(Current Studies, by blog description (2015-16)) - Click on each label to see corresponding posts!

Thursday 1 October 2015

Major Project Module - Development briefing

There are a number of considerations that I gained from today, particularly with regards to the outcomes of the major project work.  This module (The Major Project) is critical to this degree is it counts towards 60 credits out of a total of 120.  The remaining 60 is based on 20 credits for the research and development of the project, together with a 40 credit score based on the contemporary practice in context work that I will undertake this year.

In order for the University to assess its students, I recognise that the research and development element of the year is primarily required by the tutors to review student understandings.  The research and development module feeds into and informs the 'major project' in terms of current industry practice, with regards to other artists; originality; context, and also in order to be structured to test and ask questions of the students development of work.

Therefore I also recognise the importance of a Reflective Journal.  In my own case, this will predominantly be the blog material that you are reading now.  I anticipate that my reflections will develop through my ongoing research into my areas of interest, but I must also critically assess my own thoughts together with any tutor feedback or other critique that I gain from various meetings and sessions.  In other words, I will need to explain how I respond and think about the feedback that I'm getting, which, as mentioned previously, can literally be in any form.

A simple sentence to remind myself of when anybody looks at my work is;
 "what am I getting from this transaction?"
Critical to my 'major project' work is for me to innovate original propositions which are appropriate and relevant for both contemporary art and illustration.  It is important for me to address both elements in order to achieve the results not only with regards to the work, but also the results of my degree learning.  This pedagogy will be gained through exploration, and as often quoted, "is the process of autonomous self-directed learning".  I completely recognise that the universities tutors will only provide guidance.  Therefore opinions can be gleaned and modelled by my own exploration, therefore rejection of advice is perfectly acceptable if it is critically evaluated and I have deeply considered and perhaps debated it with my peers.

The time is right for me to start to adopt some of my own personal experience.

At this early stage,  I therefore need to set up a project plan, which, in Rudyard Kipling's famous poem
"I had six honest, serving men,They taught me all I knew, their names were what and why, how and when, and where and who."
In all the projects that I have managed over the last 35+ years, many of which have run into multi-million pound contracts spanning many years of development and productivity, those six honest, serving men have indeed served me very well.  I need to call on them again and develop a reasonably high level project with clearly defined phases which within them will have time bound targets and milestones.

Traditionally, in project management, phase 1 would be a "problem definition" stage.  The second stage of phase 1 would likely be to measure and then analyse the problem. Stage III of phase 1 would be to document initial results in order to create initial ideas through various methods (e.g. Sigma, Prince2, Waterfall, Rup, etc. - There is a whole raft of methodologies to choose from!!!).

In this case, a fairly sizeable part of this work will be to research initial ideas to see if anyone else has conducted similar artistic work.  This is kind of "post idea", therefore, In my mind, this is similar to a kind of Socratic dialectic model which in turn, can be assimilated with Emanuel Kant's and later, Hegel's (allegedly, but sometimes this source is challenged e.g. See "Hegel, Beiser, 2010, Routledge, London), triadic method looking for an antithesis to his hypothesis to form a synthesis.

I therefore see phase 1 is the Hypothesis phase.
Whilst this appears to conform in some ways (in that usually a hypothesis comes first, then the antithesis is used to test the initial assertion), it is indeed following the triadic dialectic to a fashion.

To continue the approach suggested by my lecturers today, it seems that phase 2, which will commence after Christmas is very similar to the industry "iterative design" phase, the difference here, to the triadic dialectic method, is to make, make, make, which is to create outcomes which are more structured in alignment with the thesis, than perhaps the very wide dialectic brainstorming activities of a full antithesis phase, in order to respond effectively and coherently to the specified problem definition, and therefore properly address the projects objectives aims and outcomes.

 It is worth mentioning here that the "antithesis" is about generating alternative ideas.  It is NOT necessarily dichotomous concepts or thoughts (i.e. those directly opposite or the polar extremes of of a thesis, e.g. Black versus White etc), which, interestingly, forms a significant factor of symptoms, leading to clinical depression. (viz. "Negative" thinking is often referred to by psychologists as "dichotomous" thinking).

Therefore I see this Phase 2 testing and making phase, in a Socratic term as the Antithesis phase.

Finally, phase 3, I believe, is what we finally need to do. In other words, our final pieces which will be submitted for the graduate show, is the "synthesise phase" activity.  (In industrial project management, this would equate to the implementation and validation and or control stage, which demonstrates the projects success in order to achieve its accomplished outcomes).

I suspect that one of my challenges will be to understand what makes my own work contemporary?  I need to make sure that I break out of an industry mindset in order to define and understand current issues that are relevant and pertinent to creative arts.  My problem definition must therefore address these artistic issues in a contemporary context and constrain itself within societal and cultural environs.

 In these terms, I am thinking particularly about a very current and significant cultural issue affecting many people.  I suspect it is a subject that has been well explored before, that being societies high levels of stress, leading to depression and mental illness.  My major project theme of "Things Left Behind" which includes existential reflection, touching upon grief, coping strategies and deep meditational "in the moment" or mindfulness thought could proove to be a good vehicle for exploration of these issues too.

Finally today, I realise that everything that I produce both in my Reflective Journal, my sketchbooks and then my artistic creations which subsequently will feed into the Graduate Gallery Show will, in fact, be part of my overall assessment.  I'm conscious therefore that I need to record everything that I do, in order to submit a very comprehensive portfolio.

Some of the bullet points I specifically listed which will be assessed are;
  • Clear evidence of the intent of anaesthetic (I interpret that to mean that whether this is either beautiful or egregious is not what is being assessed. - It is the intent of the art work, and whether that objective has been met).
  • I need to demonstrate technical expertise and aesthetic excellence to be both clearly interpreted and demonstrated in the work that I produce.  (My increased life drawing activity will help my spacial awareness and drawing abilities here)
  • Finally, I must make sure that my presentation of all my work is appropriate within the context of the degree and, of course, must be of a very high standard. (My attention to detail will, I trust, serve me well here too).
Overall, what this year will mean to me, is a new way of thinking in order to understand the "practice based research" process, which really I interpret as meaning artistic study through exploration of trial and error via creative repetition.

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