I was privileged to take part in an online residency in early December 2020, facilitated by Cel del Nord, which is based just outside of Barcelona. Unlike the residency I did earlier in the year with Proyectco’ ace this one was an intensive over one week with a smaller group, and I was keen to see what difference the format might make.
My aims for thisresidency were:
- Researching digital afterlife, and AI & creativity further
- Taking my ‘Six Centuries’ project to the next level
- Making new connections and extending my network
- Creating some dedicated time to reflect on my work to date and set some new goals for 2021
- Gaining some clear and honest feedback on my approach from others who do not know my work
If I had any concerns it was about how well the process might work – whether my ideas would flow as I had hoped and expecting too much of myself in the time. These were quickly dissolved as we met as a group and started sharing our insights.
The programme started on the Sunday with initial introductions and ran until the following Friday afternoon, with check-ins twice a day. In the mornings we met for as long as needed to discuss what we had done the day before and what we would do that day. In the afternoon one of the group presented their body of work to the others. This allowed to get us to know each other a little better and for the presenter to ask questions of the rest of us. We also stayed in touch throughout the day using Telegram (a WhatsApp type platform), this was really useful for sharing work in progress as well as references and the work of other artists that might be of interest.
My presentation was first up on the Monday afternoon, which was a little daunting, but it was good to get it out of the way early. As ever, it was a useful opportunity for me to review and edit my body of work in the hope that it would have some kind of coherence for others. This time I was quite ruthless and really stuck to my most recent body of work.
For our application we had to outline why we wanted to attend and what we might offer, once accepted we had to prepare a newsletter of areas of interest, inspiration and quotes. Although I wasn’t completely sure what was expected at the outset, I found this an incredibly helpful exercise.
My newsletter was divided into four quadrants that identified artists that have influenced me, research around digital immortality, the theoretical framework of Neomateriality and computer creativity. This was a great way of highlighting the issues that are important for me at the moment.
We were a small group of five international, women artists, and seemed to connect and bond very quickly despite only be able to work virtually. Our work was very varied, including neon pieces, glass work, artists books, illustration, painting, photography and digital work. Themes included sacred geometry, the holocaust, climate change and socio-cultural issues. Members of the group were incredibly generous in sharing their insights, references, and ideas. I now have a long list of artists to follow up and more reading to do.
I found it useful with each presentation that we asked for support in a particular area, it certainly helped me focus on an aspect of the work I wanted to develop and get some early responses from people who hadn’t known my work beforehand. It made the group crit process really constructive.
Throughout I felt very supported, able to share my thoughts and my vulnerabilities and not have to have all the answers. I was so impressed with the quality and range of the work of the others and I think this helped us all be more ambitious for own work throughout the week.
I was really pleased to have been part of this residency and to have had such a rich shared experience with very a supportive group. I enjoyed the intensity of a focused week as it gave me the opportunity to have some dedicated time with my work. I very much benefited from the collaborative elements of the residency and I gained so much richness from us all having such different perspectives and approaches. I definitely felt I had achieved the aims I wanted for the residency, and more. I still have a tendency to be over-optimistic about what can be achieved in a period of time but I am getting better at not beating myself up about it! It was good to have had the sense of camaraderie, find new connections and hear how others approach similar challenges. I think we gave each other confidence to develop new ideas, keep experimenting, and set small achievable goals (particularly given the current context).
The feedback I got about my Six Centuries project (more posts to follow) was very helpful and it seemed to generate interest from the others, which was good to know. It was also helpful to get general responses to my wider body of work and even to get some additional primary research data on digital afterlife.
During the residency I focused mostly on research into AI, but I did experiment with some different machine learning approaches. One used a single dark red/black rose, often a symbol of bereavement, loss and mortality. I am not sure this works as well as the other images I am using for the Six Centuries project but it was interesting to play with it.
I now have a number of distinct development tasks to work on:
- Finish preparations for the Beyond the Boundaries exhibition
- Create online elements for Beyond the Boundaries to augment the physical pieces and/or be ready should the show be postponed
- Complete the ‘Algorithmic Imagination’ zine
- Do more research on ML and AI in relation to creativity
I will also keep the residency format in mind going forward, and although I know it won’t have the same effect doing it on my own, setting aside some dedicated time with clear goals is something I’d like to do more of.
The Rose film is great.