DEGREES UNEDITED

# 26 [6 March 2010]

New materials added to the exploration include overhead projection film and associated permanent marker pens. I say 'new' but of course this is really another step back into my past, where I used an overhead projector, film and pens during my time as a company training school technical tutor. The thought here is to use the film to provide the ability to overlay ideas and (being in roll form) represent the serial nature of the exploration. I am looking forward to reconnecting with what were once such familiar everyday materials.

As I continue my journey, ideas for the final exhibition presentation are beginning to form. So far, I have sketched out and recorded a half dozen strong possibilities None of them are final, but I wouldn't expect that at this stage.

The pressure is on to deliver the text and photographs for the exhibition catalogue by next Thursday. No problem there, but agreeing the cover design and general layout is proving a little more problematic. I have to say it is so easy to spend far too much time worrying about such things when any one of a huge range of ideas would quite obviously be fit for purpose.

A decision will be taken collectively and another step toward the exhibition will be made.

# 25 [2 March 2010]

Blog style renditions of the three coded symbol sets:

http://triarcle.codedimages.com

http://circuare.codedimages.com

http://squangle.codedimages.com

Inspired by...

...well you will have to click a link to find out.

# 24 [26 February 2010]

I have been a little distracted this week. With no college (reading week) and the dissertation out of my hands, I relaxed and became hooked on a phrase framed as a challenge (on another site). The challenge was to make work in response to:

the alarm kept ringing...

I became hooked on the idea of making a purely conceptual piece in the form of a set of instructions written loosely in the style of a computer programme. The outcome was this.

|| the alarm kept ringing... ||

| instructions |

01. select an alarm-device;
02. load a suitable alarm onto the alarm-device;
03. set the alarm-device to sound the alarm;
04. select a sound-recording-device;
05. set the sound-recording-device to record the sound from the alarm-device;
06. start the alarm-device;
07. start the sound-recording-device;
08. wait one minute;
09. stop the sound-recording-device;
10. stop the alarm-device;
11. select a time-display-device;
12. set the time-display-device to the correct time;
13. select a sound-recording-playback-device;
14. load the alarm recording onto the sound-recording-playback-device;
15. set the sound-recording-playback-device to continuous loop;
16. select a moving-picture-and-sound-recording-device;
17. set the moving-picture-and-sound-recording-device to observe and record the time-display-device and the sound-recording-playback-device;
18. start the time-display-device;
19. start the sound-recording-playback-device;
20. start the moving-picture-and-sound-recording-device;
21. wait for 24 hours;
22. stop the moving-picture-and-sound-recording-device;
23. stop the sound-recording-playback-device;
24. stop the time-display-device;
25. select a moving-picture-and-sound-recording-playback-device;
26. load the moving picture and sound recording onto the moving-picture-and-sound-recording-playback-device;
27. set the moving-picture-and-sound-recording-playback-device to continuous loop;
28. start the moving-picture-and-sound-recording-playback-device;
29. wait forever.

| components |

alarm-device, sound-recording-device, time-display-device,
sound-recording-playback-device, moving-picture-and-sound-recording-device,
moving-picture-and-sound-recording-playback-device.

| actions |

select, load, set, start, wait, stop.

|| revad, 2010, version rc2 ||

This is release candidate 2, I went through a process of beta, rc1 and rc2. Unless I find a fault, rc2 will become version 1.0. My only outstanding questions are:

Do I follow the instructions and make the physical work? Or, do I leave it and get back to work for the final show? Or, do I change direction and incorporate this idea into my subsequent work?

To some extent the questions are rhetorical, as everything I do has an impact on what comes next. Maybe I will make the idea manifest, maybe I won't, but it will impact what comes next - there is no doubt!

# 23 [19 February 2010]

Today I wrote this in response to a comment made on another forum:

"I am in a constant dialogue between digital and analogue, one informing the other. I flip and flop between the two, occasionally they meet in the middle somewhere and create something special. In logic, flip-flops are bistable elements, in my art digital and analogue are more bi-unstable, almost as if there is a self clocking mechanism encouraging constant movement between states and exploration of the space in-between."

