17/09/2009

AM. Started writing the next chapter of the thesis. PM, we went to Limerick City Gallery of Art, with Mark,  for a look at the current exhibition that was running there. It was interesting to hear the views and issues raised by Mark; obviously, he has a long academic experience in art matters, and it is of great benefit to us, as emerging artists, to be involved in this kind of discourse with him.
I had a tutorial with Nigel at 4.30. He has shown me some useful and interesting tools to use on Adobe After effects.

16/11/2009

I have procured some more mirror for the installation. Some of the existing mirror had become dirty, so I had to clean them again. Someone had moved the installation; I had to spend considerable time getting it back into position; I have marked the position this time. There was plaster all over the floor as well, so I had to spend time cleaning that up as well. Took some more photos from different Angles of the installation.

13/11/2009

I attended a day long seminar in the hunt museum, it was run by the Irish Museum Association. The title of the seminar was 'Get connected -Your Museum and Web 2.0  The title is self explanatory. It is what I am doing my thesis on, so it was great to get this primary research material. The organizers were very helpful; they allowed me to record the whole seminar, and will be forwarding all of the seminar content.

12/11/09

Even though I had a notice inked in red pen, asking people not to touch my diachronic installation, yet another person has taken it upon themselves to interfere with the work. It is essentially ruined now; the culprit this time apologized fair enough. "I'll get you another piece of paper" she said. Two months work down the drain. Another guy a couple of weeks ago, decided that he would use my space to hang his work up !!!  He left two big dirty footprints on my work. It never ceases to amaze me, how inconsiderate and selfish some people are; I know that I would never have interfered with anyone else's work, never mid a 4th years', in fact, I even would refrain from walking through their studios, in case I disturbed them. The only way I think it may be salvageable, is by coming up with some way of including the damage as part of the work.
Maurice used the mirror installation again for part of his work; I got some more photos of him in the process, the ones where the flash is visible, looks interesting.

11/11/2009

I tried on several occasions to get onto the computer that had my video on, alas, every time I went to the multi-media room, there was someone on that particular computer. I see no other option, other than download the software to my own computer. Took some photos of the installation, with a couple of people posing in the mirrors. I had an excellent CCS tutorial with David this morning; one particular web site he mentioned could be a good reference source for the thesis.

10/11/2009

I spent the morning in the library writing for my thesis. In the afternoon, we had a seminar with Mark, he invited a guest speaker; Dr. Kieran Cashell. The seminar was concerned with aspects of how artists use language. It was a dialectical discussion.There were many topics discussed, including truth, meaning, semiotics, philosophy, and so forth. It was intriguing to hear another Professors philosophy, and the terminology he uses. Many theorists were mentioned, including; Saussere,Pierce, Nietzsche, Barthes, Derrida, and Wittgenstein.

09/11/2009

I had a progress review today, and I must say it went very well; I have gained a clearer understanding, of the specifics I need to consider within my work, in order to give the work a better sense of clarity, coherence, appropriateness, focus, communication, and so forth. In short, I need to delve my 'angle'. Having said that, I was under the impression (perhaps wrongly) that the first half of the term was meant to be, in some sense, experimental; fun, enjoyable, explorative. I had not realized that we were meant to be so specifically focussed at this stage. Nevertheless, constructive criticism is always well appreciated, and I can well understand the tutors concerns. If I was to be perfectly honest, I had indeed realized that the work was fragmentary, and disjointed; I was going to see where it would take me. It is clear now, that I have to take control of the work (as it were) and lead it. Still, this has ignited a strong sense of urgency in me now, to bring this coherence to the work. My daily arranging of the studio space will be no more (it was becoming banal; the health and safety restrictions within my studio space, limited me, in terms of artistic self expression). My collaboration with Mathilde can only continue, if it is appropriate to my own work. I was never happy with the term 'visual confusion' that I related to the mirror work, and Mark has verified this, by explaining that it is an inappropriate term to use. In conclusion, I am well aware of the necessary steps, that I now have to take, in order to realize the full potential of the work.
One of the graphic lads wants to use my installation to do a fashion shoot, he reckoned the place feels unnerving; as though someone is watching you. Maurice also used the space today; interactivity on two counts today.... yeaaah!!!