CelineSianiDjiakoua

The idea of this research came with different things happening : finding out about Rebecca 's passion for fashion and crazy dressing up and the sense of sexual freedom/discovery that comes with it, loving Phil Sayers 's work " Changing Places " seen in Leeds ( http://www.philsayers.co.uk/work.html ), starting to think a lot about feminism and what it means now days and trying to make my mind about all that ... in order to know better what it means for me (and in the art world/contemporary world), as a female artist, to show myself in my artwork ... Along all this came the subject I choose for an essay about 3 pieces of work from 3 different artists : Jenny Saville , Vanessa Beecroft and Pipilotti Rist . I really want to know more about what interests Rebecca in the fashion world. I first had that old-fashion feminist view about women posing for advertising and this included fashion magazines : that these women and advertisements were just using them as

I've chosen some of the most recent ones ... It's funny how they look completely different to me, now that I have started to work at this "fashion magazines" project ! Now I can see some kind of style in them ... it is very difficult to step out of your own work, especially this one which is about self-portrait. Most of these images have never been shown, I have kept taking them for years but still don't know what they really are. In the present project, they can be samples of the styles, atmospheres, poses,colours, introspective states that I like or that are my own style. I think houses can be very good settings for shots ... I think that these images reflect very much my way of working : they are very spontaneous, quickly made and pretty rough and natural. I took them because the light or the colours or my mood inspired me at that moment ... but they are very consciously taken as I have most of the time the full control over my image with the mirror refle

I find this one completely crazy. I think it is a perfect example of nowdays advertisings where you get completely lost in the meanings : they've added so many layers of references and levels of understanding that nobody can get it anymore .... Proper contemporary art !:) I just love the clothes and how the model looks dumb, stoned or whatever : as if she's some kind of spirit of the tree that has just fallen out of it ... And the close up bubbles are crazy too like made by a drunk person : they just don't make sense because they are not focusing on what they should ! So I love this one too ...

This style (how theey act) is far to be my favourite, unless pushed to its limits and turned into derision or caricature ...

I love the unusual settings and the fact that there are other people around. The colours are subtle and well-balanced (the scanning has lost it here, sorry). She is posing posing but still looking very natural, close to herself. She is not "over beautiful" but still very sensual. There is such an harmony between her clothes/their colour and the surroundings. I just love those shootings .... My favourite over all ... because of the multiple frames, the round shape and the fact that she is photographed from behind the glass and also looks like she's lost in her thoughts ....

PHIL SAYERS "Vogue Divine" http://philsayers.co.uk/Vogue.html "Vogue Divine : a collaboration with poet Philip Davenport, images were produced in response to 7 of his Vogue Divine poems, adopting the style and visual syntax of advertising and fashion magazines.They were produced in two formats - AO size, bill-posted around Manchester for the Poetry Festival, and also published as an A6 postcard set." "Changing Places" CARLA GANNIS NATE PAGE

SHADOW (FOR HEISENBERG) Shadow (For Heisenberg), 1993-94Custom electronics, video camera, glass cube with LCD material, statue Shadow (for Heisenberg) is an interactive installation that involves the viewer's desire to see an object contained within a glass cube. If the viewer moves towards the object the image of the object fades from view and is replaced by the shadow of the object. This work incorporates a new technology that allows a piece of glass to go from transparent to translucent. The work also incorporates a video camera on the ceiling. The image from the camera on the ceiling is manipulated and displayed on the wall behind the pedestal to make apparent the relationship between position and perception. This work is loosely based on the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle from Quantum Physics which states that one can never observe an object in its purest form because the process of observation has an impact on the object. The more accurately one trys to observe or

Rist: "A lot of people think that I work with more complicated machines than I do, when in fact I work in a very low-tech way that is much more interesting. For example, in the footage of the flying body parts, the hands and feet, people think this is computer animated. It's not true. I did it in my apartment near a window. I put black fabric over things, and wore black clothes (except for those areas of my body), and I lay down and moved my limbs around with the camera twisting in my hand. So it was just sunlight, black fabric, and a consumer camera. I didn't even use a studio light. Then on the computer, of course, I had to correct for different tones of blacks. I also work with surveillance cameras, the small ones. In the projected images here behind the orange sofa, for example, of a woman's reflection on a house, the camera sweeps across the outside of the house. It looks as if I had used a hundred thousand dollar machine. But it's just a long aluminum sti

