3491
La Frenais, Rob "Ubiquity and Fluidity." Phd
, Brunel University, London UK, 2005
Keywords/Fields of Study : science, technology, performance, fluidity, ubiquity, practice-based, contestable data, microgravity
Link to Full Thesis, 200
pages, written in UK English
, copyright Brunel University/Rob La Frenais
Abstract: In this practice-based supporting documentation, I utilise what I nominate as twin axes, or vectors, fluidity and ubiquity, to describe the art practice I have engaged with over 25 years. Ubiquity to describe the way that art spreads into the areas of science, technology and real-life situations including political issues; fluidity to describe the artist’s ability to adapt quickly to circumstances. To do this I use various case studies emerging from my professional trajectory – firstly as founder and editor of Performance Magazine from 1979 and secondly as a creative curator working internationally since 1987. In the introduction I list the activities I have undertaken that inform this research, which, along with the list of materials, illustrates my practice-based research. I have selected the projects here because of their resonance and ability to reflect the above axes and these are presented as active field notes emerging from critical and curatorial practice. I also reflect on the artist’s critical engagement with science and technology and the artist’s ability to manipulate contestable data, both from a subjective and objective point of view. I also provide an historical snapshot of artistic activity which is widely drawn, yet maps various strata of artistic practices that might accompany an archive of an era. In doing this I describe unusual environments such as microgravity and other areas where the artist’s frontiers are expanded in a fluid and ubiquitous manner, and list some strategies for artistic survival.
Department: School of Arts
, Brunel University, London UK
Advisor(s): Barry Edwards (Reader)
