Author: Kat Outten

Week 3 Summary

Weekly Summaries

This Week

Week 3 was a bit tough for me, i have been very unwell, physically and mentally, and subsequently I was unable to attend Tuesday’s workshop. I did, however, attend the lecture on Wednesday by Maiko Tsutsmi, and the topic was deeply relevant to one of my projects.

“practice as research” is a big part of the continuation of my “In The River” project, as I want to explore the materiality of the objects found along the riverbank, and question how rendering the objects in different materials affects the perceptions of these objects. Can these objects that would otherwise be considered rubbish become something beautiful, valuable, or interesting to viewers when moulded or cast in other materials? Do these objects need a function, or can they merely exist without purpose? These are all questions I have been considering since the lecture on Wednesday. I am a very hands on person, and enjoy exploring the physicality of objects, and I feel that the answers to these questions can be revealed through the act of making, then examining what I have made, and reflecting upon it, which is what I intend to do. I have cleaned the objects I have found so far, ready to start experimenting with next week. Also I booked an appointment with Rebecca upstairs in the Foundry to discuss my ideas, and she was very receptive and keen to help me get started- I will book another appointment with her next week to show her the newly cleaned objects and hopefully start making.

This week I have also worked on creating a Pinterest board for artist/designer references, which I have linked in an earlier post. This is to aid my research, and to create a database of artists and designers for myself and my classmates, should they wish to use it, which can then be used to develop a broader knowledge and context for our own practices. I will update this board regularly with artists and designers websites, articles relating to art, and current, upcoming, and past exhibitions.

Also this week I have continued to collect articles for my video game project, and have finished reading and making notes on the relevant chapters from the book “Everyday Sexism” by Laura Bates. I need to create a bibliographic post here linking all of the articles I have read, and I need to develop my notes into a properly written piece, in preparation for applying for funding for this project in the new year. Once I have secured funding I hope to find an illustrator and games designer to collaborate with to make this project a reality.

Going forwards

  • Next week I would like to take some of my larger pieces to the 3D and Plastics Workshop and potentially make vacuum form moulds with them
  • I need to make another appointment with Rebecca and bring along the smaller objects to show her
  • 1-1 tutorial with Jonathan on Wednesday at 12pm
  • Lecture on Wednesday at 2pm
  • Update this blog with photos from the riverbank, and photos of the cleaning process
  • Rewrite my proposal according to Jonathan’s guidelines

Week 2 Summary

Weekly Summaries

This is my first weekly summary post, as the first week was largely uneventful. This week my main aims have been to get back into the habit of properly researching, and to begin exploring my chosen topics.

Questions from Jonathan Kearney’s Lecture:

  • What have I done so far?
  • What have I discovered so far?
  • What will change because of what I have discovered?
  • What will I do next?

What have I done so far?

  • Attended the group tutorial on Tuesday morning
  • Caught up with both this and last weeks lectures via Youtube and made notes
  • Been to a Plastics Workshop Induction
  • Been mudlarking along the South Bank of the river Thames, between the Southbank Centre and Blackfriars Bridge (I still need to clean my finds, ready for documentation)
  • Started to read and make notes on “Everyday Sexism” by Laura Bates, in relation to my “Perfect Victim” project

What have I discovered so far?

  • That litter along the Thames varies, depending on the time of day, and more broadly to the week and even time of the year
  • That sexism is a deeply nuanced topic, that varies depending on a woman’s status as cis, trans, or non-binary but female presenting, and also varies based on the woman’s race, although age is less of a factor
  • I didn’t realise we had a vacuum form machine available, and this has given me the idea to vacuum form some of my beach finds next week, once the objects have all been thoroughly cleaned
  • Action research, and the differences between method and methodology

What will change because of what I have discovered?

  •  I need to change my approach to researching sexism, by reaching out to women whose experiences differ from my own- i.e. trans women, lesbians, and women of colour
  • I want to change the way I interact with the objects I find, as when I began the project I gave myself limits on how i would utilise the objects, and as such the project felt one dimensional and lacking substance
  • I hope to up my game in terms of how I study, and progress from a BA level to MA level, so that I can develop as an artist and as a person

What will I do next?
My plan for the coming week:

  • Clean the objects I have found
  • Begin documenting those objects
  • Potentially take some of the objects into the Plastics Workshop for vacuum forming
  • Continue my reading and analysis of “Everyday Sexism”
  • Attend both the group tutorial and lecture
  • Create a bibliography post for each project
  • Listen to the recording of the talk from Friday, as I was unable to attend
  • Revisit my proposal using Jonathan’s 7 headings as a guide

Despite having a few bad days I feel like I have accomplished a significant amount this week, and I feel positive moving forwards.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Project Proposal

Assessment, project proposal, UNIT 1

My research questions:

  • How can social issues such as rape culture and the rise of poor mental health be explored through art? What is our role, as artists, in bringing these issues to light?
  • What is my role as an artist dealing with mental health issues?
  • How can I use art to express my own difficulties- can my practice be used therapeutically or does it need a higher purpose?
  • What is rape culture, and how can I educate people about the topic through the medium of video games?
  • How can discarded objects be given a new life and made desirable once more? Can these objects be given a new life?