This simple statement seems to sum-up so much of what my work is about at this moment. The big question is, can I resolve something that will capture this dialogue within an exhibition.

This morning I completed the digital domain resolution of the symbols I have been working on. I now have:

3 x 3 x 3 x 3 = 81 monochrome and 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 = 81 colour symbols.

(based on the combining of two of three geometric shapes: triangle, circle and square)

27 TRIARCLE monochrome symbols

27 CIRCUARE monochrome symbols

27 SQUANGLE monochrome symbols

27 TRIARCLE colour symbols

27 CIRCUARE colour symbols

27 SQUANGLE colour symbols

162 symbols in all.

As per my last post, the next phase involves exploring the analogue potential of these symbols and the scale and materials of analogue production.

some strange terms defined:

TRIAngle + ciRCLE = TRIARCLE

CIRCle + sqUARE = CIRCUARE

SQUAre + triaNGLE = SQUANGLE

DIgital + anALOGUE = DIALOGUE.

# 22 [16 February 2010]

The ceremony is over, the dissertation has been submitted, and I have my receipt (for now, a very valuable piece of paper).

I am walking around like a Cheshire cat!!!

Immediately, I picked up a 6B pencil and made some drawings directly onto the studio backing boards. This was another good moment, as I realised there is potential here for displaying symbols on a grand scale, but quite simply and very relevant to a drawing course.

There are two close-up images attached here. These are very quick and unrefined so there will be more experimenting in March (after the reading week).

# 21 [16 February 2010]

Off to college this morning. A special trip for the ceremonial handing over of the dissertation (there is a receipting system to give me proof of submission). Despite it being half term, my tutor Sarah is happy to accept the work and I am happy for the expected relief of it being beyond my control.

# 20 [15 February 2010]

My Blogger Profile Interview is published here:

http://www.a-n.co.uk/degrees_unedited/article/604301

Every time someone asks a new question you find out something about yourself and your art you didn't already know. Well, that was my experience of this sequence of e-mail questions posed by Richard Taylor.

# 19 [14 February 2010]

A litle experiment with format. Another method of display for the symbols has been simple postcards. This requires a change in format which at least has me questioning the assumption that square is best. I will test rectangular, both portrait and landscape.

During half term I may also have another go with canvas and paint. or at least mixed media. I feel like I gave up too quickly on my last attempt. In any case I love to experiment with materials that feel a little uncomfortable to work with. Very little that is creative comes out of working inside the comfort zone.

There is much temptation to find and follow an easy route to a final show, but my best work comes from exploration and work at the edge of what I understand and can already do. I must hold my nerve and keep experimenting, keeping faith in my ability to discover something fresh and interesting just-in-time for the exhibition.

Put the work in and something good will happen!

# 18 [12 February 2010]

Not been too well the later half of the week, forcing me to miss the group critique. Very unhappy about that, I like to have my say and, more important, listen to what others say. The group critique is also a good way to keep up with what others are doing.

The dissertation is bound and ready to hand in next time I am in college. I may go in next week (half term) just to get it out of my hands and safely beyond fiddling with!

Next week I will be exploring alternative ways of storing and displaying a large number of images (100 to 500).

One method I have used in the past is the Bochner inspired ring binder. I may yet use this method again. It is certainly cost-effective and relevant to the engineering inspired connections of my symbols.

# 17 [10 February 2010]

The dissertation is printed and ready for binding (three copies, one for me and two for college). With luck this can happen tomorrow and I can hand it in. When it is out of my hands I will then focus 100% on the final project and exhibition.

I also sent in my exhibition catalogue information today. The image is generic and should act as a visual clue for anything I might actually exhibit.

The installation tests are going well. I like the intimacy of the digital photo frame. My budget will cover a backup frame, so this is one piece of technology that might yet find a place in the exhibition.