Library Slips

Whilst I was thinking about artworks for the Schism exhibition, I asked in the library whether I could have a few library slips from the front of the books. The librarian very kindly offered to collect them for me as they are in the process of removing them all because of the new digital barcodes. To me this is a huge shame as the slip has become part of the books' history, dating it and identifying it as a book from Falmouth or Dartington etc. I now have an enormous folder of the slips and am debating what to do with them. Lying them all out on the table, and seeing how subtly different they are has given me a few ideas about ordering them into strange systems, such as by colour, by date, by number of times they have been taken out etc. The slips themselves are part of many systems established in the library, so to add to this with obscure and futile arrangements could be quite interesting and counter to their original purpose of clarity, order and truth. Considering systems and ways of classifying things relates to my ideas of categorising dust from between the floorboards, and continues the scientific/archaeological thems that I have spoken about a few times before.

 

My practice seems all of a sudden more open to working with any materials and objects sourced from places instead of merely found e.g. doctors dust, library slips. I suppose I feel more confident about people for things that interest me for my work, and am becoming more accustomed to explaining my work to people in order to allow them to understand and see where I'm coming from.

 

 

Thinking a bit more about the colour idea, I am curious to take the colours from each slip using Photoshop and arranging them into a chart - I wonder if the darker the colour the older the book? The colour chart of numbered pixels is another system which would confuse and abut the library's own methods of organisation. When discussing this idea, it was suggested I look at Rutherford Chang's collection of The Beatles' 'White Album' vinyl covers, many of which are discoloured or have been written on. I really love this work. I am consistently drawn to things which show change, especially if they started looking exactly the same. I don't feel like its necessary to reflect in too much depth about this work because I have spoken about the themes which arise in it many times before - how every record has a history and a story, as well as conveying the passing of time and even space on its travels around the world from the place where it was originally made. The act of collecting is also something I have researched previously, looking at Mark Dion's practice and Cornelia Parker's 'The Maybe'.

 

 

Something a little different is how the collection taps into popular culture. A well as using The Beatles, the way the record sleeves are presented reminds me of Warhol's prints (both extremely iconic). However, the subtlety of the colour allows the work not to become clichéd in my opinion, it seems refined and poetic and dignified.



 

One idea I have had is to scan the slips and print them on tracing paper and make to make a booklet/catalogue. In complete opposition to the colour idea, removing the background colour so that the writing is 'floating' might centre the focus on the dates themselves. Without a context (of being in a book) the writing will become unfamiliar and puzzling - the viewer will have to take a moment to work out what it is they are reading, and the system will be completely broken down. The header paragraphs might also be interesting when overlapped, as there will be some that correspond exactly and others that don't, showing up the differences.

 

Lastly (for now), to follow a more playful approach, it would be curious to try and track down some of the names that crop up in the slips. It is bizarre to think that all the dates stand for anonymous people living their lives in different ways all around the world, with a connection through this slip or the book that it belonged to - they all have that in common. What interested me about the library slips to begin with was how books are used to learn and collect ideas, and the dates are documentation of this. Making an artwork that is about knowledge and learning would be very fitting for these sheets of pure but useless information.

 

 

Reflections on My Work Since the Last Assessment

Thinking about the upcoming assessment I have been forced to reflect on what work I have to present, and what I have been doing since January. It seems I have had no clear project, instead flitting between ideas, with the exhibition in the middle to focus all my energies on.

At the time of the last assessment I was planning on taking my project forwards by looking at cleaning, and how cleaning can reveal the dirt in an environment. For this I cleaned a floorboard and made some more latex prints of the studio floor and my house's tiled vestibule. I had aimed to look at doorsteps, the doorstep half moon and the role of women as 'maintainers of cleanliness'. However, with Schism approaching I became distracted by devising a new work for the exhibition and began to pursue ideas such as filling an hourglass with dust and the elements for 'Time/Piece'. I also started working on 'Cartography of the Floor', putting the dirt from between the floorboards into petri dishes. I considered developing this and taking the scientific element to its logical conclusion by finding out everything about the dust I collected; I didn't get round to this and I'm really uncertain whether I should or whether it makes more sense to move on.

In developing my exhibition piece, new interests arose (as they always do to distract my attention) and I have had a lot of ideas about lenses and vision, making basic cameras using my old contact lenses etc. I think I will try and get a tutorial to ask whether It would be best to develop previous ideas or move on to the new ones. I am concerned that if I move on to looking at lenses, my project will be even less coherent and I will get low marks. I can see that there are several links running through all my ideas: time, the overlooked or discarded, a general sense of futility and transience, and a hint of the scientific. Perhaps acknowledging these links might be enough to tie the work together.

I have faced a lot of new things to puzzle over this term with my slightly different way of working, and at times it has been difficult to understand what I am trying to achieve. However, as I make more works using found objects I am beginning to understand what my role as the artist is - to frame the object with words or carefully chosen display methods to change them from being familiar to unfamiliar, to reveal what I have noticed about it that other people may not. Therefore if the titles are not presented with the work, as a vital part of it, then the objects are not artworks (in my opinion), they are just contemporary artefacts. Having said this, in Simon Fujiwara’s recent Hayward exhibition of significant objects and images that describe modern British culture, he chose to remove all of the text. I have not seen the work, and if I did I would know what the objects are because he told us about them in his lecture, but surely some of them would need an explanation for any meaning to be felt by the viewer. The other day I was thinking about the similarities between this work of Fujiwara’s and Cornelia Parker’s ‘The Maybe’; both present everyday objects, some belonging to or relating to celebrities, both as art exhibits, but Parker’s had accompanying text to explain them and Fujiwara’s doesn’t. Fujiwara admitted himself it was a gamble, but just felt it was the right thing to do. This is something to really consider in my work, whether giving away less invites more curiosity and room for imagination, or whether it is confusing or off-putting. This may well be an investigation to broach in my dissertation.  

