The feedback I got for this installation was OVERWHELMINGLY positive.
I wanted to use the crit to see if I could get the go-ahead to print my x-ray images on the conveyor belt. They agreed that the 'readymade' isn't my thing, and while the conveyor's presence and movement is effective on its own, within my practice it is definitely more of a blank canvas. Nonetheless it was great to have a chance to show it on its own before starting to print on it.
The petri dishes were a point of much discussion - again, a lot of great feedback, although the OHP definitely isn't necessary in such a light space and conceptually overcomplicates it. Nikau commented that the use of the petri dishes doesn't do justice to the process and effect of printing transparent cross-sections and displaying them in 3D space - i.e. they could be presented in some way that gives them more impact.
The crit opened up a lot of discussion about food and food systems and the myriad topics I'm tackling in this project. I'm thrilled that as soon as the ball gets rolling everybody gets enthusiastic about these ideas and everybody has something to say. Lisa's advice that stuck with me the most was to stop worrying about making the ideas more ambiguous, when I voiced my concern that it might all be 'too obvious.' She said the complete opposite - that when you're dealing with ideas that are important and that you want to be accessible to a public audience, you can make the ideas obvious, and that's okay. Another really comforting thing she said to me was that I don't need to stress about the overwhelming sensation that there's not enough time and there are a thousand other artworks you want to make. We're all acutely aware of our deadline at the end of this year, but as she pointed out, that's not the end of our art practice - we've got the rest of our lives to realise all the other ideas.
Thanks a million Lisa.
