Some Work (2012)
Some projects never make it out of the studio. Perhaps they are under-developed and abandoned before they get the chance to become work. Other projects are over-developed, banged out of shape by an over-thinking that scares us out of showing them to the world. Some work is a joke.
Some work (2012) is a joke.
We were summoned to a year-group meeting, in which the head of third year presented us with a slide show on what the final few months of our degree had in store. This included much timetable information, and a couple of opportunities for exhibiting work in the run-up to the degree show. He also explained (for the umpteenth time) the marking criteria, and how much of a portion the studio module would constitute, in relation to the overall degree score.
The big screen paused on the marking criteria, and what a student would need to provide in order to achieve such unreachable grades as 90-99 and 85-89 (Outstanding and Exceptional Firsts, respectively – or were they the other way around?). He moved on, but not before his attention was briefly diverted from the screen as he fielded one or two questions about percentages.
The screen froze on the description of what a student would be expected to provide in order to obtain a score of 1-9. Has anyone ever been awarded such a low grade? Probably. The specific text, held there on the big screen for all of a minute and a half, read as follows:
‘Some work, containing virtually nothing of any relevance, depth or merit.’
‘What a wonderful description’ I thought, and jotted it down. Some work was born. I had a large chunk of cut-off MDF from ELVISLIVES (see post #8) and thanks to Graphics departments recently acquired vinyl-cutter, a cheap and easy way to make immediate text work. That afternoon I drew up the text in an Illustrator document and by the end of the day the piece was complete.
It’s such an in-joke that I doubt it will ever go beyond the studio, but it’s great having it there, leaning against the studio wall; useless.
