UNIT X 2020 / SECOND YEAR PROJECTS The key aim of Unit X is to bring together students from different creative disciplines to explore collaboration and develop projects in association with regional, national and international partners across art and design. The unit culminates in a festival that takes place between Monday 27 April – Friday 1 May 2020. This booklet provides details of your options. Please consider each project carefully and think about which choice might be most interesting and relevant for your own creative development and studio practice. You should also consider which option might enhance your studies, help you develop new skills and challenge your perspectives. If you are unsure about what to choose you can speak to your tutor or the Unit X team ahead of the choice deadline. What Next? We will be running a series of briefing sessions and will provide an overview of all the projects and allow time for Q & A. You should attend any briefing which relates to a project you are interested in, you don’t need to attend all of them, it’s really up to you. Making your choice You will be sent a link to your student email which will allow you to make your choices. You will be required to choose 3 project choice; number 1 will be your ideal choice and 2 & 3 will be your reserve choices. In the event that an option is over-subscribed you will be allocated your second or third choice.
KEY DATES Tuesday 28 January Unit X L5 projects & choosing form go live. Monday 3 & Tuesday 4 Project briefings. (Timetable on next page) Thursday 6 February Unit X Drop-in. Please come to Benzie fourth floor foyer to have a chat with a member of the team. Sunday 9 February (11:59PM) Deadline for making your final choices. Please note, we will not facilitate swapping; your choices are final. Friday 14 February You will be assigned your project and receive confirmation. Monday 2 March Unit starts. Monday 2 March - Friday 13 March Unit X practitioner talks programme. Visit Moodle for more information of who and when. The programme will go live at the start of the Unit. Monday 27 April - Friday 1 May Unit X festival.
PROJECT BRIEFINGS Each session will last 30 approximately minutes. Monday 3 February •
Suzanne Lacy: Oaklands Revisited - 10:30AM in All Saints Lecture Theatre (3rd Floor)
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Placements - 11AM in All Saints Lecture Theatre (3rd Floor)
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The Open Institution: Kindness, Well-being and Democracy @12PM in All Saints Lecture Theatre (1st Floor)
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Object Illumination @ 1PM in All Saints Lecture Theatre (1st Floor)
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Sharing Stories @ 1:30PM in All Saints Lecture Theatre (1st Floor)
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The Future of Work @ 3:30PM in Geoffrey Manton Lecture Theatre 2
Tuesday 4 February •
Closed Loop @10:30AM in Chatham Room 312
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Language Zine: Material Meaning @ 11AM in Chatham Room 312
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Envisioning the Future of Greater Manchester’s Metrolink Transport System @ 11:30AM in Chatham Room 312
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Paper Geographies @ 1PM in Chatham Room 312
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Storehouse Editions @ 1:30PM in Chatham Room 312
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The Artist must think through to the end... @ 3:30PM in Geoffrey Manton Lecture Theatre 2
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Beyond Educator @ 4PM in Geoffrey Manton Lecture Theatre 2
PLACEMENTS
In association with creative and industry partners - self negotiated. 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 The Schools Placement Team on: 0161 247 3524 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. There are many ways for you to organise your placement. Information can be found on your Moodle page; in the Unit X Student handbook and by contacting the Placement Team. Assessed through a Reflective Submission. Placement details and information will be shared via social media, interview or commissioned film, which will be featured as part of the Festival.
CLOSED LOOP
Design Making Response Site Event Product Film Audio Intervention Installation Engagement Community Place Colour Materiality Process Narrative Sustainability Proposal Group work Design Thinking Consumption Waste
Working with Where the Light Gets In which is located in Stockport’s historic Marketplace. 7 million tonnes of domestic food waste is thrown away every year in the UK1. WRAP have campaigns that aim to enable us to shop smarter, store safer and cook cleverly. Apps like Too Good to Go2 aim to reduce food waste from restaurants by giving the public access to reduced cost ‘magic bags’ of food at specific times of day. Stockport Council is a proactive council, who already recycle domestic waste into Revive Compost which is used to grow food locally3 and there is potential to link with them further with the project. Bringing together disciplines of creative students we can bring a collective perspective to this issue by collaborating with an innovative, sustainable, local restaurant Where The Light Gets In4, (WTLGI) Stockport, Manchester who define their approach to food as Closed Loop (Buckley, 2019). ‘Produce from our own farm lays the roots of the menu, followed by the efforts of those farmers and fisherman we feel blessed to work with. For these reasons, we offer no choice, but invite our guests to experience our ever-evolving menu, bending slightly day to day with weather patterns, sea conditions and the earth’s response. The fertile soils of our land are represented through a vegetable driven narrative. The rich seas surrounding our isles and close relationships with a handful of smallholders offer a supporting role. Engaging fully in a food system that we believe in, our evening menu is comprised of a series of dishes utilising ingredients produced with precision and responsibility, culminating in a balanced menu that both nourishes the body and sustains our ecosystem.’ WTLGI 2019
This project places the student in partnership with WTLGI. It supports the development of creative practitioners who sit within the field of design & making. Students will investigate WTLGI and develop collaborative outcomes that respond to aspects of food - preparation, consumption and waste – providing new ways of thinking that align with circular economy thinking - or the Closed Loop thinking that WTLGI cites as its focus. Some of these outcomes may directly respond to needs within the restaurant and some may be more conceptual or take the ideas beyond the walls of the restaurant e.g. Objects, samples or films related to food preparation / presentation, others may respond to issues connected to food waste, food production, local, etc. We see the cross-discipline students to be connected through a focus on process and thinking through making that resonates both with the Manchester School of Art and with the processes evident within the WTLGI ethos.
