New Arrivals for one night only
Since being back from the New Year holidays I have been unwell which has stopped me being able to get into the studio. This has made me feel worried about running out of time to do the things I wanted here. On reflection I feel 4 weeks is too short a time to be here, and I did try to change my plane ticket but this wasn’t possible. The sound blocking headphones I ordered didn’t work as you can still hear the muffle of people speaking and traffic noise, although I do see the potential of this idea of giving people some peace and quite a project I can develop in the future. With only five days left until my final performance I have started to panic that there isn’t enough time to prepare. This is the shortest time I have had to plan a performance and I have become a bit frustrated with not being able to get some of the materials I need. Not being able to speak the language makes me feel like a child, not being able to fully organize things by myself and having to fully let go of the control and put my trust in other people has been a struggle. We went to a market yesterday and I managed to get my bunting and lots of balloons. I am thinking about getting a cake made which looks a bit like the ladder wrapped in bunting and feed it to all the guests at the show.
We have started to put together a flyer and poster for my performance and decided to go with the title ‘New Arrivals’ which is the message on a sign I bought in Manchester. I have decided to go with the more challenging space out on the landing area as I feel I do have the support here to make this happen. Although today I have had a panic and had a meeting with Chloe and Yan Yan about whether to change the performance space back to the studio, as it is an easier space to manage. Since being here I didn’t realize how much talking through ideas is part of my process and how difficult I have found trying to communicate my feelings which I admit can sound a bit scrambled making it even harder for other people to understand me. Then all of a sudden I had 3 helpers arrive and it has been all systems go setting up the piano and the ladder on the landing area. I was a bit taken aback by all the help and again found it difficult to communicate what I wanted to be done. We all muddled through it and I feel much better now seeing the main body of the work in the space before Saturday. The piano is a powerful instrument and echoes through the building and the disco ball really works covering the walls in moving lights. I tested out trying to climb the ladder and get over the top of it, which was a bit tricky it had the desired effect on the people holding it, as they were very worried I might fall.
