the workshop at The Maxwell around problem solving for the
new cohort of PhD Nanotechnology students went well - I know this mainly because
people laughed at my jokes! What was fascinating was the initial reaction that
I had moved the tables from the usual configuration was the most challenging experience
for the students - listening to a coat hanger and collaborating and laterally explaining
what was in the bag through mime (you had to be there) were the least
problematic issues. As ever it felt glorious to be in such a dynamic space with
galvanised people - you can almost feel the creativity. I also took down all
the exhibitions that were in the various spaces (apart from the prints that
were created as a result of encountering crystallography that are a permanent
feature within the corridors of metallurgy).
Meanwhile the work for Chelmsford is up and opened - I
couldn't be at the ceremony but I do have a photograph - more to come when I
visit the site. Can't wait for tonight's Spill opening and the weekend of
performance Sirens calling......
I have a piece of writing in the excellent
publication that is the Artist's Book YearBook. unfoldingthinking - Making Book Art with Scientists, is a short piece where I reflect on my recent artist’s residency at the
Centre for Doctoral Training in Nanoscience and Technology at Cambridge
University, UK. The publication as a whole is excellent - intellegent and incisive texts alongside important information about whats going on in the book art world - pre order here
-http://www.bookarts.uwe.ac.uk/publications/artists-book-yearbook.htmlI'm particulary looking forward to reading Egidija Čiricaitė piece which considers In the Space of Time as she is an alumni of the Book arts Course at Camberwell.Meanwhile a weekend of films - The Box - oddly slow low-fi film with a random alien inspired sci-fi
moral dilemma at its heart. Their Finest - jolly japes from Bill Nighy and
Brits crew. The Dinner - exciting writing exploring what would you
give away to do the right thing. Colossal https://solarmoviez.to/movie/colossal-20521/790788-6/watching.html
is an intensely dark film about control and power.
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/
My experience of Nano Technology has led me to clean rooms -
How does the oppressive otherness of the clean room enable free thought? I
thought that maybe I could explore this with creative capes! - but have started
off smaller - how can ritual and uniform make one hyper conscious of one's
actions and thoughts within an art education context?
ok another reason why both studying an art
subject is so wonderfully expansive and that my job is so great - my favourite
conversation this week...... discussing
the role and position of British
folk customs, the characters and their costumes, for a Research Report led to talking
about English traditional music, thinking
about folk music and its roots in notions of tradition. Now consider ....if
there were a group of individuals who thought that the ideas behind the BMP,
NF, EDL, UKIP etc were a good thing and these individuals wanted to explore and
celebrate their version of what it is to be English - Englishness etc but they
also liked folk music. What would they be called? What would be the name of
their band? - yes we came up with the answer - Fascist Folk - this could be both a group and a genre.
A bit like Minimal Gothic - an architectural genre for the guilty who like to think
they want a sparse, functional space but harbour a rapt obsession about Cath
Kitson. And then... a quick Google search of my new idea - Fascist Folk takes
you to straight to Neo-folk....oh well.
after the break from teaching and a summer focusing on nano technology, rethinking my role in education and family it was strangely warming to be back. A hectic week of dealing with the nervous and the strong-willed - NUA is all about learning agreements and the close future of leaving for the 'real world' - the what next. Camberwell saw a great day with symposium 1 where the students share their past and consider the future while we project our roles and consider how we think they will engage with the course we have built. As ever I am struck by the wonderful place that art school is and the wide ranging conversations that can happen if we let the systems that are put in place fade to the background and we focus on the role of serious play. meanwhile the date is set and the invitation is out – the Nano Art
collaboration I’ve been involved in will be presented at the Cambridge Festival
of Ideas - Saturday 31 October: 2:00pm - 4:30pm at the Wolfson Lecture Theatre,
Department of Chemistry, Lensfield Road, Cambridge. http://www.festivalofideas.cam.ac.uk/events/nanoart-perceiving-smallest-scales
come along - if anything else it will be a journey into the unknown with some
extraordinary pictures! and finally - I know that I'm a little late but managed to catch up with Boyhood - a truly heart moving story - somehow about getting through it, this life, in some way......whatever that means http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1065073/
a cracking evening at the New Wolsey on thursday night - I must recommend Antarctica by Chris Dobrowolski http://www.cdobo.com/ the live art piece deconstructs the idea of an art school lecture which focuses on a trip to Antarctic - and explores areas of truth and the real - thoughts after the show swirl around whether the whole piece was an elaborate hoax. If you get a chance I would recommend delving into the meta world of the ladybird book - its a wonderful sequence in the piece.
