ARTIST STATEMENT 

 

Momentum 

 

My project is rooted with themes of momentum, with particular emphasis on appreciating the beauty of daily life. My art was always going to feature music in some way, and the current lockdown circumstances shaped the progress to be even more digital heavy, as well as making my original theme more relevant than ever … to acknowledge the beauty around us, however repetitive or seemingly ordinary the day may be. 

 

Inspired by installation art I visited in the 2019 Venice Biennale, my work incorporates the translation of an ordinary day into a multimedia work of art. The visual elements have been inspired by David Hockney (a fellow northerner from Yorkshire), Sean Scully’s abstraction and work philosophy, and Angelica Mesiti’s three-channel video installations that incorporate themes of daily life and translations, culminating to provide an immersive viewing experience.

Minimalist composers such as John Cage, and the ‘father of ambient music’ Brian Eno have been the influences behind my music composition. 

Aspects of minimalist music include the selective abandonment of elements such as melody, harmony, rhythm and pitch. 

Eno’s Oblique Strategies and the element of chance have featured greatly throughout the process of my work, both in the audio and visual compartments. Strategies were randomly assigned through the click of a button, such as ‘listen to the quiet voice’ and ‘what wouldn’t you do?’  

The music accompaniment is ‘Just Carry On’, named after the oblique strategy most fundamental to its creation. 

It ends quite abruptly after the tempo increases, and I left the 'unlocking' deliberately louder than the other audio so as to disturb the listener back to reality, as if snapped out of a daydream. The piano trails away like a lost train of thought. 

It is up to the viewer to decide which part of the routine is represented by the audio, which picture relates most to the audio in their opinion. Is the lock in the audio the end of the day or the beginning? Are the characters about to leave the house or is someone else entering the scene? 
 

Eilidh McKell