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From equality to equity: A case study of Creative Shift’s ‘the leader within Women+ of Colour Leadership Programme’
Get PDFIn this case study, we focus on a particular University of the Arts London positive action intervention, the Women+ of Colour in Leadership Programme (W+CinL) developed by Creative Shift. The case study explores how taking a more equitable, asset-based approach supports the retention, attainment, and employability of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) and self-defined female + students. The programme can be seen as an example of an asset-based model which recognises the inherent value and life wide experience that students bring to their learning. By shifting from equality towards equity, this approach recognises histories of injustice and intersectional disadvantage to disrupt and transform systems of oppression. From the case study, we acknowledge the potential Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have to reshape support for marginalised students through a broader range of initiatives that facilitate the move to a more equitable and diverse creative economy
Andromeda
No full text‘Andromeda’, a first sharing of an alt pop live set by Bliss Carmxn with Trans Voices co-founders ILĀ and Coda Nicolaeff, touching on explorations of love and longing, of connection out of time, and of the return of a collective galactic love letter
Ambivalent surfaces: An encounter with Rococo paintings
Get PDFThis project sets out from an encounter with a series of rococo paintings by Francois Boucher's and my unexpected fascination with them that I try to understand. I presume it is the mimetic texture of a fabric and the shimmer of the paint itself that prompts me to the strange difference between them. In the sensual absorption, on the other hand, paint becomes its own presentation. This in turn raises questions about the painting surface. The surface carries judgement, that is intertwined with the judgement about the rococo. With formalism as the dominant art criticism of modernity, I discuss the concept of the painting surface as predicated on a split between material and image, connected to the distinctions of form and idea, presentation and representation. My key research question thus concerns the role of the surface. The surface is not understood as an isolated picture plane but rather as one of passages and relationships. The play between substance, subject and surface constitutes a network of meaning. The relevance to my practice is explored through the figures of the stain and the splotch, plastic surfaces, and movement on the surface. The research method is developed as an exchange between three main component strands of writing. The poetic serves as a generative, intuitive interface, the art historical and aesthetic a sober grounding for observation, attentions, and factual encounters, and the philosophical arena provides the structure for speculation and projection. There is in turn no privileging of one over the other but rather a series of passages and circulations that provide connections. This triangulation serves to articulate other structural conjunctions such as the relationship between affects, percepts, and concepts, and the structure of spacing within the project of the studio, gallery, and library, which all serve as a play of triangles within triangles. Boucher's paintings evoke ambivalent affects in me. I partially feel repulsion towards their representations and simultaneous attraction to the way they are painted and the effects of their materiality. An object of research that puts me in a place of uncertainty allows for an exploration that is open to experiment, experience, and surprise as is the process in the studio. Ambivalence, as the suspension of judgment, opens up a space for me to move within and inhabit different positions. I thus consider a politics of ambivalence and pose the question of its capability as a method or even as an aim. The key references this thesis is built around are Boucher's paintings as much as the recent discussion by Ewa Lajer-Burcharth that investigates Boucher's artistic individuation through the materiality of his work. This provided me with perspectives that in turn entered the act of looking to forge connections with my practice. Rococo spatiality evokes a floating movement. Another key reference is Timothy Morton's argument for an (im-)possible ecology sensibility within consumerism that connects ambivalence and floating in speculating about the potential of ambivalence to question our categorical dualist thinking of subject and object at the expense of the latter. What this project proposes is therefore a way of looking that opens out another way of encountering art history that is usually governed by the authority of iconography that in turn relies on representation as the dominant system of signification. With this, it is also an exploration of how looking differently can be a method to painting. The contribution of rococo to practice is a notion of the in-betweenness of the surface of painting that de-centres the subject and opens out to a subject/object encounter in the experience of ambivalence. The starting point of this research was a state of ambivalence the object of research put me or I put the object in. From this moment of suspended judgment, ambivalence finds its expression in the a-signifying movements of floating and drifting. This gives rise to the exploration of contradiction, the production of dialectics and the liberation of uncertainty
