Prototyping My Project: The Diary Mock Up

I need to create a prototype at this point to begin to look at how this project will work as a final piece, therefore, I have mocked up a couple of pages to test out how this will look.

Beginning with the Front Cover - I decided I would like a small journal A5 so I set up some A5 pages on Photoshop 300dpi so that they are high resolution for printing.  The font I used here was Berlin Sans

The pages I am showing here with just some images I have taken recently and greeked text - you can find out more about this here.  This is a possible layout to a page - 

At present this is very simple and there are no additional design features - I played bout here with the colour background and using contact sheets 

I need to experiment more with these layouts and start to put together more of a plan so the diary has more focus.  It needs a stronger theme that can run through this and then these pages will start to come together - I am thinking I would like them to look like vellum in cream to give is a more classic look.

I also think I would like perhaps a sans serif text but again more experimentation is needed!

Finding a Target Audience: Conceptual Art

As I am creating essentially a conceptual art piece with the diary more in the manner of Sophie Calle* it is difficult to precisely identify a target market.  Conceptual originally wasn't exactly made to be sold.  Here is an example;

'In 1970, the collecting couple Herb and Dorothy Vogel spent $250—roughly $1,667 in today’s dollars—on a work of art that can never be displayed, and, in some sense, never existed in the first place. Robert Barry’s Closed Gallery (1969) was a performance in which galleries in Amsterdam, Turin, and Los Angeles followed the artist’s instructions to close the gallery space for the duration of their respective Robert Barry shows. The only physical representations of the work were its certificate of authenticity and three copies of the invitation sent out to promote a show that never happened, which the Vogels received in turn for their money. The invitation simply says: “During the exhibition the gallery will be closed.”' (Freeman N. 29.08.2018)

Essentially often there was not anything to own and as it often encompassed a performative or live element this made it difficult to sell.  Conceptual art is cerebral and about the idea but now if people want it they have found ways to buy this. Yoko Ono created instructions and put them in a gallery so that essentially the participants 'made' the work for example: 'Lighting Piece (1955) reads: “Light a match and watch till it goes out.” and Ono’s Instruction Paintings were objects, usually based on her Event Scores, meant to be completed by the viewer. Painting to Hammer a Nail In (1961/1966) was a wooden panel from which a hammer hung on a chain; a jar of nails sat on a chair below it. Viewers were invited to hammer one of the nails into the panel. ' (Walker Gallery: 2020)

Yoko Ono, Fly (1963)

All of this, of course, does not explain how to actually sell it or who the target market is, however, there is a market but it is more complex than stating that Generation Z or X will buy it.  Conceptual has been sold at auction to art collectors, however; 'In his book Art of the Deal, Noah Horowitz argues that because Conceptual art is commenting on the nature of production—he calls it “art about the system of art-making”—it is “deprivileging” art, aligning itself with a Marxist critique of consumer culture. But its success as an anti-capitalist gesture depends on it being genuinely unsellable.' (Freeman N. 29.08.2018) The Guardian stated about one of Richard Long's pieces of Land Art; 'It isn’t possessable. You can’t buy it; it doesn’t exist. All the same, it’s free if you want it. You simply have to conceive of it, to let the idea occupy your imagination.'(Laing 09.04.2016)

Richard Long, ‘A Line Made by Walking’ 1967

So for the average person, the closest you will get to buying conceptual art is to buy one of the many books created by Sophie Calle or Yoko Ono, or even land artists like Richard Long so although the original work is not saleable as such the production of books which include photographs of the work do sell.  As I was writing this I checked out the estimated worth of Sophie Calle and discovered it was $41million! (celebstrendingnow; 2020) Yoko Ono is now worth $600 million (celebritynetworth; 2020) and Tracey Emin $52 million so these conceptual artists have obviously found ways to make their work worth money and people to buy it.

