#meta-reflection

[s-loggie-creativetech-blog]

Studio Statement 

Meta- Reflection 

25.10.12

The above quote is a fairly fitting one to describe the sentiment of this review . Though inherent connotation of laziness insults my ego to some degree.  My BCT experience for 2012 has indeed embraced the journey motif. 

I began the year ecstatic at having found a place in the tertiary system in which I fit. I poignantly remember the fact that James introduced the programme with an excerpt of a TED talk by Sir Ken Robinson. An enthused "Hallelujah! " is still my response to this occurence. 

However, complexity /complacency / mediocrity /perfectionism are rather persistent plagues of the psyche and I believe I and my practice have fallen victim to these and of course their most troublesome off spring (Time management , commitment ,frustration, analysis,burn out and action) rather persistently through the course of this year. 

To be honest I think i completely underestimated the magnitude of what it takes to become a "Creative Practitioner" .  Conceptually the prospect excited me and through-out the year I have grown rather fond of the title its inherent  ambiguity. Yet   the practical has been an entirely different situation.  

Commitment and time management have been my challenges here. 

The BCT offers an amazing opportunity to take responsibility for and to authenticate ones own learning. You don't do it , You are it. Conceptually I was enthralled , Practically I was not.  In all honesty I have never applied much commitment to my academic pursuits yet I have always achieved highly. Imagine the petulant child in me's disgust at the reality of BCT life.  Its great being challenged to commit to an authentic learning opportunity ,but the practical reality of commitment to creative practice is far beyond what I envisioned .  

I quite enjoyed the discreet nature and subtlety with which both James and Kim pointed out that I was a gifted bull shitter during my final presentation last semester . Similarly Maggies comments on my 'Who am I' video were suitably satirically amusing.  

Concurrently I was also inspired by James's challenge to me :"Just imagine if you can align your technical knowledge/skills with your conceptual depth !".  In a Barney-esque  type manner the image ,the holy grail of the professional creative practitioner, glimmered before me in all its glory.  

This image though ,I must admit it seems a mirage at times, still glimmers before me. Perhaps brighter now than ever with another semester's mileage under my belt. But the petulant child in me is a procrastinator of admirable prowess , abominably lazy and frankly rather pissed off. Thankfully, James continues to chase it with a stick . 

Somewhere in my mind I like to categorize studying and therefore BCT along with highly thrilling tasks such as extracting the mold from the shower drain. This doesn't at all reflect my true opinion/true nature of the program me but alas . . .                       I am not sure where this negative attitude towards formalized education stems from . However, let me assure you it is not an easy psychosis to overcome. 

Second Semester has been a time of growth and experimentation for me. It hit me a mere few days ago that I have been resolving ALL year to indulge in a healthier relationship with time management and commitment . ALL year. I am shocked. I like to think I am productive.  

That said I have made some significant advances in my practice and learning. Two examples which I am proud of and have found to greatly enhance my practice are :

-  Keeping an authentic working visual diary

- Changing my relationship  with the studio space

In terms of keeping an authentic visual diary, I was greatly inspired by Kim's use of the medium and have always longed to produce journal embedded with doodling prowess. I also appreciated the need for an authentic journaling process in terms of cohesion in final project outcomes. 

The journal was a key example of overcoming my mental barriers to education. I have been challenging myself to synthesize my idea of my self as a creative practitioner with my idea of myself as a whole. This helped me to break down the barrier between my creative practice and BCT practice. My new journalling habits challenged me to traverse the divide between all the art supplies and project ideas I have sitting on the back burner in carefully squirreled away journals ,dubbed either to precious or too personal for inclusion in everyday life/BCT practice.  This has allowed me to achieve seamless journalling process . A process which I am really enjoying and finding exceedingly helpful in my practice. Just today when other class mates were scurrying around aiming to fabricate an "authentic"journal process , I was sitting pretty with my rather abundant scribings and scribblings. Better yet, I realized that I had not even been aware I was putting significant effort into my journal all along. It is now a part of my practice/process. Where I  go my journal goes. 

