Today we interviewed Cai, a student applying for contemporary art practice at the Royal Academy of Arts, and shared her application experience with us. From China to Poland and then to Huangyi, she has studied three master's disciplines across the three countries. On the way of constantly pursuing self-improvement and longitudinal development, she is also exploring the diversity of artistic creation. A set of works, five projects, and six months, she uses the most abundant creative media to balance the relationship between individual views and objective facts, and also conveys her feelings for the country, the people, and life, Pure awe. In the face of the "sudden attack" of Huangyi and the approaching of the registration date of Polish universities, she overcame the double difficulties in time and space with her desperate courage and early accumulated talent, and completed this set of ultra-high level final answers!
Royal College of Art Application for contemporary art practice:
Why choose the major of contemporary art practice?
Not surprisingly, I will complete my third graduate degree in Huangyi. In fact, I have graduated from graduate school in China, and am currently studying for my second graduate degree in Poland. These three graduate majors are different to me, but they also have something in common.
My undergraduate is majoring in animation, and I prefer design. However, I prefer the creation form in the direction of pure art. When I was a graduate student in China, I chose the major of oil painting. Now I am a painting major in Poland, but different from the domestic education method, this major does not restrict me from presenting my works in the form of painting, but encourages more diversified and free creation forms, including images, behaviors, installations, etc This way of free expression is similar to the contemporary art practice of Huangyi, which I choose now.
How long has your portfolio been prepared?
In fact, I haven't been preparing works in natural light for a long time. I started to prepare IELTS in March last year and arrived in Poland in October. It's just half a year ago and I have completed five projects. During this period, I also experienced several "changes" of Huangyi. Overall, the efficiency is quite high.
The major of Huangyi I applied for was Public Sphere/public sphere in contemporary art practice, so the five projects I did were also more popular and politicized, and the inspiration came from my own experience.
My first work theme is "Ban". In China, we sometimes need to use some software to log into the Internet and get some real consulting information. I made a set of devices to explore some phenomena about information dissemination and freedom of expression.
My second project was inspired by some Taiwanese students I met during my exchange in Poland. The differences between us, including the discussion of some historical events, inspired me to create this group of works. Formally, I combine different media such as images, devices and behaviors to express this complex emotion.
My third project originated from a summer class I attended in natural light last year. In fact, the topic of discussion about "post human" was proposed by my teacher. I have some special views on it, so I didn't cooperate with my classmates and completed this limited project independently!
My fourth project is to use images to record some human brain consciousness before dying, just like there is a cemetery where you can extract the dusty memories of another world; The fifth project is also a more emotional discussion. I created 365 pieces of 10cm ✖️ 10cm paintings, and make them into a large device.
In fact, when I finished the first three projects, there was still more than one month left before I started school in Poland, so the preparation time for the fourth and fifth projects was very tight. But the good news is that the good communication and correct creation process established with the teacher before also made me more comfortable with the creation mode of the work collection, so the last two projects obviously felt that I had less dependence on the teacher and more firm views.
Did you encounter any difficulties in the application process?
In fact, my application was not smooth, because Huangyi's "temporary change" this year made me report to Polish schools a month late
I remember that at the end of September and the beginning of October, almost every week when I logged into the official website of Huangyi, I got different information. There were some changes in the interface, layout, and application requirements. To be honest, at the end of the day, Huangyi announced the DDL that was significantly advanced, and also put forward the requirement of critical challenge video. I was very "collapsed" at that time.
First of all, I have always regarded Huangyi as a Dream School, hoping to be well prepared. But at that time, I was about to report to a school in Poland, and my collection of works was also in the final stage of project construction. Considering the reasons such as renting space, time cost, teachers' help, etc., after communicating with Polish schools, I decided to complete the collection of works first and then report to a school in China.
In addition to the works, what worries me most is actually the 2-minute challenge video. Since I had never been exposed to such application requirements before, I was not even clear about the key points of the investigation of the college. Later, after repeated communication with teachers, I determined the direction of art themed self introduction.
Because photography is also an important form of collecting inspiration and creation for me, I hope this video can show more of my life oriented creative process and style. It took me 4 days to complete the whole video from conception to shooting to editing, and the final result was very satisfactory to me and my teacher.
Critical Challenge is also the last step of my whole creative stage. I came to Poland less than two days after I basically completed it The subsequent typesetting and final details adjustment were completed through online communication with teachers.
Do you think there is any difference in natural light class? How can the teacher help you?
Looking back at my whole creative stage, my understanding of my profession and art has also changed. At the beginning, because I didn't know much about the creative form of the art study abroad collection, I didn't know how to start with some creative processes such as research, critical discussion, and experiment.
In view of these process oriented contents that I lack, the teachers of Natural Light provided me with many good suggestions and methods with sufficient experience. This is precisely because of these early accumulation, my later creative process is more and more smooth.
In addition, my work style is relatively contemporary and free, but after all, it is an application school with a strong purpose. Due to the large number of students in the application school, the competitive pressure is great, and many topics that are too simple or well-known are not suitable for works collection. Usually, a topic with a big brain hole and no lack of logical thinking will make the examiner refreshing and make him more interested in watching your work in depth.
So the teacher screened many immature or unsuitable creative ideas for me in the first few projects, and continued to push me to think, reflect and collect data until a creative theme that was deep enough and consistent with my own personal views was formed.
How to convey subjective emotions through objective media is also a topic that has always puzzled me and I want to continue to discuss. For example, the second project in my work collection, in order to better understand the social situation in Taiwan and the public's views on the mainland, I specially went to Taiwan for 15 days.
I have observed many things, interviewed many people, and collected some materials and data as objective as possible. But how to choose a carrier to convey such complex emotions and events, and how to balance the "artistry" and "logicality" in the works is the most difficult point in my opinion, and also the direction I want to explore in my next creation.
Today we introduce Cai to you The application process for contemporary art practice at the Royal Academy of Arts, He is very assertive in both artistic creation and personal planning, has strong learning ability and good learning habits, and is a good student that every teacher dreams of. Finally, I also want to say to more students, whether you are applying for the current year or making long-term plans to prepare for application in the next year or the next year; No matter how you teach, online or offline classes are good; No matter which country or region, the natural light will give every student and teacher a safe and orderly learning environment and learning service experience to the greatest extent.
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