The Exhibition

Regarding the event as a whole, the overall exhibition seemed really positive with comments by most people saying they really enjoyed the work and thought it was well presented and made. It coincided with the 100 years of the RAF which also drew people in. They loved the film being played in the background and it really drew attention to the work. The visitor’s book had only positive comments from the audience and had a range of people from all over the world including Lativa!

The postcards I made were also well received, providing relative information about myself (websites, social media, email). People also wanted them to put in frames, as they enjoyed my work that much. Overall I sold 54 postcards, the most popular one being the one of the Jackdaw pub. I let the venue have most the postcards that were left over to sell on themselves. I have kept some so I can also sell them also. I would defiantly make postcards again for future exhibitions people liked the idea and it allowed the audience to leave with a small yet professional memento of the event.

With this, no accidents happened while exhibiting. People took care and flowed around the space how I wanted them to, making sure children were behaving and not running in and out of the boards. The statement that I provided the audience was informative and any questions they had I answered and explained. I even found out stuff about the film I did not know, as some people who came to look at the exhibition helped out on the set of the film. The only negative feedback i had was that people would have liked to know where the places were, where I took the photos so they can go there themselves to have a look.

To improve the exhibition, I should of possibly should have given more information about each image, by putting a small statement next to the image. However, as a whole, I am pleased with the response I had, and how well it went. I fell that I can confidently put on and organize my own show in the future. as at first, I didn’t know how people would like it. I’m so happy I chose to put on an exhibition rather than making a book.

Visitor Book

While I was exhibiting, I put out a visitor book for people to sign, I got loads of great comments and positive feedback. Below are pictures of the comments people put.

 

Printing Statements And Postcards

When it came to printing the Statements And Postcards. I actually printed and mounted my Statement my self on to foam board. For the postcards I got them printed out at a local printing shop where I live called Folkestone Printings. I got 350 postcards for £70 which I thought was not too bad. I probably don’t need 350, but it was cheaper for me to by more than it was for me to buy less. I am happy with the quality of the prints, and would definitely use them again in the future.

 

Artist Statment

This is the Artist Statement I created to tell people more about my project, and the exhibition. I will put this on the first image people see when entering the space.

Postcards

I have decided to make postcards and sell them at the exhibition for £1 each. Below are the designs of the postcards which I created. I have decided whatever money I make from the postcards I will donate to the trust, as they let me had the space for free and helped me with making the flyers etc.

Installation

Below are some photos/evidence of my install day. It only took me the morning the day before the opening day to set up in the space, as we made sure everything was ready before we moved it in. I painted the boards the weekend before so they didn’t have any marks on them, and I knew they were going to be dry.  We attached the hinges and the supports to the boards the day before we were moving them down to the venue. The only thing we had to do was set up the A-frames into the position I was happy with, and apply the command strips to the boards ready to hang my prints on the day. For this, we measured so the center of my images were eye levels to viewers, this meant we measured 155 up from the bottom of the boards. As you can see from the images below everything went smoothly and it looks really good. I was so happy with how it looked. I set it up so people could walk freely around the boards and they had to look at them again when walking back out. I think how I set the boards up, in the end, was really effective and drew the audience in more.

 

 

Costs Of Exhibiting

venue – £0

posters/ flyers – £0

A-frames – £0

Foamboards – £20

printing – £105

mounting – £35

Postcards – £70

command strips – £20

 

 

ARTIST CHECKLIST

Putting Out Posters/Flyers

I managed to put out a whole range of posters and flyers local to where I live. This ranged from the town I live in, to where I work in tontine street and the actual venue its self.  I had loads of people interested in the event where I work. People were picking up the flyers all the time and we actually ran out. It was good having them where I work as I could then explain to them a little bit more about it. I know the venue had the flyers in the cafe and in the main reception as well.

Curation & Installation Strategy

Prior to installation, the room I plan to exhibit in must be presentable beforehand. This means I needed to Allow time for general cleaning (where necessary and with care to the building) whilst notifying Jules (the manager of the battle of Britain memorial) what days I wanted to start preparing. Regarding the space, the battle of Britain memorial has tall ceilings and is fairly modern, with different kinds of lighting to light up my work, I have natural light from the windows, which can be controlled by opening and closing the blinds, I have lights from above and on the walls which can be turned up or down using the controls.

