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Abstracts

Grace, A. 2005 From Glen to Gallery: Sculpture and Context, Practice as Research In Performance, 29Jun-3Jul, School of Performance and Cultural Industries at the University of Leed.

The proposed presentation will be a practice-based research project Sculpture and Context – granted initial funding by the University of the West of Scotland. This is an interdisciplinary programme of investigation into the interrelationship between sculpture,landscape and time. The central aim is to explore the complex effects of temporal, physical and socio-cultural context on the reception and interpretation of sculpture.

The starting point of the research is the Glenkiln sculptures in Dumfries and Galloway. Several sculptures including Rodin’s St John the Baptist and Henry Moore’s King and Queen and the Glenkiln Cross are permanently displayed in this relatively remote glen in south west Scotland - reputedly one of Moore’s favourite sites for his sculptures. The impact of the setting and variation of season and weather will be investigated and set against the spatial and socio-cultural positioning of similar sculptures. In the specific case of the two aforementioned sculptures other casts of the same work are presented in very different locations around the world. A programme of digital film making has commenced to provide presentation material to support and assist comparative evaluation. The project seeks to reflect further on the relationships between the work and the spectator, and the work and the audio-visual record and its audiences.

The project surveys the relationships between sculpture and the landscape as at Glenkiln, sculpture in a more metropolitan public context and sculpture within a specific gallery context. The project also seeks to trace the changing critical and cultural debate starting with Rodin’s account of his St John the Baptist, and Henry Moore’s perspective on the installations at Glenkiln, and moving forward to contemporary reassessments of the impact and influence of their work. This will be framed by an examination of the motivation and function of funding and patronage, alongside interviews with sculptors and curators such as Toby Treves co-curator of the recent retrospective at the Tate Modern. The specific short-term and long-term impact of the siting of sculpture will be examined in detail in the case of Glenkiln. One element will be interviews with local people, one of whom lived on a farm in the specific location before the installation of the sculptures, (and indeed before the creation of the Glenkiln reservoir which both the King and Queen and St John the Baptist overlook so effectively).

The first phase of the project has included visits to Glenkiln , the Henry Moore Foundation at Much Hadham, and the Henry Moore retrospective at the Tate Modern. It is anticipated that further filming will be carried through by next Spring and will result in a polished and stimulating presentation for PARIP 2005 – particularly appropriate for the venue of Bretton Hall as this will include including the Moore sculptures in Bretton Country Park.

Grace, A. 2005 Digital Film Futures, Cinema and Technology Conference, April 7-9, Institute for Cultural Research at Lancaster University.

This presentation seeks to explore the complex set of relationships between practitioners, technology, audience and industry now driving convergent digital film production.

The impact of digital technologies will be contexualized through interconnected case studies on the work of a number of influential and innovative directors and technicians.

The history of independent innovation from the film school generation of Coppola and Lucas will be traced through to the impact of digital video on such “mainstream alternative” film makers as Robert Rodriguez and Mike Figgis, and the Dogme 95 movement of Lars von Trier and his colleagues.

The presentation will assess the current application of digital technologies to production and post-production from the wide range of DV/HD/24p cameras now in use to Walter Murch’s use of “off the shelf” Apple Final Cut Pro systems on the edit of Cold Mountain.
This will move on to a consideration of the Manichean urge of independent filmmakers to free their art from the shackles of industry bureaucracy while imposing their creative will in ever more complex and comprehensive ways.

The presentation will conclude with three points for further discussion and reflection:

1. Does the alleged democratisation of film production brought about by digital technology merely mean a reduction in quality?
2. Is this process led by producers and directors, or merely a response to market conditions both anticipated and stimulated by large corporations like Sony?
3. What are the real implications of digital technology for the introduction and production new forms of films tackling new areas?

Scott, A. (2004) “Shieldinch or Raploch, Community Lives – Fact and Fiction on television”, International Conference for the AHRB Centre for British Film and Television Studies ‘Off Screen Spaces’ at the University of Ulster.

A comparison of the representation of two different communities featured in BBC Scotland programmes to examine concepts of ‘regional’ culture and identity, ideas of locality and the depiction of working class lives in 21st century Scotland.

The paper investigates what the two series, River City and Raploch Stories show about the concept of local community; how the approaches of the different genres of drama and documentary differ and what the different characters featured in the programmes tell us about how television defines class and identity today