research and working from home

Despite two 10 year olds 'wrestling' on the Wii behind me I have managed to complete student feedback on the recent digital imaging project so I will hopefully be ahead of myself at the end of the semester. This is around the time my 'official' research time will start, so it's important to try to clear the decks if I am actually to achieve anything in 10 days.

Last year I spent most of my off campus research time in June and July looking for sheltered accommodation for my mother and father who subsequently moved into the area in November. My mother has been ill in hospital almost ever since and is due to be discharged next week. Balancing work and research with family and home has been quite a major challenge since about this time last year. I haven't managed to make a research presentation at UCCA, but figure that is probably OK since I made two presentations the previous year. I also achieved an 'output' ahead of taking my research leave. I made a three screen high definition video work 'living room' that was shown at the National Review of Live Art, Tramway, Glasgow and subsequently travelled to Thessalonika for the Strange Screen Festival.

Anyway - the pressure is on to achieve another output soon. I have thought about going back to an archive of old work created pre-family to publish a book or create a website, but I am not sure my heart is in this project. I want to move on and devote precious time to projects that are more relevant to my life as it is now.