Welcome! This booklet provides information about the 14 options for you to choose from during Unit X. Please read the briefs carefully and consider how your experience and subject practice enables you to work on a project. Consider, you are choosing a professional brief to bring your skill set to. Whilst you will obtain new skills and enjoy a rich experience, you are not re-learning a new practice. If you are unsure about your options and which to choose, speak to your tutor ahead of the choice deadline. What next? There will be a briefing session on Tuesday 16th February in BZ403. This session will start at 12:30PM and will repeat four times. You will need to attend only one of these sessions. The hour will provide an overview of the project briefs and allow a questions and answers opportunity. Please book your attendance via Option 8 - Moodle page. Making a choice You will all be active on the Option 8 Moodle area. This is where you can make your choice. You are expected to choose 3 options in order of preference; 1 = most preferred, to 3 = least preferred. This is due to limited spaces on some of the projects. It is recommended you read this booklet carefully, and speak to your tutor before you make your choice as soon as possible, Places will be offered on a first-come-first-served basis. Your tutor may advise your choice is not suitable for your learning development, please listen to their advice. Important dates Project choices will go live from 12Noon on Wednesday 17th January 2018, and will close on Monday 5th February at 12Noon. If you need to speak to a member of the unit X team, please contact Robin at R.Slater@mmu.ac.uk alternatively, the team can be located in Chatham 509.
Option 1: Placements / Work Experience Students may negotiate to undertake a full-time work placement during Unit X. This must be discussed with your programme tutor to establish suitability of the placement to your studies. The organisation of your placement must be undertaken with the support and guidance of the Placements team. In order to ensure your placement is a legitimate learning experience and will count towards your studies you must complete Manchester Metropolitan Universities Placement paperwork. It is the students responsibility to provide any placement information and the completed paperwork. For more information contact Sarah on 0161 247 1712 or AHplacements@mmu.ac.uk We define Placements and Work-based Learning (PWBL) as any period of vocational or academic activity where students engage with a third party as part of their programme of study, and where there is transfer of direct supervision to this third party. For ideas of work placement opportunities visit; https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8526453
Option 2 - Oubliette
A co-design brief to design a maths experience for primary school children in conjunction with students from Ed Lab (MMU) and designer Joe Hartley (Oh OK Ltd.) This option is for students who are interested in working with a high profile Live Client, to a focused brief, which meets specific client needs. The brief will involve developing ideas and concepts with regards to making a physical learning experience for Primary School children to engage with Maths. Students are invited to work with colleagues in the Education dept to design and construct a mathsbased attraction, inspired by the rise in popularity of games like escape rooms and the Crystal Maze. Once constructed, visitors will engage with eight rooms, each containing interactive puzzles and challenges drawing on mathematical principles - which they will need to solve collaboratively, and using their whole bodies. The experience will be wrapped in an overarching story and a set of game mechanics which will motivate and encourage persistence. Students from MMU Education faculty (Ed Lab) will design the maths problems with students from the Design dept invited to translate the problems into objects and spaces. The experience will be located in Federation House and open to the public from the end of May. This brief will involve teamwork, ideas generation and hands on building of the spaces; it promises to be a lot of fun! This brief would suit students whose practice is concerned with, but not necessarily exclusive to, 3 dimensional design, interior design, architecture and graphic design. You will work in groups to develop ideas and concepts appropriate to the client brief. The group will be asked to verbally and visually present their ideas in a cohesive and professional manner to the client and panel of experts whilst working individually to identify your role in the team. Limited to 30 students.
Option 3 - Votes for Women!
