Thinking about last term's activities; feedback with Richard Mulhern.

In Digital Media Concepts, my overall mark for this module was scored as a 'B' (middle of the scoring thresholds for this grade). I was a little disappointed with myself in not having achieved the minimum of 70% or above for an 'A' grade, however in reflection, this lower mark is probably appropriate for my work in the actual practice outcomes that I have made during the last term.

I think Richard may have found difficulty in my critical reflective summary, in locating appropriate contextual references within my work. This is let my markdown significantly.

In my critical reflective summary, I mentioned the book "the Peregrine" as a key influence and as a backbone for narrative, but again in the actual practice, there does not seem to be a reference to this. Coupled with a lack of thematic reference to speculative realism and contextual association, makes the critical reflective summary a little confusing. In Richards feedback, if there had been a linear narrative to the Peregrine, then the non-linear narrative should be explored.

In the review of the critical reflective summary, Richard felt that this output seemed to be an exercise in writing a report, "without saying anything at all". My response was that this was intentional at this stage before the major project had actually started so that I could keep a broad proposal approach to avoid tying myself down too much at this early planning stage.

My focus was about putting concepts together rather than the outcomes themselves, but Richard correctly pointed out, that the process needs to be critically underpinned. There is neither a presence or absence clearly articulated of speculative realism. The presentation in Richards view seems to be to overly task orientated, but open-ended; therefore the research has become freewheeling, and it needs to be focused on a question so that my methods can be tested more rigorously.

I explained the current feeling that I had, that the break in academic studies over the Christmas period has allowed the early ideas to start to crystallise, for me to put more meat on the bone as it were. That is to bring the three elements together of speculative realism, digital media and drawing, against the backbone of the Peregrine. My intention is to collide all of those ideas together, and I feel that I do not want to use the book "the Peregrine" just simply as a narrative, (some sort of story just to create an animation). But what I want to do now is to use the description in the to try and articulate what the Peregrine saw so that it's an observation of JA Baker. What goes on in the Peregrine's mind may be completely irrelevant in the way that JA Baker recorded the Falcon's movements. It is here that the speculative realism aspect of my planned work will start to come through.

Richard felt that my CRS was quite a hard read in that issue in the sense that I appeared to be talking around the subject matter. However, Richard also pointed out that all the work around my engagement with Photoshop seemed to be unimportant. What I must do is focus on what is important and also on how to make sure that in the next module the same problems do not re-occur.

In my response to the above, I agreed entirely with Richard's views, and so this whole process underlines the importance of having regular reviews and conversations, not only with Richard but also other academic staff and my peers.

The lecture which I attended on 24 January, regarding documentary photography triggered some salient points that I want to pursue. For example, one item that was cited was the drawing by Albrecht Durer many centuries ago, where traveller described to Albrecht the creature that we now know as rhinoceros. On the description alone, Durrer was able to firstly draw a rhinoceros, but then was able to create a woodcut print of the creature, and the outcome was so accurate it seems almost impossible that he was able to recreate this vision of the creature without ever having actually seen one.

I need to detach myself from just using the images of photography, as a documentary repetition of something that has happened, as I do not want just only to recreate a documentary record of what JA Baker observed. But instead, is that I want to do something halfway between the life of the Peregrine and the world from a Peregrine's point of view, and hence maybe just have JA Baker as a small presence in the distance. Richard picked up my need to resolve at this stage again and made reference to a recent television programme on the BBC called Planet Earth. Within this program, the camera was strapped onto an Eagles back, and during this program, there is a sequence that shows the Bird's Eye view. I quickly retorted that I'm not looking to try to repeat this as it becomes a mediated in between thing, that human would only recognise as a view from a camera strapped to an Eagles back. Our own perception, through visual colours and queues, are very different from that which an Eagle or Falcon might see. I, therefore, want to mediate through the language of drawing and in particular digital media based drawing. I feel that it is a complex task that I'm trying to achieve and understandably, Richard feels that we need to simplify this approach and start to see examples of what it is that I'm trying to do. Because I see things as complex, I tend to make things over complex and their re-presentation. It . However that the image might not have the visual strategy, however, I project onto it, so it is, therefore, interesting to look at the work of Daan Paans, and that idea of an observed notion, an image of something observed but never seen. This is exactly what I want to do, and clearly Richard understood my challenge. My idea that this should be done through drawing that is not photographic or imagistic, as it is purely from the mind. The work of Albrecht Dürer is not a million miles away from what I'm trying to achieve. I'm trying to articulate something from the point of view of what the Peregrine might see and then drying it through digital media. So it is not that complex? Richard agreed that we need to consider all of the angles between perception, time, fiction and science and narrow down focus upon those areas which this topic circles. It is not about the resolution and that beautiful relationship that he has with the tradition of beautiful animal painting such as Stubs and his horse paintings: there is a real history of this in Belgium and the Netherlands.

Hypothetical archetypes from natural science and science fiction can be found in the work of Daan Paans, and hence these images colour our perception in the present day. And therefore we assume images colour perception in the future. He calls these counter images and plays with this juxtaposition of present and future and the contradictory nature of the images that protect themselves. Richard recommended a deeper engagement on a practice level with a review of Daan Paans work.

Structure and strategies used by similar artists and photographers are what are being looked for in the presentation of my work for academic assessment. By looking at emerging practice and theoretically exploring, together with critically exploring is what is required. Richard also pointed out that it seems to him that on reflection of our discussion I would need a period of quiet contemplation myself, to reflect and put into order my thoughts more clearly. I need to initiate that myself, by making work early in the process and giving myself both chance and time to review reconsider and critically analyse my outputs. The suggestion was then that I try to complete as much as I can before Easter, and allow those three weeks of reflection for the ideas to permeate. You're working on things intuitively and exploring some good ideas, but I'm not giving myself time to process those ideas so that I can look back and say to myself, instead of doing this as I have done, I can then do that, et cetera. This then becomes a process in itself! If you are a producer of work which we all are, one doesn't work until the final deadline (unless one can of course), for example turning up for a train at 10:09 to catch at 10:10, you're not going to catch it easily! If however, you plan for contingency and aim to arrive at the station at say 9:50 AM, then there's a much better chance of having a successful journey.

