Financial Times

I saw this on my way from Victoria to London Bridge at like 7 in the morning or something horrible. Everyone was reading a paper and the people reading the financial times seemed to have a look or something about them that suggested that because they were reading the financial times they were important- in a little club of very busy important people. They are the same people who always go past you on an escalator. The financial times even tries to do it to itself- it is pink- different from any other paper, it tries to stand out. It's interesting that even though these guys aren't at work they have to read the FT to be on top of their game and remain employed, like Lou's super hero pills.

Wellcome Collection

So I went to the Wellcome Collection in Euston yesterday and it was probably the best exhibition I've ever been to. Mainly the permanent collection part with all of Henry Wellcome's bits and pieces. There was some great artifacts for sure but the best thing was the way it was displayed and the way the viewer interacted with the exhibit. There were drawers with extra information and for the display cases there were sort of cupboards which sat flush with the wooden wall and were very discreet, almost like you had to discover them, which had more detailed data about the articles being displayed in front of them (behind you if you were looking at he cupboard) and a little more history ad dates and stuff- kinda like some meta data or something the cases had enough information that you understood the artifacts (a guillotine blade for example) and then more information could be obtained which gave even more insight to the piece- (used in the french revolution, how many people it killed, the last person it killed, it was considered humane etc). The exhibition had the feeling that i want to embody in my work- wonder and discovery and levels of information and quality (everything was quite dark and there was a lot of wood on the walls and displays).

Henry Wellcome was an interesting guy too- he was a proper accumulator, in the collection is the first bit of money he ever earned- was it just for posterity or some foresight that he knew it would be interesting later on- the guy collected like a fiend and it is perhaps an interesting thing to think about money and collecting. The guy only got to have a collection because he had the space to put the things he had bought in. (I keep thinking about this private to institution type collection- the walsall gallery did it with their 'Peoples Exhibition' of th public's collections, it was ages ago and i never saw it but i would like to see it again- maybe i could set one up. So Wellcome had the passion and, not randomness or indiscriminancy, but the variety and diversity of a private collector but the money,space and influence of an institution.)

Tutorial and Stuff

Having a good time at the moment but I'm getting worried that my project isn't getting where i want to be fast enough- part of this problem is not knowing where i want to be, i just know I'm not there! I had a good tutorial with Rosario she harked back to an old project of mine: the one with the puddles in bags and water collections. She pointed out that it's success came from a specific thing- a context, a problem and that now i had good research but that i was in danger of letting my research outdo whatever outcome it might be that i come to- i need to start getting specific- and pretty soon- I'm going to say that by the end of January for sure (hopefully sooner) i will have concluded my research to do list and that i will have a more specific area of interest to run with and make real good. We talked about which bits of my project were interesting...... i like this drawing and the idea of getting movement involved, time passing, motion, something happening during the accumulation/ collecting process- the way i see it the collecting process goes:

start static---------during, movement, interest, play, motion, active-----------after i.e. completion static once more, lack of interest, shelved,

slopes, conveyors and time passing interest me with that. We also talked about completion:

this shows an item given which contains one item, with spaces to fill, promoting collecting and accumulation- this links to one of my interests previously about a frame with a label will attract not just more of the same item mentioned within close proximity but will actively attract like a magnet, other artifacts of a similar label. A split box is better at suggesting collection by implying a set and an aim- a completion- something of a particular size for instance, when compared to a large empty cardboard box. Levels, compartments, trays, sections all describe and imply a set. I fancy making a group of objects some with 2 parts ranging up to many parts. Making tools/ objects to instigate a collection in someone- i guess to an extent i have it with my book a week framework, why not make other tools for others.

Rosario was also interested in the industrial process of standardisation. That when everything is manufactured to be 'perfect' the imperfections become the rare collectibles. If there are limited editions, or only a certain number of an item in existence (as is the main norm with collectibles- here defined as anything collected) then they are ripe to be collected. I'm wondering, what if every thing was different, but still was a product of an industrial mass process, then every one would be collectible- so none would be as each was as valuable as the last and the next. This leads on to the idea of the specimen- the best artifact within a comparable group of artifacts. Would this evolve despite having nothing to be directly compared against. Could a specimen still be manufactured..............

Food and Gaps

This is a sketch for the food i made but stupidly forgot to take photos of. It is a roast beef dinner minus the roast beef. The meal acts as a collection, where it's gap is the summing up artifact. This absent item defines the collection. If however it were present then the meal/ collection would not be thought about, it would be complete and unremarkable. A collection no longer in process has no movement and no momentum.

Carleman's Catalogue of Extraordinary Objects

This is a beautiful book of objects that this illustrator created. Some are amazing, some stupid, some witty, some just a bit shit, but there are some complete gems - i was going to post it just for kicks but maybe it has some bit of my project somewhere in it - maybe just the format and title. Anyway enjoy.