Reflections on Contouring the Boundary I took part in ‘Contouring the Boundary’ a walk with Alison Lloyd [part of ‘Guide Lines’ [https://guideline.org.uk] and Glassball as part of their Guideline project. Alison described the walk as a 'micro navigation. We slowly walked part of the Peak District National Park boundary. During the walk, we were introduced to the idea of navigating using contours and a compass. It was good to be out with others since I have become so accustomed to working at a distance from others in recent times. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Glassball Studio (@glassball.studio) In particular,
Author: antonyhall
Artist, educator, and researcher working between the fields of science and art.
Fieldwork: Kinder scout vai Mermaids pool
Nostoc
Experience in Progress Light Box
Fieldwork: Bryophytes collected in a neglected building site
Fieldwork: Bryophytes at Snipe Clough
Gallery Oldham residency: Bryophytes Project
I will be doing a 3-month residency [funded by the NWCDTP (North West Consortium Doctoral Training Partnership) at Gallery Oldham (May to July 2021). I will be working in response to plant specimens in the natural history collection, specifically Moss (or even more specifically 'bryophytes' and other plants without roots). Since access to the gallery will be limited for some time, I will be working at distance (walking and cycling) revisiting historical sites of collection and re-collecting specimens. I will be talking with local experts, volunteers, environmental scientists, and other natural history enthusiasts, vital component parts of the museums as an ongoing collection process. Specimen envelope: cinclidioidesBryophyte Book Images of objects from the Gallery Oldham Natural History collection, Thanks to Patricia
Electronic Taste Perception Experiment – Workshop
Materials: Arduino, electrical cables prototyping board cocktail glass [or other receptacles] 4mm copper tape, Water. Instruction: The diagrams give an outline of the electronic circuit required to create an electronic taste perception experiment in conjunction with the Arduino code. The circuit is created through the body via a fingertip and another electrode which is placed inside the glass, the circuit completed when the drink enters the mouth. The potentiometer adjusts the frequency of the signal which in theory can then simulate different kinds of taste. Notes: Experiment with different liquids and food types to see how the electrical signal augments different flavours. Note that foodstuffs with high moisture content are more effective such as a cucumber. The circuit could be easily modified to include
The permanent possibility of experience [instructions]
The permanent possibility of experience. [Notes to come]
Experiment 8
Drawing of experimental apparatus. Participatory work. As yet unrealised. OLFACTION EXP. 8 / A0 drawing 2020 OLFACTION EXP. 8 / A0 drawing 2020
Plinth with unseeable object
I was honoured to be invited to contribute to WEDDING RITUAL an amazing curatorial project by Wes White / Wes Viola. I wrote about something Old [Plinth with unseeable object] Did something new [See the obscurist edition], proposed something borrowed and invented something blue [sort of]. "...Antony Hall is an extraordinary artist, experimentalist and thinker. His work frequently plays with our perception of reality, sometimes presenting as everlasting magic tricks (for example, his Perpetual Coffee Vortex and Continual Slow Drip). Hall is also one part of Owl Project, the sound-art collective responsible for the iLog, at least one incarnation of which Bjork is rumoured to have added to her collection of instruments. The ENKi project explored the limits of human interaction with electric fish. I was fortunate to study at Strode College with Tony (on the course now led by Duncan Cameron, then our sculpture tutor), and have followed his artistic
BEYOND THE INTERFACE OBJECT
“I find it has been helpful to break away from the thesis writing and experiment with other ways of writing just for fun. Recently taken part in several creative writing courses and have learnt some great exercises such as; thinking about the thesis as a story, writing your thesis in 9 sentences, writing a 1 min and 5 min thesis talks. I found that trying to get all the ideas in the thesis across in a short space really helps work out the key messages I need to communicate. Since I enjoy science fiction and my thesis is on the subject of science and art; I thought it would be fun to try writing my thesis abstract as if it were a catchy back
Reactor model
Reactor model for collaborative practice / Work in progress 2020 / Drawing 2020
You are the object of your own observation / Diagram
You are the object of your own observation 2020 / A0 Drawing You are the object of your own observation 2020 / A0 Drawing
Drawing for problem-solving BEAM Lab UoM
It was interesting to do this workshop on drawing with a group of scientists especially a group of experimental psychologists. Many of the activities in the workshop are used in this field. These can be thought of as an alternative to the questionnaire - a form of visual assessment. The draw a person test is a classic example - but there are many more contemporary examples. Feedback from this workshop has resulted in an idea for another workshop 'Drawing everyday objects and thoughts' As there seems to be a need for a workshop to help people so get more confidence in drawing as a prerequisite to this workshop.
Drawing for problem-solving Bruntwood SciTech
[Above participants drawing of how to make toast] This was the first of the ‘Drawing for problem-solving’ workshops which took place as part of the Bruntwood SciTech's Reconnect Festival. It draws together a number of experiments from both science and art. that I use in my own work for research and as a perceptual tool. Thanks to all those who took part!