External collaborators: Pankhurst Centre; Manchester Art Gallery. On 3 April 1913, three suffragettes – Annie Briggs, Evelyn Manesta and Lillian Forrester - attacked a number of paintings in the Manchester Art Gallery as part of their militant campaign for votes for women. Fourteen paintings were damaged in the attack, including works by Leighton, Watts, Rosetti, Millais and Holman Hunt. This project invites students to return to this moment when art was used as a political tool for making visible the demands of the woman’s suffrage movement. 2018 marks the 100 year anniversary of women winning the right to vote in this country; students will work closely the Pankhurst Centre (formerly Emmeline Pankhurst’s house and the birthplace of the Suffrage movement) to develop a publication and an exhibition responding to the history of women’s suffrage, including Manchester’s role in this history. During the project, you will have access to the Pankhurst Centre’s archival material, and will also be given the opportunity to work with Manchester City Art Gallery, the site of the 1913 protests. For the unit students will work collectively to: -
Undertake research to produce a small publication responding to the centenary of women’s right to vote and the wider theme of women’s suffrage.
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Curate an exhibition: sending out a call for artists/artworks (within the School of Art) responding to the 1913 Manchester Art Gallery attacks; selecting and hanging/installing works for the exhibition.
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Organise an event (in conjunction with the Pankhurst Centre) to celebrate the exhibition opening.
This option would suit students interested in the relationship between history, politics, activism and artistic practice; students who enjoy research and writing, and also students interested in developing their curatorial practice/experience. Limited to 30 students.
Option 4 - Educator
This option is for anyone considering how they might deliver their own practice for others to learn from and enjoy. This may include a future ambition to work as a community artist, teacher or as a practitioner who supplements their income through public workshops or artist wishing to engage directly with their audience. During the unit there will be a range of learning experiences that help you to gain skills in teaching, planning, organising, evaluating and reflecting on your practice and the delivery of creative sessions to wide audiences. You will work in groups to:- - - -
Identify and explore education & engagement theory Deliver existing outreach workshops Co-develop and deliver your own workshops for your preferred target groups Develop an outreach event as a culmination of all you have learnt
You will work individually to:- -
Test out your own practice examples, identifying your individual strengths and opportunities Document and reflect on your learning through a blog or similar digital format.
You will be working with external partners, which will include schools, community groups, gallery education and arts-for-health organisations. You will be introduced to current best practice skills and knowledge in classroom management and child/vulnerable adult protection. These must be completed prior to off-site activities. Predominately teaching will take place at Marketplace Studios in Stockport, with some sessions at School of Art, and various partner venues across Greater Manchester. There will be expert input from the Outreach and Community Engagement Team, external partners in their venues (e.g. CASS Art NQ, ARC Centre Reddish), as well as Professional Artists and Designers who work with the public to disseminate creative engagement sessions in varied fields.   Travel to external venues will be necessary. Most partners are within close proximity to the main campus, however there may be options to work with partners more than 10 miles from the city centre. Limited to 30 students.
Option 5 - Language, exhibition, zine  
This Unit X project is about you bringing your current practice and finding ways to work collaboratively with other students around the theme of language. You will work across a range of different media including print, performance, poetry, and sound. At the end of the Unit you will have produced a public exhibition and publication or Zine. The project will focus on the playful relationship between language, material and meaning. We will look at how language is used by artists and musicians such as Cally Spooner, Grand Master Flash, Samuel Beckett, Bruce Nauman and Barbara Kruger. We are working in partnership with the Special Collections library and have ambitions to work with a third party TBC. We will visit the Special Collections archive and look at original print and ephemera including concrete poetry. We will also visit contemporary art galleries. You will put on an exhibition in the special collections library at MMU. (27th April – 4th May). You will also work on a collaborative publication or zine presented in a launch outside of the University for the Unit X Festival. This project will give you an opportunity to test new ways of making, expand on your knowledge of contemporary artists and find out more about performance, archives, image and sound. You will gain skills on setting up a public exhibition and how to make your own publication or zine. The project will require you to work independently in your studio as well as participate in group-sessions. Teaching sessions will take place every Thursday or Friday between 10:00AM-4:30PM. Limited to 24 students.
