In his book The Arts and Human Development (1994), Howard Gardner draws connections between psychological theories of human trust and artistic authenticity. Dialogues we have with people, he suggests, are in some ways like the dialogues we have with works of art.
Gardner describes the “general states – feelings of trust, security, comfort of distrust, insecurity or maladaptiveness” as extremely primitive, but as “clinically demonstrable phenomena”. In other words, they have been identified, observed and to some degree quantified. Although explanations of these general states are as yet not fully known, Gardner argues that:
…study of these would appear warranted. Upon it rests the possibility of explaining the general qualities and states crucial in artistic activity, such as the fidelity or sham that audience members detect in particular works; or the properties of liveliness, grace, balance, penetration, harmony that creators instill and perceivers appreciate in works of art. If individuals claim to perceive such qualities in art works, if they declare that one work seems genuine, another contrived, these are genuine reactions that must be explained by any psychological theory of the arts. Indeed, if the arts involve communication of information about subjective experience, the initial manifestation of such communication may be crucial; “truth” or “genuineness” in works of art may reflect the sense of well-being and veridicality [accuracy] also paramount in encounters with human beings. And if the artistic process involves communications between individuals, the particular qualities (be they universal or unique) of persons obviously assume critical importance.
(Gardner, 1994; 97)
Dear Lisa
I think you write well. Last night I watched the Tango Lesson (Sally Potter) keeping in mind what you said about using a similar structure for your written thesis. I only have an inkling of what you are seeing. But I did enjoy the film and love the notion of tango as a walking dance. I recall you talking about letting go. My only reservation was the slight taint of narcissism in Sally Potter’s view of herself. The problem with narcissism is that it is endlessly recursive and ultimately – tedious. But the Tango Lesson was certainly not tedious.
Looking back, I see that you’ve been working on this project since August 2006. Am I correct in saying that your COFA candidature did not formally begin until Semester 1, 2007?
Referring to the UNSW Research Student Handbook, it is my understanding that you have up to 4 years to complete your Ph.D. The minimum time is 6 Semesters (3 years). This means that you are approaching a mid-point in your journey.
You should congratulate yourself on the depth of and breadth of your research. It has been a delight (for me) watching your progress and seeing the unexpected directions you have taken. While it makes perfect sense now, who would have thought that your animations and our research methodology would have become so closely aligned with dance and physical movement?
In my experience one of the hardest things for artists to do in an academic context is to shift from making their art to writing about their art. Of course, while I would encourage you to present your thesis in a form appropriate to your content, you will be inevitably be required to produce a formal text to a prescribed format. You will need to refer to section 11 of the UNSW Research Student Handbook for these formal requirements. This is a good skill to learn and you will never regret the rigour and discipline that a formal thesis, of substance, requires.
If you are to enjoy doing this, then you now need to turn your attention to the thesis phase of your project. Hopefully you’ll to be able to seamlessly integrate the development of this form of text with your art and use it to inform and focus. So, I suggest that you begin to feel out the stability of a suitable structure.
You will be limited to 100,000 words. This may seem like a lot of words now but you have a significant body of work to describe and interpret as well as the development of your blog to consider. In 12 months time you will probably be pruning heavily and wondering how it will be possible say what you want to say within the constraints of the thesis form. The more you put aside, the more rigorous, focussed and concise your writing and thinking will become.
I’ve suggested the following structure before (in relation to the Abstract) and you may find it mundane, but it has the virtue of simplicity and of making sense. The Abstract is not only just a summary but also a framework that you can build on.
1. What area are you working in (field of study)? This is where you need to demonstrate a clear and comprehensive understanding of the area(s) in which you are working. It includes a review of the rocks you are standing on. This requires a degree of humility. It is easy to think that you are the first to enter into an area of enquiry or to put different areas together. The rock is made up of what others have written, spoken, painted, photographed, filmed and danced. Who are the major movers and shakers and at what point do they fall short of what you have in mind. For example, what does it really mean to combine physical movement with Antarctic insights and animation? I guess this is like Lesson 1 in the Tango Lesson where she observes the experts.
2. Why is your research important? There are many implicit and explicit values to be articulated here. Having shown humility in the previous section/chapter you will now need to be bold and confident in your assertions and in your ability to take a position in relation to the question(s)/problem that your research is answering/solving. You will need to become an advocate and make a compelling case for why others should take notice.
