POSTER PRESENTATION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today we had to present where we are up to in Practice 1 and it was great to see where everyone else is up to and to get some positive feedback about where I am at. The cigarette cards layout when down really well with everyone today, I really enjoyed to see people getting up close to the piece to have a proper look. Once person remarked that the type was too small and he wanted them larger, but I explained that the whole point was to attract people closer so they would interact with them and treat them delicately as if they were a part of someone collection. Clinton commented on how it worked well using the pencil to show that it is still an ongoing thought process, not a finalised piece.

POSTER PRESENTATION IDEAS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In order for me to get my ideas across I began to look at the different objects and forms within the work I am intending to do. I started with the project proposal that I intend to take forward which is the Music Equipment Publication and began to look at how this equipment could translate into info graphics. Also keeping in mind the other projects I wanted an aspect of the curated exhibition space to come through in my presentation. the first idea looked at having graphics framed and using the wires that connect the equipment to show the links between projects. This idea soon moved on as the problems with expenses in buying frames that would suit the wires got in the way.

I next moved onto exploring knit through illustration as, illustration is something that I would like to improve on but for it not to become a main focus of my practice. I delved quite deep into this idea thinking about having a hanging illustrated knitted umpire and trousers. Within the knitted patterns the info-graphics and supporting images would sit. I also planned for there to be pockets in the piece so that you could pick out cigarette cards with more information on them. After a while of looking at this idea, I decided that to have the two mediums brought together, knit and collected cigarette cards was a bit confusing with too many points of focus and so moved onto just using the cigarette cards format to display my work with.

This idea went through a few stages, initially following a meeting with Clinton, I decided to make small drawers. This didn’t feel visual enough for me, it wouldn’t have the instant impact I wanted. I then looked at the way the letters were displayed in the hand written letter project from 2022 by Craig Oldham and planned to display them in a smilier way. This would give the piece movement and encourage the viewer to move around it. Next I decided I wanted the viewer to pick up the cards and feel them as you would a pack of collected cigarette cards and settled on the idea of having them on a small shelf which would draw people in. I planned to write on the walls around the display to help explain the setting without you having to get too close to the piece initially but then in wanting to know more you would have to pick up the cards and read what they said.

DIGITAL IN DESIGN

Code Creatives (http://www.codecreatives.info/) project which is a part of MIRIAD. Projects are based around skills development. Year long project to look at how to use computer coding in creative projects.

Derek Trillo - http://www.insightimages.co.uk/

The flow of life: Architectural photography as populated spaces.

Produces pictures which are aesthetically pleasing.

Cross over of architecture and urban design.

Light trails photographed of people walking.

Justin Quinell bridge - long exposure, Terrence Chang 2010.

Derek combines several takes of the same space with people moving mourn the space and makes them into one images - Is it a true representation?

Oscar Ryalander (?) image made up of 52 negatives in 1857 - this is an old concept.

Digital constructions showing the flow of people challenges the notion of photography.

Sally Morfill - http://www.artdes.mmu.ac.uk/profile/smorfill

Cerebral

Interest in movement and space

“I’m wary” collaboration with Mary Maclean 2001

• Movement of the viewer in the space is what is important
• 2 viewpoints to move between to find the right and wrong way to view it.

Sally asked 2 people a question and they had to discuss this whilst they had motion sensors on which recorded the X and the Y axis. From the information gathered she creates a vector image and reproduces into vinyl. The motion monitored that Sally is interested in is the hand gestures people use whilst talking. The vinyl is displayed as the final piece with the text discussed next to the vinyl.

David Ogle - http://www.davidogle.co.uk/

The value of site and technology drive to abolish distance. Fundamental to his research is value. Artworks and buildings, the experiences of things. The telephone and aeroplane shrink distances and have conquered space. “ All distance in time and space are shrinking” Technology shrinks distances but does it bring value to the experience of something? To look at an image of the Sistene Chapel on your computer, what is the value compared to experiencing the real thing? Things which are scarce and hard to reach are the things we most value. What we struggle to conquer elevates the worth for instance climbing a mountain. Kittler 1999 german, “any medium can be translated into any other”. Site specific installations based around the idea of drawing - quite ephemeral. Walter Benjamin 1935 “In even the most perfect reproduction...”

