talk

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.

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