Tutor Report
Where I’m at
I’ve completed the preliminary write-up and assignment structure, but haven’t yet started the walking/phenomenological capture process. Kimberley is untroubled by this — the theoretical groundwork I’ve laid is doing real work, and starting the practice is the natural next step rather than a delay to worry about.
The Theory is Scaffolding Only, Not Governance
This was the through-line of the tutorial. I’m not applying theory top-down, I am being driven by the sensorial encounter and how that materially manifests: the theory (whether that’s phenomenology, new materialism (research this), speculative walking methodologies) acts as scaffolding beneath that. As Kimberley explained, if I take the ethos of those theories (one or more) and actually live it through the walking and gathering I will be theory in action: theory as a low foundation to stand on and walk forward from – not something that governs me.
The Test Walk/ Methodology
- First task: a loose, light framework, then just go and walk — repeatable weekly, done a couple of times this month to see what surfaces.
- Kimberley reframed the value of breaking habitual routines during a walk (different shoes, a different exit door, walking the return route differently) as a way of deliberately altering the phenomenological conditions of encounter — echoing my own instinct to disrupt normal collection habits.
- Several concrete prompts were floated for capturing “the moment after” an encounter (a photo taken just after overhearing something, rather than of the thing itself; the first words you’d write down; a remembered sound) as ways of handling consent ethically while still capturing atmosphere.
- The idea of carrying unusual objects (a bar of soap, ten pencils instead of one) as a way of subtly skewing my own instincts and attention during the walk.
Data, Archive and Form
- A key challenge Kimberley raised: is “data” the right word for what you’re collecting? She pushed on this — I referred to Sekula – using “data” risks pulling the archive toward an evidentiary, forensic register, when what I’m actually gathering is “a different truth,” something experiential rather than evidentiary.
- I was already considering a key structural decision: sensory/experiential data should sit above the archaeological/empirical layer in the stratification, not the other way round — the encounter is primary, the empirical grounds it rather than dominates it. But in light of this tutorial I am going to not force a structure before I have begun the walking/ collecting process – I’m going to allow the results to lead me
- Kimberely raised open questions about the archive’s material form — is it an object in itself (a “sculptural stack”), a repository, or something that changes mode/format? Two reference points were offered: Mark Dion’s Tate Thames Dig “cabinet of curiosities” approach (detritus made forensic-archival through display), and Joseph Cornell’s box-collections/studio system (materials waiting to be recombined into new work) — worth looking up as visual references.
- The archive as a sieve or colander – what is filtered through, what’s kept as debris, and what hierarchy determines that, is itself a meaningful methodological question – not just ‘housekeeping’
Collaboration with Place
- Central conceptual move: treating Hastings as a collaborator raises the question “how do I know what Hastings wants to say, and how do I let that happen to the work?” — as opposed to directing the outcome myself. Kimberley pointed out that many people claim “collaboration” when really they’re just directing others (or a place) — worth holding myself to a higher bar here.
- I connected this to a citation from Dwayne Donald (Cree scholar, “Walking in the Wâhkôhtowin”/relational imagination) — his line about wanting to be recognised as a relative of the place resonated with my own centuries-deep ancestral tie to Hastings (back to the 1600s), reframing the relationship as kinship rather than observation.
Walking as an intentional life practice began for me after I listened to Blackfoot Scholar Dr. Leroy Little Bear state that a human being experiences an identity problem when the land does not recognise them as a relative. It became a personal life goal for me to be recognised as a relative of the place where my ancestral roots are quite deep. (Donald, 2021)
- Kimberley floated Barad’s new materialism and “place-making” literature as a loose theoretical adjacency (not to over-determine the work), and mentioned sending me a related PDF.
Ethics/ Avoiding Poverty Tourism
I raised concerns about consent and about the project reading as poverty tourism or decline-narrative. Kimberley’s read: the project is really about the sensorial, embodied, palpable feeling of place, not an illustration of decline — the ice-cream-van-on-a-run-down-beach image was offered as the register to aim for: specific and textured, not a loss narrative. The core aim, in my words, is “communicating how I feel about this town — not just how I see it, but how I feel it.”
Permission to be undiscriminating
My instinct to collect “anything and everything” without self-editing (including the dog-mess example) was affirmed strongly — the ordinary and the unglamorous need capturing alongside the more obviously sensorial material. Kimberley’s refrain: “you don’t know until you’ve experienced it” — I need to resist the internal editor that pre-judges material as “not good enough” or “too cliché.”
Attention Alters the Attended
Kimberley brought in Allan Kaprow’s idea (via “art and life” blurring) that the act of paying attention changes what’s attended to — like fixating on a word until it sounds strange, or suddenly noticing every red car after buying one. Applied to my project: the very act of attending to Hastings this closely will alter my perception of it — worth watching for and noting as it happens.
Documentation Advice for Learning Log
Practical advice for how to write up material going forward: let materiality come first, then let text/theory reinforce and follow it — not the reverse (theory stated, then illustrated with images). Keep the physical/sensory specifics at the centre even when they feel trivial (the size of a paving slab, etc.), and let reflection/evaluation trail the practice rather than sit on top of it.
List of References
Donald, D (2021) ‘We need a New Story: Walking and the wâhkôhtowin Imagination’ In: Jeffreys, T (ed.) Documents of Contemporary Art: Walking London: Whitechapel Gallery. pp.25-34