. It seemed somehow perverse after an evening of so much art and culture that I should have to sit on a train that smelled like Stella and Big Macs.

What's in a name?

It's got the the point where I feel that I need a name for my triptych, other than just calling it triptych which seems a bit empty. As it is looking like there will be several versions of the animation with different soundtracks (thought the imagery is exactly the same) I feel like it should be able to be named in a series.

I think I like the idea of using maybe numbers and letters mixed together in a way that looks interesting. Maybe I could just number them but use some kind of system that makes sense in some way. There are 3 panels and the animation is 3 mins long so something mathematical to do with the number 3 might be apt.

However there might be some wordage that would have more of a shared common meaning so it's easier to identify something about the piece. I'm just not sure so any suggestions are welcome.

Update 5

The visuals are finished now, they just need to be colour graded. I met with the external assessor on Monday and he suggested maybe looping parts of it to help with the sound design. Although I appreciate his suggestion I think that this would not be something that I would consider at this stage. I can see that this might make it easier to accompany traditional types of music but I think that it would not only change the aesthetic but also infringe on the improvised technique.

The project

This project has been rather unusual for me in relation to the processes that I have employed. Just before I began this I had been under the impression that everything in life would be much improved if I was only able to organise myself an plan a little better. At the start (during the self-negotiated project) I had tried to reign myself in by drawing up timetables and plans of what I thought should happen in order for me to achieve what I had set out to do.

I have found that my creative work doesn't like to be organised or planned, unlike academic work which benefits from a little foresight. Getting the balance right was tricky at first but once I let go of the project and allowed it too simply exist and grow I found that I wanted to spend time documenting it. After I had finished the 4 'Ego' animations I had reached a creative 'point of no return' and I wasn't really able to document things as I went along. When in a creative/practical work-flow I find it hard to keep up with recording my thoughts. Most of the time was spent animating, editing, thinking about my work and floating through the other parts of my life that require attention like earning money and trying to keep on top of the chaos that is my home.

Method

I started with the centre (Ego) panel and 'performed' 4 animations, I felt happy enough with the fourth animation to use it as a basis for the right (Shadow) panel. After watching some video triptychs I had decided that it would be interesting for some of the things that occurred in one panel to carry over into the next one so that the viewers eye is taken from one panel to the next instead of focussing on the centre. I measured and marked the points where 'events' needed to spread into the next panel, and made a note of where (in time) they would need to coincide.


The fruit (Persona), the tree (Ego) and it's roots (Shadow).

Aside from coordinating some of the movement and events the rest of the animation was decided as I went along. I repeated the process with the left (Persona) panel. I performed the shadow animation about 3 times and the persona twice so it's probably fair to say that I got better as I went along.

The shadow panel is filmed closer than the Persona. This was a visual device that I used to denote the depth of concious involvement. I suppose the reasoning behind this was that the Shadow is more of an internal part of the psyche and as such we are closer to it in some ways, as it is buried deep inside. The persona is more superficial, I feel more detached from that part of the psyche for some reason. Logically it probably should have been the other way around, I would have thought that most people would feel (psychologically) further away from their Shadow. I have a feeling that my thinking was that as the Shadow is internal and the Persona largely external that we are in a way much closer to what is on the inside.


The figure representing me mostly appears in the Ego panel and is born from the parent 'tree'.

The middle (Ego) panel is mostly concerned with depicting events, negative feelings and emotions are in the Shadow panel and outward projections in the Persona. The shock of the father figure leaving the Ego panel leads to the figure (made of broken glass) leaving the persona. In a sense I let my persona slip when I left home, I no longer had to wear such a mask just to fit in like I did at school. I had to keep myself in check as I was living with a new family but I spent the majority of my time with my friends, and a great deal of the time I was not exactly compos mentis. When in an altered state, be it through alcohol, drugs or psychological issues the persona can be almost totally disregarded.


The shock of the father figure leaving the Ego panel leads to the figure 'leaving' the persona.

Interaction between panels

After the figure leaves the persona a single 'blob' forms. I use bubbles in this panel as it felt like the right substance as it has an almost literal interpretation in this piece. This panel bleeds and bubbles intermittently until the second 'blob' from the Ego panel invades the persona, at this point the panel clears somewhat as the detergent is introduced.


