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

BLOP event

The Arnolfini is an amazing building and really helped frame the intervention based work. It was nice to see the audience looking around the stairwell and in the foyer areas to see what was going to happen next. For my piece, My Tunes I decided that I did not want to have my performance times published or announced, as I wanted to blend into the crowd and appear as if I was not part of the official programme.

My Tunes, Part 1, Foyer, 11.10

At this time there were not many people around and I started to sing ‘Ride like the wind’ which on reflection is the weakest song, which effected how I was feeling, weak. As the music changed I started to move around the space and as I was singing to the leaflets someone came out of a door. I decided to take my shoes and socks off to add to the strangeness of what I was doing. I peered into the café singing ‘This is the modern way’ and a child sat on the floor looking at me while her dad clapped along. The people in the café kept looking my way and the gallery staff looked confused. I moved to the wall opposite the staircase and sang ‘Don’t you want me baby’, putting emphasis on ‘Don’t you want me’ in the direction of passers by, some people walked straight pass me others looked at me and smiled. I moved to the automatic doors at the entrance and sang a few lines to the street again people looked and kept walking by as I turned I started to sing to the glass automatic door which kept sliding sideways at my command. I lent on a column singing to myself holding my shoes and socks and exited down stairs to the basement.

My Tunes, Part 2, Foyer 2/outside toilettes, 2.45

I found this space more interesting as it was in-between two official performance spaces so there were a number of people milling around. The simple act of taking off my socks interested people and they were trying to deliberately ignore me. There was a man hanging outside the toilettes taking photographs of a pretty woman against the white walls he was noticeably irritated by my singing and kept staring at me. I moved to the balcony and sang over it then just turned and posed by hanging out there with my arms stretched out holding the railings and staring through the window opposite me. Occasionally I would look at people but I was really focusing on the music and I started to click my fingers. I moved across the space and stood on the ledge of the window singing and clicking I stepped down and sat on the ledge. There were two young girls one came near me and I started to clap her mum came later she looked a little worried, and kept asking her daughter if she was OK. I moved to the edge of the doorway and sang as loud as I could and the staff kept looking at me from time to time I think they were not sure if I was really performing or not.

My Tunes, Part 3, Foyer, 5.45

I was waiting for the theatre performances to finish so I could start singing and clapping to, ‘Take a bow’ but they were running late, which started the nerves going. As the doors opened I sang nervously clapping my hands with my rucksack on, people looked at me and either went for the exit or made their way to the stairs nervously or dismissively looking at me. The more nervous I became the better it got as it clearly made people feel uncomfortable, a little annoyed and a bit sick of this person trying to get their attention in such an un-spectacular way. I felt like a negative magnet pushing people away but I just wouldn’t stop and I was going to sing my last two songs even though it felt really uncomfortable.

To see a video clip from this performance please follow this link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJYYR1gPOto).

Airports

I have uploaded my plane video on to You Tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-oJh8FDmtU which is such an easy website to navigate and manage video content. I am trying to get in contact with fact TV who host video and film work which has been a slow process, I’m just not sure whether anyone can upload videos or whether there is a selection process it’s not clear on their website http://fact.tv/. I keep thinking about the plane video and how this could potentially translate into an installation as the video is best shown large scale so you can see the details within the frame. Airports are such strange places particularly Hong Kong airport which feels like a never-ending labyrinth of corridors with a vast selection of luxury boutiques such as Gucci and Channel, I couldn’t help but notice how the more expensive shops were deliberately placed near the International departure lounges. On the evening of my departure they were playing some sort of sophisticated, ambient lullaby music, I find it fascinating how airports are designed from the sound, lighting, soft furnishings and carpets. Waiting for my connecting flight felt like being temporarily suspended from reality, a vacuum within space and time, knowing nobody and nobody knowing me.

My next departure will be Bristol for the BLOP event at the Arnolfini and I have been busy selecting songs to sing in the semi public spaces. I have found it difficult to find songs with relative lyrics and within my voice range. I have been getting the lyrics for the songs from http://www.lyricsmania.com my favourite tracks so far are Absolute Beginners – David Bowie and Ride like the wind – Christopher Cross. I really don’t want it to sound too karaoke and have been thinking about ways to blend in with the crowd for example being in the audience at the end of a performance and then start to sing as people are leaving. I could incorporate using isolated stances such as hugging the base of a table/chair, being hidden or even using a prop like a leaflet display unit. As I will be performing up to four times throughout the day I feel that it is important for me to build the work up from discreet to more visually obvious performances, I have thought about hiding in spaces and trying to get people to clap along to one of my songs. As I will be using my ipod to guide me through the lyrics I need an invisible earpiece, which I have been researching on the Internet, I hope to have this ordered by tomorrow. I am really looking forward to the event and the opportunity to meet new artists and see more live art.

