Work in Progress- MA Visual Research Practices

Work in Progress shines a light on the mysteries of arts based research. It is an exhibition designed to highlight the pedagogical approach to teaching MA students how to do research through their visual art practice. To do this, we have recreated a working studio in the gallery where on-going research will be conducted by student from the MA Fine Art, MA Printmaking, MA Illustration and MA Graphic Design & Typography courses.

The participating students are not exhibiting finished artworks. Instead, they are exhibiting their research process. This comes in the form of work in progress, the documentation of developing ideas, and an interpretation of space where the students come and go with elements of work. This interpretation of space means moving between the virtual space of thinking and the physical space of creating. This virtual space is represented in the exhibition by the placeholders and traces of research left behind when the students are not physically in the space. This so-called research residue can be understood as the fallow-time when students focus on other aspects of their lives and studies. When students are physically in the space, they are actively engaged in creating and researching through the materials and ideas relevant to the research questions they have posed for themselves. A significant aspect of this pedagogical approach is the requirement to keep a research journal. Along with sketchbooks and working models, this research journal is a log of the thinking, exploration, influences, and failures involved in the research process. This is also the place where students combine the theoretical ideas of their discipline with the work they are producing.

Event contact: veronique.chance@aru.ac.uk; nanette.hoogslag@aru.ac.uk; jane.boyer@aru.ac.uk