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All students will work in cross-programme, collaborative design teams or creative partnerships, collaborating their individual skills and ambitions to develop and prototype proposals inspired by Where The Light Gets In. Groups may work together to either develop a single unified product or range, or develop a range of individual proposals connected by a single theme.
There will be group activities, workshops and events to facilitate the finding and forming of collaborative partnerships, and mentoring to facilitate team working and group design development. ‘The restaurant is a centre for us to create and experiment. There is a lot more to a meal than just the food and so we try to work with as many disciplines as possible and as many people who practice those disciplines. Eventually an evening is born into an experience by the inclusion of various crafts and skills and by working so closely together peoples’ knowledge begins to rub off on each other and we assimilate different ways of working. We can all learn from other disciplines in order to excel at our own. That’s why we’d love to work with the students that make up unit x. It is an invaluable opportunity to learn and grow, to explore and discover through new techniques and modes of working with outputs that can enrich everybody’s development. ‘ Sam Buckley WTLGI 2019
The team of staff delivering this project have a varied and broad range of practice expertise working in Product Design, Lighting Design, Commercial, Film, Installation, Performance publication, Materiality, Process, Space, Environment and Engagement. The project will require students to respond in a mature and sensitive way with an environmental focus in a professional, engaged manner. We anticipate the project to culminate in a 1 day exhibition to be held in WTLGI in Stockport on either a Monday or Tuesday during festival week. We envisage this combining object, film and sample with food - the outcomes may demonstrate strong potential for longer term application either within the restaurant itself or beyond. The location is close to our Marketplace studios – this could provide an interesting link. The Waste and Resources Action Programme (which operates as WRAP), from the Spoilt Rotten campaign www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/article/spoiled-rotten 2 Become a Waste Warrior with www.toogoodtogo.co.uk/en-gb 3 www.resource.co/materials/article/stockport-council-produces-recycled-compost-3081 4 www.wtlgi.co/ 1
STOREHOUSE EDITIONS
Visual Narrative Independent Publishing Experimental Community of Practice Multi-disciplinary Analogue Digital Sculpture Archive Conceptual Print Typography Art Direction Colour Photography
This project will potentilly work in association with; Stack Magazines, The Modernist, Salford Zine Library, Magma Books or Pariah Press. “At its root, the word ‘magazine’ refers to a collection or storage space, stemming originally from the Middle French term ‘magasin’ meaning “warehouse, depot or store”. Culturally the ‘magazine’ has evolved into the role of a “storehouse” of knowledge.” The focus of this project is to study and question the ‘’magazine’ as a form and a tool for visual narratives and concepts. Intersecting the worlds of visual culture across multiple platforms - artists, designers, practitioners will question and produce an ‘edition’ that interprets an assigned starting point with a focus on pushing the format and content beyond the expected. The entire underpinning of the project is about the potential to cross disciplines and explore concepts to not only question the final format, but also the content it may house. ‘Magazines’ (in their loosest sense) can be an integral insight into the professional world and at its core is a multidisciplinary tool for visual narratives. The very classic idea of a magazine incorporates countless roles and spurs collaboration – the art director working with the photographer, the graphic designer working with the writer, the textiles designer working with the stylist, the list goes on. Not only does the role of the magazine generate practice and collaboration in its production and content, it also can act as a vehicle to house and store visual practice and culture. The staff team delivering this project come from a fast paced working culture, and have a breadth of expertise including; Graphic Design, Layout, Type, Fashion, Art Direction, Curating, Publication, Publishing and Conceptual Practice. The project works towards a final exhibition or reading room, presenting the final ‘editions’ or ‘publications’. Some formats may be represented through documentation rather than physical formats, and this is open to interpretation and discussion.
