Things that I changed to improve my Action Plan:
Trip to Falmouth:
One positive point is that I hadn't planned anything specific to do on my original action plan during the time that I was away at Falmouth and Plymouth because I thought I would be too busy focusing on interviews. Instead I found myself using my time effectively and relevantly when collecting items from the beach at Falmouth, keeping in mind the original concept of my project, (To create unfamiliar 'tool like' objects that people found aesthetically pleasing). One thing I wrote down previously on my blog which I think highlights how I used my time away in a relevant way was that "I was hoping that by visiting an unfamiliar place, I might stumble across unfamiliar objects". I found that this statement was true as I found lots of naturally made objects from the depths of the sea such as leathery plant growths and sea weed parts. I found this part of my project very exciting because I couldn't easily go back to that location and if I did go back I wouldn't find the same objects which to me made the objects very unique and special.
The fact that I not only enjoyed the visit so much but that it was also very useful for my project has made me think that I could have planned more places to visit asides from exhibitions, because I think it added variety and a new direction to my project. I think that sometimes it's good to get 'out and about' or in to the outdoors whilst doing a project because it is a good way of relieving stress and is an alternative to getting bogged down with huge amounts of reading. I think that sometimes just visiting a place for the sake of it can be surprisingly inspiring even if you think it won't be.
Changing my resources:
My main inspiration for the project was the programme the "Human Planet"which I had planned to use as a further resource by recording the objects I saw and categorising them in to what they were used for. However I found myself getting bored of watching the same episodes over and over again so ended up using it a lot less than I'd planned to. I think turned out for the best because it made me look for other sources of inspiration and varied the types of research I used for example I focused a lot on my primary research and using people as my main resource.
Things that I should have changed in order to improve my Action Plan:
Being too ambitious:
When looking back at my original action plan I noticed that I had planned to complete my experiments by the end of week two as well as completing all of my artist research. During the first two weeks of my project I ended up focusing on artist research looking at books in the library and creating sketch books rather than conducting experiments. I think that whilst creating my action plan I hadn't considered how the process of researching artists/ visiting exhibitions is quite time consuming because you have to know where to look. I think that by setting myself such a short amount of time to do this in the first place, made me rush this research and my notes on different artists weren't as in depth as they could have been. I think I felt like I was getting behind because I hadn't achieved what I'd set out to do, however I know now not to be too ambitious when creating an action plan.
The fact that I not only enjoyed the visit so much but that it was also very useful for my project has made me think that I could have planned more places to visit asides from exhibitions, because I think it added variety and a new direction to my project. I think that sometimes it's good to get 'out and about' or in to the outdoors whilst doing a project because it is a good way of relieving stress and is an alternative to getting bogged down with huge amounts of reading. I think that sometimes just visiting a place for the sake of it can be surprisingly inspiring even if you think it won't be.
Changing my resources:
My main inspiration for the project was the programme the "Human Planet"which I had planned to use as a further resource by recording the objects I saw and categorising them in to what they were used for. However I found myself getting bored of watching the same episodes over and over again so ended up using it a lot less than I'd planned to. I think turned out for the best because it made me look for other sources of inspiration and varied the types of research I used for example I focused a lot on my primary research and using people as my main resource.
Things that I should have changed in order to improve my Action Plan:
Being too ambitious:
When looking back at my original action plan I noticed that I had planned to complete my experiments by the end of week two as well as completing all of my artist research. During the first two weeks of my project I ended up focusing on artist research looking at books in the library and creating sketch books rather than conducting experiments. I think that whilst creating my action plan I hadn't considered how the process of researching artists/ visiting exhibitions is quite time consuming because you have to know where to look. I think that by setting myself such a short amount of time to do this in the first place, made me rush this research and my notes on different artists weren't as in depth as they could have been. I think I felt like I was getting behind because I hadn't achieved what I'd set out to do, however I know now not to be too ambitious when creating an action plan.
Being too vague:
I had planned to conduct a series of experiments to help me explore how people interacted with different objects. However I had no idea in what context I would set the experiments in, what the objects would be, or where I would conduct them. One of the things I had trouble with was finding a space to film that wasn't noisy. Throughout both the filmed experiments I did there were noises of people walking through the space and slamming doors which I think was a result of me not booking a space in chelsea or asking a tutor for advice. In the end the "curiosity Box" film turned out to be quiet successful and I'm hoping to project it in the final exhibition which has made me think I should have recorded it on something more substantial than my digital camera to improve the quality. This also comes down to a lack of preparation. I should have booked a video camera in advance by asking the foundation office.
One thing I wasn't very thorough about was what exhibitions I would go and visit. I did visit both the Susan Hiller and Orozco exhibitions at the Tate and also Camer-less photography at the V and A during the project but I could have been to a lot more that were more relevant to my research. I should have started researching what exhibitions were on at the time of my project as I was writing the action plan for example looking at the "Time out" website which has information on exhibitions around London.
Conclusion:
Overall I think that there were a lot of things I didn't consider when writing my original action plan that could have improved my time management for example not using resources that were easily accessible to me such as asking my tutors for help about filming or using the "Time out" website to look up exhibitions around London. Having said that, I think that if I was too specific on my original action plan about what I was doing I don't think I would have discovered other sources of inspiration such as the Falmouth visit. I also think that by being vague on my action plan gave me room to experiment e.g. not focusing fully on the interactive part of my project but instead on the phycological part by researching into how people value certain objects which is what my final outcome is based on.
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