Overall, Richard felt that it was interesting work but I need to be kept on track, not in a constrained way, and definitely not seeking resolution at this stage, but nevertheless through regular conversations and feedback. The kinds of debates and discussions need to keep going, and when we do the formative assessment, we might do this through a peer group reflection and maybe get some sorts of artefacts together that each of the students can then review which gives us the ability to test our ideas out with people. If there is physical work laid out, perhaps on the floor or on desks that can be scrutinised this would make a much richer environment to get good critique and feedback from. Perhaps this could be done as a form of pinup style display? This is what is usually done with undergraduate students. Maybe this could be incorporated in the Masters study? We can then split up into say four groups, and then group 1 reviews and critiques group 2 and group 2 reviews group 1 and so on to get feedback.

Further reflections with Dr Liam Devlin and discussion with Dr Rowan Bailey.

I am deeply immersed in a period of sensation awareness, but it's becoming almost like an otherworldly mess!

It has been difficult to try to engage in this mode of thought (rightly or wrongly I'm not sure) because concurrently, there is pressure on me to complete the detailed written proposal.  I need to finish that within the next weeks, which outlines my deliberated practice for my following six months commencing January 2017.

In the reflection of a conversation with Dr Devlin last Friday,  the subject of shamanism came through. The idea of liminal thought patterns where one is transfixed in an in-between state between the real world and our deep consciousness is not unlike some of the trance type states of mind that shamans and magicians of ancient cultures place themselves within.

With regards to my practice my own views of creating some kind of animated sequence, but very much displaced from what people perceive as the "normal" (whatever that is). It's important that the work itself informs the viewer of my intention and I need to keep this in mind while creating images.

Meanwhile suggested recommended reading included the work by Donna Haraway and her tentacular practices which involve flight; together with work by Tim Ingold which can be accessed through the Museum of Modern Art (New York) and their online archives will be a good way to both establish and evaluate further ideas

Reflections on a short tutorial with Dr Liam Devlin regarding Digital Media Concepts.

 This was a short lecture on Friday, 18 November 2016. Dr Devlin reminded us about the module being essentially about documenting, testing and experimentation.  Dr Devlin outlined the need to submit a Critically Reflective Summary.

This module, TMA 1404, is about critical reflection on the research that we are doing, and it is therefore necessary to include all relevant images that we come across when presenting our CRS.

(I need to underline the notion of what is relevant with regards to images though).

• Ultimately it is about producing evidence of our research and how we engage practically.
• Analyse key concepts and trends.
• Develop the concepts that underpin my own commercial/academic or positioned practice.
• Work towards furthering your own expertise through providing evidence of doing the same.
• Articulate your rationale for doing things.
• Above all make this a comprehensive and coherent CRS proposal.

There will be a stand-up presentation of the CRS, as it is vital for each of us to be able to explain our position verbally, so therefore the format of the document is equally important.
An illustrations list is therefore required at the beginning of the document, - not at the end for this CRS document.

Define;

• Which practitioners, authors and others influence your work. Document this clearly. 
• Who else is doing this, and where did they originally emerge from?
• And in what context is this? (Make sure the work you do is correctly purposed and target the audience accordingly).
• Articulate each stage of evaluation in your practice, together with the appraisal of it, including your frustrations of what did not work.
• What has caused issues for you? 
• What problems have you overcome and how?
• What are your next steps? -  Document these too!

The CRS document should be approximately 3000 words, but can also include moving images and video which should be placed on the Internet video channel.

Don't forget to articulate which tools I use, such as my blog, time management applications, Twitter, sketchbooks et cetera (if appropriate of course!).

In a nutshell, this module holds 30 credits and is ostensibly about;

•  this is what I wanted to try:
•  this is what I have done; 
• this is what worked; 
• this is what didn't work; 
• and this is what I want to do next!
• 
  

• A presentation for the work already completed as the CRS and your own practice work is required on 15 December. The proposal CRS document must be handed in on Friday, 16 December 2016.

Further reflections;
Following the one-to-one tutorial with Dr Liam Devlin.

• After discussing my ideas of speculative realism and object oriented ontology, I felt that I had been stumped somewhat by a simple question that I actually ended up asking myself!
• I wanted to ask myself how can I sum up speculative realism in art in 30 words or less. I must work hard to be able to articulate the simple tenets of speculative realism. 

It was recommended that I read the book "the aesthetic regime" by Jacques Rancier as soon as possible.

I must try to find this literature and work on this before further commitment to the CRS proposal.

A reflection on practice (assisted by Richard Mulhern, Sen. Lecturer), module TMA 1404. Friday, 3 November 2016.

 A reflection on practice, assisted by Richard Mulhern.
Richard was keen to explain the role of learning and how this connects with the other module TMA 1401 concerning research and development of research methods.

In this Digital Media Concepts module, what is important is to understand and negotiate is;

 "what will be important for ourselves, as individual practitioners as to what to pick up and research and what to leave alone?"

 In essence what we are trying to do in this digital media concepts module is to continue to improve our own unique and individualised language. In a Masters degree, this is an emergent activity.

In a way, the combination of both the theoretical research module together with this functional module helps in a similar way to an academic Masters degree in perhaps a science subject. The process is virtually the same. The science method is simply all about establishing a goal, defining a process, and then tracking the same and our experiments to hone in towards the convergent point.

It is, therefore, necessary with reflection, not to overcomplicate the work through too much discussion about the method.  And in my particular case, I need to be careful to avoid over analysing object-oriented ontology and speculative realism.
Richard suggested that I looked at the work of Joseph Beuys, which in reflection, is an excellent place for me to consider, as I looked at the work of this artist a couple of years ago. Of particular interest is the work of a body of work usually referred to by Joseph Beuys as "Thinking is Form."

In consideration of the practice towards digital media concepts, this Masters degree will allow me to find new meaning. This should give me the space to learn a higher level of interdependence and reflexivity, that is, continue with the ideas that Ebbinghaus originally planted (nearly a hundred years ago) which is to learn and then repeat, and then learn again, and learn to make further outcomes.

Conclusions.
I need to define what the implicit indicators are for wanting to develop my ideas of how I can draw together the concepts of digital media and speculative realism.
Initially, I have started practical work around animation. However, I am also now considering the use of some kinetic text style to help articulate some of the fundamental ideas of speculative realism.
I realise with the reflection that I need to be careful in how to choose particular visual representations so that I can drill down to define 'what is behind those images'?

An area for study would be due close writing on Joseph Beuys. I know that Benjamin Buccloh wrote extensively about Gerhart Richter and I have investigated those books as an undergraduate. I need to try to find due close writing as a further exercise to reframe some of my ideas.

Reflections on the Homeless Sculpture series of lectures, held at the Whitworth Art Gallery,Manchester. Thursday, 27 October 2016.