3. How did you go about your research? This is more of an exposition of what have been doing and how you have approached it. You have the benefit of a wealth of reflective time stamped content recorded in your research dairy/blog. This is where we (your audience) need to experience the breadth of your art and of your methods of enquiry in all its various forms (animations, drawings, paintings, movement, audio, sculptures, installations, archival pieces…). Take us into your laboratory. What worked? What didn’t work? What did you do with the material that you collected? How did you arrange it, classify it, learn form it? How are you going to present these experiments?
4. What does it all mean? What can you show us that we didn’t understand before? What has changed since you began and what more needs to be done?
I’ve written these suggestions to mark a point in time and to signal a change of gear. The next step is for you to draw your own map and puts some time frame around it. For example, you might decide to have first draft of the text completed by the end of the year along with a compilation of all your works so far…
What do you think about this?
Dear Simon,
I am encouraged by your words, and agree it is time I changed gear.
You are right in thinking I formally began this research in Semester 1 2007. I am half way through.
I am glad you think I write well. I feel a shift in my writing as confidence grows through practice. With Strunk’s Elements of Style in mind, I try omitting unnecessary words. I enjoy doing this as a game, and trust it applies to sentences, paragraphs and chapters. I’m told there’s lots of editing involved in thesis writing. I have started learning Latec, and Bibtek for citations.
I am glad you enjoyed the Tango Lesson, and that you can imagine a first Lesson.
You have provided not only encouragement, but a very clear structure within to proceed. Structures are essential for composing art works. Since returning from Antarctica have struggled with structure. Experiencing that place was very different from anything I’d known before. I can see now that my need for structure was a major impetus for embarking on formal research. Seeking dialogue with others to find some new structures, and language to describe experiences, I sought ethical guidelines and good supervision of formal research practice. I needed new structures to work with new landscapes, to know my own response. I sensed I’d come closer to finding these in dialogue with others who have worked in Antarctica.
We recognize narcisism in children, through our own child minds. As adults, we wince at any whif of it in. I wince when putting forth my own feeling responses. Triggering that childish state, before language and logic, can arouse some strange feelings. Balancing these feelings with the logic of language helps connect us with the world.
In re-reading the last two paragraphs, I see a connection between Antarctica, my feeling response, and the necessity for structure.
A Tango dancer I met last week may have agreed with you about Tango Lesson. She said the film could have been stronger with someone else playing her role. I disagreed, but had one reservation. That Potter played herself, with all her flaws and vulnerability, was to my minda strenth. I respected her courage. Her love for the dance and the man, shown through the artiface of film, made for dramatic tension between her art and life. I found that gripping. My only reservation was that the film could have done more to connect with what Tango means for the Argentinians who created it. For me, the film was an artfully crafted true story, but it was all about her and her art. There’s a Lesson!
I assume that points 1-4 are your suggested structure for my Abstract. They make good sense and I will do as you suggest.
Thank you.
You can use the Abstract is a tool for thinking about your project as a whole. Think of it as if you were looking through the big end of a pair of binoculars. Most people leave it until the end.
I’ve encourage you to begin with it and you’ve done that.
The structure I have outlined is a suggested framework for your thesis.
It is not the only framework but if you don’t cover the suggested content you will struggle to be consistent and coherent.
Right now (this minute) you might begin to write about Question 1.
You will immediately find that there is more than one answer.
Try to use this text to arrive at a definitive answer.
I was about to suggest that you draw your answer
but this would take you away from the act of writing.
You need to be writing writing writing writing writing…
becoming a writer – playfully.
A thesis has form like this Great Ocean Road Haiku:
Slippery when wet
taking a bend too fast at
Separation Creek
Dear Simon,
I began writing as soon as I saw your messgae – quite a while ago now!
This is a atart:
1.What area are you working in (field of study)?
Polar arts
Dance/Movement improvisation
Drawing, Painting, Assemblage/object making
Animation
2.This is where you need to demonstrate a clear and comprehensive understanding of the area(s) in which you are working. It includes a review of the rocks you are standing on. This requires a degree of humility. It is easy to think that you are the first to enter into an area of enquiry or to put different areas together. The rock is made up of what others have written, spoken, painted, photographed, filmed and danced.
