Gregory Crewdson - 18/04/2011

There is not much one can say after an open lecture presented by someone as notable as Gregory Crewdson. Presented with images from his under-grad days, to his large, comprehensive series, Beneath the Roses, Crewdson openly discussed the images in a relaxed, seemingly effortless manner. The has always been an ‘epicness’ to Crewdson’s photography, they are almost a cinematic experience, from the way they’re shot, to the way they’re presented. It is interesting then to hear how influenced he is by the movie, Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). Although I have not seen the movie, Crewdson showed a few shorts from the movie, and the realization of great an influence this was to him became evident. Unlike previous lectures, Crewdson discussed how he came to get that image, how he envisioned it and then how he set out to create it. But even more interesting, and unlike previous lectures, was Crewdson’s ability to not speak about or try to explain every image, and to just let it speak for itself.

I think everyone in the audience could have continued to sit and listen for hours on end, and the only wish was that we heard more about his latest series, Sanctury.

Liza Statton - 11/04/2011

“How do you get someone to spend more then 5 minutes in a show?” – Liz Statton

Former curator of Art Space in USA, Liza Statton, brought to us a presentation on her curation of a ‘single chanel video’ exhibition titles ‘Betwixt and Between’. Despite the interesting content of the show, I was disappointed as the lecture seemed to be a recount of the show, opposed to a discussion of how one would curate a show. Although this did enter into discussions, such as how sound affects different parts of the gallery, the artist by artist nature of the lecture did not lend itself to that discussion in a way that I believe would have been more interesting. Briefly touched on topics that could have opened into great discussions, such as how artists may now use mass media, such as YouTube, as a means of promoting, or to the opposite end, retaining the rights to their work. I would like to have also spent more time discussing the question of how one does create a show that people will spend more then 5 minutes at.

Prudence Murphy - 04/04/2011

Unlike previous lecturers, I have had luck of having been taught by Pru Murphy last year. However, seeing Pru give a lecture in this manner, opposed to the less formal tutorial last year, was quite different to what I was used to, but a great chance to learn about someone, and their work, who had taught me.

Initially I was sceptical with the lecture starting about Muybridge’s ‘The Horse in Motion’, worried that it would be more of history lecture, however it was a beautiful lead in to her early works, and was a very obvious and important influence on her art practice. Without recounting each series, it was fascinating to see the progression in an artists work from a uni student, to a full time artist, to a mother. Each of these life phases were reflected in her works, particularly that of motherhood in her past three series. Pru was generous enough to show us works in development for a show that would open this June/July. Although I did not take interest to these latest works as I did to her previous series, it did lead to an interesting discussion. The works showed young boys playing with guns or various objects that could in anyway represent a gun. From this, discussion grew as to whether parents should or should not let their children play in such objects, like most discussions of this nature, it finished unresolved, however, the work Pru had created did what it set out to do, that is, get the discussion going.

Blair French - 28/03/2011

Unlike previous lectures, there was nothing that I could quote French on for no reason other then the fact I couldn’t understand the complex language he used to discuss his lecture titled ‘Contemporaneity and the Heft of Photography’. This is lack of understanding is through no way of his fault. After the tutorial for the lecture, I so wish I had understood. For this reason, my post will be segmented between the pre and the post tutorial.

Pre-tutorial: There was no doubt in my mind the Blair French is extremely learned in the field of art and that of photography. The lecture however seemed disjointed. As he stated at the beginning of the lecture, ‘You can’t just look at a blank screen!’ So as a solution he was generous enough to show us MRI scans of a Polaroid camera, however, the relevance of these works to his lecture eluded me.

Post-Tutorial: Following on from discussion that came out of Dupont’s tutorial about the ‘death of photography’, a large portion of today was spent discussing the relevance of photography in the modern world, as well as this need for appearing ‘contemporary’. We all, artists, photographers, designers alike, struggle in the need of appearing contemporary, whilst battling an audience who can now capture images much the same on their mobile phone. Where does that leave us, the studying photographer? I wish I knew!