Developing a Developmental Journal

Tonight I have been continuing my developmental journals by starting on one or two books full of primary research. I am filling the pages with the photographs that I took of some bunkers in Guernsey (see the post on my blog here). I have started these journals by organising the pictures into categories to try and make sense of the images rather than sticking them in in the order they were taken. 

I feel it is important to have physical copies of this type of research so it is possible to look back at your starting points and reflect on them from perspective. Photos can often be lost and forgotten when they are on a computer, so having books like these helps to encourage reflection on past influences.

Developmental Journals

I have recently started to improve the state of my portfolio as my BA interviews are coming up (for which I have chosen Slade, Central Saint Martins, Chelsea, Wimbledon and Camberwell). I have decided that an effective way to show how my work develops would be to make mini journals filled with photos of developmental work. I am taking a minimal approach to them, having little writing, if any. I hope the way that I choose to photograph and lay out the pictures will say enough about the development of my work for others to understand my processes.

Taking Control

Since the 'room project' started a couple of weeks ago, I have found myself being pulled towards two different thought paths. The first being about my interest in the properties of concrete and our expectations of concretes properties. The second idea is about the control of people and their movements. I have managed to articulate my thoughts about these subjects by writing a statement for each concept:

1) I am interested in the properties of concrete - weight, density, sturdiness... I want to challenge our understanding of these properties by creating an object that contradicts our perception of how that material acts.

2) I am interested in the power I have as an artist to control people and their movements. I use concrete as a medium for this because of its powerful, dominant, formidable qualities. I also feel that concrete directly and indirectly affects our movements and lifestyles subconsciously every day, regardless of what work I produce.

For the first idea I am considering tricking the audience of my work into thinking something is wrong with the sculptures. As well as making them feel uneasy by allowing them to experience a material that they had entrusted to act in one way when it seems to be acting in another. You can see examples of general ideas I have had below.

For the second concept, I have explored the idea of interfering with the space I have chosen which is the large, open space just down the corridor from our studio. The first few ideas I had involved physically building walls and forcing people to explore the space. But due to health and safety it was not possible to carry out those initial ideas I had, so I started to look deeper into the space.

Today I came up with an idea involving completely discontinuing the use of a space rather than just changing the way the space is used. The idea is to block off the door leading into the room in which a writing and curation BA is taught. A close friend of mine does that course and says there are 4 different doors leading to the room. She will be showing me around the room tomorrow so I can gain a better understanding of how the space is used, and what relevance the doorway is to those that use it. I will want to understand what ways the door is utilised so I know how I can affect or disaffect its use.

Sweet Emotion

I just read a New Scientist article about emotions. It focused on those that have not yet been recognised as major emotions. I found the section on elevation particularly thought-provoking. Art quite often focuses on representing peoples emotions through visual processes. However, it would be interesting to see how much art can affect peoples emotions and if it is possible for art to bring out emotions like elevation. The Article can be found here on the New Scientist website.

/A lot of people reported experiencing elevation 

during Barack Obama's inauguration speech\

Statement about my work to do with peoples movements

As a follow up to the previous post, I have reworded my statement on my work to do with peoples movements:


I am interested in the power I have as an artist to control people and their movements. I use concrete as a medium for this because of its powerful, dominant, formidable qualities. I also feel that concrete directly and indirectly affects our movements and lifestyles subconsciously every day, regardless of what work I produce.

Questioning the Properties of Concrete

These pictures are an update of where I am in my ongoing exploration of concrete and its uses as an artistic material. The first and third images below show my first ideas of using concrete to control the movements of people within a space. I feel concrete is an appropriate material to do this as it has become such a prevalent material in todays society. It is used to build just about everything in a modern city - buildings, pavements, roads, sign posts, bridges and stairs (amongst other things) are all made of or rely on concrete, and it is these things that physically affect our movements. Yet we seem to be unaware of these restrictions placed upon us indirectly by this widespread material.

/Room Project proposal No.1\

/Room Project proposal No.2\

/Room Project proposal No.3\

I am interested in the properties of concrete - weight, density, sturdiness... I want to challenge our understanding of these properties by creating an object that contradicts our perception of how that material acts.

