Monday, 7 Jan 2019 - 21st Jan Asynchronous Seminar (drawn from issues raised in Krzysztof‘s lecture) - CW

Asynchronous Seminar (drawn from issues raised in Krzysztof‘s lecture) - CW
When Monday, 7 Jan 2019 Description Via LMS, written contributions over two weeks

On Thursday, 17 January 2019 05:17:35 UTC+4, Jo Nichols wrote:
Is it the artist not the art that drives its value? If we look to the Vermeer fake this certainly is true. The gate keepers of the art world, the institutions and the gallery owners certainly seem to hold the power as they can set the price, push the sale, hype the artist. Therefor if one chooses to work out side of such institutions the struggle for financial success is much grater and artists are not necessarily good business people able to push their own works worth. The artists however who make the artwork hold the top trump cards as the institutions would have no currency to trade without them. 

My first response on seminar was to Jo's point (see above quote): To reply to Jo's point, regarding whether it is the artist, not the art that drives its value, I would agree with this and take it a step further. The art market works to trends as do almost all markets. This leads to gallerists, curators and institutions seeking artwork made by a particular group of artists who are in favour at the time. Does this lead us to a point where the work isn't as important as an artist might like to think it is, but rather their gender, race, biography, struggles etc speak more to the consumer than the work itself does? Would the work still be in favour if it was produced by an artist coming to the art market with a more 'privileged' backstory? 

Second response purely to lecture: Does removing oneself from the art world simply bring about isolation and loss of confidence or does it feed integrity? - I've recently discussed this question with a group of artists in the studio I am a member of. We discussed the aspect of visibility, and what would it mean to be invisible, how could we become invisible and let the artwork speak for itself? There is an element of creating 'dead art' by removing oneself from the art world. If work is not seen than can it be classed as professional work or merely an act to pass the time? Does the work itself have more integrity if the bias surrounding artist biographies is removed? If all artworks could be viewed in neutrality would it lead to purer/truer readings, literally allowing the work to speak for itself? - hide quoted text -

Elaine's response to me: interesting question Katie, I guess for me it depends on your audience. I think bios, statements etc can be helpful in giving the audience some kind of ‘in’ into the work, I remember in college for our degree show our department advocated for no statement, title, name but audience were frequently asking some kind of information on the works. I also remember writing a paper on anonymous artists where I found that anonymous artists were really playing the same game only without a name re publicity,  even inviting press to talk and write about the work. 

My third response, this time to Elaine: I agree Elaine, regarding the anonymous artists, we all have to play the same game regarding publicity and getting work out there. The one thing is that an anonymous artist really has to make sure the work speaks for itself if they don't have the additional resource of biography for insight. On the other hand, it may allow them to comment on issues that they may otherwise be criticised for if their identity was in the public, ie: white artists commenting on race relations, or male artists commenting on feminism. In these situations, the strength may be in the fact that the artist is an unknown and that work is viewed for its narrative. If the artist's identity was exposed they may be criticised for coming from a place of privilege or domination regardless of whether their work had a strong and positive impact. - show quoted text -

Mozhdeh response to me and Elaine: @Katie, ‘Yes’ a good art speak but as you and Elaine mentioned publicity is important in the contemporary world of art, it seems in the art today 'the artist is a part and it's not a part' of its work of art. 
Although the intention of being an anonymous artist has some interesting aspects and differences for some artists and the curiosity of being an unnamed artist maybe grab attention, the success of that is still conditional and very much depend on 'anonymous publicity'! @Elaine as Elaine points out. 
In the other hand I think the form of art play the main role in this matter, as for some art forms it not possible to be unknown, as the artist is the main element in the existence of artwork, and also the artist location and geographical, cultural ability, knowledge, and understanding of art and this concept is something to be considered!!
Talking about the geographical matters and possibilities bring to my mind this question ‘who is the anonymous artist? the artist who chosen to be behind her/his work of art or who has been forced to be a kind of 'muted artist' under regional, political, cultural, race, gender, identity etc. sensitivity and or pressure of its surroundings!! How much these issues effects on artist activities and or limited the ways and choices for the artist and or being an artist?

