{"id":1752,"date":"2017-05-09T13:43:13","date_gmt":"2017-05-09T12:43:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/?p=1752"},"modified":"2017-05-22T11:14:06","modified_gmt":"2017-05-22T10:14:06","slug":"rose-butler-askanceoblique-blog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/rose-butler-askanceoblique-blog\/","title":{"rendered":"Researcher Blog by Rose Butler: Askance?Oblique: A Conference on Visibility"},"content":{"rendered":"
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About the author<\/h4>\n
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Rose Butler<\/a>\u00a0is a senior lecturer in Fine Art\u00a0in the Art & Design Research Centre (ADRC<\/a>) where she is also pursuing a practice-based PhD. Rose works with video, photography, sound, animation and installation. Rose\u2019s Director of Studies is\u00a0Professor Lise Autogena<\/a>\u00a0and supervisors are Professor David Waddington<\/a>\u00a0(SHU) and Professor David Cotterrell (University of Brighton).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Inspired by discussions at a postgraduate research seminar hosted by Dr Becky Shaw<\/a>, a small group of ADRC artist researchers convened\u00a0Askance?Oblique: A Conference on Visibility<\/a><\/strong> which took place on 31 March 2017.\u00a0 In this post, Rose Butler offers her reflections on the conference.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Askance?Oblique<\/strong><\/em> was organised by artist researchers Daniel Bacchus<\/a>, Rose Butler<\/a>, Anton Hecht, Sarah Smizz<\/a> and Miles Umney<\/a>\u00a0and hosted by Dr Becky Shaw<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Image:<\/a>

Image: Frances Williams<\/p><\/div>\n

Visibility within practice-based research can expose and question visual hierarchies, authority, authorship, the politics of technology, balances of power and representation or prompt dissent. Our understanding of visibility provided a broad contemporary framework that prompted a range of proposals that enabled a discussion between the multiple disciplines within art, visual practice and participatory practice.<\/p>\n

\"Image:<\/a>

Image: Simmonds\/Holmes, 2017<\/p><\/div>\n

The presentations throughout the day were lively, personal and sincere, although the areas of interest were broad, the discussions carried breadth and depth and traversed, with unexpected ease, interdisciplinary research areas. Our speakers included\u00a0Hannah\u00a0Ebben,\u00a0Jackie Haynes,\u00a0Gary Simmonds and Dale Holmes,\u00a0Chella Quint, Frances Williams, Andrew Osborne, Rose Butler, Cyril Eshareturi and Daniel Bacchus.<\/p>\n

‘How did language come to be more trustworthy than matter?’\u00a0[1]<\/sup><\/strong><\/sup><\/a><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In the morning we discussed our notions of visibility, proposing that it is perhaps, mutually conceived. There are occasions in artworks and in the presentation of artefacts when, by making things more visible, important elements, detail and nuance disappear. A text message A-Z conversation of images, through the language of painting took place. We were seduced with the material qualities of paint, mark making, colour, form, fluidity, opacity, shapes, strokes and lushness. We ended the morning session on the invisibility of menstruation, why are periods blue?<\/p>\n

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‘To be seen, seeable, embodied, to block something from another\u02bcs view, to take as well as give away the very means of seeing, these are the new terms of battle. With it comes a new horizon filled with possibilities as well as risks.’\u00a0[2]<\/sup><\/strong><\/sup><\/a><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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In the afternoon, prompted by a discussion on Gregory Sholette, dark matter<\/em> occupied the room. What started as the invisibility of 99% of artists who are not rewarded by the art market, then presented a discussion of funding structure, terminology and legislation. If the words \u2018art subsidy\u2019 changes to \u2018art investment\u2019 what does that mean, what does it expose, reveal or get rid of?<\/p>\n

\"Image:<\/a>

Image: Close Down LD50<\/p><\/div>\n

The campaign group Close Down LD50<\/em>, discussed why this wasn\u2019t a debate on freedom of speech but a campaign against a neo-Nazi organizing centre. Language, it\u2019s use, freedoms and expression wove through the discussions throughout the day. Orwell\u2019s Newspeak<\/em> stripped language to its bones, whilst Twitter and Facebook emoji\u2019s responded to the recent attack on Parliament. Images of the new Anti Migrant wall at Calais evoked the complexities and failures of the refugee crisis. The \u2018Silences Framework\u2019 presented a methodological approach to hear detail, voices, and dynamics that sit within silences. We ended on trying to represent presence through virtual reality, can it ever be represented and if so where do the boundaries between subject and object lie?<\/p>\n

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In the evening we finished the event with a brilliantly funny, ironic .. or not, sometimes bizarre, film screening with beautifully crafted work from:<\/p>\n