OUGD402

Intro to PPP
08 / 10 / 15

PPP got introduced to us as an ongoing reflective journey which involves self evaluations of our experiences throughout the programme with focuses on my own work, skills and strengths that may be displayed or gained through other practises.
This way at the end of the year, it will show how we have developed and how it relates to our own creative ambitions.

In our first PPP session we got introduced to Penny Lee, our main tutor within this. She presented her experiences in industry and her life to us via a presentation and it's safe to say everyone was impressed with her diversity. I look forward to our future sessions with her. 

As our first task set by her she asked us to go away and watch/listen to the 2015 John Peel Lecture on Radio 6.
Here is the information I took from it which I found was influential...

So the lecture began with Peel introducing the English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist Brian Eno and providing background information on his successes. Eno is seen as one of the principle innovators of ambient music and started out studying art in the 60s before he began experimenting with music. After joining Roxy Music as the synthesiser it was Peel that first gave them their airplay. 
Over his time, Eno has collaborated with the likes of Bowie, U2, Coldplay and Pavarotti, including many more.

Peel passes onto Eno and he begins with the discussion of his strong belief in the arts and humanities subjects. He stresses how he disagrees with the off-putting of them in education and the prioritisation of STEM subjects. He develops his discussion into questioning the arts.. Is Art a luxury or does it do more for us? Is there a perfect situation for it to flourish? 
Eno goes onto describing art as "everything you don't have to do" and this is a statement I was unsure about at face value. But he went to give examples such as.. You have to eat to survive; but you don't have to create and bake and flourish the activity. You have to wear clothing (according to society); but you don't have to explore fashion. Movement is inevitable; but dancing isn't. Communication is essential; but poetry and song writing isn't! 
Eno highlights how all these are stylistic activities that are addition to the primitive state of the action. In my opinion, this is one of the most eye-opening definitions of art and it encourages the exploration of these stylistic activities even more.