A few months ago I was invited by Kaavous Clayton to participate in a group exhibition exploring ideas around how space, places and territories are mapped through various methods in order to gain an understanding and perhaps an ownership of them. Kaavous outlined his ideas for the show:
To explore this I have been thinking about a range of artists who explore place in different ways:
- Andrew Vass through drawing (hand and eye capturing, documenting and transferring an external object and fixing it)
- Glen Jamieson through photography (capturing frozen moments of routes and pathways)
- Phil Mill through sound (collecting sound at specific locations and repositioning them across time and space in the gallery)
- Matthew Ferguson through film (documenting a route or pathway that is captured at a particular time, but if shown again in the future is recaptured in order to remove nostalgia and retain contemporary context and location)
Alongside this group, I am exploring the idea of a different approach to exploring space that is more ephemeral and performative.
It’s really exciting to have the opportunity to make new work in response to these ideas and for the specific spaces at The Minories.
It’s been a busy few months and whilst I did finish painting the backdrop and filmed the piece of work that has been on my mind for so long, I had to set it aside to get on with a couple of other projects……. more anon…..
An empty studio and time to start preparing for a new piece of work that’s been on my mind for several years…
At this point it’s about creating a set for the action.
And getting the colour right.
After about eighteen months climbing in and out of the elastic stretched across my studio I have now removed it all, with some regret.
From the initial installation, through successive additions of elastic to the messy ending……
I had left the elastic in my studio – I wondered if there was more I wanted to do before taking it down, and I wouldn’t want to string it all up again at this point! We thought it would be a fitting finale to this stage of our collaboration to get into the web one more time, or better, for me to get stuck and for Darren to cut me out. We were fully aware of all the possible connotations of this but knew it would be both celebratory and cathartic.
We positioned the camera to keep Darren and the large pair of scissors out of the frame. We were expecting – and I was braced – for the elastic to spring and whip, but for me to be freed. Rather, the elastic contracted and I became more entangled. The ensuing battle to escape, maybe a tantrum, was a surprise to both of us.
The potential for movement in the elastic continues to expand in our minds and to fascinate us.
