doing. action. verb. l’herbe.

My first photos (on iPad) are of how the museum looked when I arrived. All brass pieces.   A brass plug and chain found by Daisy and retrieved from a skip plus a brass lamp stand, which just stands up within the cabinet so it appears to be touching the padlock on the shelf above.

Over 50 items now.

I’m going to label any items I log today with the Fibonacci sequence of numbers, starting with the 9th which is 34 (our conventional numbering system was hijacked by Martin who proceeded from Daisy’s number 32 to 3.1415, 1729, 1.618, 714969 then I joined in with 5022996, 5151, √-1 (though I put √-2… Someone has taken a disliking to my 2 and changed it!), 111, 3839, 0.414, 198, 0.39, 984, 1101,?, 999, 0, some of these are Daisy, some Martin.  I followed his shaking up the number system, sometimes using his suggestions of interesting numbers and at others using something on the object to direct the number allocated.

11.24am received the comment ‘you look happy in your work’ – I was in the midst of re-arranging and discovering new acquisitions.

I have arranged the display once today and taken my time over it – especially the (mostly) china fragments found by Ecce in her garden.  It feels very soothing in the methodical nature of arranging them. I was just getting them out of the tub to see what was there and had arranged them by colour without thinking and decided to display them in this way.

In my own work I am at a sticking point where to get things moving requires form filling, sourcing further photographs, getting photos ready to print and finding an inkjet printer to borrow.  Arranging objects, especially the 188 fragments is especially appealing.

Just spoken to a lady who said the pregnancy testing kit might be explained by the fact that Tesco’s sell 2 for £2.50 and the two tests are in one packet.

I had a wander around Ludlow at lunchtime and got another key from Timpson’s and once back at the museum set to sketching the fragments of china.

Morning:

First of all, here’s the video link to my chaos / order talk, edited by Teresa Albor. www.vimeo.com/130677141

With Poet Martin Evans today.

(Written in morning) Yesterday he was there on his own and the library was closed (foyer & little museum open) so very low footfall. He wrote a couple of poems which he’ll bring in today.  Looking forward to meeting him as we’ve been emailing and found we have quite a few overlapping interests and I wonder what we’ll come out with today!

On the train ride home:

Have now met Martin and wife Kerri and spent most of the session in conversation about everything, numbers, fibonacci, houses, wild flower meadows, Lucozade, scratch card factory and more.

Martin has livened up the item numbering system, one of our numbers today was √-2. Francis Clarke left behind her water bottle, which I only discovered when I checked if it was Martin’s, so that is now itemized in our book.  And now I have just discovered on needing some water, that I too, have left my water bottle!  On Martin and Kerri’s walk around Ludlow they came back with a vehicle mud flap, steam train ticket, hairband, nail file and a paint roller.  Ecce brought in a margarine tub full of garden digging findings, china fragments, glass bottle top, clay pipe stem.  She brought it  in just before I left so I just had a chance to briefly look at it.

Martins poems of 3 objects, a dunkin’ donut bauble, a cigarette packet and a Lucozade bottle (found just outside the library and a bit of a coincidence as Martin had been collecting them along a certain road (look up) see his website for that. These are now on our website www.paradox-of-order.com

In my book of questions on chaos and order, there are more questions, many I can’t (yet) answer and I must remember to print out some that have been emailed to me.

I want to have a play with the china fragments that came in from Ecce, why? It’s like the finds from an archaeological dig, finding remains from owners past of her Ludlow escape hole.

I am finding myself not analysing what we are doing too much while there.  The further analysing may go on afterwards, in the gathering together the documentation stage, that will most likely be much longer than the Ludlow Fringe festival itself.

Morning thoughts…My plan of action for today at the little museum is to try to collect more questions (and check on facebook for any replies and add them to the book). To arrange the displays in a way that satisfies me. To draw one object thoroughly. See when I can be there at the same time as Martin Evans (poet I’ve been emailing re maths and common interests).

I’m wondering exactly what is it that I’m bringing to this project? Mess? A mind focused on details? Teresa is extremely good at summing up and seeing things overall. I would like to be able to stand back and see more of the whole picture.

