02/03/2009

No reply from Sheelia Deegan (Limerick City Arts Office) yet. The Turn-Berlin gallery replied today, I will give my colleagues the info tomorrow.


Name: Richard

FYP Option: Thesis

Choice of tutor: David Brancaleone

Description of project

Art galleries/Museums have been the usual means by which artists exhibit their work for all to see. With the use of modern technology, many artists and galleries are choosing to display their artworks in cyberworld,1 by means of various artist websites, and gallery websites, including virtual art galleries.
In this thesis I aim to make an inquiry as to whether this will ultimately lead to the demise of the art gallery/museum as an institution, and also to the way we view art.

Context of Project

Historically, the art gallery institution has remained relatively unchanged for many years. Initially it was designed as a place where people could go to marvel at the wondrous works of the artist, the artist being endowed with marvelous awe inspiring, divine like talents. The upper echelons of society would have been the forefathers of the gallery, only they would have been supposedly educated and enlightened enough to appreciate the works of art, or indeed have the leisure time to visit such institutions. Even today, there still seems to be a certain kind of snobbery associated with galleries; closed circuit television watching everything, and the stewards watching everything the cameras miss. There appears to be a secret kind of etiquette when visiting galleries also, silence seems to be observed, even when there is no requirement to do so, the flow of people appears to go in an ordered, rather than random way.
In cyberworld however, there are no unspoken rules of etiquette, there are no class distinctions, even the technology used today has become affordable for almost all walks of life. There is a generation now then, that has been reared with this technology since childhood; play stations, x boxes, mobile phones, I pods, mp3's, cgi's etc. They have face book, my space, bebo, blogspots, so for actually going to see artworks in real life galleries, why would they even bother? When their own reality is primarily based in cyberworld.

Research Sources

I will use theory based books to research the sociological, historical and cultural aspects of galleries, ie, Art in Theory, Modern Art Criticism, Museum theory; Pierre Bordieu. I will look at what individual artists have to say regarding the gallery; Hans Haake etc. I will research writers such as Bruce Altshuler (collecting the new), Andrew Mc Cllellan (Art and its publics, museum studies at the millennium), Emma Barker (Contemporary cultures of display). Another book which I believe will be of good use is: what do you expect from an art institution in the 21st century by various contributors. I will have to investigate the web for comments and writings on virtual art galleries; Wilson web, Google scholar, Ebrary etc.

Work plan

The first part of the project will be to gain a brief overview of museum theory, I will have to research several writers to gain an understanding of the methodologies, social implications and theoretical constructs of galleries/museum's.
The second part of the project would probably involve selecting the precise theme or line of inquiry that I would expect to be concentrating my efforts on, eg from the general to the specific. I would also expect to research modern museum practices, with special emphasis on theory relating to contemporary issues.
At this stage, I will take an in depth look into cyberworld art practices; virtual galleries etc. The final part of the project would probably consist of a consideration of all the research, and a summing up of same. As a proponent of cyberworld technology, I would like to make a DVD, incorporating aspects of my thesis, IE images, a virtual gallery etc.
1For the purpose of this proposal, I choose to use the term cyberworld to mean the world of cyberspace. For me, the term seems more appropriate than cyberspace.

02/03/2009contd.

02/03/2009

The board which I got off my colleague (I will call it the beauty board from now on) is taking shape now, all my colleagues have been very helpful and cooperative with my project. I completed another FYP proposal today, I feel more confident about this one, at least I am staying in the land of the living with this one !

27/02/2009

Alan very kindly brought in a book today, it is called Visual Music, synaesthesia in art and music since 1900. I have to admit I was blown away by it, it is exactly the kind of thing that I am investigating in my studio practice, it's brilliant. I am in turmoil now, as I am undecided on which route to take for my FYP. My initial rejection of my first FYP proposal (apart from the genius thing) was on the grounds that I thought it would not be a contemporary issue but I am so wrong, it needed today's technology to evolve. What I am I going to do now ? Do I go with the virtual gallery thing, or go down the synaesthesia in art route? Which one of the two is connected to my studio practice? in some regards they both are. Oh, and another idea for a thesis came to me the other day; an enquiry into the challenges faced by mature students in art college!!!!!!!!!!!! more food for thought. Damn !

26/02/2009

Went to see David Brancaleone about my FYP, I asked for an extension, to give me more time to get another proposal together. I told him of my idea and he seemed quite enthused about it. (I want to make an enquiry into Virtual galleries and whether these will lead to the demise of the gallery as we know it and the way people view art). It is a subject which I am interested in,and it would be considered a contemporary issue. (Plus, I wouldn't have to be a genius to undertake this one !!!! LOL. The board which I got from one of my colleagues, is making it's way around the studio, my colleagues are very helpful in this investigation, they all think it is a very good idea. I sent another E-mail to the turn-Berlin gallery, asking them if they had given anymore thought to our proposal. They replied and said that they were very busy at the moment (exhibition opening) but that they are still considering it. I wrote an E-mail to Sheelia Deegan (Limerick City Arts Office) enquiring as to whether she could help us (third year painting) to find a place in which to have an exhibition in Limerick City.I mentioned that perhaps the council might have an empty building somewhere that we could use.

25/02/2009

Had tutorial with Alan and David today regarding the FYP, they were a wealth of knowledge, and they gave me some great advice on artists, poets, composers.(Goeth, Stravinsky, John Cage,Kandinski, Klee etc.) They have made me realise that what I had intended to pursue in my thesis is not really feasible,(Alan commented that to achieve what I had planned to do, I would have to be a genius !) so I am going to take a different line of enquiry. I had planned to g to the sculpture department today to begin work on my egg moulds but three of them broke in my bag(it was a good job that I had them hard boiled!!!). Had tutorial with Nigel today regarding the video work for my studio practice, he seems really interested in the kind of things that I want to pursue. He wanted to give me a quick introduction to premier pro but between one thing and other, it didn't transpire. I have asked him if he wouldn't mind if I joined the second years for the photoshop introductions, he was only too willing to let me join in, fair play to him. It is a wonderful thing,(photoshop) a great tool for artists to use in their creative endeavours. I can now see where some contemporary artists get their colours from.

24/02/2009

For our first experiment with sound/performance, Mathilde and I went to the boardroom. We laid out our 'instruments' on the table as though we were setting it for lunch,(a metaphor for digesting our sounds) we arranged everything very neatly and orderly, and began our experiments, tentatively at first. We would try one table setting for a while then move on to the next place, seeing what kind of sounds we could create. The next stage of the process involved more sound and performance improvisation, which went very well, we were extremely pleased with our results. It took quite a while to get the video recorder set up in the right position etc, but it was well worth it in the end, we have good footage of our work. The sounds are quite obscure to say the least but at the same time very interesting in their own right. I could compare them to the kind of sounds that Morton Feldman uses, and also Fluxus,who use bizzare noises in their compositions. I will add video stills at a later date.