Staff Research Seminar at Farnham Nov 29

Farnham Staff Research Seminars 2006

November 29th, 13:00-15:00
Room W612

There will be plenty of time for questions and discussions. All staff, MA and graduate students are welcome and encouraged to attend.

Ian Johnson, Course Leader in Arts & Media, Arts & Media

Documentary about Bruce Lacey (Working Title)

Ian Johnson will talk about his documentary on the artist Bruce Lacey and show some extracts from the film, which is still being completed. Apart from being known over the years as an eccentric, Bruce Lacey is famous for his 1960's assemblage and robot pieces, some of which are owned by the Tate, and has also been active as an alternative cabaret performer, film maker and painter.
Being something of a maverick, the film will attempt to convey some understanding of Bruce's approach and attitude, and how so much of what he was doing in the 60's and 70's was ahead of his time, eg: environmental pieces and performance which pre-shadow installation and performance art, and alternative cabaret.


Linda Brassington, Senior Lecturer, Printed Textiles

Collections as ‘biography’

Linda’s recent research was prompted by the JISC funded project to digitise the Textiles Collection. Items previously collected by the pioneering block-printers, Barron and Larcher, have been considered in relation to their textile work of the 1920s and 30s. This, together with an investigation into the education papers of Robin Tanner, founder trustee of the Crafts Study Centre, has focused on personal archives and collections as narratives in the crafts; exploring the 'stories' that emerge through objects - possessions, letters, photographs - as 'clues' to identity, and investigating their potential to reflect ideas, values and practices in the crafts.


Kathleen Rogers, Senior Lecturer in Digital Screen Arts, Farnham

Research Makes Practice

My talk will offer a view inside my work in progress applying genetics and tissue culture as an art form and introduce my process as a combination of intuitive review, associative and non-explicit, trying things out, working with materials and collaboration with a range of different discipline specialists.
During my 2005 sabbatical I travelled to Australia as visiting artist/researcher with the Tissue Culture and Art Project at the Symbiotica laboratory at the School of Anatomy and Human Biology, University of Western Australia, Perth. Symbiotica is an artist run laboratory that facilitates international artists within a cell biology department and teaches them the science and practise of lab work.