As another facet of synthesizing my idea of my self as a creative practitioner with my idea of myself as a whole. I realized I needed to change my relationship with our studio space. Yes it is VERY collaborative , YES it is small and NO, I do not like being privy to discussions detailing the toilet habits of certain individuals. But there comes a time to simply get over it and commit to making a space work for you.  Admittedly I have found the studio space  incredibly taxing all year ,so this was no mean feat. I find myself exhausted by the lack of permanence ,noise pollution,social schematics and the general state of distraction that absorbs our studio habit. Viva 2013!However authentic creative practice demands studio engagement , so for the Sound project I challenged myself to engage with the space. 

I set up a booth ,taking a lead from Beau and the 2nd/3rd years . Personalising/claiming a space was a greatly generative and empowering . It greatly aided me in collage production and sound explorations. 

To conclude, it is truly an honor to be engaged in an authentic learning process. 

I pray that I remain mindful of this both now and in the future. 

I commit to developing myself further as a creative practitioner. 

Thank you

Sarah Loggie 

25 . 10 .12

[s-loggie-creativetech-blog]

Meta-Reflection Semester One

Meta-Reflective Blog Post 

Semester One

Introduction to Creative Technologies

Well Semester One is drawing to a close .Looking back over the past ,what has it been?, oh yes a mere 4 Months the amount of work and personal progression we have achieved in the BCT seems staggering.   My concept of Creative Technologies,myself and what it means to be a creative practitioner have all been challenged rather significantly over the course of this semester. 

Some themes which were key drivers in this process are outlined as follows :

Collaboration 

The fact that the first two projects were group orientated made for an interesting platform for learning. I was aware that the BCT was focussed around collaboration before beginning the program but  the results are always interesting when you collect 50 or so individuals ,who do not know eachother, and put them into project teams. I found that although I had previous experience working in group situations ,the nature of our projects in BCT created some further points for learning. Perhaps most specifically the realisation that when working with creative individuals it can be a challenge to arrive at a cohesive vision for the group with which all members are satisfied. I noticed that team members who didn't feel involved in or committed to the team's vision often lacked focus as a result. 

I was pleased with the way we were able to resolve the creative differences in our group during the course of The Syntagm project. I felt that our team in this instance functioned well to produce a result we were all committed to and proud of.  As mentioned in a blog posts at the time regarding our intial story boards and my role as screenwriter. I feel this was due to the fact that we made a point of aiming to communicate our creative aims to each other in a coherent way,something which I have realized is a very valuable skill.

Time Management 

Time management was another key learning aspect for me over the duration of this semester. I was a little surprised by the amount of class hours and the level of personal commitment the BCT involves. Essentially in terms of learning outcomes these facets of the program are highly beneficial . Yet,coming from a background of less intensive ,more impersonal study these commitments have been a bit of a shock to the system. 

I am something of a procrastinator ,yet as mentioned in an earlier blog post, regarding time management, I find the negative connotations applied to this term to be somewhat conflicting with my personal perception.  In the earlier post mentioned I reference Oscar Wilde who states :

“He was always late on principle, his principle being that punctuality is the thief of time” (Wilde,(n.d.))

My creative views on procrastination being an integral part of the creative process and the idea / tendency I harbor to achieve tasks in a certain manner with disregard to time contraints  are two issues I am working on resolving in my creative practice. I have already begun to explore the use of time management techniques to improve my fulfillment of time based tasks . Over the holidays I intend to set up a strategy to facilitate greater time management in my projects next semester and have talked with James about arranging a meeting to gain his input and support in this area. 

