Sunday 4 May 2008

As I prepare for assessments...

My class and I are currently preparing for assessments at college at the moment. These are the diploma stage assessments that we have to pass before we are able to progress onto the MA stage of our course! Stressful enough with out having the added impact of being a little homeless next week, work changing shifts around, assessments being moved and the bank balance being a little unhealthy :o) 

Despite all this I find myself still content with where I am at with my work and practice. We have had to pick a piece of text for a literature review as part of our assessments and I would like to share the one that I used! 

I would love to hear any thoughts that people have on it. I am a little shocked at my self that I chose NOT to use a theory text and am at last beginning to feel a real focus on the practical side of what I am interested in. 

It may be a little too postmodern but it has still being incredibly inspirational to me. Every time I begin to feel that knot in my stomach at the thought of leaving my work installed in a studio, of being assessed on something that is not the work, of talking final product not process -this text has helped me put things back into perspective.

I am beginning to realise through writing my essay (which I will post on here as well) that you can turn even process in to something material and it is encouraging to have to think about how to do that. It has to be said that I am finding this a little more than challenging at the moment and it is the side of things that since changing my research proposal a few weeks ago (hmmm - not the best move before an assessment) that I have struggled with how to do. I find this particularly hard at college and to be honest feel as if I have very little perspective on my work at the moment. 

However, as I research and prepare for assessments I find myself asking the question "If Tim Crouch (esp in 'England'), Nic Green or Caroline Smith were faced with leaving work in a studio and producing a model box for a final show when their work is about it organically evolving and responding to site, what would they leave??"