GM Proposal (before PowerPoint)...

CONCEPT

BLANKS

‘WE START WITH A BLANK: A WORLD OF POSSIBILITY’ [i]

I PROPOSE TO EMBELLISH AND DRAW ATTENTION TO THE EVERYDAY. GEOFFREY MANTON IS MANY PEOPLES EVERYDAY.

I WANT TO EMBELLISH AND WORK WITH THE STRUCTURE AND NATURE OF THE BUILDING; A WHITE BLANK SPACE ‘FULL OF MEANING, A WIDE LANDSCAPE OF SNOWS’.[ii]

I WANTED TO THINK ABOUT THIS IDEA OF BLANKS AND ‘OUR AMBITIONS TO IMPROVE UPON IT’ [iii], A DESIRE TO MAKE A MARK, BE ORIGINAL AND MEANINGFUL.

THERE ARE BLANKS IN LITERATURE, THE IDEA OF BLANK SPACES, AND BLANKS IN MAPS LINK TO AN IDEA I DESCRIBE AS A 'QUEST FOR KNOWLEDGE', WHICH I BELIEVE TO BE A RATHER FITTING CONCEPT FOR A BUILDING FULL OF WHITE SPACE, WHICH PROVIDES A CONSTANT INFLUX AND FLOW OF KNOWLEDGE AND DISCOVERY TO MANY STUDENTS.

MY PROPOSAL IS A CORRESPONDING SERIES OF PIECES SITUATED ON THE FIRST FLOOR ON THE BUILDING.

BLANK MINIMAL AND SIMPLISTIC, THEY RELATE TO A QUOTE FROM WALTER BENJAMIN, ILLUMINATIONS[iv]: ‘INFORMATION LEAVES NOTHING TO THE IMAGINATION FOR WE HAVE GIVEN IT ALL’ AND SO WE NEED TO ‘AROUSE A THOUGHTFULNESS’:

BLANK POUCHES

BLANK POCKETS

BLANK PHOTOS

CONTAINERS AND PIECES: BLANK SPACES ON WHICH WE CAN REFLECT ABOUT MAKING OUR OWN MARK.

MATERIALS

‘ART PROVIDES A THINKING POINT’ 

I BELIEVE IN MAKING PIECES THAT ARE CONCEPTUALLY, AS WELL AS AESTHETICALLY INTERESTING WHICH IS WHY I WANTED TO EXPLORE THE SHAPES OF THE BUILDING AND REFLECT THE ODD-BEAUTY OF THE WALLS, CORRIDORS AND SPACES.

TO ADD AND BLANK HAS BEEN A PROCESS OF MY EXPLORATION AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE BUILDING, I HAVE PHOTOGRAPHED AND ANALYSED THE SPACE AND ENGAGED WITH THE BUILDING AND STUDENTS ADDING TEMPORARY PIECES AND ASKING FOR EVERYDAY EXPERIENCE S IN PHOTOGRAPHIC FORM..

BLANK ‘PHOTOS’ MADE OUT OF PLASTER, LIGHTLY ENGRAVED REPRESENTATIONS OF BLANKS AROUND THE BUILDING. TEXTILE POUCHES- TEXTILES AS CONTAINERS-CONTAINING AND DISTRIBUTING OUR IDEAS. USING FABRICS; WOOL, COTTON AND SILK AS NATURAL, FAMILIAR MATERIALS, BUT ALSO EXPERIMENTING : ADDING DIFFERENT MATERIALS AND METHODS (MOULDING PASTE AND LAZER CUTTING) EXPLORING IDEAS OF FUSING THE NEW AND OLD IDEAS.

MATERIALS

SILK ORGANZA

MONKS WOOL

NATURAL COTTON

PLASTER OF PARIS

MOUDLING PASTE

COTTON THREAD

LOCATION

THE PIECES WILL BE INSTALLED ON THE FIRST FLOOR.

POUCHES AND POCKETS/PICTURES ARE LOCATED ON OPPOSITE WALLS, DISTRIBUTING THEMSELVES AS ACROSS THE WIDE SPACE. CREATING A COMFORTING CONNECTION AND FEELING.

THE QUIETNESS AND ECHOEY-NATURE OF THE BUILDING IS SOMETHING I FOUND INTRIGUING ON MY OBSERVATIONS AND RECORDINGS OF MY TRIPS TO THE BUILDING.

I WANTED TO THINK A LITTLE ABOUT A RECONFIGURATION OF  THE SPACE AND ITS IMAGE.THE IDEA IS TO PROVIDE A QUITE CONNECTION ACROSS THE SPACE, PIECES OPPOSITE EACH OTHER TO CREATE A REFLECTIVE SILENT DIALOGUE BETWEEN THE TWO PARTS, EACH SIDE ECHOES THE OTHER.