Ben

Uses a non-visual way of communication data to a user. Arduino tongue - plate put onto mouth which sends data to your tongue and creates visuals in your head. Audio scanning - 3D environment, 1D sound - you can make anything into a button. He records a space using a ball which links up to the computer which the software remembers, then if anyone moves near this space it makes a sound - i.e. it is a button. the user knows through audio where the space is and so is being fed information through a non visual form. 3D sound - 3D world - is the current project he is working on using 2D dots as the visual. the blue dot is your ear and you move this around which changes what you would normally hear if you were in this virtual 3D environment.

Genevive Say - http://genevievesay.com/

The stream project wired - dancer and choreographer. Interested in exposing the inner workings of the body and brain through dance and performance. Neuro feedback - brainwave data, heart rate and respiratory volume. This info is fed back to the user so they can respond to it and help. i.e. reduce anxiety etc. Footballers use it to get into the zone before a game. Initial experiments proved not to have good relationships between the art and the science, the equipment was restricting for the dancer, the sounds weren’t very nice to respond to and there was probably too much data. They introduced a new technology, the mind wave headset.

Brain - Mind wave - wifi - laptop - midi interface - lighting desk

So the computer controlled the lighting desk with the signals given from the dancers brain. Various lights were used in the performance, fairy lights, light bulbs, theatrical lights etc. When the dancer went into a meditative state it was an alternative focus so the lights would change accordingly. To control the cognitive states the dancer was given certain tasks to perform like reading a newspaper, doing some mathematics etc. which in turn would change the lighting in the performance.

Ralph Mills - http://theantimuseum.wordpress.com/about/

Field archeologist and writer. The anti-museum. The land of lost content in Shropshire has lots of everyday things. The museum has no labels so the viewers can make their own experiences up. The problem is we don’t capture the stories the viewers think/make up when they see these things. We are all curates. Ralph has done his phd research into things/objects. Museums how things in glass cases what value do these objects have. They all have meaning to the people who put them there but what do they mean? Everyday narratives - Crookshanks. Ralph has begun to create a virtual museum in which he records objects so that they can be viewed in 360 degrees (he did this with his iphone!). He is looking into producing photo kiosks which you can go to use to record your own objects to be stored in the museums and galleries. Trying to capture the personal values in objects. In the Q&A it was brought up about Oxfam, where people would write narratives about the objects they donated to the shop.

Anthony Rowe - http://www.squidsoup.org/blog/about/

Founder of squidsoup.org His particular interest lies in mixed reality immersive experience. He has looked into combining the digital world into a physical space. A programme he has developed which people can interact with brings digital animals to life, if you stick your arm into the projection they walk up it. If projected into sand, the software can detect of people have made a high barrier that the animals can’t walk over and so have to walk around. If two bugs meet they would magic up a bigger bug. The software was used at Glastonbury, one of the animals was invincible, kids get quite physical with the interactions, young adults too. In the Infestation project where a room was full of digital bugs and real bean bags, kids would try to demolish the creatures whereas older people would have a more calming effect from being in the room. squidsoup.org/infestation No one really went in and looked out for the projector, all people would instantly start to interact with the projections.

Ocean of light - Uses light, volumetric, it has volume in the space. The piece is an environment that you can walk into. the creation was influenced by a modular system found at the Zurich Train Station. They were able to lend the prototype to experiment with to inspire their creation. However people saw the object rather than the context as it was beautiful and intriguing. their invention became more organic and allowed you to interact by walking into the piece. Ephemeral space can be created and destroyed there and then. Submergence

NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM LONDON

A series of images from my family trip to London’s Natural History Museum. I am always fascinated by the expression on the stuffed animals in the exhibitions. Also gathering images of collections within museums and how they are curated.

PETER LIVERSIDGE - LECTURE - 05.11.13

Peter Liversidge is a British contemporary artist notable for his diverse artistic practice and us or proposals. Rather than exhibit a finished piece in galleries, Peter exhibits proposals of work he would like to do. He creates the proposals in his kitchen on a typewriter. The proposals are usually typed onto white paper, whilst coloured paper indicates a piece that has been realised within the space. Process is still key to the proposal. How important is the realisation of a proposal? It doesn’t matter to Peter whether a proposal is realised or not, he wanted to make work that didn’t really exist.

