when Circuit Breaker measures were implemented, one of the few things that got me upset was Lasalle (where i'm doing my MA) insisting to push through with assessments requiring for all of us to go "digital"

for most of us, digital isn't a medium we were trained in / for

the head of Fine Arts, Dr Chandra (who also happens to be an artist), told us of his plan / vision of building a virtual gallery, employing a "web designer" who will assist students in uploading their works online, to help with the digitalisation process

during the initial Zoom meeting, he emphasised how this is a student led project and he wanted our input (he never did get in touch), more importantly was his framework of what this virtual space was like

Chandra: just send us your photos and videos of your work

it bugged the shit out of me when he said that so i told him in no way is that considered "going digital", that's documentation, why would you create a virtual gallery with documentation & call it a digital showcase?

he only said "this is where i want it to be student led"

again, no one got in touch, we were only tasked to send him images and videos so that the "web designer" will work with it

would you like to see the final outcome? we were just shared the link, here you go. knock yourself out

https://msofalasalle.com/visit-gallery/ma-fine-arts/

when they pestered for “images” of our artworks, i gave up and wrote this

in any case, this atrocity exhibition absolutely reduced, flattened and violently crushed what all of our artworks were and stood for

this is not a virtual gallery at all

not only did no one consult us, if you go here to the actual vIrTuAl gaLlErY, you’ll see that it gets worse

https://msofalasalle.com/virtual/mafa/ 

holy fucking shit, what the fuck is this?

it is absolutely ludicrous that an institution can get away with treating students and artworks like this, no clarity, no thought and no care about anything

Chandra doesnt know what the fuck he’s talking about neither does he know or care about anything other than reputation

in fact, fuck it, look at his “foreword” and how much he bothers / thinks through about the whole programme / cohort

and yes, this is it, there’s nothing else

(also, we were tasked to come up with a title for the show, the title was generated by talktotransformer)

to be clear, he didnt even check in with me about what i’ve been working on or busy with outside of school, that was only mentioned because on one random occasion my programme leader asked me about it

Lasalle is a fucking shoddy factory thats not concerned about education at all, if they were at all serious about going digital, they would have gotten students to work closely with a developer to realise their works or a part of their work as an extension of their practice

instead, we’re left with an absolutely disgraceful website / virtual gallery where our documentation is misrepresented as works, and this as something the school is actually proud about

i’m losing my fucking mind lol

i’m gonna end my rant here, sorry i really just needed to get this off my chest because this last part of school has been nothing but absolute horsecrap

i am beyond angry, Lasalle is a whole other level of a premium mediocre amusement park that all this is actually frightening

tldr dont do your MA in Fine Arts at Lasalle