Summer residency at i-park

It has now been a week since we got here, it actually feels like less, I don’t know, times keeps changing- to begin with the days seemed longer, now they seem shorter- maybe it means I’m settling into a routine now. I passed up the opportunity to head back to the supermarket yesterday, meaning it will be another whole week before I see any kind of civilisation again. I went back to the waterfalls yesterday though, and will do so again in a minute- the weather is perfect for walking, its clear and crisp and no hint of the mugginess that has characterised the preceding week.

At the moment I’m carrying out one of the taglines- ‘girl writes on laptop in park’ or something like that. I’ve also done jumping- alot of it seems to go on in this starnge world of happy people, but its actually damn hard to capture it on film successfully (see my attempt on the right). There is still the laptop by waterfall one to do as well, which does make me wonder in what context someone would desire such a video: what could it be used to illustrate exactly- connectivity in nature…industriousness? Maybe I should check the keywords as they often indicate the overall attitude of the video, for example you can have ‘girl walks in field’ but with ‘happiness’ or ‘depression’ being the keywords. One of them was described as ‘depressed hours’, which I liked the sound of, although I’m not what time of day its referring to. Perhaps its just the hours you feel depressed in, whichever they might be. The main difference I’ve noticed is that the ones corresponding to ‘sadness’ or ‘despair’ are mostly staged in rain, or least cloudy skies, whereas the more cheery key-worded videos are more sunny or blue skied. So no surprises there then.

On the wildlife front, a rabbit just bounced me, again they too are cartoon perfect (like the chipmunks) with cute little bushy white tails.

Oops, the battery just cut out while I was in the middle of recording, and its now decided not to recharge. So this battery is also a dud, what are the chances of that? Can’t face ANOTHER trip to BH to exchange it, I really was a bit hasty in giving them good publicity. It means I only have one hour of battery, which is pretty crap.

But as result of heading back to the studio and then out again I can now add another critter to the list- a beaver! We scared the shit out of each other, as I thought it was (large) stone on the path until it moved, I screamed, it looked at me and froze for a minute before scampering off in terror. It was huge, and had the wide tail to identify it as a beaver. Apparently they are a real nuisance here, constantly trying to dam up the overflow mechanism they have installed in the pond (more of a lake actually), which would result in the water level rising and flooding the forest. Or something along those lines.

Anyway enough about the wildlife (for now). What I also started collecting was just straight nature taglines of stock video material, for a little variation. These could provide interludes, for example “dolly shot of a swamp area, close-up shot, revealing a frog at the end”. Just have to find that frog again, there is one who makes a twang noise, like someone intermittently strumming a bass guitar. I can add him to the video I shot earlier of a chirping red squirrel….. I guess this is going to turn into a wildlife video after all.

I’ve just had my first thunder storm experience here at i-park, there has been an almighty downpour following a really gloopy, humid day where you almost feel choked when breathing in. It’s a strange and uncomfortable type of heat, like something is crawling on you (which doesn’t help the general tick paranoia). At least sitting in the studio is both cosy and cool, meaning I can watch and listen to the downpour form the safety of my hut, while playing radio 4 over the internet.

Anyway today has been somewhat more productive than yesterday, where I felt a little lost and unsure what to focus on. Obviously it didn’t help that the day kicked off (excuse the pun) with the dismal football result, and then developed into a very muggy, close day again, which means being continuously dive-bombed by insects while walking in the woods. We did make use of the common room though, watching a silly film (Art School Confidential) which was fun. As for working on the film, I started with collecting the taglines, and then today I’ve been organizing them- some of them are really quite amusing (“Woman goes around tree”; “The girl in the bush”; “girl with laptop by waterfall”?!). The idea is to use them to write a loose story and then act out each instruction as a scene, thus enacting the experience of being in nature and using the taglines as both instruction and description.