Option 6 - Future intelligence “Trend forecasting is much like archaeology but to the future.� Lidewij Edelkoort
This is a project about forecasting future design. It asks you to explore how changes in the world around us will affect what consumers will be responding to over the coming years. You will explore design research methods to develop a trend resource that provides inspirational information to other designers or people working in the creative industries. Your trend resource might involve material thinking, future design proposals and product outcomes. This project is open to students from any programme; the outputs can be in any design context. There will be opportunities to work on live projects. Part One - Cultural Radar Working in groups, research some of the key external issues that you feel will affect how consumers buy or interact with design in the next couple of years (e.g. The global circular economy, sustainability, economic concerns, cultural events). From this, create a short, illustrated digital presentation that involves all members of the group. This should be very much ideas based and creative – think of it as a trigger that would encourage and motivate someone to work with your information. Part Two – Forecast Resource Use your group presentation (or with any ideas you found interesting in other groups’) to develop a trend, forecasting or inspiration source. This could be a book, a zine, a film, an online resource, a sample library or an outcome in any other media. Its function should be to provide other people working in the creative industries with inspirational source material to engage with their audience in two or three years’ time. You should undertake significant visual and contextual research, and produce a substantial quantity of development work in a range of media. Part of this should include experimentation with a format for the final outcome and evidence that the clients you are targeting your work at would be receptive to your proposed future intelligence. Other Information: The project will feature teaching across the week but students will be expected to work with their collaborative team outside timetabled sessions. Limited to 24 students.
Option 7 - Theory in/as Practice “No matter how much theory is disguised or repressed, there is no practice without theory. The theory that practice has nothing to do with theory is a theory, a disingenuous and naive one, but none the less a theory.” Terry Atkinson (1990) “Phantoms of the Studio” The Oxford Art Journal 13:1 p49 In art schools there is sometimes a perception that theory is an unnecessary add-on to practice, or even something opposed to it. When the theoretical component of your course is boxed off in your timetables and happens in an entirely different - and perhaps more daunting - environment from the studios in which you develop your work, it can sometimes be a struggle to make a connection with it. This aim of this option is to encourage ownership of theory, to challenge the idea that theory is something separate from your practice as makers, and to develop a sense of how your work is always embedded and engaged in dialogues with ideas at large. It is organised around a student-centered reading group that will meet regularly during Unit X. It is intended for both the confirmed theoryaddict and the theory-curious, and will be a supportive and collaborative environment in which to explore ideas.
If you choose this option, you will: -
Collaborate in selecting texts that speak directly to your individual practices as artists, writers and curators. We will take a very inclusive attitude to what counts as theory – theory can be where you find it, outside of your own discipline, in films and novels and artworks, anywhere that you find ideas and themes that your work can enter into a productive dialogue with.
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Co-lead a meeting of the reading group where you deliver a personal response to a theoretical text of your own choosing: the response can be creative, critical, visual or verbal, as you see fit. -Attend and participate in reading group and studio crit sessions led by other students,
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Develop a visual and/or written response to the discussions: this could take the form of an artist’s statement, a manifesto, a photo-essay, a performance, a short piece of creative writing, amongst other things.
- Work as a group to collate individual responses into an outward-facing summation of the project, possibly a group publication or a student-convened event. Staff will work closely with you to facilitate the group. An initial event will serve as an icebreaker, a chance for you to meet the other group members, and to discuss what might count as theory for your practice. Reading group meetings will happen on campus. This option is run by staff from the Undergraduate Programme in Art Theory and Practice (ATP), which sits in the Department of Art. Our programme is a set of linked awards involving combinations of three subjects: art history, fine art and curating. Both our programme and this option are based on the idea of the inseparability of theory and practice. In the first instance this option has been devised with ATP students in mind, though we also expect it to be of interest to other Department of Art students (Fine Art, Interactive Art), particularly those with an interest in theory and those whose practice incorporates textual and discursive elements. Students from the wider art school are welcome, though the group is being capped at 20 places in order to ensure the reading group remains a comfortable and supportive size for discussion. If we are oversubscribed we will meet with students to identify those that will get the most from the project. Limited to If you choose this option, you will: - -
Collaborate in selecting texts that speak directly to your individual practices as artists, writers and curators. We will take a very inclusive attitude to what counts as theory – theory can be where you find it, outside of your own discipline, in films and novels and artworks, anywhere that you find ideas and themes that your work can enter into a productive dialogue with. Co-lead a meeting of the reading group where you deliver a personal response to a theoretical text of your own choosing: the response can be creative, critical, visual or verbal, as you see fit.
