Design continued

You can click on the images for a larger view

Design

Dear friends
As some of you know, Karen and I are working on the design of the poster/invitation and the catalogue for the final degree show. we thought that it would be a good idea to post our work here for you to see and give us your comments and suggestions. This is primarily targeted to the people who will be exhibiting this year, but feedback from the rest of the Interality group is more than welcome. you will find here 3 options for the design of the poster, and one option for the reverse side of the poster, ie the invitation.
The concept is simple yet multilayered. When we were brainstorming for titles for the show, it was difficult to find one thing in common for all of the 14 people exhibiting. We decided that the dialogue generated in the studio space is a good starting point. This dialogue could also be considered as one held between us and our tutors, the studio space, the work we produce.. We chose to use chairs because they signify the space that everyone of us occupies, they are of different forms, reflecting the different backgrounds we have and the interdisciplinarity of our practices, and they refer to the studio. I could go on and on about this but I will spare you the babble and let you see them for yourselves and give us your comments. However please bear in mind that we are pressed on time so please let your feedback be precise, practical, and constructive. The design is not finalized yet, so we need your opinion on the concept and the general feel of it. We are meeting next wednesday to discuss the design when we would have compile all the comments we have received. PLEASE POST YOUR COMMENTS BY MONDAY, any suggestions given after monday will be disregarded.

The format is A3 folded to A5

It would be folded down so the invite is on the outside, with the
poster on the reverse.

The copy on the invite reads:

CONVERSATION encompasses both visual
and sound interpretations that concludes the work
of students on the MA/MFA International Practice in
Fine Art of 2006. An exhibition of work that provides a
temporary resting point for the developing artists and
their careers.
It is the result of a long CONVERSATION that has
transended many cultural boundaries. It has taken place
between the artists, places, infl uences and their work
over the course duration and continues to develop.
The interdisciplinary nature of the course has enabled
both art practitioners and design professionals to
converse on each others experience and backgrounds,
to inform and enlighten new aspects of their work and
develop contemporary thought.
The closeness of the students has in turn created a
strong mediation between all these areas and has aided
the broadening of minds. Their CONVERSATION has
resulted in overlaps, tensions, energy, unpredictablility,
support, dynamism and above all confi dence.
The fi nal show is a culmination of this journey.
Consider the pieces as the result of this year-long
CONVERSATION.
Our CONVERSATION has been an enjoyable one and
we wish for you to join us in playing a vital part in its
continuum, between us, you, and the artwork.
Look and listen, stop, think, position yourself, make
a connection, interact, adjust your mind and join the
CONVERSATION.


Love
Karen and Hatem

tittuping with Interality

Hi all and thanks Ali for inviting me to join! Let me first say Ali I support your proposal for an ongoing network of outgoing and incoming "UCCAeans" with connectivity in mind not only for spontaneous discussion/debate but for post-course productive ideas... shows, joint artworks, ways of creating presence etc. I say this first, because from my experience I do feel that post MA/MFA, people tend to disappear into their "new" or "former" lives?! And second, because I believe that the direct links, networking, contacts, friends you make in your course should be used to trigger pathways for professional, meaningful opportunities in the otherwise tough battle of (I think it was Hatem who said) 'art practice despite the institutions, bureaucracy, pretence and all' and (what Ali implied) "the industrialisation of art". The "great black hole of desire" Ali is the market machine. My comment on this is that this art industry is perpetuating a "cathedral"...despite the promising mission statements of many institutions of the "democratisation of the arts" (particularly over the turn of the millennium), these are still ruled by exclusivity, bureaucracies and formal selection processes based on the established idea of what constitutes western art, value systems and judgements. But I do not want to look at this as negation (as a cliche of absence, passivity or enslavement by the system) but as affirmation, of taking positive action - and that's when perhaps one becomes a real "master" (though it is never consistently easy and you can spend your life trying). But maybe out of this networking, valuable, creative ways of liberating oneself from the "slave" (be it the one within us or outside us, be it "fear", the insatiable "desire machine", doubt, pretence, bureaucracy..) can happen through repositioning one's practice within the realities of the artworld and determine what role one wants to play in this on one's own or with others. Perhaps Interality can be about turning the realities of the artworld inside out...

You see, I've been trying to catch the main threads of the blog and various points struck me...particularly Sarah's (dare I call it introspective) question on what the course does to one's practice? I think it makes you ask exactly the questions you are asking Sarah. Perhaps the course "undoes" you more than it "does" you. I think it "problematises" one as an artist, and in that sense it reincarnates or metamorphoses one's practice. I think there are variations on the intensity of this transformation... for some it is revolutionary, for others it is reactionary - there are different forms of resistence. Either way continuation takes place, which hopefully will lead to "improvement". I think the MA/MFA is quite a rite of passage and repositioning one's soul is not without pain or exaltation, depending on your view. Once again, perhaps Interality can be about this internalising, turning ourselves inside out...

So there are two things being problematised here: the interior and exterior, which eventually become linked.
One is the personal soulsearching repositioning in the duration of the course: what is my practice about?? how will my practice change, improve, transform??
The other is that of the artworld: what are the realities of the artworld?? and what will my role as an artist in this be??

So, Interality is perhaps also Exterality (don't look it up in the dictionary, it's not there!)

ok, I enjoyed tittuping with some thoughts from the very high temperatures of the Med.
I fly to France this weekend for a few days to take part in Femmes d'Europe a Saint Tropez and then to England soon after when I'll look forward to seeing you all again very soon!

ruth