In terms of being a thematic concern I feel this issue of time management is emblematic of  a genuine lack of capacity to understand / act on and value the need for time based assessment . Conceptually I of course can see the practical need for such constructs but in terms of action I find punctuality to be extremely illusive. Admittedly this is also due to a lack of planning . However, I continually feel that a main motivator behind my tardiness is the fact that i get caught up in the excitement of the learning opportunity available. 

Who am I ? and Who am I as a Creative Practitioner ?

This question regarding identity has become a key theme for me since engaging in the 'Who am I?' project for ICT .

To quote an earlier post :

Recently I have been considering the sythesizing my idea of my self as a creative practitioner with my idea of my self as a whole. Reflection on Ingrid Boot’s artworks ,coupled with questions posed by the Introduction to Creative Technologies programme have challenged me to see who I am as a creative practitioner and who I am in a wider sense as one and the same thing . Essentially, I have always perceived living as a creative process yet psychologically I had created something of a conceptual identity surrounding the idea of myself as an art practitioner .  Now in developing my views on the definition of creative practice and the role of being a creative practitioner I am noticing that the realm of one’s creative practice is much broader than initially I initially conceptualized. Or perhaps more accurately ,conceptualized into action.

This theme of creating a synthesis between myself and my idea of my self as a creative practitioner has impacted on my thought significantly over the latter half of the semester and I am beginning to understand that achieving such synthesis could save me a lot of anxiety . Especially in the areas of identity and with regard to issues such as time management mentioned above. Achieving an honesty in the identity I display in the public sphere is a key concern that has stemmed from this. As is the desire to find out more about this identity and my self.  The BCT program so far has certainly perpetuated my personal development. 

The  Juggling Act 

Life for me is currently something of a fine balance /juggling act .  I  reflected on this concept as part of my process for project three :

I am a highly multi-faceted person. This is something I have been coming to terms with over the past few years , a journey which has not been without significant anguish and of course according joy.   I have a few key areas of interest ,which most likely represent key aspects of my personality, and I am not at all happy if I am not living a lifestyle which achieves a balance between all of these.   I know this as in the past I have tried to doggedly pursue certain interests at the expense of the rest . This was not at all conducive to my mental well-being ,I experienced depression and exhaustion as a result of attempts to marginalise strong aspects of my personality.  I am a “big picture” thinker/person. 

This multi-faceted approach to life has been a key aspect and mediator of my experience in the BCT programme thus far. Currently this balancing act involves the key areas of :BCT, An interest in Critical Theory,Equestrian Pursuits,Personal Training/Fitness,Being Self Sufficient.  I expanded on these aspects in the earlier post mentioned ,which is entitled:Under Pressure. Incorporating these interests into my lifestyle generates something of a precarious juggling act. However,If I am being honest I wouldn't have it any other way.   

In order to achieve success in such a diverse lifestyle I am aware that I need to develop a rather dynamic creative process for living . This will also of course concurrently ensure that I have a successful and engaging process in place for producing studio / art works. This is perhaps the main goal for me at the present time ,within / outside of the BCT environment. 

So far my creative process has developed greatly through the learning opportunities facilitated by BCT lecturers this year. Most significantly my key learning has been around personal commitment to  the creative process and in learning to view my academic pursuits as a cohesive part of life rather than a separate entity entirely. 

I mentioned earlier that this 'juggling act ' present in my lifestyle has mediated my experience of the BCT so far. By this I am referring to the sense that all my BCT projects have drawn on the wide range of influence currently being inputed into my life through my diverse array of interests . I find that this collaboration of disciplines in my lifestyle has really helped me to understand the way in which the BCT programme employs an interdisciplinary approach. The according challenges I have faced in synthesizing so many interests has also been an asset in sparking reflection on both the programme and myself in a transdisciplinary manner. 

