Day One

I started the day quite nervously and with a touch of unhealthy imposter syndrome! As a visual artist I am incredibly interested in how TechArt can develop my practice and indeed have produced a number of pieces that utilise technology to strengthen their function as interactive meaningful artworks. However I often work with technicians, and although I’m always involved every step of the way, don’t necessarily feel that I  have the language and knowledge to truly call myself a tech artist. But in a spirit of ‘let’s just see what happens’ I join the chatroom and instantly felt ok.

Stef Turner was our lovely facilitator and her calm voice, positive vibes and ambient music created a welcoming atmosphere that quickly dispelled any concerns that I might have had.

Similarly the co-ordinators introduction to themselves and their work alongside a very clear set of objectives and expectations for the fellowship set the scene for an exciting environment within which to learn.

Radical. Open. Optimistic. Future.

Meeting our fellow fellows – including using the medium of mime (!) – was good fun and I never envisaged that I would spend some time miming putting on a wetsuit to a small group of strangers! Obviously mime is not my best medium for communication as somebody thought I was shooting an arrow……but I can live with that.

An enjoyable exercise to write a poem starting with a list of words – I chose – imagination –  kept us occupied and our brains worked hard to make a simple poem in preparation for the next days exercise. 

My poem;

Imagination is a vibrant green countryside

It sounds like the woosh of the wind through a tangle of branches

Imagination is exciting

Imagination is limitless

I’m going to work on this some more before tomorrow’s session.

Pecha Kucha 1.

It was a fab to gain an  insight into 8 other artists work – a heady mixture of bubbles, cardboard structures and eye tracking tech, tree roots woven to make building materials, data made into photo’s, exciting labs and studios, 360 projections and images created via data from block printing artisans – very inspiring indeed and such diverse ways of working with technology to create artworks.

Can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings!