Sunday 24 October 2010

A Storm In a Teacup

As a bit of a departure and a break from my usual blog fare, this is a review I wrote a while back but apparently forgot about. I've just rediscovered it while investigating the hard drive of my other laptop which I've recently had returned after it was stolen a few months ago. It was written shortly after a trip to London to visit a friend, when a Sunday-morning jaunt alongside the river near Westminster took us down to Battersea where I took this photo which conveniently reminded me of a news article, posted on Facebook a few days earlier discussing the exhibition which had just opened.

The iconic image of the Battersea Power Station achieved much of its fame through its appearance on the cover of Pink Floyd's
Animals, featuring a giant inflatable pig hovering overhead. Legend has it that during the production of the image, an actual inflatable pig was floated next to the station with a marksman on hand to shoot it down should it come away from its tether. Unfortunately the marksman had not been contracted for a second day which was required due to adverse weather conditions and the giant helium-filled pig indeed broke away from its teather and floated off across the London skyline where it eventually landed in a field in Kent scaring a herd of cows. For one day in December 1977, thanks to Pink Floyd, Pigs did indeed fly.

(Exhibition photos courtesy of Martin Senyszak)


Right But Wrong, The Extended Art Work of Hipgnosis and StormStudios: Storm Thorgerson,
Idea Generation Gallery, London.
2 April – 2May 2010

A few years back, long before I even knew I wanted to become an artist, in the mandatory Art Class in First Year at secondary school was where I got my first taste of the world of Art and Design. Our classroom was home to a number of interesting objects, books and most interestingly, impossibly large album posters. The single image that stuck out in that classroom, which really captured my imagination, was Pink Floyd’s The Division Bell.

This was long before I had even heard a Pink Floyd song and could recognise it as such. The poster, a large landscape photo of an almost-anonymous field, the only identifier in the form of Ely Cathedral in the background, framed by the mouths of two giant heads. Seemingly impossible sculptures, pop-riveted industrial fascias, sleek curves and modernist angles jar with the serene, quiet dusk countryside, questioning the legitimacy of the image itself. This surreal juxtaposition is a signature of the work of Photographer and Designer Storm Thorgerson, a long time Floyd collaborator, and one of the most sought after Album cover artists.

Right But Wrong, Thorgerson’s current exhibition at Idea Generation, a retrospective of album artwork produced for acts such as The Cranberries, Muse, The Mars Volta among many more, shows the fantastic breadth of work from his time at design studios Hipgnosis and StormStudios. His works, like those of all great album designers, are as much individual Artworks than designs, surreal, organic images heavily attuned to Rene Magritte’s distortions of context, and Salvador Dali’s penchant for expansive, barren landscapes littered with odd artifacts, unreal realizations and hidden images within the composition.

The exhibition is not as expected from retrospective shows of Album art, the space has become a semi-installation, allowing the viewer to become immersed within, as well as view, the Album covers. The floor and wall are adorned with the wide-armed shadows from Muse’s Absolution, mirrored spheres from Floyd’s Interstellar exhibition poster sit in the corner, their reflective surface capturing the viewer and the rest of the exhibition drawing you into another of his images, light bulbs are embedded in plant pots and piled up in the nooks and crannies of the space and elements of three of his designs, hung high on the gallery wall, break through beneath into the “reality” of the space.

Countering the surreal, the exhibition also highlights the background design stages. The Dark Side of The Room exhibits many different versions of the famous album sleeve, including a Lichtenstein influenced pop-art rendering and a stained glass version perched in the window, shining through to the street outside. Other glimpses behind the sleeve are a number of images proposed and rejected for several bands, lining a staircase which lead to a section showing 12” cover proofs, CD inlays, sketches and merchandise.

