It's Strange Out There

Rationale

2010-05-11T16:05:00.000+01:00

I think the show has come together really well overall, and it's going to look really good, although there have been a few problems along the way, that I think we'll need to address for our next show.

Firstly, I think we needed to have an agreed method of communication. Although we had facebook groups set up for each different group, there wasn't really that much activity and it wasn't particularly fair as not everybody is on facebook. Texting people is too expensive and a bit restrictive, and not everybody can make it to every meeting, so I think email is a better option. We need to set up mailing lists, and have a person who's job it is to keep everyone up-to-date, and pass messages around between the different groups.

I think it's been a good learning experience, as we now know more about the work that needs to be done, how tasks are related, and if time slips on one, it may impact on a number of others. I think it might be useful in future to work with Gantt charts, as this would help us to divide the tasks up evenly and make sure everything gets done within the timescales required.

In terms of curation, it was quite difficult to decide how to do this – we needed to find out what everyone was presenting, and how this could possibly fit with the space, so agreed on proposal forms for people to submit, which Sameena made and circulated to everyone.

I had been reading about Steven Flusty in a book about Miroslaw Balka, and was interested in the idea of curating the show based around the idea of his interdictory spaces. When we got the proposal forms back, we wrote down a couple of key words about each person's work and found that there might be a way of curating based on seperating work into the themes of prickly, slippery and jittery, so we decided to propose this in the general show meeting, and it was agreed by everyone there.

The next step was to organise everyone into rooms and try to accommodate everyone's requirements as much as we could. Beth and I went to the show space and measured the rooms, I made a floor plan of one room and Pollyanna drew the rest and we worked from these to plan the space. We had to think about who needed what type of space, and how each piece would look next to others, so it was quite a challenge, but we have a final plan ready and will take the floorplans down to the show tomorrow to put in each space.

I borrowed some index drawers from Leeds Library that will fit in with the theme, so we're going to put these in the projection room, along with three stacked TV screens with video work that people did last term.

Webpage

2010-05-10T16:04:00.002+01:00

Some of my work is http://seeemilypaint.atspace.com

Facebook Screendump - Posted to Curator's Wall

2010-04-30T17:53:00.001+01:00

Display Options

2010-04-22T18:34:00.006+01:00

Well, as I finally know now what I'll be displaying, it's time to think about how to present. I want to present a series of photograms showing the abstract forms that I've made from the apples I've been working with. The forms are quite mysterious and biomorphic, bringing to mind microscopic views of cells or surfaces of planets, and are all unique, so I think that repitition is key to presenting this work. I've been doing some research into the idea of geometry and it's use in minimalist art, particularly in the form of the grid, and the indifference of presentation.

I also think it's important not to be too descriptive with titling, as I want to engage the audience and hopefully make them view my work longer in consideration of what it actually is that they're seeing. I think there's a play between the sense that a black and white, analogue photograph represents truth and the obvious falsehood because the image looks like a view down a microscope or through a telescope.

I've also been considering the way I want to display the pieces. As it's difficult to keep photopaper flat to display directly on a wall, I considered a few options. I was conscious of the fact I wanted to keep the images plain, and not have any distraction, so I decided against framing using anything other than glass. I was also aware that using plain glass frames might be a good option for display as the images would be kept flat, but decided against this as I thought that the glass might reflect light in the space and prevent viewing, and also that it would create a barrier between the piece and the viewer that I didn't want, as there's something more raw about having them by themselves, so people can get really close. I can't directly stick the photograms to the wall, as the paper would bend where the tape was, so mounting on foamboard might be an option, but I have some chrome wire with crocodile clips that I'd like to try too, as they look quite clinical and may work well showing as a pseudo-scientific display.

New Draft of Blurb

2010-04-19T13:36:00.003+01:00

LOST PROPERTY

A Collection of Fine Art from Leeds Art College

Art In Unusual Spaces

Leeds Shopping Plaza

Private View 13th May 2010 17:00-19:00

Open daily 14th-16th May 2010

Ever get that feeling you've lost something and not quite sure what it is? Get that vague feeling that there's something not quite where it used to be? Need a spare moment to think what it is?

Take some time out to visit our Lost Property show and check out our three spaces to see if you can find what you're looking for in the work of 44 fine art students from Leeds College of Art, in a show based on urban critic Steven Flusty's theories on the way public space is designed to control, intercept, filter or repel.

See if you can grasp your lost property in our slippery room, where dreams, the subconscious and memory are lost and found among missing and confused pathways.

Your missing item might be in the prickly room, an anxious space where structure is corroded and it's difficult to find a spot where you feel comfortable for too long amongst the ruin.

Or perhaps you'll find what you're searching for in our jittery room, a personal space, but one where you might feel you have to look over your shoulder, as bodies and actions feel like they're constantly being watched.

COME ALONG AND RECLAIM YOUR LOST PROPERTY!

