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Felix Davidson

Profession
MRes Art: Moving Image student
College
Central Saint Martins
Person Type
Student
Felix Davidson

Biography

Felix Davidson is from Liverpool and is a student on MRes Art: Moving Image at Central Saint Martins.

Interview

Why did you choose to study MRes Art: Moving Image at Central Saint Martins?

Prior to coming to CSM I studied Illustration with Animation at Manchester School of Art, where I eventually took a primarily film-based route. Research often led the development of my practical work, and so doing an MRes felt more appropriate than a traditional taught MA. CSM's expanded approach to research really appealed to me having come from such a broad-reaching undergraduate course, and the tutors have all been enthusiastic about my plans for both written and practical work.

What’s the most interesting project you’ve worked on so far?

So far I have been primarily focused on developing my writing practice. My main project has been attempting to develop a hauntological methodology based on Jacques Derrida and Roland Barthes' writings, with the aim being potential future application to animation theory. Having looked at only the practical aspects of animation on my BA, being given the freedom to work towards a new theoretical approach has been really exciting, and it will be interesting to see how it fits in with the developing landscape of animation studies.

What projects/successes have you been involved with since starting the course?

Each year the pathway takes part in a project organised by the CSM Study Collection around the theme 'Reassemblage,' inspired by Trinh T. Min-ha's film of the same name. As a group we collaborated with MA Fine Art students to produce a window installation, titled 'Vivisections,' in which we examined the archive as a living organism. For this I produced a video piece which combines animator Norman McLaren's ground-breaking dance film 'Pas De Deux' with my own footage of the CSM archive. I arranged and integrated the two sources, along with stop-motion animations of the shelves, to create a sense of movement and life within the archive's static inner structures. The final window display looked great, and we all felt like we had produced something really coherent.

External to the course, I have had a couple of films screened at international festivals and have been working on some film poster commissions.

What important piece of advice would you give to students thinking of studying this course?

Find something which speaks to you personally and see how far it can take you in your research. Read, write, and watch things as much as possible, and engage with as much of the course materials as you can because everything is useful, even just as something to push back against.

What has been the highlight of your Central Saint Martins experience?

The highlight for me has been coming into such a supportive and engaged environment on this pathway –– everyone is interested in what everyone else is making or writing about, and we're always having conversations about our topics and ideas. Being taken seriously as a researcher, especially at such an early stage, has been invaluable, and I finished this year having produced some work I'm really happy with.

What are your career aspirations?

My tentative career goal right now is to eventually work in higher education; I really enjoy researching, but a big part of that enjoyment is being able to articulate my ideas to others in an understandable way, so that we can then have a conversation, and both get something from it. In the meantime, I would like to stick with academia, maybe to PhD level, whilst also continuing to make practical work whenever I get the chance.

What is the most important thing you learnt on the course?

Learning to keep up a continuous writing practice has been key. Having my research be constantly happening in the background means that my final essays are a culmination of month’s worth of work, which helps to really ground them and (hopefully) gives a sense of depth and understanding. Listening to and learning from my course mates also helps in this regard, and through experimenting with form and working out how, when, and (especially) why to include personal detail in my work, I feel that I have really expanded my idea of what academic writing can be.

Links

Find out more about MRes Art: Moving Image.

View Felix's website to see more of his work.

Central Saint Martins

Contact

Telephone

+44 (0)20 7514 7444

Address

1 Granary Square
King's Cross
London
N1C 4AA