Although the #Picbod13 installation is not quite complete, we’re almost there!! The two day event opens on Friday 8th March with a big celebration of 32 Coventry University students’ work along side the work of the remote students across the world.
Without shadow of a doubt, I definitely put my all into the exhibition, with its success at the forefront of my mind. I feel that I have worked hard trying to get as much as possible ready for the exhibition alongside my own studies. As part of the secretary team, it was my role to make sure that each team was keeping on track with what they needed to do and I feel that they have performed well and kept the group well informed online.
Head of Marketing, Melissa Stapleton, asked me if I could write the ‘special invitations’ and press release as I have had experience with Ikon gallery before; these were checked over with the team and the Facebook group to be agreed on before being sent. On top of this, as the whole group was asked, I have been keeping updates with Facebook and Twitter about the exhibition to up the hype, this included a video of a day Alex Mason and I spent on the projects.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhI3t-NT27k]
I started to speak to George Rippon about the space and how would be the most appropriate way to try curate 31 people’s work, he said it would be key to get key information about everyone’s work- theme/size/quantity of prints/colour scheme etc. Therefore, Lee Hassall, Hollie Woodward and myself chased up the group so that we could make a spreadsheet so that we would not run over the wall space limit.
Lee, Hollie, George and I made wall plans of the space and tried to work out who’s work would work most appropriately together with the wall space limit. We made a version for people at uni to come look at before putting it online for the group to see, we heard no complaints about it, but there has been discussion about the garage door’s opening, to which it will be closed for health and safety measures. On the first day of installation we did swap two people’s work as work was presented in a similar way and wouldn’t aesthetically work. But, the day before installation began, Alex Mason, Hollie Woodward and I went to Fargo, measured out the walls and marked where everyone’s space begins and ends so that there would be less confusion on the day.
Continuing with the exhibition plans themselves, I asked the group if they would like text panels next to their work, adding a deadline so I could get them printed. This means that everyone’s work is clearly identified for viewers on the night, as well as another opportunity for students to write more about their work.
Wanting to improve on last year’s exhibition of the remote students work, I thought it would be a great edition if their work was also printed as digital artefacts next to ours as a token of our appreciation for their involvement. This has been met with high regards on the Google Community.
This has taken a small amount from the budget, but has created more of an online atmosphere as the students from as far as Los Angeles are getting excited. So much so that Glyn Thomas from Philadelphia sent his own prints to us in Coventry; so, the course’s hub is in Coventry, reached Glyn whom responded photographically and his prints have returned back to the hub for the exhibition (quite romantic eh?). Furthermore, the involvement of the remote students in the exhibition has meant that two of the Spanish students have proposed we take the exhibition to Santander, what a great achievement!
For my personal work, I decided I wanted to attach a shelf to the wall for my photobook to stand on with a print above it to entice a viewer to pick up the book. As Picbod is about portraiture and the body, having a bedroom on the wall will look out of place, inviting the viewers to pick up ‘Unwelcome Invitation’
Although it has not opened yet, I think we have all worked really hard in getting the exhibition to where it is now and I am really excited for the weekend!