4 June 2009
Front cover
Critical Journal for
Research Methods module
UA1AAW-30-M
Rachael Miles & Chris Webster
Lauren Millington
0802 6496
Tutorial with Rachael RE: Assignment 5
Have been clarifying ideas about the assignment, spoke to Rachael about ideas to hold an exhibition of animations and maybe the artefacts that were components in the films. I mentioned Hazel Blears' initiative to use empty shops as cultural spaces. Rachael suggested that if I only wanted to put on a short exhibition then clearing a shop would probably take up too much of my time and money compared to what I would get out of it... Jack had mentioned to me about exhibitions above the Hen & Chicken and at the Cube cinema. After discussing these options with her, Rachael thought the Cube would probably provide more the kind of audience I was after.
I just went to an animation night put on at the Comedy Box above the Hen & Chicken, from Show Me The Animation, put on by Helen Brunsdon and Vicky Brophy. They organise regular showcases of animation there in an informal atmosphere, for free. They're also showcasing the graduating MA students' work there on 16th June. I enjoyed this evening and the curators are lovely and very friendly; however the screen is tiny and since the seating isn't tiered it's impossible to see all the screen unless you're sitting at the front. I have sent an email regarding hire to the Cube regarding pricing. If it would cost too much for me to cover myself I would have to charge entry. I would rather not do this so if the cover charge would be too much I would consider holding it at the Show Me The Animation showcase.
I just went to an animation night put on at the Comedy Box above the Hen & Chicken, from Show Me The Animation, put on by Helen Brunsdon and Vicky Brophy. They organise regular showcases of animation there in an informal atmosphere, for free. They're also showcasing the graduating MA students' work there on 16th June. I enjoyed this evening and the curators are lovely and very friendly; however the screen is tiny and since the seating isn't tiered it's impossible to see all the screen unless you're sitting at the front. I have sent an email regarding hire to the Cube regarding pricing. If it would cost too much for me to cover myself I would have to charge entry. I would rather not do this so if the cover charge would be too much I would consider holding it at the Show Me The Animation showcase.
3 June 2009
Assignment 5 presentations 1
Jo
Badges- she chose images that meant something to her then got people to choose which ones their liked. She put the photos of the people in a book alongside a comment on why she chose that image initially. Worked really well as seemed like a comment on the person.
Alan Fletcher - The Art of Looking Sideways.
Loves physicality of books and oxymorons, puns, typos and wants to collect them and make a similar book. Loves Marion Bataille - ABC3D.
Paper constructions- pop-up, flicker books. Maia suggested Richard Price.
Maria
Atmospheric space/place. Exploring the use of black thru different print processes- 6-9 months. Notions in passing- Nathan Lyons. Reflections & silhouettes. Cindy Sherman. Pre-emptied edginess- pseudo-narrative. Thomas Florschuetz - 'Sprichst du mit mir?' Hitchcockian. Room indoors - no people - dark - narrative - textures. Miriam Vlaming - grainy paintings.
John
Environmental - Joseph Beuys. Set up Green Party. "I like
American and America like me" - piece with a wild coyote. No summer ice by 2015. Extinction. Wants to engage with and help people change climate - not sure if it is the right place. Do & think tank. James Lovelock - Regulating world.
Hakima
Matryoshka Army. Collaborative - aim - new identity - sharing. 1 surface can reveal different identities & perceptions. Look for sponsors. Cultural identity.
Lamb banana:
Sue
Showed video of walk with river Thames & trees. Travel using path and public transport - 2 years - 180miles. Pastels, photographs, films, engraving. Action research. Summer workshops, one in synch with Richard Long exhibition. Aerial & oblique photographs @Swindon.
Pat
Barbara Kruger. Can artists become involved in recession-affected communities? Involve people in production. Use shop windows to display artworks- not as galleries. She co-set up Room212, Gloucester Road.
Badges- she chose images that meant something to her then got people to choose which ones their liked. She put the photos of the people in a book alongside a comment on why she chose that image initially. Worked really well as seemed like a comment on the person.
Alan Fletcher - The Art of Looking Sideways.
Loves physicality of books and oxymorons, puns, typos and wants to collect them and make a similar book. Loves Marion Bataille - ABC3D.
Paper constructions- pop-up, flicker books. Maia suggested Richard Price.
Maria
Atmospheric space/place. Exploring the use of black thru different print processes- 6-9 months. Notions in passing- Nathan Lyons. Reflections & silhouettes. Cindy Sherman. Pre-emptied edginess- pseudo-narrative. Thomas Florschuetz - 'Sprichst du mit mir?' Hitchcockian. Room indoors - no people - dark - narrative - textures. Miriam Vlaming - grainy paintings.John
Environmental - Joseph Beuys. Set up Green Party. "I like
American and America like me" - piece with a wild coyote. No summer ice by 2015. Extinction. Wants to engage with and help people change climate - not sure if it is the right place. Do & think tank. James Lovelock - Regulating world.Hakima
Matryoshka Army. Collaborative - aim - new identity - sharing. 1 surface can reveal different identities & perceptions. Look for sponsors. Cultural identity.
Lamb banana:
Sue
Showed video of walk with river Thames & trees. Travel using path and public transport - 2 years - 180miles. Pastels, photographs, films, engraving. Action research. Summer workshops, one in synch with Richard Long exhibition. Aerial & oblique photographs @Swindon.
Pat
Barbara Kruger. Can artists become involved in recession-affected communities? Involve people in production. Use shop windows to display artworks- not as galleries. She co-set up Room212, Gloucester Road.
19 May 2009
Assignment 4 - Review of Zach Hill
You know those terrific nightmares you had as a child, where there's a thousand over-bearing shadowy monsters hounding you and you wake up gasping for breath and sweating with panic feeling distinctly like your synapses have melted and your skull and brain muscles are simultaneously caving in? It's a pretty similar feeling to that on exiting the solo show of the Hella & Team Sleep drummer, Zach Hill. Billed as a warm-up for his appearance at The Breeders-curated ATP at Minehead last weekend, with support from Vice Magazine's favourite baby Mike Bones, I had to expect this gig to make me suffer. But it's a suffering infused with delirious and unbelieving happiness; I can only imagine it's akin to being horrendously consumed by a lion- painful and hard to understand but exciting to be that close to a rare breed, knowing there are so few alive in the world.
I keep seeing Mike Bones' skinny, semi-naked body in Vice. Apparently he's toured with Cass McCombs, who displays an intelligent blend of nostalgic art-rock, ethereal noises and indie-folk. Bones however peddles some lack-lustre Libertines-style drugs ballads which sounded so dull I stayed in the bar.
