Susan here. I have set up this blog as a virtual space where we can discuss ideas about the exhibition. It means that anyone involved can post ideas day or night and all our separate ideas can be kept together in one place and develop over time.
If you don't like the layout template I've chosen please do change it. If you've not used a blog before please tell me and I'll make sure I show you how to use it or ask someone else in the year who knows what they're doing.
I hope I'm not taking over by setting this up. It just seems like a good idea and I thought we could get going with it as soon as possible.
All the best
Susan
Hi guys,
ReplyDeleteThis is pretty neat, never done this before. Today was pretty jam-packed. I guess there's a lot we could talk about, I probably won’t really have a go at summarising what we were up to this morning, just because I can't remember, but I've just noticed that the clock might be wrong with this website? It says that Susan’s post above was posted at 5.39? it’s 5.18 according to my clock? maybe you have access to a time machine Susan?
The day was kind of split up into 3 parts - - 2 if you didn't go to the lecture like me :-O. I guess the morning was split up into two parts as well (oooh, everything is split into pairs), we had a nice chat around 10:00 - 10:30 although I can't exactly remember what was discussed. Then after we did our mini-documentation-crits we went downstairs to the gallery and looked around and spoke about how viable it might be to use one/both rooms/the gallery as a car show-room. I can't remember if we concluded on anything? or what the 'action plan' is?
Then later there was the toolbox thing (which may or may not be relevant to talk about in regards to our show - I think it was, especially the distinctions between academies/universities and art schools). I thought the toolbox thing was awesome? Anyone else?
Anyone with a better memory care to elaborate on the actual content of discussions instead of waffling like me?
Thanks Tom, that was useful as a beginning and glad blogging is something new for you and that you've got the hang of it so easily. Yes, it's fair to say the day was jam packed. Is that a good thing? Perhaps we (course team) are packing in too much? However, there seems to be a particular surge of energy and ideas amongst CFAP staff at the moment that is wonderful to see and it would be unwise not to ride the surf whilst it's up. Not sure where that surfing analogy came from.
ReplyDeleteHm yes, the first session was supposed to be about small critique groups talking about the documentation work that you are going to be handing in. However, it soon became clear to me that our minds had superseded that idea and that we have actually moved on to thinking seriously about the 2nd year exhibition. This was encouraged by breaking news about this year's exhibition being the last second year show and that next year, if there is a 2nd year show, it will most likely be a selected show, selected by a small group of senior staff. This caused much discussion and consternation amongst certain of us. Furthermore it was confirmed that you will have both galleries for your show. Mick was around and he and I got talking about how you might use both the galleries - or not, which quickly led to those of us who were in taking a trip downstairs to the gallery to walk through and imagine how both spaces might be filled. Opinion was divided with some people thinking that you would be able to use both galleries comfortably (Fenya, Kat and Chloe confirming that their work is all quite large) whilst others (myself included) expressed some doubt about the feasibility of the exhibition comfortably filling both gallery spaces. We discussed the possibility of Tom and Rob (2 ex-CFAP students who are now curating, doing the curating MA at Goldsmiths and run a space called Hold & Freight http://www.holdandfreight.org ) putting on a show in the other gallery in conversation with your show and everyone decided to think about it.
Yes, toolbox was great and went down well. Mary Anne raised some central questions about the relationship of theory and practice drawingi upon the historical development of this 'special relationship' to reveal an awkwardness that still pervades our art institutions. It's good to see this new series of sessions getting off to such a good start. Those weren't there, shame on you (apart from those of you who emailed me to say you couldn't come). The sessions have been specially designed by us to meet a need so do turn up ...
And the Art Lecture was fascinating. The speaker Fedja Klikovac delivered a lecture where he repeated just the one question "Was ist Kunst?" (What is Art?) over and over for 37 minutes whilst projecting a powerpoint of images of a seemingly random selection of artworks. He said the question in a raised voice in quick succession at times sounding quite aggressive. This repeat of Serbian artist Rasa Todosijevic's 1976 lecture came across as a kind of interrogation, interrogating the audience about its own assumptions about what art is and ultimately confusing the roles of interrogator and interrogatee. What I noticed was the way in which the words, repeated so often, broke down into sounds and became nonsensical as any often repeated phrase is apt to do. The discussion was lively and included much detail about the original 1976 lecture which Fedja had attended and which has inspired him ever since. For more detail ask those who were there.
For the following 2nd year shows, if they are going to be selected by certain staff members, I wonder what would happen if all the students submitted exactly the same work. How would they choose who's work gets shown? I wonder if there are any maneuver's we could make with reference to this? (with more or less subtelty than the car showroom idea, I still have no idea how serious everyone was being about that) I suppose our show does already at least implicitely deal with the issue to some degree...and maybe on the other hand we should be grateful that we don't have to deal with trying to navigate the problems that a 'selected' show poses.
