This Saturday was a lot quieter than previous, with no one taking up the offer of tea and cake. I ran through the work to date, in preparation for embarking on my final week. Looking back through yesterdays list of elements I knew it would be important to edit. Today I thought a lot about the role of the video footage. Would I show it as part of the performance, as the performance or as part of the installation. How would the performance pan out? I watched back the footage from last Saturday's performance of the work in progress. It was really long and repetitive, but had some positive elements. I was rally glad that I was able to do this at such an early stage to an audience as it allowed for it all to be thrown in and makes it easier at this point to edit it.
I'm still full of the idea of 'mind the gap' today and finished making the sign that I hope to hold over the weekend. making the sign became a practical exercise and I'm left thinking that maybe I won't do this performance at all but it felt good to make it and I think I needed to complete the prop anyhow.
Two weeks of working in the space as a solo artist, feels refreshingly productive for me and after my initial concerns in trying to identify my own practice, today that seems a lot clearer. I'm really aware that my practice involves a vast imagination and numerous ideas and ideals in terms of the type of work I want to make. It involves sculptural consideration, material, endurance and physical action, it also involves working with others, be it other artists, or the public.
Communication, dialogue and chat make up a huge part to my practice. My head flows when I'm engaged with others, in what ever sense that might be, even if the conversations not relevant to what I'm doing. This residency has allowed me to meet many different people, mainly visitors of the gallery, locals and the volunteers. All happy to chat about life. It feels very human and I have really enjoyed this process, talking to a stranger, someone you have just met, possibly far removed from your own life, for hours, just the two of you has been a fresh experience for me. Whats funny is that they come not concerned with the work necessarily, some believe my installation to not be an exhibition and so avoid discussing it. But they come to chat to me. I have become the entertainment, the object, the communication, the thing, regardless of what I produce creatively. That's been quite interesting, a live person in a gallery, just chatting.
I look forward to tomorrow, I have decided to ask Jenny to come down and be my camera man. I considered this for a while as I'm quite concerned with making this a chance to work independently from current collaborations. However, I planned exactly what I wanted to do so that Jenny would be purely practical in terms of filming but also in editing work. She will be the first person I have discussed the work with in any depth and it feels at a good point to do this with her.
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