Hill had already started when we went through to The Croft's tiny back room. There were about 70 people in there, mainly guys wearing black hoodies and the odd girlfriend. Instantly Hill's snare sound hits you in the ear drum: the skin is stretched so tight you imagine each time he slams a stick on it a whip cracks inside your head. He's such a hard hitter he has broken his kit mid-set, and it's easy to see how. If This Will Destroy You & their post-rock ilk create a wall of noise, Hill manufactures a sonic barbed-wire fence adorned with broken glass and nails.
Physically, Hill was a frenetic sweaty blur for the majority of his 50 minute set. The noise and speed with which he executes his playing sucks you in to the extent that you don't notice until halfway through that there's some guy with a guitar and a laptop sitting to his right, making electronic notes barely audible above the battlefield drum racket. You listen to the kick drum; you assume he's using a double kick pedal. When you see he has no such thing you are therefore so amazed that you watch his ludicrously speedy & heavy right foot, unwavering, for ten minutes. Then you notice the near-destroyed crash cymbal and realise that the bizarre muffled and clanking noise that's been hovering on the edge of your throbbing hearing has been Hill battering that thing like his mother's life depended upon it.
Any attempt to discover a hidden rhythm or pattern in the percussive onslaught is denied. The set doesn't seem to even contain definable tracks. But you don't care. You aurally thrash around in the waves of noise for nearly an hour and when he's finished, leave with dissolved cochleas and a massive grin smeared across your face.
myspace.com/littlemikebones
myspace.com/zachhillmusic
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Really enjoyed writing this review. I knew I wanted to do a review of something musical, rather than fine art-y, since throughout this module that's what the main focus has been on, despite the tutors constant reminders to think outside our own field. Music was a fascination before art was; however I am aware that I am not half as good a musician as I am an artist (that is not to say I think I am an amazing artist: quite the opposite). I have real difficulty being original in music. I am not sure how much my formal education in the two areas have affected my outputs: I had piano lessons from the age of 5 until 19, as well as 8 years on the oboe plus short stints of lessons on the flute, recorder, guitar and vocals. My art training has formally been from about age 14, through GCSE & A-Level, Art Foundation, BA and it's now continuing with my MA. All my boyfriends have been musical and I find it hard to be close friends with someone if they don't really care about music: it's what I want to talk about the most. Anyways.
Lecture 14th May - 'Research funding is a schizophrenic animal'
Prof. Tom Abba
First half given by Tom Abba in leiu of the Dean, Paul Gough, but with Gough's notes.
About Assignment 5:
Ambitions, 10 year plan, funding proposal, almost anything. I think I want to investigate the measure the communities' secretary Hazel Blears is hoping to put through in June: making funding available to use 'slack space'- empty shops etc- as art galleries, community centres and the like. My area of town, St. George, or more specifically, Redfield, has no art and is quite rundown is places. My intention is to treat this assignment as a practise for applying for this funding. I will discuss this with my tutors this coming Thursday in a tutorial. See Guardian article. Other ideas suggested to my by colleagues is putting on shows at the bookable spaces The Cube and the Hen & Chicken. Walked past the exhibition 'Weapon of Choice' the other day- must try to see this.
Arts & Humanities Research Council website
Bibliographies can include film content, web journals. Referenced throughout text.
Dr. Holly McLaren
Cultural geographer, site-specific artwork. Invited artists to respond to the locality of the town of Oswestry on the England/Wales border; exhibition entitled 'Bordering'.
Production process as action research - network of associations - Vivian van Saaze - Ethnography of Installation Art. Connective threads between geography and art. Rearticulate geography in an explicitly artistic manner. Role of geographer/curator allowed flexibility of roles. Kept a research diary, conducted interviews, methodology.
Points- physical border landscape, emotional cartographies, transitory places, liminal spaces, ambiguous places, landscapes of identity.
Two grants- smaller first to investigate if worth it and then larger delivery grant.
Ruth Jones - Ianuae - horses' significance in Oswestry - performance piece with black & white horse.
Simon Whitehead & Stefhan Caddick - Walking Wall - created a mobile border/barrier. Initially in gallery then walked around
TEA - TEA in Oswestry - two videos, installation & postcards and bags. How to engage in place when only there briefly, marketed tourism.
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Tom's talk was very helpful and I think will prove invaluable. McLaren's lecture, whilst interesting to begin with, became less interesting I think more because of her delivery than anything else. That is a lesson learnt: don't read off pre-written notes and try to vary your tone of voice. Also I thought the artworks in her exhibition seemed somewhat weak and obvious (Whitehead & Caddick and TEA) or pretentiously obscure (Ruth Jones). Although I liked the initial idea I found my mind wandered towards the end.
First half given by Tom Abba in leiu of the Dean, Paul Gough, but with Gough's notes.
About Assignment 5:
Ambitions, 10 year plan, funding proposal, almost anything. I think I want to investigate the measure the communities' secretary Hazel Blears is hoping to put through in June: making funding available to use 'slack space'- empty shops etc- as art galleries, community centres and the like. My area of town, St. George, or more specifically, Redfield, has no art and is quite rundown is places. My intention is to treat this assignment as a practise for applying for this funding. I will discuss this with my tutors this coming Thursday in a tutorial. See Guardian article. Other ideas suggested to my by colleagues is putting on shows at the bookable spaces The Cube and the Hen & Chicken. Walked past the exhibition 'Weapon of Choice' the other day- must try to see this.
- Idea/questions/where is the work going? New questions, new challenges
- Unpick question - why - what - where - whom - how? Doability? Plain language --> unambiguous
- How - methods & methodology. Ways to assess success and maybe change. How will you work? describe work in art language
- What else is going on? Setting th critical context. How well do you understand the rest of the field, ie, is someone else doing it? Situate within peers
- Who else is doing this?
- How well informed are you? Regional/national discussion. Links, networks. Bibliography of work written. How well can you command on the subject?
- What will be the result? Outcomes and outputs?
- Assessment- is it worth doing?
Arts & Humanities Research Council website
Bibliographies can include film content, web journals. Referenced throughout text.
Dr. Holly McLaren
Cultural geographer, site-specific artwork. Invited artists to respond to the locality of the town of Oswestry on the England/Wales border; exhibition entitled 'Bordering'.
Production process as action research - network of associations - Vivian van Saaze - Ethnography of Installation Art. Connective threads between geography and art. Rearticulate geography in an explicitly artistic manner. Role of geographer/curator allowed flexibility of roles. Kept a research diary, conducted interviews, methodology.
Points- physical border landscape, emotional cartographies, transitory places, liminal spaces, ambiguous places, landscapes of identity.
Two grants- smaller first to investigate if worth it and then larger delivery grant.