Return to Manchester

I returned back to London early Thursday morning after a 12-hour flight, which I slept most of the way through. It was so cold at 7 in the morning and funny to hear London accents again. When I got back to my Mum’s house in Shepperton she was pleased to see me and eager to ask me lots of questions about my trip while I enjoyed a cup of tea and bacon sandwich. The jetlag started to hit me around 3pm and again at 9pm although I did manage to get a good night sleep. I got my return train to Manchester late Friday night and was greeted at Piccadilly train station by my husband. It was strange being back in the warm flat and how the normal everyday things at home didn’t feel so normal anymore. I didn’t think about what it was going to feel like being back I just thought it would be the same as before I left. It’s taken me a few days to settle back into some sort of routine and in some ways it has been like moving in with my husband all over again.

My art head is returning and I am planning a performance for BLOP – Bristol’s Live Art Open Platform event at the Arnolfini­­ at the end of the month for further details on this event please visit this link http://www.arnolfini.org.uk/whatson/live/details/600. I have proposed to sing a few pop songs in areas such as the library, the café and reception as I am interested in how the audience will react to someone singing in an improvised manner in the semi public spaces of the building. I am selecting songs, which make reference to relationships between people in the lyrics, which will create a highly personal soundtrack as if I am singing the song for you. I have put the video from my Bosa Novas, It’s Now or Never performance in China at the lounge Bar on You Tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xoe0ipe_9FQ and I hope to put my plane video on the website later this week. This is all part of the second half of my Arts Council proposal, which is to share the experience of working in China with a wider audience by using video sharing sites, social networking and artist talks. I need to do some more research on how to share the artist audio interviews and how to edit them together.

Post performance review

I was happy with the performance although I did start a few minutes earlier, which I didn’t think was a problem as the moment just felt right to start. After the performance I was told that it would have been better to start later although no one had told me this in advance. I guess this is just one of those little details that gets lost in translation, although I liked the fact that lots of people turned up later and had missed the party. Dou Dou played the piano really well particularly when I was climbing the ladder. I did get stuck for a moment when I reached the top, however this just added to the uncertainty as to whether I would get over. The event really looked and felt like a strange leaving party, which has to be the ultimate temporary event. I liked how people were not sure when the performance had started or ended this includes myself for example having my picture taken with lots of people and when we were tidying everything away. I was concerned were the drinks table was placed in the corridor and this seemed to keep people hanging around in that area which kept people further away from the main performance space. However at every opportunity in my performance I would intervene myself in-between the audience and used lots of eye contact. The video of the plane being prepared looked really strong projected large scale onto the wall and retained detailed quality. On the whole I was pleased with the outcome of the event, although there are always things that can be improved.

I was happy to work with Dou Dou, which was a completely unexpected partnership, and I felt that he symbolised the youth of China learning the piano as a means to getting to a better life. I could see similarities in him and myself a young artist trying to get somewhere and the possibility we all face of making it and not making it. The bunting I used I had seen many times here as they are used as New Year decorations and I structured them as if they could pull the ladder over which created a dynamic shape and focus for the performance. The video of the plane and the shopping bags again reflected ideas of literally trying to get somewhere through travel and simply wanting to buy more stuff. The frame for my work was the private view and to use the situation as an excuse for a weird party for myself and to explore ways of engaging the audience with me and the work.

Later on in the evening we went to Zhang Xue Qing’s bar called Bosa Novas, which was in another town, she really talked the place down as this little bar she part owns. It was a large lounge bar with karaoke and VIP rooms and we had a room all to ourselves. We played drinking games and sang a few songs I wish I had my camcorder with me as it is really funny how us regular folk entertain ourselves. In the main bar area there was a lounge band playing and Zhang asked me if I wanted to sing on the stage, I was a bit embarrassed when she asked me as I wanted to make it clear to her that I am not a professional singer. However this was not a problem and she was determined to get me up on the stage to sing, as they like to get foreign people up on stage as they are seen as a novelty. The only song I could remember was ‘It’s Now or Never’ the famous Elvis Presley song. When I got up on the stage the band just looked at me and when I started to sing they struggled to get in synch with my out of tune voice. Eventually near the end of the song we somehow pull it together, what a strange performance.