week three summery

Rory Dunleavy
The conversation focused mainly on one completed sculpture- a small object constructed for a piece of animal bone that is abstracted as a result of being painted. At the end opposite it's joint the object is sawn off in a way that leaves a rim and interior. A drinking straw is attached with blue tack to this interior. It was agreed that because of the changes to its surface and colour the object reads more as a device than as an animal part. Its open so it becomes a vessel, this is of course supported by the presence of the drinking straw. The yellow surface is marked and varies as if it were a poor copy of something that once, in its original state possessed a clearer or perhaps cleaner purpose. The object's potential as something with a variable scale survives the effects of the drinking straw's introduction of a real size- this is interesting and points to the degree that it's form might be producing meaning at a less consciously acknowledged level. An exploration of this simultaneous scale effect seems worthwhile. Further work will benefit from the consideration of contextual structures eg what are the possible environments being considered these could be either continuous or disrupted but should be developed alongside particular objects.

Luke Thompson
Two pieces were discussed; both were introduced as provisional and representative of an idea that is in development. Discussion centred on the extent to which they might act as templates for further work. Their minimal nature shouldn't preclude a consideration of them from a formal point of view. They were a collage made from newsprint that involved the transposition of different city views over a night sky and this same idea of the night sky formed from a piece of coke box card, painted black and pierced to make stars. These were to be considered as objects in a line of ideas started earlier by the small bark and wire sculpture. The way each of these objects has been made needs to treated as important to the development of the idea rather. This offers the potential that imaginative decisions might be developed and improved upon. A larger schema will come from the relationship of ideas, which are actually present and articulated through work

Ellena Wenn
The discussion centred around a range of drawings, made on different paper formats. These generally take the form of proposals or signs that are put to the viewer- an early subject is an inferred sense of Utopia being a problematic idea. The drawings are either glyph like and require some interpretation sometime provided by text or from memory. In both cases the source is internal rather than being based in observation. It was proposed that the work, which utilises the personal pronoun and places the artist in direct communication with the viewer perhaps doesn't leave enough space for a viewer to have a productive response. The suggestion is that in some sense the artist is an over determined presence in the work in these situations. The group discussed the issue of how to more effectively utilize the Ellena's ongoing dialogue which is for her quite personal in its meaning. The process of turning it into some sort of art product could in some ways lessen its value to Ellena because it introduces processes not central to her thinking. Som responses at this point suggest using processes that compile rather than transform the material being worked on. Another suggestion is that while this method continues another process might be introduced, one that reduces the calculated product aspect of the work to a set of consistent formalising presentation devices. The example given was to work in the same improvisional manner onto a larger more substantial paper in a way that didn't slow the action of drawing or involve an addition of extra artistic stages.

Shannon Teo
Two objects are presented. Both involve processes that recall decorative arts, (ceramics and glazing) as well as the domestic and abject (in the sense of being either over ordinary or involving excessive human presence -human hair, or in their broken states. They are everyday mementos and could be held in the hand or more likely live on the mantle piece. These objects were discussed in terms of the contribution made by their various materials, where these materials seemed excessive was this productive- case in point being the brown packing tape- Does this work against the glued accumulation in a formal sense and does it somehow over valorise the 'art- outside of taste' function of the work by bring this to the fore in a manner that takes something away from the autonomous life of the object- eg the sense that this object might exist without my viewing it.(losing this possibility might, on the other hand be productive)The unglazed work was considered in terms of how its form related to its supporting surface - the bust format might have resulted in a loss of formal potentiality, Thinking about this leads back to considering the formal role of the breaks in the other work- how they set up a kind of sense of something being under way. How the work lives in an installation sense need to be thought about form this point forward because they will be instrumental in setting up the context for reading.
Alongside discussion about how ideas might be bought forward in a way that involves a variety of provisional answers to any one question this issue of the work's final landscape is developed can be applied across the group as a whole.

David Hallet
Issues raised in previous work are providing a conceptual basis for the present project. This results in a concern to explore the limitations placed around thinking considered as coming from the perspective of cultural identity when that identity is identified as being Maori. My sense is that this involves the questioning of how mutable these signs might be. If they aren’t mutable in an art context why is this the case and what form of control does this demonstrate. The proposed taking on of another 'other identity' could explore the role of externalised markers of culture, how they are communicated and also what sort relationship they might have or how they might affect lived experience. In pursuing this type of question it seems significant to relate the effect of the work to the specific actions it involves as well as they conceptual propositions that motivate it.

Yo Na Lee
Mainly the group discussed the eroded table. This is a second hand table that’s undergone severe destruction. It’s surfaces, legs and top are all eaten away by a reductive carving process that revels both the internal material and conversely the function of the surfaces, which are noticed in their absence as well as where they remain. So there what is left is small islands of the original connected by the stuff that’s usually hidden. The overall structure has been seriously weakened and this gives the object a comic instability. In the way it bends it could also relate to the form of a table made from its material cousin- paper. During the conversation turning it over into its more common position altered the work. The reason given for the table being on the side is however important, you aim for an object that combines a two and three-dimensional presence. Richard Artswarger has worked this idea on extensively.
This kind of rearrangement needs to be experimented with alongside other examples of similar erosive actions on similar furniture –so that comparisons might be made. The process of carving could play a greater role perhaps while working on other examples would allow the process to be advanced to the point where the original form is lost. At this point accidental possibilities become available. These can work alongside the effects that are the result of intentional actions. Breaking the object up also allows its parts to become available for other purposes. Allowing a greater range of outcomes at this point would make it more likely that the work isn’t restricted to the intentions established at the beginning of the process.

