ANDREW KOTTING

ARTIST RESEARCH

Andrew Kotting is known for his peculiar and wildly made short films. Over the years he has created experimental films such as Hoi Polloi (1990) and Smart Alek (1993) for which he has best received the audience's praise for. Kotting has even created a feature-length movie travelling the British coast with his mother and daughter, meeting new people and exploring new places. Though it has been said that he aims to explore more of the darker sides of his childhood memories. Elements of sentimentality and thought-provoking moments can also be said to be involved in his pieces. Revealing an underlining emotional intention.

A consistent theme has seen him collaborating with his daughter Eden, who suffers from an uncurable speech disorder. It is interesting to see that Kotting uses the imagery by his daughter to accommodate his pieces accordingly to the sounds being produced even saying in an interview a lot of what he does aims to facilitate the sounds going on in the background. Now, this is only an observation of his work and perhaps an interpretation of the two but I can see a correlation between his sounds and his daughter. Knowing Eden is unable to convey her meaning or intentions across orally. Is Kotting's work with sound a medium in which gives his daughter a platform to speak through? Using ambient sounds, natural or synthetic and recordings of speeches. Is this the vocabulary he has taught his daughter, shown in his pieces? after all in my opinion its a wonderful touch. I favour this notion because sounds can say a lot much like the saying  'One image can speak a thousand words.' It has a powerful definition of the world around us. As someone who has a family member who suffers from autism. I know the wonders sound could do and say on behalf of an individual.

What I like about his work most of all is his use of sound that in a sense brightens up the background with a translucent form of audio colour. It reminds me of my first soundscape pieces I originally did for my first year in uni, whereupon I based my piece on the painting 'Dulle Griet.' A rendition of hell being plundered by the mightily powerful hordes of women. In the piece itself, I had to consider carefully the interpretation of this image. Right down to the sounds of the elements and the noises echoing in the distance. It really did bring the image to life and can be a powerful addition to a screen project. This is a feature I share in common with Kotting as he himself once said;

"I like to sculpt with the sound in the same way I like to sculpt with the picture and the ideas, The story may change just to accommodate a sound."                                                         

                                                                               

When I really think about how the theme Maps & Networks can relate. I tend to think about two ends as it was, separated. By the distance between them. Trying to join, to create a fluent current running to its destination and back again. So when I bring Kotting's work into this I really interpret this as being a bridge between his daughter's impaired speech and the sounds he brings together to form a vocabulary. For her to connect with the world in a way that our networks have, that she's been denied. It shows that even sounds can have a story to tell just as much as a visual one could.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Andrew Kotting - Vimeo:

https://vimeo.com/user7237586

Andrew Kotting website:

http://www.andrewkotting.com

Andrew Kotting image:

http://s3.amazonaws.com/lighthouse.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/233/original.jpg?1321888251

Andrew Kotting - BFI:

http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/578008/index.html

Andrew Kotting - The Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/nov/18/andrew-kotting-this-our-still-life

SUMMER PROJECT

Our summer project's theme was political awareness. We had to develop and research a concept for 3 to 6 related digital images.

In looking for inspiration I began searching for ideas that could help influence my piece and perhaps inspire me to create. I visited a site called 'short films of the week' which is one of my favourite places on the web to go, in order to find some of the most entertaining and informative films done by fellow film makers from around the world. Upon searching I came across this short called 'Alzheimer's: A love story.'

Alzheimer's: A love story,' is a short film that tells the story of the challenging struggle a couple, 40 years together, faced in their lives as elderly people with Alzheimer's. The test of endurance in a relationship is perhaps not at the beginning or middle of a couple's companionship but at the end. In this 17-minute documentary film, you really begin to understand the gravity of the seriousness of such an illness and the damage it can inflict on loved ones and family members.

What I find most moving of all about this story, in particular, is that unbeknownst to me until half way through watching this documentary, is that the couple are same sex partners. This invoked a sense of hardship on me because as we all know same sex rights and marriage have only become accepted and legalised in the last 20 years and that is only speaking about a handful of countries who have welcomed this way of life. This has all developed within my lifetime! When the fight for rights has existed since the early 1900's. So considering the difficulties they likely faced as a young couple simply because of their nature around a time of hateful prejudice, to endure a fight such as theirs. They must now fight Alzheimer's to keep those memories and battles fought. from being forgotten. As one of the partners 'Greg.' had put it: 

"Alzheimer's will accept anybody and everybody,

 no matter what.

 Male, female, young, old, gay, straight.

 Alzheimer's doesn't discriminate." 

This made the story all the more powerful but equal in cause and at times difficult to watch but it is a problem that now a vast majority of people face in their lives.  To those who are unknown to the illness, Alzheimer's is the most common cause of dementia. Which often leads to memory loss and difficulties with thinking and problem solving, something I'd like to call 'death for the living.'

It is a disease that affects the brain and progressively deteriorates the brain tissue causing immobility in some primary functions and in the UK alone over half a million have been diagnosed annually. It is also said that on average the illness affects those of the ages 65 and upwards, but those under it are not exempt from such an illness. Those under are known as 'early- onset Alzheimer's disease.' 

Now, if you've been wondering how this is relative to the theme for my summer project or perhaps you already know, here comes my little political rant. 

The age range on average for world leaders and government officials, and those with political governmental power has been said to be 40 to 65 and as of last year that range has increased from 45 to 65 from past analysis. I highlight these statistics because I think it's worrying to know that those with the most power in the world are also susceptible to this crippling illness. Theresa May aged 60, Vladimir Putin aged 64, Angela Merkel aged 63, Xi Jinping aged 64 and Donald Trump aged 71, all Heads of State and have maximum authorisation to create and condone laws and repeal acts, exercising the full extent of their power.

Every country has their own laws and rules to filter the power but this is a worrying factor for those whose lives hang in the balance, the aspiring youth and other citizens of the world. It may not be our place to know their well-being but for argument's sake, let's say one of these leaders had Alzheimer's, how could we determine that the right course of action is being made or the decisions agreed in government are the matters most needed attending too and are being handled rationally. How could we know if the minorities are being taken into account in matters of state affairs?

As I said earlier Alzheimer's can cause dementia and create difficulties in problem-solving, so how would we know the choices these powerful people are making, are made in our best interest? Surely we couldn't know as it may well be a kept secret, but regardless of this, the choices made will reciprocate and we'd be liable no matter.

From this, I'm  inspired to create a concept from the documentary. Instead of taking memories I want to photograph politically relevant issues at this moment and using the smudge effect symbolically display six Polaroid image in an overall photograph of them and how the possibility of their importance fading away or becoming forgotten. 

If you'd like to watch the documentary or browse the collections click the link below!

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Short film of the week:

https://www.shortoftheweek.com

Gabe Schimmel website: 

https://schim106.wixsite.com/edit/work

Alzheimer's: A love story documentary:

https://www.shortoftheweek.com/2017/04/08/alzheimers-love-story/