Journal exercise, 2020, Jasmin Bengi-Akyürek
Forget Aesthetics, all decisions are conceptual here! Now, more than ever, it is evident that 'good taste" only refers to that which reinforces the status quo. True liberty, as always, is elsewhere; freedom remains as elusive as ever. - André Peret The chief enemy of creativity is 'good taste’. -Pablo Picasso
Present 4 art reproductions:
1 A work that you like and think is good.
2 A work that you don’t like and don’t think is good.
3 A work that you like, but suspect might not be good.
4 A work that you don’t like, but have to admit is good.
Reflect: What is art? What can be told from the 4 reproductions?
Context: Question the relation between art movements and society.
Both projects this semester can be seen as a sort of portrait or self-portrait. Both projects are about observing / collecting / reflecting / arranging - re-arranging / presenting - display. How to organise the world around you?
Part A – MAPPING THE GROUNDS / IDEAS FOR DRAWING The first 4 weeks we will mostly collect material by making drawings/notes and will continue by making more and more precise and more individual selections/edits. You could say the result is a sort of map / panorama of how you looked at your surroundings the first 8 weeks of this semester, a visual diary? The final ‘map’ / presentation should have an interesting concept/subject matter, show a personal angle and at the same time be readable for an audience.
Research: Search for artists who work around mapping; who document their way of life, their surroundings… culture, society,… Think about how to organize the collected information and make a translation to your own map. Collect a diverse set of examples of maps made for various uses, also maps by artists, designers, architects. Think about what you want to map, do you work from a personal, or more objective stance? Write down words, a flow of associations, in relation to your chosen theme, and secondly order these words into groups; first a global pattern and then more detailed. Collect images, examples in relation to your topic and collection of words, order these as well.
Part B - A PHOTO, AN IMAGE, A NARRATIVE The last four weeks we’ll do more photography and work towards a presentation: a sort of narrative: presenting all the different works as one piece, looking for connections overlapping, contrasts etc. Analyse and reflect the material. The focus of part 2 will be the photographed image. Photography / collage / sequence / narrative / image-text. Investigate different strategies of narration, linear, with flash backs, … Apart from photos you make yourself we will also work with existing photos: collecting of newspaper photography.
As a sort of side-step we will investigate the concept of ‘walking’ as an artistic practice. Sketches and notes, images, texts and other kinds of references can be collected in a sketch or notebook, or on individual sheets of paper. However keep this kind of material clearly organised and comprehensible. It is part of your project and as such it will be part of your grade. Don’t be sparse with collecting references, inspiring images, thoughts, quotes etc. Things may be useful later on in the process.