Night Soil

I have been searching for a style for my neon sign. A few years ago I derided the ubiquitous neon artworks to be found at Frieze. Now I find myself quite excited by them although I don’t like any of those pictured here. In addition to this I have been getting a quote from the AA for yellow sign for my show at Tap. I haven’t told Amy McKenny yet.

We are home now listening to a karaoke sounding rendition of a Rolling Stones classic emitting sporadically from the local pub. The lifestyle here is very different from that at Islington Mill and to some extent Miss Dover and I miss it. At our talk in the Cornerhouse Annex Mr Moisander and I were asked about our feelings about the Mill, we paused. This is not to say we had a bad time, we did not. We had a fabulous intense time and were looked after impeccably and generously by our hosts: Mr Carlin, Mr Campbell, Mr Bracey, latterly Mr Griffiths and also Miss Perks, Mr Harold, Miss Chan, Miss Leech and the other members of the team at Cornerhouse. But we did create for ourselves a sort of living hell. Here and now after a long sleep and a hot bath I am almost at last relaxed and beginning to pick up the strands of other projects and the loose ends that will need to be tied up before Pearlville can be unveiled.

Going through my photographs I have realised that I missed out many things in previous reports. I shall catch up with these details over the next few days.

I laid out my clothes for the day this morning. It was a complicated choice because they would have to last me until my In Conversation this evening. I opted for grey tweed trousers, black socks and a light blue Seersucker short sleeved shirt. An outfit I deemed both comfortable and smart. Seeing the clothes laid out reminded me that I had returned two nights ago to my room to find Miss Dover sitting up in bed wearing the very same shirt. She had said she was cold. I put it on and noticed a red tomato stain down the front. It seems Miss Dover had been hungry too.

I am now waiting in a little cafe waiting for Mr Bracey. We are to visit the Chinese Arts Centre before heading to the Cornerhouse.

I am reading two books at the moment. I should be preparing for tomorrow’s talk at the Cornerhouse where I have to do a presentation. It is only 20 minutes (the presentation) so I have been frantically cutting down my usual talk. Anyway the two books are: “The Lost World of Cliff Twemlow” and “Live and Let Die” Actually I have stopped reading the latter due to the embarrassment caused when reading it in alone in a Manchester restaurant. It was racially more than a little dubious to begin with, but when I turned the page to a new chapter entitled “Nigger Heaven” I felt as if a neon sign had lit above my head. My ensuing panic as the waitress appeared to take my dessert order caused my already wobbly table to buck spilling at least 50ps worth of my Martini. Hopefully Twemlow’s lost world will prove to be safer.

The editing is more or less complete with 18 films on my hard drive. My thoughts have now turned to how the work will be shown. The plans so far are that a room will be built on the second floor of The Cornerhouse. That a Neon sign declaring “PEARLVILLE” will be placed flickering outside the room. That the room will be filled with old television sets and supporting furniture and that all the films will be played at once each vying with the other for attention. All I need is a room, a sign, television sets, dvd players and furniture.