My figure retreats into the roots on the Ego panel and this is mirrored by the roots on the Shadow panel being filled with a dark red colour.

People who have watched it have seemed a little taken back when events spill from one panel to the next, like it somehow breaks a rule or they weren't expecting it. I am happy with the way that this works, although the panels are separate animations the integrated movement somehow brings them together. I can see that if I had filmed it as one animation and then split it into three panels it wouldn't have worked in the same way.


My figure moves off into the Shadow panel and cries with it's back to the Ego.


My figure re-enters the Ego as the lighter colours begin to emerge in the Persona.


Another 'blob' starts to evolve in the Ego and my character pokes at it as the persona and Shadow become lighter.

Figurative elements

I initially imagined that I might produce something that was purely abstract but after some audience research I decided to include a figurative element so that the viewers would find it easier to identify with and engage with the animation. It was fairly easy to produce a figure or character that represented myself, I suppose that it would be logical that I would be more comfortable with creating an animated version of myself. One of my friends has frequently pointed out that Elizabeth moves like me. The way I work is to act through the medium of animation and this is probably more apparent in my work with Elizabeth than it was during this project. Still it was easier to create a representation of myself than it was to try and depict Duncan in some way.

When I performed my first Ego panel I struggled to introduce my partner's character without it looking contrived or too sentimental. I stand by my decision to include him as I feel that he has been an enormous part of my development and we have been together for so long that we function together as a unit.


'I' discover another figure in the Ego as the dark red drips through the Shadow. Another 'blob' appears in the Persona as I am no longer single.


The two 'blob's in the Persona panel merge slightly as their contents spill together, while the two characters in the Ego combine totally to form a new 'blob'. The Shadow becomes much lighter and not so dense.

Towards the end of the animation the panels look quite similar as the detergent disperses the oil and pigment. In my mind it is a union of differing aspects of the psyche, an evolution or an epiphany of sorts. It has a lot to do with learning to deal with negativity, coming to terms with the self and functioning within a relationship. It's not the end of a story, but the start of a new chapter. In this sense the final movement of liquids in the left (Persona) panel, when they move from the left towards the right of the panel is a lot like a page turning. It's movement is quite different in direction to the rest of the moving liquids in the animation and I think it brings on the end quite nicely.

Sound research

I have been looking for some examples of improvisation in music. During my tutorial with Tom we discussed Free Jazz so I had a little look for examples of this kind of impromptu performance. The following are examples from Youtube. I have copied and pasted the synopsis from each Youtube video in red and my thoughts in white text.



Sabu Toyozumi (percussion), Luo Chao-yun (pipa), Henry Lowther (trumpet), John Russell (guitar), Lol Coxhill (soprano saxophone) at Fete Quaqua 2009. John Russell's annual festival of free improvised music. Filmed by Helen Petts at the Vortex Jazz Club, London, 16th August 2009.

*Edited on 19/17/10*
I have been in contact with John Russell who has been extremely helpful. I joined the 'Friends of Mopomoso' network and have been discussing the nature of improvisation with him. He invited me to see the Mopomoso session at The Vortex Jazz Club. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and got a much better idea about the nature of musical improvisation and met a lot of lovely people.



Marcio Mattos improvise in Sao Paulo/Brazil in the concert of free improvisation, 19.10.2006

Marcio Mattos plays the cello with a high level of drama, using suspense and tension in his performance. Improvisation seems to be more apt for a longer time-scale as the performers can't really be reined in to a exact time scale without infringing on the nature of improvisation itself.



This is a pretty amazing video of Ethan Winer playing 37 separate cello parts to create one song. He even plays the percussion parts on his cello. It was recorded on 23 tracks using 37 plug-in effects. He spent hundreds of hours on this project so its worth a listen.

This is worth noting just because it was all done on a cello, it gives an idea of the range of sounds available.

My story

I have spent weeks trying to write, re-write and edit this post. I don't know if it's helpful for readers to know about the narrative behind the triptych but I think that I need to write it. I am going to publish it today because I need to get on with everything else.

