invisiblethinkingmadevisible

I’ve hung a display of some starting points, samples, and paths of investigation within my recent material development research in the foyer at NUA. Its inception derives from ‘we work everywhere’, part of a new iteration of initiatives. The plan is to demonstrate that tutors have a practice that informs the teaching we engage in with the students, one could argue that without a public facing personal practice that includes research and reflection we do our students a disservice, that what we do outside of the institutions we work in enables us to work within them. Onto screens – the wonderful yet totally stupid nonsense that is Moonfall, the slow yet focused Coda. Just started the painful and disturbing series Anatomy of a scandal.

thefutureishere

Some drawing/thinking - attempting to work out how to create a structure that explores some of the functionality in the zebrafish brain plate as part of an ongoing investigation at Kings that is generating strands of investigation in my own practice. Onto screens - In the shadow of the moon - time travel consequences of living and letting go. Take me – lessons learnt the hard way, iboy – sci-fi light with added menace, Parallel Mothers – a deeply meaningful layered work from Pedro Almodóvar, Choose or Die – a by-the-book controlled horror infused, Furioza – the futility of violence, Dune – fantastic spaceships and beautiful sets but….All the old knives – sad twisty spy tale. The final episode of Severance went beyond the idea of a cliff-hanger - can't wait for season 2.

The Every by Dave Eggers should be required reading about where we are going before we get there! The satire is so close that at times it feels like a documentary. Sections that describe a trip out of campus and the future of marking in universities are disturbingly close to life experienced, and the plethora of insightful observations is alarming - Capital-P Play was last year’s management theory, following multitasking, single tasking, grit, learning-from-failure, napping, cardio working, saying no, saying yes, the wisdom of the crowd, trusting one’s gut, Viking management theory, Commissioner Gordon workflow theory, X-teams, B-teams, embracing simplicity, pursuing complexity, seeking similarity, creativity through radical individualism, creativity through groupthink, creativity through the rejection of groupthink, organizational mindfulness, organizational blindness, microwork, macro sloth, fear-based camaraderie, love-based terror, working while standing, working while ambulatory, learning while sleeping, and, most recently, limes.

Subjectivity is just objectivity waiting for data. “You hear about the art students?” he asked. She had. A growing number of undergraduate and graduate art students were lobbying for the Hermosa app to be given equal or greater power than the subjective assessments and grades traditionally given by their professors. Fairness and Objectivity in Beauty, these students insisted in a fast-moving meme, quickly nicknamed FOB. Humans are error-prone knots of biases, they insisted, and should not be involved in determining what was beautiful or good. 

walkingwalkingandwalkingandlooking

Back from 5 days walking the Cami de Ronda, a glorious 50 miles of beaches, forests and coves interspersed with small scale off the beaten track seaside towns. Fueled by truly amazing Catalan food - there was not a dish that was not bursting with taste. Made extra special by the warm welcoming and really helpful and thoughtful people. It was interesting revisiting the area from a previous long weekend a couple of years ago, walking into and out of spaces changes one’s previous understanding of the area. The whole trip was truly special. Ending via Palafrugell (didn't manage to get to the cork museum this time) and then Girona which has all the elements of an ancient Spanish city – stone, sound echoing/deadening streets, fortified buildings and huge churches. The gloriously timed rituals of eating and drinking are in place and exercised - I will never tire of the 10:30 small beer or starting an evening meal at 9:30 after a siesta.

displayassessmentandcrit

A wonderful culmination of this year’s iteration of synthetic anatomy at Kings. The interdisciplinary module is such a fantastic experience for both the students and staff. The display, assessment and crit make for a full-on day. Working with Richard, Leigh, Kawal, @celiapym and the rest of the team is such a pleasure. The conversations are rich in starting points and fuel thoughts for weeks after. 

endofends

A series of ends within a busy week - work in Saxmundham at Artstation came to a grand culmination with a huge collaborative drawing using systems of play to generate content and then framing, hanging, and then giving the work titles through group work. The end of the 5th year of Synthetic Anatomy at Kings was celebrated by some of the most successful displays so far in the module’s history. As ever the conversations were wide ranging and the addition of textile students from the RCA brought another layer of thinking to the literal table. Highlights include the possible future of modular thinking/making in a design context, specifically within 3D printing, which addresses sustainability, the bespoke and flexible multiple uses. Yet again engaging in workshops and teaching in general brings rewards to one’s own practice, you just have to be alert to them. The idea of using 3D printing to make moulds is something to explore in my own practice. The online course work for Double Elephant was completed with The end of a month of birthday celebrations was completed at Sushi Samba – possibly best sweet ever (maybe, - there was that îles flottantes in Montelimar which was like eating a sweet cloud), or maybe the most bizarre was Zen Garden – a miniature zen garden, with a rake, paired with a sweet sake and then there was the Lychee cooler and of course the view oh yes and the lift!! Onto screens - Mute - an oddly disjointed violent dystopian sci fi film with the lovely Paul Rudd strangely cast - odd.