Forming, storming, norming, and performing

Abstract

There is a level of fulfilment in making an artwork that succeeds – or, even if it misfires – where you gain a better understanding of the work and how it communicates your idea. Through this euphoric moment you are able to self-reflect what happens in the making process, as well as letting loose and dancing around in celebration, or venting your anger in frustration. In a deadpan take on the enterprise of art making and the teaching of art, I have mimicked a group dynamic model known as Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing, developed by American Psychologist Bruce Tuckman as a framework for the written part of this thesis. Ironically, Tuckman developed his model for a Naval Medical Research Institute to improve naval personnel performance under pressure and has been employed more recently for businesses to increase their financial gain: both of which sit at odds to many art practices. As Tuckman’s structure is external to the fine arts context, it was an opportunity to playfully test the artwork independently of its fine arts idiom. It was also consciously used for its potential for dissonance with art practices; i.e., to be slyly humorous. I have used its mechanisms to unpack the creative practice, from how ideas are develop, to problem solving/problem finding and, finally, through to the presentation of these ideas. This research included an extensive number of exhibitions presented through the candidacy that are documented within the thesis, a written component that functioned self-reflexively as part of the overall practice, culminating in a final, large-scale kinetic interactive installation titled ‘One big one liner’, installed in Elam’s Studio 1 teaching studios. Its linear presentation strategy was used to highlight how the events/activities travel along the line from one object to the next like a fuse wire with the slow flame moving towards the explosive; also, arguably, moving through Tuckman’s stages within this final artwork of the candidacy.