Well time for an update. Some very interesting and encouraging news since my last posting. The group met with the mayor of Hornell on Thursday and it appears as though the town, and certainly the mayor himself, are all for supporting the show. It’s still early days yet, but suffice to say we were shown some buildings and spaces that are owned by the city, and we now potentially have a little over 15,000 square feet of space for the group to show in, in the form of different locations in Hornell itself.
As we start to get nearer to the show we were discussing publicity and it appears as though the city are happy to help us on this front as well as with transportation, which is extremely encouraging. More on this as it develops.
As for the more short term I have Mid term reviews on Wednesday and I have been looking at different aspects of the performance I will be performing for my thesis show. Various themes and issues have come out of looking into these fields as they inevitably do when one analyzes one’s work in this way. After talking with faculty the very fundamental point, of the content of the show, was raised, and the suggestion of exploring these performative elements in greater depth. After all it is all very well setting up the venue, organizing press releases and laying down the physical infrastructure for the piece, but if the work is no good in it’s own right then what is the point of engaging in the exercise?
One very important point that was raised was the risk of spending too much time making the physical work and then the performance being an afterthought due to time constraints. Hence why I am looking at this aspect well ahead of time so as to develop it fully.
I will be performing a piece tomorrow night and all being well streaming it online either Monday or Tuesday. The domain for the website has been registered and I have set up web hosting, all that is left is to record the piece and to physically stream it. The piece can be found @ www.stevecoles.org however it won’t be online til the start of next week so watch this space.
The performance itself involves me planing a block of Nepalese wax and turning it into shavings. I then gather these shavings and re-melt them in a wax pot and recast the wax into a block. I then take this block and begin planing it again in order to make a fresh pile of shavings, to be melted in the pot in order to recast the block. One element I am looking at for my thesis show is the point of documentation and how documentation serves it’s purpose without the presence of the physical work. This piece is all about process and the value of labour. I will be interested to hear your comments on it. Until next time.
