One really helpful way of planning for my degree show piece is the use of collages. I have done range of digital collages in Photoshop and these have helped me to effectively picture what my degree show piece would look like. I prefer doing digital collages rather than physical hand made collages as they are easier to make, quicker and look more effective in terms of visualising what the space will look like.
I first used collages to help me initially visualise my original idea of creating an office space. It allowed me to experiment with composition and the use of different pieces of office furniture to see what would be the most effective combination of furniture and art pieces to look really effective and interesting and still get my message across. I used a variety of furniture from notice boards, to desk & chairs, to coat hooks & whiteboards. All of the compositions were different and unique but there was something in each composition that didn't feel right to me. I also played around with just having my digital prints on their own as either a group or just one on a larger scale, and this one seemed to me, to be the strongest composition. The one which had the most potential to have a big impact.
The other compositions seemed interesting, but I felt the furniture was taking away from the actual artwork displayed along with it, even though it elevated the fleeces which I was also wrestling with in terms of whether I should show or not. I felt that in order to display my wall pieces I had to get rid of the fleeces and the office equipment, and looking back at the collages depicting the wall pieces on their own, that seemed to be the better idea. It wasn't cluttered or too distracting, and in some ways was more impactful without the furniture.
From this, I decided to create more collages, this time experimenting with different compositions involving my wall pieces, which in this case will be 2 A1 and 1 A0 sized posters. I wanted to work out how best to display them together, whether to have the biggest poster in the centre or on the side, and what they would look like on their own. I also experimented with potentially having my fleeces hung either side of the posters or along side the posters to had further context.
Overall, I really prefer these collages and compositions, and I think my final piece will coincide with the compositions planned out here. I feel that the simplicity of the posters, as well as the scale of them, is much more impactful and less cluttered than creating a space using office equipment. I also like the idea of having my fleeces hanging either side of my posters to help develop my context further, as well as still wanting my fleeces as part of my final piece. I do need to see how much space I have and whether I want one or two shown, and then my fleeces and so on, but I think this is something I need to decide on when I come to installing my work.
Overall, I'm really happy with my final idea(s), and I'm really happy I used digital collages to help me visualise my work in a gallery space, and to be able to narrow down my final composition ideas. I think that in future I would use this method to help me curate exhibitions. The next steps are to go into the space with my pieces and to start to plan out how I want to display them based on my collage ideas.