Leeds Arts University Repository (CREST)
Not a member yet
446 research outputs found
Sort by
Folding chair for the feminist resistance: Activating feral materiality
No full textIn the short film Folding Chair for the Feminist Resistance (2018), a series of images of a folding chair found on the street, seemingly occupies a range of seating configurations from the formal to the feral. The images are overlaid with an ironic narration that aligns the folding chair to an embodied experience of feminist activism past, present and future. If feral can be defined as that which was once domesticated but has now returned to the wild, then going feral is a process of liminality, a boundary practice that disrupts our understanding of the stability of domestication as a one-way process. Feral materiality is the abandoned, cast out and undomesticated object, the liminal and unsettling stuff that haunts the marginal spaces of consumer culture. The transgressive and unstable material culture of domesticity in Folding Chair for the Feminist Resistance is presented back to us as a protest against domestication
Aberrant Consumers: Representing disordered dating on the still life table
No full textStill-life photographs can reflect a contradictory relationship to contemporary consumer culture. The thin body acts as a sign of a strong work ethic and self-control; it is viewed as a productive resource and
medium for creating bodily capital The objects on a still life table allude to the unavoidable bodily requirements of eating and drinking. It is a subject matter contaminated by flesh. Still life images can be viewed as a type of portrait: the objects depicted on the table symbolize the social position and material wealth of an unseen owner, who is also the intended recipient of the meal. Taking my cue from Dutch still-life paintings from the seventeenth century that reflected a conflicting relation with material wealth, I produce still-life photographs that reflect a contradictory relationship to contemporary consumerism. In this article I will present a selection of artworks that draw on my research into eating disorders and body ideals in capitalist societies.
The «WGI Global Report 2020 - A Gastronomic Planet» is a succession of approaches and perspectives of what has happened and is happening in the gastronomic world, recording many facts, investigations and opinions that will serve to explain what the situation of gastronomy was in our time, commissioned from the authors and collected in the period from 2018 to 2020, until the COVID19 came to generate suffering, chaos and economic debacle. From this presentation of the publication we want to honor the victims and thank all the people who have fought in solidarity with the pandemic, hoping that the situation will recover as soon as possible and in the next ´Global Report` we can reflect a positive evolution
‘Their defining moments’: Identifying critical influences that prompted progression into post compulsory education in the arts
No full textThis chapter presents a study that focuses on prevalent inequalities of access into post compulsory education in England. It draws attention to how individuals, who may be experiencing multiple factors of disadvantage or under representation, might surmount barriers that limit their upward social mobility. While it is widely accepted that access to and successful participation in education can lead to progression into employment and improved economic and social status, it is argued that this assumption is overly simplistic. The home context of an individual, the health, welfare, financial security and the geographic location of their family home continue to be strong influencing factors in the prospects of individuals in the family. These factors play an influential role in decision making on educational pathways and whether to enter post compulsory education. The scale of the problem is highlighted by empirical surveys that highlight the challenge that Widening Participation (WP) practitioners face in targeting interventions. Evident by the under representation of particular groups of students, in terms of their gender, age, ethnicity, disability or socio economic status in post compulsory education, there exists an inequity of access in post compulsory education prevalent for many across the subject sectors. Influences, external to the education institution, that are occurring within the home and community context, have the potential to stifle attaining upward socio-mobility that can enable a secure, economically stable, life for a household. Progression into Further and Higher education, to achieve attainment through qualifications, has to surmount the pervading effect of these hurdles. The question is can education or WP achieve it alone, as an endeavour, in isolation to other support and welfare agencies, in society? In order to address the inequalities of access, WP practitioners are tasked to deliver interventions with individuals, schools, colleges and community groups, at all stages of education, to encourage progression in education. This is to enable individuals to participate beyond Level 3 National qualifications, which are seen as a solution. This is an interpretivist narrative enquiry which examines critical incidents, that respondents recall having assisted them in undertaking their journey into studying the Arts. The ‘student voices’ gathered through their personal stories provides valuable insights into their critical incidents, epiphany, influential agents, experiences, artefacts or places that informed their choices
Ericka Beckman & Marianna Simnett at FACT Review
No full textA review of the exhibition Ericka Beckman & Marianna Simnett at FACT, Liverpool, 26th March–16th June 2019. Focusing on how these two moving image artists represent and explore societal expectations placed upon women. Considering their use of voice, song and fairly tale motifs. Works discussed: Cinderella (1986) and Hiatus (199-2015) by Ericka Beckman. The Udder (2014), Blood (2015) and Faint with Light (2016) by Marianna Simnett
Re-collections: Susan Hiller, Elizabeth Price, Georgina Starr
No full textA review of the exhibition Re-collections at Site Gallery, Sheffield, 16 Feb-19 May, 2019. Featuring the work of three moving image artists: Susan Hiller, Elizabeth Price and Georgina Starr. Taking a lead from the exhibition’s focus on how narratives are told and re-told, the review traverses the exhibition three times. Starting each time from a different work of art the article demonstrates some of the different narrative and conceptual routes that can be taken through the same artistic material. Artworks discussed: The Joyful Mysteries of Junior (1994-2012), Georgina Starr; Lost and Found (2016) Susan Hiller and A RESTORATION (2016), Elizabeth Price
Haptic criticality: can risk be deflected through development of critical thinking with adult learners?
