[-empyre-] Research in Practice, week two, January 14-20

[aslemeur at free.fr]

Hi

I was probably not clear enough. I wanted to know if other  
academic-artists would have stopped reading (or any other practice)  
after completing their phd and having returned to a deep-intense  
practice (creation + exhibition). And if yes, how they would analyse  
their change.

Writing an article on a piece and deepening the same art piece are  
inevitably linked, but exist in sepatated moments. I can't focus on  
producting a piece and finish an article (or even a book !) at the  
same time. (Or can you ?  great !!)
for me this alternated periods are not easy to cross because I need  
energy to refocus/change the mind from one to another. even from  
teaching to creating.
(but probably programming language is anyway a big jump for the mind).

About changing methodologies (or methods) thanks to/after the process  
of writing/reading/analysing (doing phd) etc.
I wonder how a Penone or any other great artist (without phd) teaches  
'art practice' to art students. I have not had this experience as a  
student. Any comment ? For me, to teach art research is easier than to  
teach art practice.

Regards,

aslm
Cecile Chevalier <C.Chevalier at sussex.ac.uk> a écrit :

> Hello & Bonsoir...
>
> "Am I so changed by the research process or by the creation one ?   
> How is it for others artists-academics ?"
> I don't see the two being separated - that is if you mean 'research   
> process' as the writing/reading/evaluating data - my research feeds   
> my practice with new objective perspectives... I would make art work  
>  -> exhibit as a 'Beta_Space' -> read/write -> rework the art work >  
>  exhibit as a 'Beta_Space' -> read/write -> final exhibition. Both   
> creative and research processes completes me as an artist, and   
> allows for my practice to grow. Before starting my PhD, my methods   
> in my art practice were similar - just not as in depth, thorough and  
>  I was not as aware of them.
>
> I think this is also bring us back to Maria's question "How do we   
> set up methodologies for practice-based research students[&   
> practitioner]?" How has your methods changed from being an artist   
> away from the academia to a 'creative research practitioner' or   
> vise-versa?
>
>
> "How do other invited persons see the relation between art practice   
> teaching and research ? How do other artists (that don't have a phd)  
>  teach?"
> Although I have not yet completed my PhD, I have been teaching   
> practice on BA courses (y1,2,3) since 2005 or 06 (Moving image, fine  
>  art, visual research, digital media and photography).  My roles  
> were  labeled differently depending of the university I was working  
> in  (Sessional/Part-Time-Lecturer or Associate Tutor) but  
> effectively I  was/am doing the same job. It seems, from my  
> perspective, that  lecturer not only need to have their usual  
> expertise, their also  need to be flexible in what they can teach -  
> I was fortunate that my  practice evolved from related medium, so  
> that my research (inc.  methods, readings and works) could lead me  
> to contribute to various  teaching courses.
> As I say I started teaching before my PhD at the University of   
> Brighton - initially through a teacher training course  - then   
> through applying for a lecturing position that I didn't get but   
> instead they offered me another lecturer position which was perfect,  
>  since then I have not stop teaching but never on full-time basis.   
> Today, it seems that having a PhD is a 'desirable' requirement for   
> teaching in universities.
>
> Cécile
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________________
> From: empyre-bounces at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au   
> [empyre-bounces at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au] on behalf of   
> aslemeur at free.fr [aslemeur at free.fr]
> Sent: 16 January 2013 17:28
> To: empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
> Subject: Re: [-empyre-] Research in Practice, week two, January 14-20
>
> Hi everyone,
>
> Sorry for not writing english very well. If I want to take part in
> this discussion as I accepted to, I have to write faster than I
> usually would.
> And sorry to give my thougths as a kind of bloc...
>
> For the current discussion : In France, before the dissertation (PhD)
> defense, you receive 2 reports that tell if you may defense (or not)
> and present qualities of weaknesses of the dissertation. So you may
> prepare your defense partly on that.
> Of course, the quality of the discussion depends on the fields
> closeness of the Committee to yours. The assistence may assist to the
> defense but can not ask questions. They usually sit behing the defender.
>
> To restart with initial general points :
> I wanted to do a Phd in arts without knowing what it was. I was just
> starting my own art practice in a way. Delightfully. Passionately. As
> something I was longing for.
> At this time I had no desire to look for a job, and the student status
