The Last Few Weeks –
As we are now approaching the last two weeks of our first 20 weeks, I thought that now would be the perfect time to catch up as our unit 1 draws to a close. It’s an opportunity to look back and really start to analyse the direction of travel of my work.
As usual I will answer the following questions to help with the reflective process:
- What have you done so far?
- What have you discovered so far?
- What will you change because of what you have discovered?
- What will you do next?
What have I done so far?
Since my last reflective blog, as always, I have been very busy trying out new ideas and experimenting with them. However, much of the work leading up to this reflective session has involved a lot of preparation for my study statement and preparations for my Unit 1 assessment. I found these preparations extremely valuable because it really did make me question exactly what it is that I am trying to achieve? Below is a short summary of everything that I’ve covered since my last reflective session along with links to each blog.
- Study Statement – This has probably been my main focus over the last few weeks. I worked solidly on compiling this document. Possibly the hardest part was narrowing down my focus. There are so many concepts and materials that I would like to explore it proved quite difficult to choose a more specific direction.
- Know Thy Enemy – As part of my study statement, I felt that I really needed to add some context to what I was trying to say. This blog explores the old adage ‘Know Thy Enemy’, why it is important to me regarding my work and finally my responses to it.
- Morphing – This blog explores new Ai software that can take an image and generate video from it. What was interesting were some of the ‘eerie’ figures that seemed to appear from nowhere. I believe that this technique could prove useful in my search for form of human, digital and Ai hybrid art.
- Zoom Session 14 – ‘The Art of Seeing’ – Until a person actually sits down and takes time to consciously analyse an image then it’s impossible to understand how much is lost in a cursory glance. This week in groups we took time out to really examine an image and try to work out what was happening. The results were pretty amazing in terms of what information was extracted from each image.
- Tutorial No. 2 – My tutorial blog looking at what I have done since our last session. I was ‘blown away’ to learn that CSM (Central Saint Martin’s) houses the full collection of Stanley Kubrick’s film ‘2001 a Space Odyssey’. This was particularly relevant to me as I was currently working with some audio of Hal 9000.
- Zoom Session 15 – ‘Open Ended Questioning’ – In this session we explored open ended questioning in groups. I was also intrigued to learn about aspects of Quaker life which I note in the blog.
- Boring! Boring! Boring! – I titled this blog as I did because at the time I felt somewhat overwhelmed by trying to produce something unique. It felt to me at the time that everything that I was trying to do was already being done more successfully by someone else. However, I persevered with my ideas and in the end I produced some interesting digital pieces.
- Zoom Session 16 – In this session we explored what it meant to be a professional artist versus a non professional artist. We had a number of discussions in our small groups.
- Jason Schulman Inspired Work – In this blog I explored the work of Jason Schulman. I tried to work with an infrared filter but unfortunately the timer on my camera would only allow for a 20 minute exposure. However I came up with the idea of recording ‘Party Political Broadcasts’ and this blog explores some of the rather fascinating results. The recorder light which was compounded over the duration of each broadcast was added to an Ai system that animated the resulting images. Again the results were quite intriguing.
- Image Poll – This blog identifies which images people preferred from the blog above (Jason Schulman Inspired Work). I found the exercise of adding a poll to my blog really insightful and this blog reveals the results.
- Zoom Session 17 – In this session we met Artist Matt Fratson and we critiqued his work in small groups. He had produced a video which reminded me of how I access my memory and dreams. It was very insightful.
- Let’s Get Physical – In this blog I looked at how a small joint project with a fellow student led to me moving back into producing more physical work.
- Failure – I don’t really know what to say about this blog, other than I hated every park of this project. It’s the first one and I’m sure there will be more, but I was very unsatisfied with the way this project turned out.
- Zoom Session 18 – In this session we looked at the concept of a derive. Using this concept I believe that I have produced possibly some of my best work to date.
- Time of the Signs – This blog was directly inspired by the work that we did in Zoom Session 18. It was a physical derive that led to some highly experimental work.
- A Mental Derive – Just like the Time of the Signs blog, this blog was also directly inspired by the work done in Zoom Session 18. I particularly liked the physical outcomes from this project which were as a result of physical wanderings around my hometown.
- Unit 1 – This page is the gateway to all of the learning outcomes along with my responses to them, that make up Unit 1. This is a more highly curated version of my website and blogs. It took a while to curate my blog and ensure that all of the learning objectives were met. This together with my Study Statement is helping to inform my work moving forward. This page is the culmination of all the previous weeks work, so possibly a good stopping point for this reflective period.
What have I discovered so far?
I discovered that there has been an explosion in Ai apps entering the market. Image to video is now available along with text to music. Google and Facebook are competing to create a form of text to video. The creative Ai environment is rapidly changing. My feeling is that if these companies stay true to form many of these apps will be bought up by bigger companies until only a few major players remain. For example the Runway app is quickly establishing itself as a portal that provides a wide variety of Ai tools useful for the creative arts industries.