Ruth Jones - Ianuae - horses' significance in Oswestry - performance piece with black & white horse.
Simon Whitehead & Stefhan Caddick - Walking Wall - created a mobile border/barrier. Initially in gallery then walked around
TEA - TEA in Oswestry - two videos, installation & postcards and bags. How to engage in place when only there briefly, marketed tourism.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tom's talk was very helpful and I think will prove invaluable. McLaren's lecture, whilst interesting to begin with, became less interesting I think more because of her delivery than anything else. That is a lesson learnt: don't read off pre-written notes and try to vary your tone of voice. Also I thought the artworks in her exhibition seemed somewhat weak and obvious (Whitehead & Caddick and TEA) or pretentiously obscure (Ruth Jones). Although I liked the initial idea I found my mind wandered towards the end.
14 May 2009
Assignment 3 - first presentations
I missed the second week because I was at the Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film.
Fiona
Human behaviour | signposts to survival | complex subjects | spiritual tone | work on emotion and intellect
Her studied piece was Steve McQueen's feature film 'Hunger' on hunger strikes at Belfast Prison. McQueen startes "sensory detail brings you closer to the emotional"(NY Times Article).
Sue
Landscape | journeys | photography | found objects | book formats
Studied Birgit Skiöld, printmaker who creates subtle pieces that include some colour and embossing or debossing.
Maia
Movement & force | humour | revealing metaphysical world through everyday
Fischli & Weiss video 30minute of a lot of different materials and elements all reacting with one another to cause a domino effect. Must be the inspiration for the Honda advert. Unlike everyone else she also showed a photograph of a piece of her own work- a golf ball apparently keeping a heavy hotel door open, and talked about her previous work which was documented in which she attempts to become an amateur astronaut.
Jo
Decorative | humorous | informative | narrative | passionate
Hers was on Spike Milligan. I didn't know much about him really, except that my Dad has his signature on a note, but it was very interesting. Provoked a discussion on mental illness and art.
Mine
I chose to do mine on Tessa Farmer. You can see the presentation in PDF format here (it wouldn't let me upload it as a .ppt, thinks it's corrupted- blame OpenOffice) and read the notes here. I only discovered this artist the day before so the presentation but thought she had so much in common with my work I really wanted to do my presentation on her. I hadn't actually decided on what my five criteria were at the time I did this presentation, but here they are now:
Miniaturism | narrative | organic/growth | fantasy | creepiness
I found this a very useful exercise. I found out things about my own work I had not yet pinned down, plus discovered new artists on my own and from others.
Chris suggested I look at the work of the Polish/Russian animator Vladislav Starevich which us very relevent to my work as he animated insects. Maia suggested David Altmejd (left) who makes sometimes grotesque and sometimes magical sculptures of decaying/crystallising figures like werewolves and birdmen.
Fiona
Human behaviour | signposts to survival | complex subjects | spiritual tone | work on emotion and intellect
Her studied piece was Steve McQueen's feature film 'Hunger' on hunger strikes at Belfast Prison. McQueen startes "sensory detail brings you closer to the emotional"(NY Times Article).
Sue
Landscape | journeys | photography | found objects | book formatsStudied Birgit Skiöld, printmaker who creates subtle pieces that include some colour and embossing or debossing.
Maia
Movement & force | humour | revealing metaphysical world through everyday
Fischli & Weiss video 30minute of a lot of different materials and elements all reacting with one another to cause a domino effect. Must be the inspiration for the Honda advert. Unlike everyone else she also showed a photograph of a piece of her own work- a golf ball apparently keeping a heavy hotel door open, and talked about her previous work which was documented in which she attempts to become an amateur astronaut.
Jo
Decorative | humorous | informative | narrative | passionate
Hers was on Spike Milligan. I didn't know much about him really, except that my Dad has his signature on a note, but it was very interesting. Provoked a discussion on mental illness and art.
Mine
I chose to do mine on Tessa Farmer. You can see the presentation in PDF format here (it wouldn't let me upload it as a .ppt, thinks it's corrupted- blame OpenOffice) and read the notes here. I only discovered this artist the day before so the presentation but thought she had so much in common with my work I really wanted to do my presentation on her. I hadn't actually decided on what my five criteria were at the time I did this presentation, but here they are now:
Miniaturism | narrative | organic/growth | fantasy | creepiness
I found this a very useful exercise. I found out things about my own work I had not yet pinned down, plus discovered new artists on my own and from others.
Chris suggested I look at the work of the Polish/Russian animator Vladislav Starevich which us very relevent to my work as he animated insects. Maia suggested David Altmejd (left) who makes sometimes grotesque and sometimes magical sculptures of decaying/crystallising figures like werewolves and birdmen.
29 April 2009
Assignment 2 - Criteria and matching artists
Criteria that could be used to describe my work (or to describe the way I want my work to be):
Olivo Barbieri
Marilyn Gatin
Stelarc
Tim Noble and Sue Webster
Nam June Paik
Rieko Akatsuka
Tessa Farmer http://www.chapter.org/9574.html
Laura Youngson Coll
Floris Kaayk
Liza Lou
Paul Collinson
- Robotics/technology
- Transformation
- Individualism/social conformity
- Rejection/Being ostracised
- Revelation
- Miniaturism
- Narrative
- Craft/manufacture
- Outsider art
- The organic/growth
- Fantasy
- Creepiness
- Photographic
Olivo Barbieri
Marilyn Gatin
Stelarc
Tim Noble and Sue Webster
Nam June Paik
Rieko Akatsuka
Tessa Farmer http://www.chapter.org/9574.html
Laura Youngson Coll
Floris Kaayk
Liza Lou
Paul Collinson
24 April 2009
2nd April Guest Speakers
Duncan Speakman duncanspeakman.net
'Sound artist'. Started off as a sound engineer, went into documentary-making and then sound making (interactive design). Site specific work ('no gallery' policy). Using public/online spaces, MP3 players and locative technology.
A particular influence at an early age was a film called 'Iron Eagle'.
He was inspired by the character's idea to strap a music source to his leg when he was flying, to create a soundtrack to his flight- soundtracking the moment. Speakman took to taping his Dad's Walkman to his leg whilst skateboarding, playing something like Beethoven's 9th Symphony.
"An object cannot compete with an experience" - Hamish Fulton
Ephemerality - temporal moment. Making invisible permanent pieces that require no planning permission.
"Walking in particular drifting, or strolling, is already- with in the speed culture of our time- a kind of resistance" - Francis Alys
Acoustic ecology - movement - not much of an awareness of sound and its influences over us. Schizophrenic sound - removed from original source. Ghosting effect & heightening --> articifical-sounding. Sculpting the world- lazy filmmaker.