The temperament index
No full textThis publication was produced on the occasion of the solo exhibition The Temperament Index, at Aspex Portsmouth, 2024, the latest iteration of Melanie Jackson’s travelling project Spekyng Rybawdy. In her installation, the viewer is invited to wander amongst projected animations, cut-out figures and body bits, handmade clay objects, drawings and more. Jackson has rallied together a procession, a carnival of conceptual nomads that jostle and jive, pleasure, fight and take flight across a trans-historical plane of existence, in which we are as much participants as voyeurs. Pilgrim Badges were small cast tin or lead alloy brooches that were mass-produced in the medieval period and sold along pilgrim routes, and at fairs and carnivals. A group of these were known as the bawdy badges, the secular badges, the sexual badges, or the erotic pins and have been found across Europe in their thousands. Easily affordable, made by and for working people, they were part of a vast and profitable pan-european culture .Using the badges a kind of collective commons from which to add in the present, Jackson draws out themes of their persistence, locomotion, and motility, farcical assemblages, dissolutions and transformations of gender and class. It is a world of absurd and inventive beings, rich with humour, dissent, subversion, delight, hilarity, titillation, and surprise. The Temperament Index’s publication combines images from the project with texts by Melanie Jackson, Thomas Groves, Hettie Judah, and Ricardo Reverón Blanco. Stickers produced by the artist will be sent alongside the publication. Spekyng Rybawdy will tour to Phoenix, Exeter in 2025. Price £12.00 (+ P&P) 34 Pages ISBN 978–1–7384804–0–1 Hard cover format Size 140mm (h) × 235mm (w) Text by Melanie Jackson, Thomas Groves, Hettie Judah, Ricardo Reverón Blanc
Counterism and trust; From critical to Tactical design
Get PDFIn this paper we explore the emerging qualities of Counteristic Design practises as they depart from Discursive models. In this process, Counterism is under-pinned as an emerging field of study that seeks to design trust. Counterism offers a way of resistance by creating systems of autonomy, accountability and repara-tion that values difference and creativity. The two projects analysed vary in ap-proach, with some developing new methods by incorporating new technologies, while others reimagine existing methods. These approaches can offer interesting ways towards a new future for citizens at the intersection of social justice, and technology. Counteristic practises operate within the system with the aim to shape its directionality in a particular direction in which social justice is para-mount. In this process the critical becomes tactical in which the main aim is to restore trust rather than build engagement
Transformational practices; Aligning governance and design
Get PDFThis paper introduces the concept of ‘Transformational Practises’ as a prospective design-led integrative space to conduct multidisciplinary research aiming at exceptionally innovative and/or unconventional research aiming for a high trans-formational impact. Based on a range of selected examples, the authors underpin the fundamental principles of this new framework to propose a criteria to assess prospective and multidisciplinary design-led transformations. In the process, it places design as a distinctive and fundamental activity to develop transforma-tional impact in research that aligns the applied arts (arts and design), with the prospective sciences (e.g., AI and synthetic biology), and prospective sociology (e.g., economics and policy). Finally, it combines the concepts of structured adversarial collaborations, knowledge vectors, and transformational practises metrics to integrate this area into established models of academic assessment
Hubbacouture: From embodied knowledge to meaningful representation: The role of documentary as method to explore Skateboard media production for fashion media communication