A more general observation is how I am not accustomed to working in the way that I am now and have done throughout this year. I am working much more conceptually, with less focus on what materials are capable of doing, and more focus on what materials and objects are capable of meaning, what they represent and how they can be displayed to emphasise this. I have certainly felt a little lost at times because I am not physically producing as much work - I have very few maquettes to show and these have not been replaced by anything e.g. sketches, writing, There are simply many potential artworks that I think about or note in here that are never actualised. Having said this, I am really pleased with the 'final' works that I have produced for Schism and for the CU 'Perception' mini exhibition.

Planning Exhibitions

After the CU exhibition and Schism, and learning that I make work more efficiently when there is a goal in mind, I am really keen to start setting up some more shows, both in the studio and in places around town or even further. Tab, Chris, Ed and I had been planning on approaching Curious Hall to put on a group show, and then we discovered that wee could get some help from Newlyn Art Gallery. It is really exciting to think about the prospect of organising and curating our own show, inviting others to exhibit with us and having the freedom to really explore the potential of our work together.

As I have been looking at the library slips I have also thought about approaching the library to display work made from them in their display cabinets. This seems like an ideal way of exploring the relationship between contemporary object and relic - as the slips displayed in the case will be no more important than those that remain in the books on the other side of the glass. Maybe it will make people perceive these familiar bits of paper in a new way, especially as they are being removed from the books.

Lenses Ideas

I was really interested in the close up photo I took of my old contact lens, which looked a bit like a planet, and am looking to develop this idea. I don't know if this idea is a bit clichéd, but I love how it looks like a world because at one time it was mine - it allowed me to see and experience my surroundings. In 'Schism' I wasn't sure if presenting my contact lenses might have been inaccessible to those who have no experience of poor vision. How could they truly understand the weight of these tiny shrivelled objects and fully appreciate my dependence on them. I feel that the accompanying information/text/title is very important in works using my lenses. Either it can clarify, like the lenses do, or add confusion through omission, removing. Playing around with removing and providing information is something I'd like to do this term, thinking about what is lost without vision/without knowledge.

I am reluctant to involve myself and my personal experiences too much in my work. I think making work too personal, particularly if it is to do with my specific sight problems, will make it less relatable and alienate viewers too much. I feel content making work for personal reasons, but keeping these to myself. I plan on bringing this up in Death Café to get an idea of how other people approach it.

I'm planning on re-photographing the lens properly, projecting it onto a wall with an overhead projector and experimenting with different ways of presenting it with light and photography, maybe even making some prints. Reading Simon Ings' book 'A Natural History of Seeing: The Art and Science of Vision' is giving me more ideas on the topic, as I am understanding how the eye works and more about the issues that I have had with my own vision. It is really refreshing to be able to read a book that is not specifically about art and use it as research. I think I often need this to refresh my mind and keep up the momentum in my work as my interests are so broad. In  my last tutorial we also discussed using my old contact lenses to make a pinhole camera and reactivating it as a lens. I am excited to make a genuine investigation of camera technology and what I could make with its magnifying properties. I have initiated some research into this by creating a Pinterest board and collecting ideas and guides on home made cameras.

Mother

As I have had to confront notions of what 'mother' means recently, I am planning on making a zine with this theme, asking for contributions from other people in all mediums. I already have a few people in mind who have previously explored this topic and would have something to contribute, and I will directly ask a few others who might also be interested. I think it would be good to get a side project going for this term that will involve different individuals who perhaps wouldn't usually work together. It would also give me the chance to curate images and make something that is particular to my interests. I'll be opening it up to illustration and drawing as well as all years of Fine Art. More than anything I am just curious to learn more about the perception of what 'mother' is or does, how people feel about it, what their different experiences are of it etc. I am hoping it will ask some questions and answer some.

I've never made a zine before so I will need to get some help in how to make it...I have a few illustrators in mind for this. For the moment I am Pinterest-ing zine layouts and formats to get some initial ideas.

Plans for Death Cafe

For the Death Café that I'm hosting, I'm planning of speaking a bit at the beginning about some topics that I particularly want to talk about, giving some background to my work as well as my experiences at the moment. I'll then open up the discussion, and just keep some other questions that we can talk about if we have time.

- Disintegration loops + Katie Paterson, melt water records

- Disintegration - visible when I go home e.g. Meg, grandparents, parents. When a child, time goes slowly and everything seems to stay the same but being away at uni makes change more obvious

Granny ... "by the time I've taken my glasses off and my hearing aid out and my teeth out, there's not much of me left"

- Hair and ideas

- How people deal with the 'personal' in their work

Other: death and technology...on screen there is a back button

Quick Thoughts on Language

Language taken as fact - I always use the dictionary to broaden my understanding of words, as if these are facts. But connotations are entirely subjective, dependent on individual experience - language itself isn't a science, its cultural and man-made. What is the dictionary - defining the dictionary - is it the opinion of the majority - what they think that word means? Strikes me to be like colour - all using words with slightly different connotations - but never really know what other people see.

Language is all code - standing in for something material that the sound itself is not. Like learning a new language  - where the foreign words are code for the English words, and the English words are code for something other.