The series of lectures entitled Homeless Sculpture, which was introduced and curated by John Plowman was my engagement for the day.
The sessions were presented and opened early in the day with a description of the homeless sculpture website.
Within the introduction it was explained that Charles Hewless considers sculpture as "a world entire into itself", its home is nowhere except the imagination of the viewer. It is belonging to the world but also interfering at the same time. A quotation by David Smith, (as cited by Philip Potts) was "break the isolation of the sculptural object."

Sculptures original home has always been the museum, but for the last 150 years (as per the ideas of Baudelaire and Rodin) it has become autonomous.

There is a constant pressure to reconnect with the public. For example Giacometti and his sculptures engaging with space and around the form to connect with the public of New York in Times Square.

In the words of Barbara Hepworth "consider the matter and space as one", an example of this might be in work by Mike Nelson "the Coral Reef". In this piece, it has no outside, but only an "inside."

Going back to some of the concepts of Aristotle in "the reciprocal belonging of the place" as quoted by Edward C. Casey ("The fate of place", page 71).

For current practitioners, consider Thea Djordjadze, "as Sagas Sa" 2012 at the Documenta exhibition in 2012. This extends the idea that sculpture and place are as one.

In Japanese culture, this is sometimes referred to as "KuWai" which is often related to Shintoism. An obvious example might be that of the work in Arato Isozaki, in his "Japanese-ness in architecture", page 66.

There is a reciprocal relationship to place and Shinto gods. As an object, such as a tree, maybe the central focal point of the type of worship.
What is essential to the place is "what is happening" - reference, Dorothy Tanning, who once said, "the only thing happening here is the wallpaper."

A sculpture is present in the object, but it is also something that invites a "yet to be" idea. In consideration of the statement, I thought and reflected on Heidegger's "becoming"?.
It has a dialogue with the outside, in other words, the preparation and the production, then the dismantling with notions of its occupation elsewhere.

Lucy R. Lippard created sculpture based on the populations of people in the town that she was investigating. For example in work "557, 085" which was made in Seattle in 1969; and also the work "995,000" which was a reflection of the investigation she conducted in Vancouver in 1970.
 Her premise was to "create an exhibition from out of a suitcase".
To create the blurring of the role of the Creator and the Observer.
- She created cards of instruction and then sent them to other artists. Within these cards, she included instructions specifically about her predetermined duration of an exhibition. These other artists, in contemporary context, were people like Sol LeWitt. He then created sub- cards of further instruction to further artists. Robert  Smithson also received instructions, and then he created a sub- instruction from the further production of art.

Following on from Lippard's original catalogue of cards she then writes about how the actual works (post sub- direction) were then made, or in most cases the excuses and reasons were for not being made!

An example of this might be "One-ton corner piece" 1967 to 1968. Consider the position of this work which was one tonne of sand placed in the corner of the studio and how it manifested itself in each new installation.

In Gerhart Richter's "Seven Panes; (house of cards)", this was the Sheards tribute to the UK architecture with strong influence by the Bauhaus movement and Walter Gropius.

A sculpture is usually made for a speculative audience and is invariably held within the museum. A further example might be Serra, "House of Cards".  These were four sheets of self-propped-up pieces of steel into a box shape and placed within the centre of a museum or gallery space.
The questions it brings are, "does it neutralise and destruct the gallery space?" The answer is, of course, no, it accords itself with its place.

The ideas that these sculptures induce is the capacity to give free and deliberate attention, and that is, in itself, necessary of the viewer to do so, to get the best meaning from these objects.

(I noticed that an interesting inclusion into this exhibition which was ostensibly contemporary was the addition of works by Donatello.  The argument put forth is that Donatello's work is much more tangible, physical and connective to space (as per Giacometti's work generally for instance), and is much stronger than say other artists of that same period such as Michelangelo).

Discussion around the ideas of "homelessness" invokes the ideas of space and place as a cultural concept, which makes anyone attending to it, to have some role as an occupier. This may be a spectator, or participant, et cetera.

"Homeless and belonging" is an entirely different feeling and situation from the old-fashioned ideas of "public and private" which would be found in a museum or gallery space. It is, therefore, logical to conclude that architecture may drive different response to how we might experience dramatic sculptural pieces and how we experience them.

The next part of the lecture was then given by John Plowman who was the artist in residence in the town of Lintz, Austria.

He wanted to investigate three things. (These were the result of being lost during a perambulation of Lintz and he stumbled upon).
"Being Lost / Perambulation;
Rilke's writing on Rodin;
The sculpture is a thing lost in a Studio.

During his time in Lintz, he found the Bruckner Hall site, which was the local City Concert Hall. This was designed by Eduardo Paulozzi (1924 to 2005), and his work was a homage built on Bruckner, -  Anton Bruckner 1977.
This continued with the ideas of the physical and metaphorical sense of being lost in the museum.

The temporal notion can be gained by people gathering and moving through space to make a sculpture become activated. This can be seen in the works of Richard Serra, for example, autonomy of space and place.

The studio is "made and is a site adjusted", the indifference of the public, towards how they treat a piece of sculpture is what is of interest here.

The next short work tools provided by Rosamond Krauss.
 She stated that modernist sculpture was homeless.
The idea that high art culture and in particular high sculpture, such as the figurative, could be heightened through the idea of surrounding it with water.
An example was shown which articulated well an interesting technique or device that would ensure that the observer would be detached completely from the sculpture. This was used at the Festival of Britain sculptures. In themselves, they were a representation of modernity.

The heroic concept of the mother and child, but in a way as some of these sculptures occupy a social space, they are kind of "rubbished" as they sit in shopping malls where the public often take the objects for granted.

Sculptors and Sculptures of today are taking on a very different weight. For example Rachel Whiteread's work. In her works, it is permanently present as it also becomes a kind of architecture.

This perceptual feeling of anxiousness, "like being on the edge of the bottomless pit, with a ladder extending into it"... invites the viewer to take that first step in an anxious invitation towards letting go.

In work "at the foot of doors" by John Llewelyn-Waldron, this remained hidden in an archive for over 30 years but then brought out to the public to view very recently.
 In this work, it makes different engagement with the works as a sculpture, because it is clearly not a monument. But equally, we re-engage with these works with new dialogue, which is entirely different from the sculpture or object which continuously remains in place as is usual, to such a familiarity.
A consciousness that almost seems for the object to disappear in plain sight. Something that is on display continually, therefore, becomes mute.
People no longer see it.
Sometimes it gets covered in graffiti.
Perhaps the sculpture should be decommissioned?

