To prepare ourselves for our degree show our tutor has set us a small project; to put on an exhibition in a display cabinet that is outside our studios. For this exhibition each of us must provide at least one artefact to go in the space. That’s 16 artefacts in a relatively small space. The artefact must represent out practice so that the exhibition can work as a type of preview to the degree show. As my course contains a lot of critical theory and some strong opinions, we began with a debate on what an artefact was.
I began making a model to go in the cabinet as my artefact. The model is similar to the models I made of mazes, though it is of one of my gallery designs for the studio. While talking about it with people in the studio while I was making the model a question arose; is this a representation of my practice or my practice? This question has had me a bit stumped all weekend. I think it’s related to the difficulty I have describing my practice, especially as it has changed so much over the three years of my degree. I see these models that I make as a way to plan installations and constructions that I want to build. But I’m not sure if that makes them part of my practice or not. I guess it does, particularly when the installation is never realised, as with the mazes (see edit to 7th February 2012 entry).
I am now trying to consider something that symbol what I am thinking about in my practice and my research. I have been looking at direction of the spectator, through the artist controlling their actions such as in many performance, installation and participatory practices and through the gallery space itself. The provision of direction and maps for the visitor to the gallery has been the focus of my most recent research. And I have been trying to find ways to avoid such a rigid route around gallery spaces. So a symbol of direction seems to be representational of my practice. I am thinking of using either a map or a directional sign, probably an arrow that will become my artefact.
ve been told that I won’t get any funding from the university to help with my degree show project. This could mean that I can’t make what I want to for the show. I will however carry on with it for now (I’m looking at colours for the walls at the moment), but I will also keep in mind any other ideas I have that could be more affordable. One such idea I had been hoping to try out this weekend but laziness, procrastination and bad weather have prevented me.
I want to see how people outside of a controlled, safe environment, such as a gallery, react to directions. I am going to go to Queens Park in Brighton and tie arrows to the trees and see who follows them. It’s a fairly simple project, and mostly just too see what happens. I’m trying to work out how appealing and obvious to make the arrows, at the moment they are just cardboard and could be easily missed. So I think I will make them bright fluorescent colours. I also want to try this at the weekend when there will be more people around, including families with children who might be more likely to take part. I’m going to wait for better weather too, and will probably repeat the experiment a few times with different things on the arrows. I’m not expecting many people to follow them, but hopefully I will be pleasantly surprised.
I really need to make some decisions about what I want to achieve from my gallery design. In my previous posts I have talked about how I like museums and galleries where you can get lost and there is less of a sense of being directed, this is definitely something I want to achieve. But there are other things to think about, like how can I make spaces for inter-disciplinary works that we have on our course, lighting and colour in the rooms/spaces, scale etc. I am already thinking that it will be a series of interconnected rooms rather than a wide open gallery. But I am unsure of how to connect the rooms. Normally in a gallery or museum rooms are connected through doorways that allow you to see into the next room. This is so that thework in the next room can catch your attention and lead you on. I’m not sure if I want to design my gallery like this.
I’ve spent today making different plans to try and clear up what I want to do.
On Friday I visited the Dulwich Picture Gallery (designed by Sir John Soane whose museum I visited a couple of weeks ago) and the Victoria and Albert Museum as part of the research I am doing into different gallery spaces. The Dulwich Picture Gallery is on a far smaller scale than the V&A, so its architecture reflects this. The gallery has a clear main axis with arches separating the galleries, though they are so big that the separation is more ideological that actual. This is different when looking at the rooms that have been added through the galleries history. The separation of these rooms from the main gallery is more apparent, not only in the colour they are painted but also in their shape and the doorways that seperate them.
The thing that struck me about the gallery was that it housed a mausoleum. This was dedicated to those who made the gallery possible, the benefactors and the founder of the Dulwich college, in whose legacy the gallery was built. This is not something that I would use in my own design. Some things that I will consider in my own design based on this is the importance of lighting. Dulwich is one of the first examples of using ceiling windows so that there is less direct sunlight that could damage the works on show, and also to allow more wall space.
The layout of the V&A as well as its scale mean that it is far easier to get lost and loose sense of direction in the gallery, which I did a few times. In many of the galleries within the museum the exhibits themselves, within their glass cases, create the walls. In many of the rooms it is obvious to see that the layouts and designs of the spaces have changed over the years. Much of the original architecture is covered by the displays, and artificial light is used and natural light is blocked.
So the Degree show is looming, and finally I have some plans. Last week I put forward my idea to the rest of my year group on my course. I explained how I want to design part of, if not all, the gallery space in which people will show their work. The space itself would therefore be my work and I would not have anything else in the exhibition. I want to do this as a way to explore how space influences how people view art, whether through the order they see it or the experience they have in seeing it.
There was predictably a mixed response, but on the whole it seemed more positive than I had expected. The main things I have to do now is continue my research into the gallery space, begin designing the space that I want to make and work out how I am going to afford it. I will probably have to apply for funding.
Hopefully I can begin to get some design ideas in the next few weeks, as I need to get people who would be willing to show their work in my gallery and the best way is to show them what I want to do.
