Somehow I managed to get back home to sunny Wiltshire over the weekend from Lancaster without any delays! That was quite unreal considering everywhere on the route from Lancaster to Swindon was covered in inches of heavy snow. I feel really sorry for all those people stuck trying to get somewhere for the Christmas period, I hope everyone gets to where they need to and above all that Happy Christmas and a very Happy New Year.
I am back at home for the Christmas break until mid January so I won't be doing much blogging over the festive period (sorry - Chocolate and TV call me.....) but I thought at this point I could do my self evaluation of how the last few months have gone on the course, based on the Learning Agreement me and my supervisor drew up at the beginning of the course. Apologies in advance if it becomes a bit repetitive and a bit boring, I'll try not to make it boring (I promise!).
"Marcus has a core interest in technology and mediation, and a concurrent fascination with the languages of cinema. This includes representations and changing attitudes of gender in cinema, the impact of cinema in the cultural domain and society; how technology can be used in the live theatre space, specific interest in 50's and 60's film noir.
Practical investigation will include viewing performances, exhibitions and films - at Nuffield, PSG, festivals, Manchester / Liverpool and further afield - to better be able to place own practice in cultural / artistic landscape"
My interest in Technology and performance has been something which for the last 2 and a half years has been centred up till the start of this course at looking and admiring visual technologies are deployed in the theatre space. In the last few months, that has shifted not only to looking at how I can deploy technology into my artistic practice (e.g. using it in performances) but also how I, as an emerging artist, can use technology to my advantage of promoting myself, using Twitter, Facebook, Blogger, Flickr and IdeasTap online profiles to better publicise my work and my interests. I have not looked into the language of cinema in as much detail, in fact I would probably say that looking at the language of cinema is not the correct description, because it is more looking at the cultural impact of cinema and how cinema and film have become one of the dominate cultural forms in our society. How, as a form, it brings together huge audiences and is technically innovative in its ways of communicating with audiences. The language of cinema of course comes into this, but as something I would have a clear research interest in, I would say the cultural impact of cinema is much more a clear line of thought.
Visiting Galleries / Exhibitions and seeing performances was one of my main aims for this term for two reasons. Firstly to keep myself involved with the arts sector, making sure that I knew what the main ideas and discussion points were at any given time. Secondly It will keep me inspired and gives me the opportunities to try and see who I am working in similar context to, what work is similar to mine and if there is an audience for what I wanted to make. One of my big worries is that I don't want to make work which is only for me, It has to be for an audience to enjoy, experience, relate to, disagree with, agree with, hate, love or dislike. In getting to as many performances and exhibitions as I can,helps to get me involved. Of course the more you can visit the better, there is no set limit on how much you should see. Towards the end of the term, I saw less and less however I had always imagined that the beginging of the term would always be the time that I would see more work and that was the case.
I got to see lots of fantastic work such as Forced Entertainment's new performance 'The Thrill of It all' and 'Inspector Sands: If that's all it is' at the Nuffield Theatre, Lancaster. I was at the 'Leadership Lab Conference' at the Hive in Manchester, visited Exhibitions at the Cornerhouse in Manchester, Tate Modern in Liverpool, FACT in Liverpool and Manchester Art Museum.
"Theoretical interests and reading including Judith Butler, Philip Auslander and Jean Baudrillard, plus re - reading Sophie Calle, Italo Calvino, Georges Perec, Walter Benjamin"
This term has been about researching and developing creative and practical ideas informed by research. I would be honest in saying that academic research has been poor, due to the fact that my mind has always been focused on running with practical ideas. I felt during the term that academic research was slowing down my creative process and it was only when I felt that I had a context of what I was interested in then I could return to academic research. Now that I feel I am confident with the context (the city landscape) that I can return and carry out detailed research into academic texts and associated materials.
"Marcus has established a working pattern that includes a weekly planning session (evidenced in a blog), 2 studio based workshop sessions (one of which can include showing work to supervisor) and a reflective session on Fridays (again evidenced in the blog). Studio sessions will take the form of practical investigations around specific ideas, including gathering material from task - based walks and excursions, integrating low-fi technology, as well as creative writing tasks".
