#I also read this RIGHT after going to my uni’s graduate exhibition where there’s always a few of those

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

Rani Choudhury Must Die

YA contemporary romance

two ex-best-friends turned rivals due to family expectations and competing in science competitions realise they’re dating the same guy

when one gets into the european young scientist exhibition, they decide to team up and create a new project - an app to expose cheaters, planning to expose him in their final presentation

but the more time they spend together they remember why they were friends, and maybe start to get crushes on each other…

Bangladeshi-Irish diaspora experiences & messy teenagers

[yourstateofdreaming]

The Favor [Gwilym Lee x Reader] Part IV

Masterlist | Gwilym Lee Masterlist

<<Previous | >>Next Part

Pairing: Gwilym Lee x Reader

Warnings: Fluff, also again: daddy-daughter relationship (SORRYNOTSORRY)

A/N: so... I have a chapter that kinda goes before this...it was meant to be part three but I found it too long and containing no Gwil, I’ll post that later so you can read more if you’d like and get a better understand of the story. Enjoy!

She picked up Roger’s clothes from the dry cleaner, got his vitamins from the pharmacy, picked up a package from his P.O. Box and then stopped at his favorite coffee place before arriving at the Taylors’ home a quarter to 12.

“Morning!” She called out from the entrance with her hands full.

The usual odd chorus of voices let her know that Tigs and Lola were here, Sarina in the studio and Roger upstairs.

A regular Wednesday for the Taylors.

The two blondes ran out from the kitchen to say hello, staring at (Name) with expectations of something showing in their gleaming eyes.

“Hi, what’s up?” She gave a puzzled smile.

“We heard a rumor from Dad,” Lola teased without hesitation.

Tigs giggled.

“We heard somebody from dad’s movie might be into you?” Lola hinted. “What’s with this Will guy?”

All blood rushed to her feet. She cleared her throat and started going to the kitchen.

“Gwilym.” (Name) corrected her. “He’s,” she did not look back or over her shoulder, “a friend!”

She felt embarrassed. If they knew...if only they knew what had happened just the night before. She reprimanded herself in silence, she should have not done it, but she gave in. Who could deny it? The two had chemistry, they knew each other and it was about time... if only it wasn’t such an inappropriate relationship. Why did she let him stay last night?

“(Name)?” Roger greeted her with a peck on the cheek and an empty cup of what must have been tea in his hand.

“Hi!”

She could not help but come off as super excited.

“So, busy day, Rog! Busy, busy day! Have you got your shoes on? Let’s go!” She clapped at Roger and waved at his daughters. “Sorry, girls! Come on, Rog! Car’s waiting outside!”

“Kitten...” Roger followed, although complaining felt like the natural response to (Name)’s behavior, “later, girls!”

While (Name) sat with Roger in the back of the car, he kept staring at her. Roger was trying to figure her out, there was something about her this morning that gave him an odd vibe. It wasn’t until she shifted in her seat and looked to the side that he thought of it.

“Kitten, do you have a boyfriend?”

(Name)’s brows skyrocketed up her forehead, or so it felt like. She smirked at her boss, smart-assing the man without a gram of shame.

“Why? Are you trying to hook up with me now, Rog?”

The drummer laughed, throwing his head back for a second.

Roger would never try such a thing, she was Tigs’ age and even if she was a bit older, the way she got along with everyone in the Taylor family made her almost a family member too; Roger knowing her dad and that (Name) was an only child, he felt somewhat like a father to her half the time.

“Well, do you?” Roger insisted.

(Name) shrugged, she took a deep breath and looked him in the eye.

“Not really.” She watched Roger’s brow furrowed. “No,” she insisted. “Maybe.”

Roger did not need to say anything, (Name) gave in and told him about some guy. She liked him but she said that because of their jobs it would be too difficult to be together, as a side note she did find other guys attractive.

“So, it’s not set on stone, kitten. Take your chances!” Roger advised her, patting her knee. “And cover up the neck, dear.”

(Name)’s hand flew to her neck and she used her phone to see. A love mark showing just above the collar of her shirt. The man sitting on the opposite side of the car smirked as she fidgeted with a scarf in her handbag.

“Shit...” she mumbled.

The drummer laughed at her and seeing as the car was moving through the streets a bit faster than usual, he chose to talk to his young assistant about a certain invitation his manager received earlier that morning. 

Peter (Y/L/Name) was a well-known wildlife photographer, his successes in art brought him to South Africa, where he worked with Save The Elephants and other organizations. (Name)’s father was a real animals’ rights activist, his job teaching about the world around us; it was odd to see him with his daughter, who he loved but with whom he would only spend time on rare occasions ever since she started uni. In fact, Roger could recall seeing his young assistant with her father only once, while at an event much like the one he had been invited to. 

Brian was pressuring Roger to RSVP, he was fascinated with Peter’s work, he and Anita had already confirmed their assistance to P. (Y/L/Name)’s exhibition. 

“Are you going?” 

She looked up from the agenda, the day of the exhibition was one of her rare days off, but she would not mind seeing Roger, which she still sort of planned on doing. 

“Do I have time?” 

Roger leaned over her shoulder and read the bright orange note saying “Fend for Yourself Day - Kitten’s Day Off’”. He put his index finger up in the air. 

“Ah! I guess I’m seeing you there!” He winked. 

She nodded and scribbled something down on a different page, mentioning to Roger that she would arrange for a car to pick them up at a decent time so he could be fashionably late to the event, just enough to be classy and not as much to make Brian anxious. 

“Hey, Rog?” She wondered when they arrived at the label’s building. 

The older man walked out of the vehicle with his sunglasses in his hands and put them on as soon as he heard her, mumbling a “yeah”. 

“How come you always call me Kitten?” She giggled as she finished her question. 

It was pure curiosity, (Name) never had a nickname before. Her father would always call her by her name or say “child”, so she was not used to the affectionate sound of “Kitten” when Roger first started using it a while after she started working for him. 

