Mon, 26 November - Intersections and Articulations - KF

Intersections and Articulations - KF

WhenMon, 26 November, 5pm – 8pm

Description

Alex Woodall lecture and seminar 

Discussing her research - discussing things and nothingness
how we can know things - spiritual aspects - practice is embedded in research
object-based practice and also the work is done with artists in different space and in museums in their collections - the potentiality of objects - beyond themselves and allowing new work to emerge. RUMMAGING

words that shape who she is - poem - Pablo Neruda - an ode to common things -
ode to things - pillars, scissor, rings bowls hats, love, all things, - link to a poem - loves the notion that objects are alive with us - the notion of an object to have agency and potential and be imagined into new words.

our objects and what they say about us:
Jessie - tiny bucket- life is like filling a bucket with experience and memories all mixing together. 
Rachel - night sky viewer - past a future - represents something much bigger than itself
Mark - pocket multi-tools - feels like he is ready - fix anything with it. always with him, shiny, heavy, tactile. Makes him feel ready.
Mozhdeh - Pencil - comfortable, reliable, erase it, correct herself, trust - made of wood and connected to trees - trees are evidence of history - grew until their last day.
Elaine - hat - love to be outside - always planning to go out - with her hat on. Not the hat she wanted as she can't find it. IT gets lost in pockets and in other peoples homes - they always make their way back to me. Loss of objects - hopeful it will come back.
Tina - Rock with a hole in it! - had stones - always finds the rock with a hole in it. from childhood - had one with a rope that she dragged around, looking through it.
Jo - picture of a chair - not a chair - the ubiquitous white plastic chair that is neither special or not, can be both comfortable or uncomfortable - strong yet fragile. meta-layer - the boundary of what an object is.
Rhoda - earrings - jewellery - obsession- draw full and buys when travelling - used to make some - upcycling - tactile - customising
Me- Moon kaleidoscope - multifaceted - breaking up into beautiful patterns
controlling my environment - control my environment - see what I want to see - finding patterns when they don't exist - making the mundane interesting

AW- object as an idea - is an idea an object? if an idea were an object what would it look like? objects as ideas.

An issue with technology
being able to touch stuff and hold it in your hands.
putting things in your pockets
studied theology
The cloud of unknowing.
the only way we can know something is to unknow something - undoing - reflecting against the grain for what knowledge it. trying to know stuff that we can't really ever fully know.
Mphil - in medieval theology -Cambridge
not religious and didn't want to be a vicar or something
teacher training - taught religious studies?
realised the power of their imagination - massive ideas were easy for them to talk about adults were closed off from them. children -
worked at kettles yard - loved talking o people about the things in the house.

Cut out again

Museums Sheffield
Ruskin gallery
There she met Kimberley - Object dialogue box - unravels across the floor - the objects within it are like compasses that can guide you or interact with the exhibitions/displays
Manchester gallery - object dialogue box - beehive - trolley - tower

Phobia to buttons - a cat with buttons on its head -koumpounophobia fear of buttons
Mary Greg - 1850-1950 - collector - spoons, textiles etc - not displayed.
Mary Greg box - like a house sewing kit -
BREAK
a box to take it out - the first version is a museum-style box - plastisol - uses for holding objects can be cut with a hot knife
house box - Karl Foster - used to take the collection out

Royal Armouries - Leeds - a collection of weapons, guns etc
conservation cf. access

Sainsbury centre for visual arts, University of East Anglia - Norman Foster architect - aircraft hanger - supposed to look like their living room - intimate but situated in a big open space.
Lie down in a gallery - booklet

My internet broke......

25th Nov 2018 - Performance of Poetry - Video works

To give poetry a voice is a tricky thing; its translated in such an individualistic way when read as a flat text that to speak it can provide agency or urgency but may also change its perception to those that have already perceived its voice in their own head. 

Currently they live online on a dedicated poetry website: https://hellopoetry.com/ThisIsKatieVW/

Below are some trial videos for possibilities of performance or video-based work. 

https://vimeo.com/304603717

https://vimeo.com/304603390

https://vimeo.com/304603597

15 Nov 2018 - Taking some graphite for a walk... and charcoal and a pen!

After the group critique, I acted immediately on the feedback. I utilised my eager-to-please students as camera holders so I could take some equipment for a walk. Gathering materials around the art room I found some synthetic mohair in a slightly shimmery grey, a thick charcoal stick, a couple of soft graphite sticks, and a Berol thick marker.

