David StampMy practice is concerned with the ways in which we associate with our environment and the significances we place on particular activities and events. I’m fascinated both with traditional festivals, rites and the nostalgic longing to live in harmony with our environment. Working within a research-based practice I take an idiosyncratic view of cultural phenomenon, often drawing on game play, competition and re-enactment as methods of art production.
Currently my work has two distinct areas in which I use to pursue the above interests. The first is a series of work called Wiseman. Wiseman is an alter ego of mine - an uber-armchair-survivalist who ineptly uses sources of information such as the SAS Survival Handbook as a guide to show him how to ‘get back to his roots’. In this way I use Wiseman to confront ideas of self-sufficiency and the sense of loss that afflicts modern man. The most recent work in the series has been 6 Day Wiseman (an artists book published by Trajectory Publications).
Over the last 2 years I have conducted research into isolated communities, in particular Antarctica. As a continent devoid of indigenous culture with a history full of political wrangling, all its community’s customs have been brought with the adventurers that land there. The significances of these events and the export/import of customs formed a basis on which people came to terms with this land and the ‘new start’ they made on it. Antarctica is a very extreme example of just how customs are perpetuated; however I feel that most communities constantly face the frontier of the ‘new’ either through migration or technological and ethical advancements. With these changes comes a decision on ‘just what elements of our origins should we upheld?’ - this is just one of the questions I contemplate in my work.
I utilise several methods to communicate the above concerns from photography, video and drawing to installations and performance. However research is the starting point for all the work and it often dictates the manner in which the work is made. In investigating the mutation of culture’s outpourings I endeavor to splice together different elements to create new events; thus mimicking the process I’m trying to highlight.
For more information please go to www.davidstamp.com |
