By Gill Addison, practice based PhD candidate Central Saint Martins

Installation Photograph: ‘Work-Out in Parallax_2’ by Gill Addison

Mead PhD Residency at the British School at Rome report by Gill Addison, part-time practice based PhD candidate Central Saint Martins.

Project: Something to hold onto. The re-materialisation of research in artist’s moving image practice. This practice-based PhD centres upon an examination and interrogation of the processes and re-materialisation of research within the field of artists moving image. The intention is to consider the role of a filmmaker as researcher and archivist.

I had a particular interest in applying for the residency as one of my moving image project centres around an Italian film shot in Rome, the EUR to be precise. Hence the opportunity to work in Rome was incredibly fortunate and timely in relation to my PhD.

The research and studio work I made during the residency enabled me to evolve, develop and complete the second major project of my PhD.

This project titled ‘Work-Out’ has become a 3 screen video installation with printed matter, it is currently on show in the exhibition Parallax_2, at Chelsea College of Art and will feature in the publication Parallax July 2017.

During the residency, I was able to immerse myself within this project and scrutinise my research methodology. Free from constraints of other work, family and ‘everyday’ life admin the residency invited a period of concentrated research, exploration and scope to fully ‘test’ out my ideas in the studio and within the community at the British School at Rome (BSR). Part of my original application was to be able to ‘open’ my studio to invite the community of researchers, artist, and staff to visit the research in progress. I was able to do this, and engage in rich conversations about the research and work I was undertaking – it was incredibly helpful to ‘hear’ myself speak about the work to different people, with varied experience of practice-based research.

Image: Work in progress BSR Studio, Sept 2016 – Gill Addison

image: Screen images from Work-Out – Gill Addison

Practically I was able to fully complete ‘Work-Out’. In addition, I evolved a writing strategy during the residency that I am currently developing for the dissertation of the PhD.

The staff at all levels at the BSR were incredibly helpful, supportive and were genuinely interested in my project. They helped out with sourcing material where ever they could, navigated me in the direction of alternative sources and feed into the project with their own opinions.

Alongside the professional benefit, the residency was on a personal level an amazing experience. To be able to focus, without distraction, in such calm and conducive study environment was simply perfect. The time frame again worked in relation to the project and gave a solid realistic limit on what I could achieve.

Overall this experience was incredibly rich, productive and has enabled me to establish a crucial body of work for the PhD.

The Final Installation:

image: Work-Out in Parallax_2. Chelsea College of Art, London Oct 2016

Work-Out (video installation, printed matter)
Work-Out seeks to address the practice of unlearning via making visible the processes of ‘working out’ the relationships between the research references, influences and material used in the production of a new body of work.
Work-Out will attempt to present the ideas behind a body of work as a piece of work in their own right.
Work-Out will explore the relationships, tangents and a crucial moment of convergence found within and between the films L’Eclisse and Hiroshima, mon Amour. Enacting a speculative relationship to place/location and narrative. The artists’ temporary studio, acts as an axis in which these two films, are brought together and in doing so becomes a third key location – the site of research.
Work-Out is a workout

Background:

Following a generous gift by photographer and philanthropist Scott Mead, UAL has for some years offered Mead Scholarships and Fellowships to its students and recent alumni.  This new Rome PhD Studio Residency extends the programme of Mead Awards to PhD students, providing them with a four-week residency in a studio at the British School at Rome.

2017 Mead BSR Residency  Open for Entries:

The Mead Residency will give three PhD students who are practice-based and who will be able to utilise the Studio the valuable opportunity to live and work at the British School at Rome (the BSR).  The BSR offers studio, living and library facilities, as well as the chance to join its vibrant community of scholars and artists.  This is a superb opportunity for students to research and focus on their work away from normal pressures, and to use the BSR as a base to explore Rome.

More information about the BSR can be found at http://www.bsr.ac.uk/.

The residencies will take place in September 2017, and the arrival and departure dates are 1-29 September.

Deadline for applications: Friday 17 March 2017.

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