charlie hackett

Seminar day (Thursday) always a brain strain...
we start to day with Jonathan's crit of his white space. Again, eloquent as ever, Jonathan tells us about the work in a fluent, ambiguous, but understanding fashion. The work comprises of 4 walls, all written in a scrawled, near illegible text, the words don't always read well, sentences mashed up, repeated words. Like a documentation of a cathartic outpouring. When I'd first seen the work (on Tuesday)his "voice", but one positive outcome he'd talked of, was his confidence of finding a new (exciting) direction for his work to manifest. He's unshackled himself from his familiar artistic vocabulary, and produced something HE feels excited about. Perhaps this work was ultimately a cathartic release for his need for a new way of working. It's still "very Jonathan", but I am so glad to hear him talk positively about his new direction.

We then head (after dinner) to Scott Sutherland's, for our Seminar with Charlie Hackett. He looks nervous, he's intimidated by "the MA classes" (? we're not that bad!!). He's a lovely guy, quite open and willing for the "class" to be informal. "stop me if it's boring" (is that a good or a bad thing to say?)

He shows us his work, he videos himself interviewing gallery goers, with very intimate, probing questions, to get people think about themselves. Some rather awkward people dodge questions, obfuscate and bumble through, what appear to be simple, direct but very revealing questions. It's hard to get people to say what they are truly thinking. Hard to tie down what simple pleasures are, what people want from life. We are then shown a sample of videos from interviews with people 2 days after 9/11. It's amazing how profound, thoughtful, complex thoughts can arise from people in times of great shock, how people can empathise with victims who they never met, yet in comparison to the "personal questions", seem to clam people up. Asking personal questions is like prising open a door that should always be locked. It gets Freudian, the complexities of human pathognomy held under lock and key, only the true "self" is known to the individual, no matter how amiable, transparent the character is. Quite a fascinating area to research, but what an area!

We're tasked with asking ourselves more questions, 20 in all, we sit round a coffee table and ask each other questions, that "might" get to the real "me". We've been asked to prepare a work of art, a self portrait, generated from these answers....and we're also being assessed (not for the mfa) on our ability to be creative with the response (visually, not in the answering of the questions!). I am thinking about making something interesting...I'll have to use something personal...who am I, how do I define myself? (I think my humour is my biggest "giveaway"...

I also went to my first Limousine Bull opening, in delightful Tory. ‘Carbon Natural?' by Matthew and Deborah Wickham, is an installation, created to highlight(?) our impact upon the globe. Two data projectors, showing waves lapping (one in real time, one slightly slowed, backwards), two large concrete slabs, with rusted over sized foot prints dented into them, with protruding metal rods / tubes (one set had tubes, one set had rods (male & female in engineering terms) significant? I'd like to think so). I start to assess the orientation of the feet, why are they not facing the projections? is it considered? We also have some pretty dull metal sheets on the wall, with crudely cut foot prints from them...I pick up the statement, and instantly go into "MfA mode". I am disappointed, Matthew starts the statement, with a reference to the things that inspired him ("lumps of concrete with twisted, rusty reinforcement bars protruding from ...") It's too obvious for me (having my small Steve Hollingsworth sitting on my shoulder.) I start to question his statement, he refers to rusting as : "...whereby Iron is broken down releases oxygen into the atmosphere". This isn't true! Iron takes oxygen from the water, and binds it to become Fe2O3, (Iron Oxide)...There are rusty holes appearing in my thoughts. He's also got some questions in the statement "how obdurate are the structures we build?" - obvious, not long (on a geological / earth time scale!) - we're insignificant, but pompous enough to think that the only important factor for reversing / slowing global warming, is to preserve us, the "problem" !). On the whole, I like half of it, and hate the other...cheesy visual vocabularies let it down (warning tape, eroding sandcastles) on the other hand, the detail within the feet (the rust, the male / female rods) keep my interest.

I'd stayed and met up with Lois, Tracey & Amy. We have an interesting talk about religion, mankind, the spread of animals, thanks to man and the "dream recorder" I was reading about in the new scientist...all from standing in front of some large rusty footprints. I guess they did take us on a journey.

listening to : tool - salival : ice - under the skin