Being away from the gallery felt refreshing, It was the first of my workshops- a trip to the Royal Academy Summer Show and discussion surrounding the 6 short listed artists. Devised for the members of Courtyard gallery, a chance to get to know them further and spend time together discussing art, and especially discussing with them the work of the 6 short listed artist, one of whom works with performance. I was hoping that the trip might involve a discussion around performance and therefore lead to my own interest in performance, and the activities that I'm working with at Courtyard. I had two participants, my Mum and Dad! Unfortunately no one else signed up, which was disappointing, but I realise there's only so much you can do. I guess many on are holiday or have already been. I was happy with my participants being my parents and it allowed me to spend some valuable time with them as well as talk to them about the works in the show, sharing with them my ideas, comments and the relevant information to help them understand the work or gain an insight into the practice of these artists. Its not often I spend a day alone with my parents, I had them to myself and they had me to themselves it was a rarity and I was excited at the prospect of being able to find substance within this trip. I felt different, I felt extremely comfortable, content and relaxed. I felt like I had found myself for the day, at times transported back to my childhood, remembering past trips and times spent with family. I felt like the real Holly, the one I reminisce over, I had a grip on myself and felt a huge sense of belonging all day.
The trip also allowed me to discuss my residency ideas with someone, to date I have only spoken to myself via this blog on what has occurred this week and it felt good to speak out loud about my ideas and progress. It came to light this morning that what I'm now beginning to seek is some substance. Yesterdays work did indeed interest me and I was pleased that I was beginning to explore the very act of wanting to make work as being the work, but I knew this could not be all the performance entailed. It would be too heavily filled with my own thoughts and needs and I feel that it needs to be balanced with something external, information, facts, narrative, something away from my own observations, something more universal that everyone can relate too, not just me as an artist and those who like me want to make work. I don't feel as though I have found that today, even though I found a huge sense of belonging. Maybe this is the substance but it seams as though its still quite self indulgent, I'm not sure right now.
I went onto to see the Martin Creed runner at the Tate Britain and really enjoyed the work. It was naughty, out of context, physical, durational, task based, quick, funny, and I was absorbed in the work for an hour. It was exciting and you felt like you could play with it for hours. Manoeuvring around the space, changing the angle to which you viewed the work, waiting for the next runner, deciding which runner you preferred and observing the other spectators, looking for those who were not expecting the work, who were confused and dashed out the way. Today I have attached some images of this work. My parents can be seen in the images. They liked the work too and I wanted to include them in the images, layering the work and the day within my mind and my experience of the work. I'm thinking of using it in my own performance somehow, we will see what tomorrow brings.
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