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We had a very informative chat Monday. The second half focused on assessment which is always interesting. What became apparent is how closely this MA_Digital Arts course, and I assume by extension, all Camberwell MA pathways, follow the course handbook and the published learning outcomes and assessment evidence.

We started with a great deal of discussion of the MA summer exhibition in July and how the publicity for the exhibition is organized and the relationship between the university marketing and the student initiated publicity. In an attempt to make the means of production more transparent I have been asking for an overview of the overall budget for the exhibition, which I imagine serve two functions- to display the research and outputs of the students graduating, but also to promote Camberwell College of Arts to the broader public and prospective students. It is in that context that there is a symbiotic relationship between the university and its graduates- it is in both of their interests to present a professional exhibition. The real budget for the exhibition is still a mystery, but what is now clear is that the college will be doing their own marketing- which most people seem to think is ‘rubbish’ and each pathway is responsible for their own publicity.

What has been playing out on the MA_DA wiki has been a lot of opinionated discussion around the design of a flyer, a brochure and a poster. The various pathways do not seem to be able to take advantage of the designers who are colleagues and in fact there is no apparent interaction between the various pathways as far as I can tell and so what we have been debating at the discussion level of the wiki is a design by committee which is not the best way to come up with something interesting.

I first proposed naming our MA Digital Arts course Basement 18 as I have discovered that we will be exhibiting our research outputs in the basement. I next tried to suggest we move away from a proposed grid, with a thumbnail image of each student’s work which I though looked pretty lame.

I posted an image of turbulent water which I thought was appropriately beauitful and enigmatic, but that seems to have been overruled as looking like too much like a ’stock photograph’ which I can understand. The debate continues on the MA_DA wiki.