Lisa Temple-Cox

Project Proposal

Self and Other

MA Arts in a Social Context

Arts Project Management: MAAC06M
2010
 Self and Other

Introduction:

My studio practice has developed within and investigates the mediums of

collage, assemblage, installation and sculpture. Its primary focus is the
philosophical category of the self: I have used methods and approaches of
ethnography as part of a practice that explores my own identity as an artist.

My activity has as its subject matter the experiences of the self and the
artists self that makes the work. Masks and moulage inspire it, as do the
technologies and apparatuses of nineteenth century medicine and their
museum display, the tradition of Vanitas painting and the aesthetic techniques
closely associated with avant-gardism of the early twentieth century such as
the ready-made.

My interests philosophically lie in exploring the realms of identity, personal

history, and consciousor unconsciousness through the intersections of art
and science. My current research interests are in ethnographic postcards,
medical museums, and the didactic moulage.
Rationale:
There is a deep-rooted fascination for and interest in human remains, and it
seems that the mixture of fascination and repulsion is universal irrespective of
gender, race or culture. The Mutter museum, for example, is popular with
artists, and they have had artist residencies there previously. I noticed a
similar effect in the Muse Dupuytren when I was working in there: visitors
there were often artists, or medical students from the medical school in which
the museum is situated.

I have been making experimental work inspired by methods of preserving

the human body documented in the medical museum, framed by the
aesthetics and discourse of the Vanitas. These practical and theoretical
explorations have raised questions such as: to what extent does the head
represent the self or express personality? And are there other parts of the
body that raise similar issues of identity and subjectivity?

What has emerged from my academic and practical research is an

understanding of how we interact with specimen display within the contexts of
the art exhibition and medical museum, and its relationship to questions of
self and subjectivity. This, then, will be my proposed project for the next year:
to explore the interstices of art and science, by way of undertaking one or
more residencies in a medical museum, and develop a deeper understanding
of my self and my practice in the process.
Aims:
To explore notions of identity through a made or cast object/head or
other body part, presented to the viewer formally, scientifically.
To do further research, both visually and academically.
To look at ways to engage museum staff and visiting public in my work.
To create work that will intersect with the museum collections in such a
way that the boundaries between art and science are blurred, at the
level of presentation and display.
To identify which museums and collections would allow me to work
within their collection and to what extent with the public.

Objectives:
Resolve through artistic exploration how parts of the body raise issues
of identity, personality and individuality.
To develop a deeper understanding of the philosophical underpinning
of this work.
Make contact with the museums I am interested in working with, and
curators and other staff that I have met in the process of my research
to date.
To set up a residency and/or exhibition of work within one of these
museums.
Process and methodology:
Following on from my first year work, I have several areas of research that
Id like to develop further. Practically, I have yet to fully explore the notion of
the whole head as a Vanitas, and in order to do this I need to make a master
mould. Having spent some time at the end of last year casting my head, I now
have a master cast, from which to make this mould. To do this, I need to learn
how to use a type of mould making medium called Gelflex, which will allow me
to cast copies of my master head in a variety of media without damaging the
mould. (appendix 1)

I have a number of different materials that I intend to cast in that reference

notions of permanence and impermanence, as well as having a material
symbolism: for example, bread, clay, printed paper, objects in resin, manure
and straw. In terms of the liquid that these casts might interact with, I have
been experimenting with the use of symbolically laden fluids such as urine,
milk, oil, wine, or water from particular sites as well as living liquids such as
kombucha. I intend to record the interaction of the solid matter of the head as
it decays, grows, or otherwise changes within the liquid medium, (referencing
the notion of vanitas) and subverting the purposes of the medical wet
collection, which is to fix and preserve the physical matter, in the same way
that photographs fix and preserve a moment in temporal experience.

I would also like to look at ways of introducing text into the work, perhaps
through use of the photo transfer techniques that I have been employing
during my experiments with the ethnographic postcard, which also subvert the
permanence of photographic imagery by interventions which reveal the effects
of time and the impermanence of memory.
 My objective is to work within the body of the medical museum, amongst
the displays, so that my work is directly inspired and influenced by my
surroundings. I know that the experience of being in an unusual situation
outside of the comfort zone of my studio space changes and influences the
work I make: additionally, working in a museum in another country one
where my knowledge of the language is hesitant or unconfident has a
discernable effect upon the perception and focus of my working processes.

