seminar 2 - Context of place part 2

following on from the previous week, we were separated into groups of 4 and asked to choose separate locations in the city which meant something to us in an "interesting, exciting and/or emotional" way. My group - after some lengthy discussion - decided to take the class to the area beneath aberdeens busiest street beside the underground nightclub 'the tunnels'. as a champion of this location i obviously felt very strongly about it, the first thing about the site as you approach from one of the two subterranean entrances, is the air of disuse permeating the area. Having been raised out with the city limits, it is the derelict nature of the location with i found particularly unsettling the first time i experienced it. Considering the vibrant nightlife which the location enjoys most nights it can be hard to believe that it is in such a state of disrepair, replete with mounds of presumably decades old pigeon droppings and various other detritus - of which, most has come from human activity and presence - the area is certainly not the most sought after real estate in Aberdeen. In fact, i not only see the location as a metaphor of city life, but also a damning inditement of the way that aberdeen city council is running our city. First of all we have the surrounding area of relative opulence - which was until very recently (october 2009) the fulcrum of retail in aberdeen - and whilst not being the most grandiose architecture in the city, is still well above the average for aberdeen. simply because the area is out of sight the level of care given to the environment is diminished, and whilst i acknowledge the council must prioritize in order to render the most effective service i simply cannot condone the complete neglect shown to the area. Unlike the civil, candy coated veneer of the streets above, in which one can clearly envisage being able to walk freely at any hour without fear, the tunnels can easily be imagined as the haunt of some of the most wretched and vile elements of society, indeed, on many occasions i have seen first hand the evidence of 'hard core' drug use, is this an acceptable way to run a city? To actively encourage people (consumers) to congregate around an area such as this ? It is as if the council are merely interested in competing in the 'famed' "Britain in bloom" competition - which in all fairness it has won a record breaking 10 times, try telling that to the families of drug addicts within the city and see what they think the money could be better used for. Don't get me wrong, i realise the benefits which winning a national competition such as britian in bloom can bring - it helps raise the profile of the city which in theory raises levels of investment and contributed to civic pride, but should a city which is reportedly in £50 million of debt even be competing in such an extravagance?

Despite all my misgivings about the area, i cannot help but enjoy going to the tunnels for a night out, and it pains me to say that i would not enjoy it as much if the environment was as wholesome as your everyday shopping centre. Its run down facade contributes to the atmosphere of the occasion and sense of collectiveness and unity experienced by the people who frequent the area - its not a nice place but we make that sacrifice because we enjoy the venue. In fact i enjoy it precisely because it is so removed from that persona of a safe place, the deviant nature of these feelings stems from a desire to remove myself from the nanny states constant vigil, and it is evidently a desire shared by others in a society were the maintenance of appearance is evidently more - or less as the case may be - important than the security of its citizens.

seminar 1 - research methods

our first tutorial at grays saw the class sitting around a table together for the first time. a new experience for some perhaps, but for me it seemed as though i was covering old ground - but it is this ground which forms the foundations of all good work and a refresher course is always worth it when you are covering such important topics.

first up were the obligatory mentions of mind mapping sketchbooks - these are as i have mentioned the most widely used techniques throughout the creative industries and although i find them at times rather clunky, they can offer insight into your work from both a perspective of introspection and from that the outsider (or examiner). because of this last point it is no surprise that within the environment of an art school we are being told about these things first and foremost.

up next was the reflective journal. i am a huge fan of this method of documentation - perhaps because I simply love the thought of publishing my work, which at the end of the day is usually an ambition of most artists/designers. the advent of blogs and the online support of these free, and instantly global channels of distribution has allowed people like me, who are up and coming in the artistic industries, to have a voice. the single biggest challenge facing newcomers to the field is getting you're work shown, this method allows you to do that in a controlled environment. Add to this the fact that if you are indeed using a weblog as a method of deliberately framing you're practice and ideology then you will have a ready made artistic statement - giving people a greater insight into why you are doing what you are doing. since starting the masters program however i have come to realise that this is not always a desirable situation, or at least not to some of my peers - who seem to value the mystique created by the ambiguity created by a lack of commentary by the artist. As a research method, into my own practice - i find it highly valuable.

