TMA1433 Professional Platforms Mini Symposium- Richard Holman

20th Jan 2021 : Mini Symposium reflection- Richard Holman

This week lecture/seminar consisted of music based theory and the use of advertisement. Lecturer Sara Nesteruk invited both guest lecturers Richard Holman and Leighton Jones to give talks on how they develop work for their practice. 

Richard Holman began his talk discussing how different languages interpret the sound of a dog noise differently, at first this conversation amused me but Richard made some very interesting points behind this theory. As a society we are conditioned to view the world one way compared to someone else’s reality. However this doesn’t make either reality wrong or right, it is just the way we view the world from different perspectives. Richard explained that there is conventional vs unconventional ways of processing methods and assumptions and that conventional methods can sometimes blind us from truth and block creativity. With my proposal being based on the exploration of fantasy and narrative this resonated with me well as my intention behind my practice is to explore how people use imagination to escape reality. 

An example Richard presented which i thought was fascinating was film maker David Lynch’s theory of fish relating to ideas, he quotes “you don’t make the fish, you catch the fish” much like ideas, you don’t make the ideas you just catch them in your mind, which is usually done when relating to a place or space. to view this theory deeper the link is below;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFsBaa_MEzM 

 Richard also explains that some of the best work is made when we slow down and step away from our ideas, instead of forcing them. This has really helped me to step back and rethink the direction i am going with my own work. His theory also linked back with my previous project from the first term of daily walks, as he spoke about how he uses work to gain inspiration and this was a topic i began to cover last term. with this being said i am beginning to look at if i could carry on with this theme into my proposal as it seems to be a relevant topic of discussion i could continue further. 

Another interesting theory Richard mentions as to how to go about developing concepts, is to think of the worst possible idea and expand from there, as a study found the risker the better. One of the best examples were  a brand used its weakness to sell is Marmite (links below), where they used the narrative of getting DNA results to show whether you were a lover or a hater of marmite, which results in humours family arguments and celebrations. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_191RnWwww

https://www.marmite.co.uk/the-gene-project.html

Over all Richards lecture has really helped me to slow down my thinking process and too understand to not force or rush my creative process, which is something going forward i think will really benefit the way i develop my work.