Dominika and Magda discussed the exhibition with Melvin as part
of a wider youth programme interrogating contemporary arts at
National Museums Scotland. This project was developed with support
from the ACES project at Edinburgh College of Art. You can see the
young people’s own responses to the
collections here.
Q: Why do you not put sound in your video?
A: That is indeed a very conscious decision. Firstly we
shouldn't forget that film was first invented as a silent medium.
You might have seen the recent film The Artist which is
about the transition of silent films to 'talkies'. Working with
'analogue film', such as I do, sound is always recorded separately.
One can only add a soundtrack to the film afterwards. I've made
films with sound before, and people told me that sometimes they get
carried away by the sound and forget what they're looking at, and
vice versa. When you want somebody to concentrate on something
really hard and carefully, you have to reduce the information. And
I want the viewer catch the most minute detail the film has to
offer. At a certain point I decided to keep the films silent, so
one can concentrate entirely on the images and get sucked into the
film.
Secondly I like the fact that it makes my work tougher. I get
inspired by popular culture and popular films, but when making and
presenting my work I want to somehow resist instant gratification
and look for a tougher attitude and really try to challenge the
viewer. I think it's important for artists to find some form of
resistance.
Q: Why do you not film with digital cameras?
A: This has to do with the same form of resistance. I find it's
interesting and important that artworks are informed by the
technology from the era they were made in. At the same time I find
it difficult when everybody uses the same technology, what then are
artists trying to subvert? I guess that's the question I asked
myself. I went on trying to find a niche in the medium of
film, to produce images that can only be produced by film, by this
technology. I'm trying to use film almost as a scientific medium.
The film with the fluorescent minerals Eigenlicht, for
example uses the extreme depth and resolution of film to emphasise
the various details of these rocks, and make them almost monumental
through their details, in a way that cannot be done with digital
media. The quality of film is that you can actually slow things
down, thus going against the high-pace of life somewhat, and catch
things that slip through the cracks and are harder to catch in
daily life.
Q: Why did UV light inspire you?
A: Fluorescent minerals absorb UV light, which is invisible to
us, and shoot themselves up into a higher energy level. This energy
creates light, which is visible to us. This process of
transformation and also the fact that these minerals actually
become light-sources is what fascinated me. The light that we see,
as a reaction to UV light which they absorb, comes from within
the mineral.
Q: Why did you select this particular collection?
A: I selected a number of uranium related objects, like uranium
glass, which glows green under UV light, almost conveying its toxic
intentions. I'm showing more objects that 'create their own light'
like scorpions. The Blaschka models of jellyfish, which are
transparent, show both their interior and exterior at the same
time. I've also selected the model head owned by William Fox Henry
Talbot, one of the inventors of photography, as a reference to the
almost purely visual/optical exhibition this is. That was indeed my
main focus, to relate some parts of the collection optically, or
visually. I am not showing any UV minerals, since I like the film
to remain some of its magic and mystery. Showing UV minerals would
almost be like showing the man behind the curtain.