Evaluation

 The exhibition as a whole progressed really well from our original idea of ethereal this is due to the hard-work and dedication from the group working together as a team. Reflecting back on the beginning of this module it felt extremely far off in organizing our large group to create a successful exhibition. 

Our theme originated from selecting pieces of work that we as a group and individually found visually appealing. A number of ideas and themes were bounced around depending on the pieces of artwork that were strong possibilities for the exhibition such as cellular, small, biological, and fantasy and fairytale. We then contemplated the idea of our exhibition finishing on the public celebration of Valentines Day and as many of the group had a strong interest in a number of individual pieces of artwork that were delicate and beautiful we eventually came up with a basis of ethereal as a theme. Personally I was thrilled with this development as a whole as many of the pieces I was interested in fitted the theme of ethereal because of their sublime, delicate and celestial nature.

Once the theme had been established we then set about selecting finalized pieces of artwork for the exhibition, we decided these needed to be small to medium sized pieces with a delicate quality. I really enjoyed the process of selecting the work and individually contacting the artist as it allowed everyone to become involved within the selection process. It also gave me a strong sense of satisfaction contacting the artist as they were keen and extremely grateful to be involved within our exhibition. Once we had asked the artists and they had agreed to participate within the exhibition it was then the case of interviewing them about their artwork and the concepts and context behind it. I found this very useful as it gave me an insight into the theory behind the work and how it fitted our theme for the exhibition.

The next port of call was to plan how or exhibition would take shape and therefore how we should display the work. We all agreed that we wanted to take an unorthodox approach to exhibition and to shy away from the idea of the White Cube. Again this was a group decision that everyone was happy with as it will make our exhibition unique and individual. A number of ideas were thrown around the idea of using plinths became our main focus. The idea developed into a island of plinths in various shapes and sized piled under a canopy which links to our last project with the material roof. At first I was dubious as to how the plinths would link to our theme of ethereal as they are obviously solid objects however as they were all painted white they constructed a strong link to the sublime, aerial connotations of ethereal. However I was really pleased with the idea of using a material canopy over the plinths in which you enter into this ethereal world, this also links really well to our last group project. 

The development of the project flourished through our regular group meetings and contact via our Facebook group. As our group is so large it was often hard for every member to attend each scheduled meeting due to prior commitments, however through our Facebook group it allowed everyone to be fully updated on how the meetings progressed and to share opinions to ensure everyone was happy with the progression of our exhibition. I think the regular meetings were vital in the success of our exhibition as it assured that we were fully organized and committed to create the best possible exhibition with the facilities we had. 

On the day of installation I felt fully prepared as we had planned as much as possible prior to the day, although I was aware it was going to be a hectic, stressful day due to the amount we as a group had to do. We attempted to stick to our per-scheduled plan, however on the day we found that as we are such a big group it meant many members of the group were left with no specific role at certain points. Due to this various members began to collect work to place safely at the edges of the room whilst the fishing wire structure was being constructed. At this point we could all then get involved in creating the material structure, working together as a team to ensure that the structure was safe and stable and applied to the health and safety regulations. There was a small disagreement as to whether the fabric should touch on the floor or be cut to create a flowing structure and to also reduce the risk of a trip hazard. Ultimately we decided to have the fabric floating just above floor level this was mainly due to health and safety but also as it created this floating canopy effect which we had all previously agreed on. Whilst the group began to arrange the work on the plinths there was an extremely unfortunate accident the resulted in Ilona's work being damaged. This was handled straight away and we contacted the artist immediately to apologise and fortunately Ilona agreed to let us use her work in the exhibition still. We all felt awful because of the damage and were keen to arrange a meeting with the artist as soon as possible in order to apologize in person. From this point onwards everyone handled the work very carefully and ensure the plinths were stable in order to avoid a repeat of the earlier accident. I think on the day we perhaps could have done with a few more breaks in order to continue the installation with a fresh mind. Despite the damaged work and stressful installation, the exhibition was a complete success and plenty of people attended the private viewing due to the advertising of the event. I was very proud of our exhibition and to listen to the positive feedback from the visitors it felt like a great achievement, as all our hard work had paid off. 

The day after the private viewing I manned the exhibition for a total of two hours. This gave me the opportunity to reflect and appreciate the exhibition. The sound of the footsteps echoed around the room whilst the fabric moved slightly as I walked around the island of plinths, this to me created a very ethereal atmosphere. It made me appreciate how beautiful the exhibition actually was and how each individual piece loosely linked to one another and also to our theme of ethereal. 