I am also considering including taglines which aren’t just restricted to ‘woman in nature’- possibly by using some of the ‘couple in nature’ tags as well, as they tend to be very descriptive, almost approaching stage directions: “They are holding hands, walking and hugging. She is acting playful and is jumping all around the man.” For now though I am concentrating on filming the ‘single woman’ ones, starting today with ‘woman dances in the rain’ (see picture). I have to get over the sheer stupidness of it, then it becomes quite fun.

I like the idea that these taglines have created a kind of template of stuff for me to do, a score even, for me to interpret within the given guidelines, meaning that my experience of being in nature, becomes the work and is structured from the outside by a set of descriptions whose conception is purely commercial. From the research I did before, they always advise how the stock video creator must avoid being artistic, must avoid poetic titles and must think only in terms of what will sell: it’s a really utilitarian form of image making.

And its also important that it’s a form of image which is inseparable from the text- since it is the keyword and tagline which makes it searchable and therefore sellable/ viable. This also relates to my ideas on the average, in that these stock videos are both searched and databased through probability, according to the inputted keywords, but also since the one you are most likely to see first is the one most viewed by everybody else- creating a kind of feedback loop of information. I suppose it will also end up as a kind of diary as well, a kind of snapshot of the time spent here so that the record is the document.

I was warned, and its true, I am already losing track of days and its only been 2 or 3- what will it be like in 2 weeks?! I am in the studio now properly, i.e. for more than 1 hour at a time, and just acclimatizing, arranging things and even doing a bit of drawing. Nothing new- just a continuation of my written drawings which are something like diaries but end up being graphic/ visual rather than legible. I decided it would be good to have a routine of sorts, something to start the day with; there’s no schedule here, especially on the weekend when we don’t have dinner cooked for us so there’s no timetable to work around.

Actually today is the last of the scheduled events, following yesterday’s site visit and Thursday’s supermarket visit, which was fairly comic: Rich, the New Yorker, trying to pry us foreigners away from the garish packaging and huge variety (my favourite so far: Cholula hot sauce in chili and lime- definitely taking some back). The site is massive, taking 2 hours to traverse in full, including time to admire the environmental artworks as well as the wilder, more remote parts. This evening we have ‘Artists Exchange’, meaning a brief intro to everyone’s work, which I suppose I should be working on now. I’m also starting work on the writing- first of all I need to collect lots of phrases used as taglines for stock video as these are going to be the basis of the film. It’s hard to focus on one thing- so many other ideas come up once you’re actually in the environment. But then I thought, I’ll start on this and see what happens, rather than trying to work out in advance what would be the best project to focus on- too much pre-determination usually ends in tears for me.

Meanwhile, in news that is not strictly art-related, on a bike trip to Devil’s Hopyard state park, I saw chipmunks for the first time. They were incredibly cute and made high pitched kind of ‘peep-peep’ squeaking noises at each other, so that I thought they were birds.

Dinner times have been entertaining, I’m finding out so much about life here- who knew that the top tax rate in New York state is 55%? And I thought there wasn’t much in the way of social contribution here. We have been talking politics, economics and education so far- maybe time to talk art or something.

After a sweaty, muggy commute dragging wheelie suitcase, backpack, handbag and massive sketch-book first to BH photo store (the battery was a dud) and then up to East Harlem to meet the other artists, followed by a 2 hour drive out of New York and into Connecticut, we’ve finally arrived.

This is settler territory- we passed through Essex, Middlesex, New London, and Stratford amongst others on our way to Devil Hopyard’s park, which is roughly where i-park is situated. Its surrounded by lush greenery, towering trees, little wooden paths and a wild variety of bushes, flowers and plants: absolutely beautiful. The house we’re staying in is New England style farmhouse, with the studios more like outhouses. They took us on a little walk around, all of us oohing and aahing at the beauty of the place and getting excited about walking into the woods.

