Tutorial with Michael Day 19-02-13

With the test exhibition coming up at the end of next week, I had a tutorial with Michael Day, as I really did not know what I was planning on doing for the test exhibition, or even what my work was really about, and what to include in my PowerPoint presentation.
Here are the main points from the tutorial:

• Watch "The Night of the Hunter" - Internal shots - heavily constructed scenes - subtle.
• Psychology of the person viewing my work. Dark themes - how can this be depicted?
• Sense of compression/claustrophobia.
• I need to lift the tone in my images - to reveal the detail in the darker tones. Also need to alter the contrast/brightness to take into the cyanotype printing.
• Works seem more uncomfortable than confusing. Fear/anxiety.
• Textures and colours foreboding.
• Fearing being lost/trapped. Losing freedom/imprisoned.
• Ask why.
• Why do I want the viewer to feel lost/trapped?
• Existence complacent.
• Experiences not to do with pleasure/beauty.
• Beauty - moral function - imposes moral.
• Chapman Brothers - altering works.
• Beauty and it's opposite. Different functions.
• Low tonal, textural - my visual preference.
• How can I make them meaningful?
• Anselm Kiefer talks about specific events. Rehabilitation, revealing trauma.
• Alerting the viewer to the world.
• Stallington Hospital still relevant.
• Psychoanalytic therapy - Sigmund Freud.
• Unconsciously revealing, reconciling trauma.
• Clarify how the participatory drawings with service users fit into my work.
• Clarify whether my work is about my experience of working in care? How to manage that/to do that?
• Is it historical? About that specific environment?
• Psychological spaces, characteristics. Obsolete is key within my work.
• Idea of obsolescence. My feelings/mixed feelings about my work/being left behind.
• Institutionalised - concerns me, invisible institution.
• Paul Winstanley - anonymous spaces in institutions. Cold and distanced.
• Not just psychological institutions - factories/offices also institutions that won't last forever.
• Abandoning and left behind.
• Institutions coming apart. Space.
• These ideas getting into my work.
• Maybe display my work as an installation? In a really small space. Play with sound, image, projection, painting. Dark space with lighting techniques?
• Tiny spaces in shows - gives viewer position of feeling awkward - will fit in with the meaning of my work - uncomfortable.
• Is my work more about institutions collapsing? Power distribution?
• Charcot - French photographer. Studied mental asylum inmates. Photography asserting power.
• For presentation, bullet point these notes and constantly ask questions. Fit into PowerPoint presentation.

There was definitely a lot to go on from this tutorial, especially how to display my work and make it more meaningful, which is something I am really looking forward to testing out during the test exhibition week. I am also feeling more confident with what my work is about and it's meaning, as there was a lot that I did not realise before this tutorial. I have asked for the really small dark space to test out my work during the test exhibition and just need to wait until Monday (24th) to find out whether I can use this space or not. After realising what my work is about, I am really looking forward to testing it out by using the dark spaces and smaller spaces, as I have been looking for a way to make the audience feel awkward for a while, and I did not think of the obvious.
I am also still looking into other printing methods such as the cyanotype printing, as there is a workshop within the next couple of weeks on this. Obviously I will not be able to use this for the test exhibition, but this is something that I can note down and if  it suits my work, will be something I will definitely be trying out before the final exhibition at the end of the semester. Lots of exciting things ahead!