Yesterday, I met with Jenny (I’m talking Hunt & Darton mode a bit now); we had our first activity day. To explain, we decided last month that we wanted more activity in our collaboration, less hard slog, but more opportunities to share physical activity together, of which this experience will feed back into our practice. We decided activity days, once every two months would suit as best, and that we would alternate in who would devise and organise the activity- anything from ditch walking (Holly) to a karaoke session (Jenny). This activity, not only allows us rest bite and the chance to make more of our lives like most that choose to pursue a recreational activity, it also allows us to experience further what it means to be human, what it means to have an activity, and hobby, a physical interest and in doing so what that teaches us about what it means to be human, beyond what we already know and experience and how those outside of a certain activity may see it as rather absurd behavior.
Yesterday’s activity day would focus on songs written by women for women, the majority of which reflect on love. This activity day was slightly more tailored to an up coming performance at a live art festival themed around Music in Norwich in July. After purchasing the top women songs compilation album, we selected lines from the lyrics that we liked, fragmented, ordered, came up with a few moves, my favorite an awkwardly long synchronized backing singer style movement, to no music and we couldn’t quite believe we had created a 7min performance! Not only a achievement in itself, and on reflection allowing us to see these success of these activity days, it also allowed us to work out that we can create 1 minuet of a performance per hour. Good to know!
A more epic activity starts next week. We are heading to Gower to take part in a horse riding week. I had proposed a residency period with Jenny for this Escalator project. With this recent interest in recreational residency and having already spent much time working in a theatre for a performance earlier this year we decided that this residency would be best for us if it were to incorporate some kind of activity. Accidently stumbling on an article in the local paper about a horse riding centre in Wales, we knew this was it.
We have decided to keep a blog during the week, a separate one to this, so look out for it also on AN talking!
Yesterday, I met with Jenny (I’m talking Hunt & Darton mode a bit now); we had our first activity day. To explain, we decided last month that we wanted more activity in our collaboration, less hard slog, but more opportunities to share physical activity together, of which this experience will feed back into our practice. We decided activity days, once every two months would suit as best, and that we would alternate in who would devise and organise the activity- anything from ditch walking (Holly) to a karaoke session (Jenny). This activity, not only allows us rest bite and the chance to make more of our lives like most that choose to pursue a recreational activity, it also allows us to experience further what it means to be human, what it means to have an activity, and hobby, a physical interest and in doing so what that teaches us about what it means to be human, beyond what we already know and experience and how those outside of a certain activity may see it as rather absurd behavior.
Yesterday’s activity day would focus on songs written by women for women, the majority of which reflect on love. This activity day was slightly more tailored to an up coming performance at a live art festival themed around Music in Norwich in July. After purchasing the top women songs compilation album, we selected lines from the lyrics that we liked, fragmented, ordered, came up with a few moves, my favorite an awkwardly long synchronized backing singer style movement, to no music and we couldn’t quite believe we had created a 7min performance! Not only a achievement in itself, and on reflection allowing us to see these success of these activity days, it also allowed us to work out that we can create 1 minuet of a performance per hour. Good to know!
After a hectic week, I feel the need to write again. Not sure if its being led by guilt due to not writing for a week or guilt due to not focusing on any of my recent investigations for a week!
Although my current project is uninterrupted time for R & D within that un-interruption, there are interruptions, and this mainly revolves around my part time lecturing. This week however, it has felt more like ‘full-time’. What with student shows, assessment and private views galore, I have been thoroughly transported away from a personal focus and sucked completely into the future of others- to be specific, art students.
This experience, although leaving me feeling slightly distracted for a week from my own work, has in away allowed me to reflect on my own journey since leaving my Foundation year in 2000. In doing so not only do I really feel my age, I also reminisce how exciting being an art student is and the impact it has on all you share life with- family, friends. Witnessing the faces of my student’s parents during the private view, I knew marked a shift in the relationship they would now have with their son/daughter. It was the start of something new and would be the turning point of which there would be no return. Gone are the A-level paintings, welcome to the real world- the art world! It has been a poignant week in many ways.
As I mentioned this blog forms part of my current R&D project and is being used as a way to reflect on the project, share the project with others and log the project for future presentation and evaluation. Blogs are great for this and although I do not use a blog always, I have in the past used blogs alongside specific projects. An example is the use of a blog during a 23 days durational performance made with Ben for the Edinburgh Fringe in 2006. It became a great way for us to share the experience of the work with others, especially those not able to travel to see the work in edinburgh. It also acted as a shared space that Ben and I could both write on, but remain one document. The blog from Edinburgh is still being used by us now, not to write on but as material to feed back into live works, most recently the EEC performance. So loads of great reasons to use blogs both as tools but also as works in themselves.