THE FUTURE OF WORK
Interior Space User Design User Experience Installation Art Work Experiential Design Furniture Product Textile Interface Environment Sensitivity Virtual Reality Environment Future Thinking Trend Forecasting
Working in association with Bruntwood. Bruntwood are a large commercial property company and are interested in ‘blue skies thinking’ to come up with new ideas and concepts for the future of work in the city. They are interested in finding out what they need to be thinking about when designing commercial spaces for people with different abilities, disabilities and changing values in the workplace. Students will research, generate and devise concept proposals/ models/ prototypes that give an insight into how the workplace of the future will inhabit our city lives. Focus could be around the interior of spaces, furniture, lighting, foyers, office space, corridors, way-finding, signage, interfaces, artworks and environments. The project is broad and aims to allow flexibility for interpretation across disciplines and media. The project is about the communication of ideas where final proposals will be considered for commission. Areas Bruntwood are particularly keen to explore include: use of colour and surface in interior spaces, how they affect mood, productivity and well-being. How should we be thinking about our sensory surroundings when designing for specific tasks or navigating commercial work-spheres? Students are encouraged to explore the following; • Think about different user groups where Bruntwood operate: Identify the protagonists and their diversity of needs, the elderly, visually impaired, physically impaired, hidden disabilities etc. • How do they interact with office spaces or working environments - what are the challenges each face. • The aim is to understand the priorities of emerging new work patterns, cultures and potential future working environment. The team of tutors and visiting practitioners running this project will provide a foundation and insight into working in professional practice for a real client. Expert input to inspire the project is through the design of spaces, experiences, interiors, textiles and interactive art works and environments. The expertise within the staff team is diverse including Conceptual, Science, Digital, Sculpture, Materiality, Process, Curation, Textiles, Art, Commission Interior Design, Print and Architecture. The project works towards an exhibition at a Bruntwood venue as part of the Unit X festival to showcase the project. There is an opportunity for final select work to be commissioned and displayed in Bruntwood locations.
SHARING STORIES
Intangible Cultures Culture Exchange Heritage Tradition Narrative Embroidery Colour Materiality Fashion Design Product Textiles Illustration Photography Film Graphic Design
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. Unlocking and sharing stories is key to how we communicate the world around us. They provide an important method for how we educate, share, preserve, embellish and rediscover cultures. Throughout history, stories have been carved, scratched, painted, printed, stitched and tattooed. Storytelling is a universal language that encompasses multiple practices. In groups you will explore narratives in response to the Manchester Open Exhibition 2020, Maio community and embroidery. You will start to communicate and explore the Maio culture alongside the Manchester Open Exhibition. This will culminate in a dialogue that delves into the traditions and pasts of both Maio society and Greater Manchester Residents. 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. Manchester Open exhibition brings together Manchester residents who may already identify as artists and those who might not, This includes artwork, paintings, prints, photography, sculpture, digital and mixed media, video and audio, spoken word, performance and more. This is the first region-wide exhibition of its type encompassing entries from people of varied backgrounds and level of experience, including established professionals, new and emerging talent, enthusiastic amateurs and first-time artists. You will meet the artists and unlock stories and ideas to design from. This project will enable you to explore traditional and non-traditional methods of communication, making and materials. You will utilises traditional craft techniques combined with contemporary methods of communication and making. Start to examine and fetishize the everyday life of Maio and Manchester residents, artefact and object. Question their value(s) in society and how this can impact on varied Art and Design disciplines. .
You will explore and communicate this through stitch, textile sampling, fabric manipulation, leather, illustration, painting, word, photography, product and fashion design. You will construct ideas that celebrate your discipline and collaborate in groups for shared outcomes. Handwork alongside digital techniques is an on-going conversation between methods that is central to this brief. Manchester students will also collaborate with students from BA (hons) Fashion Design and MA Fashion Design programme at Donghua University, Shanghai, China initially in a digital exchange of research, concept and ideas. Manchester students will then physically send samples and designs inspired by their research. These samples will consist of embroidery, print, graphics and product in-line with the students’ specialisms. Donghua students will produce garments and products in response to the Manchester students’ samples and designs. The embroidery and surface designs will be produced by the artisans from the Miao minority ethnic group from Guizhou province funded by the Chinese Ministry of Culture. Staff running this project have a background rooted in fashion, with expertise in colour, textiles, multi disciplinary design, embroidery, pattern cutting, collaboration, graphic design, type and photography. The finished garments come to the UK the following academic year and Fashion Art Direction students have produced a fashion showcase of the work. There will be a static and catwalk show in Shanghai in July 2020. This is a fast paced project that is supported by weekly workshops and group reflection. In Design teams you will work together to develop group Narratives. The project will culminate in an exhibition of the produced work and will be featured on the catwalk in Shanghai.
