Faculty of Arts and Design

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Capturing new forms of video footage in remote locations through the design, development and deployment of an autonomous, open source, unmanned aerial system : a case study of South African Enduro motorcycle racers
(2022-09-01) Burnett, Peter Gregory; Wade, Jean-Philippe; Chapman, Michael
This study explores the use of an autonomous Unmanned Aerial System (UAS), in the capturing of video footage of sporting events, specifically enduro motorcycle racing, in remote areas of southern Africa. Remote areas are defined as those that are far removed from urban centres, are inaccessible by motor vehicle and that have no internet or cell phone coverage. Autonomous UAS refers to drones which are pre-programmed to fly a specific path and thus fly automatically once launched. Conditions of remoteness place unique constraints on the objective of capturing video footage of sporting events in such areas. Traditional means of video coverage, such as those from ground-based camera operators, Go-Pro cameras mounted on the riders, or helicopter-based camera operators, results in video footage which is either limited in range and consists of numerous shots of shorter duration, or otherwise prohibitively expensive. A newer form of video coverage would be the type obtained by a manually flown drone, but even this coverage is limited as it typically consists of the footage acquired solely from a position behind the riders. In contrast, video footage captured from an automated UAS allows for a greater range and an expanded duration of shots. The defining characteristic of video footage captured by an automated UAS is the lengthy, lingering wide shot, which includes multiple camera angles, height changes, and camera movements, all within the duration of a single shot. This constitutes a new form of video coverage of remote sporting events. This research is practice-based and includes three related parts: Firstly, the design, construction and programming of a UAS for use in remote areas with the objective of capturing video footage of enduro motorcycle racing events. An ‘open source’ approach to all the software with which the UAS is programmed is utilised; Secondly, the capturing and editing of video footage which has been gathered from the UAS; And thirdly, a dissertation and practice-based reflection on the process.
I love Turtles! A Visual art practice-based exploration of the emergent endangered sea turtles of the KwaZulu-Natal Coast
(2024-08) Human, Nicolaas Cloete; Chapman, Michael; Wade, Jean Philippe
The study aims to explore and portray awareness of the endangered sea turtles on the east coast of southern Africa. The approach proceeds by way of considering environmental contexts, both societal and artistic, against which I place my own paintings, together with my reflection on the motif of the sea turtle. I explore salient points of the social context, which may be broadly classified as the ‘Anthropocene’ debate. The discussion of the Anthropocene and the selective examination of activist ecological artworks may be described as qualitative in their assessment and evaluation of the academic literature in the field. Similarly, qualitative is the description of my field work in the intervention of scientists and practitioners in the lives of the east coast turtles. When I turn to my own paintings, the method is that of practice-based research: as a way of artistic production of an aesthetic object, the production accompanied by my placing of the paintings within a broad ‘history’ of the genre while, at the same time, I reflect upon my practice. How might my paintings question, or even attempt to bridge, an ontological division between the human and the non-human world, as associated with the Anthropocene?
Making beyond nothingness : an artistic challenge to the unaesthetic language of the public space
(2021-12) Streak, James Gregory; Chapman, Michael; Wafer, Jeremy
This project constitutes a practice-based research enquiry of two interrelated components: an exhibition of creative work, Nothing Matters, and an accompanying exegesis. The creative work on exhibition comprises a range of small- and large-scale outputs that incorporate drawing, photography, sculptural work, and re-imagined ‘found’ objects, all produced between 2017-2021. The overall title of the project, Making Beyond Nothingness: An Artistic Challenge to the Unaesthetic Language of the Public Space, embodies the paradox at the heart of the pursuit. How to create ‘something’ of conceptual and aesthetic compulsion from a language of nothingness, whether it be ‘found’ in the surrounding temper of the public space or, in art, in various manifestations of the ‘dematerialised object’: the void; the empty canvas or gallery; the ‘invisible’ work; or the detritus of the everyday? The written component – the ‘dissertation’ – traces my style through points of reference in the development of Conceptual Art (Chapter 1) before turning, more generally, to examples of my previous work (Chapter 2) and, in Chapter 3, specifically to my reflections on the creative works that form the exhibition to be examined. To quote from the Institutional guideline preamble to the PhD in Visual and Performing Arts, “The body of applied creative work is formulated in relation to the research problem outlined in the dissertation; there can be no formal separation between the examination of the creative work and the dissertation.