Lassoed with the yarn, the 6B graphite stick was first for a stroll, happily dragging behind me as I paced the classroom. The students giggled, and watched on hesitantly and expectantly - the line was faint. The process left me feeling slightly deflated at the vagueness of the traces left behind.

Softer graphite was next. This would work, I was sure but alas, after the initial pacing and expectations a line just as vague as the first was left. The process felt a little easier though, less exposing.

The third walk was accompanied by a thick chunk of charcoal, who also accompanied me on a fourth walk after being worn down on the paper to see if the rough edge would make a difference. Still, the paper resisted the instruments and the traces were light and tentative.

Action was required. This activity needed an outcome; the students were watching, starting to feel disappointed by the repetitive act that left them without a conclusion. The noose was cast around a thick black marker, the pace was slowed and the angle of the instrument was adjusted slightly; this time it would work and I would make sure of it.

A sigh of satisfaction was heard, the students were lifted at the sight of the black line following their teacher as she paced up the three sheets of paper once more. They giggled about the marks on the floor and the lack of shoes. They were satisfied that the goal had been achieved and a line had been drawn.

In one final stand, I bunched the instruments together, hoping their collective might would give a product that would fill me with a similar satisfaction that the students had voiced. It did not appear during the act, or in the moments immediately after. But something changed when the work was lifted from its horizontal position on the floor and hung on the classroom wall; vertically from floor to ceiling, lines dropping to the ground in a slightly wobbly fashion. Here there was some gratification. The long strip of paper required a ladder to handle it, it felt unwieldy and I liked that. As it hung on the wall behind the door, but on the facing wall of the classroom, various students inquired as to what it was. They discussed it when I gave no indication: a road, a tree trunk, a path. Regardless, they almost always offered something that took them somewhere, indicating movement, or growth; direction.

https://vimeo.com/304611865

Mon, 12 November -Group Crit - KF

Group Crit - KF

When: Mon, 12 November, 5pm – 8pm

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https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1K_23Vx6Y-MLVYRKwPeCC9NAq229YqpH541n7HM-5xlw/edit?usp=sharing

MA Group Crit notes: 

My thoughts about the presentation above:

• Chaos Stagnant
• wanting to explore process and materials but struggling to link the work
• and then Catherine Baker happened!
• materials led practice - I don't know what that is or how to approach it - unlearning design background.
• it felt good and the feeling of feeling felt good!
• the sensuality of the materials.

Feedback from cohort:

Continuum of calm across a rocky road - put an object in (to the book form)

thread  - the thread has potential

took the line with me - over concrete and drag graphite - temporality - 

possibility and a period of time.

fabric or glass - horizon/division

space and anxiety - draw lines on to different elements - powerful and architecture of space - in a space

boundaries and bound - continuum- Jacobs ladder

windows - line above and below

sewing a line through lots of different things

the terminology refreshes

reframe

understand the material process of being an artist - going through the process of making

scale

What happens when you take the line outside?

or a line that disappears after a bit of time - prisons - the great escape - soil dumping.

francis alys

materials that graphite can't stick to

what happens walking through that line?

integrate previous in to current

Anthony Gormley - steel lines crossing a space @ketttles yard - walk under/around

do you feel more comfortable using textile techniques? as in sewing a line as you did in your previous work?

I'm interested in knowing if this work in direct response with your feelings? What happens when you rotate some of these pages so that the line is broken up? - I wanted to ask you about scale too

what about the speed at which you work?

maybe a daily project?

yeah Katie - 30 day daily task?

aesthetically pleasing.

Friday, 9 Nov -Visiting Lecturer Tutorials - Catherine Baker

Visiting Lecturer Tutorials - Catherine Baker

My thoughts and discussions with Catherine Baker:

Feelings about my practice: limited in terms of…. What am I trying to tell them [the audience]?

• articulate a regular routine
• punctuation of encounters
• punctuate routine
• celebrating or mundane?

Talking about the process - what does it mean when I do that.

1 - entity - collisions - in terms of happenings

2 - different materials - drawings on tracing and sandpaper - bring them together - butt up against, a more difficult counterpart.

Fixing them together - simple and how they collide.

-----Go back and see how they collide [previous work]

Leporello approach - concertina approach - a continuum - the fold creates a new space - make the folds out of new materials - wet and dry sandpaper -  

a line is dictated by the substrate it's on - one material across all surfaces.

Allows for the intimacy of a book but could be 12 foot long or A2 so awkward to handle or attached to the ceiling.

How do you want people to behave? looking up and being intimate at eye level, allows for intimacy and distance in its framing.

