Nottingham Trent

2008 update

Blogging on Degrees Unedited gave me the chance to write down thoughts and worries that were running through my head about the degree and upload it onto the website, instead of my usual ramblings and confusions that had been noted down onto paper and then lost within the piles of things to get done! Occasionally I would get emails from people saying they had read my blog, and then investigated further into my website, and then from there we sometimes would discuss ideas I was struggling with or things they thought were strengths and weaknesses.

Since graduation, we have set up an artist group called Tether www.tether.org.uk Knowing that if we didn’t start something straight away, it would be difficult to carry on alone individually; we built up this group and got studios and have begun to integrate ourselves into the art scene in Nottingham. The main excitement was Tether Festival that took place last November consisting of us curating shows, producing and submitting work and putting on performances and events.

I decided to throw myself into this opportunity, and collaborated with Matt Cooper in a performance named Forecasts. I then produced a book entitled “Were You There When You Read This?” which was exhibited in ‘Beneath the Tarmac: The Grass’. The last project was curating ‘Throes’ exhibition with Charlotte Pratley which was hard work and time consuming but we learnt an awful lot, and thankfully it very successful! More information available on my website: www.alexandriaclark.com

The Nottingham Trent Fine Art degree show, went incredibly well. The whole show was curated and executed professionally.

My degree piece, was similar my earler piece at the Surface Gallery piece Purest Possible Experience. 

A small room to myself; all walls and ceiling painted pure white.  The ultimate white cube. A simple desk and chair.  A computer screen linked to a large projector.

For one hour, each and every day of the show, I entered the room, sat down and my fingers took their place.

Each letter and word, pause and flashing cursor was transcribed through the machines and onto the lit square on the wall behind me.

From here, the story began to unfold. A narrative of a freewriting, the rewriting of memorized previous writings and writing in response to the people and environment around me. No names, just you, I, she, he and they. No names of places, just descriptions. Complete ambiguity; only hints of the possible.  Attempts to keep the viewer hooked… wanting to read on,    yet alongside this, the atmosphere that maybe they are not supposed to be there reading.

I found doing this everyday for a week good to push myself, but it was hardwork and quite tiring and time consuming.  Throughout the whole performance, I never once looked back and re-read what I had written. And at the end, I didn’t have it in myself to read through it for about a week. It had become too important and too intriguing to take lightly…I had to pick the perfect moment.  But in the end… it was just one of those days…the rain pouring and hours to waste… and it was then, that I just sat at my laptop screen and read and kept reading.  It was strange how much I could see within the piece.  Just like a dream.  One where you can see yourself relating your past day’s activities, events and the people you saw or thought about, seem to just seep through into your fantastical imagination. My life.  My friends’ lives…. characters from books and the movies… places I have never been to and experiences I have only ever dreamt about.  The performance made me fall into a complete trance… I could hear the words around me…I could sense the people…but my mind… my mind was somewhere else…

 This trance is an amazing feeling… yet it still scares me about what I might say or feel during the performance, and who will read it!

Anyway, I was happy with the piece… and when it came to a quarter to midnight the day before I thought the results came online… i received a text saying they were already there. I wasn’t ready….already in my pjs, no one around… and I logged in…      75           first class honours…                       just couldn’t believe it! So called my parents… and then went out with my bearded best mate to celebrate… what a good night!

Surface Gallery exhibition Double Take has gone well this week, and it is coming to the last day today. The last day of the last show in the Rules Of The Game series.I have done an hours performance each day 2-3pm which has taken it’s toll on me… I never realised how much hard work it would be..I am worried that I am running out of stories to tell… well maybe then it will become more focussed ont he freeform writing, maybe be more creative with the characters perhaps?
I scrolled through yesterday (I have not re-read any yet…am going to wait until it is all over) and I have actually written so so much! I think I may look into making it into a book, and that can be the result of what the performances become. And only within the book is the whole text able to be read.
Now to get on with making my artist statement more concise, and check my cv is up to date, and finish off my Practical Research… then hopefully I will be on my way to having it sorted!
Am also in the process of getting my website up… not much to be seen right now…but it’s getting there… at least the colour’s all good!!!

alexandria clark      http://www.alexandriaclark.com

The New Writing is done…and is finished with for the moment…which is fantastic…

I think it was ok in the end…it said what I wanted about storytelling and creating lives. It included many quotes from people who have inspired me…and I feel I managed to convey the idea of role-play in the structure… now do I actually think it worked …or would I like to think it did? Anyway…cant change it now so…what can you do…

Next step…on to writing the essay for the Transition exhibition at Surface Galley, Mansfield Rd….the first draft has to be done by friday…its monday…still not luck with a beginning. And the exhibition starts on the 1st May… All will be fine I’m sure…what with sonic washing machines and other play type stuff…it’ll all be fun and games wont it?!

 oh…and next week…Im making a start on my website design with Mark Gubb…hopefully that will go well…if my heads still here on earth by that time!

Bloody hell!… What has happened to me? I used to be so good with deadlines. I would get set the work and then would get it done asap usually within that week.

But now…now when it actually counts.. bloody writers block! OK, so I have this piece of writing to do …called "New Writing" ..oh right!

A creative yet critical piece of writing…only 1000 words… that tackles ideas within your practice and is also a way of writing that you dont usually work in. GREAT! So where do I start?

Well I wrote half of it a while back… transcribed a conversation had with someone that I had written about within my practice… and we talked about why he thought I did; the ideas of roleplay; and of voyeurism.  I think this part is quite successful.  It really puts another look on my work…you see the ‘one watched”s feelings…not just my own.

And now on to the second half! Deadline…Wednesday… Yes that’s tomorrow… Well…ok so my idea… to continue the idea of conversation…but in this half, take quotes from artists, authors, writers, philosophers and use these as parts of the conversation…

Does that make sense? Probably not…but it does in my head..and hopefully will once it is put to paper…or screen and then to paper!

It will basically be me, having a conversation/discussion with authors, artists, writers, philosphers, perhaps poets….about roleplay and writing.

I plan to have it starting with the transcribed conversation..justified to the right…and the second will be justified to the left…            an attempt at a more free piece on the right and the more constructed on the left..and hopefully then I will have fulfilled the criteria of citing references and being creative..and having an argument with in the piece…discussing the themes within my work. Sounds great to me… that is if it works…so its in for midday tomorrow…that means I have approximately 24hours to get it written, edited, printed off and handed in…

I’d better get cracking!