So, first week in college as a full time Fine Art Media student. It has finally happened. All the part time study stacks up behind to irrevocably push into a widened more defined path. This should be interesting. I hope they finish the road works outside the window before i finish my degree as that con-saw is getting quite irritating.
Interesting lecture yesterday from Nevan Laharte. Initially I had though that the choice of first visiting lecturer was a bit wishy washy, in that he did not really talk about his work or meaning or process, but waffled on about folklore and mysticism and conspiracy theories. Reminds me of a good friend, savagely intelligent but scattered and tells a really good tale. Though the true value of this introduction is more of an informal dialogue on critical thinking. It also helps that he does not take himself too seriously, or seemingly at all. This is a good thing, particularly for a contemporary artist and particularly an Irish one, mayhaps it is expected of us. Though I do think you can take your work seriously enough without necessarily diving into the pit of self deprecation to the ends where it devalues the point you are trying to make. In general though it widens the scope of inquiry for the school leavers and maybe reminds us cynics that there can and sometimes should be a playful and critical nature to our work.
The space that we are in for Media is the former offices for the accounts in the college. As such, it is that, an office. We have been given free rein to do what we will with the place and I’m sure entropic studentification will prevail. The acting director of the college had a very pointed walkthrough dictating the terms and conditions for the use of the blinds. They must be uniform. Yeah, good luck with that! Art students perform worse than crystal cats in the field of corporate governance.
First project has begun. They are starting us off with a grounding, expansive and open ended project. Space and or place. A space, the space. It strikes me that studying media, new techniques need to be used, or at the least incorporated. The tangible real space in the world deserves a virtual space. A website for a place not people. I like the idea of an innocuous space out there in the world that has it’s own website. The weir at Beaver row. A familiar space, one that I have visited many times and has been a great source for material and for white noise of the river. An MM project, sound, photography, video drawing. Lashed together within the ephemeral web. A window into that space which is much more than just a place, but a head space, a window into time with the detritus of the wash .
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