Art as Problematic Waste (film 54 minutes. Video triptych 24’.50”)
- Submitting institution
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University of East London
- Unit of assessment
- 33 - Music, Drama, Dance, Performing Arts, Film and Screen Studies
- Output identifier
- 9
- Type
- Q - Digital or visual media
- Publisher
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- Month
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- Year
- 2019
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
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- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
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- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- This documentary film interrogates the underexamined question of the material and cultural management of art in an era of overproduction and ecological crisis. Through interviews with artists, curators and critics in Finland, Germany and UK, a variety of issues such as curatorial selection, art storage, legacy management and potential disposal are dealt with. The underlying research considers the notion of art as both a cultural asset and a financial one. The curatorial question of what to keep and what to throw away is underpinned by this unknown differential, the inevitable and fluctuating discrepancy between an artwork’s cultural and market values.
This question is one that largely goes without consideration. In many ways, the destruction and disposal of art is a taboo subject. Revisiting the friction between the use value and exchange value of art as experienced and addressed by artists working in Finland and England today, the project encourages debate on how the art world might recalibrate as it moves further into the era of overproduction.
The use of 4-channel surround sound and the three-screen video triptych create a more immersive audience experience and a more complex, but open, form of audience engagement: the choice of images and sounds to engage with is less directed. The longer form documentary, meanwhile, offers more space for the discursive dimension of the research, allowing more detailed deliberation of the issue alongside a wider range of participants.
Primarily funded by Avek (Finnish Audio-visual Council)
Exhibitions to date:
Video Triptych:
October 2019, Art Hall,Turku, Finland.
October 2019, Kulttuuritalo Laikku, Tampere, Finland.
March 2020, Greenwich University Galleries, London, UK.
April 2021, International Fine Arts Film Festival, Santa Barbara, USA.
Documentary Film:
October 2019, Film Preview and Panel Discussion, uuritalo Laikku, Tampere, Finland
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
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- English abstract
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