CoP task - Hotdog books challenge

Really struggled with this task, even though I shouldn't have. The practical element of Cop really let me down last year and I'm worried about it happening again. I feel that I should have been able to generate more content for this task, especially because I am so interested in my essay subject.

Idea One

A wholly interactive book - a double sided sticker book called This is Art/This is Bullshit. The premise being that the reader can decide for themselves what is and isn't art. There are a few aspects of this idea that I quite like: 

- Designing the stickers would allow me to further explore type and graphics. Could the stickers be arrows, or pointing hands? Could you it include mix'n'match letters so you could come up with your own conclusions about what art is? Lots of room for play here. 

- Because the question at the centre of my essay is how accessible contemporary art is or isn't,  I think making something as wholly accessbile as a sticker book is quite a neat idea, as it relies completely upon audience participation to serve it's function. 

However, maybe the idea of the double sidedness of the book is a bit much. 'This is Bullshit' presents a very strong opinion, and although I am the examine the pretensions of the Artworld in my essay, I do not intend it to be a damning of it.                              

Idea Two

A kind of 'dictionary' of International Art English?  It could be quite interesting to try and make a visual response to such a strange strand of language. I've loosely termed this idea a 'dictionary', but I'm not sure that that's what it would be, as IAE is more  a weird style of English that having its own specific lexicon. Also, from an illustration perspective, I wonder how much room there would be visual play when trying to make a book about language.

Idea Three

A visual guide to different types of art. This seems the most straightforward idea but if it was handled properly it could also be the most effective. Especially if I focused on it being an a really accessible guide, maybe with a naive aesthetic? What makes This is certainly the idea that seems most neatly linked to the overarching themes of my essay, rather than focusing too closely on one specific element 

CoP2 pre-easter peer review

This review was pretty helpful. The general consensus seemed to be that although I didn't have lots of developmental work to show (which I was expecting) , the work that I have got is promising and shows the beginnings of what could be a very interesting idea.

PLAN OF ACTION FOR EASTER:

• Think through drawing, just try and devote one or two whole days to exploring my preliminary ideas. Once I get into the swing of it, I'm sure the idea will naturally form more fully.
• Start thinking of the format of my book - if I know what kind of publication I am hoping to make, thinking of how to develop final art work resolutions may come more easily.

Essay draft feedback session

The feedback I got for my essay was as good as it could have been considering that the essay is still unfinished, without a conclusion and no bibliography. After the group tutorials I feel confident with moving forward with the final development for my written submission.

PLAN OF ACTION:
- turn the preliminary title into a real, focused question
- Tie together the good, but currently disjointed points that compromise the latter half of the essay, into cohesive paragraphs.
- Add the images
- Arrive at a conclusion (this should follow naturally after reshaping the question)

Although I've still good a fair bit to do, Richard was positive about the way what I have of the essay was written, and suggested that with a little revision and finishing up it has the potential to be a really strong piece of work. Feeling (kind of confident).

Richard also suggested that I read this - it sounds as it it could be exactly the kind of text I need

Cop2 lecture notes: desire

I found this lecture extremely interesting. Obviously I'm getting waaaay ahead of myself, but I've already been musing on ideas for CoP3, and have been thinking about the representation of sex as either sin or salvation. Can't be giving it too much thought just yet, but if I do pursue it I will have to look at lot at theories of desire and the reprisal of desire. 

CoP2 lecture notes: Panopticism

This lecture was simultaneously fascinating and deeply unsettling. A 'big brother is watching you' kinda thing. Lots of interesting social and behavioural theory though, I've never really been forced to think properly about surveillance before. 

CoP - Useful quotes

While trying to amass a solid body to research to back my essay with, I've been keeping a list of quotes from theoretical or philosophical texts that might prove useful.

Philosophical Investigations - Ludwig Wittgenstein 

"If a lion could talk, we could not understand him" 

This took me a while to wrap my head around, but I think I can now understand how it would be useful to my argument, especially in relation to the Triple Canopy essay about International Art English. 

International Art English - Alix Rule and David Levine 

"This language has everything to do with English, but it is emphatically not English"

"IAE is identifiable as the Art world's universally foreign language" 

The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature - Steven Pinker 

"The conscious mind - the self or soul - is a spin doctor, not the commander in chief" 

"The left hemisphere constantly weaves a coherent but false account of the behaviour or language chosen without its knowledge by the right"

Pinker argues the existence of a "baloney generator", a built in device that allows the brain to create coherence out of chaos. Basically, enabling us to bullshit our ways out of just about any scenario. This could be interesting to use in discussing IAE, and the pretensions of the gallery institution. 

CoP research - IAE

Decided I definitely want to take my essay in the direction of the inaccessibility of the art world (I know what I mean by this phrase, but must try to come up with a concrete definition!), using Grayson Perry as the voice of opposition.  This is for a couple of reasons:

• I think the topic of craft/vs/art might be just too big? I don't want to have to compromise on the really thorough analysis of either topic to be able to cover both threads of the argument satisfactorily. 
• As interesting as craft is as a pursuit (and I would probably be able to find plenty of interesting contextual information, especially historical contextual info), I don't want to fall into the trap of accidentally just writing a retrospective about the history of craft. The art world, and especially the contemporary art world is surrounded by such a wealth of interesting theory that I think it will be far easier to shape a line a argument .
• I really want to be write about THIS article in depth, and think that I can only so if I narrow my discussion to one about contemporary art. 

Grayson Perry mentioned this study briefly in the one of his lectures and I looked it up because it sounded so interesting. It would a great thing to use in a discussion about the accessibility of the discourse surrounding contemporary art. Furthermore, I think coming from an academic background and already having an interest in language and linguistics will equip me to be able to write pretty well about this, and to tie in cohesively into my discussion.

AS FOLLOW UP: I've read The Language Instinct by Steven Pinker before, and think I'll try and ding some more of his material, as he offers a lot of interesting and thoughtful insight on the way in which we use language. After reading the triple canopy essay on IAE its pretty clear that the way in which language is used in this field could be a strong point to place at the centre of this essay. Some more language theory would be very useful.