scope to play

approaching the end of september in glorious sunshine – its unfortuante that i’ve caught the back to school cold.  despite this i’ve had a good week, with lots of connectivity to people and ideas.

i have to say that having worked this week through the early stages of this cold i’ve  taken today off and managed to get out with the dog to take in some of the fine weather.  i love this time of year :)

recently i’ve been orbiting around academic planets – not normally orbited.  it began in the summer with sara brighty and the work with her – i see it as a collaboration and talking with a friend about this got into a bit of an argument.  it was sara’s initial idea however i bought my practice into that idea and the result is …..  i heard today sara has passed her ma, congratulations sara !

another academic planet is that of the smart storey telling symposium in melbourne australia.  i’ve talked a bit about this in earlier posts.  the invitation is to present at the symposium via a 10 minute video and join the session via an adobe connect session to answer live q&a.  i’m gearing myself up for sitting in the dining room at 3 in the morning facing my laptop accompanied by a gin and tonic and the snores from the dog.

in taking part with the symposium it’s giving me a reflective opportunity about the shimmering place project, what i learnt and what i take into the third tranche of the non linear series for the museum of making at derby silk mill.

i plan to add the symposium as an exhibition on my aa2a profile page.  the aa2a.biz site has recently been upgraded and as an aa2a engage group member see it important to keep my profile ticking along.

another exhibition i’ll add is my first outing with the skin and bone trio.  this is something i began to talk about earlier in the year and after a summer break we have a gig in belper in late november.  i plan to play under the pseudonym particle p.  after months of research i am starting to arrive at a place where i am happy i have the means to visually improvise along with the improvisations of the trio.

i have some recent frame grabs from the generative work i’m creating :

these are made in processing and i’m making good process into the handling of objects and their communication.  soon my call to rehearsal will be the push for me to compile the research into a form i can work with live.

the source of my cold potentially was a work colleague at the weekend at the museum and art gallery in derby.  we ran a zines and trails session in the emerging world cultures gallery that now does have an official title but i cant recall it right now.

the session saw families engaging with the collections through self made trails and setting out to explore the gallery to find their objects. i had a go too !

generally i still feel upbeat and optimistic – with a couple of conversations this week about things in the future helping to provide motivation in the moment.

midweek i help present the this is normanton project to a u3a group in normanton.  it was a good experience and within the presentation we included excerpts from the oral testimony recordings i made as a volunteer for derby museums.  i really enjoyed telling the story about who they were about to hear and a little insight in to what was going to be said.  it was inspiring to see how the recordings inspired conversations – just like the objects we had with us had done.

so despite feeling well below par my week has been really good with things from the past, moments in the present and looking ahead to the future.

i’ll leave you with another image from my walk today.

there’s a little over a week to get my australia symposium plan in the post.  so what do i do – write – write lots, lots and lots.

drink coffee

make notes

write.

all the writing leaves me stuck.

yesterday i did a good thing to help with my planning, i decided to take today off.  for months i’ve staired at our cabin –  it’s roof failing.  today i’ve fixed it.

as i went to bed last night i started throwing around the notion of what would i do if i had the opportunity to address a festival audience about a non linear production …..   ?

what would i do ?

how would i interact with the audience ?

am i an academic or a practitioner ?

so here’s the rub.  something has shifted of late that is resulting in me being a little bit more confident in me and myself.  it’s the subject of other posts and ideas so for now i’ll leave it in as a little distraction from the main event of the preparing to submit a session plan for a symposium at a film festival for productions made on phones, tablets and pocket cameras.

i have to say it to myself as its still sinking in.  its sinking in that i have a chance to play and be experimental in my approach to the question of how might we engage a festival audience with a non linear production ?

this question is born out of the reason for me being invited to take part in the symposium – the organisers struggle to screen non linear productions on screening day.

in my pre-planning for melbourne i’m giving more space to me and my needs.  i need to embrace my dsylexia and how it both limits and extends me.   to leave aside the frustrations.  to stand in a space that i can say this is me, this is what i do, this is how i think, and actually it all begins with how i  feel.

i’ve stayed loose about  what my pre-planning is as i have something in mind and  i’m waiting to see how my inner critic reacts to it…

after a weeks break at the end of august i’m slowly adjusting to september and beginning to get my head around what work load i need to manage.

before i move onto melbourne i want to spend a little time reflecting about my practice relative to human to human contact.

its relatively easy to bury myself into research and making in the pursuit of finding answers.  this also makes it easy for me to become isolated.  over the last week i’ve been through an experience that has left me reflecting, reviewing and talking openly about my struggles with my partner.  my partner too is adjusting to september and all the new things this brings for her.

in researching what the experience of working internationally is like by tapping into international opportunities to share my work, i’m mindful of how this needs to be balanced out with time spent facing other humans.  this is maybe why facebook as a means to connect fails to light me up as a meaningful way to be connected.

the mens circle i am part of meets once a month and this commitment is i believe starting to have a positive impact upon the way i go about fulfilling my needs as a person.  particularly problematic as a self employed person.

as new projects start to come online i find myself gathering myself together to become stronger and more secure in me and my ability.

The Mobile Innovation Network and Association [MINA] creates interactions between communities, content and the creative industries.  they are based in melbourne australia and in november their festival will feature shimmering place

i’ve been invited to present something at their symposium too, so i’m super excited to be able to add to my non linear research by participating in this event.

after the experiences of this last week i have a better feeling of how i want to feel.  there were very scary moments and in the old adage of what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, i am taking bold steps into a new worlds and opportunities with a devil may care attitude.

so in the coming weeks  i am going to practice managing myself better so when i do have human to human time its the best experience for all of us.     i know there’s no particular time where i’ll be bringing chocolate too.

while i sat chatting friday i was asked “what do you do for yourself ?”

i paused and struggled to find an answer.

saturday afternoon after painting emulsion on two walls done after taking the dog out i sat on our sofa and felt quite sad that indeed there appeared to be nothing i did just for me – just for the enjoyment of it.

the blog post i wrote friday connected to the artists and mental health article by alistair gentry.  reflecting about it i saw how being short of things or even a thing to do just for me, just for the pleasure of it was impacting upon my ability to be in the moment and happy in that moment.

i made a short video work.  it had been viewable here however after considering it and mentioning it to my partner whose reactions made me stop and think – i’ve removed the two links and placed an image there instead.

originally written on saturday 18th august, this post was editted sunday 19th august after considering the on going situation we find ourselves in at our home.  the thing i did just for me needing to be edited because of external considerations.  the work exists,  i can’t really share it.  shame.