The context for my work is provided by not just artists but also the world around me- I am a firm believer that art should not exist separately from the “real world”, and that art should be for the masses, not for a classist elite. I grew up revering the art of the YBA- but I feel that they have lost their working class roots, and become the opposite of what they started off as. I do not wish to turn out like that- I acknowledge that to make the work I want to make I require funding, but I do not want to sell my soul, metaphorically speaking, in order to achieve this. I am particularly fond of the work of Grayson Perry, as he tackles class, gender, and British culture, all of which interest me. I recently saw his exhibition at the Serpentine, “The Most Popular Art Exhibition Ever!”, and it was incredibly inspiring to witness it in person, rather than seeing images online. Unfortunately most of my previous favourite artists are men, and this is something I hope to rectify; in this patriarchal society I wish to celebrate and uplift fellow female and non-binary/gender non-conforming artists, as well as artists of colour, so my goal is to research into as many as possible throughout this course. I am personally tired of the art world being dominated by straight, white men and wish to explore other identities through my work and research. My three key themes are: mental health, feminism, and death. These are all topics I have worked with before, and topics that I am deeply invested in, and I hope to explore them from different perspectives and via different mediums.

PROJECTS:

MENTAL HEALTH
Aim: to explore the topic of mental health through a body of research, personal reflection, and exploration of materials.
This project is incredibly personal to me, as I have dealt with mental health issues for most of my childhood, teenage years, and so far into my adult life. With a recent diagnosis of Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder, also known as Borderline Personality Disorder, and my much older diagnosis of severe Anxiety and Depression I am left wondering who I am, and where I fit into the world. Can I use my own experiences to help others? How, as an artist who is mentally ill, can I explore the topic, and raise awareness for others? How can I explore the topic through various mediums? Finally, can my artistic practice be used purely for therapeutic means, or does it need to have a higher purpose? These are all aspects I hope to explore through my research and work throughout this project.

PERFECT VICTIM VIDEO GAME
Aim: To create a playable video game exploring rape culture, using research and critically engaging with the topic.
What is rape culture? How can I best educate people about the topic? By making a video game I hope to discuss the issue of rape culture, and the effects it has on women/female-presenting people. By engaging players in scenarios faced by women daily I hope to show people how harmful behaviours, actions, thoughts, and words can all contribute to rape culture, and through this how it can negatively affect all genders. Important areas of research will be engaging with female presenting people of colour, and trans women- as I do not have life experience of this, and their experiences will differ to mine, as a non-binary female presenting white person. I also want to engage with lesbian and bisexual women, to see if their experiences differ, as despite being bisexual I feel that just my experience alone will not be enough to give an accurate depiction. This subject is important to me, both as a female presenting person, and also as a survivor of rape myself, and so I want to handle this delicately- but still create a game that hits people hard.

DEATH AND REBIRTH
Aim: To explore the form and function of found objects through 3D processes.
How can I take discarded objects, and from them create something beautiful? Can these “dead” objects find new life through various mediums? I see this project as a continuation of a previous project, titled In The River. That project involved making photograms of objects I found along the river Thames, in order to show the beauty of these objects that would be considered rubbish. I feel that I did not push this project far enough, and I never got to take the objects into 3D- I would like to cast the objects in different materials to see how that changes them, and manipulate the forms into something new. Can they be made wearable or will they exist purely as sculptural documents of the original objects? How can an audience interact with these objects, and what is their new function, if any?

Rachel Whiteread at Tate Britain

Exhibition Reviews, Photographs, Research for River Project (White), river project

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“One of Britain’s leading contemporary artists, Whiteread uses industrial materials such as plaster, concrete, resin, rubber and metal to cast everyday objects and architectural space. Her evocative sculptures range from the intimate to the monumental.

Born in London in 1963, Whiteread was the first woman to win the Turner Prize in 1993. The same year she made House 1993–1994, a life-sized cast of the interior of a condemned terraced house in London’s East End, which existed for a few months before it was controversially demolished.

This momentous show tracks Whiteread’s career and brings together well-known works such as Untitled (100 Spaces) 1995 and Untitled (Stairs) 2001 alongside new pieces that have never been previously exhibited.” – https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/rachel-whiteread

In preparation for joining the course, and because I have been a fan of Whitereads’ work for quite a while, i visited the Rachel Whiteread exhibition at the Tate. I am particularly interested in the way she alters the viewers perspective on the everyday objects she casts- this is something that inspires my own work quite heavily. It was amazing to see the bookcase casts and staircase in particular in person, as the size and scale can be hard to grasp from pictures, although I wish we had been able to walk between the bookcases, as I feel that would have added something to the piece. I am also interested in the materials she uses in her work- plaster, concrete, and resin, for example. These are materials I hope I will get the opportunity to work with in future, particularly on this MA.

All photos pictured are my own.