WORD OF MOUTH: EYEWITNESS TESTIMONY

Carolyn McKay

Thursday 29th April, from 1pm-3pm

Bon Marche Studio (UTS Bldg. 3, Lvl. 1, Rm. 105)

Presentation: 20mins.

As eyewitness testimony is given viva voce, (by word of mouth) my digital video and photomedia works explore how the human voice in a murder trial is an instrument of resuscitation, linking the present trial with the past crime scene. My research explores the phenomenological nature and paradoxical elements of testimony, focussing specifically on the voice of the witness.

Despite advances in forensic sciences, live eyewitness testimony plays a key role in murder trials. Whilst the ultimate goal of the testimonial process within the adversarial system is the production of an alleged objective truth, the entire process elevates subjective, phenomenological human experience and oral expression. Through the testimonial act and unique vocal print of the witness, the private, secret and sensorial experience must be externalised viva voce into the public discourse. It is with the accumulation of living testimonies, flesh-and-blood accounts and contradictory multiple viewpoints, that a narrative is plaited, the past crime scene may be reconstructed and a semblance of objective truth becomes apparent.

Using the medium of digital video, I explore the role of the human voice, and associated nonverbal communication, in articulating memories and the inner subjective experience. My methodology has involved attending murder trials and harvesting speech fragments from the various witnesses’ responses. I use these speech fragments in my video work, often floating them from a disembodied mouth, ‘orphaned’ from context. I aim to highlight the ambiguities in murder proceedings: the intersections of truth and fiction, the slippages of memory, the non-linear presentation of diverse narratives and the divulging of secret, private information into the public arena. In so doing, I wish to tap the tenor of the live trial experience, and create mere fragments of testimonial evidence for the viewer to ponder and engage with in an activity of speculation and interpretation.

Carolyn recently completed the MVA at SCA using digital video and photomedia to explore eyewitness testimony in murder trials.

Her paintings have been selected for major exhibitions including the Archibald Prize, Salon des Refusés and Portia Geach.

She has held solo shows in Sydney and Newcastle, as well as participated in group shows around Australia, Finland, Brazil and New York. Carolyn has been an artist-in-residence at The Lock-Up and Arthur Boyd’s Bundanon. In March, she will hold a solo show “Reports of Crime Etc., Etc.,” at The Lock-Up.

http://www.carolynmckay.com

Psychedelic blues/live performance/visceral experience

Chloe Hughes & Ion Pearce

Wednesday 27 April, 2010, Serial Space from 7pm

Performance: 30 minutes

OBJECTIVES
To begin with the musical genre of psychedelic blues as foundation upon which to experiment and improvise.
To articulate the following concepts using a live performance format:
1. Movement
2. Inertia
3. Utterance
To provide the audience with a visceral experience using improvised combinations of sound, imagery and spoken word.

VALUE OF THE PRESENTATION
The performance is valuable because it breaks with current conventions of contemporary art, which dictate that the content of a work must be arranged in a manner that explicitly communicates an idea or position to the audience. The proposed work breaks with this approach by generating an experience that responds to the conditions of the moment in which it is created.

METHODS
Initiate movements that proceed with their own momentum.
Superimpose visual and sonic patterns.
Use graphic scores (video projections) to stimulate the improvisers.

INFLUENCES
Spoken word
Psychedelic music

PROCEDURES
The parameters of the free-form performance will be set by the use of the following: spoken word; video projector; video mixer; cello; guitar; drums.

PERFORMERS
Ion Pearce
Chloe Hughes

RESULTS
Creation of a non-linear experience of time and space.
Production of a live work that is directly shaped by the environment it is created in.
Emphasis placed on coincidence and chance rather than the communication of predetermined meaning.

CONCLUSIONS
The work relishes in the potential of the present moment to become a contemplative zone in which the performers utilize the dynamism of time, space and movement.

CHLOE HUGHES is a Sydney-based photographer and video-artist. In 2010 she is undertaking Honours at the College of Fine Arts. Her work pays homage to heroes who seek refuge from normalcy within the myths others perpetuate for them. Hughes uses video as a tool for the creation of worlds which intervene with and undermine one another.

ION PEARCE is a Sydney-based sound artist and composer. Originally trained as a classical cellist he began building sound objects and original instruments in 1989. In 1996 he was awarded a New Media Arts Fellowship attached to the Listening Room ABC FM. He made several documentaries and radio works in South East Asia and has workshopped and toured with musicians from Java, Bali and Japan. He is currently working on a novel and recording a CD.