Categories:
Katy Hawkins
Hardscape
So, I begin my residency from just down the road in Nottingham. The pandemic has left me unable to visit Derby – which is obviously an interesting challenge for a site-specific project. So, I have no choice than to leap-frog into the city through all available portals. I’m resigned to the clunky websites of local history enthusiasts, maps provided by the all-seeing eye of Google and good old fashioned human conversation - albeit through the Zoomiverse.
Since the dawn of land ownership in Britain, common land has been a contentious topic. This last year public land and property has been a huge part of the post-pandemic zeitgeist – which comes as no surprise. Who gets to use certain spaces? What can and can’t you do in them?
I applied for this opportunity with the word ‘Psychogeography’ plastered all over my application. So, in order for you to follow my train of thought – I’ll start there.
What is psychogeography? This is the clear part, simply put it’s the way a place can influence one’s psyche. It does what it says on the etymological tin. Psychogeography was originally developed in the early 1950s. A gang of pan-European mavericks who would later be known as 'The Situationists' conjured up the field. With a penchant for red wine drinking and Marxist thinking, these flaneurs produced a number of books, exercises and visual art forms used to highlight the role of the built environment in our minds.
As with the situationists and Marxist thinkers of their time, modern
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Categories:
Ryan Heath, Uncategorised, Visions of an Unmade City
Mars
Mars as a subject was always present within this residency, whether it was a concept, a location or destination there has been some connection no matter how tangible to Mars.
There still remains a lot of areas to explore, but for now let us consider how we see Mars.
This is something I have previously explored in a project before but focusing on the Moon - by photographing Mars with an equivalent lens to the human eye, I hope to create a point - a bright light full stop at which we can consider what is real to us.
I would imagine that a large part of a person's image of Mars in there mind is not completely true. I propose that it is constructed from multiple influences, with the majority being cinema... Even with exceptionally good telescopes from Earth, Mars is but an orangey/red dot in the sky.
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Categories:
Artist, Present Tense Future Perfect, Thomas Wynne
Prometheus & Artemis
So it's been a little while since I started trying to make a fire 'the old way'... things that I learnt:
I have taken to calling this photograph 'Artemis, 2020' after the Greek Goddess. Goddess of the Moon and the hunt, it seems fitting that an owl represent both of these concepts.
No only this, but the clear perspex box in which the owl is displayed, goes further to somewhat visualise the idea of a reality within a reality.
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- Too much time spent trying can hurt/bruise your hands
- Flat ended sticks work better than round ended sticks
- Bruises and hurts can also blister...
- Sticks that are straighter are easier to turn
- Bamboo - although straight and round - does not work.
- Do your research properly - bushcraft is not an easy skill
- Make sure you have the correct wood.

Categories:
Artist, Present Tense Future Perfect, Thomas Wynne
Trance State
A clairvoyant goes into a state of trance during an online development meeting. 2020.
Categories:
Kelly O'Brien, Present Tense Future Perfect
Prometheus
One of those most recent things that I have been working on during the start of lockdown 2.0 (to which I find a certain irony as some of this work responds to ideas developed in lockdown 1) is learning to start a fire.
This idea stems from the idea of Prometheus, the Greek God who stole fire and gave it to man - with this as a metaphor in mind, we have to find a new way of living, evolving and developing a way of life in the new world that we find ourselves in - whether that be Mars or Earth 2020.
This may seem like a simple concept, and to those bush specialists it might be, but for a suburban late 20's person, it is proving somewhat difficult...
I have been fortunate enough to achieve smoke and ash, so I can't be too far away from an ember!
The board is made from dry poplar wood following the advice from a youtube video about starting fires. This may sound potentially non-credible, but does it matter?
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Categories:
Artist, Present Tense Future Perfect, Thomas Wynne