I have been looking at my MA exhibition this week. For my MA 'Autopoiesis' piece I still need to find a suitable local venue. I have been looking at a number of possibilities, although it looks as if my initial choice the City Gallery in Leicester - may not be available when I want it. A good alternative at the moment may be The Depot in Leicester. Hopefully I will be able to confirm the venue and dates shortly.

I haven't done any MA related reading this week - instead I've been letting my ideas settle a bit.

I have, though, been doing some work on the MA08 Web site. This will be an online directory for all of the MAs at Camberwell this year. I've created a 'blank' site at www.ma08.org.uk which I've submitted to everyone on the Digital Arts MA for feedback. The next step will be to work with a designer to create the site template and then start to populate the pages with content.

After going through a great deal of 'conceptual' thinking over the past month, it's time to focus again on the delivery of my MA project. I have a number of tasks to complete by the summer but the one I've been most concerned with is the 'degree show'. My current thinking is that I will actually exhibit the artwork I am producing in Leicester and then run a multimedia 'presentation' at the Camberwell show. This will give me more flexibility and control over the exhibition environment and allow me to source any equipment needed locally. I'm now searching for a suitable local venue...

The DNA sculpture I have been working on with Geoff Broadway is almost finished. We just have one technical problem to fix (to do with one of the light strings) and then we will be able to deliver it. It's been quite a long development, but will be well worth it!

I have been asked to exhibit some of my work as part of the "Phoenix Digital" programme in Leicester. This will take place in March of this year (ie. quite soon!) and I think I will use it as an opportunity to demonstrate my current thinking regarding "digital art-systems". I have a couple of quite simple ideas that I have wanted to try for a little while and once I have fully developed them I will present them here...

I've been getting quite in to the work of German artist Hans Haacke recently - particularly his mid 1960s work such as "Condensation Cube" (shown above). I think the penny has dropped that my goal of creating "art-systems" (albeit using digital technology) can be very much placed in this field of creative practice.

How do I create audiovisual artworks that behave like autopoietic systems and exhibit emergent properties?

My research as remained very much based around this question and as I've passed the half-way point of my MA I have, if anything, become even more focussed on the first part of it 'how do I create audiovisual artworks that behave like autopoietic systems'.

Autopoiesis is a fairly simple concept - relating to the property of systems that self-create - yet one that I have found difficult to fully define, identify and create in an audiovisual arts context.

In particular, I often find myself wondering if autopoiesis is something that may be easier to create at the conceptual level of my work, rather than at the physical.

For example, in my research essay I concluded that the artwork 'I See You' was not an autopoietic system in a physical sense. The more I think about it though, the more I wonder if 'I See You' is actually autopoietic conceptually. If the we consider the 'artwork' to be the complete 'interactive system' I created for the piece (this is what I would now call an 'art-system'), and not simply the physical manifestation that a user sees in front of them then it could be said that the idea of 'I See You' is self-created through the interaction by the user with the physical aspects of the artwork. So long as the physical integrity of the work is maintained then the idea will continue to self-create in autopoietic way.

This is, for me, a slightly difficult thing to deal with. Not because I don't like or appreciate conceptual artwork, but because I have specifically set out not to be a conceptual artist! I like my work to be appreciable on a purely sensual level - be that as light, sound or touch - and I often feel that conceptual art lacks in this area and fails in its attempt to make up for this through the 'cleverness' of it's ideas.

However, my research is is leading me to accept that as my artwork develops I will inevitably enter the conceptual realm. My challenge therefore is to create artwork that is both immediately satisfying to the viewer and conceptually complete. Consequently, if I am to create autopoietic artwork as per my stated aim then I need to be open as to where this property might exist within the complete digital art-systems that I create.

I have made a new year's resolution to keep my MA journal up to date! Check the blog post headings for "MA" followed by 03W and the week number. It's the final module and we're leading up to the show in June.

During the Xmas break I have been doing quite a lot of reading - mostly in the area of "conceptual art". After years of not really being 'in' to conceptualism the penny dropped and I realised that it's something I should have been looking at in more detail.

The new pineapster.com music and arts community has gone live at long last! There is still some work to be done, but people can now register and create profiles. We will be promoting Pineapster quite heavily in the new year. You can see the new site for yourself at www.pineapster.com.

One of my pictures of the Custard Factory in Birmingham has been used in a city guide. Click on this link to have a look!