Personal Paradigms and Creative Practice

The reflective element of the BCT studio programme coupled with the concurrent inclusion of the Introduction to Creative Technologies paper has highlighted to me the relationship between my personal paradigms and creative practice. I believe the involvement of the Introduction to Creative Technologies paper in the studio environment is great choice as it enables theory to co-exist with creative production processess.  The topics mentioned above highlight a cornucopia of paradigms central to my thinking. These paradigms have been challenged time and time again over the course of the semester ,as lecturers have sought to identify the "why" behind my works. I have really valued and learned a lot from the critiques provided by Maggie,James and Kim.  The critique based element of the BCT programme has astounded me by showing just how much of our personal paradigms for living and thought become involved in our creative process. I have become aware that there is far more depth to elements  of a work than the ,few somewhat constrained theories, we may have intended or pretended to investigate throughout the creative process.  The idea /involvement of an audience has been a key motivator behind this learning. 

To conclude , I have thoroughly enjoyed my first semester in the BCT programme. It has been an incredibly rewarding experience and I am honored to have been selected for such a course. It really is a privilege to work within an environment that demonstrates exceedingly enterprising education and facilitates such a vast amount of learning and fun. 

Reference:

Wilde,O.(n.d.) Oscar Wilde Quotes,Good Reads Inc, Retrieved on May 16th,2012,from : http://www.goodreads.com/searchutf8=%E2%9C%93&q=Oscar+wilde+he+was+always+late+on+principle&search_type=quotes 

[j-foottit-creativetech]

Meta-Reflection: Reviewing a semester's work

Looking back over this last semester, I am amazed at how far I have come in my creative practice. When I look back to the first exercises we did, and our first project, it is almost like reading about a different person. My blogging has improved significantly, becoming more regular and less segmented. My perception of art has radically changed. I've also gained a great deal of practical experience developing a concept and synthesising it into a final product. The experiences throughout this semester have shaped my understanding of creative technologies. I have a deeper understanding of what it involves, and many of my previous perceptions concerning it have been drastically altered.

When I look back over my early blog posts, I notice that my blogging was very inconsistent. It took me a while to get used to regular blogging. At the end of the first project, I realised that this was a major hindrance for me, as I was missing out on some of the exploratory benefits of blogging. By using my blog to reflect on my process and concepts, I could more effectively analyse and develop my concepts further.

Realising the potential benefits of regular blogging, in my second project I paid special attention to blogging on a regular basis. This was very helpful in terms of keeping on top of my blogging, and helping me keep track of our progress throughout the project. I still wanted to take my blog further though. I remember reading a blog towards the end of my second project that had a structure I really liked. Reflecting on what I liked about the structure of the blog, I attempted to incorporate the key ideas into my own blog. The result was a blog that integrated reflections and developments.

In my final project, I feel that my blog has been much more interesting and engaging. This has come about due to the transformation that has occured in the structure of the blog. In my second project, my blog is still segmented into 'Reflections' and 'Developments'. This led to duplicate content and a somewhat dull overall feel. In my final project, my blogging integrated these two areas, as well as adding titles that relate to the key theme of each post. These practical changes are evidence of the significant changes that have occurred in my perception of blogging.

I have also had a significant change in my perception of creative technologies in general. Initially I had a perception of creative technologies as being engineering based, with influence from the arts. However, what I quickly discovered is that it is more of an art that is informed by technology. At first I struggled with this notion, as I was expecting and wanting a more defined engineering style course. My expectation was that we would have projects with a specific aim or goal that we had to achieve in creative ways.

I have found that my greatest challenge throughout the semester has been forming concepts. In particular forming concepts in such a way that I can clearly synthesise them into a practical piece. The open format of the project briefs challenged me in this area, and revealed my weaknesses.

It wasn't until the third project that I started to get used to the open nature of the project briefs. The result generally was an initial difficulty in developing a solid concept. This difficulty was especially evident in my intial response to the first project's brief. I stated there that "I still found it difficult to come up with ideas to this brief though, as I need to do some more reading and reflecting on the concepts covered". The open nature of the project brief resulted in my needing to read up on the concepts presented to try and create my own criteria for evaluating the success of our project.