SUZANNE LACY: OAKLANDS REVISITED
Art Social Practice Performance Art Activism Engaged Community Engagement Inclusion Exchange Collaboration Responsive Sensitivity Diversity Digital Filmmaking Photography Art Direction
Working in association with the Whitworth Art gallery. “So dialogue is my paint—and how it elicits emotional responses with the participants is my craft.” Suzanne Lacy, The Economist, 2019 The Whitworth Art Gallery will be hosting a full retrospective of the work of Suzanne Lacy this coming spring. Suzanne has worked across performance, film, installation, critical writing and public practice in communities and will be showing a range of work from the 1970’s through to the present day. As part of the exhibition there is a plan is to ‘reactivate’ the The Oakland Projects, a participatory artwork exploring political activism within youth groups of Oakland, California, focussing on youth groups within Manchester. The project would see a working group of students engaging with groups from the local community to create film content through interviews, workshops and talks. The project would be focussed on film as a key outcome but would benefit greatly from a wide range of skills and practitioners. There is potential to incorporate photographic content within large-scale outdoor hoardings linking to the exhibition/project that could take the form of portraits and/or image and text contextualising the project. A live event will also be a key aspect of the overall output. With this in mind, students from a wide range of disciplines would undoubtedly bring valuable skills and experience to the project. REFERENCE MATERIAL Suzanne Lacy: Suzanne Lacy is a visual artist whose prolific career includes performances, video and photographic installation, critical writing and public practices in communities. She is best known as one of the Los Angeles performance artists who became active in the Seventies and shaped and emergent art of social engagement. Her work ranges from intimate, graphic body explorations to large-scale public performances involving literally hundreds of performers and thousands of audience members. Her work has been reviewed in The Village Voice, Artforum, L.A. Times, the New York Times, Art in America, and in numerous books and periodicals. Taken from www.suzannelacy.com/about
The Oakland Projects (1991–2001) A ten-year series of installations, performances and political activism with youth in Oakland, California. Oakland, California—with its history of political activism, diversity and culture— was the site of a developing youth culture and politics in the 1990s. Between 1991–2001, Suzanne Lacy worked with scores of youth and adult collaborators to produce lengthy and large-scale public projects that included workshops and classes for youth, media intervention, and institutional program and policy development. The Oakland Projects are one of the most developed explorations of community, youth leadership, and public policy in current visual and public arts practice. The work was distributed on television, through lectures, in galleries, on documentary videos, and in articles and books. The Oakland Projects_ consists of eight major works, listed below in chronological order. Please visit The Oakland Projects website (www.theoaklandprojects. wordpress.com) for further in-depth descriptions, videos, photos, news articles, planning documents, and graphics of each work. Additionally, Suzanne Lacy’s Vimeo site (www.suzannelacy.com/the-oakland-projects) contains a dedicated channel of videos documenting _The Oakland Projects_, including extensive behind the scenes footage, participant interviews and several broadcast news segments. Taken from The Oakland Projects, Suzanne Lacy which can be found at www. suzannelacy.com/the-oakland-projects Staff delivery on this project predominantley comes from a filmmaking discipline and practice areas, but with a broad range of experience across areas of moving image, interactive media, creative direction, digital, audio, curation, brand identity, books and photography. While filmmaking will be a key thread to the work, the project would benefit greatly from the input of other courses. Photography will be integral to the brief as we will have a series of portraits/ narratives linked to the project as one key outcome. Equally, skills in art direction, image making, working with youth groups, gallery installation and co-ordinating shoots/events will be invaluable contributions to the project. The project will work towards an exhibition, including; • Final film/s to be screened in the Whitworth as part of Suzanne Lacy’s retrospective at Whitworth Gallery, Manchester. • A series of portraits/images to be screened on digital displays in the centre of Manchester. • A public facing event/talks held during Unit X show week.
Object Illuminations
Object storytelling Archives Object History Heritage Interrogation Exploration Pattern Found objects Interdisciplinary practice Digital Audio-visual arts Audio User Experience Projection mapping Sculpture
In association with the Royal northern College of Music. In conjunction with the RNCM’s centenary events (www.rncm.ac.uk/nsm-centenary) celebrating 100 years since the founding of the Northern School of Music, this project will give the students an opportunity to work in small scale with projection mapping to explore, discover and reveal hidden narratives and hidden worlds within the archives of the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM). Focussing on one space within the RNCM, we will bring to life a select group of objects for a temporary exhibition. This will incorporate the use of projections to ‘augment’ the museum archives through luminescent storytelling. Combining film, animation, photographic and interactive techniques to ‘animate’ a 3D environment, you will work in small groups to create playful, animated objects, exploring object narratives. Pivotal to the RNCM’s archive is a range of works by Thomas Pitfield (www. wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Pitfield). Heralding from Bolton, Thomas was a teacher at the school and a character who epitomised the notion of interdisciplinary artist (poet, composer, engineer, mask maker, print maker…). His work will provide the initial springboard into the project, delving into some incredible drawn, printed and sculpted artefacts including a unique instrument named the patter-phone designed to emulate the sound of rainfall in Bolton! Key works include the satirical operetta, The Devil in White, for which he also created a series of monstrous masks which now reside in the archive. Creative responses should explore moving image, animation and/or photography. Students from all 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 the opportunity to visit the archives at a number of points during the project to document, respond and create content around the collection.
