Tuesday 29 July 2008

Proposal

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Having worked primarily on Dartmoor UK and the near by coast, my discourse explores the landscape: my interaction, longing for and (dis)placement within in it. Dartmoor has been a key site for developing work since at DCA. Physically mapping by connecting locations of work has enabled progression and understanding. During this process I discovered Dartmoor in Australia. This holds personal significance as Dartmoor Australia is near where my boyfriend studied and Dartmoor UK near where we now live whilst I study. This idea of fate/consequence holds endless unfathomable theoretical-hypothetical-scientific links. This duality of place or coexistence is fascinating. As are the malleable connections I can physically explore, which encourage my discourse to expand with my siting. Initial contact with Dartmoor Australia was via email to Michael Greenham at the museum. I will keep in contact with DCA via regular email, blogging and a page of my website dedicated to the project. This reflects the role of the internet in establishing communication and how a relationship or work can exist in a cyber non-place. Through emailing I discovered Dartmoor is a small rural community, close to a national park. Further research has not been conducted, as this should take place once situated in Dartmoor: I see this partly as a research project. However the previous statistic suggests possibilities of isolation and that my presence as an outsider will be strong; an area I plan to examine through practice based investigations. This addresses questions of how to form a connection with an unfamiliar place, and how do I make it 'home'. The public setting is crucial. As having a visible presence in the community is an important tool in developing an informed, meaningful, beneficial and rewarding outcome. Engagement with the people of this land is equally important as the land itself. I anticipate the community being an invaluable source of local knowledge, which will undoubtedly construct initial mapping. Context and my response to it is the foundation of my practice. I plan to continue exploring the landscape: its husbandry, aesthetics and significance, historically and presently. I anticipate doing this through performance/action driven discourse that uses media appropriate to the context to document. Being based in a museum I have the preconception that super 8 and slide film may continue to be the technology utilized to chronicle these actions. However I am keen to let the availability of tech dictate this aspect of my practice; I intend to search local shops and borrow from the community, enabling found equipment to become my medium. The context of the museum underpins the project. Initial research into the role of museums and archiving in society will provide a basis for questions surrounding when something becomes credible for archiving, why society does this, our need for recording, and the life and death of an art work: all of which I anticipate exploring during my siteing at Dartmoor museum. The particulars of museum architecture and interior will also be an important aspect when considering the function and display of my work. I am curious about the placement of work outside of a conventional gallery context and how this might affect the accessibility of work. Placing a contemporary exhibition/event into a rural community where work of this format is not normally encountered, I am interested in its reception; whether the community get involved with the working practice and acknowledge its connections to their area. This derives from critical debate surrounding artist residencies and community lead practice, which artists John Dummet and Claire Thornton explore. Dumment's residency in Canada is a useful reflection as he was based in a small town and forged a connection with it through discourse focused on intervention and text. Working with small textually derived actions has similarities to the process and strategies of my practice. Thornton's work is centred on both dialogue with the community and actions within the landscape. This has been a constructive resource into ways my role may develop and reassurance in the feasibility of creating challenging work imbedded in and accepted by the 'public'. The tools Thornton uses (sewing/craft work, video/performance and utilizing others skills) are aspects I have explored in my discourse and anticipate continuing. I aim to extract information and greater my understanding of this in relation to my practice. Returning from Australia will allow reflection and subsequent practice to be lead through new knowledge and associations with Dartmoor as a twin place. I will also have organised and exhibited a project of my work, and talk/discussion. Transcribing my discourse into words and getting to the core of its reason is a struggle, so the discursive presentation will assist my development in this area. This talk will be beneficial preparation for my CEP presentation and beyond when I will inevitably need to coherently discuss and present my work. Dissemination of my practice is a major aim and value of this CEP. It is important for work to be viewed outside of the college context, to gain both wider feedback and physically get my work 'out there'. It is pertinent to have made initial connections and presented work in Australia, as networks established whilst at DCA will be distant on leaving the institution and country in June 09. The organisation of this CEP is also relevant to my interest in DIY and low-fi events, an area I plan to continue working with as a way of dissemination post-university.