Due to the current circumstances of the university lockdown, in lieu of the semester 2 final review with external critics we have just had a cross-studio review instead. Our Field Works studio was partnered up with Doreen Bernath's Cinematic Commons group for this.
One of the good things about this experience was that it was the first proper experience of presenting my project over a video call, using screen-sharing. This is likely what will be required of us for presenting to the external examiners, and possibly also for presenting to the internal tutors as well, if this goes ahead – at this stage all of these details are still being ironed out.
Presenting
For this presenting test run, I elected to use screensharing with a PDF and a film. As I'm still in the middle of pulling work together, the pages and parts of the film were not all necessarily in the best order for me to present them, but I had noted down the order of which pages to go to, when to switch to which parts of the film and then back to the PDF etc. This seemed to work quite well, so if I have a single PDF and a single film, all in the correct order for presenting, and have rehearsed it, I feel that this could be a good method for my final presentations.
Still from the screen-recording of me presenting my work through screen-sharing
As well as showing some key bits of work from DS3 and earlier in the semester to set the scene, I also presented some new work which neither Nick, Doreen or my peers had seen. Some of this was key extracts from the concluding chapter of my latest Technology submission, demonstrating the construction sequenced which became resolved in more detail through that module. Another area was my latest development work of the natural growth analogies for the site developing in phases, looking particularly at leaf patterns and the related concept of Voronoi cells. Related to this area of how the site would develop, I presented a draft version of a diagram documenting the material and food flows on-site, off-site, and going in between the two. Finally, I showed some edited film clips of some of the model making processes, such as the film of striking the falsework and formwork of the 1:10 column model, and close-ups of peeling fabric off some of the fabric material test casts.
Feedback
It was great to hear Doreen's fresh perspective on my project and find out what she felt where the strengths that I should emphasise and what I should prioritise working on for these last few weeks.
One of the main positives that Doreen noted was my use of film and particularly the way that I have kept the 'human scale' in this, by showing close ups of my hands manipulating the fabric, peeling it from the cast, cutting the bamboo and so on. Doreen encouraged me to bring this presence of the human's role in the process into more of my drawings and work, moving from the scale of the hand, to the person, and then to the 'collective' of groups of people carrying out these tasks. I agree that this is one of the key aspects of my project and will endeavour to convey this effectively.
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