In retrospectives of album artwork, there is always the obvious form for which the hang can take, however, standing in Idea Generation you can simultaneously be in a recreation of the designs, look left to see those framed images, and up to see how they are made. For the viewer, being in the exhibition is almost like being part of Thorgerson’s cover to Pink Floyd’s Echoes compilation. For a designer whose work deals with fractured realities, this exhibition gives the viewer the most unique place to view Storm Thorgerson’s work: from inside the work itself.

Friday 8 October 2010

Grays Anatomy

In a post I published last week I made several links between the increasingly dubious business machinations of Aberdeen's Robert Gordon University in relation to its £170 Million campus masterplan, its honoring of Donald Trump with a Doctorate (seemingly as a means simply for University Chairman, Sir Ian Wood to promote his City Square Project) and the slipping education standards and lack of respect for staff and students especially in relation to Grays School of Art.

I made passing reference to a letter sent last week to all staff, inviting them to a meeting, from newly appointed Head of School, Paul Harris which outlined that:
"The School is facing significant financial challenges, including a projected budgetary deficit for 2010-11 of some £300k, which would be circa £370k if left unchecked by the end of this academic session.

Therefore it is intended that a re-profiling of Gray’s is undertaken in order to meet future market demands and operational constraints, thereby creating a fit-for-purpose Art School that will be viable over the next 15 years, and which will support evolution in the regional and national Creative Industry sectors."
The meeting took place last Wednesday at 4pm and far from being the usual bi-yearly all school meeting complete with lecture from less-than-sympathetic Faculty Dean, John Watson, about the School bucking up it's ideas, some very serious consequences were spelled out for the Staff about the future of the School, which necessitated the presence of HR and Trade Union Representatives. The outcome of the meeting was quickly reported by both Northsound Radio and the Press and Journal, impeccably timed as the media broke the news on the very day in which RGU had arranged a "special ceremony at its Garthdee campus" to honour the 433rd richest man in the world. (Honorary Degrees usually being handed out in line with the actual student Graduation Ceremonies.)

It was announced that to combat the £370,000 virtual deficit (an amount owed by the School to the University itself, due to the School budgets provided by the University being inadequate to run) the school would be required to make a saving of £500,000 to cover the deficit and also to allow for some money to be channeled into "Strategic Deployment" of the results of the "re-profiling" mentioned in the letter. In order to make the £500,000 savings the University is offering Voluntary Severance to all Grays' employees.

When pushed on how many jobs would equate to the £500,000 worth of savings it was suggested from the Dean that this would be in the region of 8 - 12 Full Time Equivalent posts. As I mentioned in my previous blog, Grays School of Art employs approximately 60 members of staff, with the majority of academic staff being on part time contracts from 0.8 to 0.2 FTE. Given that the School has around six hundred students, cutting 8 - 12 FTE posts would have devastating results for the staff/student ratio, the quality of teaching and the quality of experience offered to students who are already struggling for staff time. Paridoxically, the Dean stated that the University would "re-profile" the School in a way that wouldn't effect the quality of education in the school, how this could be achieved with such a significant loss of teaching staff was left unexplained.

Should the Voluntary Severance scheme not achieve the appropriate cuts towards the £500,000 then a further wave of compulsory redundancies will be made, of course with poorer packages. Those who would be in line for forced redundancy would be taken from "weak" areas within the School which would be identified by an external consultancy agency who's other task would be to advise on the aforementioned "reprofiling" to fit around the roles which would no longer exist, and to provide insider information on "future trends within the sector and region" which obviously the existing staff, experts and professionals within their sectors are not qualified to identify. The costs of this consultation excercise is undisclosed but no doubt more valuable than the 8-12 Staff members it may be their responsibility to remove, the criteria for "weaknesses" would be negotiated with RGU HR and Trade Unions but it was made very clear that RGU's future lies with Income Generation and Industry Links.