On the day of the install, I will need a van to help transport materials and equipment. I will get a friend to help me as I won’t be able to lift and set up on my own as the A-frame boards are heavy and need to people to lift them.

I will exhibit in the Geoffrey Page Centre at the battle of Britain memorial. I will present my final pieces using four A-frames. These will be installed scattered separately across the floor space, they will have one image on each side of the boards (pictures being A1). The battle of Britain film will also be played in the background on a projector that the venue already has in place. I will set up the boards so people can walk freely around them and it has a flow to them. Allowing the viewers to look at the images in full detail. Going back on themselves if needed. I will also set a table up in the corner for people to sign the visitor book and buy postcards.

My work will look really good in the space, as everything links around the venue, and the exhibition dates also coincide with the 100th anniversary of the RAF.

Website

As a different way of marketing, I got the venue to put information about the event on their website to gain more interest. Below is a link to the venue’s website and the event they added. I have also put screenshots below.

https://www.battleofbritainmemorial.org/news-and-events/news/film-is-inspiration-for-free-exhibition/

How To Exhibit The Work

Here I have done added Sketch-up design on how I want to display the work, I have taken screenshots to show you what I plan it to look like and how I want to set it up.

 

 

Possible Hazards At The Venue

The only possible hazards there might be when exhibiting will be:

• If people trip over the A-frames

 

• If the A-farmes aren’t secure properly they may fall over

 

• little kids running in and out of the A-frames and falling over/the A-frames fallen on them.

 

• If people lean of the A-frames and they fall over

 

How can we avoid any of the above happening?

To prevent any of the above hazards happening, I will make sure the A-frames are secure and stable, so they don’t move or fall over if touched. I will also put a sign saying ‘please do not touch’. As I’ll be there every day I will be able to keep an eye for anything dangerous to happen and be there to advise the parents/gardens it isn’t good for the kids to run in and out of the A-frames.

Marketing – Facebook

When it came to marketing I created an event on Facebook, with all the details about the event. I shared it on the uni page, and photography page and sent an invite to the event to everyone I thought might be interested in it. I also got people to share it on their facebook, so more of a wide range of people knew about it. I posted it on local selling groups as well as there are a lot of people signed up to the sites and get notifications when something is posted on there. It got a wide range of attention and people who said they were interested in the event. Below is a link to the event.

https://www.facebook.com/events/1701703856534797/

 

Marketing – Creative Quarter Folkestone

When it came to marketing my event, I got in contact with the Creative Quarter in Folkestone and emailed them to share the event on their facebook, and for me to hand them some flyers to put out on their desk. They emailed back and were happy to do that, they shared my event on facebook and twitter and had flyers to hand out to people. I chose to ask them to share my event as they are art based and have a lot of people on there social media looking for things to attend and that are art people based themselves. They also share other peoples work on their social media all the time and get quite a bit of interest from it. Below are some photos to show evidence of what I have done.

 

Poster Design

Here on this page is some poster designs I came up with for the exhibition. The first 6 images you see are the ones I came up with. I sent these over to the venue to get their approval and see which one they wanted to use. They got back to me and said they like the last one but wanted to make it fancier. We came up with the poster at the bottom of the page. It’s a lot better than the previous ones I came up with. It is more eye-catching and has stronger colours and information on it.

 

Andreas Gursky – Hayward Gallery

Today I went to look at Andreas Gursky work exhibited at the Hayward Gallery in London. Below are some pictures I took of the exhibition. I really like how he laid his images out. They were in a simple frame with a white border around them. I admire the range of smaller images and bigger ones and ones that take up the whole wall. In my opinion, this makes viewers walk around the whole exhibition, and make them study each photograph closely. He makes the pictures that contain loads of detail bigger so viewers could see every detail possible. My favourite image out the whole exhibition was the one where the two teams were in the stop pit at formula1. He had to be quick at taking this picture as they are quick when changing the tries etc. I like all the small detail in this image and how he has also captured the people standing in the box above them. I like how the image is dark, but the red and white really makes the image stand out.

Battle of Britain movie

Here are some screenshots from the Battle of Britain movie (1969). I have screen-shotted the elements that I plan to go back and rephotograph.

