Fact

The first piece from the Fact Biennial I saw was darkened room with a video playing against the back wall. It was almost like a video severance tape from a military plane. It was in heat sensing colours such as intense reds, oranges and yellows, it had information bars on the vertical and horizontal axis' with details of height and depth. Within the room itself there were people sat on the bench at the back, I was left standing at the side peering in. This may have been a reason for my unwillingness to hang around, that mixed with my first impressions. It was the type of video that I have seen many times in the past and is something that turns me off with regards to video art. It's the way in which the artist chooses to tackle his idea which feels cold of any human touch and uninterested visual subject matter. An interesting reflection on this piece is that I made a video piece towards the end of the first year which had somewhat similar imagery and colours. It was a piece of film I had taken whilst on a train journey. I had manipulated the colours so they morphed and bleed into each other over time. The abstract premise of this idea was to try to recreate the colours I see within my eyelids on these journeys to and from home. In hindsight I feel I tackled this warm, human sensation in a detached way and maybe the idea could have best been tackled differently.

One of the stand out piece's for me in this biennial, this being my first, was the Tehching Hsieh 'One Year Performance (1980-1981)-(Time Clock Piece)'. The piece involved Hsieh clocking in on the hour every hour for an entire year. I think the reason why I was so struck by it was the shear scale of the idea and the realisation of the project. I've caught myself thinking about it many times since seeing it and it's warranted repeated views by myself and with others. I also found myself telling friends from home about it and showing them on their recent visit to see me. I think the reason for this level of interest is the fact that I know I could never imagine or tackle a project of this scale. I don't have the discipline or the determination to go through such a high level of monotony or routine. The presentation of the idea was something that I was really taken with as well as it all had an order and schedule, which is something I like. I did realise that as I was walking around and inspecting his time keeping skills I was noticing that he had missed a few of his self imposed deadlines. My first thoughts were "Lazy" which then made me laugh as I realised the level of commitment attached to this idea and for him to miss a few clock In's was only human.