
The residency sought to create room for practice which is inherently experimental, focusing on enactment, rupture and actualisation, rather than depiction, reporting and representation. It also sought contributions from ‘non-representational’ research that concentrates on events (Vannini, 2015). Events are happenings, unfoldings, regular occurrences inspired (but not over-determined) by states of anticipation and irregular actions that shatter expectations. Finally the residency sought contributions from the field of visual ethnography. Rather than assuming that humans make sense of the world through language, Connerton, Bourdieu and others suggest that we understand the world through our sensing bodies, implying that we derive meaning from experience. As John Berger says, ‘seeing comes before words, the child looks and recognises before it can speak’ (1972: 7). In a world saturated with images we forget to ask ourselves common-sense questions, like how do we see the world? What does it mean to be in the world? What is the world in relation to us? What is the world in relation to the creative image, or indeed, what is the creative image? The residency aimed to create an environment in which these questions could be reflected upon, discussed, embodied, experienced, enacted, and lived by all participants. Based on the premise that practice-as-research and ethnography are a constant process of ‘learning by doing’, our aim was to facilitate a regular gathering through which artists, practice-researchers and ethnographers could meet and share their knowledge by ‘collectively doing’ a visual project. The basis of these methods, as well as the current issues surrounding them, were explored, experimented with, redefined and shared with others during the residency, but also with attendees of the subsequent transition day and conference.
The residency aims to create an environment in which these questions can be reflected upon, discussed, embodied, experienced, enacted, and lived by all participants. Based on the premise that practice-as-research and ethnography are a constant process of ‘learning by doing’, our appeal is to facilitate a regular gathering through which artists, practice-researchers and ethnographers can meet and share their knowledge by ‘collectively doing’ a visual project.
Our goal is to create a space where the basis of these methods, as well as the current issues surrounding them, can be explored, experimented with, redefined and shared with others during the residency, but also shared with attendees of the subsequent transition day and conference.
15 filmmakers, artists and practice-researchers, as well as other VRN members and special guests stayed at the house, sharing ideas, collaborating, exploring new frontiers of audio-visual media, and having a great time. The mansion house as well as the surrounding countryside played a role as a stimulating and inspiring environment for conceiving, creating and setting audio-visual work.
Each day of the residency was split between:
• A short morning meeting with the whole group setting out objectives for the day (a Buddhist monk from Nepal, Kesang Lama, stayed with us, offering optional, early morning guided mediations)
• Workshops and masterclasses with special guests and VRN members
• Individual work and group collaborations
• An evening gathering involving everyone, where we shared work and ideas, and reflected on the day’s progress.
At the start of the residency, we will brainstormed possible filmic and visual ideas that could be worked on during the residency – responding to the opportunities and resources of the location, as well as the creative tools and skills available – and whether possible collaborations could emerge from this.
Subsequently, we formed small teams around specific ideas, or where individuals wanted to work only on a project of their own, possible overlaps and collaborations on elements of the creative process were considered.
As the residency progressed, we discussed how these projects related to and informed each other, and how they utilised the creative and learning opportunities of the workshops. These workshops were delivered every day by the residency guests and other members of the Visual Research Network, and their key aim was to open up new ways of thinking about creative approaches and methods, inspired by the specific practice and experience of the individual facilitators.
The work resulting from the residency was exhibited and discussed during the first day of the conference in Manchester on the 26th and 27th of September 2018.