Reflections from the Briefing; - Narratives; Culture, Taste & Class

I am excited that about my new project regarding Culture, Taste and Class and the narratives that we as artists are able to build upon, around those themes. I am also continuing to develop a process within my own practice which I am thinking of in terms of an easy mnemonic, this might or might not work, as it it not necessarily a serial process, but the stages quite often interlaced, running together, or in parallel.  Nevertheless, here it is....

R.E.C.O.R.D.E.D, standing for

• Research / Collect / Rationalise
• Evaluate
• Clarify
• Organise, ((includes Observing, organise, / prioritise),
• Reflect
• Decide
• Execute
• Deliver.

So, onto the brief and work at hand....
Class culture and standards of taste are often related to patterns of social status.  I am looking at exploring how I read the social, cultural, scientific, technological, and other aspects of everyday life. - This is not in order to translate something for myself, (that would be 'a hobby') but as a professional artist, this is on behalf of others, my viewers of my own art, if you like, to help them understand the narrative or description associated with my work.

Having spent the weekend thinking about a plan of action, as recorded in the mnemonic above, I need to work to pull forward all the strands together, to form a body of knowledge, in order to engage on my final piece.  With this in progress, I can then explore the modes and methodologies for making conceptual pieces later...

Research points to note;
Each of us have personal preferences, I appreciate that I need to be my own mindful on how that mixes with both national and global standards of taste.  Whilst Grayson Perry for example, packages the class distinctions in the United Kingdom, there are many others both here in the UK, and globally.  The hierarchy of standards of taste is usually based on what is called "the norm".  But 'the norm' is notional anyway, and certainly different in most countries.  I need to combine socio-cultural and class context carefully.

Stage I.
The research and rationalise phase or stage can be expressed by pulling apart the types of taxonomies, or groupings of culture.  For example, ideological, political, inherited, etiquette, manners and so on.  Within this are the themes of dominance, alternative, and all sub cultures that exist within entertainment, technology, careers, trades, and generally any socio-grouping.

Other contexts can be things like; things that get passed on, for instance traditions, customs, beliefs.

All of the above can be considered as a collective identity too, - in other words, "a culture".

BTW, - Culture requires a passive yet collective agreement of the whole group in order for it to exist. - Etiquette, for example, requires a kind of pre-agreed cultural transaction to occur.

Within an 'invisible membrane' of a social environment, a 'transgression' can be made from one cultural standard, or class, to another;
 - The media, i.e. television, advertising, newspapers and publishing, - the media in general, has an incredible richness in "how" culture is both transmitted, transgressed and crossed.  There are hierarchical challenges of cultural expression in so many forms; e.g. bling & kitsch, - vulgarity & wealth to name just two.

In consideration of all the above, I need to keep in mind that I make the work easily readable by other people.  Asking the question, "is there a universality to art?" - The answer is  a firm 'No', - it needs to be de-constructed through semiotics, without the real viewers not necessarily understanding what semiotics actually is!  (this is often where people who criticise Contemporary Art actually struggle with. They sometimes don't understand the inferred semiotic or symbolism, yet feel equipt to judge (which is of course their right to do so), without all the facts being articulated nor considered).

Therefore I need to constantly be mindful of how my expressive work, (which will tackle these themes), creates artefacts that can be codified and the codified into culture, taste, class, and art itself.

Stage II
Again with research in mind, I will need to choose objects or images, or sections of film etc for which I can make experimental groupings and sketches, perhaps through a collage grouping or other methods in order to find relationships, by pulling certain aspects of research and understanding into the visual domain.  I will be able to use the artistic elements of composition, colour, structure, form etc, in order to create the narrative.  This is the Clarify, Organise & Observe, Reflect stages of the brief as "RECORDED" elements.

Stage III
In thinking about some of the activities after the project briefing yesterday, by developing my understanding and regularly making blog references here I will be able to develop perhaps a single sentence or even a word on which I can focus upon in order to define a specific character, or characteristic of my own work, if you like, a signature of my own way of working.

I believe now that this seems to be the most important tenet, and ultimately, what the academic process is looking to generate, or find, within students...

In creating three sections or three stages the first stage is to broaden my research the second stage is to rationalise, and the third stage will be to select and execute a concept for a final delivery.  I have been able to draw this graphically in the diagram below.

Some references that I made a special note of today, are Peirre Bourdieu and his book regarding "Cultural Capital",  which explains "Embodied, Objective, & Subjective" and other classifications of cultural capital. Together with the works of Nicholas Merzoeff and the Visualisation of Culture,