Unpacking the Box (Written 03-10-13)

This has been an interesting week of learning about the course and how it is to be taught. I don’t think it differs vastly from foundation in terms of going to lecture, seminars and tutorials etc, but there does seem to be a greater emphasis on crits and opportunities to analyse/talk about each others work in a group. I have found this a little daunting because I am not used to thinking about work for so long and it worries me that I can’t talk about the things I am seeing in as much detail as some of the others in the group.

In unpacking the box, I have continued to think about habitats and natural environments, but using materials that are man made or processed. It has turned out to be a little tricky to focus my ideas because I am trying to do everything quickly… I would usually spend a lot longer researching and developing ideas, but I want to have some work to show at the end of the week.

I have used my space as a sort of mood board.. I find it quite useful to have lots of images in front of me that might inform what I am doing or remind me of certain things. It was also nice to use this as a way of explaining my work to people, as we are still getting to know each other. I enjoyed seeing for the first time the type of work that the others are interested in. I can already see that the people I am on the course with will be very useful in helping my development as everyone is already discussing and sharing ideas quite a bit, in crits and otherwise.

 

I was thinking a lot about the use of cardboard this week, it seems to tie into my project in lots of different ways... Firstly, in how cardboard boxes become the environment for whatever we put into them (the brief itself is of course 'Universe in a Box - perhaps the box itself is the universe). Cardboard is associated with a certain transience, a temporality because they are often used to carry things from one place to another and house things for a short amount of time. I was reminded of London's 'cardboard city', where homeless people set up temporary shelters with cardboard - this runs parallel with how wasps make their nests, constructing it from cardboard and wood. I was also reminded of an installation work I saw at Glastonbury Festival in the summer by French artist Olivier Grossetête, who builds giant cardboard buildings as a collaborative effort. Of course, the sculptures only exist for a short time, but the buildings they replicate are grand and study monuments.

 

 

After this week, therefore, I think of cardboard as a much more poetic material.. I made a few maquettes using it but I would really like to explore it further in the future.