SPRINT! Comments and feedback welcome.....

well...its been a while on here as realised have been running never walking, assembling thoughts in my notebook and not on here so hence back blogging to follow. sometimes its good to do that, the ole ' in retrospect' dialogue.

So..SPRINT last night I loved. the downstairs space i loved playing around with, and the dynamics of the foyer- precision, image making, generating engaging conversations. Initial feedback verbally was very positive, as I left the participants, I had comments form them such as 'wonderful, thank you.' and 'awesome,' but in my book, only one comment, which was about the way i present myself in a blurb, intentions to be cryptic? this is a long standing problem i have, how much to say, what is too much, and how the theatre audience blurb needs to be considered differently to the art one.how? why? I think the cryptic idea works well, maybe it should be more so, should this have been an entirely unannounced, invisible thing? I remember at Duckie how I was trying to insist that The Darkroom wasn't announced, taking people off through the door marked private etc etc but that the compere insisted, it was part of the vibe there to keep the energy high about the events happening. I thing I need to spend some time looking at this, I also met at EEC 2009 the critical writing guru Rachel Lois Clapham of Open Dialogues whom i should contact. I think it's also hard for me as i do rely on comments becoming documentation, as i don't record the work visually (apart from the relics)- maybe I need to find another platform for gathering?

I need to digest the event for a little while (I'm currently thinking abut what is interaction versus participation in the context of my practice now and in the future- create more open ended work??) , before posting my thoughts, and have another show on Friday (am I mad?) meanwhile, thoughts, suggestions, questions, from the participants or otherwise most welcome, now or once digested too:)

SPRINT Festival acceptance!

whoop! gosh, how exciting. I created a revised proposal and was accepted for the preview launch event in June. The piece is a combination of existing elements of different shows as well as new bits too.
the proposal which i'm tweaking, and will do so further when i scratch it in site to create a final score, is as follows below:

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Private view @ SPRINT June 2009

1st proposal: Exhibition private view event.
(2nd proposal: Launch press night)

Rationale: Embracing the ideas of public and private, temporal conviviality with a stranger, being in the moment of photography, and then the moment that has passed, the letting down your guard. Playing around with ideas about private views, the public event, public persona and the behind-the-scenes of your pocket, the rehearsal room.

HP is in the normal ‘dress code’ of the event.

Movement through the site: Foyer/bar/exhibition space, into lift to basement, into rehearsal room, into kitchen, back out of kitchen, through rehearsal room, out the back door to the theatre and arrives at CP theatre in the front entrance, into the exhibition area. Accompanied by HP the whole time.

Usher/bookings: none

Outline of an encounter

• Begin encounter in bar/foyer/exhibition area

• HP asks an individual if they would like to see her work

• Asks until find someone

• HP gets out a mobile phone from her handbag and takes a phone photo of the two of them together in front of an artwork/ at the bar.

• HP plays back image and shows the participant the image. Mobile phone goes back in HP’s handbag.

• HP asks the participant if they would like to follow her

• HP takes participant to the lift and goes down in it to the basement

• HP goes to the rehearsal room door and opens it (with a key?), and switches on the side lights from the kitchen switch.

• HP sits on the floor of the rehearsal room with the participant

• HP asks the participant what they keep in their pocket/on their person, and if they'd like to share something with her.

• They then talk about the item, and associations, HP may share an item too or exchange stories triggered by the participants item.

• HP then gets up and walks to the kitchenette with the participant, opening up the serving hatch to let them both inside.

• HP pulls down the shutter, and turns off the side lights to the main room, to darkness.

• HP turns on the red light (lamp, plugged into side wall in kitchen)

• HP gets out photographic paper onto the kitchen worktop, and asks the participant to put their item on the paper. HP does the same if they also produced an object.

• HP then asks the participant to turn on the strip lights/HP leans on it and it comes on and exposes the photo paper.

• HP then gets out a cash box from under the shelves in the kitchen, puts on the kitchen worktop, and a key from her pocket and asks the participant to open the box, and put the photo paper inside.

• They watch the image appear and start to disappear.

• As the image reaches a point where it is not longer disappearing, HP gets out her mobile phone and holds it over the cash box so the image of her and the participant is seen reflected back.

• As the image completely disappears, she deletes the image.

• The box is locked and put away back under the counter.

• HP then moves towards sink, and turns on the tap, asking the participant to wash the image.

• HP then opens the archive room door and gets out a heater and asks the participant to dry the image.

• HP gets out a photo frame and bubble wrap from a cardboard box in the archive room.

• HP then pulls up the shutters, and asks the participant to stands the other side of the serving counter, with HP still in the kitchen side.

