Feasting on Film

I've been at the 2024 Aesthetica Short Film Festival, running all over York, trying to see as many screenings as possible. Over two days, I managed to cram in a total of 34 from the Artist Film, Experimental and Documentary categories, plus four more at the Listening Pitch event, which included the premieres of Liberty Smith's Greensound and Ornella Mutoni's The Things We Don't Say.

I feel very lucky to have been able to immerse myself in so much amazing work by so many truly talented film-makers. Difficult to pick favourites from such a diverse range of films, but I loved Tender Loving Care by Katrina Pulit, Don't Tell Peanut by Marc Horowitz, Eternal Father by Omer Sami, The Ban by Roisin Agnew, Thirst by Kristina Norman and Patient by Lori Felker.

This trip followed close on the heels of the Purbeck Shorts Competition in Swanage on 3rd November, where my favourite among 17 films (though not a winner) was Nothing Odd About That by Olof Berghe.

Thanks to Arts Council England for enabling the visit to York as part of my DYCP funding to inform and develop my moving image practice.

The Art of Located Sound

Field recording with omnidirectional mics (mounted on a coat-hanger)
 at West Dean College

In an attempt to tune into more-than-human sounds and signals (and maybe even record some usable audio material) I've been on a field recording course run by the brilliant Jez riley French at West Dean College.

Field Recording - The Art of Located Sound was an intensive, practical introduction to sound art with a focus on listening and intuitive approaches rather than technical mastery. That said, I managed to try out omnidirectional, parabolic and contact mics as well as a hydrophone and an electromagnetic coil. I learned the basics of making a good quality field recordings and came away with a whole list of artists, kit, software and ideas to follow up. 

I'm starting to think more deeply about the audio elements of the artist moving image work I'm making with Megan Calver as part of my ACE-funded professional development.  The subject of our film, Alec Harley Reeves, developed a World War II radio navigation system that guided pilots to their targets by sound alone - so paying keen attention to the audio elements of the work feels important.

It was a challenging weekend, but I've learnt so much. I first came to West Dean a couple of decades ago when I was trying out lots of different art processes ahead of embarking on a fine art degree. I loved it then and I love it still. Thanks to the Edward James Foundation, artists and art students are able to study in the extraordinary setting of the West Dean Estate.  It was a treat to return to these idyllic surroundings and open my ears to them - from bird song and passing planes to singing fences and crackling grass clippings. 

Studio Kind Summer Open 2024

 

The Studio Kind Summer Open in Barnstaple is now closed but you can take a virtual tour

Megan Calver and I showed Salt cat (keeps them at home), which concerns the breeding and keeping of pigeons, and seemed appropriate to a gallery housed in a former corn store. 

This screen print draws on a site-specific installation created for Open-Up at Hestercombe Gardens 2020-21. Salt-cat was a type of cake made by pigeon breeders to entice their birds to stay or return home. The installation included 16 fragments of text relating to this historic practice, three of which are included in this print. The edition was printed by George Barron at Double Elephant Print Workshop in Exeter.

Copies are available from my online shop for £60 including UK postage and packing

Signal and noise

 

Work in progress | 2024

After a six-week break preparing and installing for the Through Line exhibition, I've now re-immersed myself in film-making - learning to edit as I edit for a forthcoming moving image work. I've decided to take an organic approach to editing - putting things together to see how they work rather than following a precise pre-arranged plan. 

It's a significant challenge, requiring days of intensive effort - and plenty of trial and error.  Especially error. I've had some amazing input from mentors including Liberty Smith and Luke Hagan, my peers at DOCLAB, as well as my collaborator Megan Calver. But in the end it's just me and the footage, and I have to find a way to make sense of it. 

We have a complex story to tell about the engineer Alec Harley Reeves and his invention of a ground-breaking radio navigation system that allowed World War II pilots to navigate by sound alone. Reeves took an unconventional approach to solving engineering problems, which included taking long walks and consulting with the spirit of Michael Faraday. 

