Exhibition Plans

This is the first time in the entire MA I have felt a little behind and perhaps off focus in the volume of reading, processing and making, as I have had to manage priorities. However, in truth I feel I have given my plans the time to evolve. For example, in completing the PhD applications, I did practically nothing but that for a few weeks, but that directly and indirectly fed into and benefited the MA, especially the final project proposal and bibliography, and also in my thinking and understanding of the project. Similarly, as other things have been overtaking my time in work areas, I have fitted in thinking through, notes and organisation of the MA, and while that may be less obviously productive in that I do not have a great deal to show for it as yet, my sense of it is that I have been constantly pushing on aspects of the project, trialling and deciding, making connections and imagining outcomes, in ways which feel very productive to me.

The truth is that you can’t work at exactly the same pace all the time, even allowing for stepping up for deadlines. My idea for the moving image is quite complex visually and in process, and even though much will change, alter and evolve during the making and finishing processes, it is my experience that there is a considerable amount of thinking, planning, imagining, deciding, connecting and figuring out which occurs before I really set  to work. I have some inbuilt “efficiencies” which I have developed in order to manage sheer volume and time of video, in order to keep track. Therefore my video trials tend to be quite short and I tend not to keep them nowadays – they are searches for the principle of making I will use in the piece.

I have also been aware that, time allowing, I must allow my thinking about the moving image piece to evolve and reflect other changes and developments. Although my timetabling is soon coming to the stage where I must simply follow through my plans and produce, I feel I still have some flexibility in production which will affect the overall project. In particular, I am considering a new way of showing work for me. I usually layer aspects of moving image so that elements will interact and are integrated as one – it has occurred to me to show these layers separately as well as together in exhibition, i.e., one screen/TV/projection shows the merging found paintings, another shows the treatment of the old school photos, while another shows the third mechanical element I am planning. The main projection will be the final merged moving image. So perhaps in total four screens. My thinking in this is that:

1. It may be visually interesting for the viewer to see each of the layers I present and relate them to the combined piece,

2. It exposes my thinking and processes.

Although it sounds technically elaborate, it’s really just a question of one main projector, and three probably smaller solutions such as inbuilt TVs/DVDs, which I already have, and power sockets. The question then remains whether I coordinate the timing of the screenings or vary them (probably coordinate).

Once this though occurred, I’ve been considering the implications – possibly it takes back focus a little from what I consider to be the combined main piece, but it seems like a challenge in exposure that once thought of, I find hard to argue my way out of.

31st March 2014

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In some ways I feel I've barely come up for breath since writing the first part of this blog. I read over some initial plans and think of all the steps from there to here, as I am about to travel up to Sheffield to install the show. Although rather different now, a projection, a TV and framed stills, (etc), the point of somehow exposing and being explicit and transparent - well, I have probably moved towards that as much as I could. Ideas about being open have also been on my mind after the Open Research course http://eleanormacfarlane.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/open-research.html.

Throughout the MA I have been open in my blog, and aimed to put absolutely everything to do with my journey in there, so that it would be a personal diary, academic record, and everything in between. Of course, the openness has been relative, because it is open within a closed group. I know some of my MA colleagues read the blog, and I read theirs. I've really learned from their blogs, and feel sharing that has been a very important part of the course - it's the virtual equivalent of having a walk though studios and having a chat if we were all at an actual art school. I also think it's a bit sad that some of the group did not share their blogs, while potentially reading others. Not a unique view in the group , I know.

It's not been easy to reveal and be explicit about the MA process and the events, trials and projects, and I really value what I have gained and been able to reflect upon. Openness, selective at least, is now an integrated part of my practice and future projects.

11th November 2014