Final preparations and opening night

The day of the opening was a hectic day where everything came together. It was a really great feeling to see all our hard work come together and create a professional looking exhibition. The majority of the work was up by Wednesday but we still had a lot of work to do and some of the images only arrived on Thursday morning due to printing issues. This was not a problem though as we had put in a lot of hours making sure everything else was ready. I think we all worked well together sharing the skills that we had to make sure that everyone's work looked at its best.

I think the little touches such as the vinyl lettering that Joe made, the standardising of the statements and the lighting of the work really made a difference in making the space look cohesive and professional. (sorry i didn't photograph all of   them)


Thursday went very fast and me and Tess had only just finished getting ready when people started arriving! I was completely unprepared for the amount of people that showed up to support us and the gallery was rammed for the first half of the night, turning the usually freezing place into a bit of a sauna. At the start I felt very nervous as i have never had to explain my work to people outside our group and it was very daunting but feedback on all the work and the show as a whole was very positive. I think all our hard work definitely paid off. Unfortunately I didn't take any photos on the night and it doesn't seem like many others did either (for photography students we don't seem to take many pictures!). Colette managed to take one of the group so i have borrowed it from Facebook.

Now the hard work begins

Saturday 5th May.

Venue: Blank Space Gallery Manchester.

With just less than a week to go before the opening night, the core team assemble to begin the preparation of the gallery space.

It was apparent that we all felt a little anxious at the thought of our peers, family and friends 'judging'
the work on top of curating our own and 5 other students by next Thursday!

Not wanting to sound to sickly sweet, but the team have gelled incredibly well and continued to support each other by helping cut, fix and discuss the right heights, spaces and orientation of each other work.

We all began by helping Alex. Discussing and testing the optimum height for her 3 large images.
I then began the nervous task of trimming them down. Each image needed some form of cut so I took my time "measuring twice and cutting once!"

Tes arrived with helper to construct her 'estate agent' presentation. It was really cool to see her images in this context. I instantly found myself engaging with the work, looking at the images and evaluating whether I would like to live in her 'manipulated' dwellings.

The position of my 'installation' is at the end of a long 'dark clothed' corridor. A setting left behind by the original artist, which I felt helped convey a physical and metal journey for my final piece.
I set about constructing my 1.5m x 2.3m back projection screen which would be positioned at the far end of the space. There was a little adjustments made here and there to allow for a hidden radiator and protruding windowsill but nothing major. I managed to rip the 'roof' placing the frame, which Alex offered to fix (nice one Alex)
The whole construction is made of timber with a large A frame foot at the base for stability, which will be weighted down by a sandbag (health and saftey!)

The projection material arrives Tuesday which I will staple to the frame.

 

Joe was using the space behind my screen where my projector will sit for running power to his handmade light boxes. I caught him in the act like some old miner working at the coalface!
Never has Joe Lights name been better illustrated! 

Stage 1. complete.

After The Deadline

Hi guys I was thinking since we have to hand our folders in before the exhibition has actually happened we should use this to put up an evaluation after the opening night that the tutors can see. As we cant really evaluate it completely before its even happened.

Also we need to decide on a font for the statements, for our own work and people who are contributing so everything is standardized. I have a bit of foam board at home (probably not quite enough for all the statements) and plenty of photo mount so we don't need to buy any.

One last thing we really need to find out if there is going to be any food and who is supplying it as there seemed to be some confusion about this. Also how much wine and beers do we think we will need, it would be bad if we ran out.

Hope everything is going well!

Layout

Image choices

1

  Basically since my most  recent tutorial I have become unsure how many images to do and if they are too repetitive to remain interesting after you have seen the first one.  I think I want to do 5 images but if less works less ill do that. What do you guys think? They aren't going to be framed just mounted on wood.

2

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8

Hi guys, I think I've finally found my third image. Still needs some work yet but this will give you an idea of what my section will look like.

In the small room I will have one image on either wall. All A2 and on lightboxes. These are individually mains powered.

I've read the small print of that bank account and it has a minimum deposit value of £500 per month and a minimum contract length of 3 years, incurring a charge for transactions after the first two years. Don't wanna be pessimistic but I don't think that's for us. So as checks are concerned who do you think we should make them payable to? I don't mind handling the money side of things as I have a spare account but would need everyones approval.

Tess: We were discussing a few weeks ago the idea of writing a short piece of writing to accompany/set up/introduce our work. It's difficult but were a team so can throw some ideas around. We will then all look at each others statements and see whats what. You're images look great though!

Thanks, Joe.

Newbie, examples of work

So as you know I've climbed onto the exhibition wagon, just thought it would be best to post on here to introduce my images.

I understand that as an exhibition you are already well under way as a group and have themes etc. that go well together, and if you do not think that my images or my idea will fit into this context then I will understand and use the backup plan of the original book!

My project is about Status Anxiety, and how people feel the need to expand and succeed to fulfil the perfect image laid down by society. The images are within the same context, concentrating on housing, using manipulations to augment particular items such as windows, garages, doors etc. I am also removing items such as entrances and windows.

I've found that in my tutorials it has become increasingly difficult to explain my project, but I am hoping that the images will explain themselves! Here are a few examples of the kind of images I am working on now, I would appreciate some feedback if possible.

*UPDATE*

After Joes response, just thought I'd update these images that I am working on, they are changing everytime I work on them I don't know if I will ever be happy with them, but none the less:

 Lense corrected, as much as possible.

 Also lense corrected, manipulations altered.

 Possible new image