Key Outcomes: •
Augment the museum archives through luminescent storytelling.
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Utilise projection mapping on a micro scale to explore hidden narratives within the museum archives.
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Explore visual storytelling methods through the use of a 3D, multi-surface canvas.
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Explore the creative potential of film/animation/photographic techniques both contemporary and historic to visualise the abstract narratives.
Students will be working with filmmaker Maria Ruban (Associate Lecturer, Filmmaking) and RNCM Archivist, Heather Roberts, who will be able to guide students through the objects in the archive. Students will be expected to devise a visual response to objects and their will be a range of learning experiences in post production, projection mapping and after effects to help you create original material in response to the archive. This can be as open as interpretation of the chosen objects as possible, and students are encouraged to be as broad in their creative approach and unbound by historical contexts. The final exhibition will be shown during an event staged within the RNCM Atrium and across the building. In conjunction with the proposed Whitworth Gallery Unit X project this will help to create a corridor of events along the Oxford Rd. This project is in conjunction with The RNCM Archives’ centenary project, A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music. Established in 1920 as the Matthay School of Music’s Manchester branch, the NSM was founded and run by women. It specialised in training music teachers up until it merged with the Royal Manchester College of Music, and was one of the founding organisations to form the RNCM in 1973.
THE ARTIST MUST THINK THROUGH TO THE END
Visual Language Language Storytelling Illustration Drawing Moving Image Archive Poetry Literature Goethe Contemplative Typography Narrative Engagement
Working in association with The Poetry library. This project draws on the history of poetry in the audio and written archive resources in Man Met’s new Poetry Library (opening 2020). Students will respond to the available collection to generate creative visual outcomes (selecting from a range of given formats) In collaboration with Dr Becky Swain and her colleagues from the Poetry Library students will have the opportunity to make initial responses to the collection, working in teams or individually, through a series of lectures and workshops, responding to the spoken and written word archive material to generate visuals through drawing / making and design processes. Exploring the interdisciplinary nature of roles within professional practice The work will be developed towards one of the following. •
Outcome 1: Narrative book or publication – including dummy designs and finished artwork.
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Outcome 2: Moving image
Staff delivering this project have a broad range of expertise in moving image, animation, illustration and design working in both industry and education for numerous years. The project will culminate in an exhibition of print and video to be held at a venue within the city during the Unit X festival. During this project you will be supported through a series of lectures and workshops supported by regular tutorial group sessions. Continual engagement is necessary. Students will require experience with moving image / animation software and/ or a highly developed interest in narrative image making and/or typography.
PAPER GEOGRAPHIES
Photography Place Visibility Prestige Materiality Documentation Responsive Archive Artefact History Mapping Performance Research Art Direction Consumerism Spatial awareness
In association with Manchester Central Library. This project will explore ideas of photography, materiality and place. The project will be run by staff from Photography and Fashion Art Direction and will look at themes of mapping, performance, identity, spatial representation, the body and city, sustainability and consumerism. We will also consider the presentation of visual imagery, display and exhibition. This project will coincide with the exhibition, Paper Geographies, at the Manchester Central Library (February-May), which features staff from MSoA, and will act as a starting point for this brief. Students will be asked to respond to ideas raised in this show. We will also explore the archives of Central Library and respond to material we find there, using this as a starting point to establish new ways to think about and make physical artwork in response to space and place. We will be working with photography in its broadest sense. This might be through archives, found photography, moving image, installation, sculpture, performance or simply responding to source photographs. The student does not need any particular technical skills in photography, and conventional approaches to photography will be strongly discouraged. A number of practitioners will deliver this project, specifically; Richard Page (Programme Leader of Photography) who has curated the exhibition Paper Geographies. His own photographic practice explores documentary and place. Sian Bonnell (Reader in Manchester Fashion Institute) is an artist, curator and publisher. Last year she curated JUMP! For the LOOK Festival, presenting work from 50 fashion imagery graduates from the UK and China.