As part of the Edinburgh festival he created several flags about the city which said “Hello”. Whilst putting the idea together he realised that there were a lot of empty flag poles about the city that weren’t being used and flags signify an event or a welcome he thought it suitable to use this as his piece. Much of his work also involves using postal services to post manufactured or made objects. He once posted pieces of wood to his friend, who once Peter had seen them all together as a collection, his friend burnt them as he was cold! Some of his works also involve exhibiting polaroids as a diptych. He exhibits the polaroid that comes out from the film and then the master copy to show the passage of time.

Music has been a big influence in Peter’s life, he said “You are influenced by your surroundings and how they sound, only at the point of it playing can you hear it in you surroundings”. Peter spent a life changing year in Montana where he was tutored by David Lynch.

Another piece of his work involved collecting and curating all of the FREE signs he could find. The type that people put out on the street next to something that they would like you to take for free. Instead of taking the free object he took the signs and replaced them with a facsimile. Peter said he doesn’t mind if things don’t work or not (when talking about a back drop he created for a music gig) it’s about the things taking place.

Creating winter scenes in the summer - psychosomatic. People put their coats on even though it is still warm but they get a sense of being cold because of what their surroundings present to them. Peter collected the elastic bands that he received through the letterbox as he received no post, only elastic bands! Peter collects things not knowing what he might do with them, but eventually finds a purpose for them.

One show consisted of 60 cd’s burnt by Peter and 60 burnt by another artist. The audience were invited to play the cd’s. Peter was interested in the difference in interaction between the different generations. Older generations would put a cd on and listen to the whole thing beefier deciding if they liked it or not, whereas the younger generation would put a cd on for 20 seconds, decide they didn’t like it and move onto another cd. The piece changed depending on who interacted with it.

Some of his influences are Joseph Beuys, Joseph Cornell (Peter said that Cornell lived with his mother and used to invite the local kids around to take some of his boxes away to play with and they would be brought back in a different arrangement), Dukes of Hazard (from which when he was younger he would make model cars from the show), John Peel, Dan Flavin, Fischilli Weiss, Elizabeth Cotton (Freight Train song), The Fall, Neil Young (Old man take a look at my life), The Monks, The Day Today (Chris Morris), Film The repo man. From this film Peter and his brother would take phrases and replace them whenever they wanted to use a swear word when they were younger in front of their parents, they used to say melon farmer instead of fuck (I think this was the right swear word!)

Peter spoke about Ray Johnson and how he was suspicious of systems that show work and so instead he believed that by posting objects, the act of them being posted and being received was perhaps “the show” rather than exhibiting the actual pieces that were posted. What is the purpose of a gallery? Is the postal system a gallery space?

He also referenced an artist who drew dollar bills and tried to pay his way through life by using the drawings, using them as a piece of art that may or may not be worth more than the actual dollar bill itself. One lady refused to have him pay with his art (he also need change n real currency) and her reason being was that she liked art with flowers on!

Peter showed us a video clip of RL Burnside sat outside with a guitar and an amp, after the clip ended he remarked that you don’t need all of the fancy things you are made to think you need to produce good stuff like music and art.

YORKSHIRE SCULPTURE PARK TRIP

Probably the most I took away from this trip that I can relate to my own practice at the moment was the way the last set of images of the the black gallery space was laid out. It dealt with a lot of ephemera in such an exciting way that I completely didn’t realise what the content was about (or perhaps this was a definite subconscious effort to avoid it as it wasn’t the happiest of content). Also the last few images above are of small collections of things which I must pick out from all other pieces as aesthetically pleasing for myself - interesting! I could also question after the trip, whether any of my work would benefit from being shown in a space outside. Whenever I imagine how a show or exhibiting a piece will go, it always seems to be within a gallery space or a similar creative environment. What would happen if it were to be arranged outside of this, would it change the message delivered by the content?

