The Inishlacken Project and others

Its quiet now. No work to do relating to The Inishlacken Project.
Here are some more images of other artists work in TULCA

I am now back from Galway; I visited the opening of TULCA. The visit was interesting not least because I met so many fascinating people, writers, artists, makers, curators and people working within the arts field. There were about 150 people at the opening, rather more than you might get at most English openings unless you are in London. An opera singer ‘sang’ the show open and there were speeches by curatorial advisors to the project and the Galways arts officer.
I was very pleased with the siting of my work – the curators had placed the neon in the window of the building facing out onto the street. This was the perfect place and reflected totally the notions within which the work was made – one of message vividness to the wider community. (There is more about the neon work on my website www.carolinewright.com if anyone is interested in more info). There were many works in the show and 70 artists in the whole of TULCA – the programme combines seminars, shows, performances, music, social occasions and site specific work around the city. There is more info on www.myspace.com/TULCA
I met one gentleman at the TULCA private view and he revealed that in this blog I do not often explain the connections clearly enough for the reader who does not have access to the information I hold in my head. One case in point is the last posts’ reference to the tea ceremony and my son’s course leader at Kingston, who has written on Japan and the tea ceremony. When I was visited Japan last year on a residency, I made several films about tea drinking and the tea ceremony (these partly inspired my recent mad artists tea party event). The neon work shown for TULCA drew together all the issues I had explored in film, using the four principles of the tea ceremony and the bright neon language of the young. The new generation in Japan are rejecting the tea ceremony tradition, in time it will die out. Hence the possible meeting with my son’s course leader to discuss a common interest in all things Japanese together with the ever present possibility of new ideas and work is something I am looking forward to.
In Galway I met with Rosie and we talked further about the Inishlacken project. The opening date has been set for 31st January 2008 and I was able to meet with the Galway Arts Centre curator, Maeve Mulrennan to talk about my ideas briefly.
So all in all a productive visit especially as I was only there for 24 hours. It was only marred by a terrible flight home with loss of cabin pressure, oxygen masks, emergency decent, an unconcious passenger, fire engines and my life passing before me for what seemed like an eternity. Thankfully all was ok apart from one passenger but it has taken me a while to recover.

The drawings from the Saffron Walden show are now safely packed away in my studio and I have some reasonable photos of the work in my archive. There seems to be a brief interlude in my usually hectic life so I have been using this to organise my project archive and generally keep up with some overdue admin. I have also been doing some reading – currently I am looking at a book by Peig Sayers ('An old woman's reflections') who lived on the Blasket islands of the west coast of Ireland. The islanders were evacuated after the second world war – until then they had lived an unchanged life for centuries. There was a rich oral tradition of story telling and poetry, keeping the legends of the islands alive. Peig Sayers' stories capture the simple life of a community who came vibrantly alive when an evening of storytelling, music and words took place. I am sure this information will influence my editing of the films made on Inishlacken. 

In the last couple of days three possible projects have emerged. Its a bit like buses they all come at once! They are all in the early stages of discussion and may or may not progress further but it is comforting to be in a position where I am working with this number of potential projects. By the law of averages at least one might come to fruition. 

It often surprises me how things link up and communications cause things to happen. One contact I have recently made was through my son who is studying architecture at Kingston University in London. He was attending a lecture given by his Head of Department  only to hear her talking about Japan and the tea ceremony – something I have made several pieces of work about. Thoughtfully he managed to speak to the lecturer and has put us in touch. We are planning to meet in December.