It would appear there is an underlying challenge to this project which evolves around time and capacity. I am ridiculously busy with other freelance work at the moment so am getting slightly behind in the challenges, I think the set back really started in January though!
Never the less the March challenge is almost complete, the evidence is here: http://www.ameliabeavisharrison.com/2010challenge.html
Nottingham Castle were very kind and let me release 20 apologies attached to balloons with the word sorry printed on them. The act was a part of the public statement that Tom Duggan set as a part of the challenge. I also have apologised to two people in a more direct way with interventions that will hopfully make them smile and feel thought of, even if they dont understand the appology. Many of the apologies are trivial and for those that are less so the relevance of them is far gone.
There is one appology I have yet to make as I have discovered the person has moved to Australia which make the challenge a little more complicated. The wonders of indirect Facebook searches have given me a certain amount of information but it still needs more work.
I have begun creating the challenges for April …. more will follow …….
For May I accepted the following challenge:
‘I challenge you to re-make a piece of work in true Hollywood style. Namely Sophie Calle’s Suite Venitienne of 1979 which is now 31. You should follow someone you do not know at all or only vaguely (you can adopt a disguise if you require) for as long as it takes before you are rumbled, you must go everywhere that they go in this time.Along the way you should take images discretely. These should be exhibited somewhere printed in black and white. I accept no ethical responsibility should anything sinister arise from you doing this.’
Challenged by Andrew Bracey
I chose this challenge out of all the challenges as it made me feel the most physically uncomfortable! For May I had an amazing response and some fantastic challenges, it was hard to not accept more. I can say however one of my good friends has re-submitted her May challenge which is great because it’s the first re-submission and also its a fantastic challenge.
May is a record braking month. I sent an email out to various people in my address book asking for challenges, and have had the biggest response to date. In the course of three days on average I have received a challenge every 12 hours. Now that may not seem much but its a lot comparatively speaking. My only worry now is that later in the year people wont have any challenges to make!
Whats even better about receiving so many challenges is that so many of them are good, better than good great. It seems the quality of challenges has improved over night. Challenges range from stalking, appearing on a TV game show, walking in other people’s shoes to not using any digital technology for a week. I am spoilt for choice. The trick is to work out which one is the most challenging, wether it is physical, tactical or something more.
Of the present challenge (March) I will in theory complete one part of the challenge over the weekend. With two humble apologies to those who deserve them. The more public part of the project is still in the planning stages, I am attempting to find a site for the balloon release. I think this will require a certain amount of environmental concerns such as biodegradable balloons, and having just ordered them I am a little worried they may not be, so I will have to check on that.
Its taken a while but Ive got there. The public statement needn’t be over the top, it should be appropriate. To attribute a public statement to an apology it has to fit, be sincere. So I began to think sentimentally, perhaps ceremoniously. There are several apology’s I want to make and one is to my Nan who is no longer with us. I though how would I apologise to someone who will never hear me. Visiting the grave seemed obvious, delivering flowers to a grave was where the train of thought began. People often look to the sky when talking of the decease, so I began to think perhaps the closest I will get to her will be the sky. What is symbolic and reaches great heights, balloons. Helium balloons are released on all kinds of occasions, usually celebrations, this time however they will be released as an apology.
I will release a balloon for every apology I ow, this stands just short of 25. To the bottom of each balloon will be an apology note, letter or card. I haven’t decided on that format yet. I feel for certain people I will also need to make a gesture to them, there are four in particular. The only problem being I dont really know where these people are any more. Its appropriate to do this properly though, apologise to those who really do deserve apology’s, and symbolically apologise as the challenge suggest through a public statement / gesture for every apology I ow.
I ordered the balloons earlier. They are blue which is symbolic of sincerity. The have a single word on them ‘sorry’.
I spent many hours editing the video for the February challenge, however it just wasn’t working, so I took the decision to stop. I then thought about linking the audio track with a scrolling text panel. I went back and forth with wether this was the right decision and then decided that I would utilise the strength of the audio alongside the 2D rules I have created, acting as an installation, audio and paper signs. I am waiting for Vimeo to upload my audio and then I will put it on my website.
The image with this blog is a still from what would have been the film.
The paper prints look quite dry, but I think with the audio track playing alongside the prints it should create an atmosphere, when viewed in the right location.
For the April Challenge I have been less enthusiastic with it than other challenges, as I didn’t find any of them particularly challenging so I selected the most interesting. One challenge which I almost chose would have seen me make an image each day for a year, but I feel this is incredibly achievable, a sketch book with 365 pages and I’d be sorted. So I chose:
‘Make a whole load of challenges for other people to complete, and send you their responses as evidence.’
Challenged by Jodie Hawkes
The interesting thing about this challenge is that it was made as a Facebook comment and I dont think the challenger will be expecting me to select it. The era of Facebook is here and I think its time to utilise it, not just for marketing but also for production of art work.
I have several ideas for this challenge but I am working on a minimal budget, this is also affecting the March Challenge, so I will have to bear this in mind whilst producing and creating the work.
Have a think, and send me a May challenge, email:
[email protected]
Im feeling a bit under the weather, which is lucky for the February Challenge as I always promote the fun jobs to the top of the list when Im feeling shitty. So last night I undertook the role of composer and created the sound track to my short film. (I am undecided wether I should call it a film or an animation, primarily because Im not filming any thing, however the word animation doesn’t seem to fit.)
The film is actually very short indeed, a total of one minuet and three seconds, I was actually aiming for two and a half minuets but these things never work the way you plan. I was aiming for two and a half basing this on the time length that songs often are, as I have done bits of video editing, and sound manipulation for that approximate amount of time before and I enjoy the duration of it. I also didn’t want it to be ridiculously short and be over in a flash, but we shall see.
I started making a film because as you may know my research for this piece is derived from The Game, and there is plenty of insparation on their website, particularly their animated logo and some amusing You Tube videos. After spending many an afternoon re-visiting the site, it became apparent that I had to embrace the nature of The Game and that really did mean making a video.
The March Challenge is also taking up a lot of brain space. Its the element of public announcement that has got me thinking. I have considered various ways to announce something publicly but none of them are quite there yet, here was my thought progress:
Town Cryer > Advertisements in newspapers > Ad campaign with a charity > Football / cricket interlude announcement > Creating a song to be released > Sky writing / blimp
Although I haven’t written my list of all apologies, I have isolated several which I deem as important. Probably because they have been playing on my mind for years. My boyfriend keeps reminding me he is expecting numerous apologies, but I think he will have to go on waiting.
