CRITIQUE FEEDBACK

Today I screened a first version of my "Siblings" work to some of my class. It was great to see the work in front of an audience and there was some great feedback, a lot of it was issues I had noticed myself and some of it bringing other issues into focus. It was a really constructive process though and all of the comments have helped shape up areas that were working, possible changes and avenues to possibly pursue moving forward.

The following comments were made based on the screening of today and the discussion that followed.

• Why animation and pixelated b/w elements? A bit clunky and could be dealt with in a ore subtle way.
• As the viewer we are different to the artist especially in relationships to the boys and being able to tell them apart.
• Is it too confusing? Is this a bad thing? We discussed this and also in response to the above point could it be more interesting to have the boys on screen the whole time rather than the animations & b/w.
• It would definitely be better on 3 screens as an immersive experience rather than the one screen. Sound coming from screen son talking on and making audience turn around to interact with the piece.
• The boys have a charm and their personalities do shine through and even though the interactions were staged as it was shot one camera the interplay and humour reinforced their relationships. The deadpan parents and robot voice took away the charm though.
• How much were their comments guided by me? An interesting question and the boys own thoughts were not scripted but were discussed and responses and pecking orders established before filming. make sure this naturalness of the boys does not get lost!

The following comments were all noted as potential avenues to consider and explore.

• Keep simplistic as would be more powerful. Less is more!
• Talk to others who have relationships or opinions of the boys. Teachers etc.
• 3 monitors and installation on a larger scale. Suzanne Hiler?
• A coupe of people had issues with boys appearing to be naked and was it necessary and started raising whole different debates and readings. Most really liked it and seeing the fact that they were physically young and their different physiques. We discussed the fragility of being nude and laid bare too and most liked this idea.
• Possibly play around with the order so not always fist, second and third born left to right. Keep the audience guessing and make them work harder. Liked that two boys look the same. Would make the audience have to get to know them their selves and pay attention.
• Try with additional archive or GV footage BUT most liked the simplicity that the idea could have and thought this was possibly unnecessary.
• Could the boys ask each other questions? This could possibly be about themselves. For instance " what do you like about me"?
• The bits where the boys were not talking and simply existing naturally (well as naturally as you can in front of a camera) were as interesting as the talking bits. posture, body language, relationship with the camera and interviewer etc.
• They all spotted the similarities to some of Bill Violas work.