Dissertation and my studio practice

I have included a separate section for some of my dissertation research because it has linked so closely with what I am practicing in the studio that I feel it is relevant to include. I know that my dissertation needs a lot more work as I have only handed in a first draft, I also have a few more things to read through before I can start rewriting it. Nonetheless, what I have been looking into now and also the things that I have been reading for the current draft of my dissertation are what have influenced my studio practice immensely. 

My dissertation explores Roland Barthes The Death of the Author (1967) and the role of the Author,  the reader and the critic in interpretation. Aside from The Death of the Author I have been using a text by Joseph Kosuth titled Intention(s) (1996) and Susan Sontag’s text Against Interpretation (1964), as well as Duchamp’s The Creative Act (1967) and Fred Orton’s Suspensa Vix via Fit (2004). All have been influential in building my discussion over the points Barthes’ makes in The Death of the Author text. Barthes boldly suggests that the author is dead. He writes that the author is not needed in finding the ‘meaning’ of a piece of work, Barthes argues that the answer lies with the reader, not the author. In relation to art practice, Barthes is suggesting that the artists intention or ideas for the work are not important, whats really important is the work itself, and the viewer and how they interpret that piece of work individually. Barthes also talks of the power of language, and how it is through language that we communicate ideas. 

There are quite a few ideas from my dissertation that I have found are relevant to my practice. My second year essay was focused on my own work and the idea of intention, this has continued on through the dissertation and my studio practice. My work has always been intentional, I looked into artists of the Conceptual Art era like Joseph Kosuth and Duchamp, my work is links closely with theirs due to the fact that the idea of the piece to me is more important than the physical outcome. However, I have come to realise that the physical outcome has to match the idea, the work needs to be effective, otherwise there is not much point in making the work at all. This has made me think in more depth about the work I am exhibiting and how the audience would view the work. The idea of the reader is key in my dissertation and an entire section has been allocated to explore the value of the reader in the artistic process. I have been trying to consider what the audience will see in the work, trying to step back from my emotional connection to it and relying heavily on feedback from fellow students and tutors. An example of this would be my work for the exhibition at The Waiting Room. The piece was very emotional for me and I struggled to make sure that someone viewing the work who did not know me would feel that similar emotion. I exhibited a photograph of a chair at my Nan’s house with the aim of trying to capture her essence in the image, her human presence. Along with the photograph I included a short piece of writing that spoke of the meaning of the work, it was quite poetic but for me included all the positive feelings I wanted to enforce, it took negativity that I knew you would see in the image without it, the sadness that the lone chair represents. The conclusion of my dissertation mentions Kosuth’s and Sontag’s radical ideas on the way art should be. Kosuth argues that artist’s need to write about their own work instead of waiting around for someone else to decide what the piece is about, he believes that no one knows the work better than the artist. I agree with this to an extent, I feel that writing is incredibly important in my own work and I rely heavily on the artist’s statement and feel it is as much a part of the work as the physical piece. However, I do believe that the audience or the viewer will get from the work what they will, they will see what they see in it and they cannot be persuaded otherwise. I feel artist statements are a way of explaining to the viewer what the artist’s intention is for the piece but this is not necessarily the only meaning the work has. 

Writing the dissertation has made me think more carefully about the work that I am producing for exhibitions, and think more critically about what the viewer will see. I take this in to consideration more so when I am writing the artist’s statement. This takes a long time for me to get these right as I attempt to look at it from someone else’s perspective and see if what I am saying for the work matches up, however its incredibly difficult if not impossible to do this with your own work. I believe its simply that although I have my own interpretation of what the work is about, I am open to other peoples interpretations and opinions, an artwork is there to spark thoughts and feelings, these are not going to be the same in every person. I know for a fact that the next draft of my dissertation and the new texts I plan to read will continue to influence my work throughout the next brief, it will still remain a crucial part of my practice.