Another tutorial to talk about my favourite artist material:
Banksy has his stencils,
Damian has his spots,
I have PowerPoint
and Grayson has his pots.
I have also been known to get out the paint pots, messy charcoal and glue. My fingernails are testament to some mixed-media assemblage, but I also dabble in the dark arts of admin and this is why:
I love putting words and images together to tell a story.
Poodlepods was first envisaged back in Autumn 2015 as a re-purposed PowerPoint project. It made perfect sense to tell hidden narratives of the admin ghetto, through one of the best storytelling tools at our disposal – Microsoft Office – in a wholly unexpected way.
PA’s and secretaries are experts in giving a voice to those more powerful through this medium; to support other careers with an upwards trajectory; to trumpet their talents with no credit or signature. As an artist/typist this makes PowerPoint a very interesting tool to explore. Even the name is perfect.
Poodlepods takes PowerPoint and creates slideshows through a female prism of a low status job. Why not have a play yourself? Tell the world about your day:
Through the months of artistic process, the Pointless Office-Orientated Dynamic Learning Environment has extended the narrative further to include a much-loved Palitoy Pippa doll (circa 1978). She is now starring in an HR horror picture show on Instagram as she deserved somewhere else to play, other than my desk.
Since April 2016, there have been bonkers characters and increasingly bizarre situations, culminating in an Humanoid Resources smoothie poisoning to cover up the University of Admin’s epic gender pay gap.
Obviously, this is a situation that needs sorting and only a conceptual artist will do.
Expect some 4th wall shenanigans very soon as our admin team are rescued from their dire situation. Expect more PowerPoints as they return to more pointless training and much-needed fun. Talking of which, I need to get back to the studio..
Dolly x
Senior Tutor/PA/Vice-Chancellor’s Fool
Leave a Reply