Full Circle

Royal National Hotel 2012 - View from window 

I think when I began writing this blog was from student London trip (October 2011)...I have reached full circle, but this time a year on. So what has filled my life since last posting, July I believe...well I wrote my final paper for Bridging module, which I can tell you I passed, so if I decide to bail out of the PHD I will receive an MA in Design Practice. I haven't confirm yet whether or not I will do this...ummm for one I have put on hold till next September 2013 (already noted in last email) but also I have not done anything since writing paper?? I think once the OU stuff is out of the way, I shall be able to concentrate more clearly, or am I just making excuses...if I have time to read a book then I should have time to set aside for study. BUT where do I begin?????? SE has been intouch and asked me to plan a meeting to discuss with him future aims. Perhaps talking to him will put me back on track, reading my paper again would be a good idea. Something to note is that I have asked the 1st students to concentrate on the creative process only, that is not to produce any final outcome, just lots of ideas. I feel that they have had difficulty in getting started I don't think its so much as the assignment brief itself, but getting them use to working more independently and being playful with their ideas, so that one leads to another?? I shall record how this progresses over the next 7 weeks, their journals will also be a good way to find out what they have been thinking and how they have dealt with problems, situations etc etc...
Ok returning to the point of full circle..(View from Window) this was taken as a random photo, where i was testing out the camera in my room before heading out into London (Oct 9th-12th)..I really like this image, why? because I like the way the curtains frame the picture, the curves formed within the building beyond work with the verticals and horizontals of the slightly open window and finally the contrast of browns help also to decide the depth..ummm. would be good on a large scale. Right onto visits. YES Thomas Shutte..very similar to Thomas Struth (discussed in July's posting) don't get confused this artist currently showing at the Serpintine Gallery was an exciting and influential find. The beautiful pen and ink portrait drawings drawn in large circles...I shall find one now to upload...back in a tick! ok here's a couple of images mirror image, the other,  installation view with faces and figures hung high around it....caption taken from webpage..Over the last two decades, Schütte has created watercolours and drawings of acquaintances and friends, as well as numerous self-portraits, including the Mirror Drawing works. His drawings are often created in series, approaching the same subject numerous times as a means of engaging with its true nature. Schütte's drawings feed closely into his sculptural portraits, which are created in a similar spirit; the artist views working from observation as an opposition to a real, physical world that is constantly changing. Alongside his works on paper, Schütte will feature ceramic and bronze sculptures, including the impressive Vater Staat (Father State), a towering steel figure that paradoxically appears frail and isolated in spite of its scale. 

Thomas Schütte
Mirror Drawings 1998 
Watercolor, ink, pencil on paper
38 x 28cm
© DACS 2012

Thomas Schütte
Vater Staat (Father State) 2010
Installation view, Thomas Schütte: Faces & Figures
Serpentine Gallery, London
(25 September - 18 November 2012)
© 2012 Gautier Deblonde

Another excellent exhibition was Art of Change: New Direction From China exhibited at the Hayward Gallery, very different in terms of the way work was being shown, from installations (note: Yingmei-duan) to stories..taken from webpage..http://china.southbankcentre.co.uk/artists/#chen-zhen and http://china.southbankcentre.co.uk/artists/#yingmei-duan large-scale installations and extraordinary live art by some of China’s most innovative artists, in works dating from the 1980s to the present day. Art of Change traces each artist’s development, showing important early works alongside recent creations and new commissions. Change, and the acceptance that everything is subject to change, is deeply rooted in Eastern philosophy. The exhibition features works that deal with transformation, instability and impermanence, looking at how these themes are conveyed through action or materials.

Each of the artists presents works that change their appearance over time or which are volatile or unpredictable in some way. A person ‘magically floats’ above the floor, sculptures are wilfully tossed up and down, and visitors can listen to the sound of 1000 live silkworms. The exhibition itself changes as performances are enacted with various works during the course of each day.

Artists in the exhibition include Chen Zhen, Yingmei Duan, Gu Dexin, Liang Shaoji, Sun Yuan and Peng Yu, Wang Jianwei, Xu Zhen and MadeIn Company. The exhibition is curated by Stephanie Rosenthal, Chief Curator, Hayward

http://vimeo.com/southbankcentre/artofchange 

Duration:	27 May 2011 – 28 May 2011
	Lilith Performance Studio in Malmö, Schweden

27 May 2011 – 28 May 2011

Lilith Performance Studio in Malmö, Schweden

Extract taken from http://www.yingmei-art.com/works/imgsmall/wish.jpg  

This is Yingmei Duan’s second experience working with the Lilith Performance Studio.

Through a small doorway one-steps into Duan’s poetic fairytale wonderland, which is enacted in a forest glade. In the forest glade one hears different sounds like wind, water dripping and Yingmei herself is crouching down on a tree stump she is also sometimes making sounds…..

Yingmei is going(but slowly) and handing out many wishes which are written on small folded pieces of paper, which she opens and gives to the audience making eye contact and carefully one by one.

Some wishes/instructions involve interacting with each other, some wishes involve the space others will be realized out of the gallery. Some wishes will realized in the city of Malmö, others will be realized outside Sweden, and some wishes will be realized online. Therefore after the night of the performance the project continues.

Happy Yingmei is inspired by Oscar Wilde’s fairytale The Happy Prince – a story about a golden statue that befriends a swallow. Together they bring happiness to others, in life as well as in death.

Previously in May 2008 Yingmei Duan staged a dystopian catastrophe titled Rubbish City at Lilith Performance Studio. Even then she put herself and her dreams at the centre of the performance, lost in a wasteland of ten tons of rubbish.

Ok at last Im happy that I have spent time writing again...as I said I shall make an appointment with SE this week (wc 5th Nov) to get going again, write about development of 1st year activity...and there was something else I wanted to add but I have lost my train of thought..bear with me Im sure it will come???? no..ok shall sign off for now..

no haha I've remembered. Last week (or before Half term) DB from Hull College of Art and Design told me that they had John Smith in as a visiting speaker!! and I missed it..??? bum! but he says not all is dismay as I can get hold of the recording which I shall locate this week. let you know. Definitely signing off now..