The Clay Hand Illusion and the Embodiment of Unfeasible Objects
"In an artistic exploration, clay hands and non-hand-like, unfeasible clay objects were created by the participant and used to perform an alternative version of the rubber hand illusion. Most participants felt ownership even over these unfeasible objects, raising questions about the embodied experience of objects that we make." https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0301006620948502
Drawing for problem-solving
Interface objects [IO]
Para-Lab moss collecting Meander
A walking workshop with para lab. I created this bottle with instructions and hand-drawn illustrations, a different one for each bottle. We walked around manchester and collected mosses from some unusual sites, the route took us through some back streets and along the canal. Finally, we stopped at 'Home' constructed bottle gardens while chatting and drinking coffee.
Walking workshop – Proximity / para lab
A meander workshop proposal written for Para Lab, in response to a walking workshop by Ann Carragher with Proximity collective The meander like the ‘bimble’ is a method of walking research characterised by its semi-‘aimless nature’. The intention is that the multisensory relaxed and ‘rhythmical’ nature of walking allows for ‘slow observation’ and enables the participants to make new connections with the environment and between the participants though the discussions and actions along the way. Crucial to the meander is A the extraction of materials [physical samples, data, ideas] from the environment; this action demands a counter focus which cuts into the otherwise aimlessness of the walk. And B, The creation of the Delta Object; the subsequent sorting
Trust the process
“...embrace that which is unknown, derive wonder from illogical consequences, and then carry out experiments, derive further empirical observations based on the resultant emergent properties in that very moment of experience… make conjectures based entirely on the confusions about what was to be obtained, and generate questions which wh remain unanswerable…” Extract from ‘The Pressure of Ideas'
It is a thing
Nothing becomes a thing only when the experience of nothingness – or every thingness converge. Then and then only is the ‘thingness’ integrated within and demarcated from the general stream of other things or no-things… Such a thing is a whole and carries with it its own individualizing quality and self-sufficiency. It is a thing. Extract from 'The pressure of ideas"
It is an experiment
"We do an experiment when the phenomenon experimented upon runs its course to failure or success. Then and then only is it integrated within and demarcated in the general stream of the experiment from other experiments… Such an experiment is a whole and carries with it its own individualizing quality and self-sufficiency. It is an experiment.”Extract from 'The pressure of ideas 2020"
Object without perception: Obscurist edition
Another Object without perception workshop took place online in the form of the Obscurist edition [an extremely limited edition of 1] which included content designed especially for Wes Whites Wedding Ritual Project. A video was used during the workshop with flickering blue and white frames which provided the visual stimulus for the ganzfeld experience. Object without perception: Obscurist edition Object without perception: Obscurist edition Using the screen sharing facility of Zoom made for a strange intermittent, irregular flicker. Having run out of ganzfeld goggles I participated with my eyes closed.
Para Lab – Meander~Delta
On the 28th / 06/2020 para lab met up at Brunclough reservoir. Everyone was tasked with creating ’a device to test the material properties of a thing’. I produced an edition of 15 Meander~Delta objects [drawings and text contained within a petri dish] with which to collect things and make notes, I also brought a homemade tardigrade extractor [salad spinner]. The wind and rain on occasion proved to be too disrupting to do any detailed work – or too difficult even speak to each other… https://www.instagram.com/p/CB-3MrkllD6/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet https://www.instagram.com/p/CCBafc3F-2n/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet
Object Without Perception / Proximity / CV19 Edition 01/07/2020
This was the first of a series of virtual [zoom] workshops created as a response to social distancing and the CV19 epidemic. A workshop resource was created and posted to participants, who were also required to complete an online questionnaire before and during the workshop as a way to create psychometric profiles and also to collect results. Participants were also invited to leave feedback in the form of a product review. The Object without perception resource http://antonyhall.net/blog/product/object-without-perception-proximity-cv19-edition/ See the workshop details here... http://antonyhall.net/blog/product/object-without-perception-proximity-cv19-edition/ Bubbles of Perception Participant Profiles [results from online questionnaires] Ganzfeld experience in progress
Meandering and delta objects – walking as research
Meandering is an experiential research method enacted through walking in the natural [or urban] environment whist being tasked with a specific activity [collecting, experimenting, sampling the environment]. The aim is that this process may lead to new ideas and discussions which cause the participants to meander from the planned course of action and in doing so reveal alternative routes and different ways of looking. During the meander, notes are made, and the process is recorded; The sorting of residual material generated become a "Delta object" an archive of the event. Meander 1. To slowly wander from a given course. 2. (of a river or road) follow a winding course 3. a journey that has no particular direction: ~Delta 1. The accumulation and sorting of material as
Sciart Podcast
I was interviewed by RAH! for their Sciart podcast series. We ended up talking about some of my old works about my interest in amateur science and drawing and a little about my latest research for the PhD [Rubber and clay hands] RAH! Podcast at Manchester Met · Science and Art: Illustrating Scientific Ideas
Self-isolation
Ganzfeld Variations [Translucent paper cylinder method] From a series of workshop in the 'Experiments in Art and Perceptual Illusion' series, aimed at changing perceptions, heightening awareness, and ‘making strange’ of everyday experiences. Instructions for making: 1/ Cut section of greaseproof paper long enough to wrap around your head. 2/ Secure with tape to make a cylinder. 3/ Place overhead. You will sense the warmth of your own breath, and the loud sound of the paper near your ears. You will see colour and light but no detailed shapes. You will see the texture of the paper, but try to see beyond this. At first, this may feel claustrophobic [You might want to cut small holes for breathing or listening, but these should not