8/3/2019 Becoming an Image Workshop

1/5

Manuel Vason

Becoming an image

Workshop

Becoming an Image Workshop

Description:

This workshop is mature as a natural development of my practice. Since1999 I have been collaborating with a number of artists. Eachcollaborations was different but the objective was to create one or moreimages that would capture the artist essence and presenting it in a newformat During this year I have build a methodology of working based on

dialogue and process where ideas where shaped to fit mutual concern.The starting point of every collaboration is the body and its power ofexpression. Im interested in photography as language and I have beenvery excited to explore the limits and the contradictions of this art form.Im interested on the transition between a live action and itstransformation into an image or an object. Becoming an image is anatural progression from movement to stillness. This workshop intends todraw a line between pure photography -which aims to frame the liveevent as it reveals itself- and actual image making which aim is tomemorize the event, to analyze each element and reinterpret them.

The workshop is a complete formula. Each participant becomes subject,object and image-maker at the same time. Each participant is anindividual artist and becomes anonymous within the group. Eachparticipant can determine the final result and each participant becomesaudience and witness. During the project there will be time for group andindividual exercises. While the individual activity aims to push theindividual artist practice, the group activity is conceived to create aconnection amongst the different artists/participants and promoteexchange. The workshop has an elastic structure that welcomesimprovisation and unexpected coincidences. It is structured with theintention of becoming the perfect situation, where to generate newmaterial or where to test yet undeveloped ideas. This is a site-specificexperience; the place can be altered and modified, but the place doesalter and modify each action. I have a dual role within this project as botha facilitator/leading artist and a participant; this role stems from theintrinsic role that collaboration plays in my practice.

This project aims to introduce participants to the process of imagemaking, to provide them with an opportunity to view their work throughdifferent artforms such as sculpture and photography and to offer them aplatform to create new material. At the end of the project each participantwill be given a dvd including all the material/images from the groupactivity and their individual activity within the project

8/3/2019 Becoming an Image Workshop

2/5

Artist Statement:

Manuel Vason sees his work as a life long research project onRepresentation. He is interested on the concept of becoming an imageand its consequences on an artistic and social policy. He has been using

photography as his tool of expression and he has since been fightingagainst its limits. For years he has been working hard to bridgephotography and performance. He considers photography a trulyperformative medium and an autonomous performative practice. A keyelement of his work is the relation with the subject, a sort of partnershipbased on mutual respect, a sense of reciprocal trust and a joint desire forcreation. The foundation of every new image is a collaboration (ofindeterminate duration) with a performance artist. During thecollaboration Vason exchanges ideas and points of view with the artist andthen they together construct images with embedded messages andshaped aesthetic. Vason is not so much intrigued of documenting anexisting performance but he is interested on pushing the artist to presenta new piece of work devised for the camera.

Vasons pratice is constantly evolving and due to the intrinsic collaborativenature of his practice and his unprecedented approach to therepresentation of Live Art, he has over the past years been receiving anincreasing number of invitations internationally to undertake residencies,where he works with either individual artists or groups of artists. In theform of workshops, Vason and his collaborators explore ways of creatingnew work.

www.ManuelVason.com

www.ArtCollaboration.co.uk

www.StillMovil.com

HIGHER EDUCATION:

Vason has also been regularly receiving invitations to deliver workshopswithin the most prominent theatre, performance, dance and Live Art BAand MA courses in universities in London such as Queen Mary University,Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance and Central School ofSpeech and Drama. He has also regularly mentored postgraduatestudents of Performance and Drama and he has also led workshops inMiddlesex, Kingston and Metropolitan Universities, merging Departmentsof Media/Photography and Drama. These workshops are a usefulinvestment for the professional development of the students as they go onto use the images produced to represent and promote their own artistic

http://www.manuelvason.com/http://www.artcollaboration.co.uk/http://www.stillmovil.com/http://www.manuelvason.com/http://www.artcollaboration.co.uk/http://www.stillmovil.com/

8/3/2019 Becoming an Image Workshop

3/5

practice for years after graduation.