OWT DISCOURSE 2

Owt Creative are a design collective based in Manchester, they operate as a studio, sine publisher and event producers. The collective is made up of Ste Beed, Jon Hannan, Ben Kither and Sarah Stapleton, all graduates from the Manchester School of Art. This week saw the second in a series of talks organised by OWT featuring talks from emerging and established practitioners. The event aimed to bring knowledge into the North West whilst also sharing existing, emerging talent which already exists here. The speakers were asked to discuss notions of process, audience and inspirations but OWT described it more as a pub chat! They said that the materials generated on the evening along with submissions inspired by the talks will provide the framework, determine the format and influence the art direction of the new OWT publication.

The evening was compered by Gemma Germains of Well Made Studio based in Liverpool. It began with Alex Zamore of Intern Magazine.

 

 

Alec Dudson

Alec spoke about how he travelled from city to city following the biennials and began to research how people who had lived in these places viewed their cities. Alec aimed to make a travel guide from his research but not for your average tourist. Whilst travelling around Alec had various internships but never got offered a job through any of them. He became very interested in creating a magazine/publication but had no idea where to start in such a saturated market. Alec kept thinking about all of the internships he had taken and decided that not enough people were talking about internships or to them about what they were doing. And so his magazine “Intern - Meet the talent - Join the debate” developed from these thoughts. Alec used Kickstarter to fundraise for the magazine, he remarked that it’s very hard to get people involved in a project without having something to show them.

Alec looked at what makes a valuable internship. His views are very different about interning compared to those in the magazine, he believes he needs to be impartial and unbiased. Alec’s views are very subjective as he experienced many internships where he would look forward to starting and end up doing lots of admin work, with no real practice involved in the projects to help develop his skills and pass on any that he had. Real work = Best experience.

Alex Zamora

Alex Zamora describes himself as a Community lead / social strategist @PokeLondon, also a freelancer, a guest lecturer in various places, and runs Fanzines for fun! Alex left Liverpool over 11 years ago as he felt there were no jobs there for him, and so made his way down to London. Alex championed North West designers as he felt that they were massively underrepresented. One of his aims is to get North West Creatives coverage as he believes there is a high level of talent here that’s not talked about, particularly those who have graduated from LJMU and MMU and he believes when you are in such as a position as himself it is your duty to help others too. One of the projects Alex set up was a Facebook group running up to the elections in 2010 asking people to join who weren’t going to vote for David Cameron.

Alex has a passion for zines, he says there is no proper way to make a zine, you have to go about it in your own way and experiment. Alex started up his own zine, Feverzine with the first one being published in 2007.He regularly visit zine fares, although there has been no real zine scene in the Uk for the past 3 years. He referenced Zolt Zine as a Alex has over 2000 zines in his collection. During his talk ALex also discussed students portfolios, he said that awards don’t stand out in student portfolios anymore as so many students have them. People are more interested in personal led project and being initiative in your own work as this usually stands out from all other portfolios and shows that you have interests in your own things.

Lé Gun

Lé Gun are a London based collective of illustrators and designers who have put together the Lé Gun Magazine and are also well known for their enigmatic installations and art shows. Gun Illustrator, Neal Fox came to talk about the collective, he said earlier on whilst studying he worked in fine art but was influenced by comic art, of which he gave various examples! The collective would organise collaborative parties in bars where they would all draw together with the aim of raising money to fund the first issue of the magazine. Neal quoted André Breton with - “The man who can’t imagine a horse galloping on a tomato is an idiot”. The collective have made several collaborative drawings together where the 5 of them will work on a piece at one time. Some of the most inspiring pieces for me were the walk in drawings where they translated a 2D drawing of a room into a 3D drawn replica of the 2D drawn room (See below). They were also lucky enough to be given an old shoe shop in London for free use for a short period of time to do with as they pleased. In the space they created an animation for Babyshambles’ song - French Dog Blues .

The talks from the evening can be watched on the OWT Discourse site here.

STRATEGIES OF THOUGHT - 3 - LISTS, ORDER & COLLECTING

Text sent out before lecture - The Order of Things: an archaeology of the human science. London: Routledge 2002 (orig.1966)

Again I will type up my notes and then review.

We believe things exist because they do, but they could be different - are they ever questioned?

