Been a bit of while since my last post – I’ve been up to my ears in various applications, including a residency, a commission, a collaborative community project (which I did get, usefully). I’ve also been trying to document my work (which unfortunately meant re-hanging the installation a showed a few weeks ago because the first round of photographs was useless – the second set of photos was much better though, see the images which accompany this post), negotiate access to a disused library near to my flat which I want to photograph the interior of, and plan a few workshops I’m supposed to be running. So the actual making of work has been a bit slack in the last few weeks.
All this buzz of activity has got me thinking about the practice / planning / administration / application / everything else balance. I’ve never had a great deal of success with these nationally advertised residencies etc, mainly I’m assuming because so many people apply for them. I was given an application number of 116 one time. The other thing which was becoming more and more apparent as I was writing, is how incredibly difficult it is to explain your work / practice in a way which is suitable for an application process, but which doesn’t sound incredibly dry and boring. It feels as if an overly casual tone sounds a bit naff and rather forced, where as my natural formality for applications comes across as rather unexciting – it’s difficult to get the enthusiasm for a project or idea across. This is of course leading back to some of the reasons I started this blog in the first place. The other thing is, as been especially apparent over the last few weeks, giving all this time over to applications has meant that I just haven’t made much work. So what is better: (and it there a ‘better’?) applying to get work shown / for various advantageous opportunities, or thinking about and making work, with the idea that my work and ideas will improve as a result, thus improving the chances of success with applications? There is of course the other argument, that perhaps I’m just thinking about it all a bit too much, and that that time could be put to better use my thinking about the work itself.