Establishing a working pattern of blogging on Mondays and Fridays has been a really stable part of the process thus far, something which has allowed me to really get into a pattern and divert my energies into trying to work out what I need to spend my time more on. The Friday blog especially has allowed me to be very reflective and sometimes critical of what I have done during the past week. I have not been able to have 2 workshop sessions every week, either due to rooms being booked or due to the fact that I have had a lot of paperwork to catch up with.
Next term I really want to learn from this term. I want to block book a room for the entire term before I return in mid January to ensure that I have a space which is mine during the week. Instead of doing 2 workshop sessions I want to have a session of between 3 and 4 hours where I try out a lot of different ideas, this because I think I work much better when I have my own designated time just to play about and make things! The way I have been researching ideas for workshops comes from a number of different sources such as newspapers, TV / Radio Documentaries, performances, academic research. This method of research really suits me, I don't find it easy to sit down with a pile of books and read so being able to obtain research from a number of different sources not only keeps the research process ever evolving but also presents a number of different avenues to obtain information and research. The thing I will take from this term would be that I did not make nearly as many things creatively as I would have liked. I was more concentrated on researching and trying to develop my own mission as an artist and seeing what my role was, understanding myself as an artist than trying to make lots of end products. Each week next term I would really like to make something (e.g. a short performance, a short film) and show it every week as a means of generating a bank of material and examples to work from, for my final piece as part of the MA Festival in September.
"Student's desired Outcome: Use the first term as a testing ground for ideas, and to reflect on them. To Produce a body of reflection in blog form.
This term has a been a testing ground for ideas, informed by research and viewing examples which suit my interests (e.g. film Noirs, Gangster videos, Media art, New Media Art) and trying these ideas out in a practical format and seeing how I can develop these ideas in the future. Throughout the term I have used my blog very regularly to update on my progress, explain my ideas and analyse what I have been researching and consequently making.
"Objectives / Learning Outcomes: Learn about own working patterns, what's effective, solo practice, independence. Develop a body of possible approaches and technologies that might inform the final project. To develop a low-fi aesthetic performance language through which to explore core concerns.
One of the main concerns I had before I started this MA was how I was going to work on my own. I have always been very independently minded but I was extremely worried about how I was going to focus my energies and not spiral out of control. I sometimes getting obsessive about work that I do, I am a perfectionist and I always want to produce the best work I can do. Over the last 3 months the course has taught me to really try and direct my energies into the area that is best suited. It has made me realise that I do enjoy working on my own but I love to socialise as well and working on my own, actively tells me to try and speak to as many of my friends and family who are not connected to my work as possible because otherwise it makes me think that they are not important. I went through this phase during the end of my third year and It is something I am very keen not to re-approach because it is definitely not the right approach in life, let alone in your early twenties when you need to work hard but play even harder!
I have become a huge advocate of Twitter in the last few months. It has become a really important tool in the way I communicate with people. As an individual artist and not part of an organisation, It is essential as I see it to talk to as many people in the arts sector as possible. Twitter in my opinion is my best tool, It allows me to interact with people who I am making similar work to and establish myself very quickly, allowing me to post blog posts, link people to my pictures on Flickr and make contacts.
I have developed a series of low-fi technologies that I regularly use in my workshops which I feel are going to play a big role in the development of future creative outcomes. I use a Pentax Digital camera to take still photos and upload them on to my PC whereby I can then edit, crop and re design to suit my purposes. I also use the Pentax camera to take video which I can then project on to surfaces. I also use software on my PC such as Quicktime (to play videos) and Microsoft Office to develop powerpoints and text based materials.
So after all that..what is planned for the New Year?
The next big deadline is the Work In Progress showing in mid February where all of us on PROCAP are showing our work to each other, which I am very much looking forward to. Getting people to see your work is often quite daunting but I am very much looking forward to getting feedback to my work and seeing what other people on the course have been upto.
Over the next few months I will be doing a work placement with The Performing Arts Development and Network Agency (PANDA) in Manchester looking at reviewing the current way we evaluate the success of the arts and trying to come up with a new strategy of how we evaluate the arts.
After all that, I'll leave you alone!!
Happy Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Marcus
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