As
part of my project at The Maxwell Centre in Cambridge I had quite a wonderful
meeting with Dr Malcolm Longair which turned into something that happens quite
rarely in my life - a meaningful, challenging, fruitful tutorial. Amongst many things the experience heightened my sense of
responsibility around the language I use and caused me to reflect on the
slippage of meaning available for and used by an artist but not a scientist.
I had a number of great interactions throughout the day and I
feel it became a transit point. There are many stages or phases to a
project. With this one I purposely set out within its structure to try and
break from my conventions by embedding within it notions of not knowing as a
route map. I feel it is now time to know.
meanwhile Hidden Figureshttp://www.imdb.com/title/tt4846340/ a little too shiny and Batman VSupermanhttp://www.imdb.com/title/tt2975590/?ref_=nv_sr_5
unsure why I did that. The show at CraftCo in Southwold, made I helped create with year 3
students Textile Design from NUA is down. It's been a wonderful
experience - with so much learning taking place along with making some money.
Hope to return with another set of students next year.
Seeing his work in Venice was a haunting highlight -
if you get the chance - see the work created in the Congo. Also check out Lion - you will cry like a baby!!
especially if you wait till the end within the credits. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lion_(2016_fm)
Tuesday saw me involved in a
wonderful afternoon of teaching on the MA Book Art Course at Camberwell - the
session set out to explore our relationship to the idea of finish and what
makes something finished - see the PowerPoint for the range of individual and
collaborative responses to the concept. http://www.slideshare.net/l.bicknell/finishedness-2017-all-equations-72186645
Starting as one then in pairs, fours and eventually as eight finishedness was
negotiated and deliberated, ending with a reflective moment on the whole day's
journey, interspersed with moments for comment and thought.....a truly enlightening
education experience. onto some recent films Jackie http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1619029/don't expect a standard biopic it's a film that
presents a physical emotional state - it's a film about shock - using filmic devices
and metaphor we experience a woman cope. 20th century women http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4385888/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1is actually a film about men, how we bring
them up and nurture them from boys - some great lines and set pieces make one
reflect on past and present and future conversations. Passengers http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1355644/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1is about guilt but maybe not enough - the
film sets up a premise that if explored enables us to reflect on the choices we
make.Some podcasts
that I'm becoming obsessed with at the moment. Invisibilia http://www.npr.org/podcasts/510307/invisibilialooks at the issues and systems behind human
behaviour Song Exploder http://songexploder.net/this deconstructs songs and tracks from
movies, check out Ghost face Killer and Bjork oh and Iggy Pop The Allusionist http://www.theallusionist.org/
is all about words and their meaning
Hacksaw Ridgehttp://www.imdb.com/title/tt2119532/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
saw Mel attempt what Spielberg did in Private Ryan with the American experience
in Japan - yes we get it war is hell and pointless (with rats) but. Live by Nighthttp://www.imdb.com/title/tt2361317/?ref_=rvi_tt
the KKK defeated, bootlegging, gangs, prohibition, great hats, Gleeson, Aflleck
what's not to like? but.....why, what
and that ending? Denial http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4645330/ Spall is awesome and Wilkinson
riveting - the film does a lot of explaining but then it is a court case.
The film is an
introduction to some of the work I have been involved in at NanoDTC.
Within a very short period
of encountering NanoTechDTC one is quickly divested of the notion that science is a
fixed rigid occupation, I have found that within the world of nanotechnology thinking
is fast and fluid, creative connections are made which always lead to an
interesting conversation. It was this interdisciplinary, inclusive, outward
thinking approach that attracted me to working within the Maxwell, that and the
wonderful open seating spaces that provide creative nodal points and the futuristic
coffee machine that fuels them.
In the initial phase of
the residency I've been assimilating the wide range of processes and activities
first year students engage with. This was almost a full-time job, the progress
of which can be observed through a dedicated blog which occasionally drifts
into hyperbole as I engage with concepts beyond my world but that very much
underpin it.
I have become preoccupied
by a number of issues. Whilst attending a practical demonstration I can
remember slightly drifting in my mind as yet another truly extraordinary piece
of information was imparted but which I was unable to fully comprehend. In an attempt to grasp an understanding I
started to watch the hands of the demonstrator, there was an urgency as the
demonstrator used every facility they had to communicate. I have been creating films which explore how
scientific concepts and lab processes are communicated through subconscious
hand gestures whilst in the lab. I developed a number of structures that
mimicked or illustrated the movements made by the hand, these were then given to
the facilitator to recreate the movements. This was subsequently filmed and
juxtaposed with the objects or their initial movements. This small observation
and subsequent body of work has instigated conversation and debate and raised
consciousness amongst scientists about how we communicate.
The question of what
science looks like is a strand of my research, the machines including the electron
microscope and AFM in combination with the imaging software connected to them create
a science aesthetic which exudes trust. Working with software more familiar to
the art world I have developed a number of images and films that mine this
aesthetic creating a dialogue around what information looks like.
I have encountered a
number of machines that map surfaces but to enable this they are calibrated to
'fire' matter at surfaces they are investigating, the evidence of this activity
is mapped, the space between surface and probe providing answers. I am
currently following a line of enquiry that looks at this, making physical something
that cannot be seen by casting the negative space of the folding structures
that explored the hand gestures, fixing a moment in time. if you would like to read/see more https://unfoldingthinking.blogspot.co.uk/
I spent the
afternoon yesterday at the studio of sculptor Laurence Edwards casting negative
space - it's a great place to think and my time there allowed me the
opportunity to play with 'traditional' materials - it was really nice to be
around like minded people and have the stuff of stuff lying around to allow
space to reflect on the nano project. https://unfoldingthinking.blogspot.co.uk/
Laurence's work is becoming monumental with lots of technical issues to be
solved which I like watching, you can feel solutions in the air, the space is
all about process. http://www.laurenceedwardssculpture.com/