An example here is the Paulozzi piece that John Plowman found back in Lintz in Austria which he then further articulated in his photographs, ...of the mound outside the Bruckner concert Hall in Lintz.
Sculpture needs to be different.  Different to differentiate itself from other objects by using materials that make space and then articulate their differences or specialness or other, some form of unusual mass, than other objects might do. Something has to structuralize for it to become a sculpture rather than just another object.

In the next short lecture at the Whitworth Gallery, art historian Claire O'Dowd of the University of Manchester provided her discussion of sculptures as architecture and architecture as sculpture. The first example that she provided for this kind of consideration was the work by Mike Nelson "a psychic vacuum" (2007).

Creating a narrative from the flex of response of the viewer, where a kind of displacement is felt, as the outcome of such works. The installation was approximately 15,000 feet in space, which in itself created feeling of homelessness in a contextual sense. The context for the viewer is different therefore from the framework of the artist.

Another artist in this mode that has been explored is Gregor Schneider for example in his room works "Kaffeezimmer" ...this was a rotating room within a gallery space.

Another piece of work that was analysed and discussed was by Gordon Matta-Clark "Splitting" (1974) which was a whole two-storey house that appeared to be chopped in two. Another one of his works "Conical Intersect" (1975) was a huge hole that had been bored into and through a series of three terraced houses.

These had some similar ideas and resemblance to the work by Henry Moore and the Parenthetic sculpture. This can also be seen with Lynn Chadwick's "Beast" (1959) which has only been presented once before, and it, in itself creates an anxious sculpture of a four-legged animal; seems to be very disturbed in how it is received.

The next lecture was provided by the senior curator of the Whitworth gallery. (She was formerly the curator of the Hepworth). A talk entitled "things" because ultimately this is with what she deals! (See Elizabeth Price's work on homelessness).

Her idea and interests as a curator are in the concept of "Re-homing". Her life is about sculpture and is always in motion, as "in transit" or as an object going from one space to another, that is "rehoming".

For example one of the works she cited was that by Gustaf Metzger "Flailing Trees" (2009).
Initially, this works was in the centre of Manchester but is now placed at the front of the Whitworth Gallery, and is in fact due to be moved again.
The decorative object or sculpture is 21 willow trees that were uprooted and repositioned upside down in concrete, with the roots exposed to the air. It is, therefore, a living sculpture.

The sculpture is often exhibited and then disposed of. This, in itself, must be changed in some way. Many Manchester artists are attempting to preserve these temporary transient sculptures through collectively using premises at the Islington Mill and Salford with an intention to store artists' work for free in future.

Reflecting on the lecture provided by Alex Potts at the Whitworth Gallery regarding "post-war modernist public sculpture."

In this talk, Alex Potts looked specifically at the work of Eduardo Chillida ( and Henry Moore.

Sculptures have to create works that are related to their space within the future use of that particular space.

A figure that was made specifically for the UNESCO buildings in Paris, which is the "Reclining Figure" by Henry Moore in 1957 is of particular interest, as it explicitly contrasts with the site or space that it is placed within.
Within that space in the union UNESCO Park area, this changes with the change of space as a humanist location of gathering.

In contrast, in Chillidas work, it makes mischief of Henry Moores work. However, in Chillidas "Wind-comb" of 1966 to 1977, which is installed in San Sebastian in northern Spain, he went on to create the "House of our Father's" made in 1986 and then installed in 1987. This was a sort of tribute to the ideas of Pablo Picasso's Guernica. It provides a statement of Basque-ness and its sense of place in the "Park of the peoples of Europe" situated within the town of Guernica in northern Spain.

Now compare that with Chillidas work and Henry Moores "Large Bronze Sculpture" (now also located in the park of the people of Europe) also in Guernica, which was installed as a tribute to that artist after he had died.

The point of looking at these pieces is that giant sculpture creates its own sense of place. An example to further illustrate my be the work by Henry Moore "Two Large Forms" which is installed at the Bundesbank German Chancellery in Germany.

At the time, this particular sculpture made lots of sense. However, this caused all sorts of problems after the reunification of Germany, as to where it should then be positioned.

In contrast to Chillidas' "Bundeskanzleramt" in Berlin and his sculpture which shows a natural response to the German reunification proper (in other words the history, as post-modernists, made from steel), which is essentially two halves of the sculpture grappling with each other.

The placing of an object become something of a social creation, rather than an "artistic" creation. For example Chillidas "Place of Encounters 3" made in 1972, but not allowed to be installed when it was due to do so, until 1977, which is situated under the Paseo del Castellano in Madrid. Within this, the metaphysical concept of autonomy is blurred.

There is a much deeper engagement nowadays, certainly over the last 50 years, with the connected meaning of the object and its place. In the case for example of Metzgers' "Flailing Trees", the movement of the sculpture into the park will create an entirely new meaning of it, because of its own placement. Metzger, the artist, is fully agreed that the work can be removed and remade as it is moved and so therefore re-contextualised.

Perhaps it's re-recontextualization is necessary because it now lies within the centre of the Whitworth and therefore it is now institutionalised within a gallery space. Consider and reflect further that ownership itself is also temporal. Ownership can also be public and connected or private and disconnected. And equally, this can change through time as ownership changes through time to.

The idea of "un-fixity" helps to create the idea of "an encounter". Useful to consider here might be the work of Matta-Clark again and "the performative encounter" as a strategy.
This further reflection ties up nicely with some of the ideas that I wrote last year about Heidegger's notions of "place as an event".

Reflections on the workshop entitled "The Human Zoetrope" by Rob Lycett, senior lecturer at the University of Huddersfield.

Rob provided an excellent initial presentation which looked at the works of Stephen Irwin and for example "the black dog's progress".

The objective of this workshop today was to create approximately 300 frames of film animation which would last about 45 seconds.
The inspiration for the workshop came from Channel 4's "life-size Zoetrope" which was a short film by Mark Simon Lewis.

The method for the seminar was synchronised exposure using a DSLR camera. The images were then further processed by using digital animation together with repeating loops to make a much larger piece of work.

The notions of looping and repetition are similar to the ideas of Eduard Muybridge's moving horse.

These ideas of looping repetition, - animation; still continue the work into the current day fashion in Manga.

In this particular workshop, the initial activities were to create a title sequence as a pixelation. An example of a useful resource was "looming Iris" which was a real-world time-lapse pixelation set up by the art movement INCAa.

In our workshop, the group was split into six groups of three, giving 18 separate creators pretty much free rein to produce 12 frames each which would then be stitched together using the application "Dragon-frame".