“Well, you see...” Roger put an arm around her shoulders and they walked together as the car drove away to the parking lot. “I realized you are not quite as tall as my Tigs, so what’s smaller than a Tiger?” He brought his hand out, waving it in the air as he spoke. 

(Name) shrugged, arched brow and pout on her mouth. 

“I dunno,” she straight up said the first thing that came to her mind, “a cub?”

Roger stopped walking and the silence grew between them for a second before he shook his head and repeated the word “no” over and over, almost chanting it. 

“A Kitten, (Name)! A Kitten! Has a better ring to it too!” 

They waited for the lift and once the shining silver doors opened, (Name) walked in first, followed by Roger. 

“You really are your father’s daughter...” He commented. 

Having spoken to the man a few times before, he knew where her previous comment was coming from. 

For days, (Name) tagged along with Roger, she never got to sit inside the offices where the Rock Idol had his meetings with producers and important people, she would only be outside, at the ready with a notebook and a pen; agenda in the pocket. She knew how to do her job, she did it quite well and had received no complaints from Roger or his family ever. 

It was indeed, during her last day shooting for the movie that she had the chance of chatting with Gwil. He had asked, of course, he was curious about the assistant; it seemed Roger could get along just fine without her but she also made everything move faster, with more efficiency, and for sure by more modern means. 

“Oh, I graduated from business school a bit early. Dad was in South Africa, I needed a job and thought, why not start at the bottom?” She explained, “I didn’t think I would be Roger Taylor’s assistant, that sort of happened thanks to my dad’s manager.”

Gwilym’s expression, now that he was in his Brian costume, was soft as usual, although upon hearing her his brows shot up in the funniest of manners and left (Name) giggling like a school girl. It might have been the beautiful contrast of the dark wig and Gwilym’s blue eyes, she felt weak in the knees. 

“Your dad’s manager?” He wondered, his hands on his hips, the pants provided by the costume department flattering his long legs.

She made the mental note that Gwil was slightly thicker than Brian, but she was not quite sure and thought asking about it would only serve to fuel the rumor going by among the crew that there was something romantic going on between the two of them.  

(Name) blushed, she never bragged about it, her last name would oddly come up in conversation and even if it did, it never caught much attention - unless she was speaking to a wildlife enthusiast or an animals’ rights activist. 

“Uh,” she felt her voice going quieter as she moved her lips to form the words, “yeah, Peter (Y/L/Name)” 

It was not shame what overtook her. She loved her father; he had fought to give her everything she had, and he had struggled to build his own career from scratch - not an easy thing, especially since he raised her on his own. What (Name) felt was embarrassment. Now she was under the impression that she should have mentioned it sooner.

“Oh, he’s having an exhibition next month! Right?” Gwil reaction was the usual, a small smile appearing on his face when she nodded. 

He pulled her sparkling black jacket closed over her chest once the cast was called in to get another take. 

“Well, darling Fake Wife of mine...” he called and (Name) rolled her eyes at the lame joke the two had, “on with the show!” 

(Name) made a terrible attempt at playing the air guitar, earning a laugh from Gwil, who stood the closest to see and embarrassingly enough, a cheer and chuckle from Brian and Anita. 

“Take off the wig, Gwil, you’re being replaced!” Joe yelled from another part of the set at what was going to be Freddie’s crazy house party. 

“Oh, shut it you!” She yelled back, grabbing Gwil’s face with as much delicacy as possible to avoid ruining whatever makeup he had on, Gwilym had to lean down so she could play with his face, “this is the face of a man! A man whose parents have some explaining to do!” She turned to Gwil, “are you sure Brian’s not your dad? You look so much like him...I’m doubting this.” 

At (Name)’s pout, Gwil smiled. He shook his head as he pulled back and put his arm around her shoulders to go back to their marks. 

For the entire time they were there, Anita was hypnotized by Gwilym, she took pictures with him and gave him the sweetest compliments, at which the actor could only blush and look around for help. Brian’s wife also told him funny stories about a younger version of her husband; all the while Ben, Joe and (Name) kept trying to stay out of trouble but somehow still causing it, of course. Rami was the only one of the group who kept it quite professional, he was the leading man and nobody would hold it against him if he was in character more than he was himself. 

“Hey,” Anita, grabbed (Name)’s hand and held it absentmindedly while she spoke, oblivious to what she was about to do, “Brian has been teaching Gwil how to use his camera, why don’t you bring him to your father’s exhibition?”

The small woman looked up at (Name) and then at Gwil. She did not know what to say; she had already made plans to bring someone else...someone she had been seeing for some time. Gwilym noticed something was happening in her mind and opened his mouth to excuse himself only to be interrupted by the brunette. 

“I think my dad would love to teach you a thing or two as well.” 

“It’s a date!” Ben yelled. 

The blonde gave Gwil a pat on the back and exchanged a look with Joe and Rami, all three of them grinned. 

Next One  >>

Tags: @tv-saved-the-teenage-girl @naturalswifty89 @itsametaphorbriansblog @i-want-to-break-free-39 @stomp-stomp-clap

[designforsocialimpact]

23 - Kitty, Design Fiction Club, Drag Queens and Paris all in White

We are getting near the end. Which may imply making the library our home or taking this amazing city all. Or – well – doing both and everything! 

This week kicked off with our thesis midterms. Compressing all our super important and highly complex writing work into 5 minutes is actually a challenge. Even though we took all in all 2 hours longer than intended it is a great way for peer-reviewing the work we’ve done so far and to steer the upcoming road to go. My friend Kitty – now future studies graduate – who visited us already in September is in town. She turns all the presentations into beautiful strong images with her visual thinking brain. We end this day with some good Pizza and wine at the little Italien place, we call home. At Sette you enjoy a wonderful burrata with the finest techno beats (they are not paying me.)

