Lectures/Talks

BABEWORLD READING GROUP: The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction

Lectures/Talks, Reading Groups

The_Carrier_Bag_Theory_of_Fiction_-_Ursu

The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction by Ursula K Le Guin, lead by Elena

  • the human aspect- not sure if we agree that heroes are the driver of a story, necessarily- people in the modern day enjoy watching people do mundane everyday activities- i.e. ASMR videos, or the TV show Gogglebox
  • the container as the most important human invention
  • collecting and storing v.s. the spear and violence
  • you harvest something but you need to get the excess home, the excess that you cannot eat then and there
  • the container being more important than what is inside
  • if capitalism is the container- there might be one or two good things inside the container, but the container still needs to be changed/remade
  • oppressive systems and structures could be seen as containers
  • the work we make, as marginalised groups, might not be as meaningful or important if not for the “containers” we are in
  • are we submitting to the container by being part of it, by taking part- i.e. being working class and going to uni- are we becoming part of the problem (container)?
  • can we spread the knowledge and power we have acquired?
  • are we forgetting and leaving behind our original communities (containers)?
  • you carry everything with you- you are the container for your memories, experiences, ect
  • personally I think this text needs to be handled carefully lest it be spun and used for TERF (Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist) rhetoric with the undercurrents of how the container is inherently female (Read: womb, the act of harvesting, home, childcare) juxtaposed with the spear- violence, thrusting, penetrative, adventure, male
  • I am not saying this text is inherently transphobic, just that we need to discuss these interpretations and be aware of them
  • this text is a product of the times- in the 80s Science Fiction was dominated by men, the “hero” role of fighting aliens, so as a woman Science Fiction writer at the time this must have been how she felt trying to write her stories at the time
  • Also in that era trans people had much less of a voice and presence, which is important to note
  • “It is the story that makes the difference”
  • the idea that people only want to see the extremes- easier to turn into a narrative, to simplify something and make it easier to digest, but doesn’t show the full nuance and scope of a situation. It is easier to visualise a hero saving a village than a mum feeding her kids, and you don’t have to learn from it or put yourself in it- because no one is that extreme
  • It’s easier to focus on one or two individuals rather than the whole system they are propping up and are part of- i.e. the current Dominic Cummings scandal- what he did was wrong and he should be fired, but the media focusing on him means that we aren’t looking at the wider issues- that the whole political party in power are corrupt and doing a huge amount of terrible things, that getting rid of him won’t really make that much difference to the bigger picture, he would just be replaced by someone else equally (or more) corrupt
  • the human connection can be really important; it can make a story feel more real, more relatable, you are more likely to learn something
  • “It is a strange realism, but it is a strange reality”
  • science fiction as an extension or mirror to reality, rather than a mythological tale of heroism
  • the book or novel as a container for a story, rather than a spear travelling in a linear direction
  • not relating to this violent hero narrative and deciding to create your own narrative
  • you don’t always have to be the hero of the story, you can be a villain, or just a person- not a hero or a villain, just a human being
  • the best stories are where things go wrong, or you expect something to happen and it doesn’t (or not quite in the way you planned/thought) and where life happens
  • life is messy and doesn’t always have a clear conclusion, needing a conclusion can be reductive
  • the world will always need saving somehow, there will always be things that need to change, there is no clearly defined finish line in real life

Anna Suggested this podcast, linked below:

READING GROUP PLAN AND NOTES FROM GROUP: The Blob by Dr Charlotte Cooper

FAT Project, Lectures/Talks, Reading Groups, Uncategorized

I am leading next week’s Babeworld3000 reading group, and have chosen to examine a zine made by Dr. Charlotte Cooper, The Blob. This post is essentially my notes covering what I want to discuss during the group so that I have something prepped!

