I’m Only Human
Sebastian Buerkner | Kim Noce | Daksha Patel
Our I’m Only Human commissions are supporting three artists to make short animated films, in the context of COVID 19, that explore what it means to be human, with a particular focus on the senses.
The films by artists Sebastian Buerkener, Kim Noce, and Daksha Patel will be premiering on Instagram in December 2020. They take us from an exploration of the internal body, the perceptive connections between our bodies and the world, to our external, social, lives.
The I’m Only Human commissions are produced in association with QUAD Derby and Phoenix, Leicester. They are part of a new strand of activities that explores the potential of immersive technologies for artist animators to make work, relating to themes of the body, and developing innovative approaches to exhibition and public engagement in the works produced.
The I’m Only Human commissions are supported by Arts Council England’s Emergency Response Fund.
Surge
At the centre of Sebastian’s film, Surge, is a visual approximation surrounding the learning or relearning of sight through bionic implants. Diffuse and abstracted visuals, based on real footage, are barely possible to make out. The soundtrack and movement come to reveal to the viewer that they are watching the experience of someone in a fictional medical experiment.
Sebastian says: “It’s a playful, artistic approximation, and simultaneously, a futile imagining, of someone else’s visual experience. I hope to achieve alternating sensations between perceptual dislodgment and reward and vulnerability. Sparse dialogue between the person conducting the test and the subject will indicate how they are personally invested in, and vulnerable to, the proceedings. The imagery will draw on existing bionic visualisation systems but not be bound to them: it is an artistic reflection on visual stimulus, abstraction and portrayal. Only at the very end will it will be revealed that this experiment is being witnessed by other people in the room, to hint at the implication of the power gradient between sighted and unsighted realities.”
In the Same Breath
Daksha’s film, in the same breath, focuses on the internal body. Hand drawn images are animated through creative coding in response to data from a soundtrack of heartbeats and breathing.
She says: “During lockdown, we’ve become more acutely aware of our bodies. Everyday things, like food, exercise or touch, have taken on new significances, and what were ordinary interactions have become big things to negotiate. The body has become a dangerous place that can be invaded by something invisible and deadly. We’re emotionally vulnerable – crying unexpectedly, or feeling intensely lonely, bored and stressed. Everything is magnified and experienced through body sensations.
“My animation process involved both traditional methods such as pencil drawing, and new technologies. I worked with creative coder Chris Ball, who animated some drawing sequences to the soundtrack data. Working with coding and data felt particularly relevant to this subject: we use data, algorithms and modelling to make sense of the pandemic, and to predict the impact of future outbreaks.”
City of Ladies
Kim Noce’s Cities of Ladies is a poetic, animated documentary, is inspired by the life and writing of Christine de Pizan, who survived her father and husband in the 15th Century Black Death epidemic, becoming the first woman in Europe to support herself through her writing. The film will be viewable both as single screen and 360 video, where the viewer will be able to explore the space and process of the making of the film.
Kim writes: “I developed the idea during lockdown whilst being on the vulnerable list – I had not left my apartment even for shopping, and like everyone I found coping mechanisms – I started reading about past pandemics.
“My film will follow the structure of Christine’s The Book of the City of Ladies, drawing on interviews with people from different social strata, culture and life journeys expressing their view for a new world today. Through their participation I hope to create a collective voice of a snippet of today wishes for humanity.
“The slowness and solitude of the confined environment is captured visually as a portrait of myself, animating. The process, the location and the time to make the film it is for me as important as the final result; and it will be incorporated in the film: the act of making, thinking, feeling through time.”
