Unit 3: Environments - Tableux Vivants

After today's lecture briefing on Unit 3, I'm feeling pretty excited with the prospects of this project. Our goal to combine the concepts of tableux vivants and the theory of the uncanny together as a digital model set is definitely intriguing and inspiring, which will no doubt prove challenging in forming our own such unique piece.

Tableux Vivants, French for 'living picture', in an example of artists capturing a carefully posed moment of stillness, often living people caught in static attitudes. Often, a key and deliberate sense of ambiguity is formed where one cannot come to a definitive outcome of the piece becoming open to a variety of interpretations.

A particular example is Edgar Degas's 'Ballet Rehearsal', where the cropping of the piece disarms the viewer of any precise clarity leaving only ambiguous possibilities. One dancer performs with the other bent to one leg, we only see part of the spectators as the framing of the piece limits the information we can read in the piece. Ultimately, we can never quite know for sure what is actually occurring in the precise moment of time leaving us to speculate with ambiguity.



Such framing and composition will be key in dictating a shot in creating a sense of ambiguity in an environment, while pushing ideals of the uncanny - which I will cover soon enough, as well as more artists and examples.

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Incidentally, I am unable to download the lecture pdf off myUCA as I get an error message of the file being 'damaged or broken'. Everything else downloads fine, just this one being stubborn. If anyone has the file they can send me or know how else to obtain it I'd be grateful.