Tuesday is another whole thesis day for me, which is much needed. In the evening it’s the monthly meeting of Design Fiction Club at Gaité Lyrique. This times' topic ‘Design Fiction and Marketing’ takes a critical dive into the capitalistic application of design fiction and its real-world feasibility. Benoît, my thesis advisor, hosts the roundtable this time. Since my French is absolutely not enough I am more than grateful for the images and live notes. The bar next door is actually where the interesting stories from all these design fiction rockstars unveil themselves. Of course, Benoît pushes me to also talk about my project. A very good exercise and I’m happy that also the design fiction pros here give encouraging feedback. Right on track, yeahi!

Wednesday is MakeSense-day and it is always nice to start the day in this eclectic and warm atmosphere. We meet up individually with Sabine to get our practical work started. This means for me curating a fictional exhibition about fictional law cases about basic income. Further recording an audioguide for this fictional exhibition. Well, let’s see where we’re heading there... In the afternoon I’m meeting up with Manon. She is a student at SciencePo and currently taking the very first degrowth class. With her expertise (and enthusiasm!) I want to find out how basic income may affect a transition towards a degrowth society. Meaning a society that does not depend on economic growth. With my brother’s GoPro around my chest we are sipping Cappuccino and imagining the future of storefronts in this future scenario. Let me tell you so much: we won’t see handbags for sale anymore in our future construct. Before we’re heading to the Hitchhiker-Association-Party in St. Germain, Manon takes me on a tour at SciencePo. The following evening is full of inspiring talks about environmental policies, feminism and well, Paris.

Thursday feels to me like the longest day on earth. And this time, we already start one hour earlier than usual with our Intellectual Property Rights class. After four hours of design copyright pitfalls and law cases, we head right into Business Design Studio. With Diane, we construct business plans for our fictional businesses. Where Smarti is calculating the costs for her hydrating ovens to produce edible packaging, Vaila dreams up the Mushroom Lab (wait for it or sign up for the newsletter.) Amy refines her not so fictional business. In the Professional Practice Series, Giorgio Martinoli allows us insights into his world as an art director ranging from high shining fashion magazines to black and white music videos for the band Her. A long day ends for me with some good reads and a cup of tea.

Friday is time for Designer’s Social and Ethical Responsibility class with Emilie Prattico. These classes debating about Man vs. Nature and Design Activism tend to soak up all my energy while simultaneously letting me leave the classroom full of inspiration and zest for action – in confusion though. Right after I am meeting with Fabien, who invited me to his office to co-imagine the future of basic income as an impact on the education sector. For two hours we walk through optimistic, pessimistic, probable and unexpected scenarios for the upcoming 30 years. Jazzed up with new ideas and dreams I hop on the metro to meet my friend Til, visiting over from Kopenhagen. We spend a weekend full of thoughts and idea bouncing about the economy, society and live in general. The next two days consist of getting together with our wonderful fellow study buddies from uni, ex-roommates from passed exchange semesters dancing at Paris’ finest drag queen shows and the next day drinking pink Champagne with two beautiful OECD-renewable-energy-power-women at a dinner soirée; can it get any better? Not so sure about that. 

[artsdevco-blog]

Chloe Alice Hayes

We caught up with Chloe Alice Hayes (a Photography graduate from Arts University Bournemouth) about what she’s been getting up to since University & her recent experience on the Mothership Residency with Anna Best (co-founder of Force8).

About

Name: Chloe Alice Hayes Age: 25 Occupation: Artist Where do you live: Oxford/ London Education: BA (Hons) Photography, Arts University Bournemouth Interests / hobbies: Art, Gardening, Trave Website: www.chloealicehayes.co.uk

Tell us a bit about what you’re currently up to? 

I have just been travelling to South America which was absolutely amazing and so worth the 2 years it took to save for it. I then had a 1 week residency at the Anna Best Artist Residency in Dorset and a 2 week residency at Stiwdeo Maelor in Wales. I am now currently looking for a job involving the arts, hoping to move to London.

You recently worked on a residency here in Dorset, could you tell us a little bit more about that?

The residency was absolutely great, because I had not been practising for a while and it was amazing to actually speak to a fellow and very experienced artist, it really inspired me to work again and read into and think more about what I am doing by looking into texts and doing intellectual reading as opposed to just researching my subject. Anna, the residencies creator had organised for me to give a talk at the Bridport Arts Centre which was also so so helpful and made me realise the importance of discussion and critique outside of university. I used the residency to start 2 new projects, one regarding local rural buses that I wish to expand on to other areas. For this I rode on the local buses, interviewed the passengers and discussed the issue with locals. The second about the unseen elements of being a rural mother. This included researching and reading the issue, setting up an Instagram for mothers to share and giving local mothers 35mm cameras to photograph these issues.

How did you find out about the Mothership residency?

I found it on an arts opportunity website called ‘isendyouthis’. I can’t remember fully what the application process was like but I know I had to write a piece about me and my work and send in images.

What other opportunities have you been a part of?

Straight after The Mothership I went to Stiwdeo Maelor in Wales. This was a slightly different residency as I was there with a photographer from America and a writer from Australia. It was extremely beneficial to meet new people and discuss on an international level. There I also gave a talk in the Aberystwyth Art School and was able to talk to the creator, a PHD Print Student about art the the industry in general.

I have shown work in numerous places mainly Bournemouth and London. Here is a list of the recent showings:

2016 30WORKS30DAYS, 12 Collective Project Space, London 2016 Visions of Nature, Oxford House Gallery, London, Part of the Chelsea Fringe Festival  2016 Art Beyond Sight, Art with a Heart, Altrincham 2016 Got Mail?, East Bristol Contemporary, Bristol 2016 International Postcard Show, Surface Gallery, Nottingham 2015 Uncertain States Annual, Mile End Arts Pavillion, London 2015 Between Here and There, A Coal Collective Exhibition, The Old School House By-The-Sea, Boscombe, Part of Bournemouth Emerging Arts Fringe

Professional Journey:

I started learning AS level Photography at school and then went on to College to study it (alongside school) to study 3 other A Levels as they wouldn’t let me do just 2 in 1 institute.

I then went on to do a Foundation in Art and Design at the Arts University Bournemouth (AUB). I was told this was a good uni by my current art teacher, however they wouldn’t let me on my desired course without doing a foundation. I really did not want to do the foundation however I wanted to go to AUB so I did the foundation and absolutely loved every minute of it! It was one of the best things I have ever done.