My life as a narrative

The 'Ego' panel depicts specific events from my past as the Ego is supposedly concerned with perception and memory. The tree is the one from the first dream/nightmare I was able to recall and remember as a child. The tree (an apple tree) would grow on my bed, with me lying in it, and its roots would grow and twist around my feet. I would wake up and still be able to see it and I would scream. I had this dream a few times and it would always happen in the mornings so I never woke at night, but even in the daylight, and even being such a mundane thing, it still scared the hell out of me.

The story evolved over the 4 animations, or the form of the story anyway, the narrative is my own so it was already there I just had to chose how to depict it. The tree splits and 'I' manifest as a figure at the base of the tree. The symbol of a tree in a dream can have several interpretations which I will discuss in more depth later in this blog. My own interpretation was that the tree symbolised family. As I viewed its presence in a negative light and felt trapped by it's roots, I would have to assume that even at that age there was some feeling of unease about my family.

As the tree splits it forms two 'heads' that represent my parents. They face away from each other as this is the only way that I really remember them, by the time I was born I think the honeymoon period was well and truly over so I don't really remember them being affectionate to one another. One of the heads turns to the other and 'explodes' which drives the other one away. My figure sinks into the roots of the tree into a bubble and closes the curtains.

Growing up (fast)

In writing this I have just realised that when my figure leaves the bubble to enter the 'Shadow' panel, this is probably me leaving home. I left at the request of my Mum when I was 16 and although it was a difficult time I learned a lot that I would need to get me through life. I think that most of my lessons were learned through making mistakes, and I made some big ones. When I lived at home the boundaries were blurred as my Mum can be a little unpredictable which is why I didn't mind leaving, but when I left suddenly there were no boundaries. Almost every 16 year old wants to live with no rules so in some ways I was lucky to have experienced such freedom at a young age.

My figure leaves the Ego and sits at the bottom of the Shadow and cries. I couldn't admit to myself that at times I just wasn't coping with my situation. I was catapulted into a crazy world at the age of 16. It's like all of a sudden I found myself in an ever changing environment, without routine or safety. I think something instinctive took over when I was no longer in a predictable environment and I just did what I had to do. The content of the Shadow is more visceral than that of the Ego, it's that part that threatens the Ego. My interpretation is that when I left home I lived within my own Shadow at times. I think that I was close to losing touch with reality and I didn't care because I liked it. When real life is so devoid of hope I think that retreating from reality is comforting but it's also dangerous in some ways.

Other people's homes

I lived at first with a relatively new friend and her parents and siblings. I had to learn and adapt in order to fit in with my new 'family' which was a real learning experience. I got on well with everyone but the friend who had brought me there in the first place and I soon had to find other places to stay. I had outstayed my welcome by at least 6 months. Things got hectic after that and I didn't always know when I got up in the morning, where I would be staying that night. Although the instability was at times unnerving I certainly felt alive but the lows were just as vivid as the highs so I tended to cry a lot, mostly at night or when alone. I think it's one of the reasons why my friend and room-mate wanted me to leave, I would cry at night and she would tell me to shut up because she was trying to get to sleep. I think in the end she just thought I was being pathetic, which I was. I stopped my bed-time crying but would sometimes cry in my sleep, so I suppose it was just something that I needed to do.

I moved from one place to another for a couple of years while I did my BTEC at college. My tutors knew that I wasn't living with my parents and a few strings were pulled so that I wouldn't require parental permission for excursions. I developed a passion for life drawing during that course. We had some great tutors and quite a lot of creative freedom which suited me well. I can see now that what I liked about life drawing was that it was a one-off 'performance'. The model is there, in front of you and you have to capture that moment. It's not long and drawn out and you depict whatever you feel at the time. The animation for this triptych has mirrored that kind of working method. I would enter the room knowing that the for the next 4 hours I would be animating whatever came into my head and that when the time was up I wouldn't be able to go back and add more because the moment would have passed.