Artists exhibiting: Leilani Aldcroft, Sameena Azam, Will Baker, Stef Barratt, Ruth Blower, Geri Callan, Jimmy Cave, Will Crabtree, Alex Cunningham, Laura Carter, Lisa Darbyshire, Katie Dent, Ahmed El Haddid, Duncan Fraser, Lucy Fudge, Izzy Furter, Beth Gadd, Josh Gibbs, Pollyanna Hodson, Chikkae Howland, Sam Humble, Becky Johnson, Liam Kelly, Mel King, Robyn Lawrence, Nat Lorryman, Rhys Matthews, Amy McKeating, Miranda Mohit, Sam Morgan, Louie Mulhern, Holly Mulveen, Alex Nightingale, Alex Norcop, Michael Ormerod, Simon Phillips, Johnny Rawlin, Laura Rushton, Jessie Simmonds, Belle Skinner, Nic Tighe, Emily Towler, Naomi Wallis, Bobby West

Facebook Screendump - Curation Wall

2010-04-15T17:51:00.000+01:00

Blurb for Show

2010-04-15T14:32:00.004+01:00

I've just written this blurb for the show, although I'm not quite sure that it sounds right and will get people there - any suggestions? Particularly think the end bit needs bulking out a bit...

LOST PROPERTY
A Collection of Fine Art from Leeds Art College
Art In Unusual Spaces
Leeds Shopping Plaza

Private View 13th May 2010 17:00-19:00
Open daily 14th-16th May 2010

Ever get that feeling you've lost something and not quite sure what it is? Get that vague feeling that there's something not quite where it used to be? Need a spare moment to think what it is?

Take some time out to visit our Lost Property show and check out our three spaces to see if you can find what you're looking for in the work of 44 emerging artists studying at Leeds College of Art.

See if you can grasp your lost property in our slippery room, where dreams, the subconscious and memory are lost and found among missing and confused pathways (Bowler hat icon)

Your missing item might be in the prickly room, an anxious space where structure is corroded and it's difficult to find a spot where you feel comfortable for too long. (Hand icon)

Or perhaps you'll find what you're searching for in our jittery room, a personal space, where you might feel you have to look over your shoulder, as bodies and actions feel like they're constantly being watched (Umbrella icon)

RECLAIM YOUR LOST PROPERTY!

Interactivity at Show

2010-04-15T13:48:00.002+01:00

I was reading Jessie's blog, and I thought it was a really good idea for there to be some audience participation.

What about having a wall where visitors can put up details of the worst things they've lost? It would fit in with the theme, and things like this often become work in themselves, as they can be quite cathartic for people posting, and become interesting to read and, on a more practical note, people might stay at our show for longer!!

I remember seeing something similar by Yoko Ono at The Baltic, where she asked people to write about their mothers. Also, Rebecca Strain did a residency at 42 New Briggate, where she asked people to bring any rejection letters they'd had, and she read them out with a band playing out of tune in the background, turned them into paper boats and recycled them into new paper.

Index Cards at Show

2010-04-15T13:39:00.004+01:00

Just done a quick sketch of a possible layout for cards at our show. I was thinking that if we numbered each piece of work, then we could ask people to pick up a card and go find the work that's described on it. Might extend people's stays and make them look more at everyone's work? Once a piece is found, then the card is swapped for another one and the next piece of 'lost property' can be searched for? I was thinking of B&W printouts, A5 size (2 for 1p with college printers), with details written by hand by each artist, with raffle tickets stapled in top corner with the number of the piece of work?

Correspondence with Yvonne

2010-04-15T12:46:00.004+01:00

That's fine, thanks, see you there :-)

----- Original Message -----
From: Yvonne Carmichael
To: Emily Towler
Sent: Thursday, April 15, 2010 12:38 PM
Subject: Re: Building Plans

26th is fine by me. 3pm ok at lsp?

Kind Regards

Yvonne

http://www.yvonnecarmichael.co.uk/

Sent from my iPhone

On 15 Apr 2010, at 12:25, "Emily Towler" wrote:

Good news on the lighting, thanks.

I'll get the details for the website to you early next week.

Would it be possible to have a meeting a bit earlier, maybe 26th or 30th April? Just gives us a bit more time afterwards to sort out any issues.

Thanks,

Emily

----- Original Message -----
From: Yvonne Carmichael
To: Emily Towler
Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2010 5:01 PM
Subject: Re: Building Plans

Lights are available yes.

Theme sounds fab.

Opening til 7 should be fine.

I need at least one image, dates times, artist names any weblinks. As well as around 200 words info, For the website.

Let me know what else you need. Might be an idea to book in a meeting in the next couple of weeks, with you all to discuss your plans. 3rd may? When would be good for you?

Kind Regards

Yvonne

http://www.yvonnecarmichael.co.uk/

Sent from my iPhone

On 14 Apr 2010, at 16:02, "Emily Towler" wrote:

Hi Yvonne,

Thanks for letting us come in and measure up the other day. We'll have made the plans within the next couple of weeks and will let you have copies for future reference.

I'm not sure whether anyone else has been speaking to you about the show, but we've decided on a name and theme of Lost Property. We've got a few plans/activities based around this and curation will be loosely based on how space is lost in urban environments. What do you need from us to be able to put an advert on the Art In Unusual Spaces website?

We're just getting some posters done now, can I confirm that we'll be able to get late opening until 7 on 13th May?

Also, I noticed there were some spotlights in the storeroom in Unit 3. Would it be possible to use these for our show?

