Luneberg Heath…W.G.Sebald discussed….blood and soil?
Met with mentor last night and a very productive session. By coincidence we both come from a similar rural background.
Main points raised were
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academic progress? doing v analysing
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digital v actual……..myth or reality?
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pathways…selecting ‘generalism’ as an option….avoiding academic straitjackets…..the research driven ‘trap’
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silos or grainbins? working in a closed or open curriculum…
All points were explored at length and I feel that my direction much clearer……it is ‘everything at once’ but perhaps with my activity sub-divided into ‘manageable’ compartments….not exactly ‘horses for courses’ but pretty close..
To this end I will try and achieve following…..
Exhibition:
Concentrate on producing 12 works which whilst taking the CD song names as a starting point attempt to delve ‘deeper’ into actual content (possibly reflecting other ideas thrown up since beginning of course) and to make the physical articles satisfying and visceral as possible ( opposite of ‘digital’ amorphous nature). Opening up a pathway back to very early practice. Also maybe reflecting poetry ‘mines’.
Process: collage, ask straw? tar….maybe ideas for further works after show…
Beyond the Gallery:
This module just amuses me. After 50 years I ain’t got into the gallery let alone beyond it. Will do my best to take seriously and possibly following the ‘compartmentalisation’ mentioned above an opportunity to group the ‘community, pilule social archaeology, pharm intervention as practice ideas of Maurice Maguire and Swiss Meszmer into a coherant package that could be devolved e.g. as Goldfactory projects..probably best to work with a partner on this …credibility issues etc. seriousness of intent also to draw down funding two heads better than one …
CPD/Business Plan:
Again I had 50 years of CPD and ‘planning’ prefer doing these days before I beyond doing! Still another hoop to bark and hop through. Maybe the critical aspect could be explored. Internet ‘reach’ and profile raising. Exploit Moogee as a cross-platform ‘ambassador’ for quite radical and hard line ideas.
In fact it quite simple a business plan has two aspects……sales or funding…that only distinction… (sorry three…forgot starving in the garret……..which highly over-rated….)
So a Biz Plan which leads to world market dominance by 2010…..har har…
Private galleries need ‘artifacts’ unless you a lucky grad with a big booster rocket of a patron..otherwise you scrabbling in dirt for pennies. Those days well behind me. Test ‘market’ with artifacts at Lincoln but to be frank I not that hopeful. They will be priced reasonably depends how ‘consumer attractive’ they are.
Public / Institutional funding. Problematic if not drawn into ‘research as practice’ area which I will fight tooth and claw. Academic games do not appeal prefer action and doing approach. Did Francis Bacon waste time analysing his ‘practice’and writing it up?……no thought not….less words more work…..mending the sewers does not get done with a thesis…but a trowel!
So I a pre-modernist ‘craftsman’ with no artifacts bouncing around the silos of academia and occasionally shooting at rats in the corn…how does one turn any of this into a business plan let alone an income beyond me….
Belief, stubborness and knowing that my forbears didn’t even get a shot at the mansion on the hill…
At the end of the day if it does all collapse into piles of dust I can still play guitar and write songs and work in Asda….
Now that would be interesting…..maybe I could pen the asda corporate song 🙂
La Lutte continue…
Last word to Vic Chesnutt off his West of Rome album
someday I’ll get a career
someday I’m gonna stop wasting all my time
some day I’ll gain a skill
just like Deborah Norville
but today I simply I ain’t worth a dime I ain’t worth a dime