Melissa Gould, A.K.A. MeGo

Melissa Gould explores historical events and memories through installation, she is inspired by historical documents and work closely studies the memories of twentieth century events and conflicts. A large part of her work is focusing on places/spaces. She looks at places which no longer exist, due to war, or a space which has emotions and memories attached to it, as it used to be a site of significance.

'Floor Plan', 1991, is a Holocaust Memorial artwork. It consists of a light-up floor plan of a destroyed synagogue in Berlin. The piece is made up of 110 fluorescent tubes, just slightly underground, and is intended to be witnessed after dark. The light, for Gould, symbolises "the eternal burning light in all synagogues", life itself and tragic fires during the Second World War. As well as light, sound composed by Alvin Curran echoes out of speakers also underground. Human voices accompany the floor plan to create a ghost-like atmosphere, representative of a once existing building and lives, torn apart by war.

Similar to 'Floor Plan', 'Ghost Ship/The Titanic Project' is a floor plan of a now non-existent place/space in light, part of a series by Melissa Gould called 'Memorial Lightscapes'. 'Ghost Ship' will be a life size light projection (882 feet long) of the Titanic ship onto the Hudson River in New York City where it was supposed to end its first voyage. This will take place from April 2012 onwards; the 100th anniversary of the Titanic sailing, and sinking. The deck plan of the Titanic will be visible only at night, once dark. Gould sees her work as memorials of places which no longer exist in the physical sense, but still have psychological meanings, her work is dedicated to memory and loss. Her interest in historical documents and artefacts is clearly visible as the floor/deck plans she uses are the true historical blue prints for the original spaces.

In 1991, Gould, or MeGo as she is also known, created 'Constellation Park'. This piece was a space similar to a golf course, and had fitted 'stars' across the landscape. The lights/stars showed constellations and the artwork explored scale as the audience walked in, around and all over the installation.

http://www.megophone.com/projects.html

Site 2011 Project.

In the first week of the Spring Term we were given a project brief for site specific work within the confines of the All Saints campus.

'Define what makes a site specific work. Consider the opportunities of particular 'sites' as starting points for experimental research. Such considerations might include physical attributes, qualities, history, scale, conditions, use, accessibility, etc.

Consider what a 'site' is, this might be physical - particular spaces in both the natural and man made environment, the body, a pocket, an architectural space, a puddle, etc. Equally the 'site' might be virtual, electronic, global.

Take into consideration the notes above. The work might be generated out of the site itself, or could be a 'sited' development of a previous theme in your work, or might be entirely new. Media and methods are open but should be appropriate to the work and situation.

Pay attention to permissions, risk assessment and any ethical issues your work might raise.'

To start my project I looked up on Google Maps: 'All Saints Building, Manchester Metropolitan University'. I traced from the computer screen the campus and surrounding area of Manchester to examine for any unique detail such as pattern, shapes or resemblance. After the half year review before Christmas, some paper cut out work I did was seen as successful and so I have decided to push this as far as possible, starting with the site project. I folded some thick, white, A3 size paper into a concertina and drew the campus map onto one side. I then cut out the buildings and park areas, leaving the pavements and roads intact. I tied it with 'MMU-blue' ribbon and it is like a small booklet. I placed this booklet in the cartography (maps/mapping) section of the library (second floor, west wing, shelf location; 520) for someone to find. I did consider placing it into the Artist's Book Collection but felt the map section was more appropriate as somebody will come across it and the blue ties will give a subtle clue about where the map is of. After the tour of our site work, I didn't collect mine as I decided to leave it there to check up on in another week or so. Suggestions for this project was to perhaps put one of the cutouts in each section of the library where relevant such as; maps, Manchester, architecture etc.