"...as a manager of sensorial channels, it questions the relationship between the dweller and his environment and enables new modes of experiencing the city" - Jean Paul Thibaud
Ultrared - recognise sound as a residue of social space. Nostaligic & melancholia.
Piece- flowerpots containing microphones which fed out the recorded conversations onto printed sheets in the Watershed cafe. People reading the printed out sheets would create a recorded cycle. Another piece where an internet chatroom fed to live performers filmed, shown on the net - 'Live Chat'.
Video of a soundwalk. Memory/sight/place. Site specific.
'Sounds From Above The Ground' - Rucksacks with laptop & headphones- two characters are arguing - records current sounds and adds them later and charges order or direction.
Piece - Speakman would walk ahead recording sounds around him which would be relayed to audience following behind. They would hear a noise of eg a door opening before they got to the door.
'Always Something Somewhere Else' - in conjunction with Hewlett Packard. Generative soundwalk. Had to find a specific item - tree or bench etc - which would trigger a story on a handheld GPS device.
'My World Is Empty Without You' (Wings of Desire) - Sent to walk round a city listening to an MP3 player. A performer approaches and speaks part of what the audience is listening to, triggered by the performer via Wifi. To get people to feel more engaged with and connected to the people around them instead of being a passive observer listening to their own, disconnected soundtrack.
Next project- May 14/15/16 - Mayfest
'My World Is Empty Without You'
From mayfestbristol.co.uk: What happens when everyone in the city is listening to the same song? Wearing headphones, the audience travels across the city, an immersive soundtrack filling their ears, turning the world around into a poignant and personal cinema.
Paul Thirkel
Etching, woodblock, print. Creates narrative by layering, simplifying. Increasing size of small items. Photogravure. Research old printing- collotype --> Darwin's Expressions of Emotion in Man & Animals used this technique.
Photos of fruit making patterns. Printed one image in 22 different mediums for use as reference material. Digital arts portfolio. Digitally generated collotype. Collage, photocollage. Max Ernst. Printing process can abstract an image. Duchamp- The Green Box. Henry Moore & Richard Hamilton also translated notes from La Boite Verte.
CNC Milling: creates a mold using a photo, use the mold to create a positive impression and impress that into a ceramic tile. Then flood the tile with glaze and it creates the photograph on ceramic. Research into 3D colour printing.
Peter Walters
Fine Print Research. Originally engineering draftsman for 2 years, then studied Industrial Design BA, MA, PhD in Sheffield. For MA designed a pair of Toucan secateurs for ease of use an to being some business to Sheffield. Unfortunately now the product is made in China and Walters makes little money out of it.
Currently works to use rapid prototyping (3D printing) technology in arts & crafts. Mechanisms are becoming more widely available. Supporting & collaborating with artists and robotics.
Z-Corporation Power Binder 3D printing (see YouTube video) Also photopolymer resins. Z-Scanner can take handmade maquette, scan it, alter it and print it out or print out molds in another material. Using ceramic powder with 3D printer and firing it can create durable ceramic pieces.
Heart Robot project with David McGoran.
Made 3D sound print of the printer itself printing.
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Thoughts
Really taken with Speakman's work, always been fascinated by the idea of soundtracking a moment since am a musical and visual person I feel the connection and relationship between the two. I am very aware of how different music will change an image or situation. I love the idea of recordings mixing with realtime noises and sounds and making people really notice what is going on around them. I know I hear and listen to things that other people don't- I earwig conversations a lot, listen to ambient noise out of curiosity. The use of technology in his work interests me too because I love gadgets- the idea of finding a bench and it triggering a story seems brilliant to me, I love the fact that the same narative can be adhered to any bench in any city- it tells a story and a history. Speakman's documentary filmmaking background has provided a great basis for his storytelling and I think he does it very well. I look forward to hopefully participating in his Mayfest contribution next month.
With Thirkel's work I found the CNC Milling technique very interesting. However I am not particularly interested in print making although the collotype printer drew my attention.
Walter's explanation of how the 3D printer works and its applications really inspired me- I never knew this was possible but it's amazing. The possibilities of what this technology can do are enormous and it makes it easy to create something that human hands would find impossible.
'Sound artist'. Started off as a sound engineer, went into documentary-making and then sound making (interactive design). Site specific work ('no gallery' policy). Using public/online spaces, MP3 players and locative technology.
A particular influence at an early age was a film called 'Iron Eagle'.
"An object cannot compete with an experience" - Hamish Fulton
Ephemerality - temporal moment. Making invisible permanent pieces that require no planning permission.
"Walking in particular drifting, or strolling, is already- with in the speed culture of our time- a kind of resistance" - Francis Alys
Acoustic ecology - movement - not much of an awareness of sound and its influences over us. Schizophrenic sound - removed from original source. Ghosting effect & heightening --> articifical-sounding. Sculpting the world- lazy filmmaker.
"...as a manager of sensorial channels, it questions the relationship between the dweller and his environment and enables new modes of experiencing the city" - Jean Paul Thibaud
Ultrared - recognise sound as a residue of social space. Nostaligic & melancholia.
Piece- flowerpots containing microphones which fed out the recorded conversations onto printed sheets in the Watershed cafe. People reading the printed out sheets would create a recorded cycle. Another piece where an internet chatroom fed to live performers filmed, shown on the net - 'Live Chat'.
Video of a soundwalk. Memory/sight/place. Site specific.
'Sounds From Above The Ground' - Rucksacks with laptop & headphones- two characters are arguing - records current sounds and adds them later and charges order or direction.
Piece - Speakman would walk ahead recording sounds around him which would be relayed to audience following behind. They would hear a noise of eg a door opening before they got to the door.
'Always Something Somewhere Else' - in conjunction with Hewlett Packard. Generative soundwalk. Had to find a specific item - tree or bench etc - which would trigger a story on a handheld GPS device.
'My World Is Empty Without You' (Wings of Desire) - Sent to walk round a city listening to an MP3 player. A performer approaches and speaks part of what the audience is listening to, triggered by the performer via Wifi. To get people to feel more engaged with and connected to the people around them instead of being a passive observer listening to their own, disconnected soundtrack.
Next project- May 14/15/16 - Mayfest
'My World Is Empty Without You'
From mayfestbristol.co.uk: What happens when everyone in the city is listening to the same song? Wearing headphones, the audience travels across the city, an immersive soundtrack filling their ears, turning the world around into a poignant and personal cinema.
As strangers drift past you and events unfold it becomes harder to separate the staged and the real.
Exploring ideas of social disconnection in the age of the iPod; part love song, part theatre … My World is Empty Without You will leave marks in your heart.