The outcome of the workshop is linked below.

https://vimeo.com/189297946/

<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/189297946" width="640" height="427" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe><p><a href="https://vimeo.com/189297946">hudgda_zoetrope_2016</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/breakingthings">Rob Lycett</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>

Animation and After-Effects workshop by lecturer Sarah Nesteruk, (Wednesday 26th of October 2016).

In reflection and consideration of this wonderful workshop, conducted earlier today  I will attempt to articulate some of the work that we covered during the four or five hours that a group of similar minded creative individuals came up with in response to the suggested exercise of re-articulating and interpreting the play by Samuel Beckett "Not I".

Sarah explained the importance of our role in trying to help reinterpret ideas of perception and the way that we see the world. That is, the object external to ourselves, and "I".
For example in Beckett's play "Not I", it is all about the focus on the "mouth".

It was agreed by the group that we would limit our colour palette to images and text of black red and white, and this would be the format for any creative work that we produce.

Dr Nesteruk showed some animations in contemporary practice, by for example "Tomato", - an advertising agency, who also created further pieces such as "No Hope", on behalf of Radio Scotland.

In the above examples, it is the current fashion to create what is known as kinetic typography. The particular animation that was shown to us starts with the text idea "I think I'll be Drug".
The animation is a very effective way of getting a message across to a viewer.
The text and video combination of the spoken word are incredibly powerful. The objective, in trying to create such animation and videos is how to add character to the text. In another example "What Barry Says" which is a textual animation through the website video, written by Barry Robson.
Another might be "Knife Party" a further animation by Barry McNamara.

Todays' workshop created an animation sequence project. This was a concerted activity, with each of us creating individual vignettes which were linked together to form the whole play of Samuel Beckett's "Not I".
For this to connect appropriately and efficiently, each scene will need to have a start and finish of 'a black box'.

The simple format of the high definition template was the usual 1920 x 1080 pixels. As this is going to be used for a broadcast type activity on the web then 72 dots per inch with square pixels, is adequate.

It is important to create a specific assets folder that is unique to the project that you are attempting to achieve. This in itself was a very useful learning from this exercise in reflection.
To create the After Effects video, I used the "import file" action from the navigation bar to select the project folder and my assets, which were then "imported as" a composition which retained all the attributes of the layer sizes.

I was then able to create a new composition with those assets.

It can be found here....Part 20, - "Not I"

Reflections on a tutorial with Dr Liam Devlin

The Digital Media Concepts model is aimed towards developing practical projects, but also at a technical and conceptual level.

The goal is also to create something with agility, but also end up in a place which might be considered as being totally unexpected! By creating outcomes through research without a specific end objectives usually, makes for a much more vibrant and engaging enterprise.

Taking the advice of Jacques Rancière (one of Dr Devlin's favourite philosophers), it is necessary to create a cultural environment for growth through the activity of sharing experiences; we are all equals!

Mahatma Gandhi said "first they ridicule you,
then they fight you,
then they kill you,
… And then you win!"

In your work, create a sense of tension! Through this tension, (even if you are dealing with it from a myth or an untrue subject), encourage the viewer or reader to make an enquiry.
This idea of tension is a type of hook, a way of entrapping the reader or viewer into a much more interesting dialogue of experiences which becomes two ways in its flow.

[Consider the concept of Magic Realism, Magic myths]

… A photograph is a paradox,-it is a document (which is an accurate record of something)… However, it is also an aesthetic abstraction at the same time!

Magic Realism is a type of literary genre which started to appear in 1955 (particularly in the works of Gabriel Garcia Marquez). In such literature, the writing seems to be presented in a realist sense, but what happens through the narrative is arguably magical. For example in the works cited above a classic example was the story of the man that was found in Chile, who appeared just to be an ordinary man discovered in the middle of a street, but then it transpires that he has wings of feathers on his back. The initial engagement is believable, but as you read on, the idea and image in your mind become disrupted. It can be considered as a challenge through subversion.

The "assumption" of the real is what good modern photography is all about, for example, the "selfie" is really a statement of "how I would like to be seen by the world".
In fact this is not a new phenomenon, as the high street photographer who used to use a background prop of maybe of a scene of beautiful mountains behind the subject, and perhaps they dressed up in theatrical clothes to suggest that they were actually there in the hills (rather than in an industrial city or town high Street ensconced in a small back room of a photography studio) was a popular type of "Magic Realism".

In the writings of Jacques Rancière: and the relationship between aesthetic's and politics and the "aesthetic regime", he discusses this in detail; "the social order (or as Ranciere terms it, "the police order") is a set of rules and conventions…"

Another example might be the book "the Invisible Man" (which is about the daily quotidian of being a black man in a white society) the device used is by taking the background culture to highlight social conventions and then juxtaposing it with an alternative view.

In Jacques Rancière's critique of the spectacle, for him it is located in its origins in Plato's denouncement of the mimesis of the theatre, is the place to "gawp".

Intellectual Emancipation requires an "a priori" notion of intelligence of a situation, according to Rancière.

"How then do we re-image meaningful fabric of "the sensible" to construct a new representation but without the terms of the message is a vehicle". (Rancière 2009:63).

20th-century art and beyond is no longer about representation; it is now a paradox. The "conventions" of language and representation versus the "meaninglessness".
In other words, we make meaning from the art form, including what lies outside of the frame to which we are looking at. [See the work of Jacques Derrida, outside the frame; and also the work of Hal Foster and the "screen" with a little tear in it, - which invites the viewer to poke a hole through it and see an alternative reality].

In essence, it is all linked with the power of suggestion, but without a specific message. In other words, the proposal is there, but there is nothing obvious as to how one might interpret the suggestion.

Conclusions;

• Keep making compelling imagery
• do not aspire to the masses
• do not conform to conventionality
• create something contentious or contrary.

Digital media concepts workshop, reflections on the practice of Sarah Nesteruk

Sarah's interest is the use of a publishing platform called "persona" at the moment which she has found through the active engagement of a website for artists known as the cargo collective.  Within this new "persona" platform, is essentially an even easier way to make up a website from scratch, by using existing templates that are taken from successful sites that are already established. With this new tool, you can set up a website as quickly as the task to create a simple PowerPoint presentation.

1) What follows is an exciting excursion into the use of digital media and in particular the application by Adobe, After Effects And Photoshop. Sarah is interested in the relationship between ourselves and our practice.

2) the question is, how do we express ourselves in the "modern" technology based on the "digital age"?

[For further explanation, go to www.facts.persona.co.production.go]

We carried out a simple exercise that utilised this new persona tool by asking ourselves to simple questions;
A) what is the easiest thing that I can say about myself in three words?
B) how can I express this in three frames?

