Royal Hastings, University of London Multimedia Art MA Final Project

Candidate name: Cameron Wesley

Candidate number: 0883483

A bit about me:

Mentioning no names, lest I spontaneously combust with unresolved anger, but I once worked for a big ad agency. We handled all the top global brands, Fortune 500 companies, some high net-worth individuals on a PR basis and many myriad organisations. Lost interest in working for other people, left with a colleague to set up our own agency. Won’t say it was the worst thing we could’ve done, but it never went right, that’s for damn sure. Thought a major client was coming with us – they pulled out at the last minute and stayed with the old company. Then our second client, much smaller but important to us, was bought out and their business went to the buyer’s agency. OK, we can generate our own business – we’d done that for years already. Only outside the big-name bubble, the garden ain’t so rosy. The place was full of bears with their bums in the honey. They gas about thinking outside the box, but risk is something they take with other people’s money, right?

Suddenly my director gets pregnant and moves to France with her partner. Pulls out completely. I was stranded. I looked up old friends, but none wanted to move. Advertised and recruited. Got stung by a stream of liars and bullshitters. They say it takes one to know one: well, I couldn’t spot them. My wife left. Her call, but pants for me. I was done. Was that burnout or plain disillusion in my fellow human? I sought help for my mental health. As they say. First of all with a good mate called Jack Daniel’s, and then with a colourful bunch of his other friends at a posh loony bin called The Sanctuary.

There they said, among other things, that when you get stuck or find you’re not challenged any more, make a change. Well, I’d done that and it had failed right out of the sky in a trail of flames. So I avoided group therapy by haunting every class, from chocolate-tossing to candle-bothering. One of them was an introduction to art. Well, the teacher was the finest-looking woman in the place. She got me feeling inspired again for the first time in yonks. You know, chucking clay around and slapping paint on paper is big fun! That’s why, a while later, when I was back on my feet with a new company in a whole new sector, I decided to take this job myself, rather than leave it to one of the other private investigators.

WhatsApp chat between Ben Sketcher and Hannah O’Donnell, 30 May 2024:

Hannah

Cameron has a company of private investigators. He specialises in financial fraud, corporate security and industrial disputes. He didn’t want the other group members to know. Gela took me aside before the course began. She was worried I might accidentally say something.

Ben

After trying to run a company and complete an MA , he soon realised he couldn’t do both. I wonder … was he at Royal Hastings to help with burnout or to investigate something?

Hannah

I don’t know if it’s connected, but Alyson’s attendance dwindled at about the same time. I mean, she stopped coming in to Royal Hastings, but was still messaging on Doodle.

Ben

She and Ludya worked together on Assignment Four.

Hannah

Well, they each completed assignments, but was Ludya responsible for both? The affair between Alyson and Jonathan. I’ve wondered if it was going on before the course started?

Ben

Do you know her husband’s name?

Hannah

No. No one ever mentioned him to me.

Ben

What if he can afford to pay a PI to enrol on an MA course and keep an eye on his wife? It sounds to me as if Gela was in on the whole thing and even seems to know Cameron’s ‘boss’. If she means his client – Alyson’s husband – perhaps she’s been ‘enticed’ to collude.

Hannah

Gela wouldn’t risk her whole career for a few pounds.

Ben

Who says it’s a few pounds? It could be enough to worth risking your career, especially if you’re close to retirement and that career is hanging in the balance. Cameron may have left the course when he’d gathered enough evidence for his client. But nonetheless he has a particularly close relationship with Gela.

Hannah

You think so too?

Ben

They say ‘kiss-kiss’. Is that an affair between them, or the name of his investigation into Alyson’s behaviour?

Hannah

Gela is a well-respected academic. I’ve known her for years. She’s lovely and very professional.

Ben

And yet she’s doing everything she can to ensure Cameron scrapes a pass, when he left the course in January. Hannah, you say the students panicked when they heard the voice. Only I’ve read a lot of their correspondence now, and panic doesn’t seem to be a factor.

Hannah

Exactly. You’d think all they were worried about was their coursework and final project, but underneath I think there was a lot more going on.

Ben

What could possibly have gone wrong on an art course?

To: MMAM ( FTP ); cc: Gela Nathaniel

From: Jonathan Danners

Date: 19 March 2024

Subject: Final Project update

Dear Team,

As the Easter holiday is coming up, Gela has asked me to send this update so we all know where the final project is. I’ve broken the installation into three parts:

The Tunnel

wood and wire, covered with fabric; papier-maché, resin and clay embellishments, painted components

The Head

wire and papier-maché, textured with clay

The Tech

lighting, music and soundscape, plus headphone technology

The base of the head-shaped sculpture is almost complete, thanks to Gela and Jem. I’ve heard some positive remarks from the undergrads and am confident this will be a striking centrepiece to the installation. We should all bear in mind these large sections will need to be moved from RH and reassembled at RD 8. Any extra weight will make that trickier and, importantly, more expensive. If you can make something hollow, please make it hollow. If papier-maché would work as well as clay or resin, please use papier-maché.

The tunnel is still in its early stages and requires a lot more decoration. The embellishments that represent RD 8’s technological advancements over the last hundred years are very small, and we need lots to make it look and feel as interesting as we promised the client. In the couple of weeks before half-term, I’d like everyone – whatever their other roles – to commit to making at least ten items a day for the tunnel.