My World is Empty Without You is a development of Duncan Speakman’s piece of the same name shown at Mayfest 2008.Commissioned by Mayfest, supported by Arnolfini and developed at the Pervasive Media Studio.
"If contemporary audiences are only interested in experience, can we disguise content as experience?" - ?
Paul Thirkel
Etching, woodblock, print. Creates narrative by layering, simplifying. Increasing size of small items. Photogravure. Research old printing- collotype --> Darwin's Expressions of Emotion in Man & Animals used this technique.Photos of fruit making patterns. Printed one image in 22 different mediums for use as reference material. Digital arts portfolio. Digitally generated collotype. Collage, photocollage. Max Ernst. Printing process can abstract an image. Duchamp- The Green Box. Henry Moore & Richard Hamilton also translated notes from La Boite Verte.CNC Milling: creates a mold using a photo, use the mold to create a positive impression and impress that into a ceramic tile. Then flood the tile with glaze and it creates the photograph on ceramic. Research into 3D colour printing.
Peter Walters
Fine Print Research. Originally engineering draftsman for 2 years, then studied Industrial Design BA, MA, PhD in Sheffield. For MA designed a pair of Toucan secateurs for ease of use an to being some business to Sheffield. Unfortunately now the product is made in China and Walters makes little money out of it.
Currently works to use rapid prototyping (3D printing) technology in arts & crafts. Mechanisms are becoming more widely available. Supporting & collaborating with artists and robotics.
Z-Corporation Power Binder 3D printing (see YouTube video) Also photopolymer resins. Z-Scanner can take handmade maquette, scan it, alter it and print it out or print out molds in another material. Using ceramic powder with 3D printer and firing it can create durable ceramic pieces.
Heart Robot project with David McGoran.
Made 3D sound print of the printer itself printing.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thoughts
Really taken with Speakman's work, always been fascinated by the idea of soundtracking a moment since am a musical and visual person I feel the connection and relationship between the two. I am very aware of how different music will change an image or situation. I love the idea of recordings mixing with realtime noises and sounds and making people really notice what is going on around them. I know I hear and listen to things that other people don't- I earwig conversations a lot, listen to ambient noise out of curiosity. The use of technology in his work interests me too because I love gadgets- the idea of finding a bench and it triggering a story seems brilliant to me, I love the fact that the same narative can be adhered to any bench in any city- it tells a story and a history. Speakman's documentary filmmaking background has provided a great basis for his storytelling and I think he does it very well. I look forward to hopefully participating in his Mayfest contribution next month.
With Thirkel's work I found the CNC Milling technique very interesting. However I am not particularly interested in print making although the collotype printer drew my attention.
Walter's explanation of how the 3D printer works and its applications really inspired me- I never knew this was possible but it's amazing. The possibilities of what this technology can do are enormous and it makes it easy to create something that human hands would find impossible.
1 April 2009
Identifying criteria session
This session featured an hours' worth of lectures from Aranxta Echarte ('Research Methods') and Rachael Miles. Rachael's was a kind of walk-through example of a way of doing our next assignment.
Aran's lecture
'Research methods' - Introduction to methods-related terminology
Three types of research methods-
Rachael's lecture
Look at the media in terms of what you can glean from them and how you can apply these things to your own work.
Often research is secondary- re-presentation- DVD, photo etc. It is difficult to work out your criteria from second-hand information so she suggests going to see the work live.
Set of criteria (descriptions until set) could be aspirational- how you could want to look at your or others' work.
Looking/re-looking through representation/writing/redefine.
Roni Horn
You Are The Weather | Dead Owl | Ant Farm | This Is Me, This Is You | Asphere
We were divided up into 4 groups and given a word. We were asked to name as many artists as we could that full under that description. We had 20 minutes to do this, then we had to think of the antithesis of that word and had another 20 minutes to name artists that fell under that category. The words were:
Aran's lecture
'Research methods' - Introduction to methods-related terminology
Three types of research methods-
- Qualitative research
- Quantitative research
- Mixed research (qualitative & quantitative study)
- Heuristic research (put yourself in the situation)
- Phenomenological research (describe objectively)
- Hermeneutical research (looking at the context around the situation)
- Random sampling
- Selected sampling
- Participant observer - collection & analysis of field data
- Direct observation - physically or using camera/other media
- Interviewing - structured or unstructured (set questions)
- Case studies
- Data research
- Experience research- research as exploratory or investigative process - repetition/test/variation (change external factors)/exploratory research (set specific rules)
- Analysis of examples - explain why these examples
- Descriptive diagnosis
- Diagnostic research
- Collection
- Replication - naturalistic is copying and learning a technique
- Hypothesis testing
- Variable-based research - how a variable effects what is being done
Rachael's lecture
Look at the media in terms of what you can glean from them and how you can apply these things to your own work.
Often research is secondary- re-presentation- DVD, photo etc. It is difficult to work out your criteria from second-hand information so she suggests going to see the work live.
Set of criteria (descriptions until set) could be aspirational- how you could want to look at your or others' work.
Looking/re-looking through representation/writing/redefine.
Roni Horn
You Are The Weather | Dead Owl | Ant Farm | This Is Me, This Is You | Asphere
- Tautological (needless repetition)
- Viewing mechanisms
- Empirical (derived from experiment and observation rather than theory)
- Parallax (the apparent displacement of an object as seen from two different points that are not on a line with the object)
- Seeing - appearance & understanding; habitual
- Looking - searching to understand/investigate; the gaze; mechanical aspect of thinking
We were divided up into 4 groups and given a word. We were asked to name as many artists as we could that full under that description. We had 20 minutes to do this, then we had to think of the antithesis of that word and had another 20 minutes to name artists that fell under that category. The words were:
- Political | Apolitical/politically inert (my group)
- Narrative
- Traditional
- Figurative
14 March 2009
Assignment 1 - second presentations
Made notes this time!
Fiona Meadley
She is curating an exhibition called 'Ghosts in the Attic' in the old house, now a museum, that once belonged to Edward Jenner (famous for the smallpox vaccine). She mentions Freud wrote that the "attic is the subconscious of the mind" and in this previously unseen part of the house, her exhibition as artist-in-residence aims to suggest Jenner's 'ghosts'. These are people who died from smallpox but also perhaps flowing from hallucinations that he experienced as a child. When Jenner was variolated (purposely infected with the smallpox disease in an attempt to protect against future infections) he was isolated in the attic of his house for a month. She mentioned Tacita Dean and the book Immunology by A. David Napier. I was interested in the screenshot of a film by Maya Deren called 'Meshes of the Afternoon' and having watched half of it I can see why it is an inspiration- it is dreamy, mysterious and obscure.