I’m a materials person - embrace it!

What do materials represent - the difference through materials - the materials are anchored into the everyday - found materials - cardboard packaging, plastic bags; start with the simple materials and then look into the materials and what they might mean?

Structure line.

put work away - sit with them and unpack them.

not diarised - what did it mean when the same line travelled from one space, from entity to entity?

Lebbeus Woods

https://hyperallergic.com/131802/the-radical-and-contagious-ideas-of-lebbeus-woods/

Julie Mehretu

https://www.mariangoodman.com/artists/julie-mehretu

Agnes Martin

https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/agnes-martin/who-is-agnes-martin

Sol Lewitt

https://www.tate.org.uk/research/publications/tate-papers/14/ideas-in-transmission-lewitt-wall-drawings-and-the-question-of-medium

collision - unpredictable

bringing together, sand things down - reinstate - erase parts to leave the junctions

To summarise:

FOCUS ON WHAT IT MEANS

how do they engage with it?

do they understand my intentions?

Leporello - small to large-scale - intimate object 20 versions  x 12 feet long

Wallpaper by B. Makhoul - a line in space within so you can’t separate - immersive

bullet wallpaper - Palestine - looks pretty but symbolises violence and conflict - in the home

watch out for diarising the actions and question what is happening.

moments of collision

KFoster & CBaker Collision paper

-in chemistry - in proximity, they react

NOT CHAOS

Notes from Catherine Baker:

These are some of the words I wrote down as you were speaking:

Collage/fusion/adaptive reactions/ circumstance beyond control/ invented narratives/ routine/collision – collision of materials/requirement of proximity/ folds and joins in a Leporello.

I think you need to embrace the fact that you’re clearly a materials-driven person and explore the way in which two (or more eventually) materials can collide and how a repetitive act across them that is identical can be shaped by the interaction with the substrate.  

I’ve attached an image/part of a Print I saw as part of IMPACT 10 in Santander on September 18.  Plus the screenshot is Victoria Ahrens whose work is really interesting. Also classically you could look at Anselm Kiefer (also attached his lead books) and the idea of a Leporello type construction. I’ve included Kiefer as the ‘happenings’ collisions could be material based i.e. A chemical reaction; if you leave a watery gel drop overnight on a sheet of mild steel by the morning there will be a rust spot that signifies and records the ‘collision’ encounter.

I hope all these things help and remember to give yourself space to unpack what you’ve made and contemplate both it and its meaning for others.

Agreed actions:

• FOCUS ON WHAT IT MEANS
• how do they engage with it
• do they understand my intentions
• Leporello - small to large-scale - intimate object 20 versions  x 12 feet long
• watch out for diarising the actions and question what is happening.
• moments of collision - everyday with everyday materials.

Sat, 3 November - Making day: Group 1

Making day: group 1 - KF

Sat, 3 November, 8am – 12pm

 

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Feedback: 

what would happen if I added a million layers?!

Collagraph - print

buildings and constructions

maps - constructing up and laying over

building a new utpia

getting to know the 'flatness' - having a conversation with the work - asking it what flatness means, what building up/construction is?

Monday, 29 Oct 2018 - Enquiry: Intersections and Articulations

Enquiry: Intersections and Articulations

Description:  Listen to audio files, access through LMS calendar

Going forward:  Next week there will be audio files available for you to listen to through the LMS calendar. The second session for listening to the files is on March 18th. Therefore I have decided to split them between these sessions. They are provided to carry on the discussions about the different ways of encountering art, the roles and positions that people may choose to take, or the different ways that people may talk about art. These short files should appropriately fit in with the conversations that we have been having so far. They are really about professional practice.

how you perceive the information that you hear,

what connections you are making,

what interests you and why

what you might disagree with.

You should be reflective in your writing so that it is useful and embedded within the thinking that you are involved in your own practices.

Draw out key points.

Fran Stafford - Artist, Curator and designer - Canadian in Berlin and Bahrain,

Thoughts and discussions:

I wonder how old the recording is as I think the arts and culture scene has really expanded in the Gulf, although it is still very much in the developing practice.

She wears many hats

feels like a spokesperson of the arts- or maybe a 'coloniser' of the arts - yeesh! the fact is its someone coming from the outside and 'showing' 'them' how it's done. I don't have her background so I don't know how much that is true.  - a group of friends recently discussed this phenomenon in the UAE - that most of the 'high flyer' the gallery owners, curators, CEO's of arts companies and institutions are actually white women - I'm pro the feminine aspect of course but is it correct for outsiders to govern a nation's culture?