I discovered that producing a working digital clock pegged to a variety of digital images will be very complex. It may actually be too complex for me to pursue much further, although I don’t particularly want to ‘bin’ the idea completely just yet.
I discovered the work of Jason Schulman which I absolutely loved! The idea of hidden compounded light really appeals to me. Indeed, I would very much like to explore extreme slow shutter work further. I also learned how to incorporate an online poll into my work, which I believe will come in handy with regards to primary research.
Possibly one of my favourite discoveries was the idea of a derive – I feel that possibly some of my best work will come from following this concept. I suspect that this technique coupled with the idea of disrupting averages could prove invaluable in my work.
I have also learned that collaboration can produce really interesting art. In my Let’s Get Physical blog post I learned that by directly connecting my work with the work of another artist (Shirin Majid) the potential for great art was greatly increased. I hope this opportunity arises again as I’d love to be a part of it.
I discovered that my previous wanderings where I drew Zentangle patterns could be reused in another form of Derive. I have documented this here in my A Mental Derive post.
Finally I discovered that even if you feel something is a complete failure then there are still opportunities to be had. In my blog post Failure I produced work that I hated. However, I persevered until something better emerged. I now think that nothing should ever be wasted.
What will I change because of what I have discovered?
As a direct result of what I discovered above, I will continue to add digital artworks to my clock project, but because of a lack of resources and technical know-how this project will now take a ‘back seat’. I will continue with the concept of a derive. My main focus at the moment will shift to more physical work along with further exploration into recording light over a long period of time.
What will I do next?
My plan for the next few weeks is to complete both my mental and physical derive projects (A Mental Derive and Time of the Signs). As I am writing this I am currently taking part in our course’s low residency. I know that following this I will have a lot of content to blog about so together with the completion of my physical and mental derives this will be my main focus.
Extra Questions
1). What was the best thing I did? Why was this the best thing I did? How do I know that this was the best thing I did? – The best thing that I did was take a derive. This was by far one of the best things I did because it really fired my imagination! I know this was the best thing that I did because I finally produced some art that I thought was okay, which can be found in my A Mental Derive.
2). What worked least well for me? Why did this not work well for me? What have I learned about the topic concerned from this not having worked well for me? What have I learned about myself from this not having worked well for me? What do I plan to do differently in future as a result of my answers to the above questions? – One of my projects documented in my blog post Failure really did not work well for me. The reason it did not work well for me was because I had cut random holes into the paper sculptures I made. As a result of this any future paper sculptures I make will either have more delicate holes and be made from more robust paper.
3). With hindsight, how would I go about this activity differently if doing it again from scratch? To what extent will this activity influence the way I tackle anything similar in future? – If I was starting this activity from scratch I would use a thicker and larger piece of paper and I would also carefully map out where I wanted to cut my holes. I would also make the holes smaller and more delicate.
4). What did I find the greatest challenge in doing this work? Why was this a challenge to me? To what extent do I feel I have met this challenge? What can I do to improve my performance when next meeting this particular sort of challenge? – My greatest challenge when doing my work has undoubtedly been my lack of technical resources and lack of knowledge in the area of producing a digital clock. In order to avoid these kind of challenges in future I will more carefully assess any project work and try to work out potential pitfalls before actually starting anything.
5). What was the most boring or tedious part of doing this particular task for me? Can I see the point of doing these things? If not, how could the activity be changed to be more stimulating and interesting for me? – This is carried over from last time and has not changed. The most tedious part of doing any tasks is optimising images before upload. This is such a necessary task but it really is tedious and boring. Sadly I can’t see any way round this at the moment – suggestions on a post card please 😊
Did I meet my challenges from last time?
Here’s what I said I would do – the green tick ✅ indicates what I actually achieved.
- Research, Research Research! ✅
- Continue the Touch Designer Tutorials and time-lapses. ✅
- Continue my creative coding journey with Processing. Stalled
- Compile and present my Processing animations to date. ✅
- Try to record a 12 hour working clock animation. Stalled
- Add the working 12 hour clock to a variety of animations and footage and upload to YouTube for use as a clock. Stalled
- Work with both ChatGPT and Touch Designer to make more generative digital art works. Stalled
- Find a variety of mundane objects that can be used to produce interesting and unexpected landscapes. Stalled
- Explore refractography. ✅
- Finish my study statement. ✅
Conclusion
I have pretty much done everything I set out to do from last time with a few exceptions that I will carry over.
My coming task list for the next couple of weeks is as follows:
- Continue my creative coding journey with Processing.
- Try to record a 12 hour working clock animation.
- Add the working 12 hour clock to a variety of animations and footage and upload to YouTube for use as a clock.
- Work with both ChatGPT and Touch Designer to make more generative digital art works.
- Find a variety of mundane objects that can be used to produce interesting and unexpected landscapes.
- Finish both my mental and physical derive projects.
- Document my time on the low residency course.
- Buy and read ‘Steal Like and Artist’ and finish reading my current book about Ai.