Thanks and Regards,

Emily

----- Original Message -----
From: Yvonne Carmichael
To: Stephen Felimingham ; emily.towler@btinternet.com
Sent: Tuesday, April 06, 2010 4:34 PM
Subject: Fwd: Building Plans

Hello emily,

Are you part of the fine art LCA group? There aren't plans for the units just square footage at present though you are welcome to come down and measure up 4pm on Thursday would be a good as I'm there already.

Hope everything is going well with the preparations.

If you or any other exhibitors have any further queries please can you contact me not Leeds shopping plaza.

Kind Regards

Yvonne

http://www.yvonnecarmichael.co.uk/

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Buckle, Jonathan"
Date: 6 April 2010 16:20:48 GMT+01:00
To: Emily Towler
Cc: "Hill, James" , yvonne carmichael , "'Yvonne.Carmichael@leeds.gov.uk'" , "Downes, Dave"
Subject: RE: Building Plans

Emily if you make contact with James Hill or Yvonne Carmichael from Art in Unusual Spaces they will arrange access for you with Centre Management.

Kind regards.

Jonny.
Portfolio Manager.
Retail.
Land Securities
City Exchange, 11 Albion Street, Leeds, LS1 5ES.
D/L +44 (0)113 261 5363
M +44 (0)7841 315511
jonathan.buckle@landsecurities.com
www.landsecurities.com

From: Emily Towler [mailto:emily.towler@btinternet.com]
Sent: 06 April 2010 15:39
To: Buckle, Jonathan
Subject: Building Plans

Jonathan,

I'm part of a group who'll be exhibiting at Leeds Shopping Plaza in May, as part of Art in Unusual Spaces.

I wonder if you can help me with locating building plans for the units we'll be working in? If these are available, it would be a great help in designing the layout of our show. The units we're working in are Units 3-6 and Unit 22.

Alternatively, would it be possible to arrange access to these units at some point in the next couple of weeks to measure up?

Any help much appreciated.

Thanks and Regards,

Emily

Union 105

2010-04-14T14:57:00.000+01:00

I went to Union 105 a while ago to look at the Chapeltown Salon display, and was really impressed with the way it was all set up, with a numbered catalogue with details, and just numbers written under the work to refer back. I'm interested in this set up, and how it might work with respect to our Lost Property themed show.

It's also interesting to see how decisions are made in a Salon situation, where there are numerous media and themes, which ties in well with our show. How are works arranged to ensure they compliment each other, and are not affected adversely by each other's presence?

I spoke to James, who works at the gallery, and he gave me their number, along with the contact email of Ulrika, the curator, so I have emailed her regarding a few of us visiting to get some advice on curating our show.

As well as the questions above, it would be interesting to ask about considerations that have to be made for sound pieces, after Union 105 display of Tahera Aziz's work recently.

Lost Property Records

2010-04-11T23:05:00.004+01:00

I'm in love with these index drawers, after seeing something similar at Bradford Playhouse this weekend. Think they'd fit brilliantly with the theme, if we had a few index cards for each piece of work inside them and around them for people to take as they looked round? I'd be willing to buy these myself and keep them after the show (as long as they're not too expensive!), if everyone thinks they'd be suitable?

Black Dogs Guidelines

2010-03-25T18:46:00.003Z

Facebook Screendump - Posted on Curation Wall

2010-03-24T17:47:00.002Z

Psychogeography Blog

2010-03-24T16:55:00.004Z

Just seen this blog by Tina Richardson from the psychogeography group at Leeds Uni, really interesting assessment of walking through a shopping centre.

Curation Idea - Comments Please

2010-03-22T16:24:00.002Z

I've been reading a book about Miroslaw Balka that starts off with an essay by Zygmund Bauman about urban life and the mixed feelings people have about their environment and mixing with strangers. Bauman argues that people feel a simultaneous attraction and repulsion to city life, loving the variety and opportunity, whilst fearing the otherness of people and creating 'islands of similarity in a sea of difference', drawing people who are superficially like us closer and creating divides, such as gated communities where people voluntarily seperate themselves, and ghettoes that enforce seperation.

Bauman goes on to talk about Steven Flusty's theories about the way that spaces are designed to increase paranoia by creating a number of types of 'interdictory space' designed to 'intercept, repel or filter would-be users'. There's only three types mentioned in the book, but Amy's done some research on her blog and found five:

Slippery Space - can't be reached due to contorted, protracted or missing points of approach
Prickly Space - can't be comfortably occupied eg. sloped ledges to prevent sitting
Jittery Space - can't be occupied due to monitoring and security

Stealthy Space - hard to find spaces, hidden from general view

Crusty Space - can be seen, but can't be accessed due to fences, etc.

I'd think it'd be good to use these concepts for the show, seperating work according to themes relating back to Flusty's ideas, and thinking about Lost Property in terms of the postmodern sense of loss, giving people the time to contemplate contemporary urban issues whilst walking around in the space between our work, all our different pieces arranged in 'islands of similarity', within the wider environment of the shopping centre that's been purposefully designed to influence people's movements.

I think slippery and stealthy spaces relate to work to do with dreams, the subconscious and memory, as they can be difficult to access, repressed, hidden and confusing.

