Diana Brighouse May 2012

Current thoughts re: statement/ mini proposal My underlying premise is that not everything in life is measurable or quantifiable i.e. I do not subscribe to the reductionist philosophy that is prioritised in our current British society. I hope that my choice of material process, and the work that I produce, illustrates my exploration of this huge subject. If the work provokes the viewer to think about or question our faith in measurement then it will have succeeded. The stimulus for my work has been frustration about the apparent increasing polarisation of the arts and the sciences in every sphere of UK life, and the assumed superiority of the sciences. At a personal level I had become disillusioned by the disappearance of the art of medicine, paralleled by the apparent unquestioned authority and supremacy of evidence based medicine. The importance of measurability At an academic level this is manifest by the use of quantitative methodology in all respected medical research the scientific method. There have been occasional references to possible use of qualitative methods (http://www.bmj.com/content/342/bmj.d424.extract) but these have not gained credence. In clinical medicine this dominance of the quantitative is increasingly important as both clinical and research funding has become dependent on quantitatively based practice. This of course leads to a majority acceptance of reductionist practice simplistically the idea that everything is the sum of its parts and thus can ultimately be understood (and treated). In wider society the perceived superiority of the quantitative is encouraged by government education policies that prioritise measurable subjects such as science and mathematics (so called STEM subjects http://www.nationalstemcentre.org.uk/ ). There has been a shift in emphasis in the education of primary school teachers towards demanding a higher level of attainment in science and maths amongst prospective applicants. The devaluation of soft subjects The corollary of increased emphasis on STEM subjects and the accompanying superiority of quantitative methods is a devaluing of the arts, and a relegation in status of that which cannot be measured. In 2011 the Russell Group warned A level students against taking soft subjects, and declared significant preference for science and maths A levels, regardless of the degree course

Diana Brighouse May 2012

applied for. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/feb/04/university-places-traditional-subjects-alevels ). Although there is no definition of soft subjects, there is a broad agreement that hard subjects are those based on quantitative methods, whereas the soft subjects tend to be more qualitatively based. Andrew McGettigan presents many of the problems that face academic art researchers who try to fit into the quantitatively based methodologies of their validated and respected STEM subject counterparts. (http://afterall.org/online/art-practice-and-the-doctoral-degree ).

Digital technology

The explosion of digital technology since the millennium would appear to support the death of the qualitative. The promotion of so-called Stem subjects, including science and maths, should be extended to digital technology, says the council's report. (Council for Industry and Higher Education http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-11214894). However digital technology is not constrained by the traditional art-science divide, and the above report calls for recognition that digital technologies span the boundaries between arts and sciences (and thus by implication between the qualitative and the quantitative): Mike Short, O2's vice president of research and development, says that digital industries require skills and types of creativity that cross boundaries between arts and sciences. "We know that these businesses are going to be very important," he says, but they do not fit within any "rigid boundaries" between Stem subjects and the arts. Digital businesses are a fusion of entertainment, engineering, retailing, design, technology and art and as such need a different kind of support from the backing given to Stem subjects. As such the report urges support for inter-disciplinary university projects - including arts and humanities, which integrate with science and technology in digital businesses. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-11214894). Digital technology in Fine Art Fine art practice has evolved over the past 50 years, and has become more inclusive. The advent of the World Wide Web has inevitably drawn the attention of artists and given birth to new art processes that have evolved rapidly. Websites are now being developed not only as professional

Diana Brighouse May 2012

shop fronts, but also as artworks in their own right. (add some references here). My original intention was to do the latter, but my work has evolved to become digital video works that are stored on my website (where they can be viewed) but are intended to be exhibited as larger installations. The website itself offers the viewer the opportunity to explore my art process, and to engage in online debate with me if they so wish. I do not think that it is accidental that I have decided to use digital technology (in its widest sense) as a creative tool. It is a technology that is in its youth and largely unburdened by tradition and expectation. It works with issues that are topical and challenging, often dealing with subjects such as sexuality, gender politics, the body, disability - the organisation videoart being a good example (http://www.videoart.net/home/). I believe that it is, uniquely, a tool that encompasses both the measurable and the unmeasurable, in balance and non-judgementally. As such, it seems to be the ideal practice within which to develop my investigation. Use of digital video My decision to work with video was, paradoxically, prompted by a distinct antipathy towards the medium as a fine art practice. Grappling with the technicalities of video editing and the wide variety of software available diverted me from actually producing any art work for several months, but also confirmed to me the appropriateness of my choice. On reflection I had made a decision to work with both quantitative (measurable) and qualitative (unmeasurable) processes simultaneously. Few processes embody the reductive nature of the quantitative more than digital technology, based as it is on a binary system, (the binary system underlies modern technology of electronic digital computers. Computer memory comprises small elements that may only be in two states - off/on that are associated with digits 0 and 1. Such an element is said to represent one bit - binary digit. http://www.cut-the-knot.org/do_you_know/BinaryHistory.shtml) and yet the intuitively-led editing process produces outcomes that are unique and irreproducible (if the interim files are destroyed). Choice of subject matter My initial work was based on the concepts of journey and boundary both themes which I had explored in my undergraduate work. A series of videos shot from inside a train combined a literal journey with investigation of the meanings of inside and outside. The early videos were also a journey of material process, as I became more familiar with my video editing package.