Through this I then went on to do my degree in Photography. After this, I think I panicked so much about not being able to get a job in the industry I applied for literally everything going and even though I always said I didn’t want to teach, I ended up (during our degree show) being offered the ‘Artist in Residence’ role at The Purcell School - a live in job where I taught and assisted art lessons as a boarding tutor (as well as made my own work in between). 

I ended up absolutely loving the job even though it was super hard work and ridiculous hours (when you live at work it never really ends). I also loved working with the students and getting to know them better in the boarding house as well. Sadly though this was a 1 year contract that they did extent to 2 but that was the max. I knew I always wanted to go travelling and so used these years to save up. I went in September following the end of my job in July 2016. Within the job I also managed to do small shoots, exhibitions and other assisting work, all from the persistent trawling through arts jobs, creative opportunities and isendyouthis every Wednesday night and doing limitless applications and proposals that took so much of my time (but time well spent!). 

After travelling I was lucky enough to go on these 2 artist residencies and now I am in the process of looking for an art related job in London. I really want to live in London as it is the heart of the art industry and I would love to be exposed to more opportunities by being more available in the area, I also just love London!

What’s one of the main barriers for you and your relationship to the arts?

At the residency I had a slight mental meltdown about my confidence within my own practice. I wondered whether I was getting in too deep with a project and had potentially bitten off more than I could chew. I started to doubt my practice and wonder whether I really knew what I was doing and if I was going down the right path. It was actually quite difficult to get over and I started to think that I might stop making work, apart from the odd bit of shooting for my own enjoyment. I was asking myself a lot of questions however I did get over it eventually and my confidence was slightly restored if not a little battered afterwards.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years’ time? 

I honestly have no idea, at the moment I am applying again, for all the jobs under the sun. At this point in time I could go down any artistic route that lets me and I could be anywhere. However in 5 years time I hope to have a more varied experience and skill set under my belt and have potentially had the opportunity to work overseas.

Top Tips:

Apply apply apply!  To everything and anything in sight. It will take you hours and take up most of your brain power but it’s so worth it, you may only here back from 1 in 20 submissions but don’t ever think work or opportunities are just going to fall into your lap, you have to show people your work yourself, but I have never paid for a submission, I always said I would only start paying when I made money out of my work.

Always keep making work! It is never a waste of time or money, you never know when a very specific opportunity comes up with a very short deadline, always good to have a bank of work and also for your own personal creative enjoyment.

Sign up for the small things!  The sheer variety of smaller things I have done has given me a wider range of skills that I can then whip out for any application however small the example is. These include start up business shoots, workshops and assisting jobs. You have always got time to squeeze in a Saturday every now and again or after work, it really is worth it to have a packed schedule, you won’t get paid lots but the pool of skills you learn are totally worth it.

Anything else?

‘BE BOTHERED’ - The great words of Justin Quinnell.

[teescriticalperspectives-blog]

Interview with Artist Graeme Durant as part of Critical Perspectives at Teesside University

The following conversation with Graeme Durant took place as part of his participation in the Critical Perspectives at Teesside University Fine Art. Durant’s work work was the subject of a major survey exhibition at Baltic, Newcastle, UK and at Bloc Projects, Sheffield. For the entire interview, please go here.

Critical Perspectives: Graeme, one of the things these artist talks and workshops allow is for there to be a bit more of a cross-generational conversation between artists working at different levels along with students—to give students access to these other voices and approaches. A number of students contacted me after your talk and said that it was particularly helpful as you had been a student more recently, but were now getting higher profile shows like the one at Baltic. For them, it made you more relatable and perhaps helped them see a bit of a path they might apply to their own approach. How is this for you? How does it work from your perspective as I remember you mentioning that you were usually a bit hesitant in these sorts of talks?

Graeme Durant: I always really struggled with talking about my work, to tutors and other artist. Still kind of do. People tend to ask me what I make and my reply is mainly just “stuff”. I am slowly coming to realise what I do and why, and have a passion for the concepts I’m playing with, so can openly talk about them more.

Things like these talks help a lot! They add a good amount of pressure and seriousness to make a person open up more.

I have taken part in these residential retreats the past two years that have also helped me talk about what I do/have done. They took place in Cumbria a

nd Cornwall, and on them you live with 15-20 other artists/writers/dancers/thinkers and you discuss your practice or area of interest to one another. Its been really helpful to me so I am going back again in February!

CP: You mention that you are a bit resistant to theory, which I think scepticism is really healthy, but then a lot of your work self-consciously references work by other artists such as Baldessari or Brancusi, but also pop culture with references to people like Tilda Swinton. What’s interesting to you about this sort of in-between place/approach?

GD: Not really sure how to answer, I’m still on the hunt for the answer myself. I guess I make for myself, as an average entertainment or as banal distraction. Whether it is commenting on popular clichés or historical subjects the work becomes a DIY drama—a place where crude/slapstick/impotent art and precocious/sensitive/emotive art all exist as predominant characters. The work is habitually self-critical; I am the zombie drawn to the colourful, moving thing. Dragging my feet until some flesh and bones appear giving me a hint to understand my actions.

CP: One of the students asked me to include a question about your interest in making copies or knock-offs rather than pressing the real thing? For instance the skewed Kurt Cobain guitar or keyboard made from an object lying around studio or your arch?

GD: This is something that has only appeared to me recently, or should I say I’ve come to understand that I’m doing it. I would say I build fast visual associations between objects and conjunctions.

The idea of realising a thing you want or want to see by making it is crucial to developing and mirroring existing emotions and concepts outside the realms of language. I want it, I could buy it, I’m not, I’ll make it. Guess this has connections with kinaesthetic learning. Doing/making the thing makes you long to understand it.

