I’m on top of most of the dross, but there is still stuff I should have dealt with weeks ago. Like the telephone. The easiest access for BT was in my space. My intention was to extend the connection over three other workspaces to a mid-point near the entrance to HMS. Unfortunately the job is a tad more tedious now because artists have moved more gear into their spaces. Although the line is for incoming calls only and broadband, it will make life easier for everyone once it’s done. No excuse really.
Onto something a little more rewarding – the residency of Christopher Parkes.
There is always a pang when a show comes down, and this was true when Christopher’s residency in Standing Room ended last Friday. His miniature landscapes in response to the Allotment show had undergone a series of changes, both controlled and organic. During the last two months I had looked forward to seeing the various stages of reconfiguration and observed both the minutiae and the drama on a regular basis.
Christopher’s first landscape in the prescribed Allotment show format of a 15 inch square was contained in a pristine white box. A discarded tape lay inside. By the launch of the Allotment exhibition in mid December, there was little hint of change, but as if on cue for the Christmas celebrations, a lush green swathe of young shoots appeared – despite the seasonal cold weather. When much of the show moved to the Town Hall, Christopher chose to use remnants of the exhibition, the hooks, the screws and the various fixings as part of the installation.
The original ‘plot’ was moved due south-west and nearer to the window where the plants continued to thrive. Two unpainted boxes also formed part of the new composition. Nestled amongst the shoots in the middle container were numerous small red metal rods, peering like periscopes in different directions, directing the viewer to the matrix of fixings on the wall. Drama in mid January occurred when a schism in the earth revealed the base – a natural disaster on a miniscule scale.
The third box contained ivy and a figurine of a cat – thus encouraging the viewer to look closer and from a different perspective. Over time, I imagine the climber would extend well beyond the boundaries of Standing Room and into the rest of HMS!
There was also a fourth ‘plot’: a burial mound with a childlike toy in the form of a grim reaper lay at the head of the pile.
see www.standingroom.org
It makes all the dross worthwhile.