Sue Bovington
Found the artists' work Sue showed very engaging, all relating to maps: Peter Greenaway, 'A Walk Through H' is utilises extraordinary maps; Kathy Prendergast's 'Erased Maps' where she has chosen a section of a map and erased everything ex
cept a certain word, ie Lost, I found fascinating. Sue also mentioned a work called 'City Drawings' look and sound interesting but I cannot find an image large to study in any depth. I also liked the idea of Clare Bryan's 'Cut Out Maps' and the photos looked brilliant. Lastly she talked about David Nash whom I love after his work being suggested to me during 2nd year of my BA and then catching an exhibition of his work at the Tate St. Ives it captivated me. I saw his 'Pyramid, Sphere & Cube' (left). His unicorn horn and boulder that moved down a stream were good too.
Jo Russell
Graphic Design MA student who works for Wiltshire College. Also David Mckean. Mentions Egon Schiele/Svankmajer/Quay Bros. What interested me most was Takashi Murakami's work- I had admired Kanya West's album cover but didn't know who it was, and had found a Murakami piece (featuring a character called 'Mr Dob', so Jo told me) in Dazed&Confused magazine but didn't realise how massive he is.
She also mentioned Andrea Canalito and in particular a piece which features plastic deer heads coming out of saccharine-looking plastic cupcakes. It's obvious that humour and colour are central to Jo's interests, and also texture- she seems to like plastic. I think it was Jo who also talked about Saul Bass- I was aware of the style in
which he created the Hitchcock film posters but never knew his name. I really liked the bold styles and Matisse-style cut-outs he used. I also mean to investigate his animation work.
Hakima al Siad
She showed first tattoos by the American tattoo artist and star of TV shows, Kat von D. Having watched Miami Ink I was aware of her work but never really considered her an artist before- now I don't see why she should not be considered an artist. Her work is execute
d with amazing attention to detail and whereas other artists can work when or how they please, the limits of tattooing a person's skin places creative constraints. Kat von D is known for portraits. I recently discovered another tattooist/artist called Angelique Houtkamp who has a distinctive Sailor Jerry/50s style.
Hakima talked about David LaChapelle, a photographer famous particularly for celebrity images. He created the eponymous image of the rap star Lil' Kim covered in Louis Viutton logos to present her as an expensive item. He also set up a photograph of Courtney Love holding a model (LaChapelle's boyfriend) posed as Kurt Cobain- an amazing piece that is so ludicrously detailed it looks like a painting.
She showed some work by a Muslim artist with whom she identifies, and spoke about caligraphy & Arabic, combined with Muslim culture and feminism.
John Cummings
None of John's artists were visual artists- he first talked about Bill Bryson's book, A Short History of Nearly Everything (one of the most brilliant books I have ever read; however I couldn't quite make it to the end- I still plan to). John seems particularly interested in Bryson's presentation of heavy and complex science in a simple and accessible manner. He also talked about, and showed some of, Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth lecture. John appreciates Gore's representation in graphs of something that is otherwise difficult to fully comprehend and is attracted to something called action research- where the researcher takes part in, and influences, the subject area they are researching. He would like to start a charity to educate people about their relationship with the environment, to encourage people to be aspirational about it, rather than imposing penalties, by giving away seeds and information, for example. Fiona commented that by being tied down with all the detritus that running a charity entails he may find it more frustrating that productive.
Maia Conran
Talked about Mark Leckey's Turner Prize entry, which I happened to see but not really understand (good article at the Guardian Online). She is interested in the evolution of Leckey's lecture, and that of her own (although the fact that the entry for the Turner Prize is recorded means it is set and cannot change). She spoke about Edward Rucsha, a photographer who is famous for photographing 26 gas stations and the same stretch of Venice Beach for years. I really liked his gas station photographs- very architectural, detached and calm, and apparently free of human emotion.
She also experimented during her presentation with showing her artist statement instead of her artwork- investigating the validity of presenting a piece of art instead of a dissertation.
Fiona Meadley
She is curating an exhibition called 'Ghosts in the Attic' in the old house, now a museum, that once belonged to Edward Jenner (famous for the smallpox vaccine). She mentions Freud wrote that the "attic is the subconscious of the mind" and in this previously unseen part of the house, her exhibition as artist-in-residence aims to suggest Jenner's 'ghosts'. These are people who died from smallpox but also perhaps flowing from hallucinations that he experienced as a child. When Jenner was variolated (purposely infected with the smallpox disease in an attempt to protect against future infections) he was isolated in the attic of his house for a month. She mentioned Tacita Dean and the book Immunology by A. David Napier. I was interested in the screenshot of a film by Maya Deren called 'Meshes of the Afternoon' and having watched half of it I can see why it is an inspiration- it is dreamy, mysterious and obscure.
Sue Bovington
Found the artists' work Sue showed very engaging, all relating to maps: Peter Greenaway, 'A Walk Through H' is utilises extraordinary maps; Kathy Prendergast's 'Erased Maps' where she has chosen a section of a map and erased everything ex
cept a certain word, ie Lost, I found fascinating. Sue also mentioned a work called 'City Drawings' look and sound interesting but I cannot find an image large to study in any depth. I also liked the idea of Clare Bryan's 'Cut Out Maps' and the photos looked brilliant. Lastly she talked about David Nash whom I love after his work being suggested to me during 2nd year of my BA and then catching an exhibition of his work at the Tate St. Ives it captivated me. I saw his 'Pyramid, Sphere & Cube' (left). His unicorn horn and boulder that moved down a stream were good too.Jo Russell
Graphic Design MA student who works for Wiltshire College. Also David Mckean. Mentions Egon Schiele/Svankmajer/Quay Bros. What interested me most was Takashi Murakami's work- I had admired Kanya West's album cover but didn't know who it was, and had found a Murakami piece (featuring a character called 'Mr Dob', so Jo told me) in Dazed&Confused magazine but didn't realise how massive he is.
She also mentioned Andrea Canalito and in particular a piece which features plastic deer heads coming out of saccharine-looking plastic cupcakes. It's obvious that humour and colour are central to Jo's interests, and also texture- she seems to like plastic. I think it was Jo who also talked about Saul Bass- I was aware of the style in
Hakima al Siad
She showed first tattoos by the American tattoo artist and star of TV shows, Kat von D. Having watched Miami Ink I was aware of her work but never really considered her an artist before- now I don't see why she should not be considered an artist. Her work is execute
d with amazing attention to detail and whereas other artists can work when or how they please, the limits of tattooing a person's skin places creative constraints. Kat von D is known for portraits. I recently discovered another tattooist/artist called Angelique Houtkamp who has a distinctive Sailor Jerry/50s style.Hakima talked about David LaChapelle, a photographer famous particularly for celebrity images. He created the eponymous image of the rap star Lil' Kim covered in Louis Viutton logos to present her as an expensive item. He also set up a photograph of Courtney Love holding a model (LaChapelle's boyfriend) posed as Kurt Cobain- an amazing piece that is so ludicrously detailed it looks like a painting.She showed some work by a Muslim artist with whom she identifies, and spoke about caligraphy & Arabic, combined with Muslim culture and feminism.