I think this is one of the concepts I’m toying with a lot at the minute. I think there is something interesting about how, found objects and ready-mades have done a sort of full circle in the art world and are heavily used throughout college and beyond. Not that it is a copout but more of a natural progression, like how in school you copy a bowl of fruit, then you do a self portrait, then you have to choose an artist and make your work in their style. This follows a lot of artist around after graduating and it does make some interesting viewing. I saw a really nice piece of work in London and it was a book a guy made of all of his paintings of Leona Lewis (the pop star who rose to fame in X Factor). He had (or what I understand) no real necessity to contextualise his stuff, he just was a fan/artist which has appeal too.

CP: There is also a really nice casualness to the objects you make as well as your painting. Do you see any parallels to this approach to the work above?

GD: I’m not sure casual is the right word; it comes across as something ‘cool’. I would say it had a sense of constant improvisation. A conversation with heavy or phallic forms prevail for instance, and presenting them through a twisting of conventional and unconventional materials and painterly surfaces that are simultaneously flat and textured may be read as casual but they are all deeply considered. I always allow for mistakes, errors and follow different directions within my practice therefore encouraging experimentation.

CP: There is a show that has gone around called Supermarket of the Dead that is about the traditional Chinese practice of burning paper money or objects as a sort of offering to the ancestors in the afterlife. It started with really simple objects, but now it seems obsessed with creating paper status objects like ipads, Prada shoes, designer clothes, cars, paper lingerie. I think these sort of cultural translations and copies are really interesting, but I’d like to hear your thought in relation to what you do? http://www.skd.museum/en/special-exhibitions/archive/supermarket-of-the-dead/index.html

GD: I’m quite interested in when this tradition took hold and became modernised by making ipads and other commercial goods. I’ve heard of burning paper money before. There must have been some progression in traditions. I guess this it what I’m aiming for with my new endeavour with the bonsai and scholar rocks. To change/challenge/adapt traditions and conceptions of what they are for.

This article is really good: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/24/paa-joe-ghana-fantasy-coffin-artist-casket-funeral its about Ghanaian coffins. So they basically jazz up the coffin to put the fun into fun-erals, excuse the pun. I saw these in real life at the British Museum a few years ago and was totally blown away!

People have a tendency to embellish things and make light of certain situations. I guess this has parallels with the question below, I make deadpan associations with the titles I pick, to allude to certain information that I wish to divulge.

CP: Along with the resemblances that some of your object take (copies or replicas) you also seem to build a lot through resemblances of words or even tenuous similarities in words that add another level or visual pun to the work. How does this come about and what do you attempt with it?

GD: The titles come about from pulling in info from all areas, conversations, books, internet journals, memes, you name it! I just write the things that jump out to me down and go back through my notes and delve into them more. Some get so lost that I cant even remember writing them down. For example… my top three favourites…(taken direct from my notes)

you mean you want me to rush the rush job I’m rushing to rush deadliness of leisure and the uplifting effects of industry you left the door open so the cat ate the doughnut. Some are pretty obscure and I have no clue why I wrote them down…

pool noodle le phoque I’ve seen better bands on a cigar So yeah that’s a bit random but I guess that’s how it goes sometimes.

CP: What is exciting to you at the moment (art or otherwise)?

GD: Land rovers/unimogs/oxyacetylene/local history/flat eric/the sea

CP: What kind of advice would you offer to students or artists just leaving art school?

GD: Think I’ll keep this one uber simple…just keep making!!.. it sounds silly to say but my years at uni were the highest achieving years, think there were seventeen1sts handed out. And I can only think of one person who got a first that is still actively making work. Quite sad really as some people were great and had potential but lost interest and faded away because the lack of support goes and you get a bit deflated. I didn’t get a first by the way. I got a 2:1 and was pretty chuffed!

CP: Whose work/ideas are you interested in lately? Why exactly? Any collaborations?

GD: No collaborations, but hoping that 2017 will bring some!

CP: What is appealing to artists about a place like Teesside or say Newcastle? Why might it be more likely that these sorts of ideas and approaches might emerge from an environment like this as opposed to someplace like London or New York?

GD: This is hard to answer… having lived in Newcastle for 30 years come January I always question the pull of London and other big cities have to artists… I can list things that are great about the areas in the north but wont as they are so obvious. But there must be reasons for moving south. Money I guess… sad to say. People get more funding and opportunities.

CP: If that’s the case then where do we go from here then, or where might it be important to go?

GD: Stay put? Follow the sheep? Move all of the interesting people you know to a small town and put it on the map?

The Critical Perspectives series presents artists and thinkers from across disciplines, offering artist talks, mentoring, lectures, workshops, and tutorials at Teesside University. Simon Critchley observed, ‘The problem with contemporary art is that we all think we know what it means and we don’t,’ and that has been our jumping off point. With an international focus and interdisciplinary approach, Teesside University Fine Art’s Critical Perspectives challenges us to rethink our location within an ever-evolving community of artists in the twenty-first century.

[artsinsociety-blog1]

Interview Transcript: Merryn Stanger

Interviewer: Kate Armstrong Interviewee: Merryn Stanger Mode: Skype Date: January 12 2017

Begins: 11:45 January 12, 2017

KA: Thanks for agreeing to this interview Merryn and thanks for making the time to Skype with me

MS: No problem, I have a wine so I’m ready to go..

KA: Okay perfect! Haha, so I’m going to ask you a series of questions influenced by my research. Both the research and this interview are leading up to an exhibition which I already explained you in our previous correspondence,

MS: Yes…

KA: I chose a text as the starting point to my questioning it’s called Issues in Curating Contemporary Art and Performance, don’t know if you know it… but it’s a collection of writings edited by...Judith Rugg and Michèle Sedgwick. It’s actually a course text and I found it really interesting as a whole and later, after you introduce yourself I want to reference an essay by Jane Rendell called CRITICAL SPATIAL PRACTICE: CURATING, EDITING, WRITING... Okay so first, can you give us your elevator pitch - who are you, what do you do?