Sarah Howe (Lecturer Photography) works with installation, using still and moving image within a sculptural space. She is currently in the exhibition On Edge: Living in an Age of Anxiety at the Science Gallery in London. Yan Preston has published photographic work that depicts contemporary China. Her work He She explored themes of Identity for a recent commission at Open Eye Gallery. Students will work responsively, and will be expected to engage with critical ideas presented. Workshops will focus on; Library archive material; Art practices of investigating space; Exhibition presentation considerations. Students will work in groups, and must engaged with one another The resulting work will be presented in the main exhibition space of the Manchester Central Library. The exhibition will open during the Unit X Festival and run until the end of May.
THE OPEN INSTITUTION: KINDNESS, WELLBEING AND DEMOCRACY
Art and Society Art Audiences Art Institutions Arte útil Audio Guides Sound Art The City User Experience Way Finding Gallery Gallery Interpretation Podcasts Research Site Specificity Social Practice Walking as Art Wellbeing Writing
In association with Manchester Art Gallery.
What might a city art museum be in the 21st century? What conversations can it be part of? Can it play a part in repairing social division and improving wellbeing among its public’s? How can institutions still associated with elite taste and the top-down presentation of high culture be opened out to new uses and new voices? Staff at Manchester Art Gallery are thinking about these questions in relation to their exhibition strategy, the way their spaces are used and the function of the museum in the city. This project invites students from Manchester School of Art to contribute to this thinking, and to add their voices to the conversations that take place within and beyond the Gallery’s walls. This project is also a reaffirmation of the links between two venerable institutions, 140 years after the School of Art moved from its rooms in the basement of Manchester Art Gallery’s building on Mosley Street (then known as the Royal Manchester Institution). Students will respond to the themes of the project by collaboratively producing visitor resources for Manchester Art Gallery aimed primarily at young adults (16-30y). These resources will be audio works distributed as podcasts via the Manchester Art Gallery website. They can involve very different approaches: responses to the works in the Gallery’s collections of art and design objects; considerations of its social functions; mappings of its interior spaces; explorations of its setting and its place in the city; creative interventions within its walls. A launch event at the Gallery also provides the possibility of live performances. The scheduled sessions for this project will take place at Man Met and at Manchester Art Gallery; we will be working and collaborating in community workspaces that have been set up within the Gallery’s exhibition rooms. There will be a programme of taught sessions relating to the different aspects of this project, involving art history staff, curators and museum professionals from Man Met and Manchester Art Gallery. Technical facilities and support will be provided at Man Met.
Staff expertise delivering this project are heavily involved in UG Programmes Art Theory and Practice (ATP), a group of four degrees in the Department of Art and Performance involving combinations of art history, curating and fine art practice. ATP is a multi-disciplinary environment and the staff involved are theorists working directly with practice students. Like ATP’s teaching, this project will involve humanities methods (lectures, seminars, set readings, writing), project work (particularly for curating) and individual forms of creative practice. The project will work towards visitor resources: audio works (podcasts) that will be accessible via the Manchester Art Gallery website. A launch event at Manchester Art Gallery provides the possibility of live iterations of the works: performances, tours, interventions This will be a tightly paced live project leading to the production of visitor resources for one of Manchester’s most significant cultural institutions. There will be taught and collaborative elements at both Man Met and Manchester Art Gallery: engagement and attendance at all scheduled sessions is vital. The production of the resources visitor themselves will involve small groups working independently, with support from Man Met and MAG staff.
