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Application for Hazard done

Greenroom & hAb will be hosting Hazard MMX a series of intervention-based performance work across the city of Manchester on Saturday 17th July. I was interested in applying early on in the month for this but was struggling with what to propose, however after my previous piece ‘Giddyup I’ I could see the potential for developing the project further. In my work I have been using events and situations as frameworks for a performance, could I develop my giant ‘I’ into an event? My initial idea was to have my own travelling private view outside different arts venues around Manchester. My giant yellow ‘I’ would act as a visual focus for each private view, which would be placed on a surface outside each gallery and I could use other props such as colourful bunting and play music. This work is reminiscent of my leaving party private view ‘New Arrivals’ at the 501 Artspace in Chongqing which when I think back to it gives me confidence to take risks and encourages me to make myself look a bit ridiculous. I am also interested in using my online social networks to advertise and get people involved with the mini event. I have been thinking more about the conceptual ideas behind the giant yellow ‘I’ which on the surface may seem really egocentric to do such a thing, although don’t all artists have to have a sense of their own ego to make and show work? The most interesting thing for me that has come out of this project is how ‘I’ cannot be physically constantly carried around on it’s own, you need other people to help you and interact with ‘I’ to help it on it’s way. So the physical act of carrying ‘I’ parallels the artist’s way trying to show work in arts venues, which without the support of others cannot progress. I like the fact that I am taking my own destiny into my hands and making my own show for myself with the support of accidental/invited audiences, friends and hopefully the Greenroom, however if the work doesn’t get selected I can make the project happen myself.


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Finnisage at the Palace Hotel

I had 8 hours to make something at the FabLab, which offered the facilities to create a piece of work that involved using digital technology. I used a capital letter ‘I’ from the font ‘giddyup’, which is designed like a lasoo, the shape was cut out of a single piece of MDF that I covered with yellow vinyl. The FabLab brief was; urban intervention in a digital world, so I decided to take my ‘I’ out onto the streets from the Lab in Ancoats to the Palace Hotel, Oxford Road which is were the work was being exhibited and I wanted to see what encounters I would have with the public along the way. A number of people spoke to me about the yellow shape but no one recognized it as the letter ‘I’. People were intrigued as to why I was carrying it and were I was taking the piece and it sparked some interesting conversations about people’s involvement with art. One particular guy I spoke to outside the newsagents was really pushing me for a definitive answer as to why I was doing this, and I just said that there was no one answer it was more about opening up dialogue and interaction with people. As a coloured form moving through the environment it really stood out and cut through the angular lines of the surrounding architecture the vibrant colour in the sunlight sometimes bleached out into white. Once I finally got my ‘I’ to the Palace Hotel I only had a few hours to edit the video documentation together for the show, which was in a beautifully decorated space called the Post Room. It was a really good night lots of good work, wine and conversation. I have documented the project on the blog as it offers a space to reflect on the piece after the event, to share the experience with others and to create a legacy for my work.

To watch video documentation of this work please follow this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ulx2peh9uU


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Public & private actions

She danced wildly and her skirt rose up

She punched and pointed in the air

He stared as he walked passed me

He climbed on top of the speaker and jumped off

She raised her hand and held it in front of him saying ‘I don’t mean to be funny but’

She couldn’t make eye contact with me deliberately looking and moving her body away

A newspaper, empty coffee mug and a toolbox lay on the floor with a ceiling panel removed and some exposed wires

Sock left on the street

An unusually loud laugh

She raised her hand and said ‘stop right there’

He kept taking the same photograph of her against the wall

I stood on the table and pushed the light fixing

She said ‘there isn’t time in this meeting for this let’s move on with the agenda’

I knocked on the wall with the back of my fist

A noisy entrance

Sitting at the corner of the square table

He looked at her and then me and started to clap

Cat litter at the side of a bin

Cigarette butts in the flowerbed

Constant flow of questions

Wearing a hat

Reading a book back to front

Sitting on the pavement

A single bag of rubbish outside the front door

Doormats swapped

Lying in the road

A gold poster I couldn’t read

Grey splodge on the white wall

Mirrors to close to my eyes to see

An elastic band around a tree

Carrying a large object

Speaking loudly

He dropped lots of felt tip pens on the stairs and I helped him pick them up

A tanoy sounds which I don’t understand

She sat outside of the circle

She said ‘you have come as yourself haven’t you?’

He said ‘can you turn the mic off and stop performing now’

A sudden movement backwards and then forwards

A champagne bottle on the rooftop

Dirty tea towel on the floor

She said ‘please take a seat’

Scrunched up tissue with blood stains on

The ticket man cracks a joke and a smile

Chewing his nails by the door

Eating on the train

A shiny red bag with cartoon sheep on

Condensation only on the left window

He stands above me and asks for my ticket

Lime green taxi in a line of black

Poster case door open

Echo of the tanoy on another platform

Lights left on in the daytime

Stripey door on the train

Lady being escorted off

Black bag sits on the high shelf

She chants ‘any refreshments’

He says ‘I’ll take those away for you’

Orange cones in a green field

A boy steps out in front of the car

Brilliant white hair

A slither of stones embedded into the grass

Hole in the hill

Squeezing my arm tightly

Putting a coat on whilst sitting

Section of clear glass

A pink poster

Emergency stop button

Auto walk broken

Suitcase measuring scales

Blue line across the floor

Little girl in pink hopping

Man in a uniform with his back to the window

Ticket machine constantly ticking

A vase of brightly coloured flowers on the reception desk

The rattle of the wheels from a trolley

Worker eating a packet of crisps whilst walking

Animal print suitcase being pushed forwards

Attached to his belt jangling keys

Pushing the sign to the back of the front

Placing small cardboard tickets into the tops of the seats

Trainers with glitter on


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Twitter & FabLab

I’ve been enjoying using twitter to find out about arts activity and creative stuff happening in my local area. I can use it to communicate any event I am participating in, a good show I have seen and add links to other media such as a video on YouTube or my a-n blog. It’s a good tool to just put some thoughts out their into the web ether. There is something about transferring the idea from your head and onto the page, which can start the creative process. Ideas can be communicated in just a few words, which is why I like to use twitter as you can only enter 140 characters in one post.

Twitter response to creating a mould:

Deep_sink_universe_stuck

Twitter response to using a woodcutter:

Cut_out_empty_peep_hollow_see

I found out about the 8 hour FabLab Art challenge through a twitter Future Everything had posted, which I applied for an hour before the deadline www.futureeverything.org. On Saturday I visited the Lab, which is based at the Chips building in Ancoats and I was shown the variety of equipment I can use. With only a day to make something I was more interested in using the machinery that is quick and easy to get on with. After looking at what the Lab had to offer I am keen to make a small mould, as I like how the object sticks inside the amber casing and I want to experiment with different coloured resins. I would also like to have a go at making something larger scale and I could see how the woodcutter can easily create large shapes that I could layer up and how the overall process makes a jigsaw effect with the bits cut out from a sheet of wood. To create a mould for the letters I was advised to have a look at Google Sketchup, which is free computer software that can create 3D shapes, which I will be checking out this week, follow this link to download the software www.google.com/sketchup/download/.

If you want to follow me on twitter my username is nsartist34


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