I have chosen this text as it is something very close to my heart- I have lived my whole life as a fat person, and like the author I was was particularly affected by the Obesity section of the now closed Medicine Now exhibit at the Wellcome Collection- particularly by a sculpture by the artist John Isaacs, called “I Can’t Help The Way I Feel” which is the piece that inspired the zine we are reading. I think speaking about marginalisations is super important and I have learnt a lot from our reading groups so far, and whilst we talk about a lot of different intersections- class, race, gender, disability, mental illness, sexuality- we haven’t given much time to the discussion of being fat, and what that means in the society we live in. I think this has a lot to do with how we view being fat. We see those other things as things we cannot change about ourselves, or things that we are born into, but being fat is often still seen as a moral failing, or a flaw that we can work on and change, as opposed to simply being a different body type or being a product of various other factors. All this is why I decided to suggest this text, so that we can open up the discussion and get to grips with how being fat can interact with our other marginalisations. 

The sculpture mentioned above provoked a very visceral reaction in me, so much so that I made a video using clips I filmed on my phone of it, interspersed with clips of my own body and other related imagery called “I Can’t Help The Way I Feel: My Fat Body”. It also inspired me to run a drawing workshop by the same name, which wasn’t as successful as I had hoped, but which has continued and evolved into the FAT Project I am currently working on, including the zine I made during my residency at The Playground and a series of sculptures  and drawings I have been working on.

I think it’s really important that fat people control our own narratives; if the sculpture, which Dr. Charlotte Cooper nicknamed “The Blob”, had been made by a fat artist who was exploring their own relationship to and feelings surrounding their body and body image I think my reaction to it would have been a little different. I would still have had the visceral reactions of disgust and uncomfortable-ness that it provokes, I think, but knowing that someone like me had made it to express themselves would make it feel more genuine and relatable. Finding out that is was in fact made by someone who is not, and it seems never has been, fat felt like a slap in the face. I am not saying that thin people can’t have body issues or eating disorders (for clarification, don’t jump down my throat!!) but for someone to come along and create this narrative, to decide he knows how fat people feel about being fat is just really gross in my opinion. It isn’t the only work of his that sensationalises, trivialises, and makes the fat experience seem “gross” or “other”. He has made a whole series of fat sculptures where they seem to melt onto the pavement and ooze as they dominate the spaces they are installed in.

john-isaac-i-can-t-help

“I Can’t Help The Way I Feel” AKA “The Blob”

Points we could discuss:

  • This idea of co-opting or taking over narratives from marginalised groups- when people who do not belong to a certain group of marginalised people try to tell us how we feel or how we should feel (i.e. how THEY think we should feel) it takes spaces/opportunities/audiences away from those people
  • The “Headless Fatty” concept
  • Fat as symbolism for wealth, greed, laziness, ugliness, as a fetish, or as the “maternal”
  • doctors and fat people
  • body positivity movement being co-opted by thinner, white, cis, straight people when fat queer people, fat people of colour, fat disabled people, FAT fat people are still facing stigma and trauma at higher levels
  • the links to poverty and fatness- as discussed in our first reading group session
  • The Adele situation currently happening
  • The idea that fat people are a modern creation- see Historical Fat People Instagram

Then we’ll see where all this takes us I guess!

Further reading/watching/resources:

Please feel free to message me with other resources that discuss fatness, and specifically fatness alongside other intersections (i.e. being a fat person of colour, being fat and queer, being fat and LGBTQ+, ect)

EDIT:
Really pleased with how the group went, everyone seemed to engage well with the material and topic and I really enjoyed taking on a more active role as leader- I hope to do it again sometime in the future!

We also discussed:

  • Jameela Jamil- the idea of a thin person starting the “I Weigh” movement, how it feels as if she is taking up space that an actually fat fat activist could be using, how it has gained popularity because she has thin privilege and is famous- yes she is doing good work, yes she has had issues with body dysmorphia and eating disorders in the past, but she is undeniably thin and conventionally attractive and so her spear heading the movement in this way is harmful in the long run
  • Instagram
  • fatness and dating/relationships
  • Georgina discussed fatness and sex work
  • Feeling like you have to over perform femininity as a fat person- always having a full face of makeup, looking well put together, not wearing certain clothes (i.e fitted/bright colours/revealing), having certain haircuts/styles, always having to look your best so as not to fit the fat slobby stereotype
  • fatness and disability/mental health/eating disorders
  • Lizzo and Cupcakke – online bullying, especially aimed at fat, black women who decide to be visible
  • power dynamics and institutions- having to censor yourself and beg institutions to be given a platform/commissions, and being blacklisted when you refuse and are critical of them
  • “But is it Healthy?” – this idea of thinness equating health and fatness meaning someone is unhealthy- it isn’t anyone’s business, and thinness doesn’t always equal health, you CAN be fat and healthy (but your health is no one else’s business!! If you wouldn’t ask a thin person about their health then why do you demand to know the medical history of every fat person you meet??)
  • Reclaiming harmful narratives and turning them into positive experiences that raise awareness or celebrate the truths of marginalised groups- i.e. Dr Charlotte Coopers’ dance piece in front of The Blob “But Is It Healthy?” or my drawing workshop and subsequent fat projects
  • bullying of fat people is still seen as publicly acceptable because it is seen as something a person can actually change (unlike other marginalisations) and as a moral failing
  • Lockdown weight gain memes and posts and how it can affect those of us with eating disorders and those of us who are larger anyway
  • The idea of your body being public property

READING GROUP WITH BABEWORLD3000: The Problem With Imposter Syndrome

Lectures/Talks, Reading Groups

EXCERPT 3 IMPOSTER SYNDROME
(there are a few pages missing)

Notes made during the 3rd reading group The Problem With Impostor Syndrome is a chapter from a book called Steal As Much As You Can by Nathalie Olah:

  • the writing style uses a lot of academic language to make it more palatable to academia
  • the way it portrays mental health in the workplace is very centred on middle class white collar working environments- it is wildly different in working class workplaces
  • the dissonance between big brands and companies pumping out mental health slogans who at the same time pay their workers minimum (i.e. not liveable wages) which is a large factor in poor mental health amongst the working class
  • “Advertorials”- editorials in magazines that are meant to subtly advertise a product or brand they want you to buy into
  • M&S LGBTQ sandwiches- they could donate to LGBTQ charities any time of the year but they did this during Pride for publicity, made into a meme/sell-able novelty/joke/gimmick for clout – banks/companies at Pride ect
  • Brands co-opt marginalised people’s narratives and then toss them away when it’s no longer profitable
  • Kim Kardashian and her white saviour complex
  •  appropriation of platforms- safe spaces are taken over and appropriated by brands and the media
  • “Advertising that masquerades as activism, whose tactics go a long way in corrupting our language and stripping our lives of a certain sensitivity; because no sooner have we found a way to articulate our feelings, then it’s commandeered by an advertsing industry which by default reduces it to cliche, leaving us once again unable to articulate ourselves…becoming emotionally impotent”
  • allies need to know when to step back and listen
  • placing responsibilities with the individual rather than the systems in place that cause the difficulties they are facing via phrases like “reach out” and “love yourself” than brands pump out
  • social mobility- forcing people to perform and change things about themselves in order to move up the social ladder
  • people forget or ignore their privileges and assume that because they have been successful that anyone from their background or similar can too
  • “radical education” – Radical to who???
  • solidarity is a choice- you can choose to act or not act, whereas people you are in “solidarity” with don’t necessarily have a choice
  • “code switching”
  • “Whilst it might go against the ideas peddled by most self-help and management books, I would suggest that rather than internalising the structural shame imposed by the corporate workplace, as well as by certain seats of learning and social circles, it is important for all of us to remain vigilant to the many ways in which is dehumanises and strips us of our identity” we are always told it’s our fault for not being good enough, not the systems failing us, is the message we’re fed- we just need to try harder! We need to realise that these are lies and stay vigilant to these messages we are being fed as they impact how we treat ourselves and others
  • we are sold the idea that the “working class dream” is to no longer be working class
  • discussion around accents and how it can change how we are perceived, understood and treated; and how we change our accents to fit different situations or as a way to distance ourselves from where we are from
  • “To do this, it’s essential to remember that in the market economy, you- your body and your mind- are no more than a commodity in the eyes of your employer, and that any attempt they make to improve your wellbeing is for the sake of securing profit” CORPORATIONS AND BRANDS ARE NOT YOUR FRIENDS!!! YOU ARE A COMMODITY TO THEM
  • “…find ways of putting that experience as an imposter to good use: writing about your experiences, harnessing the dynamics you witness to mount political movements to create a more empowered workforce” this bit kind of doesn’t match up to the rest of the text in my opinion- it takes a lot of mental energy to be able to do these things, on top of already working probably full time and trying to manage your life. When you are already mentally ill/a person of colour/working class/trans/gay/under privileged in some other way being expected to then be an activist and fight for your rights on top of all this is a really big ask! Yes we are angry, but we’re too exhausted to constantly be fighting it on top of the everyday battles we face.
  • Allies need to step up and help marginalised people in this and support them- stepping in when you can see your friends struggling under the weight of their marginalisations
  • An example: If you are cis and in a meeting rather than waiting for your trans/non-binary friends to announce their pronouns, jump in and introduce yourself with your pronouns! This takes the pressure off of them, normalises the conversation, and gets everyone else to share their pronouns without making your trans/non-binary friends feel awkward or uncomfortable and making them feel like they have to out themselves just to have their pronouns respected