ReplyDeleteThere's a kind of tenuous analogy that can be drawn up with the toolbox seminar (on Theory and Practice) to our show (on Work and Play etc). Of course the definitions are always pretty loose, but you can see how they might be implied in one another - I wonder whether we could draw up some structuralist diagrams like Mary Anne did but with our own concepts, I'll doodle some in a minute and let you know if I find anything :-P
Going back to your original questions Susan, I think that the timetable at the moment (for me personally) is pretty spot on, in the past it has been near empty and then at other times really full (that kind of dynamism is also good but if people have certain commitments I guess it can be difficult) it would be interesting to hear a kind of concensus on how jam-packed-or-not the course is. I was also going to say something about the documentation project - yesterday I was saying something (pretty cheesy) about how this show has been relatively important to me in that it forces me and constantly reminds me to question seriously the why's and who's I make work for, because I think it's pretty easy to trick yourself about those. But in conjunction with the documentation project it has been especially helpful, it kind of has the same effect, although perhaps more in a 'how do you frame the work that you have already made' as opposed to work that you are going to make sort of way. I suppose it might be a be seen as a bit silly and I bit naive that you might need a project like this to be reminded of what appear like fundamental issues that guide the way you might make work, but I would always argue that its not so easy, I'm at least ALWAYS tricking myself about it. So...I think it's a really helpful project, I hope they never really get it off of CFAP. I'd like to know how long it's been part of the course and whether every year gets it?
Hi
ReplyDeleteI thought I'd join in with your little conversation but I'm having trouble reading the white writing on black background (or is it the non-black writing on the non-white background?!)I only got half way through Tom's first comment before my eyes gave up and all I could see was white blurred lines! Will pick up where I left off later.
Hello all;
ReplyDeleteMy first post ever! Before I start using this though, I’ve had some thoughts about the nature of this form of communication, and I think its worth maybe talking/thinking about what it is that we are engaging in. I suppose that thought is similar to Susan’s regarding the use of emails - its good to use them, but what do people think of using emails, and what do they engender? I’ve never really used a blog before, and, if honest, my gut reaction is to find them to be a bit of an odd proposition. Why is that? Why would I find it difficult to write in them? I think that language can take many forms, and writing is one that tends to carry with it some sense of fixedness and authority (engraving into stone being the extreme example of words becoming reified physically in the public sphere). Where as informal dialogue in person can often allow for nuances and mistakes, in writing this tends to get highlighted and exacerbated. Although blogs are a much newer (so possibly less time for a full codification of accepted norms?) and definitely more informal shape that writing can take, and although this one is specifically between a small community of people who know each other both professionally (ie student colleagues) and socially, I cant help but find myself tripped by these concerns and therefore less likely to start writing in the blog itself. Due to the nature of time here - you don’t have 5 years to write a response, but you also don’t have to answer immediately - I feel that can also structure a person’s response in such a way that might not always be entirely beneficial. This feels like it is neither a fluid nor static space but instead a kind of viscous one, in terms of the way we usually experience time and public discourse. For example, it took me 2 days of mulling this post over before I committed "finger to keyboard" (although naturally I didn’t spend every hour of those two days on this blog :-P ).
However I think this blog is an entirely positive thing and a good idea, but I just couldn’t start using it without neurotically mentioning something on the matter, even if that thing mentioned was worded badly... I guess what I’m trying to say is don’t be surprised if not everyone jumps into talking on the blog. There are many reasons why people might not write in them. There are probably many questions to ask of them, such as: How democratic is it? What kind of discourse occurs? Why would a person write in them? I’m also aware that this was started probably more for talk on or about the show, so I wouldn’t want to be responsible for taking it off on some tangent. Using it for the show is a great idea, and pretty easy to get to grips with.
Hopefully, my next post will be about the show!
(after I wrote this, I happened to read an essay in a book called "digital cultures" that speaks about the digital public sphere, which seemed related and interesting to a degree. Just in case anyone is interested/has the time, I've sent you all a copy via email :-D )
Hey all - I know this page has gotten quite long, but yet, I'm adding to it.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad we are getting both rooms, my only concern was that we wouldn't be able to fill it, but I think if we space things out appropriately we'll have no problem.
Susan, you mentioned at the start of our documentation project that it might be put in the show - is that still a possibility? It might be something we could potentially fall back on if we need to.
Also I'm glad to say this isn't a selective show - I can understand why the administration would want to do that, but it seems really negative, to exclude people who are also in the course. These shows, especially in our class, seem to really bring everyone together within the course.
Also, with the other show space, what if we did it at the end of the term in June?
I missed Monday, unfortunately, because of my dumb foot.. I would have liked to have heard the university vs act school conversation especially, because I'm here in Brighton at a University having come from Kansas City in an art school. Julie has given me a pretty thorough update on what I've missed on Monday, though. Should be there Thursday and Friday.
Tom - if next year you do have everyone enter the same work, I really want to see how it goes.
-emily h
Hi everyone!
ReplyDeleteAfter Susan's expert demonstration this afternoon for me and Daryl on how to use this...thing, I thought I would give it a go!
Concerning what Leo has said about the usage of this blog and also what Daryl was saying about having a more physical source, I think maybe that a happy medium could be found. My main problem I think I have with blogging as such is that I find it perhaps a little tedious - and I'm useless at checking things like this regularly! I do however think that this could be a very useful medium for recording our conversations, both online and in the studio. Is there scope for adding word documents like the minutes that I typed up so beautifully a while ago?
I think it would also be a good idea to start popping things up on the wall in the studio - like a simple map of the gallery for example. Maybe we could create a sort of brain storm that everyone can add to as and when?
The last thing I have to say is that I really think that we should decide on a some titles for the show - me and Chloe were talking about this earlier, and we thought that it would help give us a bit more direction. We both feel that we seem to be talking an awful lot about making decisions, but not actually making many.
Well I think that's me done...now fingers crossed this works!!!
Bry