Constructing place for performance

Envisaging the space that I will construct into place - a stage (dimensions unknown) and some choreographed cues and actions - and me - and an invisible (real) performance partner 11054.80 miles away.

Challenge? Yes. With limited breathing space anyway, I am taking a few, but deep, breaths and getting on with planning - slowly it brews in my mind, stage; choreography, cues, message, audience, will the system stay connected..keeping viewers engaged, having the stamina to withhold the momentum. and all of the rest that is part
of my every day thoughts right now.

Taking a break

Having a day off from it all, walking around, exploring areas I haven't been to and having a feeling if being on a holiday for a couple of hours.

Dancing with sculptures

Dancing with sculptures
Seeing a piece develop through early
site investigation

Setting up the camera
Fiddling with the tripod
People staring
Surfaces reflecting
Freezing cold - Fingers numb
Runny nose / cold toes / silly boots for the purpose
But I had no time to change
to the costume I'd prepared
The light was too good to miss
and this time of year
this time of day
changes so fast




Image : Mountain / Sculpture by Diane McLean
Dancer: Heidi Saarinen

Daring to apply

Today I applied for something I know I am not going to get. But I thought I will anyway, because if you don't, you will never know and what is there to lose?

'If you don't ask, you don't get'

That saying has a lot of history for me. It is literally what got me the job I wanted in the early days of my career. I wrote an email on the off chance, asking for a job, and I added 'If you don't ask, you don't get' at the end and boom, I had an interview and consequently, the job.

The job ended up taking more from me than I got from it, it was all really very cheeky, but it became a big part of my development in film and moving image.

It all started with my student project based on Mona Hatoum, artists and frank interviews with the artists - and that's another story for another day.


Image: Eltham Palace

Getting closer

It is all about working towards a goal. Every day, all the time; when one task is complete, another task starts.

It is about continued collection and collation of data; primary, secondary and just other kinds of data. Data that connect and offer relevance to the collecting and related tasks.

It is about learning how to manage the other types of data that are there all the time. The every-day; the bills and all that
stop us continuing the data collecting, collation and searching and writing, so delaying the data collection and ordering.

It is about language, titles, headings and sub headings. At the moment it is about other languages and the capital I and German linguistics. 'Ich bin'. 'Nachbar'. 'Bauen'.

It is about responses and feedback
from supervisors. It is about the little things that make the bigger picture work. Today it was about the strange but wonderfully eccentric glasses that started the conversation with Supervisor.

It's about the feeling of learning something new and because of that new knowledge there is new confidence. More than anything, there is hope.

It is about Place.

(Image source: carrier bag from TIGER)

Feeling energised and more determined

Having been very vague about my own decision making, planning and organisation of time for this research project, I find myself in a better place today.

Writing again and bring less cautious of errors in order / etiquette etc, I don't give a monkeys about all that now - yet - as long as I get the flow of writing going.

I can edit later, priority is to get a clear conversation down before I lose the thought and creative spark again.
Happy. Inspired.

Gaston Bachelard Poetics of Space p107

Day wasted / change of plan / what else is new

As if there is time to think about the way time is spent - the time we have left today, this week, etc.
Having planned, as usual, to do research and happy study and innovative inspiration and writing time  today - not to be.

Car problem. Clutch replaced, not working after spending a (stupid amount) lot of money, having to take car back to garage and then try to find time to be 'inspiring towards my writing'.. Oh and, I am not getting there.

Anyway..  lost study time, work tomorrow (Saturday!!!!!!!!!!), which is my usual research and exhibition day - not good.

Went to cinemaa with my son, we saw Zero Dark 30 - BRILLIANT. Female lead Jessica Chastain v v inspiring and hope the younger girls out there see this and get equally inspired. Get with it girls. My son loved it and I think he got inspired by the lead too. Great film by Kathryn Bigelow. Very much enjoyed the Hurt Locker too.


On way to car / garage had some inspiring glimpses:

What is Place

I have been thinking of why and what I am interested in - why am I doing this topic and is there a way of making it more interesting and useful for me and my work? I seem to have been in a strange place where I have tried to please others and continually describe the hard work I am doing so that everyone involved is pleased and happy. I am not sure where this style of dealing with this is coming from, I can only guess, and it neither here nor there. I have just realised, that the person that really matters is me, and getting this finished for me and nothing else.

I must not only finish this research but I must learn to listen to myself and think before I speak. I will find a way and I will find a way of enjoying this, for me. Hallelujah.

I am looking at the way place is derived from space. The way that a neutral space can become an intimate and special place, if somehow the space is interacted with, spent time in, having events happen in it etc.. This can be an event, a passing through, a walk in the park, a glimpse for a second (never to return).. But somehow, those interactions altered that space. The moment there was a glimpse, the moment there was a greeting to the passer by by the other.. The space is never again the same, it changed, and became place. 

Sodertalje, Sweden

Rooftop, Elephant & Castle, London

Performative film and the Construction of Place

I will start to record my research work as I go along. Perhaps that will allow me to see the wood for the trees..