Polar artists:
Bea Maddock – Terra Spritus (circumlittoral drawing of Tasmania)
Siobhan Davies – choreography, video installation
Stephen Eastaugh – Objects/assemblages
Andrea Juan – Video installation/photography/objects
Phil Dadson – Music improvisation/video installation
Dance/Movement Improvisers:
Rudolph Laban – dance/choreography/Labannotation
Hanny Exiner – dance, dance philosophy/theory
Siobhan Davies – choreography, video installation
Al Wunder, Andrew Morrish, Tony Osborne – Movement Improvisation, Theatre of the Ordinary
Animators:
Norman McLaren – animation, objects, dance
3.Who are the major movers and shakers (How are these different from the above? Are they just the ones who make more noise?)
4. and at what point do they fall short of what you have in mind. For example, what does it really mean to combine physical movement with Antarctic insights and animation?
Still thinking….
The field I am working in:
Meeting British choreographer Siobhan Davies was a turning point in identifying my field of artistic inquiry. Davies had worked in the Arctic in 2005, with the Cape Farewell project. She returned changed in ways I recognised in other Polar artists, and in myself after working in Antarctica. Watching her Arctic ‘dance’, Endangered Species (2006), and hearing her speak of the Arctic, I could hear the changes that others would know: a heightened sense of physical connection with landscape and urgency in seeking ways of engaging others with that sense.
This field is identified by content and purpose rather than medium of expression or academic discipline. Driven by changed perspectives, the work of Polar artists can take many forms and be shown in many contexts. Like their scientific counterparts, these artistic explorers have worked in extreme conditions, and often invented new ways of using materials immediately at hand. Stephen Eastaugh established Antarctica’s first Sculpture Garden (2002) at Davis station, using bits of metal, wood and cloth to create totem poles. He stitches like the early explorers did, into canvas and surgical bandage, but for artistic expression. Invoking a range of disciplines from the sciences and humanities, Polar art can contribute to social and environmental understandings. They can present the familiar from unfamiliar perspectives they have gleaned from the Poles. Davies’ video installation Endangered Species (2006) appeared in a specimen case in London’s Natural History Museum. Suggestive of a Darwin collectible, a dancing human-insect form demands we see ourselves differently. The creature demands we see ourselves as we see ourselves at the Poles: very small and endangered.
Davies described the fact of her physical connection with her environment – Central London – as heightened by her Arctic experience: “So the knowledge is that I come back here, and I know I am being physically affected every second of the day. But now I’m more aware of it because I was put in that extreme situation up there.” Other artists who suggest similar responses to the Arctic include David Buckland, Antony Gormley, Max Eastley, Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey. (Burning Ice – Art & Climate Change, 2006). Davies also changed her thinking about the role of an artist. Following fellow Arctic artists Heather Ackroyd, Dan Harvey, David Buckland and others, she now sees the value in making artwork as ‘propaganda’ for climate change awareness, and of taking a more active part in climate change debates (in con, London 2008). She joined Ackroyd on a panel of artists and environmental activists at the Friends of the Earth forum, Poison and Antidote (London 2008).
Australian artist Bea Maddock was one of the artists to travel on the Australian Antarctic Division’s first Humanities Programme (since renamed the Antarctic Fellowship program).
…….
Are you saying that there is an emerging field that we could call, the art of climate change (or something using these words)?
I’m not trying to trip you or trap you with this question. I have just come from a conversation with Lyndal Jones who asserts that there are very few artists working with/on climate change.
Possibly.
I do remember you saying this once before.
I had written Environmental Art on my list of fields, and then deleted it.
There are many artists who have worked at the Poles who might identify with such a field, and many more who haven’t been to the Poles who would.
Are you sitting on the fence?
Try Googling Environmental art. There’s a whole world there.
For example:
http://www.greenmuseum.org/what_is_ea.php
Yes, there is and you have been contributing to it. But to return to your writing…is this (Environmental Art) an adequate categorisation?
You have been travelling in this world for several years. You have thought deeply about your journey. How can you best describe the topography of this landscape – its hills, valleys and gorges, the mountains above. Is this just a polar thing? Or is the polar a subset of something bigger? What part of this landscape does Siobhan Davies form? Is there any connection to the work of Stephen Eastaugh or Bea Maddock? Who else does related work? How might we understand these individuals as part of whole? Where does your work fit in or not fit in?
Is landscape a useful metaphor – would dance be better?
You are building something that may never have existed before using words. You are building up a body of text that will be consumed as a Chapter. It will have shape and form. Most importantly – it will have substance. Keep writing writing writing…