Yesterday evening we went to the private view of 'Ammunition', a group show of anti-war art at St Margaret's Church in Norwich. Some very powerful, memorable, uncompromising work; but leaving aside the debate as to what would actually happen in Iraq if the troops suddenly pulled out, it was just so great to see challenging art in Norwich. It was the same venue as our slash exhibion back in June, which has had an unfortunate reputation in the past. On the other hand, it's practically the only place in Norwich that's big, painted white, and available to be hired out for group shows. If there are more shows like 'Ammunition' planned, things may well be looking up…
Earlier, I had collected the 'Giant St Christopher issue' of Kalender from the printers and I really am pretty pleased with it, all things considered. The print quality is great considering it's a cheap and cheerful option, and despite my anxiety there was so much material that it filled 16 pages again (the first Kalender was a 12-pager).
I do worry sometimes that the 'enigmatic imagery' (in the words of my original proposal to the Arts Council) might be mistaken for weird Christian evangelicism, but that was neatly balanced when I collected the previous Kalender and the print shop's managing director assumed it was a witchcraft publication.
So, it's back to rubber-stamping and stapling and writing comp slips and stuffing envelopes – the old routine.
While researching St Christopher for the last festival, I was disconcerted to come across an American Catholic shopping website where a lot of the beliefs I think of as 'medieval' still appear to be alive and kicking. Just try googling for 'St Christopher medals' and see what comes up!!! Pages and pages and pages of them.
I started to feel a bit insecure about some of the ground I was standing on in this project, but Trevor pointed out that these American Catholic buyers of lifesize crucifixes and figurines of Jesus playing baseball (yes, really) are also living in a world of expensive cars and comfortable houses quite unlike the medieval landscape. And medieval people had quite a different sense of time. They had no idea that the world had existed for millions of years. It had been created by God at a time not far back in history and would be ending – with Judgement Day for all – in the very near future. This must surely have affected their perception of life: perhaps everything was bigger, in sharper focus and more vivid to them.
Anyway, the new Kalender is up on the Festial website now!
I'm finding myself in a period of uncertainty about the project. The past two days have been totally given over to working on Kalender. Selecting and preparing images and finding text are part of the work, I know, and it's absolutely true that by doing this I'm generating ideas for further exploration.
The problem, I think, lies in the fact that I'm questioning the validity of the St Christopher journey as 'art'. Does that matter? Is it what I do with the material collected along the way that counts? Does it matter if some of the festivals end up feeling less significant than others? Will I ever have time to make more ambitious work that side-steps away from literal responses?
At the same time as I'm musing on this, I'm aware of a box containing 150 copies of the last 'Bonfires and Relics' Kalender with its stapled-on free gift, to be left in various places for people to find and (hopefully) take away. So I need to see to that too. Thanks to Trevor, it's also up on the website: www.world-tree.co.uk/festial.
I've been sending out around 30 copies of each issue to press contacts, curators and arts officers. There have been three Kalenders now and they've been met with a resounding silence. This, I'm sure, is adding to the feeling of stasis.
Having said that, hammering the layout together with my computer guru is always so exciting that hopefully these worries will recede.
Seeing St Christopher was the title of the press release I sent out locally in advance of yesterday's Festial performance. August 7 was St Christopher's Day; if you follow the Julian calendar, that is.
Medieval people believed that whoever saw an image of St Christopher would not 'die an evil death' that day. So the giant was often painted on the wall of a church opposite the main doorway so that travellers could grab a glimpse of the saint before embarking on dangerous journeys. The idea of Seeing St Christopher was to see how many St Christophers I could see in the course of the day – a kind of inverted 'pilgrimage' as the whole point of the journey was to see the protective images.
Somewhere between each of the churches I planned to stop and collect something to make into a badge. Again, a sort of inversion of medieval practice as people who went on pilgrimages would often buy a souvenir badge featuring the saint whose shrine they were visiting. My badges would form a memento of the journey itself rather than the destination; the number I was wearing would increase as the day went on.
And, not to add any further pressure to this unrehearsed event, BBC Radio Norfolk had responded to my press release by suggesting that they phone me at 2.10pm for a live interview.
Well, this all sounds OK, but things didn't go totally to plan. After frantically getting stuff ready to take, mostly in connection with the badges, we left home later than intended (Trevor had kindly agreed to come with me as my glamorous assistant and to take documentary photos). And, more to the point, I had no idea how complicated a children's badge-making machine is (or perhaps it's just me?!)
I spent ages trying to make the first badge, before Trevor pointed out that the badge-making machine itself was faulty and there was no way that it could make a badge properly. So that was one thing I ended up having to compromise on, although we did stop between each church for me to jump out and collect something just in case I can work out another way of working with them that seems conceptually sound.
When Radio Norfolk phoned, I was 'seeing' only my second St Christopher, but the interview went OK and I think I got away with it … I felt really sad afterwards that I hadn't mentioned Trevor and he had been so brilliant and helpful and supportive, not to mention taking fantastic photos. So, Trevor – THANK YOU.
I've just joined OUTPOST, an artist committee run gallery in Norwich. Instead of paying an annual subscription, you get the option of doing a day's invigilation at the gallery, and that was what I chose to do. I'd heard nothing following my application, then on Wednesday I received a phonecall asking if I could invigilate for a private view that evening.
Anglia Square is a slightly seedy shopping precinct in one of the poorer parts of Norwich. OUTPOST has managed to borrow five empty shops there, and have transformed them into fantastic-looking galleries. Especially fantastic as Norwich just doesn't have contemporary galleries like that in the normal run of things. For the month of July, five British artist-run galleries were invited to nominate an artist to take on each of the spaces. Then, for August, the galleries were handed over to five European galleries/artist organisations.
'My' gallery was that of Les Complices* from Zurich. Their artist, Edit Oderbolz, had taken up the carpet in the ex-charity shop, turned it over, divided it into segments and glued it to the walls and ceiling leaving the floor pitted and bare. Spending time in the room I increasingly appreciated the way the space had been used, and even got used to the smell! It was interesting to talk to the artist and the gallerist, and I bumped into various people I knew from art school too, so all in all it felt good to be part of something that seemed so dynamic and exciting. A far cry, frankly, from my perception of the majority of the Norfolk art scene.
Meanwhile I've been slaving over a hot computer and, with Trevor's help, the pdf of Kalender 3 ('Big Bonfires and Relics Issue') is cooking as I write this. Then I'll email it to the printer and hopefully be able to pick up the 180 copies later this afternoon. And then I can start rubber-stamping each one, filling cellophane bags with this issue's free gift and stapling them to the covers. Absolutely no let-up!
And … the next festival – St Christopher's Day – is next Tuesday.
www.re-title.com/artists/imogen-bardwell.asp
www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/yourgallery/artist_profile/Imogen+Bardwell/41443.html
www.world-tree.co.uk/festial