No full textThe objective is to develop adult student critical thinking (CT) skills to equip participants to be flexible in a world risk society. The first aim of this paper is to create channels of communication and connection. The second aim examines the meta-narrative of pedagogic policy in relation to adult learners in the petite-narrative (Lyotard 2004) of my classroom, creating a piece of action research (McNiff 2014). The significance to the field of policy studies in adult education is that, haptic criticality, thinking through doing is essential to equip vocational students for problem solving in industry or self-employment. Relevant policies are:- the Foresight Review into the Future of Skills and Lifelong Learning (2016) and the Department of Education (DfE) adult learners policy (2018). The paper is relevant to the conference in that, the Education World Forum (EEF 2019) asks, ‘how might education policy encourage using what we know to improve what we do?’ A good question when considering risk, haptic criticality in andragogy or adult pedagogy. There is a role for the critically engaged artist in a world risk society.
Responding to the conference theme ‘Education policy and new social risks: How can adult education and learning policy contribute to community integration today?’ An outcome is community building interventions such as poetry group and book club creating social cohesion and group bonding. Participants become agents of change in their own education. Wider implications are integration in work, higher education, community and family. The research problem or question asks, if risk may be deflected through the development of critical thinking (CT) skills with adult learners. Brown (1998: 1) believes there is a thinking skills deficit. To increase possibilities of social mobility and social capital CT skills could be instrumental in escaping poverty and gaining qualifications. The Canadian Ministry of Education states that all students will need to develop a flexibility and a versatility undreamed of by previous generations and to employ critical skills (Shaheen, 2007). The significance of the paper highlights the importance for students to understand ‘wicked problems’ as part of a world risk society. Then to translate their story into the universal. Gregory (2009), suggests that myth and narrative are a vital part of our identity, although Adichie (2009) warns against the idea of a single narrative becoming dangerously inflexible, if taken to risk extremes. The central theme and question of the paper is, what is CT and practice based research? Can it aid deflecting concepts of fear and risk? Could connection be discovered through community of inquiry and narrative? What are current andragogic policies, are they community makers or cohesion barriers? Ethical guidelines use British Education and Research Association (BERA 2018). All participants and institutions are anonymised. Theoretical and conceptual frame works are a double ontology of the art school and the world of andragogy. Auto/biography and anthropology are methodological approachs used to add reflexivity to the paper. Pedagogy is a socially constructed reality, with power dynamics. When postmodernist theories unsettles assumptions and decolonise educational theories then space can be made around historical concepts. Qualitative mixed methodologies are inclusive and illuminative in this newly created space (Kara 2015: 26). A sample of 133 self-selecting participants volunteered for CT methods. Data is inductively, iteratively linked and analysed in a cycle of reading, labelling and coding, to discover patterns and themes. Tentative conclusions are, a community of inquiry accesses the legacy of the critical traditions. Classroom democracy is a high-risk strategy, Beck (2013) implies, risk can be both positive and negative. Democracy is unpredictable and it does not have a predetermined outcome, it can be, ‘the transformational power of critical thinking.’ Participants in the research have become more confident and articulate, argumentative and discursive. I have observed an increase in the way participants use haptic criticality to talk out practice and theory in lectures and workshops, confronting risk. The output of the paper is to disseminate findings at conferences and in a relevant journal
Cutting corners
No full textThe output is a creative project, Cutting Corners, comprising a collection of photography. Research process: This project takes as it’s starting point photographs from the British Safety Council (BSC) archive and the continual stream of vernacular photographs on Instagram to critique the performative, humorous and absurd nature of these scenarios. Mobile phone technology has enabled depictions of unsafe practices to be widely documented, distributed and accessed. The proliferation of these photographic warnings has increased dramatically. The photographs in ‘Cutting Corners’ show fictional health and safety problems, produced specifically for the project. Once photographed, the scenarios were swiftly dismantled and only the photographs remain as evidence. Research insights: People will do anything to cut corners. Or so it seems when browsing Instagram, where many photographs depict health and safety ‘fails’ that seem to celebrate others’ misfortune. A builder balances a ladder on a couple of buckets for that extra reach; a painter straps a house lamp to his head to illuminate the ceiling. There is a desire to see the mistakes of others because it makes us laugh and feel superior. Their methods may be lazy, but they are creative and surprisingly inventive. Photographs of hazards began life in earnest in the pamphlets of the BSC, and are now perpetuated and exaggerated through Instagram. The production of the work for and in response to the festival is an innovative approach, and sets it apart from the majority of the projects shown at the festival. The photographs are humorous, but they also highlight specific changes in the representation of hazards through vernacular imagery. Warnings of potential hazards were once controlled by the British Safety Council. Now, everyday users of photography take on this role and through exaggerated and absurd imagery the message is being effectively proliferated. Dissemination: The project was disseminated at the FORMAT International Photography Festival, Derby, 14 April – 11 May 2019