Coming from a design background, many of the research methods were familiar - in fact i have used all of them to various degrees of success. The importance here is that although they are the essentially the same techniques, they are viewed slightly differently in the art world than in the design world where quantifiable results are seen as the proof needed to prove assumptions made by the designer or to illustrate the market's needs. in the art world it seems as though the very same techniques are used to a different effect - for instance, artists seem to view the information gathered in a far more emotional way, rather than in an informational way. from this it would seem that artists are more concerned with eliciting an emotional response in their work rather say solving a problem of sorts. this is not to say that a well designed product does not create an emotional experience - in reality it is actually what product designers are actually doing - but they are doing it in a far more packaged and accessible way. In contrast, the artist creates something which - for better, or for worse - is less accessible but which is also elicits a similar emotional response. This inaccessibility is what creates the aura or cloud of elitism around the artistic world - where in almost every case, people need to reach a higher level of thought to pierce.

something new which i got from this seminar was a far better understanding of curating. in the past i had never given it much thought, after this seminar however i realise the huge potential that exists within this practice, the way in which you're work is shown has always been important but when you can add to your work through the way in which it is shown - by placing it within a specific context or place for example - you are giving your work a better chance of being understood and being more effective.

seminar 10 - alexander kokoli

The final seminar of the semester was part two of Alexander Kokoli's discussion about artist statements. The seminar was centered around "the difficult partnership between writing and creative practice" and the factors contributing to the success and failure of an artist's statement.

so what is an artist's statement anyway? well according to numerous sources an artist's statement is a document or body of text, concerned with informing the reader about the artists motivations and sensibilities. An artist's statement is also a companion to a body of work - without the work the statement cannot - or should not exist.

whilst not being part of your work per se, it is still makes a very important contribution, there is a symbiosis that exists between the text and the art. the statement is there to inform but it is not there to tell the entire story of the work, one of the biggest problems I have encountered when attempting to write a such a statement is finding the appropriate balance within the amount of information volunteered and what i should neglect to mention. This is a problem because when people read what you put in front of them they will inevitably draw their own conclusions from what you have written, thus we must resist the urge to 'unpack' our works intentions and meaning within a body of text - which is at best an imperfect medium. in doing this we preempt the aforementioned usurpation, and ensure that there is as little room as possible for the misappropriation of you're work, allowing you to maintain the highest degree of ownership over you're work.

another point of consideration is the language used to construct an artist's statement, unlike many other artistic writings it should not contain jargon - this is a statement for everyone, not just the learned few. the use of everyday language is therefore preferable to that of the art world which has its own distinct dialect and grammar. this is in fact one of the problems i have had - separating the statement from the work - as the statement tends to become 'work' in its own right.

As with all endeavors, the approach taken toward creating your artist's statement will dictate its content. With this in mind Kokoli highlighted several ideological perspectives which can be adopted in order to make your statement say what you want it to. For instance, one can write your statement as a manifesto, containing your motivations and influences or you can use it to contextualise your work, by identifying which niche your work fits whether in your own world, the art world or the real world. furthermore, your statement can also serve as a way of informing people of the methodology or techniques employed in your creative process. whilst your statement does not have to include information on all of these 'categories' it is best to include some. preventing yourself from becoming bogged down can be tricky but being as concise as possible is one sure way of writing an effective artist's statement. The biggest challenge is therefore being as concise as everyday language will allow not forgetting that the writing should not outshine or detract from the work on show. the statement should acknowledge the context of the work on show and exploit it all the while maintaining a measured sense of clarity in order for it to be as easily assimilated as possible by the reader and also allowing room for a certain level of introspective extrapolation or interpretation.