19/02/2018 - Professional Practice Portfolio, Drawing on Visual Methodologies & Asynchronous Seminar

see slide show that goes with this: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RP_9NbY0r47wbWSavykg30__mfNi95VQ/view?usp=sharing1:Asynchronous seminar:a debate/discussion that happens in writinga text/prompt that sets out the subject of the seminarpost at least twicebe considerate towards others,keep them short: not essays - key points for discussion, think about it as if verbalopen until 17:00 hours on 2nd marchcopy and paste the discussion at the end to keep as it's a good resource2:PPP - slide 6 in presentation:Professional Practice Plan (PPP)a career plan or development plan as an artist. perhaps career, or high profile as an exhibition artist or further study.Each year the word count increases, it is assessed and added to each year.its a fluid document, its going to change and thats not a problem. Its a good thing if you are adapting and changing.From the slides:A working document that starts in year one and continues until you finish study. It is intended to act as a career plan, it is continually revised and kept current over the length of the course.In year one, the PPP is between 500 – 1000 wordsSubmitted for assessment in June 2018The plan should be written to include the following, which should be used as a guide and is not exhaustive:A summary of your practice in professional terms.A plan that sets out your aims for one year ahead, three years ahead and five years ahead. It is about dreams and aspirations, but  should be realistic. -+ how will you get there? what do you need to do to get there? think about the methods and requirements. What steps make things possible?+Includes identification of networks, notes on skills needs or facilities acquisitionLists appropriate ways of presenting your practice (e.g. website) public profile, what will work for you. social media, website etc or perhaps you are analogue, zines, postal, books etcEach year the plan is re-worked, amended and added to.Possible formats:Chart, - tables- spreadsheetsPlan, or mapDiagram, colour coded etcMap,A body of text, narrative, like a proposal, punctuated with key points etcColourful/different fonts/tracking method, - to distinguish each year, to show the progress like I do on my mind maps and sketchbooksLinks, references, illustrations, - things that are useful, perhaps programmes etcBusiness document. - this is more of a business document - a proposal and business plan.Book a tutorial on monday 5th march - these are pop - have a draft ready, not refined or finished but something to base our discussion on friday 2nd march before the session.share on journal or on shared drive, it's up to you. eventually on the journal.3:Visual Methodologies - Gillian RoseDiscourse Analysis IIWe all have different views because we are different people and bring a certain baggage with us the influences our subjectivity.How is this work framed... what bias is pushed upon us.Group discussion: responsesWhat are your responses to Rose's writing on discourse analysis II?unnecessarily academic, and tedious links but overall useful if somewhat 'obvious' towards the end.it feels quite outdated as it doesn't reference technology/social media/websites etc which is now a very active part of institutional discourse. There are a lot more exciting opportunities for viewers to interact and view work now.It also highlighted the dominate role of a museum so it has opened up the dialogue around that. It's created and increased personal awareness and how dynamics work between different partners in art exhibitions.discussion regarding the power of relations between artist/curator/public/press/critics etc. How the works are chosen? are they picking works that fit in to programming or things they believe are already interested in. is it trend led i.e.: the shows regarding artist that have been banned from travel in the states.How much of an exhibition is about the curators personal taste, research driven or about the public and footfall? Acknowledging the bias and privilege and making sure that it is highlighted and bringing in the people with the experience and knowledge.How do you define a good curator? do they have their own motives?Did Rose's writing change anything for you as an artist?Points that were already in the conscious,its important to consider the context that your work is going to be shown, and how it is created.what your role is as an artist to manipulate and select your own environment, where you wan your work to be displayed and who see it. Whether the systems in art galleries etc are relevant to your work, or that it might not be suitable to be experienced outside the 'white cube' etc.How does this approach relate to our artwork?The artist has some responsibility to make artwork for and decide the end destination, who and where they will see it. You can influence control over this aspect. So the artist as curator, initially.when the artists becomes a curator, the traditional responsibilities of a museum, will transform to the artist's responsibilities. So the artist for instance should be reflexive, although that lack of reflexive, is one of the weak parts of the discourse analysis IIThe right to speak about certain discourses, being aware of your genres and bias, how you are read as an artist and whether you have the knowledge/experience/heritage to discuss the narratives of certain types of work. Being aware of cultural appropriation. Conflicted opinions regarding this, whether this can be restrictive or not to one own practice.