CRITICAL STUDIES
LECTURE BY: GRANT CORBIN
DATE 10.04.2013
Background:
- Working towards his PhD which requires a 40,000 word thesis (Stewardship an ethico – aesthric response to uncertain futures in the Houghton Valley Area (Thesis Title)
- In the 70’s he trained as an industrial designer
- Moved to Australia as a painter.
- Moved to Europe and returned to New Zealand in the 80’s – a time of enormous political upheaval
- Wanted to find a way to work as a creative person to make a difference. Because of this he went looking for community projects
- Worked on posters and banners.
- He was surprised at how powerful the Visual Message was.
- His posters were illegal which means that they were quickly taken down or covered up by the authorities (he was sticking it to the wall of the man)
- Long term projects require accountability
- People in group.
- People in the affected community will have different perspective (there was a case I believe in Lower Hutt about an artist who painted an image of a smiling kid. It was opposite a church and some people complained – I have no doubt that there was probably more to the story but the end result was that the artist had to change the image.
- Always a good idea. Eventually word gets around about what he’s doing and people start contacting him.
- Projects grow over time. This started out as two people but had swelled to almost four hundred by the time the dig actually got underway.
- Cut the shape of the creek in the ground (300m in length)
- Photo album being passé around via being dropped in a letterbox with a note saying “enjoy it and pass it on” – an excellent example of stealth advertising.
- The dairy farm project led to another one to lift the creek (it has been buried by the council under a landfill)
- Landfill dumping chemicals into the bay which is also a marine reserve. The community had a meeting and the council said “We have no money. Why can’t you locals do something?” (not the most popular stance I feel)
- Imagine Christchurch Earthquake hits Wellington and you survive. A rather grisly situation to be sure but the question is how do you use your creative skills in the first five days that would be of use to others?
My creative skills lean towards the technical so I would be out in the city with a camera trying to get shots of everything that was happening. Eventually this would be edited together and form the basis of an exhibition along with other artists who were likewise affected by the earthquake and managed to express their creative direction in those first terrible days.
Naturally all proceeds would go to the victims of this disaster.
No comments:
Post a Comment