Previous work has addressed issues concerning a sense of displacement

and search for identity that resulted in an ongoing body of work entitled
languages I dont speak. This is one of the reasons I am particularly
interested in working abroad. Also, working within the context of the museum
offers opportunities for social interaction, with both staff and visitors, which I
hope will have a direct result in terms of practical outcomes.

My aim, for the remainder of this year, is develop connections with well-
known medical museums here and in Europe, and spend a period of time
within a number of them. During these residencies I would create new work
and perhaps effect a short exhibition. The whole process would be
documented. (appendix 2)
 I am also in the process of drafting a residency proposal for the University
Gallery at Essex (appendix 3) to run a workshop there at some point during
the summer term to further explore notions of identity and self, as Essex
University has the most diverse range of students, culturally and
geographically, of any university in the country.

Academic research:
Since enrolling onto the Birkbeck course at the Wellcome Collection, I am
now a member of the Wellcome library, which is an enormous resource of any
material with a medical connection: books, images, posters, papers and other
ephemera. Its collections include medical journals up to the current date, as
well as a huge moving image resource. I intend to use this as a point of
departure for the scientific side to my research, whether it be academic
(historically or scientifically) or visual. (appendix 4)

Risk Assessment:
Working in a public space poses certain problems from a health and safety
perspective. As my plan is to both make drawings and 3d work, possibly with
input from visitors and/or staff, I will identify areas that may be health and
safety issues, and how to circumvent them. These will be detailed on a
separate risk assessment sheet (appendix 5)
Action plan:

Making contact with possible venues:

Berliner Medizinhistorisches Museum der Charit, Berlin: (Thomas
Schnalke/Navena Widulin)
Galton Collection, UCL. (N. MacEncroe, curator
{n.mcenroe@ucl.ac.uk})
Gordon Museum, Guys Hospital, London.
Hunterian Museum, Royal College of Surgeons, London.
Medizinhistorisches Museum, Zurich.
Moulagen Museum, Zurich. (Michael Geiges, Konservator
{michael.geiges@usz.ch})
Muse des Moulages, LHopital St. Louis, Paris
Muse Dupuytren, Paris. (Dr Patrice Josset, Conservateur
{jossetpatrice@yahoo.fr} / Patrick Conan, conservateur adjoint
{conanrutali@aol.com})
Museo della Specola, Florence.
Museum Boerhaave, Leiden.
Museum Vrolik, Amsterdam.
Mutter Museum, College of Physicians, Philadelphia. (Robert Hicks,
director)
Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh. (Dr. Sara Barnes)
Science Museum, London. (Lisa Sullivan)
Wellcome museum of Anatomy and Pathology, London. (John Carr
{JCarr@rcseng.ac.uk})
Timetable:
2010
January: Uninstall Work in Progress exhibition.
Return studio to working condition.
Begin course at Birkbeck A history of the Human body in
Europe

February: Continue academic research.

March: End course at Birkbeck A history of the Human body in

Europe
April: Begin to make contact with curators and museums.
Begin 2nd stage of practical experimental work at college.
May: Identify possible venues, and discuss practicalities of working
within them.
Continue with practical experimentation in studio and college
workshop.
Begin Feering School art project

June: Continue with practical experimentation in studio and college

workshop.
Begin Shorefields School art project (tbc)

July: 12-13th, attend a seminar on the text work of Kurt Schwitters,

Elterwater, Ambleside.
Continue with practical experimentation in studio and college
workshop..
Begin Journey to the Podium project
Begin summer residencies/workshops at various venues
Begin residencies/workshops at various venues (tbc)

August: Continue residencies/workshops at various venues (tbc)

Continue with practical experimentation in studio.
September: Continue residencies/workshops at various venues (tbc)
Continue with practical experimentation in studio.
Attend conference St. Gallen, Switzerland.
October: Continue residencies/workshops at various venues (tbc)
Continue with practical experimentation in studio.
November: Consolidate and prepare work made during residencies, as well
as supporting visual material and record of processes.
December: Prepare and hang exhibition of residency work and
documentation by mid month. (Venue to be confirmed)
End of course.
MA Arts in a Social Context
Arts Project Management: MAAC06M
Word Count: 2095

To do: further reading and areas of research:

Further Reading:
Bataille, Georges: Story of the Eye
Foucault, Michel: Birth of the Clinic, History of Sexuality
Freud, Sigmund
Jay, Martin: Downcast Eyes
Kristeva, Julia, Powers of Horror
Lacan, Jacques
Sawday, Jonathan: the Body Emblazoned

Further areas of Research:

Ambroise Par
Francis Galton
Edmond Locard
Anna Morandi
Henry Tonks