After the exhibition had finished and been de-installed we focused on contacting each artist with a thank you for letting us use their work within our exhibition, and also an apology letter to Ilona. This was a very difficult process as we all felt extremely guilty about the accident. Once a few of us had met with Mona, however she gave us her full support in the matter, this made us feel a lot more comfortable with the situation as we had done as much as we could to render the situation. Despite this accident, I felt we worked really well as a group. I have enjoyed working with such a diverse group of people, to begin with I was slightly skeptical of another group project, however during this module I have made many friends with like minded people that make the university process a lot more enjoyable. I am grateful to all of the effort and hard work that each individual had brought to this exhibition and I would most definitely be keen to participate in a similar group curation project in the future.

The Presentation

14th March 2014 

Today all of the individual groups had to present their presentations in front of the year group.  We were the only group that decided to use a video as our form of presentation. The video lasted 20 minutes and combined a mixture of photography and film. We were sure to involve each individual opinions as well as processes that we had undertaken during the curation process. This meant we used examples of our group meeting, documents of the event, and group communication through our Facebook group. Whilst the rest of the year group asked questions and commented on our show our time lapse played in the background in order to give the audience a visual aid as to how our exhibition developed. Our presentation was very successful as it covered all of the information we had discussed in previous group meetings.

Delirium

This was the last level 4 student exhibition and so this group had the opportunity to visit all the previous exhibitions in order to gain a perspective on what was successful and what was not so successful. I think this made for a real thriving exhibition. The title Delirium initially suggested to me a maddening state of mind and so I presumed the exhibition would be confused and bewildering especially after seeing the advertising flyer as seen to the right.  However I was pleasantly surprised the exhibition turned out to be a beautiful, colourful event with plenty of large scale paintings juxtaposed among smaller mediums which incorporated shadows which was very visually exciting. In my opinion although the flyer links well to the theme of Delirium, I find it does not link to the actual exhibition as much and gave a false expectation to the viewer. I think the best aspect of the show was the use of colourful balloons scattered across the floor, this made for an interactive exhibition for the viewers. The curators used the following as their tagline, which again I think sums up the exhibition as a whole: 'What I see is not what's actually there. But my mind perceives it to be there. .....So what I'm looking at might not actually exist....This colourful but twisted state of limbo. Through this wondrous hallucination is in itself the deterioration of my sanity and yet I can't help but.......'

Limit the Expansion

This exhibition explored the theme of limit the expansion. I visited this exhibition the day after the private viewing in order to gain an individual perspective upon how the work has been displayed within the environment. This exhibition incorporated a range of different art mediums including installation, sculpture and video. I found the range of medium very effective as it meant there was a constant visual aid which allowed the viewer to follow the exhibition and linking the various individual works in relation to one another. At first I was slightly bewildered by the title and how it linked with the work that was used within the exhibition, however after reading the press release it gave me a greater understanding into the meaning of the title and the choice behind the work that has been used. I particularly liked the idea of the feedback forms, it was the perfect way to gain opinions from peers and tutors on how the exhibition went and could be improved on. It was great to visit other student exhibitions as it gave me an insight into how the space could be used in a different way to our ideas. I think this exhibition follows the slightly more orthodox idea of the White Cube Gallery then our own did, however I think the curators did an excellent job in presenting a really interesting and exciting exhibition.

They Lived a Colourful Life

This was the first of the level 4 student exhibitions and so was the starting point in the development of the exhibitions. This group decided to focus mainly the idea of portraiture, using a number of realistic paintings displayed on easels around the exhibition.  Along side this was mainly wall based work along with the large stringed cube that proved popular within many of the exhibitions. The advertisement links very will to both the content and title of the exhibition as it uses a piece of work that was used in the show. The flyer gives the basic information which is the developed upon in the press release also seen below. The press release contrary to our own focused on information about each of the individual artists and their work, this gave the viewer a good background into the artists whilst viewing the exhibition. I like the logo that they have designed in order to describe their group. I think this exhibition worked well as a whole, the majority of the art worked linked really well together especially the portraiture paintings. The curators described their exhibition in the following words: 
Explore the relationship and contrast between the viewer & the viewed, inner & outer, portrait & abstract, colour & monochrome, the hidden & the exposed and 2D & 3D.

The audience is invited to consider - who is observing who?

Filming for the Presentation

Today I met with Julia to film my section of the presentation. I suggested filming in the spiral staircase as it aesthetically pleasing. I decided to talk about the private viewing along with a small evaluation. The filming took two takes in order to have enough recording to edit in case there were any mistakes. This is my speech for the presentation.

