This week I was to give my peer review presentation and prepare for my Final Review next week. I also went in to Uni to test out equipment and worked on finalising my thesis.
Final Write-Up:
This week i finished the last section on incongruous haunting. I feel this has been the most complex to write as it is by definition outstanding from the rest and so I had to apply a different perspective when approaching it. i feel it now adequately fits with the rest of the thesis.
I also decided to check to see the word count limit of the thesis. I had it in my mind that it should be 20,000 words and had assumed i might get 10% leeway if i wrote 22,000 words. However when i checked, i realised that the limit was 20,000 words as the minimum was 15,000 words. I have, this week, started to cut down my word count, thought i may decide to exclude less necessary discussions as i continue to write more. I feel like I could easily write 30,000 words, however i will keep this thesis succinct and emphasise simplicity and formulation.
Another thing I did this week was formulate how each of the fields of haunting are made observable both through the aesthetic format and through sound installation. This summary is placed within my conclusion to bring together the dialogues of the thesis
Silent Haunting - A fear of the unknown haunts the Periphery of our experience. - observable through an attention to the absence of time, consequence, context and sound
Incongruous Haunting - Time experienced as broken, haunts the Poise of the spectator. - observable through an attention to the presence of time: in the cultural zeitgeist reflected in the contained art; in time-based artwork and in feelings of dread or anticipation created by affective works.
Acousmatic Haunting - A fear of Displacement haunts the Proximity of the spectator. - observable through an attention to the dislocation of artworks from context, experience from significance and the new meanings created when dislocated artefacts are juxtaposed for our consideration.
Modulated Haunting - Place experienced as broken, haunts the boundary of Presence. - observable through an attention to place, through its acoustics, environmental factors and phenomenology.
Psychogenic Haunting - Meaningful experiences haunt the boundaries of our Psyche. - observable through the personal experiences of nostalgia, connection and subjective interaction.
Responsive Haunting - A dispreference for tactility haunts our boundaries of Passivity. - observable through the interpersonal experiences of exclusion, censorship and transaction.
Presentations:
I set up the meeting for the peer review, however it seems no-one was able to join me for that. While disappointed, I messaged a list of questions to everyone that I would have liked to attend, and hopefully that will lead to feedback that assists me before my final review next week.
For my final review, I completely rewrote my presentation, even after the re-writing of my presentation for my peer review. rearranged the elements and focussed on accessibility to wider audiences while still achieving intellectual depth and reflection. The framing for the presentation and its reflections on the project as a whole is very different from presentations I have given in other reviews, however i feel this risk is necessary to present the project effectively.
Equipment testing
This week I took the train down from Henley to Bournemouth to test the Mp3 player to see if it would play the sonic compositions effectively and the rotating platform to see whether it added effective animation to the static work.
The latter worked fantastically well and I am excited to see the reactions of audiences whose experiences are interrupted by stumbling into the work. I also spoke with Eden about constructing a plinth to contain the speakers inside and further concealing the speaker system within the space. Finally, I also applied a layer of paint to the speaker itself to assist with this also.