just finished collaborating/directing the latest film around the folding pieces I'm developing - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XCkhpjg8Ms the work uses more sophisticated software to explore layers and time within the pieces. The sound comes from some work I did with for an interactive commission published as a CD-ROM it is part of INSITE, it was a collection of digital artworks commissioned by Suffolk County Council. A link to a film still from the project http://artistbooks.ning.com/profiles/blogs/second-edition-virtual-books.
the films are growing as I work with the software! - the sound nods towards sci-fi and dislocation meanwhile before they are gone a chance to think about the deep rooted value of art schools in the culture of our society.... if you have a moment (2 hours) I recommend that you to take time to listen to Jeremy Deller on 6 music talking knowledgeably about the relationships between art and music - listen on or near a computer so you can follow up all the links from the thoughtful and intelligent talk as you go along - (maybe leave 4 hours)! http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0675mld
I'm sure that enjoying Danger 5 is incredibly dubious but it really is quite wonderfully bizarre - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1807165/ check out the clips on YouTube or binge on Netflix for a truly knowing experience and finally the deeply disturbing and superbly paranoid mr robot is a must for all conspiracy theorists. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4158110/ meanwhileworking on sound for
the videos - picking up on some previous work - sound enables rethinking the
visuals - bringing a mechanical 'something' to the work that I feel will be
part of possible futures - some links to videos with the sound attached.....
working on a number of films for the
nano project - some short tests exploring shadows, layers and reflections that
are created by letting the wind move the lazer cut fabric in what sun we have
had. meanwhile the good weather (!) has
meant a rash of film watching - the Falling - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3294200/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
an otherworldly tale but unsure about the acting. Avengers Age of Ultron - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2395427/
Robert Downey has all the best lines and you have to wait for the extraordinary
balletic slow motion defence of the 'key' sequence but leave your brains at the
door. Slow West - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3205376/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
a beautifully sad story, the stillness is mesmerising as is Fassbender.
working on a series of new moving images - the nano project is turning into a film project at the moment - both from the creation of gifs in Photoshop and also animation through sketch-up.
initial moving images from the Nano project - some of the films created within the Google sketchbook software and others developed by a more circuitous route via screen shots, Photoshop into gifs
what a most excellent day at Cavendish Lab in Cambridge - everybody was so generous with their time and dedicated
to sharing their experience - totally engaged in the process of knowledge
exchange. it was a very full day of experiencing and challenging spaces within
which to consider many new activities. Although invisible there is an obvious flow
diagram of decision making within each specific activity and the process as a
whole. This is made apparent by the
seriousness of the approach to the activity. self assembly is I now know a key
component to what I do or at least how I think - but maybe not in a
straightforward 'science ' way - I am interested in creating objects with
multiple possible outcomes or systematic structures or non-linear narratives for
others to work with or within or 'play' with. That there is no right or wrong
way is very important to me but just components to enable. Thinking tools.