MS: Ok sure, I’m Merryn, Stanger and last year, or 2 years ago; 2015 I graduated from an Arts Administration Master at COFA in Sydney. Since then I have worked as an invigilator at the COFA Galleries and as a research assistant at the Art Gallery of New South Wales and I was also teaching curatorial techniques at Sydney University for some classes in their Department of Architecture, Design & Planning and I also curated an exhibition for them.

KA: Perfect, thank you - so let’s get started with Jane Rendell and her essay CRITICAL SPATIAL PRACTICE: CURATING, EDITING, WRITING in which she suggests that there is a stigma around multi-model and interdisciplinary exhibitions; she says they can be viewed as ambiguous. This lead to me to question how a curator actually makes sense of or clarifies disparate elements of a show and how or maybe IF your role is making the incoherent, coherent.

MS: Well, and I take this opinion mainly from my studies; the role of the curator isn’t to make things coherent. The curator should be the *mimes quotation marks* invisible hand - there is a theorist whose name I can’t bring to mind, but you can look it up later...

KA: I can look it up after...

MS: yeah, do - well yeah the concept is that the ‘curator’s touch’ should be seen in an exhibition but you should never see the ‘hand’ let’s say. The role isn’t to be didactic but to present an opportunity for the audience to engage and interpret. The curator’s roles isn’t to impose their thoughts on the audience it's to guide them I guess…

KA: Right, so with this idea of non-didactic methods in mind….can you talk a bit about the role of text in exhibitions? Should text be displayed with works or…

MS: Okay, this is a really big debate actually its always the discussion in contemporary curation, how much should you influence or even guide the audience as a curator...I mean it’s kind of what we were just talking about, you have the mid 20th Century curators like Clement Greenburg who were way more prescriptive but the more contemporary trend is for the curator to be heard but not seen like I said before. So it’s the same concept for text, if you’re including an essay of text, even a short amount, it can influence the way the audience reads the artwork. I guess in some cases it’s necessary to include dense text, like wall plates or explanations and other times I think it’s kind of industry habit...okay, an example...When I was working at the Art Gallery of New South Wales the Asian art galleries, you know on the top level at the far end…

KA: Yeah…

MS: well they have really in-depth wall texts and have lots of explanatory text, whereas the 19th Century collection doesn’t have much,

KA: Oh, really?

MS: Yeah yeah, I mean, it’s always a bit like that...

KA: So you’re saying that the AGNSW think that their public know less about Chinese art? I mean they feel they have to aid in the translation process - this is really interesting for our exhibition, because you know as it’s about cultural translations

MS: Oh yeah, of course…

KA: So do you think that's the deal,

MS: What, that people know about 19th century art? Hmmm I think it’s a general assumption that Australians have more knowledge about Western Art…

KA: It is also a value judgment as well as an assumption?

MS: Yeah, perhaps….I mean in school in, curatorial studies we focused a lot on the Western Canon. We did discuss people like Edward Said and Orientalism but there was a general, I don’t know, bias toward Western Art...

KA: But do you think that major schools like COFA focus on the West because in the industry there is an audiences driven demand or institutional demand….or….?

MS: Well, i can only speak for an Australian perspective but yeah, maybe both...but I’d say it is a cultural bias, a general social bias…that maybe isn’t reflected on as much as it should be. But I do think a change is coming, slowly but it’s coming...You know, some of my classmates did a course called Aboriginal Perspectives; I couldn’t get into it as I’d already done too many electives and I wasn’t even allowed to audit it, anyway….now, it’s part of the Post-Grad program as a required subject...

KA: But wait, before it wasn’t?

MS: Haha, yeah...no…

KA: Oh wow, but you did post-colonial studies?

MS: A bit, in the class - wait, let me get something…

(Merryn leaves the interview, returns with a book)

...this is the program of the class, well, it was called ‘Queering the Canon’ but when I’m looking…(flips through book) Yeah, okay it’s more like Gender and Marxism, there is one class on Orientalism...but yeah, anyway it’s kind of lumped in with the other constructs.

KA: Do you think it’s also reflected in the programming that works with gallery shows - like do non-western shows require more didactic programming?

MS: Um….not sure, do you mean to be more politically correct or?

KA: No more like, well I went to see Ben Quilty speak about a piece he created for an Indigenous Artists show at AGNSW and he spoke very didactically and the talk was part of a really extensive educational program...I don’t think you’d see this at a 19th century collection show….?

MS: Hmmmm, I guess different programs are created for specific audiences and perhaps the people going to see your classic representations of the Western Canon are more into classic un-provocative programming, hehe...not sure

KA: Ok cool, well following on from that, talking about adjacent programming, I want to ask you about the exhibition catalogue?

MS: Oh yes, I love exhibition catalogues…

KA: I thought so…

MS: Haha, I have so many!

KA: Oh perfect, so as someone who likes and reads catalogues can you talk a bit about their function?

MS: Well for me, the catalogue is the perfect place for the curator to explain their curatorial premise. You know I was saying about the curator being the invisible hand - you don’t want to impose your ideas on audiences, but the catalogue is almost a separate but connected space where you can really tell the story of the exhibition. I’m always unsatisfied when I go to an exhibition and the catalogue is just, name, title, date of all the works and a picture, it’s such a missed opportunity for the curator to tell their story and have a voice - it should be more informative and subjective…

KA: And is it fair to say it’s almost a legacy of the show and it’s concept…?

MS: Yeah for sure, I mean I collect catalogues and yeah, they become not only like a souvenir but a timeless extension of the exhibition.

KA: Lovely, so they have a real place in the curation of a show

MS: Absolutely

KA: Great, well I’d like to move on to discuss the most recent show you did which is coming back to the idea of interdisciplinary exhibitions...it was for Sydney Uni right?

MS: Yeah, it was a show for Sydney University Department of Architecture and Design and it was held in conjunction with a Design conference put on by a well known guy from the design world, John Alsop...he’s from the Design Computing world, it’s a bad name for what he does I think, because it’s more like wearable tech and gadgets, but um the show was called ‘Web Directions’

KA: ...and it was held in a gallery?