Jittery and crusty space could fit in with work based on the personal, such as abjection, borders (personal and social?), journeys and documentation.

This leaves prickly space, that could be interpreted as work to do with the uncanny, social anxiety, structure and ruin.

There's a psychogeography group that advertise their meetings on LVAF, might be worth hooking up with them to try and find out more if we go with this idea, get someone to write a review for us?

Any comments/thoughts more than welcome!

Outcomes from Meetings

2010-03-21T16:25:00.004Z

We had a curator's meeting, and were joined by Pollyanna from Logistics, at which we discussed the limitations of the space and that it would be ideal to have the bigger space considering the proposals we have in, but think we might have to work with what we've got now. We went through some of the tasks that need doing and assigned people to some of them, and spoke about the idea of linking work according to the Steven Flusty space definitions, which I need to research further.

We wanted to create a show catalogue, so a few curators are going to ask individuals for an artist's profile and an image of work. At the show meeting the issue of the cost of a catalogue was mentioned, and the option of putting people's profiles and images on the website was mentioned, which everyone seemed to agree with. This fits in with the fact that curating is a bit of a difficult job at the minute, as we might have information about the space that people need, but sometimes not the finer details of what the work is and how it will look, which is to be expected at this point - I don't have a clue at all what I want to put in yet! We decided to put asking for images off until after Easter, then when we get them we can start planning the space.

We also spoke about staffing the show, working out a rota, and filming and photographing the event, which can all be arranged later on, although it might be worth booking out the equipment in advance.

It was good to see the work that others have been doing, loving the luggage tags and the logos, think they might fit well with the possible layout of the work and it's also a great idea to have a sponsored blood donation.

Facebook Screendump - Curator Group Wall

2010-03-17T17:43:00.001Z

Facebook Screendump - Posted to Curator Group

2010-03-15T17:38:00.001Z

Thursday 11th March

2010-03-15T16:00:00.000Z

I really enjoyed Sliceland, was good to hook up with people from the other colleges, and I got to be a giant robot for a short while! It was great to see what can be done on a tight budget, with bits of old cardboard used for the signs, the beer tombola with a temptingly placed bottle of wine and the cute planters being given away to grow. I spoke to some people from both the Uni and Met about what they were up to and how they're finding their courses and put my name down for a slice of any future action! As with Left Bank, I was impressed at how the space was filled - even though it was a huge space, things were spread around well and I didn't feel like I was wandering some huge expanse. Don't think this will be a problem for our show though!!!

Downstairs, in one of the units we'll be taking, there was a guy obsessively drawing crosses, reminded me a bit of Lucy Skaer's drawings. This wasn't very well advertised, so I was curious who he was and what he was up to. However, the conveniently placed table of wine won the battle for my attention, and I felt like it was a bit of an outside/inside situation, so didn't speak to him.

Here and Now was quite interesting, with a sand sculptor and painters working live, with other paintings of local buildings displayed in the windows that all fitted together very well. Again though, my attention was drawn away as I couldn't go in the room, so didn't talk to anyone, and moved on.

On Your Wall was a local artist's selling show, arranged by Leeds Met, and had a really good range of work at good value, including Georgina from 3rd year, who had prime position in the window, and Richard Baker's paintings with great dark wood frames, set about 5mm wide of the canvas, complimenting the subject matter. Also some great ceramic (?) cleaning spray bottles with burlesque/50s imagery transferred on, £85 each, cheap as Cif!

The Leeds Met Playground event was a bit too busy/overcrowded, as I stood in the doorway watching people bashing a papier mache chicken and someone pouring treacle down a plastic tube until crowd panic and claustrophobia set in, so I escaped for a bit more vino.

Show Meeting 11th March

2010-03-15T13:24:00.000Z

We spoke about possible names for the show and voted for 'Lost Property', as this fits in with the shopping centre. Sheila said it would be interesting to find out how lost property offices are organised and how things are stored to work with this theme, and we spoke about possible ways of marketing according to this.

As curators, we need to consider this within our hang - how can we work with the theme to make things more interactive and interesting for our audience. Someone mentioned having a lost property box with items of our own work as well as 'lost' things. We also need to get together with logistics sometime next week to discuss possibilities/limitations of the space, and draw up some plans.

Facebook Screendump - Message on Curation Group Wall

2010-03-12T14:00:00.001Z

Curator's Meeting Minutes

2010-03-12T13:04:00.002Z

We discussed people's requirements and found that some people might need a variety of things, eg. plinth and wall space, so it’s not going to be as easy as we thought. We’ll have to sort out plans for all the rooms and meet up with logistics to discuss more.

We discussed themes that might interlink people by summarising proposals down to a couple of words and found that there were a few general themes, with a few key words coming out:

Memory, Subconscious, The Uncanny, The Body, Abjection, Journey, Documentation, Anxiety, Structure, Space, Ruin, Racism, Politics, Borders.

We made a start trying to group people together according to theme, and it seemed that there was quite a large group dealing with social issues, and another dealing with the personal and psychology, although there was some overlap with some people and some didn’t fit into these groupings.

We spoke about how we’d need to see what people’s work is going to look like as well, before making any decisions on what could and should go together. Things might be linked by theme, but if there’s a difference in materials/size, etc. it’s not going to work.

