My New Year's Resolution is...
to write more in my blog.
I like writing, but I find it hard to find the time. Particularly since I have been writing quite a fair bit recently for my transfer report. Some places call this an "upgrade" and it is where one has to prove their research is PhD worthy as opposed to just Mphil. This is done by writing a hefty report (mine is currently at 14,000 words and still needs more), giving a presentation to a panel and any other interested party at the university and a viva. Not all universities have this process yet, but the University of Dundee is one of the more academically rigorous so I've been kept on my toes by this.
The model of PhD that I am doing is one where I proposed the project to the University and so I have been the one driving the research. This is different to the science model (and one that many art/ design institutions are adopting) where there is an existing project that has a phd studentship attached to it, so the boundaries of what is being explored are predetermined by the requirements of the project. In this model the phd student has some sort of community and people to bounce ideas off who are working on related aspects. In contrast, the road for my own phd is far lonelier, especially when there are so few people out there to join me in a community per se. This makes it hard when I encounter technical problems for there is no one except me to dig myself out of difficulties. It certainly breeds innovation and independance in problem solving!
Although it is tiring and I am doing far more writing than making (which can be very hard for an artist sometimes), it is really helping hone in my ideas and concepts. Writing also reveals aspects about my work I hadn't realised. For example, on a conceptual level, in examing practices of object hyperlinking and graphical tagging in art, my phd explores the main areas of De/ Re-materialisation of the Art Object; Originality & Multiplicity; Location Awareness & Telepresence; and Physicality, Space and Tactility in the Artwork. In writing about these it also became apparent that I need to address notions of value in an artwork, both in terms of exchange value and aesthetic value. This is where making the works will come into play, and the ways in which my artworks are received by gallery going audiences can provide insight into how they are valued.
Simone O'Callaghan
in art, art object, artist, audiences, blog, craft, critical theory, dematerialisation, design, exhibition, gallery, graphical tag, methodologies, object hyperlinking, phd, physcial world hyperlinking, qr code, research, space, tangibility, ubiquitous computing
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Reader Comments (2)
I so know what you mean about the lonely road, and the amount of writing, seemingly at the expense of making. I too love writing, and I too have my confirmation stage in a couple of months - my word count is currently about 23,000 - in direct contrast to the amount of making. Partly I think my experience is that I have proposed a neatly tied up theory about how to do what I need to do in the words, and also critiqued those who have tried to do, but (in my opinion) failed. I now feel I have set myself up a bit here, that I am all talk and no action, and that my lofty words and theories are impossible to support in practice! Hey ho, that's how it seems to go - peaks and troughs all the way. Good luck with your confirmation process.
Best,
Alison
Hi Alison,
Thanx for your words of support - it is at least helpful to know that others are trundling along this road as well. I hope that your uni is much clearer on word counts than mine and you don't end up writing far more than you were really supposed to - see my nxt entry.
I would love to know more about what you are doing - do you have a blog/ website?
: )
S