Of course I’m paranoid about ticks, which they seem to accept as just part of life here, assuring me that I’ll definitely get a tick at some point, but that’s its not such a big deal and loads of people have had Limes disease and recovered ok- !!! Anyway I’ve bonded a little with the Korean girl over football, we managed to get the TV working to watch the American pundits savouring their last minute win and their historic progression into to the last 16. We are going to watch the matches together this weekend.

Just returned from a slightly lengthier walk into the woods. Its not dissimilar to England, except everything is bigger somehow- including the bugs, which buzzed around me continuously. Its hard to imagine exactly what I’m going to make here; really all there is a lot of trees, and wildlife, so I have to be careful it doesn’t turn into a nature documentary (especially as I saw a ruby red bird on my walk, as well as a flock of black geese and a couple of rabbits). My walk also revealed the fruits of other artists’ residencies- strange, large-scale environmental sculptures constructed from mostly natural materials like mulch, wood, leaves, and the odd bit of chicken wire. One of the sculptures is made out of inner tubes, and hangs between 2 trees, reminiscent of Geiger-type alien spawn. I doubt I’ll be making anything like this, although I’ll have to work out a way to get the best out of this amazing natural setting and not end up hunched over my laptop all day.

Anyway we are about to have our welcome dinner, now that the remaining 4 artists have also arrived- the chef has made a giant turkey in the Thanksgiving tradition, which smells really good- I’m starving!

This is the start of my blog from the wonderfully named Flushing Avenue in Bushwick, NY where I am staying with Julie. Its technically about the residency I’m going to be doing at i-park, in Connecticut, but as I’ve been doing some ‘research and planning’ (i.e. galleries and shopping) here in New York, I thought I’d start with that.

Today I sampled the joys of good old fashioned face to face sales at the bizarre photography Mecca that is BH (thanks to Eirini for directing me there). They don’t call it the BH Superstore Experience for nothing: besides its arcane process of choosing your product, getting a receipt, then lining up to pay, then lining up somewhere else to pick up your stuff which arrives via a chute, then lining up somewhere else to get the bag you had to check on entrance, the place is a strange sight to London eyes- its run almost entirely by Hassidic Jews: not a community I have had much opportunity to meet, talk to and do business with in London. Good stuff though, and good second hand department.

www.bhphotovideo.com

Apart from the fun of buying a new (used) camera, the galleries. Well, from my English perspective I can’t help be dazzled/ bamboozled by their production values. The first show I saw was by Darren Almond, at Matthew Marks. The finish, even before you get into the screening space, is immaculate: the crispness and almost glowing quality of the vinyl lettering, the cool blue spotlight illuminating your passage into the total darkness of the room…no expense spared. As for the installation itself, incredibly creepy and dark, 6 screens hanging/ floating in the gloom, following the movement of a monk walking through a forest, attempting to complete a ritual of purification that has only been managed 46 times in the last 4 centuries (this is the piece of info that stayed in mind most clearly- obviously his chances of succeeding are limited). Although I’m not sure it communicated the immensity of the task and the mental strength I assume it requires, the work did create a sort of meditative and lonely space in which you could maybe begin to empathise with the monk’s experience and his silent journey into the woods.

Beyond that- so many others. And almost all of them equally crisp. Lots of paintings- 5 rooms of Roy Lichtenstein still lives at Gagosian anyone? Or, in his other space, Monet’s something or other. Gagosian gallery is basically a museum. Eye Beam is great though, they had a show called Re:Group: Beyond Models of Consensus about models of participation in art which I enjoyed; good books in the foyer and even, the football playing on a telly. It is the one space which seems to touch directly on issues of public space, social relations and participation, and inevitably it felt much more familiar, a bit more DIY, a bit more text to read and absorb, less visually striking than the other galleries.

Finally- the World Cup. Contrary to received wisdom, people over here are following it, its been playing in bars all over the place, and there are plenty of Argentinean and Mexican flags draped across restaurants and shops (although this could be usual practice, considering the US penchant for flags). So hopefully I’ll get to see the finals after all and not be reduced to only reading the Guardian football blog.

Next time: a report from the woods.