Limited to 20 students.
Option 8 - Publishing There has never been a better time to self-publish. Titles proliferate on almost any subject you care to think about and often there are a range of approaches to popular subjects aimed at smaller or niche audiences. Social networking and mobile devices offer a range of opportunities for extending the brand of a publication and delivering content in ways that are no longer limited to the printed page. This project will take a collective and collaborative approach to the creation of publications, while emphasising and encouraging other entrepreneurial behaviour across disciplines. It will challenge you to think about how we begin to articulate and document practice, while also questioning the role that art and design has to play in not only delivering visual content, but also in persuading an audience about the viability of a project. You will be working with a group of Graphic Design students and will have the opportunity to also work on a preliminary 2-week fashion-focused brief before the publishing work begins. The unit will include workshops and events all focused on an inter-disciplinary approach along with engagement with industry through studio visits and talks. This project will be taught in Benzie 2.10 on Mondays & Thursdays. Limited to 95 students.
Option 9 - Fashion Image Making Working with Manchester Art gallery and Platt Hall Gallery of Costume. This brief is for any student who wants to be involved in producing an innovative visual response to high end fashion garments from the Platt Hall costume collection. The work produced will then be part of a multi-media late-opening event at the Manchester Art Gallery in May 2018. During the unit there will be a range of learning experiences that will help you to gain skills in fashion awareness, image making, collaboration, curation, gallery event production and audience engagement. You will work in small groups to develop an exciting, innovative visual response to the garments and develop an innovative way of presenting the work in a public gallery environment. Teaching will take place in Benzie Building, Platt Hall and Manchester Art Gallery. There will be a need to travel to each of these venues but each are close with good public transport links. There will be expert input by staff from both Platt Hall and Manchester Art Gallery. Limited to 30 students.
Option 10 - Visual translation of text The initial problem is to locate a narrative through the exploration of an archive. Working with the resources of the Museum of Science and Industry students will, research and develop a narrative. The story will then form the basis for visual outcomes in either still or moving images. The project is suitable for students with experience of image manipulation and a desire to apply these skills in a coherent form. For the moving image outcome, it is preferable that students have some working knowledge of basic animation processes / basic editing skills to achieve the best outcome from this project. (Programmes students may use during the project will include Dragonframe / After Effects / Premiere). The project will split into two main responses as follows;
Response option 1 - Book : You will then need to select and identify which aspects or particular issues you would like to explore further in order to create a sequential series of images that corresponds to the narrative to effectively depict a beginning, middle and end. The book will be 32 pages long but this should take into account the front and back endpapers, a title page and a copyright page. (See diagram below). Your illustration should, not only enhance the text but interpret the text, increase visual perception and provide visual information. You will be expected to consider how the selected text will work with your image on the page. Requirements : - Detailed outline sketch of the entire 32 page book. - Original artwork (presented in a portfolio) of the cover (front, back and spine) 3 double page spreads and the endpapers. - Research/evidence of additional reading. - Sketchbooks that show concepts, media ideas and compositional awareness. Response option 2 - Moving image or Animation/set based : Following the Museum visits and talks, you will identify a theme or issue, from which starting point you will explore and develop your response/s. You may respond to the project in any way you choose, including, for example, fictional narrative pieces, non-fictional or information-based or abstract responses. You may connect themes with relevant contemporary social / political issues providing further research opportunity. Requirements : - - - -
An animation / moving image piece with sound. The animation may be produced using any range and combination of digital/ hand-crafted media, the materials connecting contextually with your choice of theme / issue A three-dimensional response, which may be combined with projection. Choice of scale / format / materials is open, but must be well-documented photographically. Research/evidence of relevant wider reading / practitioner research. Sketchbooks that show concepts, media ideas and awareness of planning / storyboarding and / or exploration with materials or three-dimensional space.
