24th of April

Research seminar at the Centre of European Studies, Cardiff Uni.

• Glenn presented the Paperwork project & Wyn screened film.
• Glenn presented the Creole project and the moire metaphor & Wyn presented Continental Drift.

Comments by Alexis...

Re the jump as user language: it can be seen as a literal representation of suspension, but literalism is all that asylum seekers have. There is the signifier and signified. The asylum seeker operates at the level of basic survival. Migrants don't have the luxury of dealing with anything beyond the signifier. Migrants are called back to the level of singnifiers.

Signifier/signified are notions attached to a binary system of representation. In the context of migration so is inside/outside.

A new situation demands a new rhetoric, a rhetoric that blurs the boundaries of binaries. In the 1980s we had structuralism; in the 1990s, deconstructionism; but now we don't have any script anymore. We have signifiers and we don't know what they signify, the beginnings of a new language. Alexis likes Paperwork because it represents a mediation between academia and the realities of the world. It doesn't project an ideology. A user language is only applicable to a particular situation, it does not claim to go beyond that. Libraries are cemeteries of user language, while cyber space is the exact opposite to a library. It is no accident that the notion of moire is developed by Glenn, an artist who fully embraces digital methods.

Alexis read out the Wikipedia quote on the history of the word moire' ... to everyone's great amusement! The moire metaphor can help undermine the ideology of purity that one finds within translation theory (purity of source language/purity of target language). No reality of the word, but only the trajectory of the word. Moire can an undermine the regime of object/image, and replace it with the notion of tapestry.

6th of April

Alexis, Glenn and Wyn meeting at Artstation

We discussed whether or not to pursue with the Beyond Text scheme or not, and decided to abandon it. The fact that they have covered migration prviously, and we would have to "play it down", is a major problem. Better for us to stay true to our original idea and find appropriate funding that fits closer to our intentions. Also, the deadline of the 7th of May is too tight.

So, where does this leave us now?

Glenn keen to keep pursuing the ultimate goal of exhibiting at the European Parliament building. We can however do both, pursue a similar Welsh Parliament building project, as a pilot project that will contribute towards realising the Brussels project.

• European Pariament. Art project based upon Glenn's moire' idea. Would include photographic stills and large scale projections of moving texts. Also, could include a documentary, made by Wyn, focusing on the individuals portrayed in the images. Would also coincide with an international conference, organised by Alexis.
• Welsh Senedd. Similar idea, but based in Wales. New potential title for the conference: The Morie' Effect: Translation & the Arts. Wyn could do a piece based on Continental Drift. A localised version, using migrant filmmakers and poets based in South Wales for this show (I'll call it Migration Drift as a working title).

We looked up the EU's themes for next year, which is: 2010 The European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exculsion. It seems doubtful that Glenn's moire' idea would fit, better to avoid applying for schemes connected with this stream of funding.

Alexis refers us to an essay by Walter Benjamin (that he himself has translated into French): The Task of the Translator. In it he states that "translation is not for those who don't understand the source language". I.e. the aim of translating is to create something new. This is what he would like to pursue with the conference, within the context of art practice - poetry, film, visual arts. Weblink to essay: http://www.scribd.com/doc/12733233/Walter-Benjamin-the-Task-of-Translator

We could aim for next Spring, say Easter 2010, as a date for the conference/art installation, develop our ideas and locate suitable funding opportunities.

Action points:

• Alexis: to identify suitable schemes to fund the Welsh Moire' Conference.
• Glenn: to create a pictorial presentation of the Brussels art installation proposal.
• Wyn: to investigate potential collaborators for the Migration Drift project.
• Each of us to write a short description of our contribution and post on blog.

We were reminded that we are due to present our ideas at a research workshop at Cardiff Uni on the 24th of April. This could be beneficial for us in clarifying our ideas and receiving initial feedback from colleagues.

The next meeting of the three of us is scheduled for Monday the 27th of April, 2.00, at Artstation.

25th of March

Glenn and Wyn at the Beyond Text grants workshop, Queen Mary University, London.

Useful  trip.  Good to take time out to focus on the project.  Here are some notes:

• transfer knowledge to fileds where it can make a difference

Beyond Text themes (a project should focus on no more than 2 of these):

• Making and unmaking - to unravel, stop/start;
• Performance, improvisation and embodied knowledge;
• Technology, innovation and tradition;
• Transmission & memory - memories communicated over time and space.

Aims & Objectives:

• work collaboratively;
• inter/multi-disciplinary;
• ensure that practice and theory learn from each other.  Outputs in many forms.
• cross boundaries.

Note: almost everything funded to date came in with external partners already in place.  This is useful because it is easier to demonstrate dissemination.

Practice-led/practice-based - the key question is this: How to extract methods from practice?

The RCUK's JeS (Joint electronic Submission).  It is essential that both the organisation, and the individual, are registered.  This needs to take place immediately, because it can take up to 6 weeks to register!  Go to website: https://je-s.rcuk.ac.uk and click on Create Account. 

What are they looking for, what is specifically welcome:

• practice-led methodologies;
• projects that address policy implications, digital implication, globalisation, digital Britain;
• history is currently missing.

Big, bold and ambitious projects cannot be done for £150K, within 18 months.  With this in mind projects can be:

• case studies;
• pilot projects.

Note: the outcomes must be appropriate for research, i.e. they support research, not art.  Don't focus too much on outputs, focus on research.

Think creatively about who might be interested in your research work.

The Principal Investigator will need to spend at least 4 hours a week on the project.

The earliest projects will be able to start: 7th of Dec; latest: 7th of June.

Wyn's thoughts:

One of the most useful part of the afternoon for me was discussing the project with a partner (Ali Campbell from QMUL).  He thought it interesting that our idea emerged from Wales.  This got me thinking about the film being a kind of case study of the moire' metaphor being put into action within the particular cultural context of Wales.  For example, it could focus on language: Welsh/English or even Wenglish (which can be perceived as a moire' pattern).  It makes sense that there should be a good reason why our research project is based in Wales.  

Who can benefit from the moire' metaphor?  How can the concept be effectively disseminated to those who can use it (both within academia and beyond)?  

Roles:

• ALEXIS: academic discourse/theory (Translation Studies)
• GLENN: visual art/concept (the moire' metaphor)
• WYN: film/context specific (moire' metaphor within the Welsh cultural landscape OR the moire' concept in action)