Consumed: stilled lives
No full textThis body of artwork, comprises photographs, artist books, pop-up display banners, lenticular images, and site-specific artworks made for commercial advertising spaces in cities and social networking sites. Consumed: Stilled Lives plays with the traditional concept of still-life painting, which grew in popularity in the 16th and 17th centuries. Often featuring silver plates and expensive foodstuffs, still life paintings became a fashionable way for the Dutch and Flemish to illustrate their wealth. When interpreted using emblematic symbolism the paintings represent a conflicting relation with material wealth. By interpreting the paintings ironically and applying the method to her own practice, Woolley produces still-life objects that suggest contradictory relationships to contemporary consumer culture. Consumed: Still Lives presents ‘an adroit reprisal of the still life genre, creating artificial and fictive scenarios involving and centring on our relationship to food. Food allows her to address matters at the heart of consumer culture— a primary relationship that allows her to refigure our conception of the body and in doing so confront us with our desires and wants, our phobias and fears.’ (Durden, Consumed: Still Lives Exhibition Catalogue, p. 31). Drawing on her research into advertising on social networking sites, and her writing that hypothesises selfies to be adverts, Woolley examines the impact that adverts have as producers and disseminators of social values. The artworks explore social ideals, particularly gender norms, and how they are transmitted through commercial visual culture. In adverts, commodities are given human characteristics in order to make them more desirable. In turn, identities are commoditised and bodies become adverts for social ideals. Commodities are integrated into the consumer’s identity and their identity is shaped to a marketing demographic. We are what we consume. We are adverts for the commodities we consume. To reflect this, the artwork in Consumed blurs the boundary between portraiture and still-life, producing inanimate bodies and animate objects. This exhibition has been presented at; Blyth Gallery, Imperial College, London (26th September – 2nd November 2018); Ruskin Gallery, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge (21st September – 14th October 2017); Ffotogallery, Cardiff, (13th Jan – 3rd Feb 2018); and Dyson Gallery, Royal College of Art, London, (14th – 18th December 2016). In addition, works from this exhibition have formed part of the Imagining History exhibition at Oriel y Bont, University of South Wales, Cardiff (1st Nov – 17th Dec 2021)
Modern nature building wrap
No full textIn 2019 Woolley was commissioned by The Hepworth Wakefield and Wakefield Council to produce a building wrap design in response to the Modern Nature exhibition at The Hepworth. Woolley worked with members of the local community, including The Hepworth’s Art Social group (for young people not in education, employment or training) and students from Wakefield Adult Education centre, to produce a design that references the history and function of the historic Upper Mill building and the neighbouring community garden. Raymond Williams notes that, since the agricultural and industrial revolutions in the 18th and 19th centuries, nature has been consumed as a source of raw materials and a form of leisure. He writes: ‘[t]here is more similarity than we usually recognise between the industrial entrepreneur and the landscape gardener, each altering nature to a consumable form’ and he goes on to observe that the landowner who benefitted from the landscaper’s work was also often a mill or factory owner (Culture and Materialism, 1980, p. 81). The blurred distinction between nature and industry is explored in the Modern Nature exhibition, using photographs that show how urban and rural landscapes merge. Bringing together both aspects of ‘consumable nature’ described by Williams and the merged landscapes of the Modern Nature exhibition, Woolley worked with local communities to produce a 2-D design that references the history and industrial function of the location. Through the construction of flower, corn and barley sculptures made out of recycled material such as plastic bags and cardboard boxes, participants considered the blurred boundaries between nature and man-made materials, from the early industrial processes of corn grinding and cultivated landscapes to the impact of consumer culture on the environment today. Simultaneously, the sculptures are objects of nature, culture and industry. The sculptures were photographed and arranged in a composite design that was printed onto the Upper Mill building wrap
Practise as praxis: A Freirian approach to instrumental practice within the conservatoire
No full textResearch process: Taking a Freirian theoretical perspective, Huxtable explores the potential for individual practise, within the Conservatoire, to be an emancipatory act. The nature of oppressive ideologies at play within these institutions will be first identified, providing examples as to how they manifest within student attitudes and student/teacher relationships. The research process involved analysis of a number of secondary source materials using Critical Pedagogic theoretical tools.Research insights: Through the application of Critical Pedagogy tenets of ‘Praxis’, a model for Praxis/Practise has been introduced, ‘problem-posing’ the many relationships found between the student, teacher, institution and society leading to suggestions as to how practise methods could liberate students, teachers and the Conservatoire. This research output builds upon existing scholarship around application of Critical Pedagogy within Music Education through application to Higher Education contexts, particularly that of elite Conservatoires. The ‘Problem-Posing’ theoretical model provides a tool for educators to uncover previously hidden attitudes, beliefs and biases within students as a means of transforming current realities and contemporary ‘common sense’ epistemologies.Dissemination: Findings of this research where disseminated at the MayDay Group Colloquium, feeding into an institutional research event (Research Tuesday at Leeds Arts University)