Sitting through the Joharri Window group critiques and the proposal form presentations made me realise how special I.P. is and how much I will miss you all. I have learnt so much this year my brain hurts but my heart is full and my art brain space is very happy.
I’ve been pushing on with both my graduation film and my The Takeover project. Now is the Time to Save the Earth (2023) Film is now with the cinema techs at the Arts Centre and they are putting it into a digital cinema package for projection at the Cinema, but we are having some difficulties which of course means a great learning opportunity for me! Gareth the tech is being really patient! In the end it was solved using We Transfer using the smallest data file I have! Quality of image was still excellent, so I’m presuming my cinematographer filmed it for an iMax!
Meanwhile I’m preparing social media posts to link with the live performance. Getting costumes clean and ready for my long distance volunteers hoping they will come, but preparing for them not to too! I’ve had business cards printed and I’m preparing materials for the interactive table.
I’ve also been experimenting on my husband aka Capt. Climate Chaos by feeding a confirmed carnivore Vegan food! He’s actually enjoyed his meals and likes the fact it’s kinder to the animals and the Earth it was the 3 bananas v/s an egg idea that made him think!
Conclusion
It was absolutely marvellous to see everybody’s projects come to fruition. The notebooks and the class presentations are a mere tantalising hint at the final work.
Some of my fellow students made some last-minute changes and a real push. That was exciting but I’m sure in future they wouldn’t want to leave it that late! The results were, however, excellent!
Being in the foyer as ‘Glo in da House with the Climate Crisis Karaoke’ meant lots of people came for a chat about the whole show as well as my own project. The good news is, it was well received by all. Staging the film in the cinema was wonderful for me. I enjoyed seeing the film in a cinema, however, if I am being honest, I don’t think it worked as well for the whole audience of the takeover.
The groups that were taken round and shown the film enjoyed it, they appreciated the humorous slant on a serious subject and said they were happy to receive ideas and information through art rather than being told what to do by science!
However, free-range visitors to the show including SoA lecturers didn’t always pick up programs and didn’t realise films were being shown in the cinema! That goes for both films, so that’s interesting information for next year.
Visitors also didn’t engage with the iPad, it seemed in the foyer location during such a busy show has to be loud and full on to capture the audience, otherwise they are just people in transit.
Location and staging are so important for creative work, and I have learnt throughout my year in I.P. that making work is only a fraction of what it means to be a Contemporary artist. The real work starts with understanding your own practice, producing work that is refined and concise i.e. putting your ‘Ideas on a Pin,’ finding and understanding your audience demographic, curating your own work, critiquing your work both as a stand-alone but also in relation to its own place within arts long and varied history. To understand your own contemporaries, both within a co-operative setting, an exhibition setting but also the support and understanding that relationship provides. That is the real essence and beauty of being an artist today.
The lessons I took from The Takeover were feeling more confident in understanding what would be expected from me as an exhibiting artist. How to work with people to achieve a positive result and a meaningful artistic experience. That art is a three-way conversation, between artist, gallery and visitor.
I received positive and plentiful engagement with the workshop table and there is now a whole new set of information to respond to. The most telling conversations were from people saying they wanted to Save the Earth but didn’t know where to start. It seems 12 weeks wasn’t enough Time to save the Earth after all, but it was a bloody good start and at least I know people want it and the art concept of communication through humour works. We all need to start somewhere in tackling Climate Crisis, and I am proud to be taking the work and work ethic I have learnt from I.P. to Central St. Martins UAL for my M.A.
It all went far too quickly, but I don’t see it as an ending, rather a beginning. I am sure that many of us will work together in future and I’m looking forward to seeing what we will create. Art is a network, a culture, a language and I love you all.