4 week residency at 501 Artspace, China. From start to finish.

A Wandering Practice

As my work is site and context specific I like to quickly engage with people and place by creating verbal and visual dialogues to start the process. To experience a place I simply move through a space by walking, observing and feeling my surroundings. I gather visual material by recording sound, taking digital images and video to accumulate research about a new environment. This way of working could be interpreted as a Wandering Practice, which is open to arriving with little or no expectations, the possibility of getting lost, or finding out something I didn’t already know. This way of working has been difficult for me to communicate as it is only now that I am realising how significant ‘wandering’ is in my work. To physically move I have to let go of pre-determined outcomes, forced to feel my way in a new environment and to experience what is right in front of me.

My practice has greatly benefited from moving around the country and travelling abroad which has taught me how cultural differences and alternative readings of work is a good thing this has made me feel more confident about the work I made in China, were I made solo performance pieces, collaborated with artists and culminated in a final performance titled ‘New Arrivals’ at the 501 Artspace. My working method of performing on the street is an unusual practice in China as most work is shown as part of an organised event. In my work I like to encourage some form of physical participation and create a balance of tension and humour which artist Zhou Bin, commented in his interview as ‘being very British, a far softer approach compared to some Chinese Live Art’.

I have disseminated my experience of working in China by presenting my work on the Internet by using video, blogging and social networking sites, which is a new way of working for me and a process that I have continued in my practice. Maintaining a blog allows a space for me to verbally and visually reflect on the work I have made and greatly compliments a wandering practice where the work is temporary in nature.

Performance & Live Art/Intervention

When I introduce myself as a performance or live artist to people I am always met with assumptions that I must sing, dance or act really well which is not the case although I am becoming more interested in these expectations of ‘performing’ and have been using them in my work. I have become aware the power the presence of the artist can have over an audience in a presentation situation be that in the form of the artist talk or the display of work at an event. Although I am fully versed in the context of why I make my work it does not fill me with much confidence in the build up to my performances. However I use my natural awkwardness and anxiety of performing to create tension, which is very real and not acted out.

Joshua Sofaer questions, what is live art? he goes onto say that ‘at its most fundamental, Live Art is when an artist chooses to make work directly in front of the audience in space and time. So instead of making an object and leaving it for the audience to encounter in their own time, Live Art comes into being at the actual moment of encounter between artist and spectator. The artist sets up a situation in which the audience experiences the work in a particular space and time, and the notion of ‘presence’ is key to the concerns of the work.’ (www.joshuasofaer.com)

With few galleries representing artists and a small circuit of live art platform events I like to take the opportunity to make my work in the public realm. Working in public offers unpredictable situations, which I find exciting and the ideal place to engage accidental audiences. My interventions could be interpreted as political acts although this is not my intention the work is always context and situation specific. My drive is to take ownership of my work so I can take control as to where and how it is shown in public if this is taken as being ‘political’ then so be it. It is important for me to feel free to intervene myself when I like as this is the only act that gives me a true sense of autonomy from the institution and the art market.

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 17^th 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.

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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