Monday 14 March 2011

Amy MacDonough & Blue Firth- Post grad talk.

I wish my name was Blue.

Last week we had a lecture/talk from two young post grad students, concerning their experience within the art world and their study at the royal academy. Amy's work consisted of video pieces, referencing 80's/90's kids tv programmes. It was Blue's work however, that really caught my attention. She spoke about her work with a real ease and confidence that i envy, but wasn't at all pretentious or cocky. Her work was based on her personal interests, from psychology to ghost stories, it was all well researched and developed thoroughly.

'Blue Firth has a long–standing interest in the nature of local communities and how their history is recorded through vernacular crafts and practices. Through research of local history and customs, she seeks out arcane and often neglected information with which she aims to rediscover the forgotten character of a place.Applying this research–based practice to her time in residence recently at the Glenfiddich Distillery in Scotland, Blue anticipates weaving these local elements of craft, history and folklore into a series of collaborative re–enactment and site–specific works.'

Royal Academy Schools, 1-2 October 2010
Researching a series of unexplained incidents at this historic building, artist Blue Firth uncovered a first-hand account of apparent poltergeist activity in the artists’ studios.
Blue has collaborated with parapsychologist Dr David Luke and writer Mark Pilkington. As preparatory research they undertook investigative training sessions with the Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena (ASSAP).
Bringing together their knowledge and experience of the paranormal and arts fields, the trio have devised an event that merges Blue’s art practice with David and Mark’s expertise in making sense of the unexplained. The end result is a unique participatory experiment in which the audience are both observers and the observed, the haunters and the haunted.
 Combining authentic investigative procedures with subtle performative aspects, Vigil examines and subverts the roles of audience expectation, spectatorship and belief.

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