Previous AA2A Artist

Nicola Schauerman

Year:
2008-09
Project summary:

Between 2005 and 2008, as part of the art group Genetic Moo, I worked on a series of interactive video pieces which reworked parts of the human body into sea life creatures. On entering the AA2A scheme, with a residency in both the Photography and Digital Arts departments, I resolved to expand the visual aspects of the project, and take the work in new directions. 

Having worked with the human body, I now wanted to experiment with animal matter as source material. During the first half of my placement I worked in the photographic studios building a library of photographs and videos of, for example, crabs, crayfish, octopus, and internal organs. In the January, I moved into the Digital Arts department. Firstly, I edited and manipulated the selected digital stills and video into what appear to be the internal organs, muscle, body fluid and skin of an organism; I then animated the creature algorithmically. An initial idea was to use a life-cycle to drive the appearance and motion. However after various test pieces it became clear that what was working best was the creature as a container for a slowly ever changing collection of internal organs. At this point I could happily watch these random fluxations of imagery for hours – the piece is visually much richer and variable than previous works. A crucial decision was made to change the name of the piece from the slightly comical Glob to the more encompassing Mother. The Mother of all my creations, she could literally contain (or give birth to) them. 

I am very happy with how the residency went. Not only was I able to achieve my aim of producing a new piece of work, but perhaps most importantly, it has helped me to identify future developments.

'Mother'
interactive installation