It’s been a while, mainly because life seems to be going at a crazy pace.
We have had lots of visitors here at A Curriculum (next week is our last week!), including Elena Bajo, Axel Lapp, Jaime Gili and Juan Cruz.
All visits were great in their own way, although i felt that Elena and Jaime, as artists, were easier to connect with and to be open with. Juan yesterday opened up lots of things that I had just been picking at tentatively… like making old scabs bleed again. Now I have some things to think about and am a little confused and uncertain. This stage in the process was always going to happen though and it’s never easy.
I have finally, after 3-4 weeks experimenting, managed to cast washing powder in the perfect consistentcy. It is hard, takes detail and smashes beautifully. I am itchy all the time though and if I make a costume to perform in from it, I shall probably make myself extremely blotchy. It has to be biological powder to make the reaction you see… non-biological doesn’t cure. It is somewhere between marble, cocaine and polystyrene in appearance and I love it, the ambiguity of it and the fact that it is incredibly vulnerable. Because of all these qualities, I don’t know if it should become a costume/sculpture or just be itself. But I have a week to decide, that’s it, so I will. Today though, I am doing some cataloguing and writing an essay for an exhibition catalogue. I need some fresh eyes and although time is incredibly short on this residency, I know it’s more productive for me to do this today.
It’s taken me back to MA days in some respects, having all this discussion going on. It sways me in all sorts of directions, because I find all avenues interesting. Then the decisions become harder, but hopefully better.
Next wednesday we have a whole day of a fundraising workshop with Mark Waugh (Executive Director) and Anthony Bennett (Development Director). I shall try and pass on some wisdom from that!
Saturday sees TAXED No 10. Skillmarket come to life! I’m excited and have me eye on learning some tap dancing, but I will see what’s left when we’ve matched people up! I just wish there had been a better response from artists in Liverpool, lots of enthusiasm in the research stage, but a lot of sign-ups are from out-of-town. It’s hard not to take that a bit personally, but people just have lives, that’s all. Susan Jones from a-n is coming along and has very kindly agreed to run small groups sessions on negotiating/good practice throughout the afternoon. I shall be getting in on one of those hopefully…
Sunday = sleep and washing powder decisions.