Workshop Aims

This workshop aims to explore the relationship and transition between art-forms and more specifically from performance into photography. With thetransition from one art-form into another a loss of information isinevitable, but the acquisition of a new artistic vocabulary opens up avariety of modes of artistic expression. It intends to draw a line betweenpure photography which aims to frame the live event as it reveals itself-and actual image making. The aim of image making is to memorise theevent or the action, to analyse each element and reinterpret them.

Structure

The session starts with a seminar presentation/introduction to Vasonspractice. (This seminar can be also offered independently to the practicalworkshop)

The practical workshop has an elastic structure that can be modified for

the needs of each individual course.

Each participant becomes subject, object and image-maker at the sametime. Each participant is an individual artist and becomes anonymouswithin the group. Each participant can determine the final result and eachparticipant becomes audience and witness. During the project there willbe time for group and individual exercises. While the individual activityaims to push the individual artist practice, the group activity is conceivedas the first stage of the project with the aim of promoting exchange. It isstructured with the intention of becoming the perfect situation, where togenerate new material or where to test yet undeveloped ideas.

Previous participants feedback

The workshops really made me think carefully about my performancein terms of images; how some of my work might translate to a single ormultiple images and negotiating what is added and what is left behind in

8/3/2019 Becoming an Image Workshop

4/5

the creation of a collaborative and performative image...

I found the produced images very inspiring and they actually helpedme to develop my performance further and add a different edge to it.

Through the images, I was able to find a performance persona which I willno incorporate in my piece. More generally, I have always been interestedin working with photo and film, and the workshop has inspired me to domore and different things

I have came away feeling enthused and invigorated, both artisticallyand critically, with a shifted awareness and sensitivity to image making,whether for camera or for live work:

WORKSHOPS / RESIDENCIES

2011

- Transition Residency collaboration with Alexandra Zierle and PaulCarter The Exchange, Penzance, Cornwall

- Becoming an Image workshop photography workshop forphotographers interested in body and movement based practices Centro

de Fotografa [CMDF] / Intendencia de Montevideo, Uruguay- STILL_MVIL project coordinated by the Red Suramericana de Danza.September 2011 residencies in Brazil, Paraguay, Peru, Bolivia and Chile. collaborations with 20 artists.

- STILL_MVIL project coordinated by the Red Suramericana de Danza.May 2011 residencies in Venezuela, Ecuador and Colombia collaborations with 13 artists.

- Chisenhale Dance Space Workshop with Artist Led Group En Suite,London, UK.

- Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance MA Dance Theatre:The Body in Performance, Workshop with MA students

- Central School of Speech and Drama - MA Theatre Studies, Workshopwith MA students

2010

- STILL_MVIL project coordinated by the Red Suramericana de Danza.

November 2010 residencies in Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil collaborations with 17 artists.

8/3/2019 Becoming an Image Workshop

5/5

- DIY7, Professional development projects BY artists FOR artists Becoming an Image Workshop, Lancaster, UK. (a Live Art DevelopmentAgency initiative developed in collaboration with Nuffield Theatre &LANWest amongst other organisations)

- Rifrazioni International site-specific Festival of Performance, Visual Artsand Music, Residency, Lazio, Italy.

- Chisenhale Dance Space Workshop with Artist Led Group En Suite,London, UK.

- Queen Mary University of London, MA in Theatre and Performance,Workshop with MA students, London, UK.

2009

- Becoming an Image, Workshop with a selection of invited Australianartists. Organised and supported by Performance Space, Sydney, Australia

- Thessaloniki Performing Arts Festival, Residency, Thessaloniki, Greece

2008

- Festival Panorama de Dana, Residency, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

- Central School of Speech and Drama - MA Theatre Studies, Workshop

with MA students

2006

- Residency during Fierce Festival, Birmingham.

- Residency at Preset Gallery, Nottingham, NottDance Festival

- Residency at Arnolfini, Bristol, In Between Time Festival