During the meeting alternative ideas for addressing the deficit were floated, including the sale of a number of items from the University's Art Collection. Each year at Degree Show, the University purchases a number of works from students, and continues to purchase work from Alumni and Staff who have gone on to have success in their careers. Some of these works are distributed throughout the University campus, sometimes exhibited in rotating exhibitions organised by the University Art and Heritage Collections service, however most of the collection, which contains works from the full 125 year history of Grays School of Art, including significant works by the likes of Joyce Cairns and former Turner Prize nominee, Callum Innes, spends its time in storage. This plan was shunned as obviously the items in the University Collection are more valuable than the human input and quality of education.

All the while the RGU website still proudly states that they "recognise how important it is to develop our staff - ultimately we depend on skilled employees at all levels for our continual growth and innovation" and celebrates how the University had retained it's coveted "Investors in People" status, stating that "We continue to value it as a measure of our commitment to employee development." A task which is getting increasingly easier for the University to aspire to given that there will be less and less staff for them to develop.

It seems that the suggestions which I made last week, of RGU being more of a business than a University are being proven by it's continuing actions. What is more important to an Higher Education Institution, should be in education and providing students with the best possible support and academic experience, or should it be having a big shiny £170 Million campus with nobody to staff it?

To most this would seem a no-brainer, however RGU seems intent in removing those from employment who have any actual intelligence worth imparting.

Current students at the School, rightfully concerned about the future of their studies, their community and their education, have already set up a Facebook Group to spread the word about the cuts and their consequences and intend to present Faculty of Design and Technology Dean, John Watson with a petition against the redundancies on Thursday. Those with Facebook accounts can join the group to keep updated with the students campaign and how you can help them save their educations and the reputation of one of the world's leading Art Schools, and befreind the groups creator: an enigmatic digital representation of the School's founder, Victorian Philanthropist John Gray.

Sunday 3 October 2010

Blow Your Own Trump-et

A few days ago, while filling in a job application form, I got to the section which asked about my education. For the first time when writing down the awarding body for my degree I was genuinely embarrassed. Over the years I have joked and been somewhat light-hearted about my degree from The Robert Gordon University, but on this recent occasion I was actually unsure whether declaring it would do me more harm than good, given the recent news that the University is to confer an honorary Doctorate on Donald Trump.

My studies actually took place in Grays School of Art, which has long sat uncomfortably with its parent institution from the perspective of both staff and students, and until August this year I was in the employ of RGU working as a technician out of Grays. While I am extremelly proud to both have studied and worked at Grays alongside some of the most committed, hard-working and talented professionals in the arts field whose compassion, integrety and moral fibre are second-to-none, my association with RGU is leaving an increasingly bitter taste in my mouth, given the institution's lack of regard for it's external perception and lowering moral code. It appears that The Robert Gordon University, like Aberdeen City and AberdeenShire Councils, is very much for sale.

RGU this year introduced a "Conflict of Interest Policy" for staff. The timing for this particular piece of legislation was extremelly odd, as it came in at a time when the university's figurehead: its Chancellor, Sir Ian Wood was driving forward a plan for a "Civic Square" (Or garden, depending on which particular demographic is being lectured) on the site of Union Terrace Gardens, which regular readers of this blog will be very much aware. On 19th May this year Aberdeen City Council voted to progress Wood's scheme, backed by economic body ACSEF which meant abandoning a 75% Funded, Fully Planned and previously approved scheme for a Contemporary Arts Centre within the Gardens being brought forward by Peacock Visual Arts.

Peacock was "established in 1974 by a group of artists, led by Arthur Watson" who were all recent graduates from Grays School of Art, similarly the majority of arts initiatives in the North East: Limousine Bull, Project Slogan, Creative Cultures Scotland, SMart Consultants, Vernier Studios and, more recently, the 26 Artists Collective have been set up by Grays Graduates within the city. Most of these are run voluntarily, and are committed to improving the cultural landscape and exterior cultural perception of Aberdeen while providing space and opportunties to Artists to encourage them that it is possible to live, work and maintain a practice in Aberdeen. They attempt to counterbalance and stem the yearly pilgrimage of Grays Grads to Glasgow, Edinburgh, London or the many other cities in the country which have invested in their cultural infrastructures. Each of these organisations, as was Grays School of Art, were intrinsic to the development of Peacock's "Northern Light Centre", and the development of the centre was intrinsic to the future ambitions of these grassroots initiatives. If Peacock, as a business, could develop to the stage it was so close to being, then so could any one of them, and the opportunities and exposure which would come with having a visionary Cultural Centre would only feed into the aspirations of the smaller initiative, encourage others to be established and allow a healthy growth in Aberdeen's Cultural Sector similar to those shown elsewhere.