something i have touched upon earlier was the protective role of the statement. Art, being in the public eye - becomes in a way public, belonging to everyone - and because of this everyone has their own thing to say about your art. creating an artist's statement is a way of safeguarding what your art is intended to be. To me is about ownership, it is about preventing people from convoluting your work's message whilst at the same time allowing sufficient room to maneuver, which allows you to defend your work if the need be. The artistic world is renowned for taking a square peg and twisting it to fit a round hole, or in other words - artistic commentators will talk about your work and in essence make it theirs, by using it to serve their needs. without an artist's statement your work - and by extension yourself are far more vulnerable to becoming enveloped by some other completely unrelated ideology - detracting from your work. an example of one such situation can be seen in the music industry: during the 'new rave' movement, many bands and groups were associated with the sound of 'new rave' without ever having wanted to be simply because they did not take the time differentiate themselves. as it happens the 'new rave' phenomenon now seems to have been a fabrication of the NME (new music express - a popular music magazine) as many of the groups most associated with new rave have since publicly distanced themselves from being complicit in the movement - this analogy may be somewhat clunky but the fundamental principles are the same.

seminar 9 - alexandra kokoli

for this week we were summoned to the dark recesses of the architecture building, on a particularly miserable day - thankfully the bright enthusiasm of Alexandra Kokoli invigorated us in what proved to be a very enjoyable seminar. the question posed to us at the very beginning of the session was "what distinguishes the way artists write from the way others write?". not an easy question, but here goes; first of all, artists have a unique way of thinking which allows them to communicate their intended message far better than any words ever can - though that does not stop most form trying (including myself). because artists are first and foremost visual communicators, you may think that creating a supporting text could be construed as an admission of failure on the artist's part, but it is simply not that clear cut. for me it is about explaining my work, it is about giving the work i produced a credence which would not be possible otherwise. so due to my insecurities about my own work i produce a body of text which i feel vindicates my work and practice - so that it may be called art. when engaged in the process of writing about your own work you are in a sense completing the piece in question. in doing so you are creating a final summary of whatever you have produced - perhaps this is partly influenced by the cognitive need to achieve ownership over you're work. we have all read critiques of other peoples' art in which the commentator or 'expert' in question has drawn meanings from it which were simply not intended, in a way the writings of an artist are an attempt to prevent your work from being stolen from you by these critics who are giving a ready made opinion to those who simply cannot form their own. because of this, artists can be highly "militant" in their discourse 0f other artists work, often berating the work of their contemporaries. interestingly something ms Kokoli mentioned during the seminar was that in a way when Artists write about other artists they are in fact writing aboiut themselves and their own practices - indirectly referencing their own methodology. so what makes the way artists write especially different to the way that a biologist would write? well the focus in no longer on imperical fact, instead the emphasis is on opinions, and there can be no absolutes in opinions - there are no incorrect opinions and there are no correct opinions - instead there are contextual viewpoints which offer a readily 'comsumable' opinion of a works meaning.

seminar 8 - rachel sleight

This talk was a very interesting insight into how a product designer fits into the structure of various organisations. Rachel began the talk with a walk through of her work at the RCA, this focused on her her work with paper - where she ended up designing a paper wedding dress - which was heavily influenced by her interest in green issues within design.

The dress itself uses origami folding techniques to create a stimulating aesthetic, but this is merely a by-product to a process brought about by a desire to minimise distribution costs by decreasing its size. wedding dresses are (generally) one shot items, in theory, you only get married once and yet the dress - an absolute essential in the mind of the bride and many others - is such an expense... and not just to the bride. economically speaking wedding dresses are extremely inefficient due to their 'bulky' nature and yet they cannot be packed or compressed for transport. Sleight's dress however ships flat pack increasing the economic efficiency of the product. And yet this to me doesnt seem the most important aspect of the work - to me it is also a statement against the way we view marriage in modern society. the fact Sleight has used a material with such obvious connatations with disposability means that the dress itself is disposable and suggesting - by extension - that so is marriage.

