WhatHowWhy
The specific outcome for the RW&RM seminar of 2013-14 will be a 1500 word text which reflects on your own method and situates your work in relation to a broader artistic and cultural context. The various texts produced within the RW&RM seminar will serve as source material for your text on method. In common with all modules on the course RW&RM serves to support the other elements of the course (Self-directed Research, Issues in Art & Theory, Practice-Group Critiques &c.). Therefore, the text on method will inform your Self-Evaluation at the end of the third trimester and provide the basis for your Graduate Project Proposal that you will produce in the fourth trimester.
Connie
First work
Jules Verne Op-Object
What:
Jules Verne Op-Object is a digital photograph, painted with oil. The photograph is of a small sculpture made from clay, Sellotape and fabric. The piece was made for a group which was held in a private house, whose owners had a collection of the British Op-artist's Michael Kidner's paintings.
How:
The piece was made by working with clay, fabric and Sellotape, to make an object that when photographed would resemble a land mass or glacier. The printed digital photograph was then painted on, changing its status from a multiple to an original.
Why:
The piece was made in response to a visit to Iceland, where I encountered vast landscapes. I began thinking about Vules Verne's 'Journey to the Centre to the Earth,' and the resurgence of interest in 19th century science fiction in the 1960's with the advent of psychedelia.
Second Work
Theory of The Romantic Sportsman
What:
This piece is a single dub plate with a three-minute sound recording on each side, made in collaboration with Sophie Lee. Side A is a spoken word rap over a beat produced by Killian Immervol, and side B in the instrumental version. The cover artwork was also produced in collaboration.
How:
Sophie Lee and I worked together to write and record the lyrics to create the three-minute spoken word rap using the sound editing software Logic. We then sent to file to a carvery, which cut the track onto a dub plate. The cover artwork was produced by working with a model and fashion photographer.
Why:
The words for the rap were produced in response to Tiqqun's publication 'Theory of a Young Girl.' The character of the Romantic Sportsman was a joint creation between Sophie Lee and myself, based on a young white male city-dwelling fine art graduate working as a gallery technician and consumed with creating his own aesthetic world to reside in.
Anni
First work: Vibes
What: A piece made by a seven-member collective called Vibes. It is a total, perennial piece consisting, for example, of one-off performances, gatherings and videos. Vibes deals with collectivity – being and doing together – in art as well as in life and the world in general. It deals with commitment & freedom.
How: Vibes is made through, for example, gathering, writing, creating performances and videos. Sometimes the collective keeps these activities and their outcomes to themselves. Often the outcomes are made public and occasionally the public can also participate in the activities. Autobiographical material gets frequently mixed with fiction, and utopias with dystopias.
Why: The members of Vibes want to experience, experiment with and investigate different modes of living and making art together. They also want to share different ideas and experiences of collectivity with the public. They do all this because they find it fascinating, meaningful and urgent in the current cultural moment.
Second work: Egg
What: The piece consists of objects and a performance presented together although the objects can also be exhibited alone. The objects are modelled after birds’ eggs and are made of clay, plastic and other materials. The performances also deal with birds’ eggs and humans’ relationship to them.
How: Egg will be made through looking at the historical and current relationship between humans and birds’ eggs as well as through an attempt to establish new connections between the two. This happens through studying the issue, making artificial eggs and creating an oological performance with text, sound and aforementioned objects.
Why: I was invited to a show called Egg and the name inspired me to start dealing with the humankind’s relationship to bird’s eggs. I find it important to imagine and discuss alternatives to the usual ways eggs are approached and experiences by us.