/Public sculpture proposal - 

Questioning the Properties of Concrete\

/Public sculpture proposal - 

Questioning the Properties of Concrete\

/The mould I made to cast blocks of concrete -

from which I could carve the shapes needed\

BFI Film Archive

The BFI film archive is a huge collection of some of the most interesting film and television ever made, with some of films dating back more than 100 years. Most of the archive is British, but does feature some 'internationally significant holdings from around the world'.


The website claims that the collection includes 'A wealth of material of every genre from silent newsreels to CinemaScope epics, from home movies to avant-garde experiments, from classic documentaries to vintage television, from advertisements to 3-D films, soap opera to football'. What is really interesting is that they have recently released a large amount of their films onto Youtube, and every single video I have watched has been very charming. Below, for example, is a film from 1970 entitled 'Rush Hour'. It is by the British Transport Commission's film section, which was set up in 1949 for the purposes of training and external promotion.


I find the ongoing theme of the clock ticking makes it very engaging to watch, and shows how little needs to be done to make a film really successul in its purpose.

Sand Sculpture

This is quite a spontaneous piece that I made yesterday. The movie below is a documentation of what I did. Whilst making it I had no image of the final outcome in my head - I was simply experimenting with the different components of concrete - in this case, sand. After realising the final form of the sculpture, I played around with the idea of scale.

The piece reminds me of 'Atomised Passenger Aircraft Engine' by Roger Hiorns which I saw at The Tate Britain a couple of months ago. It was the artwork that I spent the most time looking at, and for most of the time I was sat on the floor beside it because I couldn't get over how much it felt like a scaled down landscape. I think that I instinctively think of things on a large scale, as most of my work involves human interaction and is almost always on a large scale.

/Manipulation of Size and Scale\

/Roger Hiorns' 2009 Turner prize entry\

Cubes

I'm at college so thought I would upload some pics of what I've been doing.

The first picture is a model of an idea thats been floating around in my head for a while now. Its not right yet. I'm thinking less of the cube visible and on a larger scale as well.

The second and third pictures are pictures of a trial concrete mix I made on Tuesday. When I made a new mix i would simply grip the concrete just enough to leave the mark of my hand on it. When I picked it up today for the first time since it was dry, it felt very nice to hold. Although its not the most astheticly pleasing object in the world, it had an amazing effect on me. It felt sculptural. Which surely is what sculpture should be about? Sculpture is all to do with your hands, and this object was like an extension of myself. I find myself wanting to hold it...

Concrete Dye

Just found this website! I'm thinking of some really cool things you can do with the dye! Exiting!


The dye definitely takes away from all of the properties I love about concrete, but adding it gives concrete a new life and a new meaning.


http://www.daviscolors.com/Home#mixready

/A concrete walkway in 

California using the dye\

Festung Guernsey

The Group of people restoring and preserving Guernsey's bunkers.
http://www.festungguernsey.supanet.com/

/MP4 Bunker\

Cement, Sand, Water

I've finally been able to begin working with concrete! Today I bought a bag of cement and sand as well as some basic equipment I will need (a large and small trowl, a bucket for water and a bucket for mixing). The bag that I bought is called Safe Mix/Soft Sand and Cement. It is a £6.26 bag with both cement and sand provided. This could save time if I move onto larger scale sculptures in the future as it will save me measuring roughly the correct amounts of sand and cement. Right now, all I am doing is playing around with different measurements and testing the limits of the material. but once I feel like I know what concrete is capable of then I will start moving onto making what I like to call 'proper' artworks.

Concrete German Bunkers

Before I left guernsey to come back to London I went around a few of the German bunkers from WWII. Although I have grown up around these structures I found the experience quite distressing and upsetting. Because these buildings have been around me my whole life I had never (until now) properly taken the time to think about what happened, I never made the link between me and those who suffered on my home island.


There really is something haunting about these great, grey blocks dotted around the island - they are a true reminder of something awful. However, do not feel as if they should not be here. They are one of the greatest living reminders of how to live our lives, and how to run a government. They represent the strength of the good, common people of the Channel Islands. They represent the strength of those Jews, Romanies, homosexuals, disabled, Slavs, Poles, Soviet PoW's and Jehovah's Witnesses who suffered and died because of this occupation. It was these people who built the bunkers as slave laborers, and you can almost feel the soul of those people as you interact with these incredible structures.

/Bunker at Cobo Bay\

/The interior of another bunker on Cobo\

/A preserved bunker at Vason Bay\

/Napolionic fortress meets German bunker\

/A shape that I found intriguing\

/Another fascinating form\