The conflict, however, comes into play when we consider Sir Ian Wood's aforementioned position as Chancellor of The Robert Gordon University. Wood's initial announcement of his £50 Million investment into a possible Civic Square came mere weeks after Peacock were granted planning permission and a £3 Million grant from Aberdeen City Council, and meant that in its current form, with Scottish Arts Council Funding being specific to the development in the Gardens that the two schemes were incompatible. Part of Sir Ian's roles as chancellor is to be "titular head of the University and confers degrees, diplomas and other awards", this particular role almost led to a direct conflict when this year's graduating group from Grays began to arrange a "Call to request Sir Ian Wood's absence from RGU graduation." Part of this call outlined how the students felt that "After his successful bid to ruin union terrace gardens, and very possibly our futures, showing his face at our graduation would be a very bad idea."

Returning to the upcoming Doctorate being presented to The Donald, a statement from Professor John Harper, Acting Principal of RGU justified the move saying "Given that business and entrepreneurship lie at the heart of much of the university’s academic offering, it is only fitting to award Mr Trump with an honorary degree. He is recognised as one of the world’s top businessmen, and our students – the entrepreneurs of tomorrow – can learn much from his business acumen, drive and focus." To put this statement in perspective, it would only be just to have a closer look at Mr Trump's "business acumen, drive and focus" and see exactly what it is that RGU deems important for its students to learn.

Donald Trump is listed in the Forbes 400 Rich list as the 153rd Richest Man in America (488th in the world) worth $2.4 Bn, having inherited his father's real estate business and managed to steer it to generate further wealth, but the road has not been smooth for The Donald and The Trump Organisation. Trumps business interests hit the skids during the last global recession in the late eighties and by May 1991, found himself "more than $3.8 billion in the hole and sliding perilously close to a mammoth personal bankruptcy" which cost him " his beloved Trump Princess yacht, the Trump Shuttle, the Regency, his half- interest in the Hyatt and his 27% interest in the Alexander's store chain, he will retain the Manhattan trophies he values most: the Plaza Hotel, Fifth Avenue's Trump Tower and a valuable tract of undeveloped Hudson River waterfront." Although Trump "eluded the specter of personal bankruptcy by whittling his debt down to more manageable proportions. The amount of debt that Trump guaranteed personally -- several hundred million dollars -- is breathtaking even by the standards of the '80s." While Trump escaped personal bankrupcy, it was his "Banks and bondholders who had lost millions of dollars due to his liquidation" and The Donald was off to do it all again - a year later.

In 1992 "A Federal bankruptcy judge ... approved a prepackaged bankruptcy plan for Donald J. Trump's Plaza Hotel, giving a 49 percent stake in the luxury hotel to Citibank and five other lenders" allowing Trump to again escape personal bankruptcy and remain in place as CEO at the Trump Organisation. The hotel was unable to make its debt repayments of a mammoth $550 Million Dollars "We're really pleased with the deal," Trump said. "It's 51/49 split with a major reduction in debt. Once again Mr Trump's debt was picked up by others and he was free to continue trading, until 2004 when Trump Hotels filed for Bankruptcy. Perhaps Professor Harper's reference to The Donald's business acumen can refer to the amount of time's hes run a business into nine-figure debt and managed to escape unscathed?

