Systems in the Studio
Methods for creating and using systems in studio practice
A Workshop by Chelsea Thompto
Overview
A workshop exploring how systems can be used in the studio to generate forms, explore visual languages, organize thoughts, and more. This workshop will consider both analog and computational systems as tools and frameworks for studio making.
This site is designed to accompany an in-person workshop but the links, activities, and information found here are free for you to share and explore!
Required Materials
- Laptop with access to the internet
- Sketchbook and pen or other drawing tools
- Random number generated device (deck of cards, dice, numbers in a hat, etc.)
Introduction
Artists working across all media can employ systems in their work both intentionally or subconsciously. In my own work, I create systems to generate works through code and other means while also critically interrogating oppressive systems I encounter in my life.
Perhaps you can already think of how you use systems in your work. If so, this workshop will hopefully offer you new ways to think critically about how and why you engage with systems. If you don't think you work with systems, then consider this workshop an invitation to explore a new way of thinking and making.
In my work, I use systems to generate and explore forms, process gathered materials, and interrogate societal structures. I have been using systems in my work for a long time but I didn't have the language to think about it directly until the last few years. One early example of systems in my work is this piece from around 2011, made during my undergraduate studies in sculpture:
Overtime, I became drawn to more complex systems and began creating systems for obfuscating text:
As I moved todays using more creative coding in my practice, I began making systems for processing and exploring archives and ideas:
A rendering Productive Bodies can be found here:
In these and other works, I deploy systems in order to create a foundation for creative exploration. By recognizing and identifying the use of systems in my practice I now have greater agency in the creation, modification, and sometimes destruction or violation of these systems. So whether or not you are already using systems in your work, this workshop can hopefully offer you new ways to think about your create tendencies and perhaps provide new avenues for creative exploration.