OPEN PLAN Micro-residency [Departure Foundation]

Even though all residenct artists had a busy week making and finalising work for the final opening we still managed to squeeze a sequential crit in. Talking about where the work is at and how we faced the challenge of practicing in the office space context and co-existent working alongside with other artists.

I am glad of where my work as arrived at and it feels the end of the residency is just a beginning of exploring this stage further. I would like to explore the turned veneered board pieces in larger scale and making them with a more precise finish for cutting angles and twists. Workshop visits to come. I really enjoyed the residency. However, having worked in a big space and project based makes me question purpose and setting of my studio. On my list to re-think..

The curation of the show grew relaxed by talking to each other and positioning work how we would see it best represented.

Noticable common ground, material and humour linking each display. The opening was a great finale for the residency both in terms of seeing how everything arrived together and how we considered and influenced each other.

Overall, there is a strong sense of research, work investigated and made in response to the space and context in general. bringin together artists with multi-disciplinary background suach as video, performance, sculpture, film and drawing made this project particularly beneficial and exciting.

Next week we will finish the Micro-residency with a post-crit meeting.

This Friday 7 June is our Private View event marking the end of the four week residency; meaning packed days ahead to make the final work. Having been away for a week makes me look refreshed at the space and its implications. There is a lot of progress in the work of other resident artists around. As I have been investigating ‘distorted’, ‘cutting corners’ and ‘efficiency’ I revisit my sketches, mock ups and material selection. I printed some images of the space and started drawing a series of potential pieces.

I identified a set of pieces which I plan to make out of veneered furniture boards. Leaving the sawn edges raw is a decision on purpose; no covering up rather showing its economy. Generally, the boards will be flat and turning up or sideways where they are confronted with a corner, or seemingly folded along an edge to continue onto the next wall, yet in a different direction. All should be self-supportive as no nailing or drilling is allowed in the space. Again, the reference to supporting structures comes up. Utilising material that is inherent to the space as well as recognised as fairly average and affordable is important for the work to function.

Reading about decision making and routine I got interested in the term of ‘false dilemma’. It is a type of informal illusion in a situation in which limited alternatives are considered, when in fact there is at least one additional option. How true is this for many decision-making moments! It can arise intentionally, for example when used in an attempt to force a choice yet also happens accidental.

Again, we arranged a group crit to discuss both state of work and preparation for our Friday finale. Resident artist Robin Gardiner felt highly inspired by having access to working in this large space. My ‘viewing platforms’ were discussed as ‘watch towers’ manifesting control and being controlled. Generally, everyone is very positive about this opportunity and the impact on making work in a different context. In fact, working alongside in the same space triggers a multitude of outcomes and possibilities as parallel responses to this large office space. Reflecting critically as a collaborative process is very helpful and reassuring.

Heading out his morning the phrase ‘cutting corners’ came to my mind. Originally used in travel terminology as to take a shortcut since cutting along an alternative path is faster than going all the way round. More frequently used for taking the easier way, shortcutting became tagged with bypassing an instructed route to gain competitive advantage – being more efficient.

Back to the displaced rectangular surfaces and to repeatedly examining the floor layout makes me opt for the raised skirting boards as constructed margins. Those trying to be as linear as possible yet cannot refuse being instructed to detour around pillars, wall extensions and boxed in utilities. Not surprising, strictly keeping to the right angled turns. Here is when I start injecting my playful layer and projecting distorted angles varying in degrees.

Sketching it out on the carpet floor I use vinyl tape to work through its visual impact. Again my work-in-progress photographs are a crucial tool for editing and critical reflection. Reviewing this on screen at my late night home shift I decide to make them out of functional MDF primed skirting boards. After some attempts of sawing distorted rectangular frames, I am disappointed of not getting my head around calculations. However, consulting my resident technician clears the picture and I even get support in the making. Phew. Time is running as logistics are kicking in along with kids-off-half-term. Some tricky gluing but all done soon. Stepping back and yes! I do see distorting as an enforced process that seems to generally reflect on the space’s politics work.

On site, a different mind-set kicks in; working in the office project space rather than studio or home feels like a sharpened focus in a temporary reality. I catch myself aspiring to be even more efficient. Although I do realise, four hours on site is not ideal to work. That’s why my second shift of assessing, thinking, researching and writing is happening in the ‘other hours’ – on the train, late at home or even during time with my little people.

The other day some of the resident artists met for discussing work, the status of skills in artistic practice and impact of developing work. Everyone contributed productively to the in-progress of making and occupying space. Even more, the artists enjoyed playful-explorative ways of interacting with performative aspects of some work.

Our Micro-residency opening is set for 7 June 2013.

It does make a difference having an opportunity to work in a large space – to lay out work, see progress and detours, noticing interrelations. All which is part of developing new work.

Composing material in space is like negotiating; agreement or compromise.

In occupancy, the space would be layered with offers, obligations, consent and disagreement. What does it mean to confront the space or making use of its language?

Since the space is empty, I keep imagining rectangular surfaces. Ultimately, the shapes are derived from desks and meeting tables that would normally inhabit the space. Playing again with 2d and 3d dimensionality the rectangles I use appear as if cut out of sheet material.

Placing cardboard on inward or outward facing corners of the plain walls let the surfaces float at table height. However where the rectangle edge hits the corner’s vertical line it gets cut off and the separated part falls down or folds around the corner. I have experimented with various sets using coloured cardboard and vinyl veneer at different corners in the space.

I recurrently think of distorting – a process of pulling and twisting, of separating and disintegrating and of changing appearance. The alterations of an original format can be read as deforming, shaping, possibly misrepresenting or simply improvising. The sheet material physically adjusts to the layout of the space by being distorted hence changing direction. In fact, it playfully works around restrictions.

Our Micro-residency has just been extended. Two more weeks for us to engage with the space and room for critical discussions with the group as well as engaging in a co-existent making on site.

Walking this morning to the Open Plan space through along side roads and passing numerous office buildings made me think of support (back) structures that enable a system to perform at front. Also, the constant proclaim of standards and instructions is trying to assert that all has to fit efficiently.

Today I revisited the grid-like layout of materials and objects that I gathered to reflect on aspects of the space – a pile of veneered boards, vinyl wood effect sheet, a grey angled-table top and striped wallpaper. Each set occupies minimal floor space yet is placed in close proximity to each other. A scene undergoing an inspection – almost mirroring the occasional tour by the (quite friendly) building reception officers. Budgeted utility materials like the veneered MDF and wood imitations indicate workplace economy and hinting at the cover we are trying to sustain. Yet at the same time the displayed materials and objects are reassuringly light weight, banal and appearing familiar to the viewer.

I started numbering those ‘micro-sites’ as to draw focus and de-pheriperalise the items. Mimicking stock-taking or cataloguing makes me think of a gathering of evidence. Does it add importance or suggest iterations? Counting the micro-sites makes wondering about missing numbers, whether these are randomly allocated or follow an agenda. Interestingly, having removed the numbering let the materials and objects re-adjust.

I always take photographs of work in progress and revisit them on screen, keeping me working while not on-site and utilizing time slots while juggling art and family. Even if this is a controlled perspective, it helps perceiving things in their actual interrelations and assessing details. Being part of how I work, this distanced viewing is crucial to me for reflecting, editing and re-focussing.

Spending time in the space makes aware of how it equalises what it contains. As a group we were talking about how it makes everything corresponding, matching and uniform. How does it happen? What responses does it enforce? [to be continued]