I am proposing to create a highly curated interactive video piece, taking the form of an “image”. This image will strictly adhere to the basic rules of staging an image and will take the form of an informational diagram in motion. It will operate at a slow pace with intricate moving parts created in a functional virtual world using Blender. This dense piece will allow for further exploration. Clicking different sections of the work will link the viewer to a new page and expand on a particular idea within the diagram presented and its relevance to our consumerist society.
The piece is driven by my interest in the engineering of evolution by corporate giants and the continually blurring line between lifestyle and staged advertisements. I will draw from the set up of product and food photography, focusing on the staging of perfected scenarios and the presence of lighting, colour, retouching, virtual force fields, genetic modification and engineering. The landscape depicted in the image will function as though it is part of an ecology diagram, heavy in genetically modified particles, stock imagery and 3D modelled forms. Through the use of Blender, I will experiment with the possibility of these 3D forms being restained into flat image files within the depicted landscape.
For me, this project would be an exciting exercise to soldify notebook ideas developed over the past year, systematically arranging them in a way that allows me to explore a cycle that has been generated by capitalism. I have a practical mindset which always looks for patterns and reason. Therefore, I think this process could be fruitful and would allow the project to organically develop throughout the course of the residency period with the option to create new pages building on from one another.
– Ciara O’Kelly
Ciara O’Kelly graduated from the National College of Art & Design in Dublin, Ireland with a First Class Honours BFA in 2017. Following this, she was the recipient of the Digital Media Graduate Award at Fire Station Artists’ Studios and later received the Young Artist Development Award in 2018 & 2019 from South Dublin County Council. O’Kelly’s work has been exhibited internationally, in countries including the UK, USA, Sweden and Netherlands. Earlier this year, she concluded a residency awarded by Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Colorado.