MS: No, no, it was held in a public space in the foyer of the conference and had all sorts of different things in it, lots of apps and there was a drone for farmers to track sheep - that sounds a bit boring but it’s actually really interesting and got lots of funding because you know these farmers in the desert have to use helicopters to track their flocks but this device makes it much easier...But anyway yeah all of the works were around the theme technology for social good, so they had to have an aspect that benefited wider society - like one guy had this cute backpack that worked as an indicator for your bike and was controlled by your iphone, like on the handle bars. Yeah. There were lots of different items - including portfolios and posters.

KA: So there were a lot of variables; various items, lots of different sizes, participation, opportunities for people to linger to read or even watch a video; also the fact that it was in a thoroughfare….I mean, I’m interested in how you controlled the flow, the interaction of people in the space, is it even possible?

MS: I have some really great resources on this that I’ll send you, about how to create space and define the actions of audiences. There is this American theory that in Australia is actually the opposite, it’s that people by nature turn right when entering a gallery space, because by habit they vear right, like on the road or using escalators…

KA: Oh yeah it’s like when you go to Europe and go to pass someone in the street and you habitually step to the left and they step to the right and...haha...you end up crashing

MS: Haha, exactly, yeah you really have to think about the use of space fairly subconsciously actually because well, people using it are everyday people. There are a set of let’s say ‘manners’ or an etiquette that can be followed, like how big text should be and how far away viewers stand from the wall but it’s all developed around human behaviour. Also talking about wall text and the correct number is in the slides i’ll send you but there's also a certain number of words that people are willing to read standing at an exhibition before they tune out...so that's also interesting to note and I guess also where the catalogue in the format of a book becomes useful...we’re used to reading long texts in the pages of a book.

KA: Yeah, that's true.

MS: So yeah there is a lot of human nature and common sense that goes into designing exhibitions

KA: ...and then, how do you, for want of a better word…’control’ viewers, like if you have video and books and texts and spaces that will encourage loitering and other spaces that require traffic flow…

MS: Well first you consider the elements and try to space them accordingly, like separate all the apps and all the films so they are not all together, and then well, you obviously would try to keep thoroughfares clear and the works that require more hang-time in areas of less activity. It’s difficult, I like to work with a working floor plan with multiple options and trial them in the space. It’s best to access the space to see how it operates, for instance I went to visit the foyer when it was both in use and not, to see where people naturally gravitated and what the actual user experience was.

KA: So you mocked up a floor plan or a diagram?

MS: Just a simple floor plan, well a few and then by hand sketched out where things could go.

KA: And if this was a public space, how did you go about security or artworks and tech?

MS: Urgh, security is so difficult, especially when you don’t have resources - for this design show there were so many apps on display we ended up having to sign-out ipad mini’s to the designers who wanted to show their apps and they had to take responsibility for them, they had to hold them the entire time.

KA: Oh wow, so you didn’t have holders? Like at the apple store or something?

MS: No...well the line-up changed so many times that by the time everyone confirmed what they needed it was far too late to work out specific security for the space and the risk was fairly high being a public venue. I mean when I was working at the College of Fine Arts Galleries it was located in the University and they had so many resources to be able to make the specific holders out of that plastic stuff, what is it…?

KA: Plexiglass?

MS: yeah right, so they’d make special holders,

KA: A frame?

MS: ...with yeah a frame over the top and the Ipad behind all screwed in with a hole for the on/off button and the cord plugged in all the time underneath. They made them for all the shows. I think if you’re at a gallery with resources it’s fine but generally it’s difficult and expensive…

KA: Like how expensive?

MS: Well we got quoted $2000 for that Design exhibition and that was before everyone decided to have iPads, so yeah it’s pricey.

KA: Okay well we’re nearing the end of the interview, but I have one more question, a bonus question that’s a little more off-the-beaten-track…

MS: oh good, ok…

KA: I was reading an article on news.artnet.com about the relevence of curators and how there is a trend away from using the work curator; pepole are instead using ‘Exhibition Organisor’ or just ‘Organised by…’ Do you have a comment about this…?

MS: Yeah I do, I actually was discussing this with my boyfriend just the other day, about how the word curating is so grossly overused. You know, you have people who ‘curate’ instagram feeds and community curators and curated collections of things...but you know where the word curator comes from? Fom a Latin word which means to take care of, so it’s a position of custodianship or someone who is the keeper of a collection. I think originally many art collections were held by churches too and so the word also has religious connections, or connotations. It’s not a word that just means organising, so yeah maybe these people are organising exhibitions but gallerists are closer to being curators in the true sense.

KA: So there’s a place for both?

MS: Yeah for sure, but maybe it’s better, Instagram feed organiser, haha…

KA: oh for sure. Well thank you so much for this Merryn, I really appreciate it and your insights have been very useful.

MS: Thanks for asking me!

Ends 12:22 January 12, 2017

[franzis-frantic-thoughts]

On Saturday, just before going back to Uni, I had a huge row with my parents. It’s still weighing on my mind and we haven’t spoken since. They haven’t called me and neither have I tried to make contact. Usually I get on pretty well with my family, but lately they seem to care less and less about me.

I’ve just had the first shower all week, brushed my teeth and did my nails. I’m feeling moderately more human now, but my sleeping and eating schedule is still pretty fucked because of all of this.

I thought maybe writing it down would help.

I don’t even know what exactly we were arguing about, I just know that I’ve been more and more irritable towards them for a while. To me it seems like nothing I do matters to them and nothing I want to do is important.

