Manse Project 15

This is my first chance to post since handing in my online ACE application. After many discussions with artists and producers as part of my Re:view bursary I decided to apply for Grants for the Arts, Research and Development with a long-term view of applying again to make my event happen. The Re:view go sees really helped me shape the idea of my project from a starting point of an individual performance to simply scaling it up, into opening it out to other artists to take part in. This thinking evolved after being invited to the CG Associates, C Pages an artist’s exchange between Birmingham and Manchester artists at Federation House (http://www.castlefieldgallery.co.uk/event/c-pages-open-studio/). I was invited to see the artists work and briefly introduce my curatorial practice. From this it really inspired me to not only think about my project as creating an opportunity for myself but also for others. There comes a time when you have to stop complaining about frustrations with the performance scene and do something about it. If the right platforms aren’t out there for your work, create your own.

I have discussed my project needs with artist/curator Anna Puhakka based in Helsinki a past collaborator as part of the artist collective BaseNorth (http://www.wooloo.org/basenorth). These Skype conversations have been extremely valuable in identifying new artists to work with and contemporary art spaces to go and see in Finland. Anna has kindly helped make these initial introductions to performance peers in Tampere to start email discussions about our practices. She also brought to my attention that parent’s with babies get free bus rides around Tampere. Little bits of information like this I would not be able to find out myself, which has contributed to my support in kind towards my ACE budget. I was introduced to the producers, The Future by Lowri Evans and Catherine Shaw. My meeting with Lisa Mattocks came at a crucial time when I was about to throw in the towel. Lisa completely got my passion for wanting to create intervention work and something new on the streets of Manchester (http://www.the-future.co.uk).

Even the Re:view discussions I thought didn’t go well actually helped the most in making me realise what I really want to do. The concept has changed and become more ambitious. This has been a difficult process as it’s hard to think big when you work on your own. I recently joined PANDA the performing arts network and they have really encouraged me to be more ambitious (http://www.panda-arts.org.uk). Receiving the Re:view bursary from a-n has encouraged me to persist with my project. During my online ACE application I spoke to advisors many times on the phone with various queries and they were really helpful. I had a very supportive conversation with a fellow artist/curator who kindly had a read through of my application. Getting people to look at what you’ve done is so important to challenge your ideas and clarify simply what you really want to do. Overall the best bit of advice I got was to have a vision for your end game even if you are applying for research and development. Anyway fingers crossed…For now I am an unofficial researcher and plan to re-launch a new blog with my new r&d concept.

Now this is handed in I can get on planning my last Re:view meetings in Coventry.

Getting back into the studio

I had my first afternoon in the studio on Wednesday since having my baby and I really enjoyed having a play with materials. I also needed to buy some props to start building my lo-tech set for In the Making…Who knew it was so difficult to buy bamboo sticks, apparently they are going out of season. Although I did manage to find long plant pots, these will provide a base for my bamboo structure. Instead of using soil in the pots I sourced white material cushion filling that is fine and dense. It is important that all my props are mono. Inside my bamboo structure I want to nestle cotton bud forms which I quickly made from cosmetic cotton balls and wooden pegs. My props are very simple, although its how they are performed which builds the complexity in the piece. I filmed myself making the fake cotton buds. The making is a simple task but enough to keep your attention as I softly hold and shape the cotton together. I have been considering whether to use the image of the collapsed Primark factory in Bangladesh. Will people watching the performance know what the image is? Does it really matter? It is clear that the image is of some sort of disaster. I really want to emphasise the link between shopping and disasters, seems flippant right? Although I do feel that this is how people can be with absolutely no idea as to where or how things are made anymore. This includes myself. I need to create enough of a spectacle to get peoples attention by styling and dressing my set like a shop window. I recently had the idea of using shopping baskets instead of plant pots. I wanted to use a roll of paper to document viewer’s responses to the performance. I have now changed my mind and think large tags would work better as they can be tied onto the bamboo structure.

Planning and Proposing

My next Re:view meetings are in Coventry and I need to arrange a date to see Martin Roberts, Senior Curator at the Herbert Gallery and performer Pru Porretta (http://www.theherbert.org). It may seem a bit off the beaten track but I think it will be good for me to research outside of Manchester. Part of the attraction of visiting Coventry was to see all the artworks of Lady Godiva around the city and how her legend is extensively depicted in artworks. In art there are many idealised images of women even though we know they are not true. Nothing much has changed really when we think of how women are represented in the media today. Without really knowing until now this is something I refer to in previous performances and comes up again in the images I have been looking at of women working in the mills. I have never been to Coventry before and would love to find out more about the contemporary art scene there. While I am there I would like to visit Coventry Artspace (http://www.coventry-artspace.co.uk).

I have made a first draft of a proposal for Hazard this year (http://www.wordofwarning.org/hab/hazard/). So far I am happy with it although the only bit I am unsure of is the photocopied image as it is quite a political statement, which I never use in my work. I could broaden the appeal by using illustrations of the ‘how to’ cotton flowering process. Or am I just over complicating things and should just use an image of the idealised woman at work? Is that enough of a statement in the performance? I need to give this more thought.

Practical synopsis:

A woman moves around a set of three props appearing to be making things from cotton. Prop 1. A wall of sticks and cotton being pruned which are set in long plant pots. Prop 2. A woman sits on a chair and spins cotton from a large cluster of raw cotton. Prop 3. She paints red marks on small sections of an A1 photocopied image. The woman will complete all three tasks as one sequence and continue repeating.

