For me the work i have produced in relation to this brief is somewhat secondary when compared by how far i have come in terms of where i am as a practitioner, how i feel about my work in general and a new found confidence not only in myself but in my work, which was sorely needed. If back in September i had known that work i would produce would come second to my new found Web and computer skills i would have laughed at you.
The aspects of this brief that stand out to me are mainly based around the A4 exhibition, I think i had more up's and downs in that one week than i have had in my previous two years and four months at this college. The stand out parts for me are not the actual exhibition itself but the week before, the preparation the problem solving and yes even the running around like a headless chicken. Talking to people about their work and coming up with ideas of how to exhibit it and seeing it all in place was exciting for me. Don't get me wrong i don't see that week through rose tinted glasses it was a hard, long week where feelings were hurt and friendships became a little strained, but it was worth it for that feeling once it had opened that it was done. Curation was something i have expressed an interest in previously as a possible career path after my degree and The A4 exhibition has only re-enforced my interest in that.
My aims throughout this project changed in a way they haven't done in previous briefs, i started out wanting to explore my practice and fit in all the different aspects of that by putting on 5 very different exhibitions of street art, however once i started researching and developing ideas my work started to take on different aspects on the theme of exhibition and show which resulted in me not only exploring different ways of making work but different ways of exhibiting them.
One thing that i didn't count on was hitting a block, making work when i had no idea of where i was going with them, what my aims where, how they not only linked in with my practice but how they linked with each other, not even knowing how or in what context i was going to exhibit them. This not only scared me but intrested me, i realised through this patterns in my ideas that where quite unconcious at the time i was making. That even when i am doing for the sake of having work that my ideas have threads and links that i don't intentionally give them.
The task of creating a website and blog was a daunting one for me as i am not a natural when it comes to keeping a diary, preferring to do first and question later. Two major hurdles for me were my basic computer skills and the fact that i have this need to have control and if left to my own devices would rather not have had my work or personal thoughts on the internet. What i did not expect to happen was that i would enjoy it. The website turned out to be a little tricker, this was to be the platform on which my work would have to stand on its own, without the process's explained or the self-depricating humor. Setting up the website could have been a much easier and shorter process than it turned out to be, the weekly sessions with Michel corker did not go smoothly due to numerous reasons, Mainly due to the fact that the address that i had bought would not work with indexibit a fact that we did not figure out until 4 weeks in and the fact that the mac suite would not allow more than 10 students at a time to access the programme we where to create it on. Due to the fact that i don't seem to learn well in group situation of this type no matter how many notes i take i decided to do the following things, purchase a different address with a different company, buy my own webspace, which i feel will be benificial to me as i can continue to use it once this course has ended, and to teach myself. Which whilst being frustrating at times i learnt how to create a website and once i had done that i surprised myself by wanting to explore different ways i could use this space as a platform for exhibiting my work. The fact that i was able to create a downloadable wallpaper and screen saver from my website was a proud moment.
From this brief i have recognised the direction my practice is taking, developed new skills,which i feel is always important to an interdiciplinary practicioner, had the opportunity to be on the curation team of an exhibition and most importantly for me i have a new found confidence in talking about my work. Each of these i shall take with me on to my next and final project.
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