Uses very 'western' names and brands ie: Redbull - and the term 'test platform' makes me feel uncomfortable, is it right to experiment in other peoples cultures?

Representing a culture that is not yours? is that okay? Can you comment? - Julie Mehretu - paintings about places she has never been too. ethics of this practice?

I question how much time this woman has? How is she doing all of this stuff? does she sleep?

This market aspect is something that is flourishing here in the UAE as well.

She sounds like she is dominating the arts/culture scene - which is great for here, but where is everyone else? I am aware of people that have really struggled in Bahrain due to the cliquy nature.

She's had no experience but has been entrusted with these tasks - proactive or taken advantage of? 

She sounds very confident in her capabilities and achievements - is happy to wear her many hats and build up her experience. She doesn't talk about her practice as an artist although has described herself as one. I couldn't find her work other than her current designs in her new role as a fashion designer.

John Barraclough - Royal Standard Artists collective in Liverpool - drawings, sound works, drawing machines and drawing as human connection, mapping thinking and how the brain works and alternative spaces to create artwork and view.

Thoughts and discussions:

Doesn't consider himself an artist and curator but understands the connections due to financial implications

Bruce Nauman- work outside the studio is responsible for itself - the artist has to let it go. 

Curator - exhibit, preserve, conserve artworks

Newspaper 'Drawing paper' - collab with a fellow artist. A project in curating - funded by the artists participating so it could remain free to the public so self-promotional in effect. Not published regularly - as and when ready.

Content connections - stylistic connections - challenge what drawing is - providing the viewer with possibilities of conversations and varying viewpoints.

distribution is how it is seen - it takes art into a different dimension, one that is portable and easy to ship - repeatable

there are other platforms as well, such as online in blog and Instagram.

Do include own work but not overly comfortable with it, aware that this can be seen as self-promotion and remove some of the agency of the paper.

Creates drawing workshops as a 'living curatorial activity' - so the participants and the leader create and curate their work as part of the final product. utilises the paper in drawing workshops and using it to create discussion. Becomes a tool to instigate discussion.

curators - a tool - the artist can have trouble seeing the value in some work and the lack of value in others so the curators role can help expose the artist to this and guide a practice - rejection, acceptance - use of work beyond intention or out of intention - the critical debate of work and its sitting - in a show how do they interact? If a collaborative group of artists are working together they should work to ensure it works in the exhibition and be open to the fact their work may not fit and be 'deselected'.

To compare the two speakers:

Their input into curating is very different, Stafford is more formal yet slightly ad-hoc as she, herself, says she lacked the experience and had to work out how to produce her projects, whereas Barraclough is very informal and organic yet he is using his experience as an artist and educator to inform the process.

Barraclough discusses coherence - whether stylistically/aesthetically or dialogically. Stafford discusses curating from a cultural and logistical background, moving cultures around and displaying them, and what needs to be in place for that to happen.

This feels like the two sides of my own practice, the practical design-led practice of working out a 'product' vs the more organic process-led practice that I'm trying to work with. Barraclough's talks interested me more as it felt exciting and unknown whereas Stafford's felt familiar and easy to comprehend for me. 

Moving forward: think about the connections my work is making, am I missing the value in it, am I overlooking its potential due to my lack of confidence?

Mon, 22 October - Enquiry: Intersections and Ar-ticulations

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In a group with Mozhdeh - Display - What is Display. My take can be seen in the slideshow above.

Mozhdeh made a comment that I always answer a question with a question and this 'makes her laugh' as I avoid answering the initial questions. I was a little offended by this accusation as my intention is not to avoid, it is simply that the question that was asked provoked a process of enquiry in my own mind and I am sharing that. I looked it up as I was sure there was a term for it. There is: Maieutic - Socratic method of cooperative argument, answering questions with a question with a view to eliciting new ideas from another idea.

Comments from others and thoughts about the other presentations.:

Site, as abstract, site as body, markers - territory - claiming as own, inaccessible makes it desirable, politics of a site

the aggressive element of display - documentation - Tino Sehgal -doesn't document - present is authentic to you. - install our work rather than display so it's about the experience, it must own and belong in the space. 

Where does the work live? - Where does the work take place?

T- is the gallery a site where the audience goes to display itself?

How do we stop an audience and still have a debate? - use what is appropriate but you need to understand it. Would the presentations work if we changed the titles?

without audience participation - the work is dead.

internet penetrations - the presentations say so much about who we are.

do we all need a wiki page? - critical dialogues - wiki page?