My grant funding letter came yesterday. It is quite intimidating and demands my attention. It lists conditions which I must wait upon in order for the Trust to carry out its legal status.
On Saturday I visited a place where I want to show my performance or at least the outcome of this project – whatever form it takes. It is a church built before the restoration as I came to understand. It is sparsely decorated and contains a pulpit with three levels. There is a grand piano towards the chancel and a strange baroque facade jutting into the central space which hints at the regality of the room behind. That room was used by the residents of Claremont House so that they could attend church without mixing with those of a lower standing in the central space below. There are also coat of arms dotted around the place, hinting at the standing of some of the attendees.
It was a hot day, so I stayed within the thick stone walls of the church until the lady who books the events turned up. When she did we talked about the work and the dates and also about recieving grants. It seems that funding is a big issue among local arts venues in Surrey.
So the grant lists certain terms among others:
– A press release must be issued to announc the award
– Everyone involved in the porject must be informed of the Trust’s support.
– 2 complimentary tickets must be provided to one of the performances.
I’m not too sure how to carry out these terms. However I have signed the agreement and will post it today. Any questions I will follow up with the Trust. But yes, this is not an idea anymore. Money is attached to it, and with money comes the decision that it has to be carried through. Even though I will not get any money towards this project before October due to match funding.
Today was filled with performance: Tate modern has given itself over from underneath upwards with The Tanks opening and Tino Sehgal’s work in the Turbine Hall.
When I arrived a group of people in ordinary clothes were moving around together loosely before dispersing hapazardly into the hall.
I then went into the tanks and saw the reflections of a glass building move silently across a grid of black square dining tables in Suzanne Lacey’s piece. In Sung Hwan Kim’s work me and a friend sat, listened though headphones, weaved past half cut screens and admired the slightly seedy tiled green tissue paper covering parts of a very unusual installation.
After a chat in the member’s cafe on the fifth floor I decended again to see a final free showing of the Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker performance followed by a book signing. Worth the wait. It was entrancing, subersive and concise. As I left a saw the end of a song sung by Seghals’ performers. The lights of the hall went out with their words, then they ran off again up the ramp to be replaced by another group filling the space with brief sprints.
Over to Ceri hand Gallery and we have a very different take of performance. Mel Brimfield’s work is no less artful in her portrayal of artists Van Gogh, Lee Krasner and Pollock. Particularly liked Clement Greenberg – Lee Krasner = Jackson Pollock: it was a well written, brilliantly sarcastic fictional monologue of Krasner portraying her more famous husband as a panting dog.
What will I take away from the experience? use of gesture and rhythm in Keersmaeker’s choreography. It really keeps you locked in.
It is Thursday and I haven’t been out of the house for two days. But tomorrow I will go to The Tanks at Tate for the first time! I still have not got over receiving acceptance of funding for my Unrecorded project yet. Everything has come at once.
There was however a double side to this coin of success. On Tuesday this week I attended a ‘taster’ workshop at Artsadmin for their Summer Project 2012. For three glorious hours I had a great deal of fun listening and participating in a workshop set up to preview the project. I went in for it, discussing my time concerns with the organiser Sam. Yesterday I agreed to be put forward and today I was offered a place, that is 1 out of 12. However I turned it down. It was very hard. But I felt that because I am already doing my own development project I needed to devote my time and energy to that. I cannot tell if it was the right decision or not but part of me felt that among the people who wanted to take part there was someone who need the opportunity more than me at this point. Part of me still wants to do it.
But now I can concentrate on my next performance on the Betsey Trotwood on the 6th August and a workshop day at Utrophia on 3rd. I have been in contact with this group of people – Dunken Chorus, via a post sent to me by a friend. I hope that they can come to this performance on the 6th and that it will lead to me doing something with them.
I really feel at this point that I am finally appealing to my strengths. Every time I perform or become involved a new door opens. So tomorrow I will see The Tanks and take from that what I need to draw the audience on the 6th. I think working in the arts is like bowling: get the throw right and you can knock over a great deal of pins in one go. Or chess: plan each move upon the previous to achieve checkmate.
This is the first post of a blog that will chart the greatest transformation of my work over the next part of 2012.
Today I received a phone call on my home phone from the R C Sherriff Trust. They have agreed to fund the lower half of my next project. I have called this project simply Unrecorded. It doesn’t need a name really because I do not know what will come of this exercise. It is an aim to make a piece of performance guided by an established performer who will also give me input on my practice as a whole. I do not know what the performance will be. I do not know where it will be performed or how, when or why for definate.
I have however put down these points:
– It will be repeatable and choreographed
– It will be at least 30-45 minutes long
– It will be held in a venue for theatre, not a gallery space
– One of these places is in Elmbridge in 2013
I have not done any of these things before. This is entirely new. It is also a big project. The first load of funding is in. It will pay for my fees, some transport and accommodation for one night in Bristol, where I am to visit my mentor and performance studios Residence. My mentor for this project as I have mentioned in my previous blog A London Pursuit… is Sylvia Rimat. Her work is very much theatre, but in the widest most dynamic sense. I have chosen a performer and not a Fine Artist because I want to be made uncomfortable. I come from a Fine Art background, but my work is not painting, it is not some form of new sculpture. It is about me, vulnerable and risking my work live in front of a group of people. This project is about me finding out who I want to be as an artist. It is about sharing that experience with people. And here, I will be giving readers of this blog a little more about the experience.
