TO EXPRESS IN ANOTHER MEDIUM...

"My experimentation with thinkable identities - just as the handling of colours, forms, symbols - opens up a world to me" Everlyn Nicodemus

When Marshall Mcluhan stated in 1964 "The medium is the message" he meant that the form in which something is presented will hugely affect what we take as its meaning. At that time the influence of mass media (TV, photography, film, radio, advertising) on culture and society was beginning to be recognised.

Throughout the 20th century artists and writers have experimented with different media, translating between forms to see how this might change the meaning of a piece.

Bertoldt Brecht exposed the conventions of theatre using the dialogue to break through the invisible wall between the audience and the players. Marcel Duchamp abandoned the idea of the uniquely crafted art object, exhibiting 'readymade' manufactured items. Roy Lichtenstein painted in a newsprint comic strip style, blown up onto large canvasses.

Faith Ringgold takes moments from African American life and recreates them in fabric as quilts (another American 'narrative' tradition). Much of her work is concerned with African American history and its relationship to culture. In her images, Black women and children have a central place, no longer on the margins or behind the scenes.

Faith Ringold, "Dancing at the Louvre", 1991(1)

• What do you see when you listen to ...(choose any piece of music or sound)?
• Why do we sometimes find it difficult to talk about our (visual) art work?
• Could you produce a visual critique of an artwork?
• Why would you bother to paint something when you can photograph it?
• Investigate representations of 'time' in a wide range of media

DISCUSS

RESEARCH

BRAINSTORM

DESCRIBE

COMPARE

Simon Patterson - page from 'Rex Reason', bookwork 1993 (1)

"I photograph what I do not wish to paint and I paint what I cannot photograph" Man Ray

The translations which occur between different media are partly informed by our senses and memories. If we close our eyes when we listen to music or other sounds, we feel certain emotions. Sometimes we also see images in our minds. Smells can produce visual and taste memories and in extreme cases people experiencing synaesthesia might even hear colours or see smells.

Such sensations are triggered by signs which evoke rather than instruct. Much of our lives are lived as habit or routine through learned behaviour, therefore the expectation of a certain response or a particular pattern can be disrupted by any change to context or order.

Simon Patterson's work is concerned with systems, ordering, diagrams and hierarchies. The work adopts different forms, according to the model he is simulating, mapping new sequences (eg footballers) onto a classic structure (eg the London Underground map) forcing us to question value systems, visual codes and conventional readings.