The final outcome of my project has been the
continued exploration of expression and function – whilst my proposal had
heavily featured the machinery itself (asking ‘how far can we remove this
before it loses all semblance of purpose) I have concluded that every
presentation will place that line at a different point, and so will every
individual viewer. Throughout my project I have created a large amount of
images, as I documented every arrangement of the components. I continually
changed and moved about the parts to create new layouts and perspectives,
including (much later on in the project) the use of animation to endlessly loop
the changing layouts.
What differed
from my original proposal is that very little of the changes I made originated
from the language – I had initially thought that I might show the same thing to
different people and ask for meaning with the parts under the guise of a
different name, however the open plan of the work space made this rather
impossible. It was also far more rewarding to simply present the images and
examine what the resulting reactions were, as this way I could sustain longer
conversations about the projected meaning of my actions as there was less
pressure to conceal facts about the work.
It is however
difficult to remark upon the ‘final stages' of my project, as I never set out
to create one final piece; from the start, the plan had been to exhibit
whatever I felt appropriate after the weeks of development and exploration.
Throughout my project I have used my sketchbook to
record both my progress and my initial responses to the images I have created.
Although it is a very informal presentation of work, it provides a simple
visual journey. I am glad that I did not use a new sketchbook for the entire project,
as the previous projects in the book add a great deal of context to the themes
and imagery I was working with that fed into the course of the final project.
The previous work helps explain why I did not take certain routes of
development (essentially as I had already explored certain areas and did not
wish to wander back into familiar territory).
It was
helpful to have this to refer to, especially when writing my blog posts, which
I used as a much more in-depth expression of the project. Reviewing the more
important elements of my sketchbook allowed me to prioritise ideas and themes
that I liked the most, and by writing more extensively about the concepts in
the blog I could really establish the directions I wished to take in the
following week of my project.
However it
was also important that I used my blog to record the discussions I was having
with my peers, as their input played a big role in how I perceived my own work,
if only for the factor of ‘what once seen can never be unseen’.
I feel that I effectively used my blog to evaluate
and reflect on my progress, I also successfully dismantle 3 machines (1 every 2
weeks) and maintained frequent discussions with peers to provide my work with
context. This resulted in frequent analysis of produced images, which helped me
in my aim of gaining an understanding of how components can change perception
of art/whole object.
In conclusion I am
very pleased with the efforts I made to meet the objectives I set for myself at
the beginning of this project.
This project was definitively shaped by my decision
of which objects to take apart. Ultimately there was not a lot of actual
decision making involved, as I had few objects to choose from in the first
place – however I enjoyed the variety that the three things gave me; the sewing
machine was a wonderful piece of machinery, both in the artefacts I found and
in the process of dismantling it, along with the history that it had (as my
mother’s old machine it was impossible to regard it with anything but warmth,
remembering the clothes she had patched up and the costumes she had helped me
make).
The lawn
mower had belonged to a family friend, and it had seen through two children
being born and leaving home, a sudden divorce, and came into my hands when she
was moving house. The large, bulky machine offered little in small artefacts,
and this was very welcome, especially in comparison to the host offered by the
DVD player.
The DVD
player had come from online, a local woman whose child went to the same primary
school as me. But the thing about all these objects is that I didn’t divulge
their stories to anybody I spoke to concerning my project – something that is
so obvious and apparent to me never occurred to anybody – not one single person
even asked. I had decided to not mention it to my peers in order to let any
questions or comments occur without prompting, and only at the end of the
project do I realise that they never did.
I feel that what may now be the most defining
characteristic (aesthetically) of my project was at the time an idea that I
fully resisted at first – by using any components of organic origin I thought
that I would lose the focus (which was very much at the time upon the function
and purpose of the machines) but instead, when the focus remained on the metal
for too long I simply got restless. As a result, I brought in the organic
components to explore how presenting them as equals I might infer meaning, and
it is from this exploration that I created my favourite images.
Despite the fact that all of my development had
technically constituted as primary research, it was drawn to my attention that
I had to show a greater understanding of the wider context of my work – whilst
I had visited galleries in the run up to the project, I had yet to include any
of that in my book, and as such there was no evidence of it. It was research
during this time that also was difficult for me to utilise, as my project in
the early stages was very introspective, and I had trouble applying themes from
other pieces to my own work. As a result, later in the project I spent time on
further research, which led me to various pieces and ideas that really
resonated with the themes I was exploring, and introduced further avenues of
study. This more specifically refers to the use of organic components.
It was also through constant discussion of the
images that I was producing (with both tutors, peers and evaluative groups)
that I formed the main body of conclusions – I even used Google’s image search
function to procure further comparisons of the images – and it was very often
that an artist or concept that a friend mentioned would set me off researching
something else that would then become relevant.
If anything, a lot of
things that were suggested led me to do what was explicitly the opposite – when
it was suggested I ‘take my screws on a walk’ to get fresh ideas, I brought
outside components into the clinical white space of the screws. When a peer
mused that I could potentially film myself deconstructing an object, or include
the full object in any sort of context, it gave me the opportunity to justify
to myself (and my peer) why exactly I didn’t want to do that – it did however
lead me to think at greater length what applications video or animation could
have with regards to the presentation of the components, and I am very pleased
with the short animation I created as a result.
Next project I intend to use my time to travel more
– it was a weekend away that led to the largest amount of progress in the later
stages of my project, and the change of scenery that gave a fresh perspective
to the work that I was looking at. I realised that when I sat still for too
long, mulling over the same concepts was when my progress and passion slowed.
I also intend to experiment further with the
materials I have – whilst I moved and consistently changed the objects, I never
really changed what they were themselves. Perhaps this doesn’t negatively
affect my project, as I had never set out to alter what they were, only how
they were perceived, however now I have spent so much time considering them I
feel that it would be the next step, and regardless of how necessary or
relevant, a fun step to take.
Whilst there are things I would revise, I am unsure
as to whether I would change the structure of my work – because it was a
gradual and continuing process, in the last two weeks (where everybody else was
really intensely working towards a ‘final’ model or piece, I have found that I
am continuing at the same pace. I realise I should be quite happy that now I’m
complete, but due to the nature of my work I could stop at any point or
potentially continue on for weeks to come, so there is a definite lack of
closure as the deadline approaches. I think that in the future I would be more
satisfied with a final piece to work towards, however this may just be because
of the influence of my peers.
