Research Paper Discussion

Yesterday I presented my research paper to the class.

Weirdly enough, I wasn't too stressed and I enjoyed sharing it. I hope I managed to spark some curiosity in the subject, even if the area of my research is quite niche. I want more artists to explore and experiment with incense as an art medium/material!

I prepared a series of slides to support my speech and timed myself to 40 minutes.

Before starting, I invited everyone to burn some incense or light an aromatic candle if they had one nearby. A small gesture to set the atmosphere and clear the mind. I was happy to see the reactions of my peers. Almost everyone had incense/candles at hand and participated.

Here is the deck I presented:

RESEARCH PAPER PRES_20250306.pdf

Download PDF • 10.72MB

I was presenting the slides in full screen mode so I couldn't see anyone’s faces during the talk, That part felt a bit frustrating and alienating. I missed the human connection and reactions.

Questions from audience:

I plan to come back to this part after watching the recording. It will be good to further analyse this experience and reflect on the QnA

Reflections:

Back in January, I wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about spending 2 and a half months of research paper presentations.

The topics felt so personal and specific to each of us that I doubted they would engage the rest of the class. So I was not very excited about it, I wanted to move on from Unit 2!

I must admit that some classes have been difficult to follow, but others turned out to be extremely interesting.

I also went back and rewatched some of the presentations based on the research papers that interested me the most (Karen, Roz, Ben, Bethany...)

Despite my initial scepticism, I now understand why this is part of our program. The 3 months of distance from my own research paper helped me see the limitations of it and allowed me to restructure it and reshape it for divulgation.

I decided to include my own practice in the presentation, as this research impacted it in ways that are hard to describe. I thought that, at this stage, it needed to be part of the conversation.

This exercise is also a preparation for the future, for the possibility of giving lectures, artist talks, or teaching one day. That said, I think that it would have helped to have more tools at the beginning of this unit. In this way, people who already had presentation experience/skills didn't learn much about it, while people who didn’t ended up stressing a lot and missed an opportunity to learn how to communicate to  an audience.

Still, overall I think it was useful. And I’m excited to move on to the next and final part of the course!