I’ve been working on an application for the British Antarctic Survey’s Artists & Writers programme. Of course I am proposing not to go and I’m not quite sure how they are going to take it. At the moment it’s a bit rough:
11. DETAILS OF YOUR PROPOSAL:
I am making a proposal not to go to the Antarctic.
I have an interest in the inconvenience of adventure and its subsequent demystification of place. My previous practice has also become involved in fiction, imagined narrative and grand plans. A recent commission at The Foundling Museum saw me working in the shadow of Hogarth and Handel attempting a portrait, an act of charity and an opera. I am currently working on a residency for BCA gallery, Bedford where, in the footsteps of Scott and Shackleton, I am working on a diary and series of films and sculptures based on an imagined journey to Antarctica. The works are deliberately made without research and constructed entirely in the studio above the gallery and mostly under my table. The residency is also inspired by Raymond Roussel’s Impressions of Africa. A surrealist novel written after Roussel had briefly glimpsed the coast of Africa through a telescope. The films, sculptures and books were tied up with the more mundane narrative of my constant journeying back and forth between Ipswich and Bedford. The writing of this proposal forms an integral part of the residency.
More specifically I propose to use the programme to make a body of work that reflects my absence from the Antarctic. This will include a series of books and films. I am especially interested in entering into correspondence with artists/writers in the Antarctic. I also want to deal with the idea of the contemporary media based concept adventurer as self-publicist.
Although I do not hold strong political views I believe it will also be an interesting statement to divert funding to a proposal which would have zero environmental impact on the Antarctic and would save money in terms of transport, training etc. I would like to propose that any moneys saved be donated back to the Natural Environment Research Council.
12. JUSTIFICATION FOR UNDERTAKING WORK IN THE ANTARCTIC:
N/A
13. SITES TO BE VISITED
I may go to the seaside (somewhere relatively warm and mundane)
14. ANY SIGNIFICANT SHIPPING REQUIREMENTS:
None
15. PROPOSED OUTCOME OF VISIT:
I propose to produce a range of outcomes including films, sculpture and books
The main outcome will be an online blog and at least one book stemming from my time not in the Antarctic. Current ideas include:
A correspondence between an Antarctic adventurer and myself.
A sort of vox pop imagining of the Antarctic using a range of contributors.
A series of posters advertising my non-adventure.
Last night I had a dream in which all those TV explorers Griff Rhys Jones, Ray Mears, Ben Fogle etc. all accidentally meet up and have a big argument.