The museum raises questions of why we collect and arrange (order ) things, while I am interested in many detailed aspects of things : the hope in the rubbing off of silver on scratch cards, the ordered aspect of artists and artworks, the many things (could get lost in it as in a black hole) i don’t know..perhaps revealed by questions I can’t answer.

Today in the little museum is a very different experience to my last two days here which involved Daisy Rickards (www.daisyrickards.com) and Teresa Albor (put her website here), Ash Roberts and Viv Barraclough (with B3TTY in Castle Square in Ludlow 13-14 & 29 June-2 July collecting memories through sound recording) and poet Jean Atkin. Busy with visitors to the library coming an out with a few curious about the little museum. I have rearranged the cabinets a couple of times and settled on one arrangement for the last few hours (written at 1.30pm), so I have spoken to a handful of people and drawn the cider glass that I found yesterday. With the solitude I am contemplating what it means to be an artist and waking up many days to unstructured time.

Teresa has put a sign in a cabinet (at same time as pink sparkly nail file object #14) :

‘”Because it’s sparkly”

I don’t know where to begin describing the pressure I feel to figure out what it is I’m supposed to do everyday when I get up. To come up with something that isn’t a displacement activity. ‘

Teresa has set up the structure of a museum /space for us to interpret in our own ways, yet within certain parameters. A certain ‘Liberation through limitation’

I am finding it more interesting to see what other people bring into the museum than what I find myself. The unexpected.

After a long while today of not are-arranging the objects the display felt slightly wrong and out of whack plus not dynamic enough. So I opened it up again and fiddled. I have been drawing the cider glass for a sustained period in between visitors. I have only introduced my chaos and order talk a couple of times.

My next day in The little museum is Friday when I’ll be there with poet Martin Evans and as I’ve had three days there in a row (Sunday doesn’t count) it will be good to have a few days elsewhere to reflect on my activities at the museum. I find myself being very calm and not judging people at all while there, listening and explaining what we are doing to a wide range of visitor.

I’ve gotten on with the being a sole curator in the most obvious way for me, deliberately not gone object seeking in order to see what comes in and who I can inform about our project resulting in further loans.

Saturday was busy in waves, but especially full during the afternoon.  Gave my mini talk on art maths chaos and order a couple of times and in the afternoon Teresa set up her camera kit in the staff room to film my talk.  Worked far better without my notes!  Yesterday Teresa (Albor) edited the talk and added many relevant images to it and really adding enormously to my words.  I was surprised and delighted by the results. Especially as I am usually not at ease at all in front of a camera.  The video comes across much more clearly than me doing it fresh each time talking to people. And when i do it live it is never only 3 minutes – my aim to keep it short.  Short because I know when I’m considering stopping to watch a video in display, if it is too long I feel I don’t want to watch a screen much at all as I could do that at home.  (Although of course, there’ll be footage exclusive to certain places)

So today i expect I will be finishing cleaning up the mechanical spit, encouraging more loans/gifts of small objects and generally talking about the project to curious passers by.  Also talking my chaos order talk /setting it up on video as appropriate.

I am treating the cleaning and drawing of objects as a meditative activity to raise my awareness of the place and to enable me to notice things i otherwise wouldn’t.  On Saturday It was too busy for this. Teresa did start a log book of objects, which we’ll continue with today.

Pm.

The position of the little museum is busy and less condusive to contemplative drawing than xpected. Maybe need to change my approach.  I would like to collect more questions in my book and so i will have to make sure I bring it up more and maybe have the talk/ video more visible. Perhaps arrange the questions so they are a question per page rather than one after the other.  Also may be an idea to share the video online via facebook and twitter especially.  Perhaps email friends and family for their questions.

Could just talk about chaos and order or a part of my talk in conversation with people and then ask them to write questions, or me write down questions they ask.

I’d like to receive:

Lots of questions.

Link vimeo video into blog.

Whole little museum is seeing what people think should be shown in a museum.  What do people collect. I.e to hang on to the feeling they got in a past time / childhood.