Dual City Courses - London Barcelona

Diego Ferrari

London (9 day course)

Monday 25 June to Thursday 5 July

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Independent Travel (4 days)

Friday 6 July to Monday 9 July

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Barcelona (9 day course)

Tuesday 10 July to Friday 20 July

How do we relate with space – physically, intellectually and emotionally? This is the question at the core of this course.

Aimed at those interested in photography, architecture and art, this course explores the practical and creative interplay between photographic practice and theory in the field of visual representations of an urban space. It aims to encourage an innovative approach to architectural and urban photography by adopting a critical approach to the way we perceive, relate and respond to the physical realm of architecture and social values.

The city is not only about buildings, yet the built environment dominates our experience of urban life. Architectural space is hugely dynamic; at once a container in which we live, as much as a physical material that is substantial, tangible and solid, and lived-in space always transcends geometry and measurability.

The workshop offers guidance on observing and analysing architectural elements in order to apply a creative approach for documenting buildings. Specifically the aims of this course are to develop perceptual skills and the ability to use digital or 35m manual cameras, so that participants can produce images that have increased aesthetic and conceptual value. The workshop will take into consideration the ways in which buildings are now used as locations in art photography and analyse how certain narratives are played out in architectural space.

The introductory seminar will review the contribution made by artists in the field of contemporary photography, with reference to the disciplines of conceptual approaches to art, architectural photography, and interactive social art projects. The course is then taught through a series of discussion-based seminars and practical photographic classes. Throughout the project work a multidisciplinary approach to photography will be encouraged. By the end of the four weeks you will have produced a professional artistic portfolio based on Power Point presentation / PDF, prints, B/W or colour photocopies.

Two practical issues are central to this course. The first is practice-based, where you will also gain a better understanding of theoretical approaches to contemporary photography and to challenge concepts and practices of representing space. The second is to develop individual photographic projects of designated public cultural buildings. You will be taken around London and Barcelona where you will discover inspiring architecture and develop your work; buildings of potential focus are the National Theatre, Tate Modern or Barbican Centre in London and in Barcelona the Museum of Contemporary Art, Mies van der Rohe Pavilion, the Olympic Ring, and Joan Miró Foundation among others. You will depict the building's interior space and exterior form in daylight conditions (and possibly at night with the building's own artificial lighting).

At the same time participants’ own work will take into consideration their physical reaction as an inseparable aspect of the experience of architecture. We will add new objects or materials into the space, which will redefine the space and bring a different meaning to it. This will be done using classic techniques for ephemeral art installations or happenings, as well as photographic techniques. In this context, the aim is to create an equivalency between our body the object, the space and the values of urban life as interdependent elements.

Outcomes

• By the end of the course participants will have an understanding of contemporary photographic practice on art and architecture, a conceptual approach to the representation of space and its social values, and how to construct visual narratives within the context of public architecture. 
• They will have learned technical issues of how to address professional architectural photography by using digital cameras and to enact within a public building a personal, intellectual or emotional responses to the space. 
• Each participant will produce a portfolio of work and will be encouraged to develop a clear conceptual definition of their subject as it unfolds. 
• Participants will be challenged to move in space, patrolling their own boundaries, and to be cognizant of their creativity as a potential tool to build social skills and relations, increasing their awareness of how artistic and social values are intertwined.

London and Barcelona -  Diego Ferrari is an artist and photographer, living and working in London. He studied at the Escola Llotja in Barcelona, completed a Fine Art BA at Goldsmith's College, University of London and was awarded an MA in Art & Architecture at the Kent Institute of Art & Design. Ferrari continues to contribute to an on-going body of work about young adults, public engagement and social values. His work explores public space, urbanism and architecture, and individual subjective engagement with these. Ferrari was artist in residence for the British Arts Council, China (2004), Photographers' Gallery (2003), and Whitechapel Art Gallery (2001). He has received commissions from Enric Miralles and Benedetta Tagliabue Architects (EMBT), RSA Art for Architecture and InIVA (Institute of International Visual Art). His most recent exhibition 'Urban Habitats: A Co-Existence of the Sense' took place at OKK/raum Gallery, Berlin in December 2010. Diego Ferrari teaches in the master's degree course on design and photography at the Escola Elisava in Barcelona. He also teaches “Photography, Art and Architecture” at Central Saint Martins College of Art and is currently a tutor for the BA in photography at Kingston University, London. See: www.diegoferrari.com