Category: Professional Future

After starting to make list it has become quite complicated while trying to segregate the jobs which are apt for my skills I currently have and the ones I need more experience to secure an interview. most of the jobs which were abundant were as a technician, but I am not sure if I have enough qualifications for it.

The next question is, if it’s more important to work in a role I enjoy or to have a job which can be done fro survival but will train me with better skills for future jobs

With these questions in my head, I started to look for more art fellowship, even if it not directly connected to my expertise, along with PhD jobs (very low expectation for me). One of the best fellowship I was able to find was the Cavendish Art Science Fellowship at Girton College. they were looking for artist who doesn’t have much experience in science to experiment in their studio and labs to create a piece. previously they did have musicians and sound artist who have completed the fellowship, which gave me a hope to attempt for it. Due to unfortunate reasons and my portfolio not being completed on time I was not able to apply for it. Hopefully I can apply for it in the upcoming years, when I have a stronger practice.

Some other options included Japan Binnale, where a part of the topic was to involve the streets in the artwork. Due to the same trouble as I had with Cavendish fellowship I was not able to apply.

After extended search I was able to find MTM internship and VARI Fellowship which I will be applying for in June after completing all my submission with a good portfolio to support my ideas.

Though I have managed to find opportunities where artists from all fields are invited, most of them are for highly qualified or experienced artists, therefore it won’t be easy to secure them. Some of the most interesting fellowships, need a PhD or to be a PhD candidate, therefore its not possible at the moment.

Most of the places I am searching for in limited to London but in case of not being able to secure a job in few months I will have to move away or look for other options where I will have to get a temporary job until I can land an opportunity close to my practice. While searching for a fellowship, I will mention a part time Jon, untill many more fellowships opens application in November.

To start developing my portfolio website I went through most of the developer providers like Wix, WordPress, Google website, Adobe Portfolio and many more. Later I did start working with a basic template from Adobe portfolio because of the simplicity of their interface. At a later stage I switched from them, due to lack of flexibility with their font for each template.

After a bit more search I found Cargo Collective, they have different theme and style for their websites. Most places look for maximum scrolls and number of page to increase the users interaction but they try to increase the interaction with the minimum number of pages. I chose my template which has multiple pages but for used it feels like they are still on the same page, due to column layout. It works best for me because of the aesthetics and concept which relates to my ideology of simplicity and preciseness of my works.

It did take a minute to figure out the User Interface of the developer, once I got the hang of it, it was quick. I still feel it is good I deal to try build your own website, when you have your own time.

Business Lecture with Steve Taylor

The lecture conducted by Steve Tylor was an investment to know more about the tax system in UK. As an international student, many terms which are heard on day to day basis are still foreign due to the lack of explanation. Most of the concepts explained were the basics for any business but difference in the rules/ law based on the country does effect the understanding of the discussion. An example being VAT and GST is the same method of taxing and finding methods to get the return after registering with them. Previously, I used to believe they were different and I didn’t know anything about them but after the short discussion with Steve, it made me confident to know I do have basic knowledge to survive the tax system over her, though its extremely complicated, but something that I can lean in the upcoming years when I start to work.

Another important difference I recognised was the benefits of small business and start up where. in the coming couple of years it might not be possible to start a business but did get m,e informed about the possibilities in the future. After all the conversation, a point which still confuses me is the business as an international student or a visa holder. I wish there were more discussions regarding business as a visa holder or the restrictions and access as a self employed graduate visa holder.

As part of the Portfolio unit workshop, to improve our artist bio, and one of the exercise was to compare different artist bios to recognise similarities. one of the key similarity found was that many of them had three sections:

• general intro and what you do
• what have been done so far
• recent achievements or projects and theme

with this I started dividing my bio since I just had one section in it with provides brief idea of who I am.

The one which I used to use doesn’t introduce me well, other than some of my charactertsics which are transferable. After the workshop I started to point own the details I would like my audience to know. Especially when the pieces are multi sensory, it will be well understood if they have a brief idea about my inter disciplinary works. After multiple iteration I was able to write a perfect bio about me with a bit help in editing them, as final touches.:

As a beginner in searcher of vacancies it feels overwhelming, especially when we start searching for them as a group with all of us with various skill set, but it does help when we discuss a field one of have found and another person is interested in it.

Audience response towards my practice:

something I have noticed is that many people try to connect with my work because it always contains elements of nature, and most of us are all attached to at least one of them. Since, few of my work had sea shore as part of it, I did get a good response towards them, when they started to feel connected to it. Later when I narrate the storyline or the concept it is based on, it becomes something many remembers, though they might might not be from the same background as me or anyone at uni.

On the other hand, many does consider it common and overused when a certain track/ commonly used object stands out, though it might have a deeper meaning. Even with the mixed review about few of my works, I have notices my audience recollecting my concept at a later time, which I feel is a personal achievement.

