The Paul Rooney exhibition at Victoria Gallery & Museum is comprised of video installations within two rooms. I'd never heard of the artist before, and upon seeing more video installations I was initially quite skeptical because it seems to be the main staple of any exhibition at the moment, but I really liked the show. My favourite was "Small Talk" (2001 - 2010). I liked the use of humour in the discussion between the captions and the story behind the work of the artist revisiting the footage he had taken and repeating it, as well as the reference to the end of the film The Umbrellas of Cherbourg by Jacques Demy. I admired how the dialogue didn't sound too cheesy and cringey, as sometimes I think artists who play with words can step into dangerous territory if it isn't executed well. I also felt a bit uneasy when we were informed of the attention to detail Rooney gives the actual text and how any minor alteration could change the meaning of the whole piece. I thought this was an unnecessary addition to add to an interpretation of the work and reduced its worth somewhat as it seemed an obvious thing to say, but not meaty enough to base an interpretation of and a bit of a "cop-out", I suppose. When interpretations like that are said it seems like people are clutching at straws to read something into a work of art, and that makes me questions whether everything that has been said is relevant, or whether it is all forced speculation, and I think that's a sad thought - especially when contemporary art is so heavily dependent on its idea for its worth.
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| Small Talk |
Returning to the dialogue in Rooney's films for a moment though, I thought he had been unsuccessful with the dialogue in "The Futurist" (2008) - the main piece of the exhibition. Everyone seemed to enjoy the film, and I thought there were some good ideas in there as well as a lot of parallels with directors such as David Lynch in moments of tension. However, I thought that most of the good ideas weren't executed well at all. For example, the main character often talks out of synchronization with the sound the audience hears, apparently to remind the viewer that it is a film they're watching and not real life. But the fact that a viewer is watching a surreal film in a blacked out room in an art gallery that they have consciously entered seems to be indicative enough, without the out of sync bits that do appear to be mistakes. The dialogue the main character uses is at times quite toe-curling. I always think that if you hear lines of dialogue and don't immediately think of them written on the pages of a pretentious script then it is successful. But it seemed like a GCSE drama production - childish and clumsy in places even though you want it to be consistent and good and, in this instance, live up to the hype. There's also a female character at the end of the film who's acting is like that of a drama student in a monologue which I found cringey. I also thought the camera movement was too distracting - it was so much like a home video that I thought it ruined the production and end product.
There was another piece called "Letters that Rot" (2010) which was the interior monologue of a tree telling of a dream in which it was chopped down by a postman called Franz. The film was made up of white words on a background on a constant vertical scroll like film credits. I thought the placement of the projector in a pile of chopped wood was great and the angle that it was on caused ghostly reflections to slide along the floor and up the screens in the corner of the room, creating a dream-like effect. I thought that was really innovative and used the medium to its best capabilities to suit the work. Some of the script was great, such as the line "Here Comes Franz" and the whole idea was quite ingenious, but I thought that most of the script was disappointing when opposed with the actual idea and possibilities. It seemed more like Rooney's self-indulgent attempts at poetry and I didn't think it fitted very well in the context. I was quite disappointed by most of it.
We were shown round the exhibition by Moira Lindsay who explained themes within the work as well as the work that goes into curating an exhibition such as this. It was really interesting to hear about and raised issues about acquiring art and conserving it which I had never even considered, such as the storage of new media and the Contemporary Art Society. I enjoyed the visit and found it really thought stimulating.
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