EACH PIECE WILL BE PINNED OR RESTING ON THE WALLS (BY NAILS) OF THE BUILDING, REFLECTING A CONNECTION TO THE BUILDING ITSELF.

 ‘A MUTE MEMORIAL TO THE EVERYDAY’ [i] RACHEL WHITEREAD.

PLASTER PIECES ARRANGED AND FIXED IN GRID-LIKE ARRANGEMENTS AND THE LARGER FABRIC PIECES FACING OUT INTO THE ATRIUM MAY REQUIRE SCAFFOLDING AND MODERATELY STRENGTHY NAILS, WALL HOOKS AND ATTACHMENTS.

LARGE POUCHES x2 – H2mxW1.5m approx..

SMALL POCKETS x2 – H0.55mxW0.30m approx..

PLASTER GRIDS  x3- H0.7mxW1.0m approx

After discussions with Kate, I am going to transfer everything onto a PowerPoint, a more professional way of presenting my work! Something new and a little scary; they were a little shaky and I was thinking they look a little 70s style (which could actually be quite interesting)... 

But I am going to use my boards anyway, as they still demonstrate the development of my project and helped me glue it all together...

Nearly finished!

GM Proposal final samples...

Fabric hand-stitched pouch/container

TEXTILES AS 'FAMILIAR'

Lazer engraved plaster blank photos

PROVOKING A THOUGHTFULNESS

'Mute Memorial to the Everyday'

Snippets of Research from this week...

I read about one recent exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum 'Materialising 'Six Years': Lucy R. Lippard and the Emergence of the Conceptual Art' looks to the processes of the Conceptual Art movement;

'showcases the artists brought together and championed by Lippard, and demonstrates how her curatorial projects, critical writing, and political engagement helped to redefine exhibition-making, art criticism, and the viewing experience'

I also read a review, which described as briliant, but, 'not a visually ingratiating show', with many of the pieces being documentations, photographic, and very ambiguous. Douglas Huebler is among these,  producing work in numerous media often involving documentary photography, maps and text to explore social environments and the effect of passing time on objects. He suggests that the art object is obselete '"The world is full of objects, more or less interesting; I do not wish to add any more."

Something to consider, as how do we make this process or documentation exciting? Why is the object obselete? Can it be an object that reflects the documentation? It seems there can be too much Information, or is there too much Ambiguity in  sculptural conceptual piece of art from the 60s, such as the minimalist period. It made me think about my BLANK pieces and the ideas I have about arousing this 'thoughfulness'; where is the middle ground? 

It also made me think about the success of particpation, as I am currently trying to gain photos of peoples everyday, I have had few responses, so maybe its more about SETTING UP THE TIME OR SPACE myself...

However, another interesting part of the week was a visit to the Whitworth for the Artist Talks series, where we listened to Emily from THE SHOWROOM London, which strangely centred around her ideas about the importance of ART-PARTICIPATION-RESEARCH within their gallery. 

This gallery comissions artworks, provides a strating point for artists and first solo shows and importantly, branches out into its locality, important when such high art galleries, such as the Lisson Gallery are close by, where accessibilty and involvement with the art is limited by the locals.  They aim to involve the locals, to become co-researchers in creating the art (but its not described as participation, as that suggest a pre-constructed outcome...). It was all very interesting stuff, the concept of the space made me really think about what I want to do with my art, and ideas about high art/low art sprung up in my head...

Further ponders/work required.

;to draw attention

       

Had a chat with Mary about some of my work last week, and one of the things we picked up on was that with my images in particular, I am BLANKING to draw attention and ATTACHING  to draw attention (in a few of my photos for the Bench Project, I started to attach/install my fabric pieces into the surroundings).

Links to ideas about embellishing the everyday and that I could expand this to begin to set up a dialogue, between me and the viewer; setting up a time or space; what is high art/low art; temporality; and relational aesthetics..

      

The idea of BLANKING things out, links to the whole beginnings with BLANKS and arousing a thoughtfulness... I have been thinking specifically about the GM building after the talk with Kate, about commissions in general, and how it is important to have something site specific and bespoke to the space, but to also stay true to our own work and ideas...

BLANKS- in literature, maps, producing a 'blank' feelings (unheimlich) the idea of leaving things blank and not giving away too much information (Walter Benjamin), blank aesthetics of the building...

I am going to try and set up a dialogue with the users, or involve them in some way...

For now, these are my blanks of the GM building and other places around the city (above)...