Lineham, M., 2024.

Let it WIP! Foundational Atmosphere

'Let it rip' is to go at full speed, to allow something to happen forcefully, to express something noisily. On Foundation, a dynamic atmosphere emerges at the coalescence of bodies, materials and practices. Foundation is a lively, process approach to art and design education that instils a purposeful work in progress (WIP) methodology. Through a vibrant spacetime, students 'Let it WIP'.

This paper presents new autoethnographic fieldnotes and photography that attune to the distinctive atmosphere of the Foundation Art and Design course at Manchester School of Art. Affordances include art school adulting, discovering the studio, open-ended creative endeavour, imagining and activating ambitions for art and design futures, and end of year exhibition and onwards euphoria. The paper draws on Martha's current research practice into the sensory qualities and affective atmospheres of sites and first-hand experience of teaching and learning on Foundation.