Swansea Metropolitan University

Last night i returned to Swansea from London, and i am still tired!I have so much information and opinions in my head, so many new visual memories and blisters on my feet from pounding the pavements!

I managed to find "A Nice Man with a Van".24 Hour service, local and national,offering student discounts.Bonus.He was willing to pick up the bath tub and deliver it to my university for £25.I am so thrilled that everything has worked out so far for my installation.The process of hiring a van is extremely difficult.I am 21,therefore the majority of companys will not rent to me.The ones that do have a rather high insurance fee.So believe me when i say,i was 100% pleased with my van man.

So at 11am i had a bath tub,yes!I then set on my task to make the bath ready for fiber glass.I needed a water tight bath, unfortunatly the plug and all then fittings were missing, so my answer was to cover the hole with fibre glass and resin.Though maybe it would have been wiser to buy a plug and fittings?

Visually i would have liked some overally polished taps, or extremely rusty ones.But conceptually i currently feel that the lack of plumbing plays a role.At present the concept is winning the race of importance.

Harold helped me in the resin room,he mentioned an "interesting article in a-n magazine this month".Which i immediatly assumed was my blog being quoted.He continued to say that health and safety was not the only issue, but also the ethics.

The ethics!?!

From what i understand there is talk about wether or not students and the university as an institution should be partaking (at any level) in unethical activities.I understand that the UK needs to give generalised rules and regulations to the masses, but seriously?

Unethical art,who is to say what art is unethical?My view point is that art is a part of a conversation, to encourage and develop opinions.If art is to be controllled and directed externally then how can a conversation flow purely,naturally and honestly?

My feeling of being restrained and controlled with what i wanted to do followed me to London.I went to the Tate Britain and paid to see the Cildo Meireles exhibition.I wanted to see "Through 1983-9" a wonderful installation among the many that were present.However, the art work had been altered from what i knew.The floor of broken glass was different.
By chance,I ended up speaking to a gentleman that had worked on the exhibition and asked him why the installation had changed.He was direct and said that it was due to health and safety reasons that the floor had safety glass placed over it for the UK exhibition.Turns out, when "Through" was exhibited back in Brazil they never had health and safety 'problems'.

I felt so disapointed, I laugh out of disbelief.Maybe its not just in University that my art practice will be limited,maybe the UK is no longer a good venue for Art?Which breaks my heart.

On a "field trip" to Oxford and London next week, leaving tuesday 4th arriving back thursday 6th. However i also have an installation room booked for the 10/11/08 to 14/11/08.

The performance piece has been discussed with my lecturers to make sure no health and safety regulations are broken. Last time my room was locked up to prevent a performance piece that would have broken these regulations. Which ended up wasting a lot of time, and as all practicing artists know, time is very precious.

For this site-specific installation i need a bath tub, any size, any shape, any material, any condition (as long as it can still hold water without leaking). I started by ringing around local building contractors, privet builders and plumbers. After a fair few phone calls i felt like i was never going to find my bath tub. Until i recieved a message from a local plumber, "Uplands Plumbing" had checked with their client and had arranged for the bath tub to be left outside for me to collect, free of charge, wonderful!

I really appreciate the help the public offers to me. In the past ive tried to gain access to old unwanted cookers and washing machines. The council were of little use, infact they told me that once items entered the site for disposal they couldnt leave and suggested that i look for one outside of someones home!!! Luckily enough a member of the public saw a poster of mine and contacted me, he was moving and gave me his cooker free of charge.

Anyway, theres a bath tub, in near-new condition, waiting for me outside someones home. Unfortunatly my own car was recently scrapped, and as much as i want a van – i cant afford one. Renting! Everyone has said "why don't you rent a van when you need one rather than spending so much money buying one?" My answer is simply that 'they' will not let me. Even though i have had a clean drivers license for 3 years, im still 'not old enough' to hire a van for 1hour. If only my age wasnt such a burden to me.

Next plan of action is to contact the head of maintainence at the university and ask for him to allocate one of the vans and a driver to my cause. I've spoken to him before in the past and he always seems happy to help, so hopefully this Monday morning i will be on a mission to collect my donated bath tub. Otherwise it will have to wait until the Friday, which would be a week after it was put outside for me. I dont want to push my luck, or to upset the people who have given permission to me. And i definetly dont want to lose the bath tub!

So yesturday was the first offical Big Crit. The first two presentations. I really love hearing people present their work and ideas, plus i throughly enjoy the discussion. One topic came up which i felt had a connection to my own work (and to artists working with technology all over the world).

The use of technology removes the personal touch of the artist. However i always find statements like this odd; afterall isnt the paint brush a physical form that is not part of our person and therefore the mark isnt personal. Mind you, technology digitalises the interaction and categorises it, in order for the programs to understand. Which would mean there is a limitation for the mark to fit into the categories.

The reason this debate arose: The artist had mentioned that the super-natural and the 'aura' were a key element in his work. Then continued to say he wanted to scan images in, print them onto canvas, re-paint, re-scan, and continue the routine.

Lecturer Sue Williams had said that the mark was no longer personal and felt that the 'aura' wouldnt be expressed within art created through technology.

However i disagree, i feel that the struggle between technology and non-technology would be an interesting one. The idea that by scanning you are forcing something organic and personal (your aura) into the 'machine'. For the image to then be manipulated and produced from the 'machine'. For me the 'machine' can have its own aura, the imperfections when printing, low quality files, damaged or 'lost' fragments of files. Something the artist doesnt have control over, as if collaberating with the 'machine' itself. Ive heard of "The ghost in the machine" and theories surrounding it. I feel its definetly something i need to start reading into.

I cant wait to see how his art develops, personally, i feel the use of technology in his work will create a heightened sense of the personal-aura in contrast with the mechanical-aura.

Still needing to write my statement of intent! Its difficult trying to collection all these delicate ideas and place them into a such a solid form. words. Words, for me, get in the way sometimes. But as an Artist, you need to be able to promote, describe, explain and discuss your own and others art.

After a tutorial with Katrin Webster, Craig Wood and Harold Hope (on separate occasions) i came to the conclusion that i am changing, my experiences and personality are developing, rather noticeably. My work has always had an emotional struggle, a dark tint. I feel that i have a formula that works. I dont feel that im struggling anymore, i feel change, a flow, movement, life and a love for it.

Utopia, a non-place of perfection. Ive been researching, researching…. and guess what… researching! But i enjoy the process, the avenues to explore, or at least be aware of. I feel its a necessity. However, the skill is knowing where to stop thinking and start doing. If i over think an idea sometimes i feel the physical work doesnt give justice to the theory that goes along side. For me , Art shouldnt be made for the theory, Art is my personal expression of my views, the theory is there to help me express myself successfully to the masses. Or at least thats what im hoping.

Next week is put aside for me to collect my materials, im going out into the Welsh landscape to collect coal… (fingers crossed that there is some left)

Ive included images from Video Projections i exhibited (in university) last week.

Friday morning, ive now taken down and moved out of the installation room. Spending this afternoon making sure its in a good clean condition for the next student.

I didnt manage to partake in the performance orginally planned, however i managed to start "doing". Catrin Webster was talking to us during our Big Crit on Tuesday about constantly creating, documenting, and processing.

So i used the room to practice a way of projecting. By using mirrors and positioning of the projector in a certain way. The outcome was rather good, and the video piece i had produced quickly (just to practice with) actually fit the installation and finished it off nicely. The video needs to be redone, little bits and bobs need to be cleaned up. But it is done. Then because i had the room i decided to start projecting my video pieces and taking images to use in my portfolio.

For me, this is a good start to the year ahead.

Pictures to follow :)