Although I never had that much luck with my own family I did seem to encounter a lot of people who were kind enough to help me out when I needed it. One of the tutors gave me some equipment that I wouldn't otherwise be able to afford without even really saying anything about it, he just went in the cupboard and put all this stuff in an art-box and handed it to me. Sometimes I would have nowhere to stay and my friend Bec would come out with me and we would sleep rough or she would sneak me into her parents spare room. Sometimes I would be 'discovered' by Bec's Mum, sleeping in their spare room when she got up for work. I would have to leave and go and sit on the swings in the park until college opened. I ended up living with Bec and her parents for a while when they discovered that I was genuinely in need of a home and not just being a skank. I had another friend at college who used to give me her sandwiches. She said this was because her Mum gave her sandwiches that she didn't like, I know she gave them to me because she knew I didn't have any money for lunch. My friend Kev and his Mum gave me a place to stay too and I had some of my best times with them. Kev stopped me retreating so far into my Shadow that I would never be able to come back, he was the only person brave enough to tell me that I was becoming something that wasn't me.

Life

Sometimes I still feel like life is just sweeping me along, I just go with it, the faster the better. Maybe that is the sensation that I am trying to express with the use of liquids? I often think that being in a stable relationship with a roof over my head is harder than living with the threat of homelessness because I now have so much to lose if something goes wrong. The thought of losing Duncan scares me more than anything else ever has done and in my darker moments I can't help thinking about terrible things that could happen. Once I get lost in my creative projects I no longer worry about what might go awry in life because I can only think about the project that I am working on. I like it when things move fast, when teaching I love the pace. My students mostly keep me busy and I enjoy teaching them but that is only 30% of the job. The rest of it involves painstaking organisation and paperwork and that part almost kills me.

I think I'm just about learning how to cope with life. For the last 13 years I have had a stable home and have been welcomed into Duncan's family. I still have nightmares about various aspects of being homeless and living with my Mum. I would be silly to try and just forget about it or ignore it as the psychological effects of that time are still with me. I feel that I have successfully dealt with the most destructive 'coping mechanisms' that I developed but that does mean that when I hit a rough patch I have had to find new ways to deal with my emotions.

Finding a Home

This project has been a great opportunity for me to act instinctively and I have realised just how 'at home' I feel at NUCA. I think that the thing I really clung on to when I was homeless was my ambition to go to the Art School with all it's weird and wonderful people and white high-ceilinged rooms. I got a place on the BA in 1997 but things invariably went very, very wrong and I didn't manage to go back until 2003. When I did eventually go back it felt a thousand times better than before and my work reflected that.

When I decided to apply to do my Masters it was because I had become desperate and I knew that I needed to give myself this so that I had something good to think about. I had started my teaching diploma the year before and had a brush with Dr Cheryl Jones, who had been employed by City College to help 'streamline' their inspection regime. She basically told me that I shouldn't be teaching and I totally lost confidence in what I was doing. When I first started working at CCN I really loved it but found the lack of support difficult to deal with. After the incident I decided that I would do an MA and that I would drop down to a sessional contract at the college, I also decided to seek help and get a formal 'diagnosis' for what turned out to be dyslexia.

Even during the 1st year of the MA, when I was in the 2nd (and final) year of my teaching diploma and the workload was crippling, I still loved being at NUCA. This year has been amazing though. When the teaching diploma was over it was really difficult at first to deal with the lack of things to do, but such a relief that I didn't have to tackle so much written work and have classroom observations. My MA work really started to take shape, it's like I suddenly had so much more to give the course as I had freed up some space in my brain to make room for the good stuff.

At NUCA, it's not at all unusual to not be able to tell left from right, or to be late, or messy, or weird. I am amongst people who are a bit more like me and so I feel safe, like I do when I am with Duncan. I love people who are a bit odd because I feel like I can be myself when I speak to them. At work I am a very watered-down version of myself which makes me feel a bit dangerous, like I might at any given moment say or do something that is completely inappropriate.

What I'm looking for, and what I have always been looking for is some kind of sanctuary. I have that at home now. Duncan and I have our little flat and we love it even if it is the size of a shoebox and I love being with him more than anyone else I've ever met. The only real threat to my home-life is what happens inside my head, the creeping darkness that sometimes takes hold. When I am working creatively I don't entertain the dark thoughts, when they do come they are fleeting enough that I can ignore them.

