final reflections

The memory lab has come to an end for now, and i have tried to answer these questions for a lot of you who might be wondering what the heck is happening over here. I didnt arrive at concrete conclusions, but it was a journey for me that has given me some direction and things for me to think about.

heres a link to blogs of others part of the lab-http://thememorylab.blogspot.in/2012/09/link-to-personal-blogs.html 

1. PROJECTS TITLES: Why did you choose these projects and what was involved in the decision making process? (Refer to the three projects you have done)

The process differed while working on each project. For the first project, I tried to start with the strongest memory I had at that time, the death of my grandfather and worked on a way to give form to how I felt about choosing not to attend his funeral. For the next two projects, the process differed.I got inspired by objects, like the old radio and began playing around with them, and this play triggered memories and feelings in me which would inturn, influence the form. Similarly,for the third project, I was inspired by miniature painting styles and many narratives within one image, I didnt realise then, but coincidentally I was reading orhan pamuk’s my name is read which has a strong underlying narrative about the miniature artists of the Islamic world. These thoughts and the idea of the collaboration somehow came together for the final project.

2. SUBJECT: Reflect on the subject matter of your chosen projects and the breadth of research that you have conducted on these subjects?

The first project, I have to admit, lacked the research element. Im not talking about the internet kind of research here, Im saying I should have delved more into how I felt at the death of my grandfather,it was not only anger and confusion as the final piece portrayed, but a strange complex emotion that I still haven’t wrapped my head around. The first work was about the anger of a person, but it would have been richer If I had made it about my anger and not just any anger, that would have added nuances to make it a richer piece.

For the second project, which was the memory radio, Most of my time spent was figuring out the electronics and programming to get the piece working, so again more research on the actual content of the piece and getting exposed to more spoken word art and sound art would have definitely helped me tell the story better.

The third project fortunately, had a lot of things brewing in my head, from the miniatures of rajasthan to the medieval paintings of Albrecht durer. I looked up a lot of Dadaist work to see how the collage form has been applied elsewhere.

Overall, Susan Sontag’s against interpretation was the one article that has stayed with me the most, and if I compare my work process to last year or even a few months back, it has opened me up to intuition in some sense, whereas earlier I would try to be logic heavy.

3. AIMS/OBJECTIVES/CONCEPTS: How and to what extent have you achieved the aim and objectives of the projects? Describe the main concepts driving the projects.

The aim of the first project was to create a mood and a physical experience for the viewer revolving around the memory that I had, I think it succeeded to some extent and people felt that were entering someone elses private space, and it made them uncomfortable, at the same time, maybe it didn’t allow for entry points.

For the second project, I felt the interaction of tuning in to the radio to listen to stories was a success for me, and I would like to take that forward at some point in time. I felt it was very strong as a storytelling device.The only thing was it needed more development on the narrative side. Which is not an issue, because I am taking that forward, at some point.

4. AUDIENCE: Are you addressing a specific audience with your work within these projects? For example, a specific community, your peers, members of your family, a corporation or business, educators, patients of a hospital department, government agencies?

Honestly, I haven’t given much thought to a specific audience in any of the projects,I was just concentrating on communicating the idea to people in general.

5. FORM/MEDIUM/PRESENTATION: What are the forms and methods of presentation that you are working with? From the work you have done so far, have you gained any insights on your approach to making, doing and documenting?

most importantly, I have discovered how much blogging helps. When things are not clear in your own head, you can always go back and see things clearly written out. Also, to see the blog build up from scratch and to go through the work, is in itself an inspiration to do more.

Apart from that, as I mentioned earlier, i have become a little more intuitive in my work, as compared to the logical work process I had earlier. I am definitely more open to chance, and to go with the flow, and to not know.and to be okay with it.

6. RESEARCH METHODS: What kind of research methods have you used to research the projects work in depth, and how has your research informed your process?

My main research tool was the internet. Apart from that, a major research/excavation project was talking to my family so often and hearing stories from the past, and asking them to send pictures, tapes, photo albums. This part of the research felt great, and at the risk of sounding corny, has made me closer to my family.

7. REFERENCES: How useful were the references you explored so far- the artists, anthropologists, designers, writers or other practitioners?

the artists we all looked up, and even the ones I found personally on the net were very useful to look at. It was always great to see what established artists have done and what standard you’re aiming for. It wasn’t only installation work, but things that I did in general, like watch someone play a piece of music really well, or a well made film, all of this I feel added to the thoughts in my head and resulted in whatever I created during the course of this project.

8. POSITION & RELATIONSHIP: How do you think your projects would function in, or be positioned to contribute to, similar contemporary fields of production?

 I think that the miniature photography thing that we tried out at the end has a lot of potential to develop further into a way of making pictures. Similarly, the radio work is also interesting esp for me as a way of using objects and technology together, to convey stories and feelings.