June 2019 - Overview and thoughts on MA2

This year really pushed my critical engagement, I resisted at first. I found it tough to move the practice out of my comfort zone, not the practices comfort zone as I have control over it until it is released. Starting the projections inside my place of work maintained the security, I really didn't see the works potential until I projected the videos on to the supermarket, it didn't matter too much about the engagement of the audience, but mainly that there was one. It presence became routine, it was there when they entered the building and still playing when they left, I would like to explore this further with much longer viewings, perhaps over days to see how this varies the engagement. I'm interested in the philosophy of the Event, how can a staging of and Event change the events experienced by others, the constancy is the time and location, the collision is within the events of their own lives.

This year changed the notion of 'chaos' to 'collision' and brought with it the theory of the event in philosophical writing. Inherent in the event is the notion of time and space, these things were so glaring obvious in my practice, I had already referenced them but in a subtler way. Clarifying this context was an epiphany moment. I am so grateful to the tutors on the course for guiding me and allowing this to be unearthed!

Writing is a sticking point for me, I really enjoy story telling, I like the way words play to the point that it has made its way in to my practice. However writing the contextual study was hard work, I was nervous about relating my work to that of others, which I do believe is a confidence issue more than a writing one. I need to work harder next year on maintaining a consistent writing practice. Allowing the work to be compared and discussed in the same space as other artists looking at similar themes or working in a similar way gave the work strength and validation, this was unexpected as I had been taught in the design space to strived of originality, but finding these contemporaries also open the doors for growth and possible collaboration.

I ended up really enjoying the Testing Boundaries task, although I do wonder if I would have felt the same if I had not had the opportunity to project the work at the music festival. I felt such a high from the work being so large and consuming, and the feed back was great. I don't know if it would receive that same feedback from a critical art audience though. Showing my work in public was empowering as an artist and led to self-evaluation and further development of the work. I am taking away from the project that perhaps some works are better shown in their current state and evaluated after rather than striving for perfection and never getting them out there.

A visual of the course. Missing are some photo-books I created and didn't have time to photograph and a video that is under construction.

My videos: https://vimeo.com/thisiskatievw

My poetry: https://hellopoetry.com/ThisIsKatieVW/

Final submission

My submission for MA 2 is defined by three sections.

Sparse Collisions:

three book forms and a collision diptych

Exploring the notions of constancy, materiality and collision.

Dense Collisions:

a book form, two diptychs, four videos (two have an accompanying drawing)

Tactility, space, repetition and fracturing

Language Collisions:

A book of poetry in digital format, two videos.

Violence and texture of language, repetition, pause, motion.

The poetry book:

I feel that although separating seems counterintuitive for cohesion, these varied paths make a lot more sense over the whole practice. It defines and clarifies the intentions behind, the search for weight, for space, and for interpretation.

I felt that a cohesion appear when I completed a rewrite of my artist statement for the year. I complete a minimum of one revisit a year although it has been more the past few year due to submissions to programs and exhibitions. I really enjoy this process as it helps clarify the practice in my own mind, identifies the key elements and points of passion.

Statement 2019

My practice explores the ways in which every-day rhythmic collisions provide opportunity. The overall aim of the practice is to explore the boundaries between awkwardness, manageability, quietness and the containment of collisions. Fixated on reoccurring compositions within my work, I studied commercial textile techniques; creating work using techniques that had replication inherent in their processes such a weaving, printmaking and embroidery, embedding my practice in materiality and tactility.

Working through these repetitive processes that produce singular outcomes, I was intrigued by the monotony that leads to a conclusion. Reflecting on how humans transmute routine to accommodate changes of circumstance, and how the minute collisions provoke disparate reactions and actions in people, I aimed to capture the gradual decline of routine through the repetitive cycles of discipline and disruption.

My current research augments this conundrum involving tactility, consumption and time. I’m currently working between handheld artworks that challenge the audience’s security in viewing, and a larger, more immersive practice utilising projection. Interestingly I am most inspired by the concepts behind the work of installation artists James Turrell (Deer Shelter Skyspace, 2006), Miroslaw Balka (How It Is, 2009) and Olafur Eliasson (The Weather Project, 2003). Their works promote a state of meditative contemplation in a communal viewing space and are best observed over a length of time due to the artists use space and light. They raise questions about public space; creating collectivity while maintaining individuality. They coerce the viewer into relinquishing time, breaking routine and halting motion while consuming the work.

Sent with submission

In the Karin Mamma Andersson video from Articulations and Intersection she discusses that the artist is innate in the work, that there is always an element of subjectivity. I agree with this, I am entwined with my work, I have a need to create it and it comes from a passion. What the drives the work forward is the community of knowledge that I access to discover more, the thoughts of those before me and those along side me. The work does take a life of its own, my job it to allow its voice to be heard and not over shadowed by my hand. I feel I have come some way to embracing that this year, to allow hints of myself into the work while still allowing it to stand alone.

Supermarket sweep

Drawings

Photo books