BABEWORLD3000 Reading Group: Intro to “Taking Up Space”

Lectures/Talks, Reading Groups

TAKING UP SPACE EXCERPT

Notes made during the second BABEWORLD3000 reading group, reading the introduction to Taking Up Space: The Black Girl’s Manifesto for Change by Chelsea Kwakye and Ore Ogunbiyi

  • the expectations placed on minorities- remembering where you come from, but not allowing yourself to be tokenised
  • the pressure to succeed that others who are not marginalised will not experience, or at least not to the same degree
  • being black and British as a unique experience
  • “For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved the fact that no one could pin down my identity. I never wanted to have one defining characteristic. I wanted people to see that I could be all of them at once. I wanted to be complex, be able to change my mind, have opinions and interests that didn’t necessarily make sense all the time. My identity was never just me: it was perfect distillation of everyone around me.” 
  • the quote above particularly spoke to me as I have Borderline Personality Disorder- I find my personality becoming defined by different aspects of my identity, because I don’t know what else “I” am, and it often feels like my personality is made up of bits I have stolen from other people- certain opinions, likes, dislikes, that belong to people I know, rather than being my own
  • already exhausted by microaggressions and you then have to educate your peers every time your marginalised group is mentioned or discussed
  • reductive- reducing people down to one single aspect of their identity- i.e. being black, or working class, or disabled- you are a “black artist”, or “disabled artist”, ect- you become an involuntary spokesperson for that whole group of people
  • a lot of us talking about how to our families and friends we sound “posh” or “well spoken” but in the art world we never feel good enough, people point out our accents, ask where we are from, we have to change parts of ourselves to fit in, dilute our identities and break ourselves down into bite-size digestible chunks
  • maintaining the effort of being “presentable”
  • discussing how in the media black British people are rarely called British, despite being born here or having spent the majority of their lives here- for example the recent thing with the Windrush Generation, compare this to African Americans who are considered “American”. Also discussing the COVID19 pandemic currently happening and how the media is reporting the fact that British people of colour are dying at higher rates but skirting round the reasons why this is happening- institutionalised racism- and still refusing to call these people British. One example is a BBC News headline from a few days ago: “Coronavirus: Black African deaths three times higher than white Britons- study” – Why is it worded this way, as if to imply that they are not British?
  • having to hide disabilities and mental health issues to get into these institutions
  • people who have privilege often don’t want to acknowledge that they have privilege
  • “It would soon become my most defining characteristic, in a place in which I had thought I would have licence to explore every facet of my identity.” Obviously the author is talking about being black at uni, but for me it relates to being reduced to a few parts of my identity- i.e. being working class, fat, LGBTQ+ (when I eventually came out) and mentally ill. It felt like the only acceptable bit of identity that I could explore during my degree at uni was being queer, the other things were not seen as acceptable- I shouldn’t flaunt my fatness, or my mental illness, or be “too working class” whatever that means. Even in LGBTQ+ circles though, particularly in the LGBTQ+ society at my uni I was made to feel not “queer enough”- I hadn’t yet dated a woman or other genders apart from cisgender men, and I didn’t and still don’t look stereotypically “non-binary” (i.e. skinny, shaved head, masc clothes, wearing a binder to change my chest)
  • I made a conscious decision on my MA to be loud and outspoken about all aspects of my identity, but it is exhausting to always have to be that token person to bring up accessibility, classism, racism, ect
  • “As a minority in a predominantly white space, to take up space itself an act of resistance.”