Tools for thinking. Obviously one is struck by the ritual of work - the
oppressive otherness of the clean room brings with it a heightened awareness of
one's activity, can the wearing of a garment alter ones perception of the activity
that is been undertaken? This could be something to explore with my students -
art uniforms, creative capes! The pace of working is also something to consider
- I was very taken by the methodical process of evidencing activity; cleaning,
counting, arranging, monitoring, calculating, noting. Even the act of looking
takes time and energy. The day's activity sparked many thoughts about
art/science parallels and often the actual activity was the same, although
often at a smaller scale. From the spin painting promoted by Damien Hurst,
fixing and photography 'developing' work, the many types of printmaking, the
resists and opposites, the silkscreen with its mesh and layers, etching working
with positive and negative 2D spaces. So far this whole process has given me a
new way of thinking and therefore supported my writing about my creativity. Ideas
have been sparked while searching for parallels or taking my world into the
world of science and testing out common knowledge, for example thinking about
Duchamp and Duchampian thinking - becoming art, and the world of topography,
definitions and categories - it is art if an artist says so - can intention
define activity? Everything comes under the umbrella of science but could the
same activity be redefined by what you are trying to do, or actually focusing
on? - be it physics, chemistry, engineering or is it a combination of some or all
or is it at a certain level all physics? What is the purpose of the/an
experiment? the concept of the experiment - that even though something hasn't
worked knowledge is gained and so it is useful - so does the concept of a
failed experiment actually exist as knowledge always occurs (if you look for
it). Can this be used with students or actively in my studio? Coming into
contact with science language and thinking has introduced new phrases or
enabled me to rethink ones I thought I understood - the concept of structural
colour - weak interaction forces shape - the basis for self assembly - materials
form wrinkles to relieve stress - release and stick - crease and stress -
graphene origami - self folded closed form structures - at the fold properties
are more reactive - folding along preferred directions - the use of paper grain
- self folding
The latest interdisciplinary project with
scientists is upon me. I'm working with nanotechnology within the Cavendish
laboratory which is within the Department of Physics at the University of
Cambridge. An extraordinary afternoon of discussion - it
was a joy to be in a room of bright, inquisitive, interesting people. The bonus
was that they are also interested in and value what I do and think that they
might learn from my presence in their lives - sounds a bit like a good
learning/teaching experience. I said
that my intention for the project was that I wanted to be lost, to not know,
and to fail gloriously. This was taken on board by the fellow members of my
group and it will become a starting point for me. I managed to articulate this
idea - that In some way I want the collaborative experience to deliver new (to
me) ways of working and I hope that the people I am about to work with will
contain and exacerbate my confusion, that their focused intention will bring
some form of clarity to my studio. We are
going to meet and exchange in Cambridge - actually engaging in 2 experiments -
something about clean rooms, electron microscopes and wave particles and then a
sharing of the folding I'm involved in after a mini workshop of the history of
book structures leading to hybrid combination binding and then an exploration
of the multi-functional, folded, structurally articulated objects I'm working
on in my studio. As ever I
started with the small question - how big is an electron? - apparently nobody
knows (who knew) and yet much of our world is dependant on believing in it's
existence. I'm excited to be working with people who are reforming and
attempting to fold material at a 'frightening small scale' and the other project
is attempting to use the waves that vibrate from everything as a source of
energy - at this point I revert to science fiction and talk about Darth Vada,
the death star and the dark image of evil science. I go on to ask if they are
working with actual things they can see or is it evidence of existence (its
exciting how much of my discussions with scientists get to philosophical
thinking much quicker that my 'art' people - but what does science look like? -
the idea of 'the science of looking' got me thinking about the Eye and Brain by
R.L. Gregory, a book that as a student clarified my thinking around this
subject. The agreement that the mainstream is as wrong and as mediocre on its
coverage of science as it is on the arts felt like coming home. Other topics
include the need for failure along with transgression in our lives to learn and
the testing of boundaries to move forward - all good practice as far as I'm
concerned. I left
full of optimism and excited to get back to my studio. Some
things for me to think about - our use of and engagement with rules - mainly
through materials - us controlling them and the materials containing us and our
ideas. Is this different for art and science? Yes and no - I feel that I can
just change the rules as I change the work and intention - this is different
within the design work I'm engaged in where there is a set brief that has
specific material needs and roles for the work. The idea of the live hinge and
its relationship to nanotechnology through the idea of molecular alignment. I
shall be trying to not answer any questions just explore them