seminar 7 - anne douglas

Todays tutorial with Anne was concerned largely with the way in which we - as artists - draw. specifically the communication of what we as observers see in our mind's eye. Anne's work is also concerned with art in the public sphere, referencing the decline in socially relevant 'gallery art' and the rise work being produced as the result of a process - rather than the process of making arising out of a desire to produce marketable work to sell in a gallery. The Latter is now seen as an undesirable, almost shallow way of producing work - similarly, the idea of an artist producing work in a signature style is also considered a negative characteristic in socially engaged art. during the seminar we were urged to consider the way things work and the perspectives from which we view them. The example cited by Anne was from Paul Klee's notebooks, volume 1, the thinking eye. it deals with how we can depict parts of a system in order to emphasise their role within the cycle. Klee postulated that any system/organism/cycle can be broken down into 3 distinct categories: the first being the active organ, the brain, the instigator; another is the passive, the part of the puzzle which actually effects the change; the final component is the middle or median, the bridge between the active and the passive. Each of these components exists as part of the other, and are inextricably linked. what i got from this can be summed up like this: Klee's three-part organism model for drawing allows a person (not neccessarily an artist) to identify information required for an illustration to make sense, or at least the best sense which the administrator of a said drawing can provide. The process is a method of distilling information within a drawing (or rather an iterative series of drawings) and making sure that the imagery used within that drawing is as succint and relevant to what you are trying to portray as possible. all this is fine, except that to me a simpler and better set of rules already exists, the work of bill buxton in 'sketching user experiences' provides us with another mode of thought which states that in order to express your ideas you should at no point be concerned with creating a finished work, you are engaged in the process of sketching, of ideas generation, it is important - in fact - vital to accurately

seminar 6 (incomplete) Francois matterasso

This seminar was entitled : "Asking better questions about quality". It will come as no surprise then that the majority of discourse during this seminar was concerned with defining exactly what 'quality' meant within the purview of the creative industries and specifically Art. We began by evaluating Sir Brian McMaster's attempt at defining excellence, which states: "The best definition of excellence i have heard is that excellence in culture occurs when an experience affects and changes an individual." A statement which is uncomfortable in my mind to say the least. First of all is the preoccupation with the individual - rather than the individual as part of a group of people. In my mind excellence cannot be attributed to a work(or series of works) by one person alone, rather it is a status inherited by the work through intense scrutiny and eventual appreciation. One could say however that opinion leaders hold so much sway over what is deemed to be 'good' art that they are in indeed capable of granting an artwork a de facto state of excellence. thankfully there is no such figure in the world of art that holds so much sway as to be able influence such huge percentages of the establishment, it seems to me that if a work is of a certain level of contextual brilliance that the educated members of the populace (the members of the Art establishment) simply cannot reach a conclusion other than that the work in question is for all intents and purposes 'excellent'. In short good work always shines through. The statement "quality is relative" which was uttered a copious number of times throughout the seminar is a rationalisation of taste - nothing more. Materasso would be the first to admit that musing over the definition of the word quality can only get one so far, and that in order for your understanding to progress you must continue to question the crux of the matter, in the words of Materasso "we need better questions" - better questions about art, why we like it, what is it about a piece that allows me to derive pleasure from experiencing it? the better the questions, the better the answers - however it is often the case that the better you frame your question or the more specifically you phrase it - the harder it is to answer. it is these answers which are craved by the people responsible for making decisions regarding what work to show - exhibitors, curators, private collectors, gallery owners, government officials. knowing what work meets the criteria making it worthy of public display will allow these individuals to provide a more efficient facility for their patrons, giving them a significant competitive advantage. so in the end i guess it all comes down to simple numbers, specifically those preceded with the symbol of currency. is this how things should be run? should the prospect of financial gain hold such great sway over the art world? clearly i realise that there are certain economic necessities which must be met, and i also believe that if you are good at something then you should never sell yourself short. the problem here seems to be that there is a significant polarization of wealth, where only a select few hold the majority of the wealth.