This brings me to the tech. Jem has so far not played us her soundscape. Ludya has not told us what music she wants, if any. As for the lighting, we will have the services of an electrician on the day, but not before. We must devise a lighting plan in advance and adapt it there and then. Not ideal, but we need to mould our creative work to the limitations of our client, so it will have to do.

That’s where we’re at. Any questions, just ask.

Jonathan

Doodle message group MMAM ( FTP ), 19 March 2024:

Jem Badhuri

Why is Ludya doing music for the final project? Music will clash with my soundscape.

Jonathan Danners

Your soundscape is delivered through headphones. We need music to enhance the guests’ journey through the tunnel.

Jem Badhuri

No, my soundscape will hook them in and draw them through the tunnel. That and the headphone experience are all part of the same thing. We don’t need music.

Ludya Parak

I was only going to set up a Spotify playlist of chill-out tracks, but I’m not bothered. It’s one less thing to do.

Jem Badhuri

You’re hardly doing anything anyway.

Ludya Parak

I’m flat out making fiddly little shit for the tunnel. I’ve got no nails or fingerprints left.

Patrick Bright

And very good you are at it, Ludya. I don’t know why Jonathan mentioned music. It hasn’t been discussed before. I’ve not even thought about it.

Jonathan Danners

You haven’t had to think about the music, Patrick, because that’s not your remit. You’ve been focusing on sourcing and construction, as per your role. I’m thinking ahead to the practicalities of the installation. That’s what being project manager is all about.

Alyson Lang

We can have a chill vibe in the champagne reception area. The guests are supposed to enjoy themselves – as well as listening to Jem’s soundscape.

Jem Badhuri

My soundscape will be a dramatic journey, but ultimately uplifting.

Jonathan Danners

I’d like to hear what you’ve done so far, Jem. As project manager, I need to be across all the tasks.

Patrick Bright

Me too! Go on, Jem, will you play what you’ve done so far?

Jem Badhuri

I can’t play what I’ve done so far because sound doesn’t work like that. It’s layered. You’ll have to trust me.

Doodle message group [Private] Jonathan and Jem, 19 March 2024:

Jonathan Danners

Promise you haven’t used the radio voice in your soundscape.

Jem Badhuri

Would it be a problem if I had?

Jonathan Danners

I’m concerned about copyright. We don’t want our client slapped with a lawsuit by whoever wrote the film or radio show it comes from.

Jem Badhuri

Gela got rid of the radio before I had the chance to record it. Is Alyson still using the studio at night?

Jonathan Danners

Yes, she’s most productive that way, and she’s on quota with components too.

Jem Badhuri

I might stay late one day this week and catch up with her before she starts. What time does she arrive?

Jonathan Danners

Tricky. She doesn’t have a routine. Alyson is a butterfly. You can’t predict her next move.

Doodle message group [Private] Jem and Patrick, 19 March 2024:

Jem Badhuri

Hi Pat! Here’s a funny thing. Jonathan says Alyson’s been in the studio at night. Apparently, that’s when she’s been casting her quota of tunnel components.

Patrick Bright

She’s always been a night owl.

Jem Badhuri

I know every inch of her workstation and I keep track of everything in and out of the store cupboard. She hasn’t been in at all. There are always finished components in her out-basket for you to collect, but they aren’t made here. I suspect Ludya is making them for her.

Patrick Bright

It’s a nice conspiracy theory, but I think you’re wrong, Jem. Ludya makes three little nuts and bolts, then huffs and puffs round the studio as if the rest of us are sitting on our arses strumming lutes. If she’s making Alyson’s quota too, we’d hear about it.

Jem Badhuri

The photographs I took of Alyson’s workstation for Assignment Four weren’t just to show the arduous process of creation, like I told everyone. I took pictures over five days, to prove Alyson hadn’t been in, should I ever need to. I take one every morning now.

Patrick Bright

I’m confused. Why would you need to prove something like that?

Jem Badhuri

It’s my insurance policy. So if she gets a high grade, I can challenge it.

Patrick Bright

You’d do that?

Jem Badhuri

Of course. But only if I get a lower grade. If I get a high grade too, I won’t rock the boat. So we’ll see.

To: MMAM ( FTP )

From: Gela Nathaniel

Date: 20 March 2024

Subject: Final Project and Assignment Five

Dear all,

Thank you, Jonathan, for that concise and helpful update. This is our last week before the Easter break, so it’s a good time to take stock. The Media Arts building will remain open, and you are welcome to take advantage of that to meet your construction deadlines.

I would reiterate the need to prioritise those embellishments for the tunnel wall, and with each one that you make, please alter the number on the quota list pinned to the noticeboard, so we end up with the appropriate numbers of each design to mark the historical progression of the journey.

In the real world, creative professionals need to work extra hours at home, or during holidays, to meet company deadlines. So while you’re all busy re-creating things from the past, here’s Assignment Five:

Think of something in your own past that is now gone, lost or over, and re-create that for an abstract or impressionistic piece. This is a free assignment designed to keep you thinking creatively while engaged in the more mundane tasks of construction and manufacture. Deadline: 19 April 2024.

Any questions, please ask!

Gela

Doodle message group MMAM ( FTP ), 20 March 2024:

Ludya Parak

I’m not coming in over Easter, FFS . How can she expect us to do a whole new assignment?

Jem Badhuri

I can’t wait! It’s so frustrating not having a studio at home.

Alyson Lang

If the studio isn’t accessible over the bank holiday, I’m lodging a complaint.

Patrick Bright

We can work at home, no?

Ludya Parak

Yeah, right.