John Cummings
None of John's artists were visual artists- he first talked about Bill Bryson's book, A Short History of Nearly Everything (one of the most brilliant books I have ever read; however I couldn't quite make it to the end- I still plan to). John seems particularly interested in Bryson's presentation of heavy and complex science in a simple and accessible manner. He also talked about, and showed some of, Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth lecture. John appreciates Gore's representation in graphs of something that is otherwise difficult to fully comprehend and is attracted to something called action research- where the researcher takes part in, and influences, the subject area they are researching. He would like to start a charity to educate people about their relationship with the environment, to encourage people to be aspirational about it, rather than imposing penalties, by giving away seeds and information, for example. Fiona commented that by being tied down with all the detritus that running a charity entails he may find it more frustrating that productive.
Maia Conran
Talked about Mark Leckey's Turner Prize entry, which I happened to see but not really understand (good article at the Guardian Online). She is interested in the evolution of Leckey's lecture, and that of her own (although the fact that the entry for the Turner Prize is recorded means it is set and cannot change). She spoke about Edward Rucsha, a photographer who is famous for photographing 26 gas stations and the same stretch of Venice Beach for years. I really liked his gas station photographs- very architectural, detached and calm, and apparently free of human emotion.
She also experimented during her presentation with showing her artist statement instead of her artwork- investigating the validity of presenting a piece of art instead of a dissertation.
Assignment 1 - first presentations
Didn't write notes for this one so here goes what I remember...
Nusha Amini
Graphic novels- David Mckean (below) and a Japanese manga by female illustrator- beautiful stuff, both distorting usual ideas of how to set out graphic novels. I liked the challenges on the conventions of graphic novels and appreciate how difficult it can be to break from conventions that are deeply ingrained in your artistic practise.
Me
Jan Svankmaker, Shinto Tsukamoto, Floris Kaayk. It is embedded below or to see it full screen click here. It is visually rubbish because my version of OpenOffice has some bug or something and won't publish presentations as PowerPoint if it contains any background images. The notes I read from are published online here.
I discovered some interesting things about myself and what I am interested in. I think I have become more of a filmmaker than I realised- my interest is now sparked more often by sequences of images; the way things/characters move, shot set-ups and poses, plus lighting and references. Also as Chris mentioned afterwards, the three filmmakers I spoke about I like for their creepiness. My film seriously lacks that, although I was semi-aware that I do not want my final film to be twee. Something to consider.
Helen Burgess (right name??)
Really interesting, lots of artists. Land art, walking, documenting. Doesn't like Richard Long (nor does Rachel but I do. I like his sculptures). Talked about Cornelia Parker whom I have a particular interest in. New to me was Marlene Creates' 'Sleeping Places' (below). They reminded me of Rachel Whiteread, recording the lives of others by their effect on the domestic objects that comprised their world. Creates' images describe a tiny lifetime, solely the night, and the movements that her body made whilst she was unconscious, but in a language she cannot understand- they're like a coded story. They're like bird's nests and crop circles and are beautiful.
Maria Bowers
Etching stuff. Her comments on how she needs to proceed were mainly process-inspired, and the topic the countryside. The etchers' work she showed was beautiful and I was really impressed by the artist who goes fishing at sea and takes his acid with him- I hadn't really considered it before, but of course etching cannot usually be done out in the environment, but created post-event in the studio.
Debbie Lewis
Seemed like she thought she was struggling with her work but I liked it. She has been created images with printed boxes, lines, cross-hatchings. She is interested in form rather than subject and I liked her honesty about her work although I thought she should be more self-confident about it.
Nusha Amini
Graphic novels- David Mckean (below) and a Japanese manga by female illustrator- beautiful stuff, both distorting usual ideas of how to set out graphic novels. I liked the challenges on the conventions of graphic novels and appreciate how difficult it can be to break from conventions that are deeply ingrained in your artistic practise.
Jan Svankmaker, Shinto Tsukamoto, Floris Kaayk. It is embedded below or to see it full screen click here. It is visually rubbish because my version of OpenOffice has some bug or something and won't publish presentations as PowerPoint if it contains any background images. The notes I read from are published online here.
I discovered some interesting things about myself and what I am interested in. I think I have become more of a filmmaker than I realised- my interest is now sparked more often by sequences of images; the way things/characters move, shot set-ups and poses, plus lighting and references. Also as Chris mentioned afterwards, the three filmmakers I spoke about I like for their creepiness. My film seriously lacks that, although I was semi-aware that I do not want my final film to be twee. Something to consider.
Helen Burgess (right name??)
Really interesting, lots of artists. Land art, walking, documenting. Doesn't like Richard Long (nor does Rachel but I do. I like his sculptures). Talked about Cornelia Parker whom I have a particular interest in. New to me was Marlene Creates' 'Sleeping Places' (below). They reminded me of Rachel Whiteread, recording the lives of others by their effect on the domestic objects that comprised their world. Creates' images describe a tiny lifetime, solely the night, and the movements that her body made whilst she was unconscious, but in a language she cannot understand- they're like a coded story. They're like bird's nests and crop circles and are beautiful.
Maria Bowers
Etching stuff. Her comments on how she needs to proceed were mainly process-inspired, and the topic the countryside. The etchers' work she showed was beautiful and I was really impressed by the artist who goes fishing at sea and takes his acid with him- I hadn't really considered it before, but of course etching cannot usually be done out in the environment, but created post-event in the studio.
Debbie Lewis
Seemed like she thought she was struggling with her work but I liked it. She has been created images with printed boxes, lines, cross-hatchings. She is interested in form rather than subject and I liked her honesty about her work although I thought she should be more self-confident about it.
9 March 2009
First lecture - Lecture on Methods
From notes written at the time:
IAN BRIGGS
Three methods
1. Comparative analysis (compare & contrast)
from Harvard Writing Center
Professional discourse - talking about work within your area. Observer participation is stepping outside of your own dicipline and explaining your work to someone not part of your professional practise. Comes from anthropology, from ethnography, used by artists such as Susan Hiller. Necessary to observe own work dispassionately, exercise self-reflexivity and try to remove presuppositions. Academic diciplines and new diciplines start up between existing ones, questioning current conventions.
