Class Philipsz

My work deals with the spatial properties of sound and with the relationships between sound and architecture. I am particularly interested in the emotive and psychological properties of sound and how it can be used as a device to alter individual consciousness. I have used sound as a medium in public spaces to trigger an awareness in the listener, to temporarily alter their perception of themselves in a particular place and time.

The object of the Art in Context course is to explore with my students the notion of art that moves beyond the physical object to investigate the wider space that the work exists within. I want to encourage creative ways of thinking about space, to move outwards from the object to consider its site and the implications of its context. I would like to illustrate to the students how the context informs the work and how a change of context can create new meaning. I want to encourage them to try out different locations, to consider how the context can inform the meaning of their work.

I would like to give my students a grounding on what art in public space can be by conducting individual tutorials, group seminars, lectures and workshops: The first one will be entitled The Site Visit. How to make a site visit work for you and your practice. We will look at material from my own previous site visits and talk about how the experience can be developed into artwork. We will also look at previous exhibitions in public space that I curated in Belfast while being a founding committee member of the artist run gallery Catalyst Arts and then my own organisation, Grassy Knoll Productions that I subsequently founded, which was a base for artists who didn’t have a studio base practise.

Susan Philipsz