MA Week 42 - Dissertation underway

Nothing visual to show this week. I didn’t get into the Print Room as I was away Friday/Saturday. However, I have made a start proper on my dissertation. I had a really good tutorial with my very patient tutor, Sharon, on Wednesday, which confirmed I’m on the right tracks with the structure. Since then I’ve spent time putting some flesh on the bones, so to speak. I’ve read a bit about psychogeography but there’s still more to do. I’ve been reading The Situationist International : A User Guide by Simon Ford (2005) , in which he describes Guy Debord – who is the founder of the Situationists International Group and the father of psychogeography – as seeing the psychogeographical walk as a drift, called the dérive.  See this Week 42 blog post for a summary of this. This contrasts with Tina Richardson’s viewpoint which she expresses in one of the chapters of the eminently readable book she’s edited, Walking inside out : Contemporary British Psychogeography (2015), in which she sees the psychogeographical walk as being more purposeful than just a stroll. So more reading and thinking to do. However it does seem Debord’s original idea allows for random and chance encounters, so this does help with my ideas of walking along and being open to whatever you might come across.

 

I also had the pleasure of meeting up with some members of staff from Leeds Beckett University on the same day, to talk about taking part in their “Being Human” event. There were four of us in total, from different backgrounds: English, History, Cultural Studies, and me! The plan for the day is to take groups of attendees on a short walk in the city centre, then invite them to reflect on what they’ve seen and experienced through creative writing and some sort of visual response (which is where I come in – it will probably be through collaging pre-cut shapes). We walked the short route and we all saw different things and could give different comments and insights from our various backgrounds. It was a very short burst of interdisciplinary collaboration and it was quite fascinating. I’m really hoping that I can get to the day and that it will be equally interesting.

This week, I’ve met one of my Twitter friends, Jane, in the flesh. That was great, to sit and natter away over lunch about our respective art practices. For the rest of the week it’s dissertation and hopefully the Print Room on Thursday.