A good collaboration with Rie Suto today. We have worked together before at Albert Dock, Liverpool so we know each others work and ways of working which always helps. She was taken with the uneven surface of the walls, how the numerous installations and hangings had left lumps and bumps. The initial aim was to enhance and enlarge them. This proved slightly more difficult (and sticky) than we envisaged so we developed a way of powdering the area with loose pigment. From this point, we became more playful, adding an empty frame, painting out the ‘dots’ within it and joining up the dots outside it with a marker pen. This was done by Rie as a performance piece to the accompaniment of a slow metronome beat. Youtube link http://youtu.be/20xJBXbh36s The metronome was left over from the ongoing Peter Barnard collaboration. Great experimentation and unforeseen development!
Following on from my own work, I have begun another net using video tape of the film, Sixth Sense. Keeping the spools from either end, this allowed conjecture on the way narrative of film is used and how that could be transmitted within the net.
Have received another layering of sound from Peter. Whilst he is not happy with the place of recording due to the unexpected musical accompaniment, I think that the incongruity would be interesting to work with.
All in all, an excellent day’s work that brings in some different ideas to be developed.
This is so much fun! Now the collaborations are starting to come together and link with the work that I am doing in the space. The space is becoming public/private with the addition of netting, that was begun as part of a collaboration with Louise Garland and continued alone, is starting to divide but creates a visibility of the wall work.
I often have a disregard of the materials used, the aim being to work out the concepts. Here, the materials used are ones of happenstance, what a lovely word! Video tapes were given to me and this is what is creating the present boundaries. Although fragile, it does have an aesthetic appeal especially when the sun shines and it seems to look like liquid metal.
The sound collaborations are continuing as well as the wall traces and architectural relationships with Yizhong. The next collaboration is with artist Rie Suto on Monday.
http://riecontenporaryart.webs.com
Born in Japan, she studied graphic design and worked for a Japanese publisher before moving to the UK in 1996 and studying ceramics and fine art. Presently she lives and works in Staffordshire, she is a member of “SoTart”- contemporary art group.
Had to have a few days away from residency space, I have been installing work for New Art West Midlands at the Barber Institute but it has been important thinking time. It is easy to get to close and involved and not see holistically. So had a busy day working on the collaborations with Chen Yizhong and Peter Barnard. Yizhong suggested working on the shadow drawings, unfortunately, we have not had another sunny day to add to them. The day of his Skype call must have been the only sunny day for weeks, it will give the wrong impression of Nottingham! He has also suggested adding large scale images – some of these marks create a visual memory of a car park in Leicester so will seek out some images to add to the drawings.
Peter has layered the sound track that I did and I will respond to that with the ultimate aim of a piece that spans the different locations and times.
Overall, I think this residency is working well in terms of work achieved and ideas generated. There have now been four collaborations, each vastly different, that have followed the aim of the residency and added something. I am very grateful to the artists who gave their time freely and continue to do so.
Today was the first collaboration session with Chongqing artist, Chen Yizhong. Using Skype meant that he could see the space in real time and put it together with informatin and images from this blog. These are his words about the experience –
Due to information from Chris’ Blog. I found we both interested in exploding and working with space through changing process, or changing appearance. Time always connected with space or reverse. So while Chris shows me the space, I firstly attracted by the sunshine casted in the space. Since Chris told me, so far, it’s the first day she saw this kind of sunshine in this space. so I decide to ask her to record it with process. Firstly. We find a specific sunshine shape casted on a wall. And Chris starts to use pencil draw out the outline, but we found the result is not strong enough. But the idea already shows interesting and performable. Then she change to charcoal, to mark out the shape of the light. The shape of the sunshine is close to a triangle. The light moves very fast actually. we’ve soon already felt or involved into the time-changing process, and involved to the space at the same time. Then I think it would be nice to make photos to catch the nice image that when the light shape and the charcoal mark are still together. Because at one moment, I feel the light will not come back again. I am very like the way how the light just cast on the charcoal marks. Later we find another specific shape cased by the sunshine on the same wall. It is show up as two circle. Chris used the same way with charcoal to make the shape, but this time I ask her try to switch between edge and face to mark the shape, while them constantly moves on the wall. Now, from the two shapes on the same wall, one is circle and another is triangle, we already build up a shape-contrast. Chris decide to use this method in next ours even next days, continuing the process. And make some photos for it. I am very interested to see the final result.
Back to me, this is the first time I have tried to do a physical piece of art using Skype. There are definitely some interesting points to be made about the notion of time and its relationships. I think it is quite important to keep things simple as Yizhong says as the slight delays sometimes mean we speak over each other. But it was a good experience and looking forward tocarrying out our artwork over the next few days and having another discussion.
Very productive time with two, very different collaborations going on. Firstly, recording for sound artist Peter Barnard where we will excahnge recordings. First one completed yesterday and ready to send and be layered. Done in the liminal space between mill where residency is and the outside, it is inside but outside and is just a tower with a spiral staircase with doors leading off. The second work with Louise Garland came from my hanging on a rack my collection of found knots. In true collector fashion, she then showed me her similar collection. From this point, we have made a net of random pieces of rope, string and tape that spans the gallery, a huge collection of knots!