Installation Reaserch

As I won’t be able to hang anything on the walls and the space is big, I feel I need to make the most of it and need to build stands to put my images on. Below are some ideas I have in mind of what I want t to do when it comes to exhibiting.

Open Eye Gallery

Sketch Up of Floor Plan

This is the sketch up design of the floor plan of where I’m putting on the exhibition.

Battle of Britain Memorial Visit

Here are some photos of the space which I will be putting on my exhibition. Everything in the room will be taken out so it will just be an empty space.

Emailing the Venue

I emailed the battle of Britain memorial team about putting on an exhibition and the dates I was thinking of putting on the show. As you can see from the attached emails I have placed below, I explained what I wanted to do and told them who I am. They were really keen on me putting on a show and gave me the dates that they thought would be best (Easter weekend), which should mean I get a really good turn out. I went up and had a meeting with them to explain and go over stuff. They are letting me have the room free of charge and helping me with promoting and making posters for the event. The exhibition will be on from the 29th of March till the 4th of April and be from 10am-5pm. They also have a projector in the space I’m exhibiting in, they are going to play the battle of Britain film (1969) on it. I am so happy with this and can’t wait to get started.

Exhibition Idea

For this unit I want to put on another exhibition, I have chosen to do this over a book as I think it will work out a lot better and I don’t think I have enough content to make a book. I think putting on the exhibition in the venue I want will link everything together nicely. Where I live the battle of Britain is popular, and also the film is a big hit. So putting on an exhibition which contains images of what people love will hopefully bring in a wide range of audience, with lots of people.

I planned to exhibit in the battle of Britain memorial is Capel-Le-Ferne, Folkestone, or the battle of Britain museum in Hawking. I went to look at both venues, however, felt battle of Britain memorial was more suited and had more people come to visit it, as its recently been done up, and had the queen come to attend the opening. The room which they showed me also had a lot of space to work with. The battle of Britain museum was too small and there wasn’t enough room for me to do what I plan on doing.

Harry Enchin

Harry Enchin is a photographer from Toronto.  He hit on the idea of using photo collage as a way to link the old and the new, to bridge the decades, to evoke memory through art. Enchin went through tens of thousands of archival images of the city. The series of work is called ‘Toronto TIME.’ I like this work he takes bright colourful photos, then places black and white archive images on top which make the images really eye-catching and powerful. It really shows how it has changed over the years and not just within the photo but also photography itself.

Front and Spadina

Yonge and College 2A 1948/2012

Eighteenth Street and Third Avenue, digital c-print, acrylic facemount on dibond, edition of 5 – 38.3″ x 60″; edition of 10 – 30.6″ x 48″; edition of 25 – 21″ x 33″

Dundas and Ossington

Harry Enchin

Peter Macdiarmi

Peter Macdiarmid was born in Scotland in 1964 and have been a photographer for 26 years – starting out on local newspapers in south London.  Bringing history back to the 21st century and reminding us how we came to be. He collected modern photos from around Europe and overlaid World War I-era images, giving a sense of how much and how little has changed since the War to end all Wars. I like these images, I admire how he has placed the images on top so they fit with the new picture even if it means the photo on top isn’t straight. I think this gives the overall image as a whole a really nice effect. I prefer how there is more of the war image on show, but just enough of the newer image to see how much it has changed over the years.

Peter Macdiarmid

Rephotography

Rephotography is the act of repeat photography of the same site, with a time lag between the two images; a “then and now” view of a particular area. Some are casual, usually taken from the same view point but without regard to season, lens coverage or framing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rephotography

 

Sergey Larenkov

Sergey Larenkov is a Russian-based artist/photographer who was deeply impacted by World War II. Sergey photoshops them over more recent shots to make the past come alive.  His photos make us appreciate our shared history in a whole new and unbelievably meaningful way. Most of the previous artist I have looked at have just layered the images over the top, however, Sergey Larenkov photoshops the two images together and the image results are truly amazing. I have looked at this artist because he uses old war photos combined with his own photography.

