Model of exhibition piece

David Graas

I first became aware of David Graas's work when I bought the book 1000 New Eco Designs, so when I was planning my exhibition I emailed him to ask for help, and I am extremely pleased to say he has agreed to help me with my wardrobe design for the exhibition.  

Wardrobe

Still no responses from any of the suppliers of the wardrobe, and nothing appropriate on Freecycle and Gumtree!

Creative Review Banner

I have spent a lot of time this week on the creative review ad, the website showcase, case studies, and preparing for the PR campaign.

Our ad will go live on Monday, and from then I hope to start sending out press releases.

We have had a lot of conversations this week over email about our sponsors, Nokia, Swatch and Natwest.  So far as none are confirmed I have not written a press release to announce our exhibition, but as soon as they are, I will prepare something to be signed off.  We have at last also found a drinks sponsor!!

New York

I went to New York for the weekend, popped into the Guggenheim and MoMA, wandered around, all good for inspiration.

I was drawn by Fluxus and George Maciunas, he defined Fluxus products as work that would occur as a result of performance activities, or as elements of participation environments... I really felt this resonated with what I am trying to represent in the exhibition of my workshops.

I especially thought that the wardrobe idea, and filling the drawers with things to represent the different workshop exercises was reminiscent of his Fluxkits or Fluxus boxes, in which Maciunas collected printed cards, games, and ideas, these were all placed in small wooden boxes.  Examples below:

Dimensionalising the workshops

I have spent most of this weekend contacting the company that makes the children's wardrobe I would like to use for my exhibition to no avail.  I have also contacted all the UK suppliers of this wardrobe.  I have signed up to all the Freecycle groups in my area, in the hope that someone else is throwing out a children's wardrobe, and have been checking Gumtree ads. 

Sketches for our ad campaign

Exhibition layout - draft

I've sketched something up in illustrator for the group, now that I know wxactly how many places are needed.  This version gives more space than the initial 1mx1m the venue team suggested. Each person gets 1.8 square metres. 

Possible exhibition ideas

Possible plans for the exhibition space

Exhibition synopsis

The below is my first draft 350 words to be used in the exhibition/catalogue:

Identi-tee explores how creative critical reflection can be used in contemporary society to help teenagers build an awareness of self and identity in relation to both their culture and their community, in turn it looks at ways for teenagers and their communities to work collectively to produce work that reflects their experiences and the places they live. 

A strong sense of self and place can allow young people to feel confident, embrace change, recognise and manage risk, take responsibility for themselves and contribute in a positive nature to their communities.  

A central aspect of Identi-tee was encouraging encounters between teenagers, designer makers and local people of different generations leading to rich experiences and helping young people develop expertise, understanding, communication skills, confidence and awareness to create stronger families and communities.  These encounters can have a positive affect on the teenagers involved, allowing them to reflect on and develop their hopes, dreams and aspirations. 

Workshops were run with youth organisations, allowing young people to collaborate and discuss themselves, their relationships, their society and their environment, and how all these components affect sense of self.  

Key themes of personal wellbeing were developed and explored through creativity and reflection, the results of which can be seen in my exhibition.

These workshops could lead to developments in the field of personal identity in adolescences, its importance, and change it from a non-statutory component of the national curriculum, which could lead to widespread use of the workshops in schools and youth groups.

Exhibition layouts

Today I have sketched up a number of possible floorplans for the exhibition, I ended up doing this manually, but hopefully I have found the best combination, well definitely better than the initial 1m x 1m spaces the venue team allowed.

Exhibition wardrobe

Today I have been emailing furniture companies all day asking for sponsorship.  I have found the type of child's wardrobe I would really like to use to create my exhibition piece, and am hoping someone might give me one for free! Fingers crossed..

Exhibition idea

Top Drawer

Today I went to a buyer's fair in Olympia called Top Drawer, I thought it would be a very different type of exhibition to visit as inspiration for the grad show. I really enjoyed it, firstly, some beautiful designs, graphically, some great new innovative products, and finally, I saw a number of interesting ways to display items. 

I am still really struggling on how I will visually display the workshop process and my iteration for the exhibition, and most of my ideas involve hanging installations from the ceiling, which will not be possible in a double-height space, which i think is what we have got!

I am going to start sketching up the ideas I have got though, and go from there, only a few more weeks and we will be able to see the amazing new space we will be exhibiting in. 

Sponsorship

Spoken to a colleague who has started her own PR and social issues agency, she is working with a number of entrepreneurs and investors, hopefully some of her clients will be interested in sponsoring our exhibition. 

Sponsorship

Spoken to some friends who a small creative digital media agency to see if they are interested in sponsoring our exhibition, no luck though. 

Sponsorship

Spoke to the Finance Director of the group of companies I work for to ask about sponsorship, unfortunately it is not something they are interested in taking part in. 

Advertising secured

Today I had my meeting with Ben Cox of CIA, who have agreed very kindly to give us some of their Creative Review advertising space int he month running up to our exhibition, they have also agreed to let us have some time with their graphic designers Staziker Jones to design our adverts, this is a great opportunity for us, as there is no way we would have been able to afford this sort of advertising ourselves. 

Although I haven't secured any actual funds for the exhibition yet, this is just what is needed for the marketing team. 

Viral