Looking Back at the Project

I began the project by taking inspiration from TV programs and film before moving on to look at the work of other artists.

As a group we particularly focused on the films Se7en and One Hour Photo and the TV documentary Erasing David in which a man attempts to disappear without a trace while a private detective agency try to track him down. There were scenes from Se7en in particular from which we drew inspiration for our own work. The dark, muted colours worked very well when setting a scene, and the use of photography as an invasion of a persons privacy was an interesting device for set building. Both films showed the living space of a person with an obsession and the apartment scene is Se7en was particularly inspiring.

We also attended several exhibitions during the course of the project. In Chester we visited The Conversation, a group show by two graduates from The University of Chester as well as students and staff from the university, set in a church in Newton, Chester. It was good to see how the space was divided up between the artists and how the work sat together. We also visited several exhibitions in the Liverpool Biennial and found inspiration in work such as Music Not Good for Pigeons by Daniel Bozhkov, which used a confined space that could be viewed through a metal grid. The use of music in the piece draws people in and creates a curiosity about what is inside.

Internal view of Music Not Good for Pigeons, Daniel Bozhkov

Throughout the project we had regular meetings where we talked about ideas as well as dividing up work and duties between us. By sharing our inspirations in this way we all developed a very clear and coherent picture in our minds of how the final piece would look, helping us to work towards the same overall look.

Showing the Victim

After successfully installing our work we introduced the victim to the caravan today. Carl Jones is a fellow student who studies photography with us and shares a student house with Sophia Keenan. He was an excellent choice of victim, often completely oblivious to us following or photographing and filming him and happy to have been our choice.

Julie Wem filmed his reaction which will be put onto a DVD and played at the public opening on Thursday night. He described the experience as "overwhelming" and was surprised by the sort of information that we had found on the internet. He was most shocked by the photographs we had got of his family from his mothers facebook. Generally he was quite quiet and contemplative. The reactions of other people were more raucous. We waited outside as people went in and we could hear cries of disgust, shock and laughter. Generally people found it shocking and unsettling and as a group we were very happy with the reaction we achieved.

Installing the Caravan

Today we began installing our exhibition. Julie Wem had brought the caravan in on Sunday and it is now located near the skips at the rear entrance to the Kingsway campus. We have arranged between us which props to bring to dress the caravan and we spent today putting up our photographs. We have had some students trying to see what we were doing which was a problem and meant that we had to keep the curtains closed, working in near darkness. However, I see it as a positive thing that people are interested and are trying to see what we are up to, at least it has caused a stir. We will finish installing tomorrow ready for the crit on Wednesday and we have arranged a public opening on Thursday night.
The public opening will involve guests arriving and waiting in the reception area at Kingsway before being lead out to view the exhibition. We are planning music and video while people wait and are currently working on arranging refreshments.

Our Caravan

We all decided quite early on that we would like to have a caravan as the base for out exhibition. We all looked around for a while with a budget of £60 between us. I mostly looked on ebay and came close to finding one a few times but in the end Julie Wem found us this one from a caravan breakers for free. Very little structural work will be done to the caravan as most of the interior will be intact, but a board will be added to cover one of the windows. We will however be filling the caravan with various items.

Dwell

For the past few months I have been collaborating on an interactive photography project with my group Tri-cycle, made up of myself, Sophia Keenan and Julie Wem. The project has been kept secret from other students and most lecturers and so I have been unable to write about it in any public domain. However, as the deadline draws near we have been releasing bits of information, such as our press release and images for posters, which I will include here.

Dwell

University of Chester Kingsway Campus, Kingsway, Chester, Cheshire CH2 2LB
Thursday 16^th December 4-6 pm
Admission – FREE

Photography group Tri-cycle aim to unsettle with debut show.

            A chance to see the first exhibition by the collaborative group Tri-cycle. The group consists of Sophia Keenan, Sharon Mosey and Julie Wem, all second year photography students studying at the University of Chester. They have pushed the boundaries of traditional photography to incorporate set building based inside a caravan within the university grounds.

Dwell is an interactive experience in which viewers are invited to explore their environment and aim to make sense of what they are seeing. Keenan, Mosey and Wem have spent the past few months following, collecting and compiling a vast amount of information, images and items, from both online and real life sources, related to their chosen ‘victim’, which culminates in an eclectic and unsettling display. The project was kept relatively secret from their victim, with only the minimum amount of information given away in order to obtain permission. The effect of revealing the work to the victim will be part of the artwork and a recording of this reaction can be viewed at the exhibition.

There will be a free exhibition opening, with free refreshments provided, from 4 until 6 pm on Thursday 16^th December. Guests should meet in the reception from where they will be lead out to the venue in small groups. Everyone is welcome to come and see this exciting work.