We discussed a title for the show, and looked at all the suggestions that had been on the board and on proposals, and ended up focusing on the place we’re exhibiting and titles relating to shopping centres, such as Closing Down Sale, Out Of Recession, Suits You, and ended up choosing Cash For Gold, as we thought it would reflect the current situation with the recession, the preciousness of our work to us, and the lack of cash available to buy art.

We also spoke about our audience, and who we will be trying to engage, which will probably differ from the private view to the rest of the weekend. We spoke about participation being key to the success of the show over the weekend, as we will be trying to entice an audience from shoppers/workers in Leeds, so would like to do something interactive in the space to make people interested and give them something to remember.

Frieze Article

2010-03-10T13:03:00.003Z

Just seen this article in this month's Frieze magazine about contemporary crowding of the gallery space, comparing it to the crowding of a shopping centre over the holidays, and the way that there's a focus on churning people through in great numbers, leaving them with 'almost no memory of their 'museum experience' other then a mild anaesthetic hangover'. Storr talks about Baudelaire's stroll of the flaneur, and the way that museums and galleries can be places for solitude and reflection.

The idea of the shopping centre obviously has connotations for the place we're exhibiting in, and it would be interesting to incorporate this idea of the commerciality of the gallery space, either going with it or against it. When I think of shopping malls, I always think of George Romero's Dawn of the Dead, and the comment he makes that the zombies still continue their human behaviour, automatically and mindlessly wandering through a commercial environment for something to do. I like the idea of contrasting this with the stroll of the flaneur, which might also be an aimless meander, but is also an active contemplation of the world.

Cheap London Fares!

2010-03-10T11:41:00.004Z

Just wanted to let everyone know that there's £10 fares from London to Leeds here. They don't seem to be discounted as much in the other direction, but it's better than a kick in the teeth!

Adam's Show and Left Bank

2010-03-05T00:45:00.006Z

Last night, I went to a show by Adam Brown from the third year, which I found really interesting. It was a showcase of his work during the Fine Art course, entitled A Tool-Using Animal, and was situated in the basement of his shared house, which had been cleared out and painted for the occasion. The work, which was a combination of wooden carved objects that were very precisely and skillfully made and drawings in the style of archaeological recording, were very simply displayed on the walls, with a piece in the centre of the room on a plinth. The show was one night only and had been advertised to students at college, Leeds Met and Leeds Uni, so there was a good flow of people around. Overall, there was an exciting feel about the space, with the artist and other 3rd year students available to talk about their motivations and their plans, and I really enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere. I spoke to Pat, who said they plan on putting on a few shows in the space, and to give them a shout if we have anything we want to display.

I also went to Left Bank (I keep calling it West Bank!!) on Cardigan Lane for the first time and was really impressed with the space, which is an old church that's been converted into an arts building, and was being used to put on a show entitled 1984-2010, with a few pieces being shown on the subject of surveillance. I thought the space had been filled well, considering the scale of the building, with a couple of video pieces being projected onto the ceiling, an installation based on town planning in the middle on the floor, a minimal installation of two TV sets in the altar area and a series of inkjet portraits alluding with fading to the loss of identity.

The building is great, is open to offers for shows, and the work there showed that the space can be cleverly used so that it's not as daunting to fill as it seems, although adequate lighting might be a problem. Probably one for summer months though, as it's freezing in winter!

Plans for Exhibition Space

2010-03-04T17:05:00.013Z

Talking about my Work

2010-03-03T15:54:00.003Z

Just following on from the class this morning, I was thinking about how uncomfortable I feel about talking about my work. It literally makes me want to run away and hide in a corner having to explain what I'm doing and why, especially in crits during the early stages of a project, when sometimes I don't even know fully myself as it takes me ages to get really working on a project.

It's good to know other people are in the same boat, and it made me think of an artist's talk I went to last year, by Terry Hammill, who was one of the AA2A artists at college last year. As well as giving a good insight into his work, he explained how he'd got around the problem of self-promotion by creating an alter-ego, a rich patron called Ivan Kovlovsky, and writing press releases for exhibitions as if they were written by him.

Henry Moore

2010-02-25T09:42:00.009Z

Good video about Henry Moore here, good look inside his studio at things that inspired him like bones, his Tube Shelter drawings of people sleeping underground during the Blitz that are mentioned in the catalogue for Miroslaw Balka's How It Is, and critics talking about just how famous he was:

"Before the war he was Henry Moore, who made sculptures, and after the war he was a sculptor who made Henry Moores"

Again, I think the look through the studio environment shows the importance that's now being attached to 'working out', which is helping to break down the Otherness of the artist. I like the idea of the relationship between a final piece and the initial idea, whether it be a dirty sketch or a note on the back of a fag packet - I think this can even add to the mystique, rather than remove it - as the viewer questions how the artist reached that resolution.

I think when Michael spoke about audience attention span in his blog he hit on a key point of contemporary exhibitions. How is the audience engaged? When development work is shown, are viewers given a key to interpretation and made to feel 'in the know', and is a dialogue opened between not just the viewer and the piece, but between the viewer and the (perhaps) absent artist?