Sergey Larenkov

Mark klett

 Mark Klett is a photographer interested in making new works that respond to historic images; creating projects that explore relationships between time, change and perception; and exploring the language of photographic media through technology. I will be looking at his work he created with Byron Wolfe called Reconstructing the View: The Grand Canyon. The duo spent five years focusing on past and present images of the Grand Canyon to create a whimsical view of one of America’s most popular attractions. They take a playful look at rephotography taking photographs from the same precise locations over time. Instead of presenting older and newer images as a continuum to show evidence of change, the duo place the historical image directly over their new photograph of the old location, thereby hiding the very information rephotography would normally provide. By doing this, they also create an entirely new landscape, one in which a window into the past has been opened and time passing can be seen as only part of the story. I have looked at this artist because he uses pictures of the past then retakes the pictures of what they look like now. I like how he recreates the landscapes instead of just laying the images on top of each other. I like how in the second image he uses a range of different coloured images instead of the images just being the same colour. In my opinion, this draws viewers in as its more eye-catching.

Mark Klett

Christopher Rauschenberg

Oregon-based photographer Christopher Rauschenberg is a founding member of the Blue Sky Photographers’ Collective and Gallery. His work has been widely exhibited. The photographs I will be studying are from his Walking with Atget, Christopher Rauschenberg retraced Eugene Atget’s steps in and around Paris 100 years later. The results are remarkable photo pairs, plus some new discoveries. Walking with Atget. For these photographs, Rauschenberg revisited Paris locations photographed by the French photographer Eugene Atget in the early 20th century, rephotographing the same views at the end of the 20th century to reveal what had changed and what had not. I have looked at this artist because he has done a comparable thing to what I am intending to do with this unit. This being taken photos of what another photographer has captured then going back to the same location and retake the same photo but what of the place looks like now.

Christopher Rauschenberg

Robert Capa

Robert Capa was a Hungarian war photographer and photojournalist, arguably the greatest combat and adventure photographer in history. The series of work I am mainly looking at from his selection of work are the images from during the Spanish Civil War and France. I like how some of his photographs aren’t in focus, in my opinion, it adds character to the image and makes them stand out. It makes the image look like it has a sense of panic and makes the viewer feel like they are there alongside the soldiers.

FRANCE. St. Laurent-sur-Mer, Calvados. June, 1944. German soldiers captured by US forces.

GERMANY. Near Wesel. March 24th, 1945. American paratroopers landing in Germany.

DENMARK. Copenhagen. November 27th, 1932. Leon Trotsky lecturing.

ITALY. 1944. Drivers from the French ambulance corps near the front, waiting to be called.

TUNISIA. April, 1943. American pilot.

FRANCE. Arras. March 23rd, 1945. An American Parachutist preparing to board the plane for the jump accross the Rhine River.

Robert Cappa

SPAIN. Córdoba front. Early September, 1936. Death of a loyalist militiaman.

FRANCE. Notre Dame de Cenilly. July 28th, 1944. A French farmer offers cider to American soldiers.

SPAIN. Madrid. November-December 1936. Members of the International Brigades in the Medical School of the University of Madrid, in the western outskirts of the capital. The Fascist rebels were mounting a major offense in order to capture Madrid.

ICP 525. July, 1943. A member of the American Medical Corps treats a German prisoner of war.

FRANCE. Normandy. June 6th, 1944. US troops assault Omaha Beach during the D-Day landings.

FRANCE. Normandy. June 6th, 1944. American troops landing on Omaha Beach, D-Day.

Nicky Bird

Nicky Bird is an artist whose work investigates the contemporary relevance of found photographs, and hidden histories of specific sites, investigating how they remain resonant. She has explored this through photography, book works, the Internet and New Media. In varying ways, she incorporates new photography with oral histories, genealogy, and collaborations with people who have a significant connection to the original site, archive or artefact. I have chosen to look at this artist as she does a similar thing to what I will hopefully doing with layering up new photography with found photographs that contain/show history.  I also like how she’s layered the images together, I like how you can see the quality and history of the older image. I am interested in how the also presents her work.