So after about five minutes of deliberation and procrastination, I thought of three representations of myself as 1). Artist. 2). Creator. 3). Thinker.

I then used Photoshop to create a 16 x 9 aspect ratio web-based image set up as a width of 1920 pixels times 1080 pixels at 25 frames per second. At 72 dots per inch (i.e. this is set up as a custom parameter as film and video)

Potentially what we were about to do was to create a 72 dots per inch, RGB/Adobe colour palette flashing animation. It was pointed out to take care with the frequency of the flashing images as it has been thought in the past that these might, at certain frequencies induce epilepsy in people that are more susceptible to such attacks.

[For further reading view the work by Prof Harding "On Visual Perception and Epilepsy"].


Once these three images were set up in Photoshop and named with the naming convention <filename_001.jpg, filename_002.jpg and filename_003.jpg>, we were then able to export them.

Within the Adobe After Effects software application, by selecting
[file import]
[file, [ Select <the first filename_001.jpg from the sequence,
...then ( in options), tick the select JPEG sequence]

<OK>

Adobe After Effects then sets up a new project within each frame as JPEG file.
We then need to set up each image to take up to 2 frames to slow it down when replaying it as an animation.

[Composition]
select [new composition]… (This is the new composition tab, not from the selection itself).
Ensure that the frame rate is set to 25 per seconds.

The precise timing of the animation is done at the bottom of this drop-down menu, and usually a rate of approximately 12 images per second as comfortable for most people, therefore set up the duration of the animation to say 10 seconds overall.

<OK>

Hover over the new series import above the new composition you have just created, and right click on the new series import.
Select [Interpret Footage]
                [Main] .... (Change the frame rate to 25 per second).
                 and loop this to say 100 times,
<OK>

Then click and drag your new project sequence down into the timeline [i.e. the new JPEG sequence] towards the bottom right area of Adobe AE.

Towards the left of the timeline, click on the timeline menu [3 horizontal lines]
select "column" and ensure the stretch function is ticked.

Then by using the stretch percentage bar you can slow the animation down by extending the timeline to say 200 or 300% or even slower if necessary.

[Now you need to render the output]

The new persona web application requires both a low resolution and a high-resolution version which can be created through Apple QuickTime.

In order to do this, [select the timeline], go to "composition."
and then
[Add to the Render Queue] ... / alternatively use control M for the same function.

Moving through the next operations in an anticlockwise direction over the next choices, start by selecting the "output to" <enter a new file name>
then
select [output module]: QuickTime, <a submenu appears, and within the [format options] it is necessary to check that the output is set to application proRes 1080 P 25.

<OK>
<OK>

select [render settings]: Best settings, again a new submenu pops up and select "timespan" as <length of composition>,
<OK>.

You are then able to render the whole composition by selecting the [Render] button on the right-hand side of the timeline.

A QuickTime format.MOV file is then created.

Find and then double-click on the new.MOV file (it should be pointed out that you need to be using a fully equipped Apple Mac for this to work, as there may be some compatibility with Microsoft Windows and the Apple software, which is not loaded as standard on those later machines).

On an Apple Mac, this then opens a QuickTime sub-window. On a Mac, you can then export it to 720 pixels (720p) to make a smaller and well-compressed file.

The actual animation is complete at this stage.

Now, to set up the "persona" web sequence, you need to upload your.MOV file to the "Vimeo" website.

By using a combination of the Vimeo sites together with the Persona site builder, it is possible to create a new front end moving image to introduce yourself in the cargo collective artists website and repository.

A link to this is shown below.

Further thoughts on Digital Media Concepts

In thinking about building a project body of work and driving development in creative realisation, Richard Mulhern in the previous lecture and tutorial session described that to feed your own creativity,  to look at the work of others is crucial, so as to put your own work into context with them.

In considering his work "perfect relationships of objects, both moving and static as an arrangement in time and space" (quotes).

I thought quite deeply about that statement and how the idea of seeing the world (i.e. objects in time and space) can be re-described through an alternative narrative. An example that Richard provided was "the baby and a Duke Box" in the photograph by Robert Frank and also Gary Winogrand in his work "cafe" shot at Beaufort Carolina.
Work by Henry Cartier-Bresson would also be useful to be studied in connection with this notion

The idea of interpretation within the photographic "moment" is what is at stake here. By creating an image that re-evaluates the moment and re-presents it in a new narrative or alternative experience or perception places it in a way within "the unconscious".
Practitioners in this area include Jeff Wall, Mitra Trabizian, Philip Lorca DeCoste amongst others.

Key texts to look at might be "Click, Double-Click".

Think carefully how one communicates in these terms, but above all else show the pictures that you are taking to make your own narrative in what you see around you.

In my own case I asked myself who it was that influenced me?
For example, Anselm Kiefer, Gerhardt Richter, and Werner Hertzog are all currently deeply embedded in my thinking. They will shape what I want to produce next year, and in particular, I'm interested in the ideas of the obsessive and compulsive, which was spawned from reading the book by John Baker, "the Peregrine" during August this year.

Richard suggested that I should not limit myself and consider others such as Onorato and Krebs, "The Great Un-Real", which is a book that provides a beautiful view of making "the moment" defining it and choosing it, but then changing it!

In reflection, people used to think that photography was truth… How wrong they are.

Richard suggested that perhaps I could create a "document of the unknowable" which brings forward the idea of the uncanny (an interesting word, which really means "unhomely", and perhaps "not of this world" rather than the more usual misinterpretation of sinister-ness). Create something that is outside of the convention.

Chop up the experience of living into discrete parcels of time. Make gestures that are out of context: Disrupting the "natural world and common sense" notions of the world around us.

Explore things that are outside of the usual convention: This has been written about extensively by Pierre Bordeaux, where he talks about the idea of a subversion of convention. He speaks of the theory of habitus, (unreadable pictures of undefinable gestures) and so on. He tries to get at the heart of how as humans we try to automatically make sense of things, and our challenge as practitioners is to engage viewers by making them confused enough to ask their own questions of what things might mean to them but to subtly displace them.

e.g. images that we take must invite enquiry.

An example of that might be found in the writing of Tim Creswell, "Place" (page 16).

Conclusions;

Challenge conventionality.
Use the articles and websites for further research.

Start to develop a body of work.
The importance is not in manipulating an image as such, but it is making a series of pictures and understanding how to develop the narrative of how the series of images are then presented to a viewer in a new way.

Complete the assignment of finding a single text to connect with your current area of practice identifying relevant points and write a summary of the texts as to why it might be appropriate for your new work.
Submit it to turn it in by 17th of October in readiness to present it to Dr Liam Devlin for the next tutorial.