Most of what I do is in relation to nature of social life. I have noticed a pattern in my work, if its not a research about art and biology, there is always a story to tell. I started noticing it from the time I was studying UX design and later during the years in theatre design it got amplified because all my work had a story or I made sure there was a narrative involved in all my structures.

At times, there were my own involvement in the story while designing the theatre for a play. I might intervene the story a bit by changing the placements of the characters and their movement. It didn’t affect anyone, since it was a proposal, but later on when I joined Sound Arts, my perspective changed to learning basic skills to survive in the skills.

in the process I started learning different methods and process for both DAWs and no input mixing. No input mixing became a huge part of my practice in my second year and I still use sample I made then and I still like to spend time working on it when possible. this gave me introduction to performing improve. After completing the improve, I wanted to collaborate for further performances and would love to continue in the future. Even, for our performance, I tried bringing a story into it as a part of context for the performance. We decided on the poem “The Darkling Thrush”by Robert Frost.

Simultaneously I started researching about underwater sea life and from there I started connecting it to sound and the evolution of hydrophone and its use in art though it was originally made to monitor submarines over the period of war, later to recognise the calls of whales. These facts and reading materials were the break through for my curiosity to start my research in the field of art especially sound and connecting it to science. Previously I have done research as part of UX design, but they are different in comparison to the content and the methods implemented to find results. these different experiences made my research more chaotic as well as more resourceful in finding details and connection points which might be generally cosidered hidden due to lack of direct information about these topics.

I have started to edit my cv and I have been working on the right phrases to be used for my interests and skills

In the images from A to C it is evident my skills and interest has evolved while maintaining my core strengths along the way.

I have selected them according to the ideas we were sharing during our Professional future sessions and while discussing with my course coursemates about the possible ways to make a good cv.

Similarly I have to start working on my artist bio/ statement. The one I have doesn’t include information about my interest in research or being an artist, it’s mostly about being a designer which will leave me with a smaller pool of opportunities.

Since I started working with nature and sound I have been fascinated by artists such as Jana Winderon, Tom Fisher who have excelled and created their own mark in feel recording. The raw recording of River Thames by Fisher is exceptionally clear though they are not processed. I have been trying to bring as much clarity to my own recording since I am trying to observe the surrounding. He did mention about working with one meter deep recording to attain the clarity and detail.

They have been inspirations for many of my work when I initially started field recording.

methods to build network:

• build a usable website
• try to do more residencies
• trying to find inspiring artist and then looking at their connections to find suitable hiring/ collaborating opportunity
• making a list of 100 people and institutes I would like to wrk with and emailing them (suggested by graduate mentor)

I have started trying to make the list but haven’t started emailing them since the portfolio is not completely ready so far.

While trying to compile all the works for portfolio, Im thinking of including work from all the fields of work I have done so far. this was a suggestion made by my mentor, since he believes it is crucial as a budding artist to showcase all my skills for broader range of jobs. but this will make it harder to attain a job where I have to have specialism and extended knowledge. The only option will be continue with a traditional route of an artiest for the time being where I will get more exposure and to work with science in background to get more proficient in it. Hopefully attending short courses relayed to science for more formal education might be helpful in the future where my audience will feel much more reasonable.

Internship:

during my last internship with a sound director Arun Rama Varma in Kerala and his team to learn more about foley for a movie, I came to recognise the lack of passion and dedication for the work by most, especially the foley artist. It did dishearten me, but I do hope it’s not the case with everyone. Still, I was able to learn a lot of techniques during my one month there including the positioning of microphone for better clarity and to manipulate the room according to the scenario.

Between the thought about all the possible opportunity I can apply for and what am I good in which I can convert into a career, is huge self doubting pothole which have absorbed me completely into its depth. Right now I have a CV which need to be updated with my recent achievements and experiences.

The CV shown above need to be updated with the recent Corsica curation, and last summer internship. Along with that, I might have to make the layouts a bit more compact but seems like a have a bit more experience, especially transferable traits, through a to the point description.

Another part I will have to change is my interests, because during my final year project it has come to notice about my interest in continuing with animation has decreased slightly but I would like to keep it as one of the opting while searching for job opportunities.

From my recent experiences I have understood my strength in organising and management but it hasn’t been enough to be considered as a career option. Currently, I am good with researches regarding art and their connection to science in my own capacity. I have been trying to gain more insight into the field of neuroscience since sound is directly connected to neurone and it will be the base for me to continue my study on the topic of connection between music and evolution in human being. Last year I was able to start the exploration in this topic but I was not able to dig deep enough to attain a strong result due to the restriction of the time period for the project. I would like to continue working on it as well as my ongoing observation and collection of various underwater sound tracks from different parts of there work, which is later used to observe the difference. Though I haven’t started recognising the sound of different animals when I listen to the works of other renowned artists and researchers, I would like to gain much more experience in this field in the coming years.

Most of the job I was searching for need an extensive years of experience in that field of work or I have missed traineeship application date. With these I do have doubts about missing job options I could apply for. Though, some of them do ask for years of experience I might apply for them hoping of a good interview in case of me getting selected