there was a clue in the name of the recent meeting in birmingham that i was slow to pick up on…….. co-development.
for me the development is coming in relation to “engaged practice.” at the meeting i actually asked “what is socially engaged practice?”
i have to overcome a preconception that socially engaged practice is a vehicle to voice personal anxiety connected to mainstream attitudes within a societal construct.
what i think i need to concentrate on is how engaged practice could give me a bounded space in which to work.
while in conversation at birmingham it stuck me that i am in some way not fully utilising the information that a-n- works to make available. for example i have somehow been over looking the forums.
i have not been fully using the knowledge bank.
in helping myself to find a boundary for my practice i’ve found this article on a-n- www.a-n.co.uk/p/84628/
it talks about engaged practice and i am going to make time to read it and take on board what it says.
i don’t mind admitting that i have been unsure for quite sometime now where i fit in within artistic practice theories. this has affected my ability and confidence in mediating myself in the public sphere and as a result have maybe become a little too enigmatic and reclusive.
if i am going to have a sustainable practice i know that i need to know where i fit in. by this i mean that i recognise that the human animal is very cautious about it’s bounded space, ie those making the opportunities know what they are looking for.
i can go on making opportunities for myself. this is exciting and rewarding however what it requires is to be able to mediate quickly that space in which my idea exsists and hope that i can pitch it into some space that the listener relates to.
in birmingham i heard of the theatre in a retail outlet. i’m so sorry but i can’t remember where or who is running that project. i really enjoyed hearing about it and found it quite inspiring.
in developing my professional practice i continue to develop at a personal level. the two are connected and at times get out of sync with each other and i become unhappy. i continue to strive to find a happy syncronisation.
i once again turn to the motorcycle racer, striving for a set up that allows for the fastest most smoothest rhythm around the circuit.
this feeling of a flowing rhythm over rides the recent feeling associated with football where i was convinced that i was in a mid league one position but mentally had projected myself into a mid way premier league position. this conflict of where i thought i was with where i feel i am has been rather draining. i prefer the motorcycle racer image to the football image. i notice that while feeling down i used a metaphor that reflected my mental position.
the engaged practice thinking puts me back on my bike. it gives me space in which to propose a project based on an omnipresent yet invisible question.
i feel more inspired than i have for a while.
i remember claus oldenbach’s proposal for nelson’s column, a giant gear lever, proposed and maybe never intented to actually be made, simply discussed.
engaged practice…. it might be the “something” that has been missing …
i’m returning to a thread of research with a renewed idea about what i’m doing
