Last week saw the Feedback Shed books going into the post for all the artists involved with Magic Hour. Additionally, a small group of us came together to discuss The Fantastical Reality Radio Show, making the whole week feedbacktastic.
Feedback Shed book.
Working on the book has been a real process of valuing commentary and considering the whole exchange that takes place between artists and audiences; there is so much to understand about this reciprocal relationship. I am quite pleased with how the feedback activities worked to generate comments… like this Letterpress poster, which was made from the sounds people saved in the shed.
And in holding the FRRS feedback day, I got some very positive comments about the show and now have many points from which to develop the writing I’m doing about that work. I also got some negative comments, which are incredibly, incredibly useful to me. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the value of critical engagement; to me it is so essential to get a complete picture of how work is received; even if that means hearing that the work isn’t effectively communicating what you meant it to; even if that means hearing the audience doesn’t see the point of what you are doing. Far better to know that than not; to be able to make a decision about what you are doing with a full awareness of how it will sit in terms of general opinions. On the other hand, criticism can be so destructive. I am interested in building discussions that can allow for critical engagement, without trashing the artist or undervaluing creative effort. A tricky business.
The recent discussions on Yarnstorm about comments/no comments has made me realise how central dialogue is to my own practise, and the time I have spent carefully developing a book from the comments people submitted at Magic Hour has been an opportunity to consider the whole idea of what we make, and how we talk about what we make.
Interesting to work with the feedback from Magic Hour at the same time as re-listening to the entire Fantastical Reality Radio Show. There is a huge difference in confidence between people talking about their routine objects and doings, and people talking about Art. It seems nobody wants to look stupid.
So there are a few words and a lot of ideas, but at the moment it is all rolling round in my head failing to consolidate itself into a coherent blog post. And my knitting projects are all either secret, unphotogenic, or boring. So I’ll leave you with some Feedback Shed book images, and accept that my great intentions for blogging every day in November have simply been derailed!
The map poster.
The Feedback = Fertiliser screenprinted poster.