In Other People's Skins

‘In Other People's Skins’ was formulated to explore the core research question that was part of the original AHRC bid for my 2007 Creative Research Fellowship: ‘In what ways will High Resolution Imaging change the work produced in the convergence of art and visual technologies and consequently, our experience of that work?’ To answer this question I formulated the idea of ‘Quantum Resolution’ which proposed that audience immersion deepens with quantum as opposed to quantitative increases of resolution – that is the effects of deeper immersion would be felt with larger increases of resolution rather than incremental increases of resolution. Initially I formulated 3 practice as research portfolios as differing strategies to uncover the effects (if any) of increased resolution. These three were a) to examine everyday moving images of the world immediately around oneself, b) examine iconic moving images of the world and c) examine human portraiture and by way of this examine ideas around the human gaze. I argued that each work would be a building block in a developing argument to examine my hypothesis and that all of the works would be presented together in a major exhibition as the overall thesis – this occurred in December 2010 in collaboration with University of Westminster in their London P3 Gallery. 'In Other People's Skins' is the first work of the 1st Portfolio which had as its base idea to photograph a table on which 4 dinner parties took place, then re-project the same back on to a same sized table and note whether audience engagement times increased alongside increased amounts of resolution. This work was funded by a £25,000 award from the Arts Council of England. The installation itself comprises of a table that can seat 12 people, a white table cloth to cover the table with 12 white plates to catch the virtual food and 3 candles to add to the sculptural nature of the work. I initially placed this work in 6 cathedrals as well as Bath Abbey and this work subsequently has continued touring over the last 4 years and been exhibited to over 300,000 people in over 15 exhibitions. Creating the work involved working with various communities around Bristol and exhibition involved educational outreach and knowledge exchange through educational initiatives in association with the institutions involved in exhibitions as well as public talks. The longest run was for 5 months in the Cathedral of St John the Divine in New York. This work has been exhibited in China, USA, Sweden, Malta, Italy and the UK. Subsequently I have presented the results of research in peer-reviewed articles and papers at conferences in China, Switzerland, Norway, Greece and the UK.