Baseman’s solo exhibition of three experimental portrait-based films was commissioned by the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead. The three films are unrelated but are brought together in the nexus of narrative methods and a site-specific installation in order to question the nature of documentary film and encounters with the subject. The works in the exhibition were developed from the lengthy and detailed interview process that is at the heart of Baseman’s practice. The visual element of the recorded interviews has been removed and replaced, leaving only the voice of the subject.
The visual material of two of the films, ‘Joy on Toast’ (2007-2008) and ‘Inside Man’ (2008) were constructed entirely from footage held at the North West Film Archive (Manchester Metropolitan University). Baseman searched through over 600 pieces of archival footage during a two-year Fellowship at the Manchester Museum. The 16mm film footage used for the third film ‘Nasty Piece of Stuff’ (2009) [see Baseman REF Output 3] was recorded by Baseman and edited in-camera as he accompanied his subject in a walk through London’s Soho.
Baseman wrote original soundtracks to accompany the voice and visual material of the films, a technique borrowed from cinema. Using the technique in this context, Baseman questions the boundaries between documentary content and narrative affect. This exhibition explores how the use of voiceover rather than the visual presence of an interlocutor, impacts viewers’ understanding of, and response to, narrative in fimed interview. Baseman gave a talk at the Baltic in correlation with his exhibition. The films ‘Joy on Toast’ (2007-2008) and ‘Inside Man’ (2008) were previously screened at The Manchester Museum; a book of transcripts was published in conjuction with these screenings. ‘Inside Man’ (2008) was also shown at the Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Wales (2008-2009).