Sheffield Trip

2010-02-22T15:28:00.011Z

Cutting Edge

On leaving the train station, I was interested to see the Cutting Edge sculpture, a huge construction of curved stainless steel with a flow of water running down it that distorts the reflections of people passing by. It that follows the slight slope of the land and runs alongside a pathway leading to the Cultural Quarter/University area. I think this work is really impressive and certainly altered my perception of the city as very industrial and run down, with the clean lines and simplicity giving a really modern feel, whilst using the material and skills that Sheffield is most famous for.

Park Hill Flats

I watched a documentary about Park Hill the other day, as it's now been listed and English Heritage have some involvement in the redevelopment of the flats. I'm glad something's being done about them as I think they're really important buildings, both design wise and for social history. I still think of them as futuristic even now, would love to do a dystopian photoshoot there!

Hybrid

This is the arts and science based exhibition that has been organised by a group of artists from the Yorkshire region and received Arts Council funding. It was spread over a number of smaller spaces across the university/cultural district of the city, which were quite close to each other. We had a flier with the names of the venues, so were able to find some, but not all of them, despite asking the people working at each place, so it would've been better to have a map on the flier.

Kelly's work must've been at one of the places we couldn't find, but we saw a number of other pieces that were scientifically related in one way or the other, and the one that stood out for me was Sarah Spanton's sculptural and performance piece about infertility, reviewed here, which I thought genuinely did bring together art and science in a new and thought provoking way.

Millenium Gallery

This was a lovely building, with a glass atrium with wooden beams, but the space was more like a general rest area and coffee shop, so I don't know whether I was missing something? We couldn't seem to find the sustainability exhibition anywhere.

The main exhibitions were in bite-sized units arranged off a main shopping arcade style corridor, that made the gallery space seem incidental, like shops that people might pop into if they have some spare time, which made me think that part of the design of the space is to widen access to the arts. The most interesting part for me was the Code:Craft show organised by Lovebytes, which explored the possibility of computer code becoming a material for expression alongside traditional media such as paint.

Graves Gallery

I enjoyed looking at the Robert Mapplethorpe show, which had a good variety of his work on display, including photos of famous people such as Andy Warhol and Patti Smith, along with his pictures of the New York S&M scene, and expressive pictures of a young girl as he got towards the end of his life. There was a good collection of other paintings and sculpture according to era, but they seemed to have a lot of strangely placed participatory things in the middle of the space, such as a fake tree to put string round.

I really liked this piece by David Nash, Cracking Box (1979), which was made from fresh oak pegged together and left to dry and warp in the gallery. I like the way the piece has changed over time, and that the dry environment of the gallery space has been used to his advantage, to change the material in a certain way, dessicating rather than rotting. Just noticed as well that it's the same age as me, and I hope I'm not that crinkly yet!

National Media Museum

2010-02-15T09:45:00.038Z

I went to the National Media Museum in Bradford yesterday for the first time since I was about 13, so it was interesting to see how the place had changed from then. My memory of the place is that it was more focussed on television, film and documentary style photography, with interactive news reading, a flying carpet in a blue room and film sets.

It might just be my perception, or the way I saw things when I was younger, but it seems like there's been a change with the inclusion of fine art photography, digital media and more of a focus in general on the arts, rather than broadcasting/technology.

The museum is free, and has a national profile, so the exhibitions are advertised well on the museum's website, and I also heard about the Joanna Quinn show through an LVAF email.

Joanna Quinn

The main thing I wanted to see was about cartoonist Joanna Quinn, which I found to be a good, small coherent show of work, detailing the artist's progression over 30 years. It started with some early drawings and explained the influence of Goya and Toulouse-Lautrec, with drawings of theirs shown next to Quinn's, and then an overview of the different commercial and personal work that she has been involved in, seperated into sections by the placement of frames/screens, etc. There was also a sketchbook on a plinth inside a perspex case, which was open on a page detailing the development of a hand-drawn animated character called Beryl.

The positioning of the different sections followed the shape of the room, so that the viewer could be guided into viewing the work chronologically, but this wasn't an enforced Ikea-style pathway. The drawings were displayed in a consistent manner, with simple white-painted wooden frames with no method of hanging visible. The videos were shown on flat screen televisions mounted on the wall at quite a low height - perhaps around 4" from the floor.

What I liked about this show, apart from the actual work, was the way that a sense of the development of the artist was shown as well as the end result. At a lot of exhibitions I've been to over the last couple of years there is a lot more of a sense of the presentation of a whole idea and it's progression to a final piece, which I think is good as it's far more insightful, shows the reality of being an artist and challenges the notion of the artistic genius who effortlessly rolls out of bed and creates a masterpiece.

Neeta Madahar

In the next room was a show by Neeta Madahar, a fine art photographer who was awarded the Bradford Fellowship in Photography, and was exhibiting the work resulting from this, which was five mini-shows based around a central theme of hyperreality, and influenced by the Media Museum's archive collection of brightly coloured high society photographs of Madame Yevonde and Cecil Beaton. The work was displayed along with an artist video explaining the work and references to these influences, along with magazines and books showing contemporary and historic fine art photographers.

Although the work wasn't really my cup of tea, there was an interesting descriptions of techniques and materials used to achieve high quality results, so I'd like to speak about these.

