Verisimilitude – Saturday
This afternoon I headed to Cornwall Park to place my assemblages. My first intention was to place them in different areas around the park. I am still interested in this idea but I wanted to place my assemblages all together for two reasons. If someone were to find one of my lone assemblages, it would be easier to assume that they could take or remove it from the site. Ultimate thinking, there is safety in numbers. My second reason was that I wanted them to be more visually impactful. Due to their small scale, they are not very noticeable. The exciting thing about my assemblages is the enticing moment where the viewer discovers one assemblage, and then two, and then three, and then four! It’s an interesting game of wheres wally.
I decided to place them in this cute little garden area because it was surrounded by little bees and some butterflies as well! there is also a huge arch next to it that is currently blooming heaps of flowers which would attract insects into the area. I did not place my asse,blages there because it is quite a popular spot for photos and picnics and I did not want them damaged. I thought that the boundary of my chosen site is a good indication of the space, and because of the shrubbery, it is a sectioned-off area so my assemblages won’t be removed from it.
When I placed my assemblages, I tried to make it so they blended in a bit with its environment, following from the nature of an insect, but still exposed enough to be noticeable if someone were to look at the site. I didn’t take a photo from the perspective where you could better spot them, so next time I will hopefully remember to do that :).
I also took a video of people walking past the site! No one managed to notice the sculpture amongst the site but I am honestly kind of happy about it because I really don’t want them taken. I am interested in what would happen if I were to make heaps more, and whether due to the size, people would notice or not regardless of quantity. This is an introduction of thinking about scale in a different way.
*if anyone could give me instructions on how to include a video, that would be great! When I attempt to upload it, there is only the audio and no imagery*
“Scale refers to the overall physical size of an artwork or objects in the artwork. We always relate scale to the size of the human body – how big or small the piece is in relation to us. An artist may decide to use a scale which is different from life-sized and this will have an impact on how it feels.” Definition of Scale on Google.
For this assemblage specifically, I have found it interesting how size can have a huge impact on an artwork, and how and in this case, whether it is seen or not. In this video, I found it interesting how no one noticed the assemblages. However, I do understand that it is not surprising seeing as they are relatively hidden and are not in a large quantity. I quite enjoy that people can not see them unless they look because it is primarily for insects, and I like how it would be a discovery of sorts to find the assemblages. I would like to explore how to make people notice them though without changing the actual size of them.
From this, I have been thinking about flowers and how in large quantities, they attract more insects. Maybe in large quantities, people would also be able to see my assemblages? And so in response to this, I am intending to make more assemblages in hopes that the large quantity will attract more insects as well as people especially when placed together. However, I am worried about the number of resources I have because I do not have very much wire left and I have very little time to buy and then make multiple assemblages. So maybe to explore this idea I could use photoshop?
Another idea could be to replace some of my fruits on my assemblages with oranges! It is quite well known that insects are attracted to colour, as flowers are colourful, and so maybe to attract more insects I could focus on the more colourful fruits like oranges!
Based off of the response the insects have to my current assemblages, particularly my orange one, I will decide whether or not to photoshop more into my photos.
So many things to think about!