Reading Group With Babeworld3000: “The Pleasure Button: Low Income Food Inequality”

Lectures/Talks, Reading Groups

FIRST READING – THE PLEASURE BUTTON- LOW INCOME FOOD INEQUALITY- EXCERPT FROM KNOW YOUR PLACE
PDF of scans of the text above

Notes made during the reading group:

  • Fish and chips on a Friday night with my Granddad
  • sharing of working class experiences via the reading group
  • “aftertaste of regret” – this hit me because immediately after eating or drinking a “treat” you start to regret it and think about all the things you should have spent the money on instead. Also as someone with an eating disorder I am also hit with the guilt that I shouldn’t have eaten something that unhealthy, and start to spiral about that
  • coca cola- Andy Warhol, shared experience- everyone knows what it tastes like and can have the same experience
  • “press the button” really like the rhythm, it flows well
  • “the pleasure button” it’s exactly that, scratching an itch
  • being working class isn’t a monolith- it can vary area to area, and is really diverse- there are some experiences that are universal, but some that are dependant on various factors
  • This text is definitely very focused on the British working class experience, but it does feel super white
  • Right wingers see working class people as pawns but we are also demonised by the left
  • commodification of working class aesthetics and foods by non working class people
  • “Distracting myself from depression” “I associate bad food with free time”
  • the more visible markers of class and the invisible boxes that are tangible but harder to see
  • fast food is immediate relief and a break from reality- nothing exists but that momentary enjoyment- it can be all we have in an otherwise mundane and hopeless existence full of worry
  • facts mixed with lived experience and feelings
  • real life lived experiences are just as valid as facts and figures, if not more so
  • the current education system needs to change- representation needs to improve, and the curriculum needs to become more diverse and accessible, the system needs to change so that we don’t just have to conform and fit into the system in order to learn, achieve and become successful- we shouldn’t have to perform to fit in

This is the first time I’ve been part of a reading group like this and I really enjoyed it! It was nice to be part of a group of working class artists like myself (I found at uni I was always in the minority in this regard) and to be reading a piece of work specifically about class with these people; we all found we had shared experiences and common ground despite being from a range of places in and outside of the UK. The essay focused on food and it definitely rang true to a lot of my own experiences growing up and even now living alone in London and being self sufficient- my choices even aged 25 are deeply rooted in my working class childhood.

DRAW- Yu Chen Wang

Lectures/Talks, UNIT 2

“Drawing can be a very simple and effective method of communication” – Yu Chen Wang
As part of the DRAW reading group led by the Post-Grad Community we had the pleasure to welcome artist Yu-Chen Wang, a London based artist from Taichung, Taiwan. Her practice primarily focuses on drawing, where her work treads a delicate line between control and chaos- she does not do any preparatory drawings, instead opting to sketch straight from her head. Combining her drawings with props, lighting and various structures to create immersive multimedia exhibitions, her work is proof that drawing can exist outside of the paper it is drawn on. She blends her work with performance, as a way to organise people’s movement without their knowledge within the exhibition space, and as a method to communicate with people.

