Unit X has been....interesting to say the least. From our first meeting in Hilton House, up to our exhibition last night, it is clear that Unit X has definitely been the most controversial term this year.
When we started Unit X, and were put into our collaborative groups along side film and media studies (FMS) and fashion (FAS), there was already an instant negativity from a majority of the FMS students, who all felt as though their practice was wrongly placed for this term. Upon meeting the group that I was collaborating with, it was comforting to discover that I already knew most of the members, so I felt from the offset that I was going to enjoy our eight weeks together.
Unit X felt as though we were being forced to drop all of our previous teachings, in order to create and learn something completely new- which made me feel really out of my own depth. However, as the weeks progressed, and we began to change our idea to a more textiles based project- I felt safe again, and like I knew what I was doing, and that we weren't in fact just wasting time.
There seems to have been a severe lack of organisation during the weeks of this unit, most of the time relying on the 'Chinese whispers' system- as there has been no other way of finding out about events such as tutorials- this was made clear a few times when Rebecca had received emails from fashion tutors regarding tutorials that none of the rest of us in the group knew about. I feel that the TIP tutors have definitely been the most supportive, understanding and helpful during this whole unit- I felt as though if we had any queries they were the only people that we were able to contact. We had no connection from any FMS tutors- be this because there were none, or the message was never passed on, I'm not sure.
In terms of working together through the research weeks, I feel that we jelled really well as a group. We were getting to know about one another, both university and social related. Our research was kept around the idea of the Victorian era- a broad topic, but one that we all stuck to. When discussing our work together, there were clear links and ideas forming from the offset, which made our final output seem achievable. A flaw to our collaborating came down to when we were going to start making the final piece- as FMS students don't have to work to the same process at FAS and TIP do - research, development, sampling, final output, etc- they felt that at some points we were moving too slowly in our development, and seemed to want to rush. This did lead to a few tiffs, about leaving our processes too late in the unit, and worry that the pieces would not be finished in time.
Collaborations. I feel that TIP and FAS were able to work well together, as they are similar practices. It was just a matter of attempting to create a final output that would be able to showcase our skills. Rebecca made it quite clear from the beginning that she did not want to make a garment, as she felt too under pressure being the only person with any idea how to go about this process. As far as our final piece goes, made by TIP and FAS students, we were able to successfully create a wall installation that showed all of our individual methods and techniques, that still merged together perfectly.
In terms of roles within the group, I honestly feel that 90% of the time I was the person that took control. I feel as though it was my duty to keep up to date with the meetings of the groups- keeping in touch with every member via text, phone calls and Facebook almost everyday, progression of the pieces- deciding on the final piece that we ran with in the end, and also sorting out alternative methods when things within our group became heated. This said, the TIP students were the most helpful, due to the fact that three quarters of us were in that practice. We all stuck together on our ideas and bounce off one another to achieve a successful outcome.
I have enjoyed working within a group for the first time, it has been an overall very positive experience, and a massive learning curve within my learning. I feel that the amount of work that I did was poor at the beginning of the unit, as I was more focused in research, rather than design/ development, however this changed as we all settled on an idea, and stuck with it. I would like to work within a group again, as it is something that is most certainly going to happen within the working world. I have grown bonds with other faculty members, not only TIP, and shall look forward to continuing to learn about their practices in the future.