The second project again highlighted the difficulty of the open brief. This time, the difficulty resulted in us completely abandoning our first concept. I stated in one of my posts regarding the development of this project that "We’ve basically gone back to square one by deciding that the idea we were trying to work with (Time as a construct) was too complicated and difficult". While the primary reason for us abandoning our concept was it's complexity, the underlying difficulty I faced was the entire concept-generation procedure as a whole.

By the third project, I was finally getting more comfortable with the open nature of the project briefs and the process of concept development. The result was a far less stressful development process, where I could really explore my concept through the work I was doing. The project readings enhanced my concept, but I was able to at least start forming a concept from the start.

A recurring theme in my earlier blog posts was a difficulty in maintaining motivation throughout a project. I think that a key factor for this was my perception of the role and value of the arts in human society. I found it difficult to remain motivated and excited about the projects when things became difficult in part because I started to see the projects as pointless. In many ways this was an extension of my wider view of the arts in general as ultimately pointless. I saw the usefulness of artistic endeavour as solely within the realm of entertainment, with a minor influence on philosophy.

This perception of the arts caused me to have doubts about the usefulness of creative technologies. Reinforcing this perception was my discovery of the strong arts influence within creative technologies. Initially I saw creative technologies as solving specific problems in creative ways. Instead I discovered that it is more about engaging with a concept the way an artist might, but with technology as a new medium. My view of the arts as ultimately only having value because of it's aesthetic meant that this new perception of creative technologies took on the same property. I began to view creative technologies as valuable only regarding aesthetic, with no value to the sciences or engineering.

The real breakthrough for me in this area occurred while researching interdisciplinary practitioners. Reading about the Biomodd project particularly helped me redefine my perception of the arts, and thus creative technologies. The key part of the Biomodd project that stood out to me was the interest the European Space Agency had in the project. Here was a project that was primarily an artistic exploration, yet in by engaging with an idea of symbiotic relationships between biology and technology it gave new insights and developments in the area of space exploration. My concluding statement from that blog post accurately sums up the significance of the impact this project had on my perception, saying "This symbiosis of art and science has challenged my perception of art to the core, and I am better off for it".

I no longer see the arts, and by implication creative technologies, as without value beyond the aesthetic. I now see creative technologies as a valuable method of exploring new technologies and their application to humanity. It goes beyond even the development of new technologies. The open nature of creative technologies allows it to explore how new technologies can and should be utilised by humanity, and the potential impact they may have on our world. It is a platform for dialogue and discussion about technology.

In creating a platform for dialogue and discussion about technology, creative technologies also allows us to explore the possible applications for new technologies. The exploratory and open nature of creative technologies lends itself well to this purpose. By not being limited to solving a specific problem, it provides a means to discover applications that would otherwise not be discovered. It's artistic influence, the very thing that I saw as a weakness, turns out to be it's strength.

One of the most beneficial practices that creative technologies gains from the arts is that of the studio. Having extremely limited experience in the arts, I was previously unaware of the benefits of studio practice. Throughout this semester I have seen and experienced first hand the benefits of a collaborative space such as a studio. The sharing of ideas, concepts and perspectives results in an environment that is ideal for generating new and innovative technologies and practices. Studio practice has helped me to develop my own ideas, as well as find new ways of building on the ideas explored by others.

The result of these various influences on my thinking and perceptions has been a more exploratory mindset. I am more connected with the works of a wide range of artists, scientists and interdisciplinary practitioners. I have developed a greater ability to reflect on my own practice, and to gain inspiration from the works of others. Possibly the greatest outcome of all has been the development of my passion for creative exploration and artistic expression. The shift in my perception of the arts has had a profound impact in this area. By having a renewed perception of the value of the arts I have gained a stronger motivation to continue with artistic projects, even when faced with difficulty resolving concepts. I have found a new passion and joy for exploring ideas through making and experimentation, and I am excited about the future possibilities this course will bring.