Yu Chen’s work draws from a variety of sources; her interests span topics from theoretical physics, archaeology, and archives, to historical waterways and buildings in the many cities she has visited, and this variety of source materials reflects in her work. Her references include archival materials, draftsman drawings, and photographs. One project in particular that I found inspiring was the project We Aren’t Able To Prove That Just Yet, But We Know It’s Out There (2018-19), developed with Collide International Award, a partnership programme between Arts at CERN and FACT (2016-2018).

(We aren’t able to prove that just yet, but we know it’s out there 2018 150x270cm (detail)
Video and image taken from Yu Chen Wang’s website

This project, in her words, was about “making the invisible visible”, exploring “the abstract photographic images produced by the Bubble Chamber experiments in the 1960’s. Wang was fascinated not only about what they detected –the paths of short-lived electrically charged particles– but also the whole process which surrounded their documentation and interpretation.” (excerpt taken from her website).
As part of this she spent six hours listening to a retired theoretical scientist explain particle physics, and it was this, as well as the variety of archival materials she collected and researched, that formed this project. She also spent a lot of time whilst researching talking and listening to current and former scientists, soaking up their knowledge to enrich herself and the project- she spoke of loving to learn, and this desire for knowledge as being a driving force behind a lot of her work. Her interest in the unseen labour behind most scientific discoveries mimics artistic practice, with many failed experiments, tests, and preparatory work culminating in a final presentation to the outside world. I admired her dedication to learning about this complex topic, and the way she interpreted it has a very unique perspective- she combines her drawing with sound and video to create installations that absorb the viewer. I would love to have the opportunity to see the work in an exhibition space, as I feel that watching the video and seeing photographs in the lecture did not do it justice- it definitely needs to be experienced in its entirety.

Her work proves that art does not, and indeed should not, exist in a vacuum; that artists should be open to exploring other topics, and be able to take inspiration from anywhere. Being able to do this can make art much richer and we, as artists, should strive to connect with different people, and engage with everything we possibly can. Yu Chen Wang’s is fundamentally about communication, and a desire to connect with others, and at her core Yu Chen is just a person seeking to communicate and forge genuine connections with people through art.

Surviving and Thriving as an Artist- Rosalind Davis, Notes

Lectures/Talks, UNIT 2

Notes made during the talk by artist, curator, teacher, writer and consultant Rosalind David

  • Managed and curated CORE gallery in Deptford
  • Zeitgeist Arts Projects- ZAP- artist run organisation co-founded and ran with Annabell Tilley
  • “What They Didn’t Teach You at Art School”- her book
  • what other values do you have? “Making it” looks different to everyone
  • getting opportunities- meeting people, building contacts, keeping in contact, promotion, research, seizing opportunities, building a good reputation, being polite and memorable, being organised and professional, networking
  • design the art and career YOU want
  • engage in the process- i.e. exhibitions
  • be aware of the different kinds of art spaces/organisations and figure out which work best for you
  • apply for opportunities- competitions, open calls, DIY gallery proposals, art fairs, festivals, site specific projects, commissions, awards, ect
  • get used to rejection but don’t let it get you down
  • don’t be passive- pursue things!
  • Why have an exhibition?
    – to get feedback
    – meeting people
    – to see your work in a new context
    – working with new people
    – socialising/networking
    – learn from others
    – professional reputation
    – sell work
  • email- write a personal intro (show you have researched them) before inviting them to your event go to theirs- build a real connection
  • Ways to make money:
    – commissions
    – funding
    – scholarships/grants
    – awards
    – residencies
    – exhibition fees (rare)
    – other art jobs
  • Oli Epp- residencies- PLOP residency
  • Selling your work:
    – be realistic
    – be present
    – be prepared to talk about your work
    – price it right
  • Virginia Verran
  • check contracts and be careful- get legal advice (Art Quest offers an hour free)
  • Arts Council funding- “Develop Your Creative Practice”
  • artist statements- find 3 powerful words to describe your work, be creative with language, make it engaging, what and why, spellcheck, get someone to proof read, update it regularly, read it out loud
  • Shape Shifters Exhibition- 2nd May
  • writing about your work- who, what, why, why here, when
  • applying for things- possibilities, timing, dates, assistance, ability to engage, support, workshops, talks, collaboration, community, value, networks, organisation, communication
  • UKYA- for 18-30 year olds
  • website, business cards, press release, newspapers, social media, research people to invite, peers, re-introduce yourself, be realistic, spend time on things
  • Art Quest- careers and employability newsletter – sign up!!

