On Tuesday afternoon the group and I met up for a tutorial with Julie, to see how we were getting on with the change in brief. We had all been trying to think of ways to incorporate our current research on Queen Victoria's reign in 1838, and our new brief together, which was proving difficult.
We decided to sit down and look back at the original brief once more- looking at the idea of dressing the city. Our first take on this phrase 'dress the city', was to think of ways to highlight the Victorian era through decoration of an object- what this object was, we weren't sure yet. We threw around the ideas of wall hangings and cushions at first, however I did mention that it concerned me that these objects didn't really fit any kind of purpose, and that the final output could possibly be much more interesting. I also suggested the idea of yarn-bombing, something that appears to be quite popular at the moment in the artistic industry. This type of work would fit the idea of dressing the city perfectly- almost like wrapping Manchester in a big wooly jumper. It seems to be an idea that can be adapted pretty much any way we feel, and mot of the group have had experience with knitting machines before so we are all able to use these strengths to make some interesting pieces. I have been collecting some imagery and research to do with yarn-bombing on my pinterest page.
yarn pinterest page: http://pinterest.com/lauramaykent/yarn/
With our idea of a final output beginning to slowly merge, we started to think about the materials that we would need to create this unknown object, and the rules that we were going to set ourselves for the visual side of this. A vast majority of our group's research has focused upon the idea of colour, embellishments and restriction. These are the three major things that we feel need to be included in our final output so that the first four weeks of our work isn't completely forgotten about when we begin to dress the city.
As a result of creating these pieces/ 'objects', our final output lay along the lines of taking photographic recordings of these outdoor installations around Manchester, and exhibiting them. Photography is something that interests myself, and the rest of the group, and as none of us have any experience behind the camera, it will come as a challenge to us all.
The meeting went incredibly well, and we have decided that we need to meet on Friday to discuss our next plans for the upcoming weeks, and to think about where we are going to be installing our final output pieces. By Friday we have decided to all research the ideas of yarn bombing, restriction and also to look at the way that art work can interestingly be installed in a gallery space.