The following is a proposal of my work for the degree show. We each presented our work so that we could have an idea of work that could be invasive and keep track of what each person is doing. Everyone seemed happy that this plan was not as invasive as my first ideas, and is a stronger idea too. Unfortunately I then had a tutorial and my tutor prefers the workt hat I have been doing with gallery guides. I shall keep working on both and decide after easter which I would prefer to do.
My work recently has focused on the directional nature of the gallery space. I have looked at how architectural design of the gallery is a major tool in the direction and paths of visitors to galleries, particularly with newer galleries such as the Tate Modern. The use of directional devices seems out of place to me in a space that, in the past, was considered a place to stroll, a place to wander and discover new things, as well as a space to see something specific. I want to get lost in a gallery, to make my own discoveries. These ideas are influenced by visits to the Sir John Soane Museum, a maze of a house full of a variety of types of artwork and artefact. I find that in becoming lost in a museum or gallery you become more immersed in the work that is displayed there.
My floor plans aim to explore different gallery layouts that intend different experiences for the visitor. These include being directed around a space, encouraged to get lost amongst the space, and emphasis on the differences of work on show.
For the degree show I want to draw one of these floor plans, in actual size, onto the floor of the studios. This could be either 207 or 206 or ideally throughout both. The aim of the floor plan is not to curate the works in the exhibition; that would be done however the curating team decided. The aim is to show the possibility of a different type of special layout, which would offer a different experience of a gallery.
Practical Considerations:
• I shall probably use vinyl tape to draw the design on the floor, but I need to find out if this is achievable.
• I do not know what colour it will be yet.
• It will not go on the walls.
• The condition of the floor is something I need to discuss with Sina as well as with everyone in the group.
• Maintenance of the work, I am not sure what I will have to do during the degree show to maintain the piece, if anything. I will know this when I know what material I can use to create my drawing.
Our degree show is progressing well. On Wednesday we presented our ideas to each other so that we can have an idea of space and any issues with intrusive work (such as mine, and works involving sound and light etc.) We have not yet settled on a title for the show, this will probably happen in the week after Easter. What we have decided on is a concept for the show. This involves having an antechamber through which visitors to the show must pass before entering the main gallery/studio space. The antechamber shall work in a similar way to the cabinet show in that each person will provide objects and books that represent or have influenced their practice.
In the same way as the cabinet show the objects will not be labelled and it is up to the individual visitor to connect what is in the antechamber to work that is on display in the main space. After Easter we should each have 10 objects that may go into the antechamber space.
This week was the opening of our collective pre-degree show exhibition, ‘Yoke’. For this show each student was asked to submit at least one object that was representative of their practice (after some deliberation, mentioned in a previous post, I chose to create a sign post pointing in many different directions). The show works as both a preview to our degree show, a way to generate interest, and a method of trying things out. It is not a large show, we had to fit it all into a cabinet that is outside our studios.
The title ‘Yoke’ came as a way in which we could explain the concept for our show. A yoke is a tool used on farms to harness together two animals in order to pull a heavy weight. The word also has connections in many languages to the idea of collection and connection.
I have mentioned before how the work produced on CFAP is all of a very different nature is hard to connect to one another. We chose to play with this idea of creating connections between the objects that were arbitrary and unimportant in the context of the work. We did this through an hour long discussion in which over 300 connections between the objects were offered up. These connections were displayed on a poster covering one half of the cabinet, with the objects in the other half. The objects are not labelled, though during our discussion they had been assigned letters which appear on the poster. It is up to the spectator to create their own connections in much the same way as we did.
For this show we split into three groups that fed back to the whole group. These were, curatiorial, promotional and practical. I was involved with the practical side, helping to source the materials we needed, building shelves, painting the space and working out any other practical issues. It’s been a great help for our degree show, and we all seem to have worked out which roles we are best suited to.
Last week I printed out and went back through all of my blog entries from this academic year. I did this as I was beginning to feel I had lost a sense of direction with my work and was in a lot of confusion as to what to do next. It was a really useful exercise and helped me to settle on two ideas I want to carry forward towards the degree show. These ideas involve the floor plans of my gallery designs, which I shall talk about in more depth in a later blog this week. And the use of gallery guides.
When I first began looking into the gallery space it was through gallery maps. I was thinking about the safety of the gallery, and the way in which the gallery space controlled and directed the visitor. I found the maps problematic, as my view of a museum or gallery was somewhere that should be wandered aimlessly and becoming immersed in the surroundings. Right at the beginning of my research I came up with the idea of a handbook for a gallery, telling you how to act and what to do within the space. I searched on the internet to find the right kind of text so that I could learn the language used in handbooks. I then stumbled across ‘Art for Dummies cheat sheet’ by a former director of the Metropolitan Museum New York, Thomas Hoving (see link below image of the book). This ‘cheat sheet’ seemed incredibly one sided and contained the jem, ‘art and politics never mix’ which being on a critical theory course made me laugh (this book is oblivious to Ranciere’s ‘Art and Politics’ in which he claims all art is political, or to Joseph Beuys’s role in founding the Green Party).
I then became distracted from this idea by my gallery designs. It was only when just over a week ago I was going through the mound of print-outs on my desk at uni that I rediscovered the cheatsheets. I have since bought the book ‘Art for Dummies’ and began reading it yesterday. I have used the cheat sheets to make a very rough mock-up of my idea to transform them into a gallery guide, looking like the maps that I have collected from galleries. I also want to make my own version and the two would be handed out together.
I am not yet sure what to do with my guides. Talking to my tutor yesterday has given me the idea that I could use them to make the visitor act in an abnormal way, such as taking their shoes off, walking backwards or not talking at all within the space. I quite like the idea of making them do the opposite of Hoving’s guide. I hope that I replicate the type of friendly and light hearted, yet slightly condescending language of the handbook.
About a month ago I visited the Dulwich Picture Gallery as part of my research into gallery and museum spaces. Something that interested me at the time, though I dismissed in my research as not related to gallery spaces as a whole, were the period style chairs and chests of drawers in the gallery. These pieces of furniture I assume date back to the beginning of the gallery and when it was first built as the first public art gallery in Britain. They feature mainly in the side galleries, along the main axis of the gallery there are large upholstered benches. You are allowed to sit on the benches – you are not allowed to sit on the period style chairs. It seemed a slightly ridiculous concept to me to have chairs that once were so obviously intended to be sat on made so redundant.
Last week I made a small piece of work in response to this using the chairs within the studio. It seemed to me that the idea translated quite well to the studio as it again expected that you can sit on any of the chairs. It is however quite a different environment to the gallery. The chairs in the gallery are obviously left in as an educational tool about the history of the gallery and of furnishings within the gallery.
I created my own notice to go on chairs asking people ‘please don’t sit here’. I then left this in the studio on one of the chairs. Apparently when I had later left the studio one of my coursemates saw that I had put this on a chair. His response was along the lines of ‘For F**** Sake…’ When I came back in on Monday my notice was on the floor.
I don’t know if this will lead me anywhere, except possibly to try this as an intervention in galleries I visit over Easter. But in terms of the degree show I see it more as something I really wanted to try out, and not something I am expecting to use within the show.