Digital media concepts, a tutorial structure discussion.

The study of digital media concepts (TM 1404) carries 30 credits towards the Master's degree
it will be the vehicle and basis for peer group feedback.
Within it, we will learn the ability to analyse key concepts in digital media
to develop perceptual expertise.
And hone and improve critical analysis techniques.

A Masters degree teaches one to think in a much more structured way.

The lecturers appointed for this module are Dr Liam Devlin whose particular speciality lies in the conceptual and research writing practice; together with Richard Mulhern, whose expertise is in creative production and execution.

It is recommended to read the project brief, which accounts for 100% of the portfolio and works together with the reading list which is located on Unilearn jointly with the module brief

As part of the Master's degree study, it is important to realise that the work is very different from that of the undergraduate level. It isn't necessary to learn "craftsmanship," as your earlier pedagogy would have been expected to give you this skill. However what is important, is the emotional connection and success to what you achieve as an output. Nevertheless, this study at postgraduate level degree requires a student to commit to developing a clarity of purpose to make a critical framework with a higher standard of clarity, academic rigour and professionalism in the chosen subject.

In essence, it is an engagement in building an informed, critically articulate approach to your practice.

In this sense, we are all producers and makers, and thus any work submitted as part of the course must be technically fit for purpose.

The idea of craftsmanship at the postgraduate level should be much more meditative with the practitioner engaged "in the moment". It is then that you apply the technical rigour to analyse what you have done and created, to contextualise and implement the academic rigour required in a team environment.

It is, therefore, essential to use deadlines set by the lecturers effectively!

Creating new networks of people are also vital to the creative environment and here in Huddersfield, located between Manchester and Leeds on the M 62 corridor, makes this particular region active and fertile for developing personal networks in the creative field.

Do not limit yourself to only attending the workshops that you might just be peripherally interested in; it is useful to do them all because it is through these engagements that new ideas will flourish.

We are always engaged in a constant battle of emotions versus logic; how we carve and refine our ideas of how visual images are received is a response that is to be critically cultivated. When we create an image or a visual response to some thing, we need to test it, then test it, then test it again. It is useful therefore to develop the online presence of your practice consistently through engaging with Instagram, twitter, tumbler et cetera almost as a second nature.

Consider that the whole creative practice is built upon 'Association'. Through the creation of, for example, record sleeves, magazine sleeves, book covers, videos, event recording et cetera and then displaying them through various media networks, creates a kind of network of people to help you execute and realise future projects.

During tutorials, it is vital to bring images, notes, recordings, print tests, ideas and moving pictures or videos, etc. to allow lecturers and staff to engage with your work on a critical level too. However, Richard Mulhern also suggested to "beware of the Pub- philosopher" when looking for your feedback about ideas from those individuals whom you may know. The "pub philosopher" often have great ideas about work but are usually completely incapable of executing anything. It is your job as a creative artist to have the ideas and then actually implement them, entirely, producing resolved outputs that adequately feed into your next creative endeavours.

Resources that are also useful for this community are;
Redeye
Grain
Foam (Amsterdam) as sources and publications, which also have an online presence.

Competitions for digital media practice should be fully engaged with and include;
BJP Lens-culture. And perhaps www.photomediations.
Competitions are vital to engaging with if you want a career as a digital media artist as these are now perhaps the only defacto away that creative directors usually select people for recruitment in this day and age!
It would be useful to sign up to the Photomediations website as they have something called the Photomediations Machine which highlights and showcases various practitioners within the current context. For example Catrina Selewis,-her ideas of unthinking photography are useful paper to read in which it discusses different approaches to image making. Within this article, she articulates very clearly that the content is always the same as it ever was, but it is the process of presentation and reprint or re-presentation that is now different, and it is this area that needs to be explored.

It is also extremely useful to volunteer at digital media events and festivals such as the Bradford symposium and book fair at the "impressions" gallery.
The "format" exhibition at Derby in April/May 2017.
The "look 17" will be held in Liverpool during the summer/May 2017.

Other exhibitions and galleries should be visited and attended as often as possible, for example, the "Open Eye" exhibition, currently showing Sarah Fisher, a very progressive artist not to be missed.

As an exercise for the next tutorial in a couple of weeks time, an assignment was given to select a single text that connects with my practice. The text and summary should be submitted by 17 October and should articulate why it is important.

Putting space into action-reflections on a symposium held at the University of Huddersfield on 30th of September 2016

The session was introduced by Dr Rowan Bailey and forms part of the work of the Henry Moore Foundation Grant, who provide funding for this event.

The first discussions were given by speakers from as diverse locations such as the Texas University of arts and media; the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London. The Department of the history of art, UCL; the school of art history, University of St Andrews; Sheffield Hallam University and finally the Department of art and art history at the University of Stanford, United States.

The afternoon session will culminate in the evening around the development of "Action Space" and "happenings" which arose from the 1960s.
[This was a movement that sought to interact with the public by bringing a sensation of contemporary artistic practice. It was based on inflatable structures being positioned in public spaces such as parks and galleries]. A book available which explores this theme entitled "Crashing Cultures, 1956 to 2016" by Ken Turner [is available through Amazon].

The theme of the day was the concept of performance art, with the idea of a 'cutting' of space, sculpture through leaving a trace beyond the stillness.

Overall the purpose of today's conference is to connect a number of academic papers and thoughts on how space can be reclassified.

The first speaker which was Dawna Schuld, senior research fellow of the Texas Art and Media University, USA, discussed the concept of "Happenstance And Presence: sculpture as incident" in the work of Maria Nordmann.

In the work of Maria Nordmann, the perception generally given to her work is of a public-ness which can be seen as "Conditional Art" and also as "Stealth Architecture". It was articulated that the views presence changes the state of situated-ness through happenstance. For example, this can be seen in Nordmann's work of "installation 12839", Washington Boulevard Los Angeles California (1979). In which, what appears to be the front of a building shopfront in any suburban or town Street, but yet what would be found inside the building would be a totally white space, which effectively creates a sensation of being reset, the perception of the viewer is in effect reset.
"Presence is always with us" quoted Gombrecht, who went on to discuss the importance of the crossing of the threshold, and this is further explained with the concept of an un-concealment versus a withdrawal.

Notions are introduced of presence and time within these works, which challenge the physical space and temporal dimensions. Ultimately what Nordmann was interested in was the erasure of the public versus private space. For example in her work of 1961 which explores the "porosity" of design in architecture for example, "The Garden Grove Community Church", California 1961, which was effectively a religious drive-in space; and inside and outside open church all at the same time.

