Month: March 2022

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De-centring competition

After a crit on competition & its inevitability...(?)

I believe competition (especially in a capitalist frame) to be an inherently colonial practice.

Reflecting on the first ‘multi-national corporations’, a rush to extort resource was at the heart of the Indies companies of certain European nations.

And when we consider certain European nations, artistic genius of the Renaissance appeared after war and squaller. Through master-apprentice exchange, classical works emerged.

This may be a flat reading of history but I believe it illustrates a certain point.

We can choose to see resource as finite for extraction.
Zero sum neoliberalism.

Or we can consider how much space we need, and build with enough for others near and around is. Build each other up when we like what the other is doing. Build big or small, it doesn’t matter, because the greatest artists are not (necessarily) defined by size or rarity of materials.

While certain 0 sum situations exist and competition dominates these environments (any ‘Head of’ position), there must be a way for even these spaces to exist where the creation is at the core.

The problem and solution, or feeling to explore and connect.

It doesn’t matter what the art is, music artists are as important as visual ones.

and in 2022, there is enough resource to go around, so why not just do what you can and focus on what you want to do?

Competition is about taking what is there.

Collaboration is about giving as much as you feel comfortable.

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Microteach Pt 5: The Cohort

Microteach pre-submission reflection, what has stuck with me?

1
Images in alternative media & the virtual learning space.
This requires great consideration and investment to do to a high level.
Eliott’s 3D had great affect. I was enamoured for a large amount of time.
It was tactile that allowed me to embody images in an Artaudian sense.
The Virtual Knowledge of Images, perhaps?

2
Depth, simplicity and tactility.
A sense of theatre and personal connection.
Shumi’s microteach used object-based learning in a wonderful way.

3
Time
Not being able to see them all
Short time to introduce an idea, but many ways to approach.
Going deep & direct, a meandering path, from many angles, out from a point.
To what end? The intention behind the gesture is key.

How do I relate this to my practice?
A Virtual Knowledge of Images is quite interesting tbh.
It’s interesting to use this with the mundane: virtual learning tools collectively taking us beyond the dimension of individual homes.

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Homing Pigeon Vs Starling Murmurations (or An Ode To Paolo Freire)

These two videos quite aptly illustrate and describe my opinion on the education I received, vs the education I wish to be a part of.

This distinction is important. The intention is key but the creation requires willing partners. Birds who recognise a mutual desire to fly (converse/learn) and want to move together. Play and show off, as questions and push ourselves/each other.

The homing pigeon is an outdated model akin to Paolo Freire’s notion of a ‘banking system of education’. As someone pushed towards a career in banking (or finance at the very least), I have particular disdain for this notion. I want students to experience their ability to affect the environment, how important that is to their learning experience, and as a result, why their attendance is key. It is the intelligent side of democracy, small and nimble enough to keep accountability intact.

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Waiting for Godard

OK I’M SORRY NO I’M NOT LOL AHA

Yeah so I love Waiting for Godot and Jean-Luc Godard.

Despite my disdain for puns…one should never pass up a silver platter.

On to more pressing matters, much of the reason I am here is a result of Godard.

I am the fugitive running from the camera, clambering, slowly stumbling through the street.

Barely trying but only really failing at giving up, until there is nothing left to give.

It’s a poetic end to an iconic film. This was an image I carried with me.

I could cite Nam June Paik’s comment on culture. I will: The culture that’s going to survive is culture you can carry around in your head. Arthur Jafa talks about Black music being living proof and the greatest example of the notion. It’s hard to disagree. But many images hold that mantle in many memory palaces. (The idea that our minds store memories in a palace where we can store and access images, information and ideas).

The jump cuts of the car scene occupy that position in my mind.

The nothingness of À bout de souffle kills me. I love it tenderly and it is because of Godard’s many works that I have come full circle to….

A pedagogy of images.

That the first text I selected in the first exercise would bring me back to my cinematic godfather is poetic justice.

The works I wish to emulate are somewhat different. But this is a gallery of Godard’s notion ‘It is necessary to confront vague ideas with clear images’

Voila,

Idées vagues/images claires:

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Microteach Pt 4: Go Further

Consider the ability and positionality of learners. Consider the disabled queer PoC. The subaltern, or not. This hypothetical person may have anxiety or be blind. How can my delivery accommodate their needs and positionality?

Perhaps I will consider images that utilise all considered/usable senses? Something that is traversable? Interdimensional? This is context specific as many different objects can be used to illustrate a given learning outcome.

Text (is approximately) equal to…
Photo (is approximately) equal to…
GIF (is approximately) equal to…
Sound sample (is approximately) equal to…
Pattern swatch.

Can I illustrate this through an example?

Burberry pattern. Image. Text. Audio. Textile. Video.
Tick tock clock. Still Image. Text. Audio. Touch. Textile. Video.
Mint. Still Image. Text. Taste. Smell. Audio.

This is what I mean by interdimensional images and what I believe Artaud points towards when he speaks of a physical knowledge of images on a surface level. Going deeper I believe it is about the physical evocation of emotion.

In the above examples they could be:
Icon
Apprehension
Mother Nature

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Microteach Pt 3: Reflection

It was in that (starred) moment that a few people in the room were feeling out of their comfort zones.

Shumi drew attention to feeling too uncomfortable to do such a thing. Eliott spoke of economic requirements of lecture hour allocation and consideration of formal ‘teaching’. (quotation marks my own). I felt from a few members in the room that they were having their own experience.

I had hoped my point had landed regarding personal agency over initiating information exchange (teaching). But considering Eliott’s blog post, his key takeaway focuses on the (very real) pressure on academics to squeeze learning into every moment. Time and space to engage in such an activity appears luxurious.

It is interesting to reflect on a colleague’s reflection. I will reflect on this reflection at some later reflective point.

I wish I could speak to more colleagues but the following are my takeaways.

Use a magician’s reveal, show the hypothesis and expected results.
Prove your point and then follow up.

What is my personal POV. How will I take it further?

In the creation of this session, a fair amount of time was invested into research which is unseen and unexplored by the wider group. Time is limited. I would like to share these resources in retrospect and offer an opportunity to explore in future 1-1 sessions or in shaping my lessons plan with respect to learning outcomes.

Go Further? (Follow up blog post)