Get PDFThis practice PhD explores how intuitive understanding and tacit knowledge contribute to the creation of skateboard photography and videography. Specifically, the research critically examines the roles of documentary practice, "the creative treatment of actuality" (Grierson, 1971), experience production (Gelter, 2006) and embodied knowledge (Merleau-Ponty, 2004) in the development of visual representations. It seeks to identify and analyse the cultural, social, and aesthetic forces employed by skateboard media photographers and videographers, to recognise patterns of behaviour and operations implicitly represented within the act of making. Drawing on lived experiences, the research illustrates how skateboard media photographers and videographers have honed their skills, creating distinct visual approaches facilitated through closely intertwined relationships and technological advancements. The main research question asks: What embodied cultural, social, and aesthetic factors influence the documentary practices of skateboard photographers and videographers? Supported by two sub-questions: What are the effective methods of data collection and analysis for understanding embodied media production methods used by skateboard media specialists? And: What visual contrasts can be realised in the way skateboarding media insiders and fashion media outsiders portray skateboarding culture to achieve an equitable representation of skateboarding? The results of this research suggest that fashion's representation of skateboarding is often insufficient, failing to capture the unique aspects of the culture. Responding to findings, the research suggests the potential for collaborative practice between skateboard and fashion media producers to inform the development of skateboard- specific media by couture fashion brands. It is theorised that this practice will create a meaningful representation of skateboarding in fashion imagery, allowing it to reflect contemporary skateboarding culture more accurately. Named through this research, documentary as method, an interdisciplinary qualitative approach combining visual ethnography, media anthropology, and autoethnography emerged. Documentary as method seeks to examine the relationship between the physical act of producing skateboard-specific media and the meaning applied to its production. Formed of three iterative phases over six years, forty-two participants, including thirty-nine males and three females from the United States and Northern Europe, provided detailed opinions about skateboarding media production. Recording skateboard photographers’ and videographers’ attitudes, behaviours, and interactions, documentary as method utilised visual recordings in the forms of photography, film, sound, and mapping. Detailed fieldwork, interviews, and analysis provided in-depth findings of how skateboard photographers’ and videographers' practices are shaped by their embodied knowledge, experiences, and motivations. The project employed 35mm cameras, super 8mm, digital cameras, sound recording equipment, pen, and paper. Through participants’ illustrated accounts, this research identified and named five distinct tropes: the bonding climate, the huddle, the sequence/rollout, the fisheye/death lens, and embodied know-how. Invoking the frame of practice research and thinking-through-practice, this investigation emphasises the fluidity between experience production and embodied knowledge, illustrating how skateboard media specialists are respected guardians of their craft and culture. The research findings stress the necessity of skateboarding media professionals to be part of the construction of imagery by fashion photographers and videographers, promoting interdisciplinary aesthetical practices. The incorporation of these strategies would act to alleviate any disparities between variations in media production, potentially leading to a richer, higher-regarded representation of skateboarding by couture fashion brands
Instertitial condensation: Notes on the renovation of a typical London house
Get PDFThe book chapter offers a fictional narrative about an architect grappling with the inadequacies of contemporary solutions for dealing with humidity and ventilation in aging London homes. It underscores the critical issue of neglecting natural materials and original design decisions, while highlighting the overreliance on petrochemicals and plasticised chemical treatments
From bureau to micro-industry: A new studio model for digitally printed ceramic enamels
Get PDFThis paper aims to provide a critical and reflective analysis of the long-term turn in context of two AHRC funded research projects and how the results have been resituated within the history of technologies and appropriate commercial markets. Research was conducted by academics in the field of ceramic printmaking during two AHRC funded research projects: Extending the Potential for the Digitally Printed Ceramic Surface and Improved Laser Printing Equipment for Ceramics. This prompted the establishment of a spin-out studio Smith&Brown by the two key researchers: Dr Steve Brown and Emeritus Professor Martin Smith to continue the research in a commercial context. It is the continued practice and further critical and contextual reflection on the results, over a 4-year period, which has led the researchers to the new insights and innovation discussed in this paper. The paper discusses the context of developments such as the repurposing of office printing technologies for the scaled production of digitally printed tableware transfers and specifically the understanding of alternative production models such as the bureau and print-to-demand. Other aspects discussed include: the new visual language which was unlocked and the value of a skilled analogue printmaker’s applied knowledge in relation to a seemingly closed system digital technology