By the time of our private viewing the group were all ready to relax and enjoy the exhibition after our extremely busy set up that afternoon. It was an opportunity for BCU students to attend the private view have a glass of wine help themselves to our delicious bakes and appreciate and enjoy the exhibition. Plenty of people turned up to visit the show, and it became a very social and successful event. It was lovely to see so many people turn up to the event and also the tutors as it gave us the opportunity to individually speak to them about our exhibition and the concepts and context behind it.


 The exhibition as a whole progressed really well from our original idea of ethereal this is due to the hard-work and dedication from the group working together as a team. The development of the project flourished through our regular group meetings and contact via our Facebook group. As our group is so large it was often hard for every member to attend each scheduled meeting due to prior commitments, however through our Facebook group it allowed everyone to be fully updated on how the meetings progressed and to share opinions to ensure everyone was happy with the progression of our exhibition. I think the regular meetings were vital in the success of our exhibition as it assured that we were fully organized and committed to create the best possible exhibition with the facilities we had.

Group Meeting - Post Exhibition

20th February 

Today we had a group meeting in which only half of the group could attend this was to discuss the exhibition and to focus on the following major points: 

• Apology letter for two artists.
• Thank you letter to the artists involved. 
• The presentation.

Apology Letters

The first port of call was to write an apology letter on behalf of the group to the two artists whom which we had damaged their work. We decided a full formal letter needed to be written to Ilona, on behalf of the group, whilst an apology within a thank you card would suffice for Kerris as the issue had already been resolved. Together we all contributed the following letter which we then proceeded to email to the artist via Facebook, left a copy in her studio space and also forwarded the letter as a text in the hope to get hold of her as soon as possible. The letter read as follows:

Dear Ilona,

We are terribly sorry for the damage caused to your work. The group would like to take full responsibility for the accidental damage, and we would like to meet with you, at your convenience, to discuss what happened face-to-face. Mona has agreed to mediate any discussion, as the tutor who heads up this particular level 4 module.

Our Sincerest apologies,

John Wigley's tutor group

Alice Macqueen// Amber Sims// Amy Hoult// Anna Phillips// Bianca Bonvie-Marsland// Domonic Gardiner// Elizabeth Ilsley// Emma Ginster// Faith Pallet// Hannah Minchin// Julia Bloomfield// Megan Evans// Megan Wellings// Nadine Lowe// Raymond Linklater.


I feel this letter is precise and to the point it offers the artist the opportunity to visit us as a group to discuss how we may be of any help we possibly can. I think this is the most professional approach to apologise to Ilona on behalf of the group.  

Thank you Cards

For the members of the group that attended the meeting we then handed out thank you cards for each person to write individually directed to a certain artist. I wrote to Becky Price to thank her for letting us use the work within the exhibition and for the support that the artists have provided. We then decided to print out an image of the exhibition for the front of the card to give them an insight into how their work appeared within the show. We then left these in the artists studio space. I think this is a nice engaging way to thank the artists for their involment within the exhibition and it also gives them a token of our appreciation. 

The Presentation 

As we are such a large group we have decided that it would be effective to use a video for our presentation rather than all standing and reading from a powerpoint. The presentation will be in a video format in which we will all be individually filmed this will a spoken honest and reflective response to the exhibition as a whole. Again Julias partner has kindly offered to let us use his video equipment to film over the period of a few days within university. As the presentation has to be 15 minutes, we will each have an individual time slot of 1 minute each this will consist of two short paragraphs. One will be focusing on the process of a certain element of the exhibition whilst the other will be a short personal evaluation. In order to cover each element of the process of the exhibtion we decided to look at past presentaions from the students who took the module the previous year. This gave us a small insight into what we all need to talk about in order to make our presentation suseccsful. Here are the following elements we decided needed to be covered: 

• Themes
• Theme Influences
• Choosing the Title
• Featured Artists
• Press Release
• Advertising
• Exhibition Plan
• Installation Day
• The Private Show
• What we have learned
• Feedback
• Communicating as a Group
• Group Homepage
• Any Questions  

This list can obviously be added to and edited in order for every member of the group to be comfortable about what they will be speaking about in front of the camera. I have asked to talk about  the Private Viewing as I feel this is something I really enjoyed within the process of the exhibition as a whole. We will edit the video over the course of reading week. The initial plan is to combine the filming with images of the process of the exhibition and also footage of the time lapse, therefore we will each be on the screen for a few seconds which will then fade into the footage and images with the audio element overlaying the visual presentation.