Moving Motions
Today I met with a couple individuals to talk about my project and what it is I may be looking to do. The first of these conversations was with Professor John Burn as part of a crit session. This was an introductory session to talk about your project and where it’s going, to which I discussed my objective, where I am currently, and what I am planning to complete for the deadline. We mainly discussed University ethics rules in relation to the conversations I want to have with trans+ individuals in Liverpool. This discussion led me to decide to avoid applying for permission from the university since the topic of conversation could be considered high risk. Instead, I now plan to continue having informal conversations where the discussions inform my art/project without having to be official. This does, however, mean that I am unable to quote or record these conversations for use within my research. I will review this need for ethics permission again at a later date.
The second person I had a discussion about my project with today is Lol Baker who runs the Fab lab in the John Lennon Art and Design building. During my time at Liverpool John Moores, I have maybe entered the Fab lab a whole three times but never found a need for the facilities on offer. Lol seemed interested in working with me towards creating the lavender sculptural pieces for my installation, he has a particular interest in botanics and mentioned a couple of historical facts about Liverpool and a book reference that I will revisit if I believe they have become relevant. Lol went through the 3D printers available, starting with the cheaper option that uses cornstarch filament to create pieces at about 10p per meter of filament. The other machines in the studio use resin to print which is more costly but also has a greater environmental impact as resin is known not to biodegrade (something I have researched in the past as a sculptor). The difference between these options that is important to note, however, is the level of detail they can achieve which I will have to explore further as I begin to create my digital model or scan. Lol did mention another option of outsourcing the 3D printing if I wished to use plaster printing but this would add costs that I believe is unnecessary for this project. I am currently leaning towards the corn starch filament printing. Despite the detail issue, I believe environmental impact is an important consideration, particularly when working with topics of life, growth, desire and relationships.
Through this conversation with Lol, I have opened the door to working with the fab lab team in the creation of the practical elements of the project. I gained a general idea of budget where if detail isn’t integral, I can opt for the cornstarch filament and hopefully keep the overall costs of the lavender sculptures to under £20. This would be ideal as I don’t have the largest budget to work with for this project, but I also wish to avoid sacrificing the quality of the installation. This dilemma is similar to my ethics dilemma that I touched on with John. On one hand, I wish to avoid facing the restrictions and added stress of applying for ethics permission from the university and could theoretically go ahead with this project without needing the more formal conversation, however, I don’t want this decision to affect. The integrity of my research.