seminar 5 (incomplete)

For the third seminar we left aberdeen and decided to travel to dundee to see the Thomas Hirschhorn exhibit currently on show at the Dundee Contemporary Arts building. The trip seemed cursed from the off, after 45 minutes in the van we broke down on the A90 seemingly miles from anywhere, and after a visit from an initially not so friendly policeman and a chirpy R.A.C. contracter, oh and a freak encounter with a turkey leg (claws and everything) we manged to eventually make it to dundee.

Not having had the chance to do any real research into what the subject matter of the exhibition was, meant that i was eagerly anticipating getting there and seeing the work in person. imagine my horror when i walk into the first room of the exhibition - immmediately on my right was a giant cardboard representation of a heart, festooned with images of such gore i (along with some members of my peer group) could not bare to look at long enough to view each separate image (there were around 20 in total). the impact of the work was then exaggerated by the two life size cardboard cut outs of yet more mutilated remains, on an altogether different level of distaste, so one could say that my impression of the first part of the exhibit was far from positive. Moving into the second room - the main hall space, which was for this show filled with a monstrous cardboard facsimile of a felled tree. Stretching from one corner of the room to the opposite, it was a dominating visage to behold then as i attempted to navigate the trunk i realised that the entire floor had also been covered with cardboard styled to look like wood, it seemed as though this entire space had been commandeered by a twisted form of nature. Passing a gallery of fashion manikins sporting vast 'wound-like' holes in their chests and crude 'amputations' provided a contrast by introducing the human element of the world. the third room contained collages containing more images of graphic violence. emerging from this room i was left shellshocked as i had been by most of the work on show, however i began to see why the artist had decided on this visual cacophony of symbolism and metaphor. the work itself is deceptively technical, its thoroughly disgusting imagery prevalent as it was had been drawn together from several sources and painstakingly arranged, the materials used were crude yes but are intended to be so - to be viewed as cheap, representing how we view such things simply as fuel rather than objects in their own right. and now we come to what i feel is the crux of the entire exhibition, the commentary on war and human conflict, and how it is reported on in western media.

Hirschhorn seems to despise the way in which the media reports on warfare, he believes that for us to exist in a complete world we must show both the good and the bad, in this case, this means that we must view the images of extreme gore alongside the good images - the comfortable images. It is Hirschorn's aim that by doing this we become better (i hate using that word) people, more conscious of the cost of all kinds of human conflict.

seminar 4 (incomplete)

Seminar 2 – 22nd October.
The beach visit
Despite the uncomfortable surroundings this seminar was actually highly enjoyable, as well as serving as a refresher to topics I have covered in the past and provoking further thought. The importance of understanding the context in which your work is presented was impressed upon me from the beginning of the seminar, and makes particular sense to the direction of my current practice – curating a space full of objects in order to make a statement rather than make one single object is a viable methodology yes, but any possible message or inference that is meant to be drawn from the work can be ruined by the simplest of things in your exhibition space. As we progressed in the discussion of our immediate surroundings we touched upon the metaphors and connotations surrounding the beach itself, and how historically the ‘beach’ has always been a retreat for the British citizen. Interestingly the impact we have on our surroundings – in this case how we expect the home comforts to be readily available to us wherever we go, ironically, even when we travel to a place where we think we are isolated from the everyday, echoed previous research into how we as human beings interact with and perceive nature and the natural. As modern day people we have such high demands on our environment, it is no longer enough for us to simply travel to a remote location and enjoy its isolation and inherent quality, no, instead we require or expect there to be some form of prescribed interactive mechanism – a vetted way for us to ‘better’ experience the environment. When people are shown two pictures – one of ploughed fields and the other of an untended piece of ground, overgrown with weeds etc. and asked for their opinion on which is more ‘natural’ people will often describe the ploughed fields as more natural than the overgrown mess. This is perhaps because people want to experience nature but want it to be ‘spoon fed’ to them in a way that allows them to feel comfortable. The threatening personas of the truly wild landscapes, which exist within our environment, are simply too challenging for us it would seem, are not considered conducive to relaxation or enjoyment. The friction of a persons desire for both the natural and the domestic is constant in the way that nature is quintessentially non-domestic or untameable leading me to question whether the impact upon the local ecosystem is justifiable.