BEYOND EDUCATOR
Communication Engagement Practice Creative learning Discipline Learning Safeguarding Community Education Exchange Failing Resilience Reflection
In association with Outreach and Widening Participation Team Manchester School of Art, Secondary Schools in Greater Manchester, Art & Design Saturday Club, Cass Arts and Marketplace Studios. The Beyond Educator unit investigates how the varied practices of Level 5 Art School students can be explored to interrogate creative learning and teaching, knowledge exchange and varying educational models. Through observing shared experiences, unpicking discipline boundaries/differences/overlaps, students will build on collaborative skill-sets to devise, develop and implement high-end creative outreach engagements across the region and to a variety of audiences. Beyond Educator facilitates students in reflecting on their experiences of projectbased learning and the Art School, to interrogate ways of communicating creative practice to wider audiences through meaningful learning experiences. Students identify existing skills to develop their potential through skills audits/reflection on educational experiences, in order to develop and acquire new skills and acknowledge future aspirations for the project; explore new areas of practice; and highlight ways to organise collaborative group working. By valuing each student’s experiences, competencies, personalities and discipline specialisms, we collaboratively draw an understanding of complex educational issues and provide platforms for professional outreach outputs+testing+reflection to take place. Taught delivery provokes creative responses and research starting points to allow personal and reflective experiences throughout the unit to be innovative and creative; advocating learning methods discovered through creative practice. Students might be aspiring ‘education’ professionals, interested in developing teaching, learning and/or audience-engagement skills within various fields. These might include, but are not exclusive to - formal teaching, gallery facilitator, community artist, arts for health practitioner, public workshop facilitator, interactive artist/curator, art historian. External Engagement/Placements will be negotiated between students and teaching staff in collaboration with external partners and are subject to demonstration of commitment from the student. Students will work in groups to: • Deliver existing outreach workshops • Co-develop and deliver new workshops for community and/or school groups
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Pitch ideas, workshop proposals and devise briefs for outreach activities Develop an outreach event for the Unit X festival
Students will work individually to: • Test out examples of individual practice, identifying individual strengths and opportunities/aspirations • Attend tutorials and 1:1 session with tutors and external facing project leads. • Document and reflect on learning through a digital portfolio. Collaboration and communication are explored on multiple levels: in ‘safe’ staff/ peer supported test engagements; through individually-organised placement; through staff-organised placement; through collaborative event-management and delivery, through the use of a reflective digital portfolio. Unit staff are keen to support and facilitate innovative and original ideas so nothing is prescribed and everything is negotiable. Staff delivery on this project includes; an experienced Project Coordinator for Manchester School of Art. Coordinating interdisciplinary, external facing projects that develop collaborative exchanges between students, young people and organisations across Greater Manchester. Also practicing as a Maker and core member of Makers Dozen design collective and has recently curated a largescale graduate exhibition for Designer/Makers and managed a commission for an arts and heritage project in the city. The second lead is the Faculty’s Outreach Manager, with a parallel focus on career-readiness, incubation and enterprise within the creative sector. An active creative practitioner with over 25 years’ experience of teaching in HE/ FE, including international projects; and as a freelance educator working with children and adults. Both practitioners co-manage the Professionalising Practice Project (P3) for the faculty offering students the opportunity to develop training, attend workshops and enter into live briefs to extend professional practice working across all courses All students will have the opportunity to deliver sessions, workshops, and/or teach relating to their identified professional aims or practice. Your project outcome can be self-directed or identified, and will be supported by Elle and Clare. If you have an external facing project or idea for a project then you can negotiate this as part of your unit work. There is opportunity to devise & deliver a creative engagement for visitors to the Unit X Festival.
12.
LANGUAGE ZINE: MATERIAL MEANING
In association with Manchester School of Art, Special Collections and
Text Language Layout Type Editorial Collaboration Context Poetry Exchange Subversion Experimentation Group Work Literature Professional Networks Zine Publication
Working in association with HOME. This option focuses on the playful relationship between language and zine creation. Within this, students will examine the different creative forms language can take i.e. a concrete poem, instructional art, a script, automatic writing, sign painting etc. They will also examine the different forms a zine can take in response to this i.e. a catalogue, a document, a sculptural book, an interventional object etc. Contextual framework is delivered by staff, visiting talks and off-site visits to galleries, covering contemporary practice relating to language and zine publication. Group work is the focus of this unit and skill-sharing is vital. Students will make a zine within small, cross-disciplinary groups to be presented at a zine launch on the final Unit X week. Creative responses through a body of work: Students will attend weekly workshops and lectures as well as working on ‘homework’ outside of sessions. A portfolio will be generated by each student, showing their individual responses to themes and making during workshops such as, automatic writing, bookbinding and concrete poetry. This portfolio will be submitted as a digital journal at the end of the unit. Working within unfamiliar contexts: Students are discouraged from working within their usual field of study, instead they must explore different ways of working during taught sessions and within group work. Design students are encouraged to be more experimental within their making, by exploring painting, sculpture, performance and interactivity. Fine art students are encouraged to focus upon different media, including a focus on design skills i.e. possibly typography, layout and publicity for the launch event.
Practice through collaboration: Each student will work within a small group, which will include a mix of practices. Last year this project attracted students from a large range of courses including Filmmaking, Graphic Design, Illustration & Animation, Fashion & Art Direction, Fine Art and Fine Art & Art History. These students were grouped diversely, within which students shared their existing skills to other members of the group i.e. Fine Art students gained knowledge of typography and layout from Graphic Design students. Presenting outcomes to an informed audience in an appropriate form: This occurs in two parts, via a 5 minute group presentation to a panel of professionals (mid-unit) and a zine launch at HOME. Local creatives will be invited to the launch including, HOME staff, Castlefield Gallery staff, Rare Mags directors, local artists and poets. Staff expertise within this projects includes a practicing Fine Artist, who also has a background in professional Graphic Design Contexts, foremostly signmaking. Additionally, staff have a range of expertise including Fashion, Art Direction and Photography. Cross disciplinary is therefore the focus of this project. Self-direction and motivation are necessary, alongside a steadfast commitment to collaboration and group work. Although you will be given contexts to respond to and tutorials to guide you, you will be expected to work on your own initiative and you will not be given a prescriptive brief. You will need to have an openminded attitude and be open to discovering new ways of working. The project will work towards a zine launch event at HOME. Students are encouraged to work with how a zine is framed within a launch, therefore there is a focus upon and installation, interactivity and performance. Industry professionals will be invited to the event, to build students’ professional networks.