> was perfect form me (I was 23 years old). During my PhD (8 years long,
> I needed to get older !) I did not get much supervision (what is
> alright) probably 3 meetings with my director at the end... I
> alternated practice periods and writing periods.
> But in a way, I write all the time but the research way of writing
> requires more concentration and synthetic efforts. I must add that I
> have been writing and reading a lot since childhood. Artists that are
> attracted by/with doing a phd must not fear spending much time with
> books.
>
> I was happy to get a position at the university. It is a real luxury.
> I never believed I would get one.
> It is a wonderful way to avoid having a boss, to get a regular salary
> without too much stress, while teaching is a very interesting job,
> allowing you to go on with self education (training). And 8 teaching
> hours a week, 6 months a year is a good deal.
> Of course you have then to organise the week or the month (or the
> year) in order to do teaching, creation and research - each of them 3
> could take the whole week to be well lead. Which is not possible. One
> at least must be sacrificed.
>
> I chose to focus on research-creation of course and not teaching. I
> spend as little as possible (generally one day a week) to prepare my
> courses (I teach art practice, which is a different type of
> methodology and discourse from theoretical teaching). The work I do
> (creation/interaction of 3D image in programming language) is time
> eater (for the non programmer I am). Moreover university does not have
> material nor space (some money but you have to apply for, to have
> 'contacts' with the team leader etc.) for the research. So I worked a
> lot on my own ideas-project outside the university. 12 years.
>
> This choice has a negative consequence : I don't make an academic
> career. I only know some of my colleagues and I still don't get any
> master course even now that I have been making efforts of integration
> (the second negative point for this tentative of 'career' is that I
> made my phd in another parisian university, not in the one I teach.
> France is known for its chapel gangs isn't it ?)
>
> Besides not having a master course (which is not that tragic, and I am
> sure I will get one before retirement !!) , the negative point to be
> an artist at the university in France is that nobody believes here
> that accademics in art may be artists. Nobody believes that university
> can 'educate' artists. Art universities have a very bad fame. I was
> even advised a few times not to mention my university position in my
> curriculum to get a better recognition from the (french) art milieu...
> Of course abroad it is quite different. The word 'Sorbonne' may open doors.
>
> What I like in doing research : by research I mean writing, publishing
> articles, doing talks... on my own practice. I write in order to
> deeply understand what I do, to become aware of sub/unconscious
> concepts or links (and what is programming in art). And I am always
> surprised to see how deep I can go.
> I tend to see creation (the long unlinear process of it) as the first
> step (even outside ?) of the research process. Of course I reflect all
> the time on my own desires/ideas of creation, but the very analytical
> and synthetical effort comes after the creation - when I take time for
> it. It requires time too.
> Sure it produces another work afterwards because of the whole circle
> of feeling/thinking.
>
> About being or not being an academic.
> I am not sure what this word means. Is it a bit pejorative in english
> too ? I am not so much concerned by putting me in a definition or
> under a word.
> The main difference I see between me (and other 'practicians'
> teachers) with my 'theroretician' colleagues is that the time they
> spend in books, I spend it in seeing exhibitions (and creating). They
> read much more than me and not the same books (I 'only' read
> Dostoïevski or reread Beckett). It induces that we don't have the same
> references, not even the same way of speaking. It is thus very
> difficult to exchange views. Besides, speaking about philosophers,
> doing quotations... is socially very impressive, seductive... no ?
>
> I must confess that I have almost stopped reading since I finished my
> PhD. I guess I was fairly tired of having worked that much so long
> without creating images, and I wanted to go back to practice. The
> project I then undertook was megalomaniac. I have just finished it
> after 12 years. From time to time (summer time) I try to read articles
> but I don't find any nourishment anymore in them. Am I so changed by
> the research process or by the creation one ? How is it for others
> artists-academics ?
>
> May I finish this long text with a question :
> How do other invited persons see the relation between art practice
> teaching and research ? How do other artists (that don't have a phd)
> teach  ?
>
> Many thanks for this discussion !!
>
> Anne-Sarah
> http://aslemeur.free.fr
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