In relation to his "drive and focus" we need to look no further than the Menie Sands and the way the Trump Organisation have dealt with the task at hand, the Trump International Golf Links. Since Trump announced his plans in March 2006, the development has been riddled with controversy. His announcement came with the statement that he had "never seen such an unspoilt and dramatic sea side landscape", which he obviously felt he had to do something about and make sure it was spoilt post haste, despite the area being a recognised Site of Scientific Interest. He put a halt to a planned offshore wind farm as "I am not thrilled - I want to see the ocean, I do not want to see windmills"; He has publicly described a resident as a "loser who is seriously damaging the image of both Aberdeenshire and his great country" and a "village idiot"; His organisation have intimidated Horse riders using the dunes; allegedly Harrassed neighbours; Had two respected Video Journalists arrested, despite granting them permission to film; Intimidated and detained an opponent Councillor, with right-hand man George Sorial saying "Our complaint is that she broke the law – she is a trespasser" (Despite there being no tresspass law in Scotland); Told Local home owners to "clear off" during public exhibitions of the Course plans. Trump's practices have been criticised by Aberdeenshire MSP Mike Rumbles "While this is all procedurally correct, this behaviour by the Trump Organisation is morally unacceptable. Compulsory purchase powers were never designed to aid commercial companies in their pursuit of business advantage." Putting this together, does this sound like a man who should be a role model for students and held as an example to RGU's "entrepreneurs of the future?"

Former RGU Principal, who oversaw the upgrading of the University from a technical college, Dr David Kennedy was one of many who do not think so, having returned his own Honorary Degree in protest. Dr Kennedy was principal of the university from 1987-1997 and was awarded a honourary Doctorate in 1999 for his services to the University now feels that he "would not want to hold the award after Mr Trump has received his" as "he should not be held up as an example of how to conduct business." Dr Kennedy then went on to question the motives behind the conference of the Degree, saying "I think the degree has been given in the hope of receiving some money back in return.”

Robert Gordon University have been courting Trump for several months, with Fashion Students at Grays being commissioned to Design a a new Tartan for the tycoon, as his mother's MacLeod tartan is obviously not exclusive enough. Obviously this may be seen as a "sweetener" in a similar style to Aberdeenshire Council's £5 Million worth of land "gifted" to The Donald as RGU are indeed looking for some ready cash, in a time of widespread recession when most Universities are feeling the pinch, only in March were "Plans for a £170m development of Robert Gordon University's campus at Garthdee in Aberdeen ... approved", which are not to be confused with a previous masterplan which was supposed to be brought forward in 2006 "in the pursuit of improved teaching and research facilities by 2015." RGU makes it clear that "The University’s Masterplan has undergone significant change since the original was submitted for approval in 2006."

In fact, this new development Masterplan is so radical a departure from the previous one that it facilitated the rebuilding of RGU's treehouse nursery, relocated to the site of the Grays School of Art car park on the very western edge of the campus, mere six years after the opening of the previous RGU Nursery which was located at the opposite end of the campus, where the new, new building is now expected to go. Ironically, the day the builders moved in to Grays, RGU's Scott Sutherland School of Architecture and the Built Environment launched a series of lectures about "sustainability." Odd from a University who's commitment to sustainability sees a building constructed, discarded and rebuilt within a six-year period. The construction of the new Treehouse Nursery, being situated on the previous Grays School of Art facilitated the construction of a new car park, taking up a vast majority of the lawn in front of the school, a much loved and much used asset to the campus is now a car park. Originally described as temporary is now a permanent tarmaced compound for staff already taxed £16 a month for the priviledge of getting to work. Spoiling the aspirations of Aberdeen's Artists by building a car park on a garden, RGU's chancellor would be proud.

