Thursday night class

Hi all
I’m back up and around though still quite woozy on my feet. I had a nasty infection which is now being treated with antibiotics (nothing you can catch in case you’re worried). I still don’t feel quite up to leaving the house (or driving a car for that matter) so I’m thinking teaching might be a bit of a stretch.

So, if you can read the lecture that I would have given (it’s on blackboard) that would be great. Jane’s tute will run as usual and for my group, please feel welcome to use the lab to work on your projects and to talk to each other about what you are planning to do. I am going to post some more info here about how to get going with your projects – where to start, what to read etc, so keep checking it.

A small point of clarification. There is no ‘question’ that you have to ‘answer’ in your projects. If I was to put in that form it might read something like this:

If memory shapes your identity, and memory is transformed through new technologies of remembrance (like digital media – visual and auditory), then how do digital media change the ways in which you understand yourself and the world around you?

But this would only be a starting point. It’s meant to kick start your thinking about these things as they relate to you. In fact, the project itself might not even directly address this question at all but in the process of making it you will have implicitly engaged with this idea. The project is meant to be exploratory not explanatory. One way to begin might be to start with an image that is meaningful to you – it might be of you or it might be of something or someone who is important to you – and then start to read and think about what it is about that image that makes you feel/think.

In the case of my Halflives project, it started very simply like this – I had a picture of my grandmother with a shadow that looked, to me, like the ghost of my grandfather. I then started to read about the following – ghosts, spirit photography, ancestors – and it went from there. The important thing is to let your research guide you and see what emerges.

Have a look at the examples Jane has posted below as well.

More soon and apologies for tonight
Best, Lisa

Past examples of the final project

Memory and the Archive by Jeremy Weinstein

The Fridge Project by Mei Chong

I don’t remember, but I can look it up for you by Graeme Dunlop

Project by Sarah Simpson

Project by David Levy