Podcast Transcript: Lab Session 1 Reflections — M

Before the labs, my approach to research and concept development was very linear. If I had a question, the research involved looking for a direct answer to the question that I had.

For example if I asked you what a bird is, you probably say that it is a creature that flies. During the labs, through the techniques for research and for brainstorming that we discussed introduced me to the possibility that research could not only answer my questions but also encourage me as a researcher to ask more and broaden the pool of information I had and develop my concepts far beyond an initial singular idea to something that can problem-solve for more than one angle, which would turn our answer to the question, what is a bird? If a bird is something that flies does that make a plane a bird, does that make a moth a bird, what qualifies a bird to be a bird? Things like that. It can get really mad and crazy sometimes but it makes the process more interesting.

As an artist, I am kind of a sticker for kind of doing work that completely removes all the loopholes that could be in a project that I have and the techniques that we learnt during the labs were something that actually worked in my favour in this regard. The application of this style of conceptualisation and ideation means that an idea that could start as a small drop or just like a small direct concept can turn into something that is a lot larger than life, and I think that is amazing.