Why

Predominantly my research has been carried out on the Internet and in the museum. From the found imagery I have viewed online it is easy to make assumptions of what you are looking at. The process of growing cotton is magical, with the end flowering process making actual cotton on the stalk. Paintings of the woman at work weaving thread are mostly idealised images set in a domestic setting or in clean working conditions. This is a far cry from the reality of working in some of the Mills in Manchester, which could be dirty, dangerous places. Today cotton garments are still made by hand although most products are made in China or India due to cheap labor. Most recently a factory making Primark garments collapsed in Bangladesh killing 450 people. In my performance I want to present the clean and dirty side of the cotton industry instead of a romantic ideal. I want to present my work in progress and get feedback from the audience at the event to see what they think the work is about. I will provide a roll of paper for people to write their comments about the work. From this feedback I will use it to develop the work further.

How

In my performance I want to create the illusion of making. I intend to achieve this by using found Internet imagery of the cotton making process and re-create them in a performance. I will make actions for each image for example. Prop 1/Action. A set of three long, rectangular plant pots have sticks of bamboo making a simple structure for the cotton pods to nestle in. I use chopsticks to prune the cotton on the stalks. Prop 2/Action. I pull at a large clump of raw cotton. I pull ready-made thread from a hidden reel inside the material. I then cradle the cotton on my hand and wrap around a bobbin. Prop 3/Action. On the floor lay an A1 black and white photocopy with a small pot of red paint and brush. I sit on the floor on my knees and fill in small sections of the image with red dots of paint.

Looking is making

After my last Re:view meeting it has really made me step back and re-consider what I’m doing with my project. The past few weeks I have been questioning myself and this has really put the breaks on my creativity. For this reason I have not written a recent post, as I wanted to step away and come back when I was ready. Fortunately my natural creative curiosity has come back, phew! I think reflecting on the positives that came from the meeting and a break away has re-invigorated my outlook. I also got a lovely encouraging email from Lowri Evans to keep going with what I’m doing that I really needed to hear from a fellow artist. I have been researching images of cotton spinning wheels used in the home and the cotton growing process. I had found out that the earliest ones where made in India and China. Predominantly women would spin cotton from very simple methods with their hands or by using more elaborate mechanisms. Similar to the process of growing cotton it looks like a magical process.

In the modern world there is something very intriguing about watching people make things by hand. It’s hard to believe that cotton comes from a flower. When I looked at this image of a cotton field it looks as if it is not real, made up of sticks and cosmetic cotton balls. This has got me thinking about how we consume imagery on the Internet and what presumptions we make of what we are looking at. I wonder if the Internet or the world ended, would we be able to grow cotton in Manchester. I think I have been a bit hard on myself with regards to planning, what’s wrong with trying to look ahead? I must also remember that I do a lot of looking on the Internet and making connections between things, is this not a process of making? I need to apply for a performance opportunity to give myself a deadline to work to. It has been suggested to me by Catherine and Lowri to apply for Hazard this year. Hazard is a bi-annual intervention/performance event that takes place in the city centre of Manchester (http://www.wordofwarning.org/current/2014-hazard/). I have taken part in this before in 2012, although I have not shown a work in progress before. However I do feel this could be a really good opportunity to test out my work in a public space framed by the context of an established event.

Re:view Meeting No.2

One step forward, two steps back

I had my second Re:view meeting with Tamsin Drury at Zion Arts last week and it’s taken me a while to filter through what was discussed. It also didn’t really help that I got a little upset during it. In my mind I have had a schedule to work to with having a baby recently and timings of future events. It is also clear that I have mis-understood what R&D means. To apply for this kind of funding I need to be clear on my end goal, and without secured partners on board I was advised that it is unlikely that I would get funded. However how do you get partners on board? Especially if they are in another country. You have got to start somewhere, although now maybe too soon. The tone of the meeting was very different to the previous with Lowri as Tamsin is already familiar with my work. This was not the time to be talking creatively and really on reflection seeing Tamsin should have come later when the concept is more crystallized. The bottom line for promoting a performance is to say what the idea is in one sentance, which I couldn’t do. This made me feel very stupid, and really affected my confidence in the meeting. At that moment it really did feel like this couldn’t have gone any worse. If I want to make my work more performancy I have to be more mindful of what the audience are getting from it.

There was an assumption made that visual artists are only concerned with their vision of their own work. However this is where I feel split between visual art and performance as I do really consider the audience. I may not know all the answers as to what they are getting but I trust that people can come to their own conclusions. Being very open like this is not what a promoter wants to hear, and it seems like there is little room for abstraction. This is why I love intervention performances, and engaging with accidental viewers as this touches people in a way that a staged performance can’t do. From the marketing leaflet Tamsin had thought the image of the ‘manse’ character was historical and I think I confused her with then talking about the second strand idea. She reminded me that people who want to see performance, want to hear stories. If I want to get partners on board I need to try and see as many people as possible, this could start now and after my research trip to Finland. Could I include a workshop alongside the work to broaden the appeal to a venue? To lift the pressure off myself it was suggested to just go and do the research and enjoy it, relax about the outcomes as who knows where it may take me. I found this suggestion both hard to take, then after the meeting a little relieved. I do feel like I have been planning way too much. I just need to start physically researching and making which initiated a visit to the Museum of Science & Industry to have a look at Manchester’s cotton mill paraphernalia.

Other points that were raised:

Funding can sometimes restrict the flow of your work

Working with a new partner can take years to nurture

Start open ended conversations with partners

What existing contacts could I use?

Don’t compromise your practice to suit others

ACE are unlikely to fund small intervention pieces

Could the work be more suited for a specific event such as the Histories Festival?