3. Bricolage
Combining different influences, concepts or media to create something new (see Wikipedia's entry). Example is the punk movement or the cargo cult the 'Prince Philip Movement' (Wikipedia article).
BRET WILSON
Characteristics of research
To be testable, a prediction or theory must be capable of being proved wrong or else it is a belief.
Perspective is an example of a paradigm: a way of seeing that makes previous theories redundant.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thoughts on this lecture
Briggs' section on comparative analysis was familiar ground for me- it was only 2005/6 that I wrote my BA dissertation comparing Rachel Whiteread's monumental pieces House & Embankment using this method and it is still relatively fresh in my mind.
I was initally dubious of the necessity to state the validity of observer participation; however after a while I remembered that at the previous session, gathered in our smaller groups, I had had difficulty in explaining my work when faced with cross-diciplinary students and that this concept was relevant to me. It is easy to forget how to explain your work to someone from another media that is related yet distant to an extent. I realised I have developed a language to explain my work to friends and family who know very little of the visual arts language at all but I cannot use the same style to other arts students. It is patronising at least and perhaps not very informative to students who could easily understand what I want to explain if I find the right language. It was a strange deja vous to hear the MA Printmaking, Fine Art & By Project students using the language I used for three years on my Fine Art BA but have all but forgotten how to use. I find animation a more practical and less wordy dicipline than fine art, and in some ways the better for it: I can explain myself in a much more 'everyman' language whereas fine art requires its own definitions for regular-use words. After being away from it for a few years, fine art language sounds pretentious and hollow.
Bricolage as a concept is also familiar to me from my bachelor's course, from studying outsider art and certain sculptors. Was interested to hear about the cargo cult obsessed by Prince Phillip.
I found Bret Wilson an engaging speaker but I remain somewhat unconvinced the characteristics he listed can be so dirctly applied to reseach within the arts. His giving perspective as an example of a paradigm that changed people's theories helped although I think I need examples on how, for example, to rigorously test an artistic idea.
I felt that Briggs' lecture 'cannot see the wood for the trees'- it concerned itself so energetically with the methods of research that I found myself wondering where the art comes in. I am not sure this focus on research in art is really that helpful. I am reminded of Prof. Jon Dovey's session during our Tuesday evening contextual lectures entitled 'ScreenWork - Media Practise as Research Journal'. I actually became angry during this lecture because I thought Dovey's ScreenWork DVD journal was pointless- the idea that an artist would make a film purely for research purposes only with the intention to further the collective knowledge of the artistic community appears to me to be self-indulgent and irrelevent. Art should be made for its own sake or surely it loses that momentum or energy that inspired its creator in the first place? I cannot imagine putting all that effort into designing a film to try out a new technique and then submitting that for peer review, instead of moving the embryonic concept/technique forward to a finished work of art. Dovey's support of ScreenWork was not aided by the rough, unfinished-looking and ultimately uninspiring pieces he showed us from this project. Or maybe I just don't get it yet.
IAN BRIGGS
Three methods
1. Comparative analysis (compare & contrast)
from Harvard Writing Center
- Frame of reference --> your context --> external
- Grounds for comparison --> why these pieces?
- Thesis --> claim/argument
- The 'whereas' --> both sides of the argument
- Organisational scheme
- Linking A + B etc.
Professional discourse - talking about work within your area. Observer participation is stepping outside of your own dicipline and explaining your work to someone not part of your professional practise. Comes from anthropology, from ethnography, used by artists such as Susan Hiller. Necessary to observe own work dispassionately, exercise self-reflexivity and try to remove presuppositions. Academic diciplines and new diciplines start up between existing ones, questioning current conventions.
3. Bricolage
Combining different influences, concepts or media to create something new (see Wikipedia's entry). Example is the punk movement or the cargo cult the 'Prince Philip Movement' (Wikipedia article).
BRET WILSON
Characteristics of research
- Rigorous & systematic
- Critical & analytical --> open to question and not dogmatic
- Reproducible & independent --> same answers on repeats
- Communicable & novel
- Testable predictions
To be testable, a prediction or theory must be capable of being proved wrong or else it is a belief.
Perspective is an example of a paradigm: a way of seeing that makes previous theories redundant.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thoughts on this lecture
Briggs' section on comparative analysis was familiar ground for me- it was only 2005/6 that I wrote my BA dissertation comparing Rachel Whiteread's monumental pieces House & Embankment using this method and it is still relatively fresh in my mind.
I was initally dubious of the necessity to state the validity of observer participation; however after a while I remembered that at the previous session, gathered in our smaller groups, I had had difficulty in explaining my work when faced with cross-diciplinary students and that this concept was relevant to me. It is easy to forget how to explain your work to someone from another media that is related yet distant to an extent. I realised I have developed a language to explain my work to friends and family who know very little of the visual arts language at all but I cannot use the same style to other arts students. It is patronising at least and perhaps not very informative to students who could easily understand what I want to explain if I find the right language. It was a strange deja vous to hear the MA Printmaking, Fine Art & By Project students using the language I used for three years on my Fine Art BA but have all but forgotten how to use. I find animation a more practical and less wordy dicipline than fine art, and in some ways the better for it: I can explain myself in a much more 'everyman' language whereas fine art requires its own definitions for regular-use words. After being away from it for a few years, fine art language sounds pretentious and hollow.
Bricolage as a concept is also familiar to me from my bachelor's course, from studying outsider art and certain sculptors. Was interested to hear about the cargo cult obsessed by Prince Phillip.
I found Bret Wilson an engaging speaker but I remain somewhat unconvinced the characteristics he listed can be so dirctly applied to reseach within the arts. His giving perspective as an example of a paradigm that changed people's theories helped although I think I need examples on how, for example, to rigorously test an artistic idea.
I felt that Briggs' lecture 'cannot see the wood for the trees'- it concerned itself so energetically with the methods of research that I found myself wondering where the art comes in. I am not sure this focus on research in art is really that helpful. I am reminded of Prof. Jon Dovey's session during our Tuesday evening contextual lectures entitled 'ScreenWork - Media Practise as Research Journal'. I actually became angry during this lecture because I thought Dovey's ScreenWork DVD journal was pointless- the idea that an artist would make a film purely for research purposes only with the intention to further the collective knowledge of the artistic community appears to me to be self-indulgent and irrelevent. Art should be made for its own sake or surely it loses that momentum or energy that inspired its creator in the first place? I cannot imagine putting all that effort into designing a film to try out a new technique and then submitting that for peer review, instead of moving the embryonic concept/technique forward to a finished work of art. Dovey's support of ScreenWork was not aided by the rough, unfinished-looking and ultimately uninspiring pieces he showed us from this project. Or maybe I just don't get it yet.
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