Sol Archer

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A provision for the provisional. or a proposal for a proposal (for a proposal)

I will detail a bit of both the graduate project and the thesis thinking, as the research will be overlapping and divergent in varying degrees, so its maybe useful to outline some of the distinctions in these initial chats.

Graduate project:

"and this also has been on of the dark places of the world" - from heart of darkness

or

"we are fitted for works of darkness, all the while deprived of light" - from John Donne

Thesis

How we can be responsible.

sub title in 2 parts.

how the artists position is instrumentalised by institutions and philanthropists, and can how we can instrumentalise right back

and

the responsibility of representation. speaking for others in their own voice"

italic subtitle

how we are all victims and we are all guilty.

and maybe thats ok

Remember this can change as your research evolves - also keep in mind that the title of your research does not have to be the eventual title of your exhibited final project. Proposal outline. Word count 1500 words max

Introduction

A general introduction laying out your plan for your final project.

Be as specific as possible about the form you imagine the graduate project to take.

Describe the field you wish to research.

Identify key questions driving what you want to explore and how you will test these questions through practice.

this is quite vague at the moment.

specific form

I intend to create a primarily video work, with installation elements, or an installation structure which is key to the reading of the video in its manipulation of sculptural and spatial languages.

my current thinking is that it will be a film investigation, using conversation and interview as a site of production, with editing as a curatorial process which winnows out the intersections of global pressures on local/specific narratives and histories.

specific techniques.

I think it will be centered around filmed conversation, using that as a means to intimate relations between current and historical grand/global narratives and pressures, and their as i see it at the moment it is centered around the docks, here and possibly in hamburg.

it will conflate, or at least use a superposition of, the Black box as cinema space, and the black box, literally as the shipping container; cloaking infinite possibilities in one inform schoedingers cat style unit.

current probing lines of inquiry.

I am trying to contact translators who have worked with police when refugees have been found in shipping containers (this is difficult, and also traumatic in many cases for the translator - hence the direct overlap with responsibility - see above). I am interested in a number of issues here, and want to leave space to let them expand or contract, depending on the material gathered

+ these include

+ the role of translation itself

+ when a translator becomes the protagonist of a situation

+ when marginal communities (for example, in a recent case of this, refugees from a very small ethnic group of Sikhs from Afghanistan were found in a container, and required a translator who spoke their form of Afghan Punjabi) become integrated into the machinations of the state (policing, judicial and borders)

+ War entering the scene as a site of trade control, creation, etc. and the regional desperation created by capital and international trade (too big an issue perhaps, but something which can be hazed towards. esp. as the bombing of hamburg and rotterdam in many ways made possible Europes formation of trade as we experience it today.

I am trying to just turn up with a camera and talk to people who work in the docks, the lower they are in the heirarchy the better - to see if, in conversation with them about their daily schedules, and historical relationship with the dockworks suggests their alienation and mechanisation. this has been unsuccessful

+ Human experience. telling the scale of this global machine through individual experience (or lack thereof)

+ again, using conversation as a site of research/inquiry and the possibilities film (digital video at least, in this case) has for presenting the textures od tone of voice, accent, intonation, inflection, body language, etc. which may be lost in translation to written media - and then the manipulation of this in editing (and restaging, perhaps.

+ also filming around the dockworks. some of this i have. and letting image do its work too.

I am spending time on pilot forums (which are horrifically right wing militaristic places, unsurprisingly) to see if i can find people who flew in the bombing raids on Hamburg and Rotterdam - now the largest ports in Europe to hear their visual recollection. this is so far unfruitful. so i might just find some witness statements, and find the archives about them - this maybe is more useful anyway as it provides another way of structuring information and another means of recording/recalling it - which ties in with wider interests in documentary form, but also with previous work.

Relation to previous practice

How does your research connect to previous projects you have done? Remember to briefly explain or describe related projects as the external is not familiar with your work.

It is useful to address the points raised by tutors in the feedback from your Self-assessment at the end of trimester 3 and to draw on your 'essay on method' written in trimester 2.

for the external

ill give a brief description of 2 previous works (the most recent so recently previous that it might just be current. and to previous attempts at collecting data in a number of forms which never quite managed to precipitate a product.

Relation to a larger context

Meaning practices or ideas that go beyond the scope of your personal work. Write briefly about other projects or theoretical material which share an affinity with your project. Keep in mind that we are *not* expecting well formulated conclusions or persuasive arguments in the proposal phase. At this juncture, it's simply about showing an awareness of a broader context, which you will later build upon as your research progresses.

Practical steps

Describe how you will go about conducting your research through reading, writing and practice. In other words, through a combination of these approaches, you will explore questions or interests you have laid out in your general introduction. In this section you can help us understand how your project will come together on a practical level and talk about possible outcome(s). Of course, the outcome(s) may change as your research evolves, but it's important at this stage to have some idea of how your project might come together as a whole.

References

A list of references (Remember that dictionaries, encyclopedias and wikipedia are not references to be listed). These are starting points which should lead to more substantial texts and practices. As with your previous essays, the references need to be formatted according to the Harvard method. See: http://pzwart3.wdka.hro.nl/wiki/A_Guide_to_Essay_Writing#The_Harvard_System_of_referencing

Feel free to include any visual material to substantiate, illustrate or elucidate your proposal. For example use images to reference your work or that of others.