Using lessons in experimental psychology, ideas of the inside transforming into the concept of being outside (and here another example was given of Robert Irwin's studio, market Street Venice, California (1969)

Exploring the idea of space as support, by re-architecting space to create new reflections in temporal dimensions was a collaborative project by Andre Barron Irwin and Nordmann.

Nordmann's reliance on the incidents of pedestrian footfall in towns throughout the United States makes happenstance all the more serendipitous because so many people in the United States simply do not walk, people almost always drive!

Conclusion;
Happenstance, therefore, is habit breaking
the acceptance of randomness or random incidences is essential to make this 'happenning' work, and the idea of a gallery with an open door allows of the viewer both an entry point but also naturally, a way out.

2) the second speaker of the day was Anna Turrock, of the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London. Her paper entitled "An Inspiring Wreck: Rooms" was a discussion around the work of Henry Lefebvre. In particular, the discussion around Public School Number One, abbreviated to P.S. 1, situated in Long Island City, Queens, New York which now holds part of the Museum of Modern Art archives for the city of New York.

Ms Turrocks discussion was ostensibly about the reuse of abandoned buildings during the 1970s, and their use by various artists as new and affordable artists studios and galleries. This was often done in a subversive way through the occupation of such buildings, the subversion being of the municipal and bureaucratic authorities by taking possession of them. In effect, this was an interruption of the "do nothing" approach to the usual way that local bureaucratic administrators and authorities gave permission to use such buildings that were already vacant.

The difference between the sites of artistic production versus the sites of an artistic presentation was solved in New York City through the adoption of PS one. In detail, this was effectively the re-purpose thing of the abandoned school in Queens, to create the space to combine both a site of artistic production and the sight of artistic presentation together.

An interesting cultural change occurred in this rundown and dilapidated area and periphery to the site of the PS one which can be described as a kind of gentrification of Manhattan colonialism perhaps?

By removing the original artworks from their place of production which in itself was a temporal moment of production, and then re-presenting them in galleries and exhibitions, it generates a new and possibly sterile museum environment where the typical white space removes the energy of the artwork as it is 'forcefully displaced' from its point of origin.

3) the third presenter was Anna Maria Kanta (of the Department of History of Art, University College, London). She presented a paper on the works of "Ferdinand Kriwet in Televisual Space: Mass Media, the Public As Sculpture and the Architecture of a Counter-Public Sphere".

This was a difficult subject to engage with as it discusses the contemporaneous transmission of optical perceptions for the consumption and reception of viewers. The communication boundaries of the traditional gallery were compared and juxtaposed towards the television based dissemination of the optical information.

A quotation cited by Adorno would be "the demarcation of art spaces and the fluidity of mass media, creates anxieties of, and over, the control of reception".

In Ferdinand Kriwet's work, he explores the interaction of the relationships of language through written texts and the "mobilisation" of the reader.
e.g. the ability of the reader to choose where and how to look, for example, to create a visually "Iris stimulating" and aesthetically pleasing perceptual experience. This relies on physical and mental mobility. This can be thought of in its negative form in examples such as urban advertising, which destroys contemplative state space.

How is this collective experience mediated through social exclusions? Cultural consumption through new media allows mobilisation of perceptual experiences in themselves. The linguistic and sensory realms change the traditional semiotics and messages in communication.

4) Elizabetta Rattalino, of the University of St Andrews School of Art History, presented a paper which discussed "Curating the Invisible: Ecological Implications in Maria Lai's Legarsi Àlla Montagna."
In this article, the speaker discussed the ideas of urban and territorial histories, versus the human utilisation of the countryside. In particular the abandonment of central zones in Italian cities in order to vacate sites that are no longer usable within the context of current culture and modern living

A piece of the art cited as falling within this category is that of Franco Mazzucchelli and his work "A to A" which was an abbreviation for art to abandon, (1982). And in this works, Gianni Berengo, "Legarsi alla Montagna" (1981) and examples of his work which ostensibly were the plating of blue ribbons within and through a village scene, photographs of which were published in "Storia Della Citta", (1981).

[See also the book by Maria Lai, "Diarrio Intimato" (1977), published in "Maria Lai: Inventari Gli Spazi" (1993).

In all the above works the idea that the blue-ribbon interlinked the community metaphorically from the culture of the agricultural and pastoralisation of the village society.

5) this paper was entitled "Hide and Seek: Playing with Visibility" which discussed the notion of hiding in plain sight and was presented by Rose Butler and Becky Shaw of the Sheffield Hallam University.

This was a discussion around the concept and thoughts on visibility in both public spaces and private spaces. What makes art in public spaces, and what makes something that is usually hidden, "visible"?

It asked the question is Utopia a "non-space"? The context of this thought is vital here, and this notion requires a critical context of the actual space being inhabited within that particular moment to define one's behaviour while within that space.

This was delineated further because, as a "seeker", one's perception and sensation are far more vulnerable than that of the "Hider".

In order to carry out experiments in this concept, the artists immersed themselves (what is alien to them), within the space of a hospital training ward. They went on to film the idea of playing hide and seek within the nursing research school, (which is a simulated ward of a general hospital). How humans interact with each other in such a space very much depends upon their own authority to be in that place.

These ideas were explored by Walter Benjamin and discussed in his book "The Arcades."

What these two artists from Sheffield Hallam University were attempting to do, was to problematize the ideas of visibility; the invisibility of visible and the perceptible legitimacy.

6) In the final lecture, Boris Oicherman and Laura Steenberge from the Department of art and art history and the Department of music, of the Stanford University, USA, provided an interesting paper entitled "49 Days for Space: Reflections on an Experiment in Public Learning".

The public face of learning in a particular learning environment of the University was investigated in these collaborative works between an artist and musician. The space in question was made from the utilisation of public space within the University, which in this case was an open corridor to the new Stanford Art building.

Within this purpose-built architecture, there are series of glass walls that divide the learning space from the transit space for students and lecturers. Along a particular series of walls that were 25 m long, each one was rigged up with wall mounted surface microphones that had been bonded to the glass, which worked in tandem with similar output speakers also bonded to the glass to in effect make the walls playback into the public corridor.

They then did a kind of performance act of "public learning", spanning over a period of 49 days by getting the artist, Boris, to learn how to play the guitar, under the tuition of Laura. Performed while situated within this public corridor, and then at the same time, or slightly later, representing the results of the learning back into the same space. This created a kind of soundscape that merged with the background sounds that would typically be emanating from the street in the public space at large.

In conclusion, the whole performance was in effect "democratising the production of knowledge".