Tether

Since my last posts 'Fictions' opened at the Bonington Gallery. As is often the case, the show was not completely resolved until five minutes before we opened our doors to the public. Thanks must go to Geoff Diego Litherland for his support in realising the exhibition and essentially pulling us out of several large holes during installation.

For the opening we had drinks supplied by the university, along with two university employed bar staff to serve. We also had real ale supplied by Nottingham Brewery. Here is a conversation I had with these two troglodytes one hour before the opening:

Me: (noticing that our barrel of ale, which had been put in place hours earlier to allow to settle before the opening, had been moved away from the drinks table as they were draping it in faux-cotton coverings) Erm.. why is the barrel over there?

Trog 1: We're just setting up the drinks for tonight.

Me: Erm, yeah.. but, this ale is for tonight as well.

Trog 2: Well it's not ours is it?

Me: Yes.. yes it is. It's ale we've been given for tonight. Why's it been moved over there?

Trog 2: Well this table is for the drinks.

Me: Yes, I know, and the ale is one of the drinks.

Trog 1: Well why would we need that? We've already got five types of wine.

Me: Yes, well, we're having the ale as well. The exhibition has been sponsored with this free ale, so we're going to serve it.

Trog 1: (Signalling to the two long, empty tables) Well I don't think there'll be space. We've got to put all the drinks out nicely, and the glasses..

Me: Yes, but we're having the ale as well.

Trog 2: Well we're not serving it.

Me: What?! Why not?

Trog 2: We're here to serve the wine and juice.

Me: You're here to serve the drinks.

Trog 1: We're here to serve THE UNIVERSITY'S DRINKS.

Me: What's the difference? All you have to do is pour ale from the tap into a glass.

Trog 1: You have to see it from our point of view. The university buys THESE drinks to serve at the opening, which have been approved and bought internally, and we are paid to work for the university. Serving your drink would go against the university's interests.

Me: (Bemused) What?

Trog 1: (Attempting to be clever) I mean, how would you like it if I asked you to go make us some coffees?

Me: I wouldn't mind! I will go and personally make you coffees NOW if it'll mean you serve the ale! Do you want me to make you a coffee?

Trog 1: (A little confused/flustered) Erm.. er.. no thanks, I'm ok.

Trog 2: I know it might seem petty but-

Me: YES! YES IT IS PETTY! VERY PETTY!

For the rest of the evening they ignored me and the barrel, which became a "self-service" ale dispenser; quite a unique facility at an art opening I'd guess!

Wow, it's been a long time since my last post. I've never kept a diary, so I have not yet acquired the habit of spilling my thoughts in a written form regularly.

It's been such a ridiculously busy period that all thought and reflection on what has been happening has all taken place internally and often contiguous to the act in question itself. This ability to critique and evaluate what I am doing whilst I am doing it, viewing my processes and approaches from alternative perspectives, is a skill that, I am sure, is central to all artist-curator-writers-whatevers. It is something I am learning how to do, and quite often even basic things like making a sandwich or keeping my flat tidy isn't possible when I have other things to do.

Another hectic week has passed in which three separate printed press has arrived at our studio-

our Wasp Room spring/summer season brochures

'Fictions' exhibition leaflet/flyers

'Fictions' exhibition posters

This means that amongst other things, this week will consist of a great amount of walking and the placing of flyers in art spaces, cafes, community centres etc. Sigh. Possibly the worst job involved in being part of an artist-run initiative.

We found out last week that we have been awarded an 'NCAN Bursary' which will help finance several video-podcast commissions for our forthcoming project 'Tethervision', due for launch officially over the next month. More work and discussion is needed to research, develop, make or commission the high-quality content we are looking for.

My own personal 'to do' list seems to fluctuate like the tide: no sooner do I strike tasks off, do more arrive with a determined velocity. I have decided to retire from the world of slumber; sleep is overrated anyway. If you don't get a chance to rest then your world will eventually become a kind of hypnogogic blur, so rather than missing out on vivid and chaotic dreams my life will become one long absurdity.

Anyway, no time, busy beavers must keep chomping

Part ii:

Personally I am working a great deal on a Tether supported project that I am co-curating. The show, entitled 'Fictions' present works inspired by or exploring ideas related to the writings of Jorge Luis Borges. The exhibition opens on Thursday 19th March and runs until 8th April, at the Bonington Gallery. I have a lot of work to do on my own piece, which I haven't had time to focus on over the past month or so, due to the vast number of organisational and menial tasks I've had to sort out.

The previous week, in particular, has been an absolute nightmare. I have been trying to get the exhibition's flyers printed, but the printers I had found misquoted the original price BY HALF. That has meant that me and my co-curator Fay Nicolson have had to greatly reconsider the number of flyers we were going to have printed. I have also messed up the format of the design several times over the last few days, most recently the misplacement of the Arts Council logo, which has meant I have only just sent the design off. On the plus side, every other element of the show seems to be ticking over nicely, including our project webpage: www.hugh-dichmont.com/fictions

Other tasks I have on my to do list, whilst helping to manage Tether and work four part-time jobs (yes, four), are writing an article on Tether for an online journal, and making some short video works for Tethervision- a new online podcast project Tether are due to launch over the next couple of months.

I'm not sure if I have forgotten anything, but it probably would be for the best if I had, as you're probably tired of reading right now. My Tether mates will also probably slate me for writing too much about my own stuff and not enough about the group's processes, but IT'S ME WRITING THIS BLOG SAM, LIAM AND BEN. SO THERE.

Apologies. My first ever blog.

So this is my first post in Tether's Project Blog.

There is a lot going on with our organisation at the moment, and it's hard to know where to start.

Currently we are working towards our first season of Arts Council funded exhibitions and events. We have designed a Spring/Summer season brochure, which will advertise our projects between March and June.

It always seems to be the case with printing jobs, but a couple of days after approving the proof of our design we noticed an error in the contact details, which means, that when they arrive, we are going to have to stick stickers with the correct details on 5000 brochures. Damn.

We had a private view last week for Debra Swann's residency-exhibition in our gallery the Wasp Room. The gallery and bar space were absolutely packed the whole evening, and we served real ale and pancakes. We have had good feedback since, both on the exhibition and the refreshments, which perhaps unfortunately means we have set ourselves a standard to beat for the next show. Maybe we will have to serve home-made Beef Stroganoff served from fine china and courvoisier from crystal glasses. We may even need semi-nude slaves on rollerblades.

As well as our first season impending and our current show going strong, we have curated a series of videos to be shown at Broadway, one of Europe's leading independent cinemas (http://www.broadway.org.uk), as part of 'Digital Broadway', with work shown on small digital screens and projected in their cafe bar within the building, and a large dual projection on the glass facade of the cinema, featuring work by Tether artists Liam Aitken and Chie Hosaka, as well as videos by Anthony Peskine, James Brown (no not that one) and Joseph Mann. The screens and projections come on tonight for the first time. I'm probably going to see 'The Class' tonight with some friends, so if all's well with the video formats….. Fingers crossed.

Apparently I wrote too much in my first post so I have had to divide it in two. The next post follows on to finish this entry.