Stuarts proposed projects.

“Get Some Free Will”
By Stuart Alexander © 2010

A proposed site specific work that must be created in the space that will be exhibited in. The space would ideally have a few defining features that differentiate it from a standard white cube space. If his is not possible then certain modifications can be added to the space by myself which will not detract from the original concept.

Making the work will entail standing against the wall where the first image will be hung, facing into the room. I will mark a cross where the back of my head touches the wall and then photograph into the room. The image taken will then be developed and hung on the wall where the cross is marked, so the image depicts the same view of the room if the viewer were to turn around whilst standing in front of the image. They will see the actual view that the photograph depicts. This process is continued around the room repeating all of the photographs until all of the photographs include the other photographs in the room. So the photographs not only depict the room but also the photographs in the room depicting the room. They are a reflection of themselves within the space like a mirror reflecting a mirror creating an infinite recognition and exchange. The images come to represent a larger potentially infinite space within the confined space. Initially when the viewer enters the space and sees the images together they will see their relationship in their reflection and incorporation of each other and a sense of the infinite space and promised freedom of the represented reality.

The reason that photographs have been chosen to represent the space as opposed to film or even just mirrors is that a photograph becomes a product; an object that can be sold. The reason for this is that I want to highlight that reality, in how it has come to be experienced, has been relegated to representation. That we no longer experience reality due to the idea that the media, through advertising and commodity culture has turned reality into a heavily stylised and controlled series of signs used to perpetuate the capitalist system and political agenda. And so, if the viewer has the initiative to go against the traditional system of seeing (in this case the artwork viewed in a traditional art context) and turn around with their back to the image to see the real space first hand the viewer will experience reality as opposed to the representation of the space through the image or product. The fact that the work is called “Get some free will” relates to this idea of breaking the conformity of how art is supposed to be viewed, as the artwork itself suggests to the viewer to turn their back on it. At the same time the title is meant to be humorous as, if someone is told to get free will and does, then it is not actually free will at all.

The work creates a representation of the space through its representation of itself in a way which requires a cognitive process and a decision on the part of the viewer, i.e suggested free will, by turning to stand with their back to the images. Once the decision is made on the part of the viewer to turn around, they become no longer confined by representation but free to interpret reality for themselves.