Audiovisual interspaces: how duration can be utilised in the composition of audiovisual artworks

This thesis investigates the role and use of duration within my audiovisual practice. Its studio investigations developed from a consideration of how audiovisual artworks can be composed in response to the temporal and spatial conditions of their exhibition environment. Specifically, this research considers the experience and creation of audiovisual compositions across three distinct exhibition modes: installation, performance, and publication. In this exegesis, composition is explored as a process of constructing interspaces between audiovisual components, and in relation to particular exhibition modes. Through considering the spatiotemporal characteristics of both visual components (photographic images, projected images, stage presence) and audio components (synthesised audio and sampled audio) a process of composition was developed through practice-based research that highlights the types of interspaces that can be created. The exegesis considers my experience of audiovisual compositions from a phenomenological perspective, with references Merleau-Ponty. This approach acknowledges how my personal subjectivity has informed and influenced my compositions. Artworks were composed in order to address how they could be experienced by the viewer as a form of ‘real duration’ inspired by Henri Bergson, while Giles Deleuze’s notion of the ‘crystal image’ and Michel Foucault’s concept of a ‘heterotopia’ have been drawn upon in an effort to synthesize the spatiotemporal concerns discussed in this exegesis with a compositional approach that was applied in practice to alter perceived time and perceived space. The research incorporates a significant body of creative work representing the exhibition modes under investigation. The major demonstration of my compositional approach is presented through installation, and highlights the construction of interspaces through works such as ‘Everything in its place’ and ‘The situation we’re in’, whereas performance allowed temporality to be explored in ‘real time’. Works such as ‘Untitled audiovisual performance’ consider how audiovisual interspaces can be constructed between projected images and the performer. Publication enabled temporal and spatial considerations of the work to be achieved independent of a specific location, as demonstrated through the works ‘I need some air’ and ‘The situation we’re in’. While the exegesis highlights key works, all creative outcomes realised as a part of the studio research are documented at the end of the exegesis, along with description of and conceptual motivations and relevant spatiotemporal concerns. This exegesis concludes by considering the importance of the present moment in establishing the atmosphere of an exhibition mode through its focus on ‘real duration’. This was demonstrated through key examples from the studio research within the modes of performance and installation, and suggestions are made for how this could be further utilised within publication. It found there was potential for further research to be undertaken in regards to free-improvisation’s ‘celebration of the moment’ and how this could be utilised within the exhibition modes of installation and publication, and finally by considering how synthesized audio can be seen as being temporally engaged with this research through its independence of previously acquired source material. This thesis includes supplementary resources referenced throughout. Most of these resources are available for viewing at www.toddanderson-kunert.com, however a full copy has been uploaded to Dropbox. Should you wish to access these materials, please email the author at info@toddanderson-kunert.com