professional practice journal

SEMESTER B

group project iii


group:
alice whehelan GD
joseph pleass GD
philippa rabbitts GD
sumayyah GD
mattias malk PHOTO

ali, joe and me knew we would want to do the semester b project together. philippa i have worked with on the first project and sumayyah i've met before briefly.

the idea for the project came in to being straight away after forming groups. joseph proposed a project about correspondence(inspired by an exhibition he saw. an englishan and american started an exchange responding to eachother's work). the group liked the concept and we started discussing technicalities.

at first we thought of doing the exchange within the group, but soon found it would be a dead end. then joe remembered a friend in chelsea college and that we could have an exchange with 5 people from there. this started of us having a project to do for a week - sending them the project to draw inspiration for their work, again with a deadline of a week - they would then send it back again. we finally decided on all the 10 people doing 1 project per week and exchanging simultaneously - so all in all 100 pieces of work in 10 weeks (10x10).

we decided to mull it over during the holidays.

sumayyah knew a space in hackney wick called the stour space which is a charity that supports local talent. there was a viewing on the 7. of february - the gallery is spacious enough for the project and they are really up for giving us the space and any support they can (curators, publicity, contacts). at the moment the opening is planned for the 12. of may and the exhibition will be up for 3-4 days.

saturday, 12. february we've planned a meeting with all the participants (including the chelsea guys) in new cross to get acquainted and do the draw (everyone brings a word to put in a hat for the draw that will start off the whole process. the next exchange will happen in a weeks time and every week after that). i plan to do video interviews with all the participants - once in the beginning of the project, then half way through and then a final recap. this will become an illustrative video of the entire process through all the participants.

all in all there is a great mix of different disciplines including graphic design, illustration, moving image and photography. i definitely look forward to the opportunity of getting to be inspired by work from different people and media - and in turn use different methods to suit my intended output. pretty much have fun with it and enjoy the absence of conceptual pressure.

i had an idea to have a talk as a part of the final exhibition as well inviting someone with a background in cultural studies or media to come and conduct and mediate an exchange with visitors - i'm the only one who has had an exhibition before and know from experience that this can prove to be a very good assett to a successful exhibition - evoking actual reflection and reaction is a part of the project anyway.

at the moment everyone is eager to get started and the project is taking off really well and feels as though is taking on a life of its own.