John James Marshall thesis.pdf - OpenAIR @ RGU - Robert Gordon ...

work and the vision of the project, I expected to be working with artists that are
more product led or 3D-led.
8. Was there anyone in the exhibition you were surprised by?
I suppose a positive one would have been Human Beans I didn’t foresee that
would have manifested itself in the way it did and it wasn’t one that I necessarily
bought into but actually was probably one of the most successful projects of the
show. In terms of its installation, in terms of its work with communities and in
terms of the stuff that has been ongoing since it has probably had the biggest
impact and is still now drawing in huge numbers of people. So I think that one I
was most surprised by.
9. Did PBB support folly’s mission?
I think it did up to a point. I think that it absolutely did in the sense in trying
work with different artists and trying to introduce audiences to what might be
possible if art was working, in interesting ways, with technology and that is the
core of what we are always trying to do in different ways. We got to work with
lots of artists and through that there was a fantastic learning curve within the
organisation. We benefited because of that and the feedback that I have had
from audiences, stake holders and partners was that people found it incredibly
valuable in the sense that they began to understand what it might be that we
could be doing. The only thing with that is that because it wasn’t a hundred
percent fit with our artistic vision they could go away with a different idea of
what it is that folly might be trying to tackle. We are not necessarily so
exhibition led in that way and also we are not necessarily so product led. That
was a slight conflict with the artistic vision we are trying to drive forward.
Overall it definitely enabled us to work on a really broad range of interesting
projects with different artists across a range of areas. It gave us those
opportunities to work in those ways and it gave audiences a way in. I really do
think it gave audiences a way in more than a lot of the work we do because it still
has that exhibition feel although we weren’t in a gallery it felt like a gallery when
you were inside. Obviously there is a starting point to get the person A inside
the place but once the people were in there was a language of people walking
around exhibition spaces that people already understand
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