Overall I was extremely happy with this semester. It was a little odd not having to come up with fully resolved work and as a result of that it was hard exactly to know what to submit for assessment. Some of what I submitted I think was strong conceptually but conveying the concepts with just a few still images and pre recored video is difficult I thought long and hard about adding long descriptions for each work, but decided against that (I have never been a fan of long explanations posted along with works) So the question is can an unresolved work fully convey its ideas (I would suggest no). For those who want to understand the works more there is always this blog to trawl through.
Post submission paranoia aside I am very excited about when I am and the ideas I have to work with, not just for this next semester but ideas That I entend to pursue futher down the track. An interactive environment the dissuades jumping about, that creates a pleasing image. As Olafur Ellison suggests in interviews here and here making a pleasing or exciting image can grab the viewers attention so they spend more time engaging with the work. Like Ellison I want to create a machine or a system that work with its viewers to create special moments. I feel that I now havethe bare bones of such a system. I am keen to extend what I have not only by determining how best to present and install it in a space but also looking at evolving colour palettes as a result of the viewers interactions.
The surprising discovery from the semester was my works based on Edward Muybridge imagery, I like the concept of extracting movement from those images. The idea of movement as texture, or the potential merging of other senses is very intriguing. I intend to do more works generated from captured movement. A recently acquired low res but high-speed digital camera will be used to capture slowmotion footage that will be the source of my imagery.
The best parts of these works were achieved by searching for a concept but by experimentation. Starting with the concept can often lead to an end point very quickly but this experimentation has lead to many other areas od exploration and these ideas also open up more concepts. Coming for an environment where everything is about achieving specific results this is a breath of fresh air. Not that I’m going to give up my current workflows when given a set task that needs to be achieved, but I will have more confidence in practice as a way to build a concept instead of just contemplation.