Back to Staffordshire University for my final bit of BA ... started 5 years ago !!! Over the years, I've been more and more unconfortable with having a "studio space". It doesn't make sense to me to cut a room into small pieces. And also, more and more, I have got used to either work from home (which means : from my computer) or on site specific projects. I don't think I need a studio space anymore, not to "prepare" art works that would go somewhere else anyway. If I start to work somewhere, this place/space (and me in it) should be part of the work. But yesterday I found a subterfuge : I went to "my space", I put my camcorder on tripod, stood in front of it and looked at myself in its tiny screen. I measured the space with my hands and managed to delimite what you could see if you were looking into the camcorder ... or what you could see if I had filmed this part of the space. As you can see below, you miss quite a lot of the actua

Well, Chinese artists are obviously amazing : this is Du Zhenjun.. I saw his incredible solo exhibition (Human Zoo) of nearly 10 huge interactive pieces in my home town's great gallery Le Lieu Unique, Nantes  in 2005. Once again, I'm very much interested in the technique and the fact that it is an interactive work. Here is a sample : His website : http://duzhenjun.com/installations/

The other day in Manchester I saw this installation of Tsang Kin-Wah at the Chinese Arts Center : http://www.chinese-arts-centre.org/index.php?page_id=77 More than the actual content, I just LOVED the simplicity and delicateness of the technique used : "cold transparent laminating film on walls and ceiling" ... in a dark room with some openings and different qualities of light coming out of these openings ... It is only by moving into the empty space that you would perceive the words which would have disappeared at your next step ... Perfection to me ... I also liked the way the plastic paper was just shining in the dark ...

Music : "Stabat Mater" With the participation of : Hilary, Susan and Emma - B arts -

The other night I dreamed that something quite magical was happening on my work desk ... A drop of water had fallen on it and all of a sudden I could see all the movements I had just done before appearing on some kind of transparent sheet of paper, as if it was a screen. The movements were in slow motion and the whole thing looked very beautiful. I want to try out different ways of displaying moving images. I want to play with projection and try it on different kinds of screens, at different distances. I want to play with light and shadows. I'd like the projection (projector and screen) to be part of the installation and see how the viewer could interact with it.

"Diary", 2006 I photocopied the two first pages of each of my diaries written since I arrived in England. I left my hands on the photocopier window. I covered my writings with thick black marker and scanned the photocopies. The result is a strange intimate reading experience where the handwritten words cannot be read but where you nearly touch the writer's hands, turning the pages along with her. Following this work, I made a video piece "Dark Continent", shown at Burslem School of Art in April/May 2007 for the exhibiton "Artists fight against racism" curated by Jane Goetzee. Accompanying text : "The phrase "Dark Continent" first appeared as evocating Africa in a colonialist context. It was then used by Sigmund Freud to refer to women's sexuality and later discussed by feminist intellectuals, critizising the passive role associated with feminity. In their early revendication, feminists also tended to establish a paral

I have started to film and take pictures of moving people. "Veiled Messages" - June 2008 - Music : Gilberto Gil - " Tata Engenho Novo "- album "O sol de oslo " The photos used in this slide show were taken during a theatre workshop with B Arts people. I just liked what was happening there. When I put the images together and added the music, it clearly appeared as a continuation of some previous works. Something to do with non-verbal communication, foreign language and translation. Movement, body, sensuality are also certainly some other key words ... "A a a a a a a men" - June 2008 - Music : Vivaldi - Stabat Mater - This came out of a second session where I directed Susan, Hilary and Emma. I asked them to follow and "listen" to each other with great attention. My request was about the quality of this listening and I also wanted them to be as close as possible to each other, but without touching. For the rest, they cou