I spent a lot of time in other people's homes, feeling like I didn't really have a right to be there and I think that is mostly what my triptych is about, finding somewhere that I know is my home and part of that is finding a line of work that doesn't feed my insecurities. My home life is wonderful as long as the work that I am doing is creative.

The journey

The triptych depicts my bumpy journey from childhood to adulthood with all it's joy and trauma. It's about conflicting emotion, self-discovery and preparing for the next stage. By the end of the triptych I have become a part of the 'background' instead of trying to negotiate the environment alone. I join with another and become stronger. I feel like I have reached the age where I have witnessed enough of the cycles (seasons, years, decades, life, death, politics and people) to understand what is going on. In truth I didn't think I would reach this age so it's taken me a bit of time to accept adulthood because it happened while I was busy with other things. It's only in retrospect that I can see how I evolved into an adult over those years.

Shadow Animation

I have started work on the Shadow part of the triptych. So far I have had 3 tries at the shadow. The first one wasn't very successful, the look was wrong and the software/camera let me down before the end. The 2nd and 3rd attempts were much better. The tone is darker and I have found a few ways to reduce the stress on the software.

Shadow 1



I used red beads as I rather liked the idea of having the bright red glass next to the Phthalocyanine green colour. Although it did look quite beautiful it is too light and colourful and more apt for the Persona panel. I carried on and had fun with different techniques but the camera and Mac stopped communicating and too much time elapsed for it to be worth continuing with. I think that Dragon was set to capture on 2's so it put more strain on the system. In order to ensure that this doesn't happen again I will always opt to shoot on 1's so that the amount of frames on the HD is reduced and Dragon has less to do. I had also had other software open (Firefox and Quicktime) so I have decided to bring my laptop with me so that I can update my blog and watch the previous animations as reference without fear of overloading the software and hardware.

Shadow 2



The 2nd attempt was more successful, I used some pink/brown beads as these looked more dingy and less vivid than the red beads. As the tree develops on the Ego panel I decided that roots should form on the Shadow panel. I filmed quite close up and will have the camera further away for the Persona panel.

Shadow 3




This is the version that I decided to edit together with the Ego 4 animation in order to see if the animations would work when played side by side. I timed the movements by making a note of the times when actions occur in the Ego 4 animation and making sure that the action in the Shadow panel complimented what was occurring in the Ego panel.


2 Panels



When the Shadow is placed side by side with the Ego animation it's easier to see how the triptych might work.

Musicians needed! (unpaid)

I am looking to recruit musicians to score my animation. Ideally I would like someone who is able to watch an animation and give a musical response to what is on screen. Unfortunately as this is a student project I have no money to offer, the only incentive I can give is that you will receive a credit on the animation and you can have a copy so that you can use it promote your scoring ability.

There are 3 animations that will be shown side by side in a triptych format. This means that the 3 animations will play simultaneously side by side. I would like the sound to be broken up so that there is a specific sound-track for each animation that can be played alone with its assigned animation, or can be played when the animations are shown together. It's destined to be shown as an installation at the NUCA MA show in September. The triptych will be projected in it's entirety with the accompanying music being played through speakers. In the same room there will be monitors and headphones to show the 3 separate animations with their component of the soundtrack being played through the headphones.

Originally I had thought that something along the lines of the bass, melody and percussion being separated to score each individual part of the animated triptych. I have considered it carefully and think that I need to seek advice from musicians on how to break up the soundtracks so that they will sound good alone or when played simultaneously. Although I have some experiences in scoring an animation I have no experience in writing music and very little experience at even playing an instrument.

These are 2 of the test animations that I have done so far, they are designed to be played in portrait format so either tilt your head or screen to view them as they are supposed to look:



Ego 1





Ego 2



The animation style is quite abstract so you might have to be abstract in your musical approach. Although I have traditional instruments in mind at the moment (I would be very interested in hearing from a cellist) I am open to suggestion on what kind of instruments or techniques to use.

If you are interested either reply to this blog with your contact details or send an e-mail to:

Julie.Garrod@student.nuca.ac.uk