Firstly, there were various photos taken by attracting birds onto her balcony with feeders and using studio lighting to give a strong, almost artificial colour. These were then printed onto Somerset Velvet paper, which is a specialist, high quality paper for printing, and looked quite thick with a matt finish, which gave good support to the digital prints which were A0 size and of very high quality achieved by using iris printing.

Secondly, there were some pictures mysteriously described as unique ilfochrome photograms, which as far as I can gather were made by scattering handmade origami flowers across ilfochrome photobase, which is a polyester photo base that gives good clarity, and making photograms.

I also looked at Madahar's online CV and was interested to see that she began her art education at the age of 29, the same age I was when I started the BA, and is now represented by Purdy and Hicks, which is round the corner from Tate Modern, after finishing her MFA in 2003.

The Forty Part Motet

2010-02-03T20:33:00.008Z

I went to opening of The Forty Part Motet by Janet Cardiff at the Howard Assembly Room this evening, which I found really enjoyed, although it was a bit busy, so I'd like to go back when there are less people and background noise and I'll pass on the word to other people.

The venue had a roof well shaped for the acoustics and had a churchy feel to it that was really appropriate for the piece - I half expected an organ at the end of the room! I wondered whether the piece was usually arranged in an oval, or whether this was due to the shape of the room, and it would usually be circular. The person who introduced the piece to us as part of the Art Walk said that when the piece has been shown at other places, people would come and sit there after work for 10 minutes, which I could imagine as it would be very good to wind down there after a busy day.

The entrance to the venue is quite imposing, and there was a doorperson, so this could be quite intimidating, and the only place I saw this advertised was LVAF, so there's a sense that this is an event reserved for artists, musicians, etc., which is sad as I think that it's a really accessible piece that could work universally.

Spem in Alium is an unusual choral piece in that there are 5 vocals in the harmony rather than the usual 4, which might have been picked to give the maximum possible impact. The speakers were arranged in banks of 5, with each of the vocal ranges present in each of the 8 banks, each playing at different times.

I like the idea of taking the Wall of Sound concept and making it more of an immersive and structural experience. I stood in the middle of the room and felt the choir around me, then went to one bank of speakers and heard single voices, which stopped abruptly, at which point I could only hear the music from the other side of the room.

The speakers were small and placed on metal tripods at a height of around 5'5"-5'10", about average person height. I thought the speaker stands detracted slightly from the piece and were a comprimise, but then thought that by using standard equipment it made it all about the sound rather than making the origin of the sound look pretty.

High grade copper wires were used to cut down on noise, and the speaker positions were marked out with duct tape to keep them in specific places, for health and safety and to maintain the direction of the sound into the centre of the room. Cable tidies were used to run the wires along the outside edge of the room to a locked room at the back, where it looked like a computer and monitor were running application to control the feed to each speaker.

BBC Arts Blog

2010-02-02T16:54:00.002Z

There's a new arts blog on the BBC website, written by Will Gompertz, who has spent the last seven years as a Tate director. Only two posts so far, but looks like it'll be something else I check compulsively.

Politics and Experience

2010-01-28T21:01:00.010Z

One thing I really want some tips on is how things work out there, are there any unwritten rules of engagement, an artist's code?

In a smaller artistic network like Leeds, with limited space available for showing, is there a sense that people stake a claim for a space and it would be difficult not to tread on toes? And is there any elitism or friction between established artists and students/new graduates? Is it important that we keep the friendships we make at college going to support each other after we graduate?

I'd like to think that there's a supportive network out there, and I've certainly made some great contacts and found that things operate very much on tit for tat in the things I've done, and also that there seems to be a core network of people I see regularly at shows and talks. What are other people's experiences?

Alex Kelly Talk

2010-01-28T21:00:00.009Z

I went to a talk by Alex Kelly this evening that I really enjoyed, and found really relevant to the way I work and my subject matter. Alex is one half of a collaborative partnership with called Third Angel, who have worked in partnership with scientists to produce performance art and theatre work, as "they carry out experiments like artists make shows."

Alex went through a number of pieces that they'd been involved in, and I was most interested in the collaboration of science and art in a few of their pieces. Although there'd been an underlying interest in how people perceived their early work, in how much of the story had to be told for the audience to make an inference on the subtext, it wasn't until 2002 that they started engaging with psychologists.

Their piece Leave No Trace (2002) consisted of a woman talking to a psychiatrist about her fugue state, and shows one character handing back the personality to the other, but becomes more ambiguous until it's eventually realised that the two people are the same.

Then in their piece, Standing Alone, Standing Together (2005), influenced by James Gleick's idea of hurry sickness, they worked with scientists to create a rigorous experiment that altered the perception of time for the audience passing by in a corridor at Sheffield Art Gallery by using static figures and forcing people to slow down to get by.

I found their play Presumption (2006), about time as a proportion of life as discussed by a long term couple really moving, and it was strangely made more so by the funny bit in the middle where the actors broke off to complete building the set. This part went on for a long time longer than I expected and I was impressed that they weren't afraid of the silence and dropping the dialogue then picking it back up, as the concept they were explaining was strong enough to cope.