Last spring I came back from a few months abroad and mentioned that I wanted to go on summer holiday that year, as I hadn’t been in ages. The very first thing in reply to this that I heard was that I should take my brother along. I wasn’t asked whether I wanted to go with him or not, it was just from then on assumed that I would go on holiday with him. I started looking into options and really fancied the idea of learning how to surf. I found a pretty good offer for a week in Spain in a hostel with a course and all that. I showed it to my brother and parents and basically got shouted down. My mum said surfing was too hard and physically straining and my brother claimed he wasn’t a good swimmer. Mind you, this was in May. Plenty of time to go swimming regularly to get better at it until August, if you really want to. But I didn’t say anything. I swallowed my objections and started looking into alternatives, like wind- or kite-surfing in Northern Italy. All the offers there were fucking expensive though. My brother of course was not forthcoming with suggestions of his own, because why should he? It seemed like he didn’t even want to go on holiday. And then when I began growing angry at his listlessness and time wasting, it was suddenly my fault and I was told to be considerate and that he was about to start a new degree and didn’t know schedules or anything. Nobody seemed to remember that it wasn’t my idea to go with him in the first place. By the time my brother finally gave me a definite “no” on summer holiday, it was too late to book anything, all my friends had made other plans, and I was left sitting there by myself, wasting another summer. I’m still really pissed about that.

Basically the same thing happened now. My brother and I both got some money for Christmas to get skiing-clothes and equipment. We’ve always gone skiing as a family holiday type of thing. We’ve both learned how to ski really early on, but I haven’t been for ages, because there was always something else in winter. Graduation Exams, Italy, Erasmus, Internship, etc. So when I mentioned that I would like to finally go skiing again this year, the first thing I heard was that I should take my brother along. Which is fair enough, since none of my friends ski and why not, right? Well again I looked into options for a trip and I started making plans. When I suggested one group-trip to my brother, he said that he would have to check whether that was the weekend where he head to help his company with an exhibition. Checking that bloody date took him about five days and three daily reminders. Again he showed zero interest in moving his arse and getting something done. This apathy towards everything just really makes me not want to spend time with him. It’s just bloody exhausting to try and get him to be excited about anything. And while I know that’s caused by his depression, I still think that I have a right to do things that I enjoy. And do things that I enjoy by myself.

I told my mum that I was sick of basically baby-sitting him. To which she replied that she doesn’t see it as baby-sitting. Well I do. He doesn’t even care enough about going on holiday to look up a bloody work date. It’s the second time his attitude has ruined my exitement about an upcoming holiday to the point of me not even wanting to go anymore.

But it’s not only that. Every time I try to explain to my parents something that upsets me or makes me feel bad about their behaviour towards me, I get shouted down. My dad claims I act like a hotel guest whenever I’m home. He said that in reply to me not clearing out the dish washer one day or didn’t set the table. Why didn’t I clean out the dishwasher or set the dinner table that day? Because the dishwasher wasn’t finished when I was downstairs and I forgot about it by the time I returned upstairs to my homework! And I was so focused on my home work that I didn’t notice dinner time approaching! And instead of then just asking me to please help with it, he does it himself and then gives me a load of passive-aggressive shit. “I act like a hotel guest” whenever I’m home. Sure. That’s why I went shopping three times, hoovered, did all the Christmas decorations and baking. That’s also why I always help clearing the table after every meal, unlike some people who go straight back to sleep in front of the television like my dad does!

My dad makes me so irrationally angry sometimes. When I came home for Christmas, my mum was away for a work thing and I went groceries shopping with my dad. He spent the entire hour inside the supermarket complaining nonstop about my mum to me. It just makes me so fucking furious to hear him spew all that hatred and bullshit about her. He complains about everything. From the way she writes her shopping list to the way she does and organises her shopping. And I’m just supposed to stand there and listen to it and agree to him. Know what, dad? I fucking don’t! If my mum is so horrible, get a fucking divorce, but don’t complain to me about her!!

And the worst part is I can’t even properly talk to them about all this. Every time I get angry I start crying. I’m crying right now while typing all this for fuck’s sake! But it’s not like I do it on purpose. It’s not like I enjoy being seen as the little crybaby all the time. It’s not as though I want them to not take me seriously. My dad told me to my face that my crying was unbearable. You know what I think is unbearable? The fact that he makes me cry so often!

And it’s not just the crying. Even when my dad doesn’t reduce me to tears and I bring something up, they don’t take me seriously. They just don’t listen to me. And that includes my mum. When I said I wasn’t sure about the skiing holiday, because that particular weekend was right before my exam phase, she just waved my concerns aside with a but you’ll manage that. Yeah. Sure I could manage that. But maybe I don’t want to have to manage that. I could also manage walking to uni every day instead of taking the tram. The thing is though, that I don’t want to have to do that. I don’t want to not have the last weekend before exams available to study. I don’t want to risk breaking a leg the weekend before exams. I don’t want to have to manage that. But she said that’s a good offer and take your brother. The fuck what you want was basically implied. I wasn’t sure about wanting to go that weekend in the first place and my brother’s fucking attitude just strengthened that resolve.

It’s been like this for while now. I don’t have the feeling of being a valued family member anymore. They basically kicked me out of my room and forced me to move upstairs into their old bedroom. I share the floor with my brother now and there’s no door to close. I can’t even go to my room to distance myself anymore because there is no fucking door. I try to do my homework, but every ten minutes somebody comes into what is supposed to be my room, even though it doesn’t have a door, or my brother starts drilling in his part and when I ask him to please not do that now because I’m trying to work he just scoffs at me.

I get criticised for constantly walking around with my earphones, but why shouldn’t I? My dad is constantly watching TV and my mum is always on her fucking tablet playing some App or other and when my brother is home he’s always reading on his phone and ignoring everyone. Everytime I open my mouth to say something my dad seems to roll his eyes and nobody seems to want to listen to me anyway. So let me have my fucking audio books, okay? At least that way someone is talking to me and I don’t feel so fucking lonely in my own house.

I’m just so sick of it. I’ve decided not to go home again if it’s not absolutely necessary. I’ll just stay in Heidelberg with my friends where I��m wanted. Where I’m not constantly being attacked for who I am. Where people actually care about who I am and what I say.

I’m not even sure if I’ll pick up when or if they call me next time.

I’ll finish my courses and then get a job while working on my BA thesis. I wouldn’t put it past my dad to lord it over me that they’re paying my rent, so I’ll get a job and take care of that myself. I’ll finish my BA and hopefully will be accepted into a Masters Programme in Scotland in September. Then I’ll finally have some fucking distance and a door to close.