Punk Scholars Network USA and Canada 2nd Annual Conference

Description

Abstract/proposal - "In July 2024 I will be undertaking a month-long residency at The 309 Punk Project in Pensacola, Florida - their first international artist-in-residence, as I live in Cardiff, Wales. I’m a visual artist – ‘broadly sculpture’ is how I define my practice - one that incorporates performance, and was formed in the punk and metal scenes through which I grew into adulthood. My research is practice-based, and through this residency I intend to examine Pensacola’s Welsh connections, of which there are a surprising collection - arriving empty-handed, forming a band with local musicians, writing and recording a very limited-edition vinyl-pressed EP of songs inspired by my research, finishing the residency with a live performance. The conference presentation I propose is a discussion of that preceding month, along with a presentation of the research I’ve undertaken, framing it in a conversation around practise-based research’s ability to open-up academic research to different audiences, in different ways, to different effect. This builds on my research into the relationship between artist, artwork, site, and audience, in particular the agency that the audience brings to bear in the activation of the work. It also engages the creative element of chance - I hope to be talking about a productive month and some interesting research, but who knows what will actually happen?... The idea of positive creative failure - surely a core of punk rock - is another research interest of mine (building on a 2007 project where I flew to Los Angeles with a collaborator, rented a car, and went on a road trip to track down the spot from where Evel Knievel failed to jump the Snake River Canyon in 1974, without any real knowledge of whether we’d achieve it. *Spoiler alert* - we did, but the unknowns of that trip opened up a space where chance and coincidence needed to be embraced to come anywhere close to ‘success’.) I wouldn’t be so cliché as to say punk rock research needs to be chaotic and unplanned, but for it to be a bit messy and led by chance seems entirely in-keeping with punk’s spirit."

Period	6 Aug 2024
Event type	Conference
Location	Chicago, United States, IllinoisShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International