I found the focus on the perception of time running through numerous pieces really interesting, as well as their focus on the subtle, everyday things in life that can be really emotional. I also really liked the idea they 'd had to work out whether people walk faster now by analysing old video clips. I have a lot of respect for the fact that they had to dismiss this idea because they couldn't determine an accurate frame rate, so it was no longer truly scientific.

ESA: An Arrangement of Knowledge

2010-01-26T18:55:00.010Z

I went to a presentation at ESA last night, where Paul Digby gave an overview of his work and his new piece, Man, that will be displayed as part of the Hybrid exhibition and at the Thackray Medical Museum. It was interesting to see what materials had been used to create the piece, which was a life-size figure in a simplified style, and Paul gave a good description of the process and suppliers of the syrofoam he used, as well as an insight into securing Arts Council funding.

The piece is a man in a suit sat down with his head in his hands, and is done in a really simple style, the figure is rounded and painted using block colour. There was a discussion in the room about how the gesture of despair was universal and the figure didn't have to be detailed to express this.

Also speaking was Jim Garrett, curator of Thackray Medical Museum, who was talking through the art collections that they have and the way that they want to be more inclusive of mental health, possibly due to the recent anti-stigma campaign. He also spoke about wanting more people to exhibit there and that there are conference rooms for that could house 2D work more permanently, so I've taken his email address.

I thought this was an interesting evening and was a good way to introduce people to an artist's work in a personal way and gain immediate feedback through discussion, and was also good for networking and opportunities.

Eva Hesse

2010-01-23T13:29:00.026Z

I found the critical studies really interesting today, reading an extract from Lisa Lippard's book about Eva Hesse, the way she was viewed by critics of her show in the late 60s and how their views opposed her own intentions when creating work.

Critics spoke about Hesse's work in terms of the powerful emotional reaction it provoked, rather than her intention to use formal elements and repetition, and how a controlled use of materials has ambiguously transformed objects.

It's interesting to think that there's so much of a difference between the intention of an artist and the viewer's interpretation. What is more important, the intentions of the artist or the reaction of the viewer?

I've been reading a bit about Roland Barthes Death of the Author, and Derrida's idea of the necessary absence of the creator. I'm finding it a bit difficult to find where I stand on this, whether you can ever really say the author doesn't matter, or whether each case has to be judged individually.

In terms of my own work, I agree with the idea that meaning is created between the audience and the work, and that this doesn't have to be mediated through me in any way. I want to let the work speak for itself and can't think of anything worse than becoming an 'art celebrity'. Although I might put a lot of emotion and experience into my work, I hope that this can be expressed without putting myself on show. I like to create ambiguity through the use of materials that have multiple meanings and interpretations, such as apples, and the way that these materials might trigger different emotions, thoughts or memories in various viewers.

I also found Susan Sontag's essay Against Interpretation, which says:

In most modern instances, interpretation amounts to a refusal to leave the work of art alone. Real art has a capacity to make us feel nervous. By reducing the art to its content and then interpreting that, one tames the work of art. Interpretation makes art manageable, conformable"

I think this is important as it's a reminder that art can be just about a base human reaction, a trigger of a memory, a chill down the spine, and that reaction doesn't always have to be quantified in terms of why it made you feel that way, it just is.

Sheffield Trip Anyone?

2010-01-22T20:27:00.004Z

Does anyone fancy going to Sheff for the day during reading week?

Dilemma!

2010-01-22T19:26:00.006Z

Well, it looks like next Thursday is when it's all happening next week! Firstly, there's the event at Arts@Trinity, and then there are talks by Alex Kelly, from Third Angel, Martin Parr and Joanna Quinn. After a little bit of um-and-ah I've opted for the Alex Kelly talk as I think that this is something that relates to my practice and that I could get the most from.

I also noticed that Third Angel are exhibiting as part of the Hybrid exhibition in Sheffield, which I'm really looking forward to! I went to one of the Hybrid meetings last year as I'm interested in the links between art and science, but I didn't feel confident enough to submit any work for the show. I would like to build on my contacts though, so I'm attending the Hybrid Symposium on 20th March.

I would like to go to the Martin Parr talk aswell, but would have to leave early and trust myself not to fall over on the way out... Hmmm...

Volunteering Opportunity

2010-01-20T14:54:00.007Z

I bumped into Kate Brown, a friend who's an artist and works with arts in mental health. We had a chat and I mentioned our end of year show, which she wants an invite to. We also spoke about the Mind project at Inkwell, on Potternewton Lane, that teaches Fine Art skills, and that they'd like volunteers. This is something I'd be interested in, but can't really commit to at the minute, as I don't want to take on too much, but know a few other people at college that are interested in working in this area, so I'll mention it.

Starting Off

2010-01-20T13:51:00.005Z

I'm quite fortunate to be from the Leeds area originally, so I've managed to build up a few contacts around in the area over the last few years, and subscribe to the LVAF listserve and ESA newsletter to find out about events.

I am going to have a look through my emails and see what's going on over the next month that I can go to and get involved in.

I'm also reading Filippa Dobson's blog about the Altermodern exhibition, curated by Nicolas Bourriaud, as I was interested in this during my last project, and she went to the exhibition and attended the Necronaut talk last year.