Grays School of Art, despite its prestige, reputation and 125 year history as one of the worlds leading Arts Institutes (over a hundred years older than RGU itself), regularly gets a bum deal from it's parent institution. Frequent space audits are carried out through the School, and the staff-student ratio is embarrassingly low. Gray's eleven courses are staffed by around 40 members of Academic Staff, most of which work part time, meaning that, in some cases, there can be two or three days of a week when there are no academic staff available for students to visit, the rest of the time these staff members are so stretched with commitments for tutorials, seminars, crits and meetings that often students can go for weeks without having any contact with academic staff. Which is hardly a valuable system of support.

Despite this, and due to the School's mounting deficit a letter was sent to all staff last week inviting them to a meeting to discuss a "restructuring" of the School to combat the "significant financial challenges, including a projected budgetary deficit for 2010-11of some £300k, which would be circa £370k if left unchecked by the end of this academic session.", with members of the University HR Department and Trade Union representatives also in attendance. While the School's budgets each year are given back from RGU from Student fees, the University retains a 46% top slice and should the School oversubscribe, 100% of the fees from the number of students above the "cap" is retained by the University. This money which is retained by the University is for spend on support department, such as HR, Student Services, Marketing, Branding and Estates, who are bringing forward the £170 new campus "masterplan." One would think that in these current financial times the University's focus would be on education, however it seems hell bent on making cuts to frontline education services while making lavish spend elsewhere.

There are so many layers of management within The Robert Gordon University that those at the top are completely unaware of how the University operates at its core, and the priorities are skewed far from that of education and the student experience. As a recent article in The Times Higher Education points out, in reference to the pay of University Vice-Chancellors being similar to company CEOs:

"For those rises in salaries have been accompanied, and facilitated, by the gradual accretion of authority by managers over the institutions for which they work.

This has now reached the point where it threatens academic freedom, damages Britain's reputation and risks impairing the ability of universities to undertake effective teaching and research."

"As this has happened, many vice-chancellors have indulged themselves with all the glories of corporate managerialism, and cutting back on these first of all, rather than on teaching and research, seems to be a low priority."
Indeed, as the title of the article points out "Universities are not Businesses", however as John Harper pointed out in relation to Trump's degree " business and entrepreneurship lie at the heart of much of the university’s academic offering" obviously some of that has rubbed off on the institution, like big businesses, RGU is obsessed with development, and statistics, being bigger and better than other universities, the very fact that the University's Chancellor has been chosen because of his own "business acumen", as have several members of the board of Governors, could suggest that the University wishes to operate like a business, and that this operational method is what should be transferred to its students for the best operational practice.

Indeed Sir Ian's opinion of Universities and the way they are run was demonstrated in a 1994, ten years before his appointment as RGU Chancellor, article in The Independent. "He is delighted he did not become an academic. 'I would have been disastrous,' he says. 'Universities are very political, working by a strange form of democracy. I like straightforward lines of control.'" An odd sentiment, but nonetheless fitting for the University he heads, one could see the implimentation of RGU's "Conflict of Interest Policy" as a way of strengthening these straightforward lines of control throughout the university, as a way to silence opposition and criticism from those Academics for whom it is their job to think criticially, hold opinions, make independent decisions and hopefully transfer that to the student body. This policy introduction could be a way of ensuring obedience from Academics within an Academic Institution which wishes to be a business, but it works both ways, there could be seen a direct conflict of interest between the machinations and intentions of the University's heads, managers and governors and the remits of the Schools to teach and support learning and encourage critical thinking within its students, and of course RGU's coveted "Investors in People" accolade.

Aberdeen Voice has announced that the Ceremony to confer on Donald Trump his honourary Doctorate in Business Administration will happen this Friday (8th) 10a.m. at the Faculty of Health and Social Care, at RGU's Garthdee Campus. Tripping Up Trump will be presenting a petition this afternoon to John Harper asking for the University not to Honour Trump, there is still time to sign.

In order to counter the possible use of Compulsary Purchase Order, the campaign group have bought a piece of Michael Forbes land, The Bunker, which is apparently "required" for the development and are asking people to add their names to the deeds, you can sign up to The Bunker Here.