Theory Into Practice: Study Task 8 - Rationale

The main theme of my work is the concept of pastiche vs parody and replication vs referencing within modern contemporary practice. By this I mean to explore whether or not contemporary practice, existing in a post-modern era, simply reproduces and copies what has come before it or whether or not, despite drawing from pre-existing reference points, practitioners can establish a unique voice visually through how they choice to combine, interpret and build upon these points of reference.

The main theorists I have referenced are Walter Benjamin and Mark Fisher for their writings on the effect of technological developments on creative practice and culture. In particular I was interested in Bejamin's focus on how technological mass production had removed 'aura' from artists and their process as well Mark Fisher's notion that a post internet world had led to popular culture succumbing '...to its own inertia and retrospection.'.

To me these theories opened up a dialogue of whether or not modern contemporary practice is simply a process of blindly copying what has come before (pastiche/replication) or whether or not it is about how different points of reference are combined and built upon to create something new (parody/reference). This line of thought also led me to consider the idea of lineage and progression within the arts.

Visually I decided to explore these concepts through the use of collage, both traditional and digital. This is because, given that my project was all about the role of past work/points of reference impacting the work of contemporary practitioners I thought the re-appropriation of pre-existing iamges was the best way to explore this.

After some initial experimentation I landed upon a process of combining and altering the same set of elements within a series of pieces to create a different final outcome in each piece. This was meant to show how practitioners can draw from the same set of influences and build upon past works/points of reference to create something new and unique to them rather than simply engage in a process of pastiche.