BIO –
Since 1991 British artist Vicki Bennett has been working across the field of audio-visual collage, repurposing pre-existing footage to craft audio and video collages with an equally dark and witty take on popular culture. She sees sampling and collage as folk art sourced from the palette of contemporary media and technology, with all of the sharing and cross-referencing incumbent to a populist form. Embedded in her work is the premise that all is interconnected and that claiming ownership of an “original” or isolated concept is both preposterous and redundant. In 2006 she was the first artist to be given unrestricted access to the entire BBC Archive. People Like Us have previously shown work at Tate Modern, Whitechapel Gallery, The Barbican, Centro de Cultura Digital, V&A, Sydney Opera House, Royal Albert Hall, Pompidou Centre, Venice Biennale, Maxxi and Sonar, and performed radio sessions for John Peel and Mixing It. The ongoing sound art radio show ‘DO or DIY’ on WFMU has had over a million “listen again” downloads since 2003.
NOTES –
- Early work began with radio work
- “ownership of an ‘original’ work or isolated concept is both preposterous and redundant” – I like this mindset, it is essentially emphasising the importance to view your ideas and your practice as an important part of a wider web of interconnected references, idea development and exciting art
- “when do you pause? when do you decide to let that which is not you in?” – moving away from this perspective that you should be ‘protective’ over your ideas and your identity; as an artist it is important to accept things that you don’t perceive as ‘you’ into your way of thinking
- Part of the Plunderphonics movement
- In the analogue world you are limited to the materials and ideas generated from those that are in your immediate vicinity, there is no endless void like the internet
- Identifies as a ‘collage artist’ – this means within sound and visual work, mashing things up
- ‘The Sound of the End of Music’ – Short Film – Merging together different songs with different sounds but in the same key and time-stretching to fit into a tempo – I found this created an alternate way of listening to the songs. I love the edit of the video as well where it looks like the woman is walking in front of an Armageddon ( “The Hills are Alive” from the sound of music merged with “The End” by The Doors)
- “Originality is not important, uniqueness and energy are important”
- “Your experience is the most important, no matter where you started”
- “You can never let go of the fact that you’re always sampling”
- ‘We are not amused’ – Short Film – all about ideas and what happens if you keep them yo yourself
- Lot’s of humour and playfulness in her work – different to comedy as it is a more ethereal playfulness as opposed to trying to make people laugh
- “If you can’t change things, where the hell are we going with our lives?”
- ‘The Golum – An inanimate matter’ – Short Film – film about The Golum which is a mythical Jewish monster that was trapped in a book and terrorised a Library
- Important that the process becomes a part of the product – This is something I can reference when I am developing my installation; allowing the process of creating sound art by removing the final product
- These screenshots offer an insight into Vicki’s process – beginning with a mind map then sourcing loads of text surrounding the concept before constructing larger concepts and building a narrative for the artwork
- ‘Walking Through the Mirror’ – Short Film – delving into the deeper meanings of mirrors and reflection – I think the collage method works especially well in this instance, as the manipulation of the songs and blending of film visuals with a playful aesthetic create a bizarre atmosphere
- Recently (past five years) been working in the realm of spatial audio
- ‘Gone, Gone, Beyond’ – Audio-visual surround sound film at The Barbican – uses Naut Humon’s structure CineChamber – a ten-screen, eight-speaker space that creates a 360-degree audio-visual experience for an audience located at the centre of the room, dispersing perspectives and possible points of view.
- This CineChamber is the type of space I would love to have my work shown in, definitely something to keep in mind.
- “Making everything elasticated in terms of time and meaning. Trying to be inspiring and motivating at the same time.”
- Being transparent with your process
- Once you have enough material (notes/research etc.) you will always be able to get something out of it
- As soon as an original is released into the public domain, the owner has to leave the room for interpretation and allow the work to grow its own life
- Our self-identification expires so quickly that it doesn’t make sense to hold things so close in terms of art particularly
FINAL THOUGHTS –
Above everything else, I felt that Vicki’s mindset and approach towards her work genuinely inspired me. I loved hearing her perspective on originality and this poisonous culture of copyright within art, especially sampling in music. Artists should be treating their art as a continuation of an idea that has preceded them, as well as the start of new ideas that will build from it. Instead of being so over-protective of your artwork, I feel sharing is the most vital thing. Vicki was talking about sharing her process and looking at the process of art making as a part of the product. If anything, it is arguably more of a product than the final outcome is. I have been trying to teach myself to think like this more as of late and set myself free of the worry and anxiety that comes with perfectionism. I think these points that Vicki made resonated with me so much for this reason.