Reflections on A Matter of Process.

The constant process.

Irony: the fallout. The insertion of the examination process into an exhibition concerned with the process of art-making leads to a feeling of closure. Not with standing that you grow tired of looking at your own work, but it feels defined, boxed. The establishment of different modes of viewing which was such a fertile ground during the process of the exhibition making, becomes a tarmac car park, needing ripping up to allow new growth. - This was my initial feeling as I viewed with the distance of 3 weeks. But we’ve been through this before: "Try again, Fail again, Fail better."[1] Insert succeed if you will, neither exist after all.  

The experience of co-curating an exhibition, is productively, an unnerving experience. Particularly so in which your own visual practice is present, not only your curatorial practice, straddling both in this instance. Considering other artist’s work within the context of your own practice and the consideration of that within a specific environment is an eye-opening experience. This led to me wondering how the work existed without this interaction previously. But it did and does exist without the gallery or context of examination, through the artist’s subjective experience of society. But that’s to be expected, isn't it? Personal expression is a human right...right?

 
Viewing the work being viewed is always a tense moment, but discussing the work as it’s viewed by your peers undergoing the same process, leads to a hugely different point of view. This is undeniably advantageous. However I suspect we listen to our peers more closely because they’re more likely to say what we want to hear. Or is it perhaps just because we’re speaking the same language? 

We the MFA’s, I believe, have seen our work develop in ways which would not have occurred were the works not put in that space. It gave us the space to imagine ourselves outside the parameters of a MFA program, or outside the insular artist studio, (perhaps a microcosm for the insularity of the art world.) Now the difficulty lies in bring this spirit from the gallery institution model to the every-man. How do you talk it, not tell it?  

[1] Samuel Beckett's Worstward Ho. 1983.

Share the RAGTALE...

MFA student, Rowan Richardson, is currently interested in the possibilities that come from an artist’s engagement with the public.  Her current project, RAGTALES, is to begin with a fundraising event this Thursday and Friday- selling second hand clothes, shoes and costume jewellery- where she asks RAGTALES shoppers to "Buy a memory and make it yours." Some customer purchases will contain a link to a blogged memory of that item and all customers are invited to contribute to the blog when their purchase becomes a part of their own memories.

Join the event on Facebook where you can confirm your attendance and view taster photographs of the items on sale. 

further thoughts, images and audio's from A Matter..

Interval event. The Hub, Level 5 Matthew Building, DJCAD

Images taken from The Interval event;
A Matter of Process, open to the public Wednesday the 14th of December.

‘A Matter of Process’

‘A Matter of Process’ is a collaborative student led initiative focusing upon the cyclical nature of creativity, where the ‘process’ is the central theme. Running alongside the assessment, this exhibition aims to collectively explore individual creative practice within an academic course showing a selection of works by the 2011 Master of Fine Art group. Its aim is to push the boundaries of the static nature of the assessment procedure allowing for the transient nature of the creativity to be enhanced and foregrounded.

The exhibition is comprised of 3 main elements, which include the work of each student. To capture the fluid nature of this process a collaborative piece of work has been developed. By projecting a line of text from each student a collective rolling consciousness is formed into a continuous narrative. Further to this, the interactive nature of the show is also represented by the MFA class blog. This will be live in the space, allowing staff, students and the public to participate. In addition many of the class have created works that, through interaction, will be part of their creative process, further emphasising the constant flux of creative works.

This exhibition has been curated by MFA students Sinéad Bligh, Rowan Richardson and Joanne MacFadyen and we would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved in the development and setting up. We are incredibly grateful for all the hard work and could not have done it without you all. We would like to give our thanks to Sophia Hao, Laura Simpson & Andrew Dodds from Exhibitions/VRC, Ronnie Oakley, John Scott  & Alan Greig, Danny Hill, Mickey Mallett & John Rennie, Malcolm Finnie, Jamie Easson, Peter Bevan, Daniel Pike & Andrew MacLean.

We would also like to give a special thank you to our classmates who have been unwaveringly enthusiastic and incredibly helpful during this process. Also a very special thank you to Prof Murdo Macdonald, Jeanette Paul and all of our advisors. We would also like to say a huge thank you to our MFA course director Prof Tracy Mackenna for her continued support, encouragement and insight throughout this initiative and our time on the MFA programme.