hello from my sofa on a beautiful day in june – 2018 – not just any day because today is the second day of figment new york. figment is a participatory arts festival that happens in cities across the world. at figment derby in 2017 i wondered can i work internationally while sitting on my sofa ?
i hatched a plan to submit my analog drawing machine to figments in america to see if i can work internationally through co-production with local volunteers.
this morning while taking in the hubbub of the children in our house, neighbours one side butchering fence panels and the other side throwing pieces of metal around i’ve taken refuge on my sofa to reflect on my experience so far of working internationally this weekend. (i admit to having to take to wearing headphones with the you tube video below to give me some headspace to write).
this morning i’ve searched through twitter and instagram for images from day 1 of figment new york. there are some online and i can admit i was disappointed at not seeing any of the analog drawing machine.
all i have to go on at the moment is that through the figment artist portal i know my work has been accepted and is production ready.
in approaching this international experiment i knew not what i needed to feel like i had worked this weekend in new york.
after the first day of figment i have a clearer idea.
an idea of who was up for taking part in the experiment with me – locally in new york. having this image of the people making the work .
— — —- STOP —- — —
i’ve realised in putting up that image that in my proposal i said i didn’t mind if the work was only at figment for a few hours. my optimism in this experiment has been restored because there is still time for an image to appear online. and thats the thing – one image is actually all it needs to spread this storey.
— — —- and continue —- — —
so i have learnt that to work internationally in the way i want to i need to outline in the proposal what i need to fulfil my needs of working internationally.
when attempting to work internationally i see the biggest problem to overcome is the connection with people in the international location. a thought occurs to me – maybe i need to turn this international working on its head. maybe i need to produce work for artists and makers from around the world in derbyshire. i can provide them with the evidence i need to believe i have worked in new york.
maybe working internationally does actually require me to get off the sofa after all.