Limited to 60 students.
Option 11 - Fiction Records Fiction Records is a British record label founded by Chris Parry in 1978, owned by Universal Music Group and based in the United Kingdom. It is best known for being the home of The Cure for over 20 years. Their legacy extends to the likes of Tame Impala, Elbow, Snow Patrol, White Lies and Ian Brown among many others. Recent artists include: The Big Moon, Kate Tempest, Nick Mulvey and Palace. Access to the Fiction Records discog can be found at: www.discogs.com/label/5810-Fiction-Records
Fiction Records turn 40 this year (2018). 40 years in music is a long time... This is a label that have witnessed first-hand the many shifts in music and how it’s consumed the birth of the CD, the death and re-birth of vinyl, the shift into streaming, weathering the ups and downs of this and all the while maintaining a trusted, independent outlook. This project seeks to devise a collaborative visual response to Fiction’s 40-year legacy. The project is open for original interpretations, the only limitations to the brief are that the work should be in square format and limited to a duration of 1 minute max. Groups are welcome to produce either a single or series of squares, considering the relation to these in a sculptural context. The outcome will be two-fold, with a physical, projection mapped structure created as part of the labels celebrations (to be showcased at a location TBC) and as a series of short-form web films for social media platforms. Creative responses should explore moving image, animation and/or photography. Students from other disciplines are encouraged to participate, it is expected that a basic knowledge of moving image work will be present, although during the project there will be a range of learning experiences that help you to gain skills in post-production/animation and projection mapping. There will be some resources available to existing music videos and album artwork as elements to incorporate, though you are encouraged to either create original content or add/adapt existing material through creative response. Example threads to follow are: -
A response to a single album and it’s legacy
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A narrative response to a song/artist
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A narrative thread through Fiction’s 40 years
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An animated history/era of Fiction
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A visual remix/recontextualising of an existing music video/clip
The overarching thread is what defines Fiction Records - artists, ethos, character? and how you can interpret this as a collaborative project through research and creative experimentation. Limited to 50 students.
Option 12 - Rebel Tartan
Liberation Kilt Company has designed a range of tartans symbolising contemporary social movements. The purpose of this project is to explore in a spontaneous and intuitive way various Textile / Fashion design possibilities for the Blueheart Tartan. Blueheart was inspired by the united Nations’ Blue heart Campaign, an international initiative to raise awareness of the plight of trafficking victims and build the political will needed to fight the criminals who make a living buying and selling human beings. twenty percent of proceeds from the sale of Blueheart fabric and products is donated to the Voluntary trust Fund for Victims of human trafficking, coordinated by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. Info: unodc.org/unodc/human-trafficking-fund.html When exploring design possibilities for the Blue-Heart tartan, you are asked to develop a personal response to it. Incorporate a combination of textile techniques to create a collection of swatches within your team. This response may be broad (your vision for an entire fashion collection) or narrow (focusing on a specific category, e.g. accessories). You will investigate print, weave or knit structure effects to achieve contemporary fabrics with particular emphasis on tartan. Traditional techniques of iconic fabrics such as tartan, paisley, lace and tweed can be used to inspire ranges of unconventional tartans. Tartan is traditionally geometric in structure, but can be designed in an unconventional way; taking abstract elements of block pattern. Techniques could include mixing textures and weights of contrasting yarns, striping with mixed colour combinations, knit weave, felt, embroidery or print. You could investigate more complex solutions of merging techniques within the disciplines or design fabrics separately that sit well together. Concluding in a 6 outfit collection for mens or women. Limited to 20 students.
