UNIT 1

Research Paper- The Politics of Space: The Class War in Our Galleries

Assessment, UNIT 1

The Politics of Space The Class War in Our Galleries Kat Outten Research Paper

I won’t lie, I’ll never be 100% happy with this, as it is too deep a topic to thoroughly explore in 3000-4000 words, but I am very pleased that I managed to finish, despite my mental health being very bad over the last four months. I can’t deny that the majority of this paper was written in the last month… cough… week… cough… day… but even still I am deeply proud of myself for persevering and getting it done on time.
Enjoy x

WHITE ROOM AT TATE

Assessment, Exhibition Reviews, Research for River Project (White), UNIT 1

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  • this room really got me thinking about white, and how it can be used IN art, rather than as a blank space in which to display art
  • by choosing not to use colour the artists featured in this room at the Tate Modern were deliberately choosing to subvert the idea of the white cube space, and of what art could be
  • I used to find monochrome paintings and artworks to be quite dull, but I think now I appreciate how big of a rebellion it can be to choose less colour, especially now, in a world where you can access hundreds of hues and use almost every colour imaginable

Updated Project Proposal

Assessment, project proposal, UNIT 1

Working Title:
What is my Practice and Who am I?

Aims and Objectives:

  • To explore the affects colours and materials have on the viewers perceptions of an object, through my objects collected from the banks of the River Thames
  • To develop a body of practical work exploring colours and materials, through my objects collected from the river
  • To examine the use of white in the modern art gallery- why white? Where did it begin? Is the modern art gallery setup inherently classist? I will explore this through my research paper and visits to galleries
  • To explore myself and my role as an artist through my practice
  • To continue researching for my video game project

Context:
I am continuously reading articles, stalking artists I admire on Instagram, talking to my peers, visiting galleries, reading books, watching media, listening to music, playing video games, and reflecting on my own practice, and this all provides context to my work. Artists that particularly inspire my work include: drag artist Eureka O’Hara, Rachel Whiteread, Yayoi Kusama, Ronit Baranga, Boo Ritson, Claus Oldenburg, Olafur Eliasson, to name a few. To see more of my artistic inspirations visit my PINTEREST . I am particularly interested in art that engages viewers, in work that explores everyday objects in weird ways, and work that focusses on the body currently, although my interests change regularly.

Methodology:
My making process definitely inspires my research and ideas, which is evident particularly in my river project. The display of the white vacuum form plastic pieces I made made me think about the use of white in the gallery space, which has informed my research into white and its use in the gallery space, which is a possible avenue for my research paper. I am constantly making and revising my ideas, and it is this constant revision which has made me realise that the process in the foundry is probably going to take up most of my time at least until the end of this academic year, which means my video game project is definitely going to be put on the back burner and kept strictly to research at this point. As I have worked in the foundry I have also developed the idea of exploring how materials and colours affect the viewers perceptions of an object- and this line of inquiry is now the main thought behind the river project. This has inspired me and my aim for the project now is to recreate my objects in as many materials as I can to explore this. I will continue to document my processes through photography and notes on this blog, and I would also like to do more filming of various stages of the process- I find filming it helps me to remember different stages better, and it is easier to show how to do something via video than it can be via photos and written descriptions. This will also help me to hone my editing skills!

Outcomes:
I envision my final outcomes at this current moment to be an interactive exhibition for my river project- I would like a table displaying the original objects and the casts of them in various materials, including bronze, aluminium, plaster, resin, wax, ceramic, and possibly 3D printed plastic. The idea is that I would encourage the audience to pick up and interact with the objects, whilst observing if certain materials are more familiar or comfortable to the viewer, and if so which. I would hope to discover the affects of the materials and colours on whether the audience are more likely to interact or not with the objects.

I also hope to have this blog as a cohesive record of my development, showcasing a diverse body of practical and academic research that has informed my practice and finished works.

Workplan:

  • Research Paper Submission- November
  • Blog submission- November
  • Finished work in Foundry by December 2018
  • Begin work in Ceramics by January 2019
  • Have a substantial body of pieces for final show in July

Bibliography:

Here is everything I’ve looked at so far for the Perfect Victim Game project, and this is everything I’ve looked at so far for the research paper/River Project.

 

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?