This talk was really engaging and full of useful information for the future- as you can see I made a lot of notes!

Touch workshop with Professor Kojiro Hirose

Lectures/Talks, UNIT 2

notes made during the workshop:

  • accessibility of art/museums/galleries
  • how to engage multiple senses for those with different impairments and those without impairments
  • tactile works- 3D? How can we make 2D works (i.e. pictures/books) more accessible?
  • watch that speaks- tells you the time, watch that is tactile- you can tell the time by feeling it
  • paperless braille memo pad systems- has memory and can be connected to a PC for reading or storing notes
  • braille has limitations- education needs to learn it and use it
  • computers have made things more accessible, but to get qualifications in other languages you still need to learn braille
  • braille requires more space than text and specific printing techniques- meaning it is more costly and less accessible
  • we need to make braille/sign language/deaf-blind sign languages more widely available for everyone to learn so that it is easier for impaired/disabled people to get on with their lives
  • translating the visual information into tactile information can be difficult- can we do this the opposite way round or is it better to give both equal importance at every stage?
  • using disability as a framework to develop better educational systems
  • translation as an act of creativity, using creativity to solve communication issues- there will always be more than one interpretation or version
  • when translating visual information into tactile information how to you put across the emotions/feelings?
  • light as heat- rather than seeing it it can also b felt, modern lighting gives off less heat than before, and makes less noise than ol fashioned lights
  • engaging other senses- not just sight and touch in artworks- this can benefit more than just disabled/impaired people
  • layering sounds/smells/textures/air/temperature/light/ect

This workshop was fascinating- I have been saying all this time that I want to make my work more accessible, and it was vital for me to learn what is can be like for people with impairments different to my own, so that I can be more considerate of this in my own work going forwards. It has made me think much more critically about the choices I make in my art, and making sure that my goal is genuinely to make it as accessible as possible, rather than just pleasing token people.

Christian Heath- Anthropology of the Object

Lectures/Talks, UNIT 2

Notes made during Christian Heaths’ lecture:

  • the use of objects and how people use relatively simple objects everyday
  • lift up the object (not physically) to see the complexity behind the object and its use
  • treat the mundane as highly complex- use it to discover new things about humanity
  • get a feel for the intelligence required to use certain objects (seems a bit racist/ableist to me)
  • using anthropology and sociology to inform the design of certain objects and interfaces
  • ethnography used to analyse people
  • Field methods:
    – detailed and systematic observation of use- situations, activities and interaction
    – drawings, photos, videos, diagrams, notes
    – discussions and interviews- not necessarily the best way to find out how people use things
    – materials documents, manuals
  • Principles:
    – immerse yourself in how the participants use and view the objects, disregard your own ideas
    – analysing situations and activities
  • tacit knowledge- things you know how to do, but can’t explain- i.e. talking
  • invisible skills
  • familiarity conceals the complexities of use
  • render the familiar world strange- investigate these familiar things as if they are new to you
  • field studies and systematic observation of use of objects to accomplish a task
  • how use is shaped with regard to the activity and situation
  • discovering the differences in use between different people
  • anticipation of the use of an object
  • how long do people interact with the object (s)? What is their experience of using the object (s)?
  • he mentioned a gender project at a museum that seemed really iffy – it didn’t take into account trans and non binary people
  • how can you take the information you collect, then organise it and use it?
  • consider the structure of the activity and space and how this will affect the interaction, and as such your observations
  • if your research is detailed and systematic it should focus on a few or one small thing- this allows for stronger, more powerful research
  • how can simple objects provide the most impact?
  • interplay between elements of the physical environment
  • interaction and collaboration- natural v.s. forced
  • hands as primary tools
  • economy of action, adjustments to make objects faster/easier to use
  •  we devalue human action and try to replace it with robotic/computerised tech, when actually if humans do it better we should probably leave it be

