Assignment EP 1 : Experimental Practices

Assignment EP 1 

My Updated Project Plan

MY UPDATED PROJECT PLAN

Assignment EP 1

My Updated Research Proposal

My interests are wide and eclectic I would say. I am keen on history and archaeology, architecture and art, and I ingest information on all of this and more avidly. So to pin point a particular area of interest can be a problem. My practice during my BA was primarily focussed on glass, but I really want to broaden my horizons and see where my research takes me. This is both challenging and liberating, and that I feel is one of the purposes of studying at MA level.

Inspired partly by my first small item, made in the first few weeks of the course and a film by Elizabeth Price called User Group Disco, exhibited as part of the BAS7 exhibition, I am delving into the world of Family History or Genealogy. I find myself drawn to this area, as it seems it is a rarely explored part of our notion of ‘family’

The small item I constructed was a container of ephemera, objects that have no intrinsic value, but had meanings and told a series of stories. Elizabeth Price’s film is an exploration of an imaginary museum, a freakish vision of the future and a comment on our consumerist culture. What will we leave for future generations to interpret?

Our lives are a fusion of nature and culture, but nature and culture are a contradiction. Because culture is the essence of what makes individual humans into a group, the core of social identity, its continuity is vital. (Bertaux D, 2005)

I have researched Philosophical ideas on Memory and am continuing to read more in this area as it is feeding into my practice. I have referenced this in my Reflective Journal and Bibliography.

My research has also turned to Genealogy and my own family history. I discovered that my Great Grandfather and grandfather where involved in Lace production and this has been an inspirational source of interest. The manufacture of textiles I have found led to the development of computers, and this all links in to my family history around my home region of Nottingham and South Derbyshire. 

Due to my research I have moved on in my work and am planning a Sculpture in metal incorporating Plasma cut Lace patterns in Metal.

I have been discussing my work with our large scale metals technician Joe Currie, who is a talented sculptor, and will be collaborating with him to produce my sculpture, and hopefully have it included in his plan for a Sculpture Park at St luke's Hospice, Plymouth later this year.

My methodologies would include academic research in Sociology, Social Anthropology, learning what I can  about Art Metalforging, photography, video, alongside experimentation within my practice.

History always constitutes the relation between a present and its past. Consequently fear of the present leads to mystification of the past. (Berger, 1972)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bertaux, D., & Thompson, P. (2005). Between Generations Family Models, Myths and Memories. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers. P210

Berger, J. (1972) Ways of Seeing, London, Penguin & BBC Books