If Libraries Die, So Will I.

Alreet Derrick, another day another post.

First up on the board I've been confirmed for PAL which is ace. Can't wait for the training now and to get started. Dates aren't confirmed as of yet but I reckon it'll be the first Monday after our training.

Secondly, news from Briony. I received an email after sending my (quickly knocked up) CV, saying that I'd be good for a half-day trail. After a bit of communication, I'm going for this on Wednesday afternoon, 2pm - 5pm. Excited! Vicky is going on the Tuesday at the same time so it'll be good to hear from her afterwards for what to expect.

Thirdly and possibly lastly, we go our first brief today. Was actually four, but we're beginning with brief one as they all have a short lifespan and it sounds like a warm-up set of projects but good ones all the same. 'Look Again/Think Again' is the title of numero uno. I've thought of a few possible routes relating to the brief with a set presentation of an A3 poster -

"You could choose a social issue that in your opinion has been over-looked and needs addressing. Or, an object will often carry values that go beyond its intended purpose or everyday use; it may evoke certain memories or feelings that give the object a sentimental significance."

Option One - In this I would go for a social issue route, one of which I have been recently tackling so what better than to do Lad's Mags and it's destructive elements. There's a whole wealth of stuffs I've got written in my project book so I really needn't regurgitate them out to you again Derrick.

Option Two - Focusing in on the sentimental aspect but differing from a lot of (still good) ideas being thrown around in the group's initial thinking stages of an object evoking a memory, to a memory evoking an object. You in your own Derrick are a memory that has evoked an object. You are foremost the name shared of my old foundation studies fine art teacher. Elderly and warbling, sometimes uncompromisingly blunt and truthful you're mixed in with my Grandad too. A perfect memory mash-up of tuition, reflection and guidance. Only difference is that in your personification you are not a frankenstein of living parts, you are simply an imaginary person with qualities and aspects borrowed from others (dare I refer to these being the 'objects'?) with whom I share a regular cup of tea and digital conversation. Not the best at talking back but still, you're always here when I'm looking for you.

Aside from how you are that, I was thinking of doing something with my suitcase. What is to me 'The Suitcase'. Again a mixed pot of fond memories of people and places, encounters and experiences whether first, second, third or seventeen handed in relation all amalgamated together to be a conclusive 'piece'. I admittedly don't regard The Suitcase as art. I simply toy with the character that all these saved and recorded instances would have belonged to, had he not been invented by me in a memory blender. Sometimes it's fun to even forget that I have made this person and that he does exist or did exist as one singular person. Beginning with the realistic elements of each thing (i.e. my found book of 1930's film star clippings, lovingly put together and named and addressed as somebody's prized possesion and labour) I can weave a story to suit whatever mood I'm in. His life can be a romance, a tragedy, and comedy depending on my mood and how I want to fill out the bones of fact. The books with notes in the first page can be a plot change or climax. The postcards a revelation. The typewriter an embodiment of his character. As of yet I'm not quite sure how this would translate into a poster. As a whole film or novel, maybe so (obviously in similar vein to 'Everything Is Illuminated' by Jonathan Safran Foer) but composed into a single static piece of teeny A3 paper would be tough without bulging it's fibres with reams and reams of text and explanation.

This also spilled somewhat into a broader spectrum of doing a piece on charity shops. Not half enough people give to charity or trawl charity shops. I love doing it. It's like a treasure hunt in an entire village's attic: every object just waiting to have a story inferred from it. I think there lies the point in this theme I would like to follow. You can infer anything from an object even if it doesn't necessarily imply it. For all you Hepburn fans knowledgeable of 'Paris When It Sizzles' you'll get that. Plainly, an object can be and hold whatever story you want it to and I love making those up or imagining them. Simple everyday things hold the key to a revolution. The film Amelie demonstrates in a different message to Foer, in why these objects should not be explored outside of the imagination because more often than not, as the age-old analogy I always use from my old english literature teacher goes: "You can see a rainbow for 'a beam of light spliced through molecules of water to a forty-five degree lowered angle viewer' or just 'a bow of colour in the sky'." meaning that more often than not knowledge can ruin the romance of the imagination. Curiosity didn't kill the cat but it made his life a hell of a lot more boring when it understood all.

As for now though I'm unsure and both routes need a lot more exploration which I will (and already am) exploring.

Which leads me nicely onto a new term, new library card due to be in my hands, old books returned (apart from the bringhurst which was renewed) and the fresh set of books out. Which read as:

- 'Visual And Other Pleasures' by Laura Mulvey
- 'The Beauty Myth' by Naomi Wolf
- 'Feminism Without Women' by Tania Modleski
- 'Subversive Intent' by Susan Suleiman
- 'Women's Magazines 1940-1960' by Nancy Walker
- 'A Magazine Of Her Own?' by Margaret Beetham
- 'Images Of Women: Advertising In Women's Magazines' by Trevor Millum
- 'Feminism And Youth Culture' by Angela McRobbie

I got all these out after sitting down and reading through the latest Baseline (which I am so close to committing to a subscription to) which had a nice review of a new book documenting Jan Van Toorn. He began (ironically enough) about the need to blog and communicate everything and how this can detract from anybody getting fully submerged into anything they are involved in. This got me thinking about the lack of human interaction we have nowadays for simple things which was then perfectly demonstrated by Matt getting his books out via a spangly new machine. Obviously it has it's benefits of freeing up time for librarians to restock shelves etc but it's just not a library. Libraries for me are silence, old dusty books, complicated organisation systems, rubber date stamps, tatty furniture, people buried inside a paper and text bubble and the fusty stern librarians running the whole place like it's their church. A library is in a way an temple of education. A church of knowledge. Haha. God I'm a geek. But anyway, all of these need some kind of narrative, which is difficult for a static A3 poster but is something I primarily need to focus on: achieving narrative within static presentation.

Sally's email later on tonight has somewhat rejigged the initial brief to a much wider platform:

"Sorry I was unable to be around to set the ‘Look Again/Think Again’ project. The two examples that are given in the brief are just examples I came up and are just a guide.
You really need to consider the statement and come up with a design the explores the theme ‘Look Again/Think Again’ and it also must have a context that the viewer is given information and is challenged.
If anyone just takes a picture of their old teddy from childhood this will not meet the outcome needed for this project. I want you to really push your creative intelligence. I will lead the crit next week and have very high expectations of you all."

Not to worry though as it doesn't change much, just gives a lot more freedom as to subject as it's simply about the words 'Look Again/Think Again' and how we can interpret them.

And hence I dive into my books and notes a trudge furthermore.

Adios!