barren – conquest
Day 5
Spaces are fragile and worn away by wear and tear. This is a list of the wear and tear I’ve noticed in this building:
Taped roof patches for leaks
Worn yellow line bordering between the row of seats and display cases
Chipped wooden cobbles
Where the floor partitions meet they are scuffed.
Several tea and coffee splats now darkened despite mopping; I have added some encaustic wax marks
Dirty finger marks around the handles of the kitchenette doors
Dark brown stains on the light brown flooring in the studio workshop
Moss and dark stains running in the trail of rivulets down the apex windows
Scratches in the top of the glass cabinet
Rust on the edges of the girders sometimes mixed with pigeon poo
Flaked white paint peeling away from the bricks in the workshop studio
What I notice is that while looking at these signs of wear I am remembering a short while ago when the space appeared differently for the show. We put flour formulas in the courtyard and there still remain faint signs of them. Cars have since scuffed at the edges of some and there are skids of flour dashed away at the formula corners. One formula by the wall remains intact, flour ridged, perfectly sturdy. These are embellishments which also wear away.
I have also noticed that whilst observing wear and tear I am marking time like a furrow noting a few signs. This is because the first sense of urgency of this residency has subsided. Subsidence could resemble the house on the cliff that has tipped due to erosion, but I’m not going to list off the edge just yet. What I have reflected on is Perec’s reflections on how we conquer a space and now I see that in occupying any space the details, the wear, the embellishments, its incompatibilities, the duration, the poetics are the narrative we often wish to escape lest it becomes a stiff neck brace and to return to in order for the space to not conquer you.
Adios amigos and speak on Monday…
