Hello external examiner

I am not sure how much I managed to express in the meeting so I thought I would jot down a few rudimentary points about this particular piece, my research and the course in general for you to read if there is time.

TITLE – The majority of my work this year has fallen under the all-encompassing title ‘Framing Control’. Some pieces exist separately however I find it very difficult to locate boundaries between individual works and past, present and future works. The same subjects crop up time and again, the same imagery too, and an object in one location may become a performance prop in another. The all-encompassing title is referenced in the demonstration I have just given; our understanding of the confinements and defining features of separate entities have become blurred by the age of technology.

RESEARCH – I no longer feel that it is relevant to attempt to pin point an origin to every idea, to organise thoughts and map them chronologically. Instead, my research is situated within the medium that I discuss – the computer, and comes in the form of this blog. This works like an on-line diary with a non-hierarchal structure keeping track of the world as it happens. Writing itself forms a strong element of my work offering a variety of expressive mediums.

DEMONSTRATION – A demonstration is not a transfer of knowledge or information. Some of my discussion topics are entirely fictional. The performance intrigued me as I believe that art has an ability to make people see the world differently but I no longer believe that it is enough just to make work, there also must be an element of proactiveness in pushing the ideas onto people (this proactivity is offered in the performance). I thought a lot about what to call this form of dissemination. ‘Performance’ implies an inherent theatrically, ‘lecture’ denotes a transfer of knowledge. I decided on ‘Demonstration’ because it holds an ambiguity between a political connotation and a cookery display.

THE SET – Cardboard city. This is built on a series of signifiers. The set itself is something that the audience has to enter emphasising the set as a signifier of a fictional space. The flashing images, wires, cameras and TVs all become signifiers of our time and props in the discussion. The set itself is supposed to give an overall sense of unease, confinement and discomfort which is then mirrored in my discussion. It is also terribly important that the set could exist as a fully interactive piece when I am not inside it. It has enough to offer the viewer in the fact that it has the potential for something to happen.

OTHER WORK – The meticulous drawings illustrated in my research book Escaping the Wall form the other side to my work. I do not see them as totally separate to the set, the demonstration etc – in fact they often become props in themselves. They do, however, require a different part of my brain to produce. They are more intuitive, less researched. Time consuming to make, they have a calming effect which allows my mind time to wander so that when I return to the other side of my practice I attack it in differently.

THE COURSE – The overall course for me has really relied upon locating a balance to suite my personality to prevent feeling confined – hence the methods I use to split my time – separating reading and writing, drawing and building, then bringing them all together. These multi-layered levels of self-expression again are why I give everything the same title. It is also why I pushed so hard to be allowed the six month exchange period to Czech Republic – a motivating balance. In such a totally imbalanced era, constantly moving, constantly bombarded by information, knowing how to locate and balance yourself is the most important skill.