I tried to ask Heath about implicit bias and the racist roots of anthropology, and if he was aware of/ tackling implicit biases within himself and his research teams and he brushed me off, which was highly disappointing and frankly, annoying. If these scientists and researchers are allowed to study people and their behaviours as they interact with the world around them I feel they should properly tackle implicit biases within themselves regularly to make sure that they do not unfairly stereotype or make false assumptions. What do I mean by implicit bias? 
“Implicit bias… comprises those views and opinions that we may not be aware of. They are evaluations that are automatically triggered when we encounter different people or situations, and commonly function without a person’s full awareness or control”
Taken from this site
Having researchers making judgements on people’s behaviours is highly unethical if they aren’t challenging their unconscious views, because their research could be influenced by them and contain unfair biases towards certain people.

However in terms of my project this talk was very interesting- as I want to explore the object (in this case my bones and the casts of them) and how materials and colours affect the viewers perceptions of them. Of course the key problems I face are:

  • how do I get the audience to actually pick up and interact with the objects? Due to the gallery/museum space culture of not being able to touch the art, at the interim show most people wouldn’t pick up my objects until I went over and encouraged them to
  • How do I record how people interacting with my objects without it changing the way they naturally interact with my work? In the lecture he talked about how asking people how they interact with objects isn’t the most accurate way to find out how they actually interact with them, so I need to come up with a way to observe the space and track how the audience interacts in a way that doesn’t infringe their privacy or affect their interactions

I need to consider both of these further, and it would be a good idea if I can do some practical tests- i.e. smaller pop up exhibitions at uni- I could try and book a small room out to set up my work and invite other courses or staff to come see my work, and find a way to record what happens. This will obviously still have some biases though- people at art school are more likely to act the way I want them to (.i.e interacting with the objects more readily) than people who aren’t at art school, but I still think it could be a good start for my research.

Vectors: 60 Years of Digital Art Practice, Dr. Nick Lambert 06/12/19

Lectures/Talks, Uncategorized
  • “Art of the Electronic Age“- book
  • started back in the late 90’s researching digital art and its origins
  • Frank Popper
  • Cold war period and how types of computer developed during this period
  • CACHE Project Archive
  • Computer Art Society
  • John Lansdown
  • using computers for architecture, performance, animation, ect
  • the transference from computers being large and only used by limited people to being smaller and in the home
  • shifts in technology and culture
  • early digital media doesn’t survive very well- mostly survives on paper, due to  changes in formats and storage devices, and their fragility
  • digital dark age came about due to these changes
  • emulating old systems to archive older online/digital materials
  • is everything worth saving, if we could save everything?
  • Ideas Before Their Time, 2010
  • Brian Peffin-Smith – big in the digital art scene
  • is there a digital aesthetic? How can it be defined?
  • an interchange between you and the machine/programme
  • what is the computers most important contribution to visual arts?
  • can the computer become a creative agent in its own right?
  • inter connectivity of artists and makers via the internet
  • features and “intelligent” programming can shape and try to dictate what you are creating- you can turn it off a lot of the time, but it can still help or hinder the creator
  • the urge to fill empty spaces with imagery- colonising new spaces, such as the web
  • Frieder Nake
  • art as a commodity
  • Computer Graphics and Computer Art– Herbert Franke
  • the shift from the web being democratic and open to becoming heavily monetised and heavily marketed
  • Warhol- works for Commodore
  • why use modern technology in order to generate the most traditional formats of the art world? i.e. printing and framing digital art and putting it on the wall
  • Gilbert and George- Ginko Pictures, 2005
  • “Duchamp Land” and “Turing Land“
  • using digital mediums as another form of artistic expression
  • Senster– Edward Ihatowicz, 1970
  • Scriabin- Prometheus
  • is the digital a tool or a medium?
  • Visual media Lumia