I wrote this on the 19th, when leaving I-Park. But have only just posted it up now….
19th July
And suddenly its all over, I’m back in New York, sitting in a café on the lower east Side drinking coffee and feeling bewildered by the noise, people and buildings. Back to city life, even if its not my city. We ended the residency with an Open Studio day, in which people came to I-Park to see our work and to walk around the beautiful grounds. It was great to see and interact with everyone else’s work, and feeling the kind of collective spirit which had developed amongst us.
Unbelievably I managed to finish my film, and despite my usual massive reservations about whether or not its any good, I’m really happy its done. Despite being sorely tempted I’m also scared to look over it again, to edit things in or out, now that I’m away from the place. Its so strange being so absorbed in a place and making a video which now on reflection is completely about the experience of being there…the video is more of a diary then I had thought initially. The other thing that has changed is the addition of the strong narrative element which seemed to divide opinion amongst the people who gave me feedback. I find it hard to resist narrative elements (which makes it sounds like donuts or something, which in terms of the lean conceptual style expected in video art, it probably is). Still trying to decide how to end it- I even did some just-in-case filming at Grand Central Station, which is very ornate and boasts impressive Art-Deco architecture. Of course that would change the whole thing, having a little ‘woman returns to city’ moment, and it would probably intensify the narrative element. So I may never use it.
Apart from all this, was the sadness of leaving the wonderful land of I-Park. One of my video clips was entitled ‘leaving on a rainy day’, it was one of the more sombre ones; in a case of life imitating art, the morning we left there was a cataclysm (is that a Greekism?) and I found myself leaving in the rain and feeling sad to say goodbye. But happy about the new friends and the memories!