Therefore to conclude, I may not have 'found' a target market but I can certainly study how other conceptual artists work and make money with their work.  Although the ideas of conceptual art come from anti-capitalism and that the original work may be unsellable clearly these artists have to find a way to live.  The art market also is a strange place, in the sense that art is worth what people are willing to pay and this means it has an unknowable factor.  It is difficult to predict what will sell and what will not and which artists are worth collecting and could be worth millions in the future and which will be forgotten.

*Sophie Calle is a conceptual artist who made her life into art and often her pieces were a mix of text and photographs 'Her work frequently depicts human vulnerability, and examines identity and intimacy. She is recognized for her detective-like ability to follow strangers and investigate their private lives. Her photographic work often includes panels of text of her own writing.' (Tate 2020)

References 

Celebritynetworth.com (2020) Yoko Ono, Net Worth [Online] Available from https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/yoko-ono-net-worth/ (Accessed 26.01.2020)

Celebstrendingnow.com (2020) Sophie Calle, Net Worth [Online] Available from: https://celebstrendingnow.com/sophie-calle-net-worth/ (Accessed 26.01.2020)

Celebstrendingnow.com (2020) Tracey Emin, Net Worth [Online] Available from: https://celebstrendingnow.com/tracey-emin-net-worth/ (Accessed 26.01.2020)

Freeman N. (29.08.2018) Artsy, Conceptual Art Wasn’t Meant to Be Collected. Now It Sells for Six Figures [Online] Available from: https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-conceptual-art-meant-collected-sells-six-figures (Accessed 26.01.2020)

Laing O. (09.04.2016) The Guardian: Conceptual art: why a bag of rubbish is not just a load of garbage [Online] Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/apr/09/conceptual-art-tate-britain-olivia-laing (Accessed 26.01.2020)


Tate (2020) Sophie Calle [Online] Available from:  https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/sophie-calle-2692 (Accessed 26.01.2020)

Walker Gallery (2020) Yoko Ono 1933- Present [Online] Available from: https://walkerart.org/collections/artists/yoko-ono (Accessed 26.01.2020)

Extracts from my diary

I wanted to share a few extracts from diary from the last week.  My project moves forward and even though I do not know what the end result will be exactly yet.  The diary is coming along.  I have had moments of despair but also some moments of joy! 

Day One
I was considering at first why I should do this as I always consider diaries slightly dangerous.  I think it was in one of Gautier's books where a woman's affair was discovered through her letters and diary and the man did not understand why she had not burnt all of this as it is evidence of the infidelity.  I think, like my last project, there is an element of remembering as I often think time passes and I can't recall the details of all the days.

The day started with us (my partner and I) in bed looking at the clouds, or should I say he was looking at the clouds and considering them pretty.  Pretty clouds over Leicester he said.  I was contemplating other things and have a much less romantic view of clouds and was thinking it was quite probable that the cloud was actually a smoggy toxic cloud over Leicester being that Leicester is one of the most polluted cities in England.  However, I didn't say this and said instead that the cloud looked like a long-nosed very long shark.  Funnily enough, the image of the cloud shark did stay with me throughout the day.

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Day Four
Thursday - another day, and work commences and I am embroiled and can not extract myself from people all day long. The highlight of the day was a photography class. Every time I pick up my camera (any camera) it is a feeling of being at home. I am at once, calm and I have everything I need. Just holding the camera brings me joy and then when I begin to take the pictures I still love the feeling of not knowing whether the shoot will be good, but always know I will find something exciting within it. Even if the pictures are not what I expected they can be surprising and I will find pure joy in small detail. 

Day Seven 

Finally, the sun appeared and this lifted my mood no end - My flat has huge windows and when the sun comes in it really is bright and lovely inside.  I look down on the city of Leicester and on a Sunday morning it is beautifully quiet - the only sound is usually the cleaning truck that comes round to clean up Saturday nights debris.  My son went off to football fairly early and so I have peace, a good cup of coffee and a little time to think....

At present this seems random however I do feel themes and ideas will emerge for the final piece of work and it has helped me to reflect more on the days - in modern terms it ia a mindful experience!