busybusybusyallgood

after a week attending the NanoDTC Autumn school I'm back  - for more information on this follow https://unfoldingthinking.blogspot.co.uk/ which is the blog that will document the project with NanoDTC at the Maxwell Centre. meanwhile Its been a busy week of opportunities - The Crafts Council have invited me to present my work in Manchester as part of Crafts Council's Make:Shift conference - already looking forward to it as it's an opportunity to share the advances my practice has had as a result of working within a science context. Nicola Naismith has contacted me to be part of her interesting project Postures of Making - exploring what happens beneath the surface of the skin when engaged in art practice and how we work with the idea of repetitive acts. I have several art related body malfunctions!!! as a result of creative making over the years and have been interested in the ergonomics of art practice for some time, especially when considering the of concept of the space of reading and idea of page turning as a performance. Confirmation of the upcoming work for Open College of the Arts has come through - I'm running an interesting project which focuses on creating an online exhibition. meanwhile managed to read  I love Dick by Chis Kraus it's a wonderfully incisive book. I loved the descriptions and general critique of a number of art pieces, films and artists I am familiar with - it really is very funning, I now want to go back and check out the work I was unfamiliar with - this book should be read by all artists. I've been invited to Unfold a show at The Roundhouse on October 8. The Catalogue for ALL is out and the work looks good - can't wait to see a physical copy in my hands - the events on the 13th October if you are in Cambridge https://artlanguagelocation.org/ Dan Tsu of Lyrix Organix very kindly mentioned that this is the project I inspired them to develop last year! but I think that is really down to all the hard work they do. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SQ_K_WQl0A

seeingstuffandtalkingaboutstuff

Still looking through the images from Rome but after 2 days of student presentations and 3 days of assessing actual work the marks are complete (apart from recognition of external issues that might occur at the assessment board) - it's an interesting time - the marks are in but not public - the students have no knowledge of their marks but the digital black ink is on the forms in the appropriate boxes. https://johngraysondesign.wordpress.com/

The first event of The Norfolk and Norwich Festival - The Tempest at The Hippodrome (where a large pool of water that moves and has rain and normally holds water extravaganzas) - it was a spectacle with some great visual moments lodged in my head. Next is the James plays on saturday - 3 plays in one day - full on Scottishness.   

A trip to London to I have my first 'mentor session' with John Grayson who is working on the next wave of Parallel Practices with the Crafts Council. His work is extraordinary in its extraordinary endeavour to elicit a response from its audience - hours of painstaking skilled work goes into each piece. The eye is drawn in by the craft skills employed in the making of the work and the humour embedded within these time bombs of pomposity bursting is a way in to engage the brain. I am already looking forward to our next conversation.

Managed to get to see a few shows Marian Goodman has the most sublime show of work by Ettore Spalletti often the space becomes the work and makes you re-see what you thought you knew. It is truly exquisite - especially the pieces that are so slight almost nothing happens and the site specific piece in a side space is transcendent - I chose not to find out how is was created (easily done by bending down) as I so enjoyed the otherness of it. http://mariangoodman.com/exhibition/3061/installation-views

Thomson & Craighead: Party Booby Trap is at CarrollFletcher - http://www.carrollfletcher.com/ I am becoming more and more attracted to the work shown there - favourite piece here was a fragrance made from the many elemental elements mentioned in the old testament - wonderful idea.

The Photographers Gallery is free before 12:00 and has on The Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize 2016 http://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/exhibitions-6 There is quite a wonderful homage by Erik Kessel to his dad - a moment when their two worlds beautifully collide even though they occupy different worlds, meanwhile the disturbing work of Trevor Paglen continues - just who is watching us? - the list continues.

White Cube had a fancy way of mapping drug consumption by Jac Leirner - Junkie lite for the IKEA generation. http://whitecube.com/exhibitions/

ICA  has a great show upstairs by Martine Syms: Fact & Trouble.  In the archive area it has PIL images from another time - metal box is just harrowing https://www.ica.org.uk/whats-on/exhibitions

finally - Richard Prince at Sadie Coles - crude marks on crude imagery - unsure if two crudes make it okay.  

wedon’tloseanythingevenifwefail

Reflection on the 'robot' project whilst spending time in two material libraries today.

So what’s next?

“We don’t lose anything even if we fail”.

I was very taken by Thrish’s answer - to his approach – to his reasoning - to his engagement – to creative thinking with others.

This opportunity to work within King’s College has presented many possibilities – of which many require further research to fully engage in the benefits they offer.

The opportunity to engage in alternative ways of thinking is essential if ones practice is to grow and evolve. Otherwise we risk isolation – relegated to the role of creating expensive ‘baubles’ for collection. We have a more ‘useful’ role in society to take up. Our ability to think laterally, to problem solve creatively make us valuable. Our material knowledge and understanding is highly specialised and we can communicate concepts and emotions across language and cultural divides, globally we are essential.

I have felt valued and respected during this project but one starts out by trying to find a position of worth, of usefulness – What is my job? What is my point in being here? There is a sense of being slightly in the wilderness when attempting to explore ones value as a maker in a society underpinned by the search for the lowest common denominator and a love of

We have been making thinking opportunities. The process has enabled sessions where we have developed ways of working that enabled an understanding the problem and the solution at the same time – there was a sense of natural evolution – of working towards something intuitively – allowing space to reflect on activity – leading to possible direction – outcomes.

This cross fertilization must be used to address the misguided and in fact false categorization that separated science from art. I have found scientists to be open and transparent in many ways that makers are not. There is recognition of and a building on existing knowledge. This creates a sense of shared community – contributing and exchanging information towards a common good – that of gaining knowledge.

The connection to science thinking needs to be expanded to a larger number of people – this could be a limited exposure, although the 2-3 months timescale feels appropriate if there is the intention not to have a final outcome. For me it has acted as a kind of boost – an introduction to what I already did, an intervention of research that although connected to what was there has built or at the very least redirected a piece of my brain somewhere more interesting. I have been making tools for thinking and I intend to do so.