Option 13 - Maio “The embroidered patterns are about the story of the ancestor of mankind. By embroidering his story on clothes and the cloth with which we carry our babies and singing songs about his story, we believe that he will protect us and our children.� Pan Yuzhen, Miao embroiderer
This is a collaborative design project with Donghua University, Shanghai, China inspired by Miao embroidery from the Gui Zhou region of China, partly funded by the Chinese Ministry of Culture For this brief you will work in groups of 6, 3 from Manchester School of Art and 3 from Donghua. The project is based on a creative and technical exchange between the two Schools and will consist of research, design development, textile / fabric manipulation / finishing sampling and fashion illustration. Your work will be inspiredby Gui Zhou embroidery. Miao embroidery is peculiar to the Miao ethnic group inhabiting Southwest China’s Guizhou Province. Leishan County, Guiyang City, and Jianhe County are the three regions known for their extraordinary Miao embroidery with the design and craftwork of embroidery in these regions differing in materials, colour, motif and process. Their traditional dress also differs from region to region. This is a highly creative brief that concentrates on developing a range of 30 textile samples that can be shared with your group in Donghua who will design and produce an outfit based on your samples. Within your Manchester group, you will then design a 12-look collection (for men or women) based on your research and samples. You may also want to continue to sample. Limited to 20 students.
Option 14 - Endangered Craft The Heritage Crafts Association is the advocacy body for traditional heritage crafts. Working in partnership with Government and key agencies, it provides a focus for craftspeople, groups, societies, guilds, and individuals who care about the loss of traditional craft skills, to work together to raise awareness, develop and support this living, cultural heritage. They do this by: -
Surveying – researching the status of heritage crafts, identifying those crafts in decline or in imminent danger of being lost, and addressing the issues to ensure their survival.
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Advocating – communicating the vital importance of the heritage crafts to Government, key agencies and organisations. Celebrating – raising awareness and raising the status of heritage craft skills with the wider public through a programme of public relations, communications and showcase events.
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Safeguarding – working in partnership with key agencies in the education and learning sectors to identify and support new and innovative ways to ensure that the highest standard of heritage skills are passed from one generation to the next and where necessary recorded for posterity.
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Supporting – to support heritage crafts through a range of means, including advice, networking, training and access to public and private funding.
In May 2017, The Heritage Crafts Association published the Radcliffe Red List of Endangered Crafts identifying crafts considered to be at critical risk of loss or demise in the UK. Their aim was to draw attention to this issue and explore ways in which heritage craft skills could be supported, transmitted and associated craft skills and knowledge could be sustained. The Radcliffe Red List - http://heritagecrafts.org.uk/redlist/list-of-crafts/ Working as part of a team you are asked to respond to the HCA Red List and consider ways in which the cultural heritage of traditional crafts can be brought to the attention of government agencies, national bodies such as the Crafts Council and the general public. This may be through either: -
developing contemporary objects and artefacts made in response to a heritage craft, material or process identified as at risk
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developing contemporary products for manufacture that apply or use heritage craft based methods, materials or processes identified as at risk
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delivering a creative event that engages the public in an activity connected to a craft identified at risk on the Radcliffe Red List
Your team may decide to work collectively towards a common output or develop work as individuals in response to a common theme and/or collective research. Teams with shared interests and goals will be identified and formed through group activities at the beginning of the unit. Submission Requirements -
A body of research that interrogates a craft identified on the Radcliffe Red List
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A range of 2D & 3D material and process investigations made in response to the above research
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A final outcome developed and resolved as appropriate to the brief
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An illustrated blog that critically analyses and reflects upon the research, development and collaborative process
Limited to 60 students