Diana Brighouse May 2012

A consequence of shooting footage through the train carriage window was that I captured (quite serendipitously) some interesting reflections. This observation led to further videos that looked specifically at reflections. It seemed appropriate that the word reflection has several uses that encompass both the measurable (when used in physics light reflection) and the unmeasurable (when used in psychoanalysis self-reflection). In mathematics reflections are measured in geometry using highly specific equations, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflection_(mathematics)) and
in binary relations reflexive relations are described by true or not-true, surely the ultimate in quantitative methodology. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflexive_relation ). Reflection in psychoanalytic terms is describable but unmeasurable: Psychoanalysis is an art of reflection, i.e. it tries to facilitate the subject's retrieval of his own self. The 'material' to be reflected upon consists of the products of human symbolization. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20955247 ). Interestingly academic arguments have been made for considering the psychoanalytic art of reflection as a logical, empirical science: Psychoanalysis is relevant to us as the only tangible example of a science incorporating methodical self-reflection. The birth of psychoanalysis opens up the possibility of arriving at the dimension that positivism closed off, and of doing so in a methodological manner that arises out of the logic of inquiry. This possibility has remained unrealized. (http://solomon.tinyurl.alexanderstreet.com/cgibin/asp/philo/soth/getdoc.pl?S10023352-D000011). Visual research into reflections led to me making some videos of shadows, which embody many of the theoretical considerations of the reflections work. As with reflection, shadow has multiple meanings, encompassing the scientific: partial darkness or obscurity within a part of space from which rays from a source of light are cut off by an interposed opaque body ( http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shadow ), and the psychoanalytic: Beneath the social mask we wear every day, we have a hidden shadow side: an impulsive, wounded, sad, or isolated part that we generally try to ignore. (http://www.reconnections.net/shadow2.htm ). In contrast to Freud, Jungian theory makes no attempt to claim scientific authority, indeed Jungs writings frequently draw on Christian theology.

Diana Brighouse May 2012 Feminism My shadow videos derive from shadows of washing hung outside on a line on a blustery day, and thus the work incorporates major references to feminism and its associated political and academic theories. Laundry itself has associations not only of domesticity (and the stereotyping of womans role in the home) but also of the abusive behaviour of women towards other women in the name of religion (the Magdalene Laundries). In-depth exploration of these theories is beyond the scope of my current work, but is something that I hope to develop in the future. Feminism relates directly to reductionist theory, with women historically stereotyped as soft, mysterious, unpredictable, illogical and irrational. By contrast men are hard, logical and rational. It would be interesting to speculate how much the hierarchy of academia, and research methodologies, relates directly to gender politics. Influences on my work It is difficult to identify specific artists who have influenced my current work, as inevitably this work is in turn influenced by my previous work, especially my degree show work. I have not used digital media before the last eighteen months, and have found it difficult to engage in at exhibitions, so I bring to digital work the profound influences of such diverse artists as Louise Bourgeois, Sarah Lucas, Richard Long, Rachel Whiteread, Michael Landy, Susan Hiller, Cornelia Parker, Karla Black, Bruce Nauman ( I think that his 1968 work Stamping in the studio is particularly relevant) and many others. Since focusing my practice on digital video I have been influenced by a variety of work exhibited on the Rhizome and Furtherfield organisation websites, and by the work of Thomson & Craighead. I have visited exhibitions of Pipilotti Rist, Tacita Dean, and Yayoi Kusama, all have which provoked questioning of my work. (I dont know how much I need to expand on this section mini biographies? Images?) I have found that those artists who have the greatest influence on my work are those who offer (or appear to offer) a definite conceptual/ theoretical reading of their work. This does not surprise me, as my own work has always been theoretically driven (a legacy of my background) but has become increasingly process led. I regard my increased confidence in process driven work as a marker of a successful transfer from undergraduate to postgraduate work. The videos

I am planning to exhibit in two different installations; one will display a selection of the reflections videos, and the other a selection of the shadows videos. My current plans (very likely to change during the summer) are to create two small dark spaces in the studio. I am considering projecting one of the reflections works onto the floor, onto a roped-off area to give the viewer the illusion of a

Diana Brighouse May 2012

pool; possibly with other reflections videos projected onto the walls. For the shadows work I am planning a single large projection, with the walls covered with A3 prints of stills from the video (after the Kusama/ Judd rowing boat). I will need to consider how to deal with the soundtracks headphones for both? Again, this bit is obviously speculative, and will still be so when the statement is handed in. Im not sure how much to put here about current plans, theory behind them, reference to other work etc etc. The argument that I intend to advance through the exhibitions is that the measurable and the unmeasurable necessarily coexist, and that they are in fact co-dependent. The works cannot be created without the digital technology of both the camera and computer/ video editing software. They cannot be brought into being for display without digital technology. These technologies have come about through quantitative research. The subjects of the videos (a pond, washing on a clothes line) are measurable (although arguably the effects of wind upon water are practically very difficult to quantify). The videos displayed are not quantifiable, and their effect on the viewer is entirely qualitative. One could undoubtedly conduct a series of physiological measurements to document responses to any artwork, but I believe that this would demonstrate the absurdity of applying reductive philosophy to reactions that are intuitive, emotionally based, instinctive, visceral. The debate about measurement of emotional response is, of course, far from new (need some references here) but I am not aware of other artists who have explicitly combined reductive and non-reductive methods both conceptually and in the execution of their work. I hope to extend this research at doctoral level, exploring what I believe to be the symbiotic relationship between the quantitative and the qualitative. My eventual aim is to work collaboratively with colleagues in medicine to help to re-establish the importance of the non-verbal narrative.

Word count for draft document 2186