ENVISIONING THE FUTURE OF GREATER MANCHESTER’S METROLINK PUBLIC TRANSPORT SYSTEM
Human Centred Design Connecting People and Places Co-design Service Service User Comfort Accessibility Urban Narratives Urban Environment Public Space and Experience City Transport Networks Economy User Experience Wellbeing
In association with Transport for Greater Manchester and The Royal National Institute for Blind People. This is a design innovation focused project. It draws upon co-design, and multidisciplinary collaborative approaches for its delivery – engaging in Design Thinking methods, co-creation workshops, and human-centred approaches to design. The project would be relevant to students from a spectrum of practices, as designers of all disciplines are increasingly expected to engage in complex problems, involving social, cultural, technological, and economic issues. Responding to societies ‘big challenges’ requires working in diverse teams – delivering distinct discipline skills within the context of multidisciplinary practice. The pursuit of more sustainable and carbon neutral modes of transport across UK cities is increasingly informing the development of urban planning and transport infrastructure. Therefore, public transport systems such as TfGM’s Metrolink requires continuous evolution as it serves greater numbers of passengers with a growing diversity of needs. Specifically, this project aims to develop a range of proposals that envision the future of public transport on the Greater Manchester Metrolink tram system and its connections to the wider public transport network. Responses could consider; The tram interior - TfGM trams carry huge amounts of people each and every day. The passenger groups are from a wide variety of ages and backgrounds with an equally wide variety of needs. The trams get very crowded with commuters at peak times, and when events are taking place, so it’s important to think about the design of the carriages in relation to the movement and flow of people. Groups should consider the interior of the tram, the furniture, lighting, fixtures and fittings as well as the use of technology and visual communication to improve the user experience. It is also important to consider different user accessibility needs, physical and mental health issues, as well as designing out opportunities for crime and vandalism.
Beyond the tram interior - Station and platform design is an integral part of the user experience. Customers are often waiting at an open platform but when the tram stops at the platform the interior and exterior spaces become as one, providing scope to re-examine the movement of passengers on and of the platform area. Furniture in the public spaces, signage, ticketing, zone and destination information, and the use of digital/visual communication could also be considered. The urban environment – As the TfGM tram network continues to expand, it is connecting towns and venues across the region. Integral to GM’s vision for the promotion of social and economic development is the recognition of the region’s rich cultural capitol, from contemporary arts, to industrial heritage. Public transport networks such as TfGM Metrolink provides both the means to connect people to places physically via the rail network, but also provides the vehicle for a connected urban narrative to be explored, from public arts to community services, as passengers journey from place to place across the region. Staff delivering this project have a wealth of experience, with backgrounds in delivering multidisciplinary collaborative projects, user-centred research, and design thinking. Additionally you will work with staff with expertise in socially engaged project delivery and working with under represented groups with a variety of needs, and a particular interest in haptic design issues. Additional staff will support the project in-line with student numbers. Students will be expected to work in multi-disciplinary teams, initially to research the existing issues of tram travel, discovering user/passenger needs, and then working creatively to identify opportunities for how these may be addressed. Proposals could take the form of prototypes, spatial layouts and models, digital or printed graphics, textiles and surface pattern designs, public space installations, etc.
NOTES
Louise Adkins - Senior Lecturer & Academic Lead for Unit X E: l.adkins@mmu.ac.uk T: 0161247 3532 Clare Campion - Collaborative Projects Support Manager E: c.campion@mmu.ac.uk T: 0161 247 1904 Adriano Digaudio - Professional Practice Support Manager E: a.digaudio@mmu.ac.uk T: 0161 247 1978 Marcus Lord - External Liaison Manager E: m.lord@mmu.ac.uk T: 0161 247 4625 Robin Bracey - Placements Officer E: AHplacements@mmu.ac.uk T: 0161 247 3524 UNIT X SOCIAL MEDIA Twitter: @ProjectUnitX Instagram: @ProjectUnitX Blog: www.projectunitx.wordpress.com Webpage: www.art.mmu.ac.uk/unitx Please tag Unit X in your social media posts using the above information. If you have any questions about these accounts, please contact Clare Campion.