seminar 3

Seminar 1 – 15th October.
Tom O’Sullivan and Joanne Tatham
The fact that Tom and Joanne were pitching to us what in four days they would be formally presenting to the Olympic committee meant that I was immediately aware of the work they were describing was extremely contemporary. Several things came up in the seminar which were of particular importance to myself, not least of which was the idea of allowing people to take what they want from any given work. Tom described they’re efforts as “challenging the dominant form of relational art practice” whereby the intention is to create pieces of work which have the same goals as works by artists practicing these so called “dominant forms” but which lack the contrived methods of delivery or machinations which are so commonly associated with the genre, or indeed, art as a whole. Their use of recurring motif’s to prompt the viewer holds its own significance for me in a world where we are - as artists/designers - under constant pressure to produce separate saleable works.
Their ambitious project “The Experience being an experience like an experience you just had.” was a further extension of their current ‘creative grammar’ which directly involved their audience through participation, and aimed to create an experience which would be memorable for the user due to the juxtaposition of the unknown with the known, in the familiar setting of a local gala event.
“This possibility for the absurd is important – our objects are not intended to create passive feel-good situations.”
As with any piece of public art, it is unique to its surroundings and only functions when it is placed in the context from which it was derived, although the imagery used may be a recurrence from their work, the project itself has its own meaning within the “idiosyncratic” events for which they were created. The “iconic” aesthetic of the work is intended by the artist to facilitate widespread dissemination of the work (through photography and film via youtube etc.) meaning it can also serve as a national art project despite its dependence/symbiosis with its environment.

been up to much?

i have.

I just started a masters of fine art and design at grays school of art. After a week and a half im settling in and can see some very interesting times ahead, with both group projects and the continuation of my own personal practice. future posts are likely to be discourse surrounding seminars that have been arranged as part of the course and will reflect upon contemporary design and fine art as a whole.

work on show

my work will be exhibited at 100% design london between 24-27 of september. The work will be my hand made wall plugs and they will be on the exhibit being curated by mix magazine.

more more more

more new images up ...

new images

ive just uploaded two new pictures of the hand made plugs ... showing the evolution of the design throgh prototyping

new work

check out checkmate -------->

new work

the next generation of my fourth year work is up in the 'my work' section

model making

as a small project at university i was asked to design the same product looking at it from two opposing viewpoints. here are my final outcomes - one created with practicality in mind and the other a more 'artistic' expression - both stemming from the same research.

  

This represents the rational side of things, why do we settle for such sub-standard products which we are forced to interact with every single day? This intervention ratifies what i felt was the biggest problem with the plug in its existing format - the force needed to remove the plug - something made even more difficult(and therefore unsafe) by the fact that there is not enough space for the average person to access a standard plug when in position in an array of other plugs in an extension.

This is the more intuitive outcome. based on exactly the same research conclusions, that the ergonomics were in desperate need of improvement. here i have chosen to show our interaction within the product itself. The human influence within this product is its main feature, i wanted this piece to be a critique of the existing wall plug whilst also retaining its own aesthetic unique to the physical input required to make the product (supplied by myself). this means that every person can have their very own individually styled protest of just how infuriating everyday product can be. my prescribed mechanism to do this is to use pressure sensitive computer mice such as apples mighty mouse to measure the areas of stress and then create their very own individual form to be fabricated using rapid manufacturing techniques.