An Introduction to Transcriptions

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Transcription is the process of bringing thoughts, sound or data into the written form. By this description, transcription is the basic act of writing about art; the notation of experience, and its attendant thoughts, sparks and emotions. In this effort to represent the phenomenological, arts writing as transcription might be closer to the meaning of the word as it used in music, where it invokes the complexity of a composition intended for one instrument into a composition for another. If the experience is to be translated in a new language, the spirit, tone and tune of the original has to find a way through. The critic and poet John Berger may have articulated the endeavour best when he spoke of translation as not a binary act, between one form of communication to another, but a triangular one; an act that requires not only the knowledge of languages, but an understanding of what the text stands for.

We gather up what we have found there and take this quivering almost wordless ‘thing’ and place it behind the language into which it needs to be translated. (1)

TRANSCRIPTIONS, the sixteenth issue of fine print, is interested in how that ‘thing’—the experience of a work of art—might be placed behind the variety of forms of communication that we can employ in this service; from the visual to the written, from the spoken to the performed. This following series of documents—audio, video, image and text—is a supplementary publication to our inaugural live presentation at the Art Gallery of South Australia in September 2018, offering a glimpse into the event and providing additional material reflecting each artist’s interpretation of the theme.

TRANSCRIPTIONS was performed in September 2018 by Bridget Currie (SA), Alice Clanachan (SA), Roy Ananda (SA), Kate Power (SA), Ali Gumillya Baker (SA), Grace Marlow (SA) and Monte Masi (SA).

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^{List of works: 1. Berlinde De Bruyckere, Belgium, born 1964, We are all flesh, 2011 - 12, Ghent, Belgium, epoxy, iron, horse skin, steel; Gift through the Art Gallery of South Australia Contemporary Collectors Director's Project 2012, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, © Berlinde De Bruyckere. 2. Caroline Rothwell, Australia, born 1967, Transmutation, 2010, Sydney, bronze and lacquer; Gift through the Art Gallery of South Australia Foundation Collectors Club 2010, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, Courtesy the artist and Tolarno Galleries, Melbourne. 3. Barbara Hepworth, Britain, 1903 - 1975, Head (Ra), 1971, Trewyn Studio, St Ives, Cornwall, bronze; Gift of Lesley Lynn through the Art Gallery of South Australia Foundation, in memory of her husband Dr Kenneth Lynn 2001, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, © Bowness, Hepworth Estate. 4. Vanessa Bell, Britain, 1879 - 1961, Bedroom, Gordon Square, 1912, Bloomsbury, London, oil on canvas; South Australian Government Grant 1984, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, © Estate of Vanessa Bell courtesy of Henrietta Garnett. 5. J. W. Waterhouse, Britain, 1849 - 1917, Circe Invidiosa, 1892, London, oil on canvas; South Australian Government Grant 1892, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide. 6.C. Web Gilbert, Australia, 1867 - 1925, Hedone, 1907, marble; South Australian Government Grant 1980, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide. 7. Bernardo Strozzi, Italy, 1581 - 1644, St Francis of Assisi adoring the Crucifix, c.1615, Genoa, oil on canvas; Gift of John & Christina Litt through the Art Gallery of South Australia Foundation 2001, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide. 8.Bertram Mackennal, Australia/Britain, 1863 - 1931, Madonna, c.1905 06, Paris, bronze; Gift of Diana Ramsay AO and the late James Ramsay AO 1999, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide. 9. Giorgio Lucchesi, Italy, 1855 - 1941, Still life, 1901, Lucca, Italy, oil on canvas; Bequest of Thomas Grose 1918, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide. 10. Auguste Rodin, France, 1840 - 1917, Bust of Saint John the Baptist, 1878 (E. Godard Foundry, cast 1986), Paris, bronze; William Bowmore AO OBE Collection. Gift of the South Australian Government, assisted by the Art Gallery of South Australia Foundation 1996, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide. 11. Unknown, Germany 18th century, Our Lady of Sorrows, 18th century, Bavaria, limewood; South Australian Government Grant 1951, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide. 12. Ignaz Stern, Germany/Italy, 1679 - 1748, Bacchus and Ariadne, c.1705, Rome, oil on canvas; Gift of John & Christina Litt, through the Art Gallery of South Australia Foundation 2000, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide.}