Ryan Munro
The project is concerned with the use of the body in religious symbolism. The initial interest in piercing could interestingly point toward either legend e.g stigmata or its imagined real source as an interruption to the body, (violence). Initial research has focused on the body's sense of being over determined in this context. Its symbolic effect burnt out through the likely over use in the minds of viewers. An obvious case in point is the heart. So this is interesting because this sense of overuse could either be a problem for the work or a real point of interest and something that the work deals with. The photographic record made of the medical library indicates a potential to bring the real up against the symbol in a productive way, The photo's frame isolates aspects of the body, descaling and reorientating features that would if presented in their entirety be perhaps predictable - Could this be possible through physical making processes in a way that introduces fresh metaphor. Material treatment of cast objects in terms of surface is also something to be thought about.

Bella Pachter
Model house looked at. The conversation considered the surface treatment and its effect on how the work read as a sculpture. What the next step might be -eg to make more similar objects, that deal with the same process of construction and finish or whether there might be logical sideways steps such as taking the material processes to another scale of object and surface. Discussed in this context was the presently preferred method that involves the bringing together of non-similar objects so that they might generate readings through their relationships. This discussion was repeated in other conversations. The suggestion is that this strategy might be retained but a more linear development of ideas might also be followed. This second method would involve an experimental approach in relation to materials and form that allows for comparisons to be made.

Julia Chiesea
Work looked at was the second stage of video project. This consisted of short clips that provide a contemplative space and are in some instances dissonant to each other. The nature of time and the different possibilities of registering its passing provides the starting point for the work.
Feedback and conversation considered the effect of camera shake- could shake be replaced by flicker perhaps- the contingent effect of movement was understood- we are aware of the camera, as opposed to having a sense that the image presents a window. Stan Brakkage has been looked at. Julia will be meeting with technical staff and considering the potential of film as a future line of material investigation.

Sophia Ong
The project is figurative and concerns itself with the horror genre, but in way that deals with its what might be described as its ordinariness, or lack of effect. What are present at the moment are small models made of blue tack that morph body parts and combining them with hair and introduced objects that have their own non-model scale. There are plans to also start of the base provided by a store bought mannequin- part of the project will involve the selection of this readymade. A point to consider involves identifying flexible aims for the project that might not be tied to the type of large outcome described however the individual aspects of this proposal should be followed up. This includes an involvement of the studio architecture.

Ana Corbett
The starting point concerns itself with issues of replication and appropriation using images of Aboriginal painting as a source. The group looked at works on paper of two types. The first example was a set of transfer prints onto newsprint that had been degenerated through repeat transfer until there was only the faint trace of the original image. The second example had retained an image that was legible to the degree that the creased wear of the original was quite a present feature of the work. In both cases the image size has a significant relation to the paper size. It was suggested that this made the viewer imagine the images associated with text absent text. Eg National Geographic, in this way the anthropological reading is extended. In this vein it was suggested that an inference of how the text might wrap around the image could provide a formal structure of the edge of the image and how it is situated on the paper. Also suggested was the possibility that the images might be placed into some sort of drawn architectural space. This would talk to the kinds of secondary social life possibly led by the replicated image. A third category of drawing, on a smaller scale involved drawing over and resizing patterned imagery. The choice of tools used to make graphic marks could be considered alongside how new marks integrate or relate to the pre-existent image.

Ya Wen
The work looked at consisted of three drawings involving the copying of found images on to a ground created from slip cast material poured onto lightweight paper. This ground means the pieces are temporary and their form changes according to the degree of surface loss. The drawings sink into the slip material and this seems appropriate given their organs as a discarded proposal and lost institutional critique. That these drawings are architectural means that they involve shorthand, even in the way nature is for example depicted. The inclusion of this image against the Debord image is interesting in degree that both become submerged and second hand in their signifying effect. It was suggested that the project might usefully take on another divergent aspect, a third metaphor against those already present; the type of surface and the organ of the image. This could perhaps be sculptural for instance. This is suggested a way to untether the idea in a manner that might move the project into a more active physical process of experimentation. The conversation excluded other projects. Its imagined that these other activities have a role in broadening the process.

General notes:
1. Comparative methods could be strengthened in all cases
2. Work should ideally be presented for conversation in a way that gives the audience some sense of its presentation ideal. So this means clear space perhaps but definitely the identification of what is to be considered by the group.
3. In each case there could be movement to other developmental media such as drawing,
(In an expanded sense this means- Notes, sketches, material samples, for example).
In other words any thinking by-product, which, should ideally be treated as if it could be artwork

People to be looked at on Thursday the 7th of August. 2-4.30pm

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David Pickett
Louise Morris
Kate Davidson
Neeve Woodward

As this is an additional session I am hoping that as many people who are able can attend but I understand if you are scheduled for other things at this time.