05/08/08 Day 2- Research in London

Today I have decided to take a trip to London to visit several exhibitions to support the ideas I'm currently interested in. Waking up earlier and catching the 9,30 train from Hertford north meant I arrived a moorgate fairly early. Travelling always amazes me and this morning in particular it was weird to be transported into the heart of the City so quickly. I guess not being fully awake when on the train helps. Thoughts on the train were; 

- Relax

- Know when to start and when to stop

- Set off early

- Write, read, look

- Stay focused

- Avoid distractions- ignore metro paper on seat opposite and instead write this.

So I wonder on down to the Tate modern to check out the Street art photography exhibition, after stopping for a coffee in the members bar (my parents brought me membership for christmas and like to make the most of it) it was a sunny day but I sat in doors. I rummaged back through my current sketchbook, which to be honest contains mostly writing, and pulled out some of the comments, thoughts that I have had over the past 8 months that appealed to me again, identifying past thoughts and ideas of which I would like to take forward in this project. I found an extract about living artist, life as art etc.. written by a female artist I came across whilst in Lisbon earlier this year. I'm saying that but I have not written who it was by so now I'm thinking maybe I wrote it, I just don't remember, " My work is my life and my life is my work, I'm not saying its good, poignant, relevant, for all or even entertaining, its something I just commit to and cannot live without. Its part of what my holidays are set around, what I eat, how I clean, work, get up in the morning, love, laugh and watch. is that enough?".

This quote, explains to some extent the crux of this residency and it was good to read it back again.

The highlight of the exhibition was a film/ video work by Rineke Dijkstra called ' The buzz club Liverpool 1996' in which she films young adults in a nightclub dancing to the music but in front of white screen, removing then from the context of the club, isolating their moves and exposing the awkwardness and anxieties of clubbing, dancing, and the teenage years.

Another list came after this exhibition in response to working with site, particularly public sight.

- Urine in Hertford (smell at train station on platform)

- Desk, with paint specks

- Box of wrapping papers at flat, in cupboard.

- Tours, walks, drives

- Instructions for how to watch live art

- Element of surprise- magical

- Kite flying

- Going for it- nights out

- Photography-local-nights out

- Slides.

The other exhibition I visit today of significance was pyscho buildings at the Hayward gallery. After whizzing past the main architectural installations, of which I was very disappointed by, especially after paying a tenner to get in, I found some interest in the film on the top floor in the make shift cinema. A short film in which (in short) an American artist tipped a truck load of soil over a disused dwelling and left it there, described the work as 'Didactic'- he explained the action was not about what it means as it is now, but what it can mean in the futures. the working growing and gaining meaning through dialogue that starts in response to the work/action and its within that dialogue that the work starts to exist and gain meaning.