Nicky Bird

Bob Penn

Bob Penn is another still photographer from the making of the battle of Britain movie, and another photographer which will help me with this project I’m planning to be doing. Again he uses a mixture of black and white photography and colour photography, with a rand of 35 and 120 film.  He started his career in 1940 and went on to photograph over 80 films including Cleopatra (1963), Oliver! (1968), On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969), The Omen (1976), The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), Superman (1978), Alien (1979) and Flash Gordon (1980), 

David James

David James is a professional stills photographer born in Birmingham, UK. He worked on movies including Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan, Batman Begins, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation.  I have added David James to my blog as he was one of the still photographers on the making of the battle of Britain movie. I might also be using some of his work in my own work for this unit. While being on the set of the making of the film he used a mixture of 35 and 120 format film. His photographs use a range of black and white and colour images

Cornell Capa

Cornell Capa (originally Cornell Friedmann) was born in Budapest and moved to Paris in 1936 to join his brother. Cornell Capa founded the International Center of Photography in New York after a long and distinguished career as a photojournalist. I like the tones and contrasts of this artists work, they are really eye-catching and powerful images. I have looked at his artist because he has taken images of war and sort of behind the sense of it all, which is similar to what I will be working with.

GERMANY. Surrounded by Martin Matador missiles in their hangar, a crew of missilers on “alert duty” take time off from handling explosive war heads. They relax and play a game of basketball. 1958.

GB. ENGLAND. 1952. The Gloucester Regiment, which fought heroically in Korea, returns to England.

GB. ENGLAND. 1952. The Gloucester Regiment, which fought heroically in Korea, returns to England.

GB. ENGLAND. 1951. The Gloucester Regiment, which had fought heroically in Korea, returns to England.

GERMANY. Practice crew of missileman, strip anti icing tarpaulin covering from a Martin Matador missile. By jet plane measurements, the Iron curtain is exactly 6 minutes from this BIRD, which has the advantage of being virtually detection proof from most radar because it flies at a tree top level, below the enemy’s electronic trip wires.

GREAT BRITAIN. London. 1952. Alec GUINNESS transforming himself with makeup.

GERMANY. Near Hahn. The 69th Tactical Missile Squadron. The iron curtain is 6 minutes away by jet speed. The TM-61 is jet-propelled,doing 140 knots in 2 seconds after firing, sub-sonic in flight but dives on its target at supersonic velocity.

Cornell Capa

GERMANY. Missile Policeman Riddlespreger of the US Army and his sentry dog BONZE, standing guard before a collection of Matador nose cones. Matador missiles have the tactical advantage that dozens can be sent with dummy (unarmed) nose cones, or nuclear armed cones, thus confusing enemy as to the true target. 1958.

Ernest Brooks

Ernest Brooks was a British photographer, best known for his war photography from the First World War. I have again looked at this artist as he focuses on war. I like how his images are in black and white. The one image I’m really drawn to out of these four images you see below is the image where the shoulders are walking and they seem to be a Silhouette. This image is really strong and I’m instantly drawn to it. The image looks like its been put together using photoshop.

Ernest Brooks

Don McCullin

Don McCullin is a British photojournalist, particularly recognized for his war photography and images of urban strife. He has been shot and badly wounded in Cambodia, imprisoned in Uganda, expelled from Vietnam and had a bounty on his head in Lebanon. He has braved bullets and bombs not only to get the perfect shot but to help dying soldiers and wounded civilians. Compassion is at the heart of all his photography.

I have decided to look at this artist as he focuses on war, which I will also be focusing on for this unit. I also like the how his images are in black and white instead of colour, in my opinion, this really draws the viewer in and makes the images have a rawness, they are more engaging this way and tell more of a story. I also like the use of grain this artist uses.

Don McCullin

Plan

Today we got our brief for our next unit ‘Storytelling’ whilst getting briefed I took down some notes that come to my head when thinking about what to do. I knew before I got the brief that I wanted to use the negatives I got from the battle of Britain film (1969). below are the ideas I came up with.

• storytelling – someone telling a story
• use The Battle of Britain negatives I have
• show the ‘then’ and the ‘now’
• layer the images over the top of each other
• look at war photographers
• look at film/cinema photographers – Cindy Sherman
• liners
• inspired by, or re-interpret an existing story
• think about the what audience….. target audience would be older viewers or people interested in war, or fans of the film
• use film camera maybe Bronica or Mamiya
• battle of Britain memorial Capel
• exhibition or book

look at/research into:

• memorials
• war stories
• patrick keiller – maybe a video?
• war references
• artists that layer images
• battle of Britain memorial Capel-le-ferne

locations from the film:

• Duxford
• Debden
• North Weald
• Hawkinge
• Denton, the Jackdaw inn
• Chilham
• RAF Hawking