Reeves spent his professional life in radio communications trying to extract signal from noise: he invented pulse code modulation, the foundation of digital communications. However, in his parallel but equally rigorous psychical investigations, he set out to generate random noise, in which signals from the more than human could - he was convinced - be found. 

Megan and I both have strong attachments to Purbeck, where Reeves worked during 1941. We've been looking for signals that might point at past activity there, even though the most of the physical remains of its WWII history are lost. 

Following our shoot in Purbeck in May, we have budget for one more bout of filming and then it will be be case of working with what we've got. It will move from being the film that I have in my head to being the film that we've actually made. I'm trying to be kind to myself and say as it's a first attempt, it will inevitably be a little bit creaky. But having the DYCP funding is a great privilege - and I want to make the best of it.

Through Line

I'm delighted to be showing some new site-based work made with Megan Calver alongside other Exeter colleagues from CAMP.

Through Line brings together 14 members of CAMP who live in or near Exeter. It presents an opportunity to make new work or finish an existing work with group dynamics in mind. The exhibition space sits trackside to Newton Abbot railway station, a physical through line between Exeter and Plymouth that connects two of the larger cohorts of CAMP’s activity in Devon.

Adam Garratt | Alice Clough | Catherine Cartwright | 

Erika Cann | Frances Williams | Francesca Giuliano | 

Gabrielle Hoad & Megan Calver | Jane Jobling | 

Janet Sainsbury | Penny Simons | Sarah Bennett | 

Stella Tripp | Sue Wyllie

Curated by Adam Garratt

Saturday 13 July - Saturday 3 August
Opening Event Saturday 13 July 1500-1900

Maltings Taphouse Gallery, Teign Road, Newton Abbot TQ12 4AA

Sound and vision

Gabrielle Hoad & Megan Calver | Work in progress - Swanage Town Beach | 2024

Just back from an exhausting few days at Durlston Country Park in Dorset, creating footage for a forthcoming artist moving image work.  I had high hopes but, at the same time, didn't dare expect too much. It was a small crew - me, Megan Calver and Tim King - and it was also my first time setting out specifically to gather material for editing rather than just to document activity.  It requires a very different mindset and real persistence when the light or the weather (or sometimes the kit) don't behave as planned.  

It was gruelling. We would be up early to catch the tide or weather and still be reviewing footage and planning the next day's activity right up until 10 or 11 at night. But that sort of intensity also has advantages, firing off new connections between ideas and allowing you to start to see the shape of your future film. 

After a slightly shaky start we quickly became absorbed in the process and more confident in handling the equipment. The point where the kit stops being a hurdle and becomes a tool is a magical one.

There is also the chance of happy accidents, such as conversations with curious passers-by that suggested new ideas. And on one occasion, a pod of dolphins coming into view as we filmed out to sea. I was reluctant to pack up the camera and come home.

Taking time

I feel immensely grateful to have been awarded a Developing Your Creative Practice grant by Arts Council England. This funding is specifically to allow individual practitioners to take time to focus on their creative development. I will be using mine to feed my growing interest in moving image work. Until now, I've used digital video in a very simple way, and primarily for documentation. I want to master more complex recording and editing techniques and to 'play' with the technology.

I'll be developing material and footage for a film that draws on the the legacy of Alec Harley Reeves (1902-1971), the influential inventor and psychic researcher. This will include looking at the potential of technology to generate ‘supernatural’ phenomena (eg interference and ghosting). Above all, it's a valuable period of risk-taking and experimentation where, for once, I'm accountable but I'm not working to the deadlines of an exhibition or commission.

Running from April to December, it's a self-designed package of hands-on 'learning by doing' supplemented with mentoring from experts and peers. Megan Calver will act as a creative consultant on the film, collaborating with me to utilise our joint research and practice to date that's focused on revealing hidden signals beyond human senses.

Having been rejected by ACE far more often than awarded, I'm only too aware of how defeated some other artists will be feeling right now. If you're one of them, I hope you manage to pick yourself up and try again. Funds are short, competition is fierce and no matter how good your application, you also need a big dose of luck. It was my turn this time, and I'm very grateful.