Power is visible but unverifiable.

Through resistance you find out more than what the thing presents itself.

Space - A whole history remains to be written about spaces, why things look the way they do, our environments & those outside i.e. education systems, our houses. Mostly conventional how we make use of space.

Map of Utopia. Utopia feels out of reach but we may eventually get there. Thomas Moore’s Utopia, seen as an island so it is contained (Metaphor - an idea of Utopia - no borders just sea as borders and what is on the other side is out of our control) Utopia has rules according to Thomas Moore. Break rules and you are banished outside of the island.

Using a fictional idea to explain another idea. Main route of canal expedition through the alimentary canal. Geographical layout relates to bodily function. Wanting to turn something so it can be ordered and set. Co-operative city diagram was shown - to create order in people then there needs to be a physical order (refer to map of the city) It doesn’t allow for change and everyone stays within their set role.

Mere act of enumeration has an enchantment all of its own.

Collections work because they exist - the enchantment is because someone has gone to the trouble to put the collection together.

To be enchanted is to be drawn into something - at best avoiding reality, at worst being misled.

Notions of order only make sense through the place of language, it has the ability to make an unthinkable space possible.

Freuds desk with things in order whilst writing psychoanalysis.

More creative aspects of order - do we write on pieces of paper, notecards or restrict ourselves to books? Books = commitment.

Will Self writes with a typewriter as he enjoys the physicality of it and you can’t erase and so have to think about it more as it is hassle to delete something.

Order in zoos, order of animals. the idea that knowledge is a visible thing i.e. seeing a hippo in an old photo shows that it has very sharp teeth, do they?

Penguin pool in London was designed by an architect. The penguins didn’t like it, are they anti modernist?! It is now a porcupine pool. Great architecture but not a grate penguin pool. Therefore is it great architecture?!

Contradictions, writing lists. Through writing lists you take it out of your mind what it is you had to do onto paper and so you forget! It is a closed system we have never listed everything.

Power of the collection is the incomplete collection, power is of absence not the thing itself.

Lists is one of my bad habits. I say it is a bad habit because when busy I end up with lists for my lists, they are scrawled on paper, on my notes in my i-phone, in sketchbooks, as stickies only laptop and so my attempts to organise myself becomes unorganised and chaotic! I can definitely relate to how writing a list almost enables you to forget about what you ought to be doing, it is a way of relieving yourself of the task in a way and that you have made that first step into starting the task. Perhaps I ought to move back to my old way of keeping a list and maintain it to just one booklet so it is contained and feels less chaotic, more committed.

One of the main subjects of my study on my Ma is the objects we have around us and our relation to them and the way in that they are ordered. By arranging the items on our desk do we feel more in control. Some people, if they have work to do, cannot begin until they have tidied their desk, given it some order, put it in a list! This gives them control over the space and allows them to focus on the task ahead.

One of the things Clinton spoke about on the 5th of November was trying to create a metaphor for the work we are doing. This will help to explain what we are thinking and making to someone else who doesn’t have an understanding of it. It also helps to put all of the ideas into an order so that we can clearly understand what it is we are doing ourselves. A simple example would be using a sunday roast to explain a collaborative exhibition. The roast is the complete exhibition made up of all different ingredients, the process of cooking the meal is the curating of the show and how the pieces of work, work together and the gravy perhaps is the overall identity for the show that brings it all together and is consistent (no lumps though!)

MANCHESTER MUSEUM - WOOD SAMPLES

Yesterday I was out & about in Manchester for The Manchester Weekender. One of the events at the museum was cancelled so instead we had a mooch about the museum as I've never been. We were on a bit of a schedule with lots of other things to see and so had to just fly around. One of the things that particularly caught my eye though was this small collection of microscopic wood samples. They are just beautiful and worth going back for another visit.

RANDOM REGISTER SHEETS

I keep coming across these sheets around the Manchester School of Art in the Chatham building. I'm presuming they are sign in sheets for classes. After seeing them a couple of times, I kept thinking about them and in the end just had to go and get a photo of them! They're just a lovely example of collective subconscious mark making, I'm really fascinated in seeing things become something that's different from their original purpose.