• HP puts the photo frame on the counter and frames it.

• HP gets out paper a small card exhibition label, asks the participant to write their title label to accompany their image.

• HP gets out the shredder from the archive room, plugs in and shreds the label.

• HP then wraps the frame in bubble wrap and fragile wrapping tape/parcel tape.

• HP gives this to the participant

• Shredder, heater goes back, archive door locked, lights off in rehearsal room, door closed.

• The participant and HP then leave the building via the back door fire exit.

• HP and the participant go round the front of the building and enter CP theatre via the main entrance.

• HP then asks the participant to put up the photograph as part of the exhibition.

• HP and the participant then leave one another


Event starts again.

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Considerations/to check or work out:

• the flow of this needs scratching, the opening especially.
  
• how to select people. stickers, bookings, random from foyer? find out about the launch event itself.
  
• singular or multiple encounters happening simultaneously? what is gained, what is lost?
  
• the photogram pinned up- will need to test pins in the surface or put up some board (eg area of white painted pinboard screwed to the wall) . Establishing wall for the photograms
• how will the launch event be laid out (where dj etc)
• will the other work on the foyer walls will be documentation of performances? Will there be exhibition name labels, as it could be good to match this if possible, or I can use foam board.
• thinking about the piece working alongside another one hour performance - is this a stand and watch for an hour event? How to ensure that people are back in the place they need to be at a certain time.
• check I will have the entire downstairs rooms and corridors (not the electricity hazard ones) to move through/be in - rehearsal room, small cleaners cupboard corridor as discussed,front stair entrance, back entrance, lift, and if needed the toilet spaces (with more performers it may be good to use these)

SPRINT Festival revised proposal: thoughts

ok..so first thoughts:

• what's the meaning of the spaces? Downstairs: sense of unease, dysfunction, industrial, corporate, redundancy, make do, rehearsal, preparation, props, not the real thing, refreshment,an in-between-room...Upstairs: waiting area, relaxing bar area, small varied gallery area, side office, doors to theatre

• the foyer- access to basement via lift or the side stairwell. people would be in the foyer bar for the launch event nights in a jovial mood. taking them from their relaxing comfort zone (come out to be 'entertained, let hair down over a beer') and into the basement, guard up or down?

• movement through the space, from maybe being part of the private view/launch night in public space to behind the scenes, the rooms with redundant items, traces of very purely functional occupancy alongside random items. in the rehearsal/kitchen room- peeling walls dysfunctional switches, rehearsal/performance wall kisses, and awake/sleep written on the inside of the shutters....spaces that were once a pub cellar bar, a youth club. was going to become the theatre bar but it has no windows. rumbling tube line sounds above. apparently you can hear the acoustics of the theatre, low mumbles of voices, lorry street traffic. use of the serving bar (my favourite bit) with the two sides of it allowing interplay between the server and the being served- do the sides change, the giver and the receiver? this is integral in potentially developing an exchange around it. the shutters- abruptly transform space from public to private, the kitchen becoming a light tight den space. use of sink, draining board, the washed up. like the brainstorm sheets on the rehearsal walls- brainstorm the pocket? playing with a non-sensical action- shred this as its becoming documentation?
  

• the cleaning cupboard/ corridor: the unsavoury urine corridor smell, only partially lit, 'escape' markings on the stairs. taking someone in the cupboard full of redundant items, the cupboard no one can find, no one knows we're there, apprehension, danger? rummaging round in your pocket asked by a stranger to share the contents, all rather unsettling. expose and develop the image.leave via the unsavoury corridor, like spat back into the community. does this encourage an exchange, is it too alienating? would it encourage a human connection that is too sleazy or to play on that? walking along the corridor leaves a bad taste in your mouth? items in there: hoovers, heaters, cleaning products, toys, books, bus ticket
  

• use the kitchen? make tea, eat biscuits, converse? photo-traces of the objects mapping them moving through space across the counter? use the movement around the serving bar as a way into the shuttered-to-red-light kitchen (can you get me something from the draining board, etc) . although this draws people into a false sense of security, or doesn't all my work- leading to a final sense of catharsis, am i still trying to achieve that here?

• playing with marrying the momentary conviviality and temporality of encounter with a stranger with that of that-has-been of photography. use of the foyer for the dying photograms? display which extends the one-to-one experience or whats in it for this other audience? does it give the game away or encourage participation? becomes another product in itself
  

• exploring the context of the archive- the room off the side of the kitchen. the debris of the encounter (photo/paper shreds if applicable) gets archived off?

enough for now. more tomorrow....need to think more about the server and the being served over the counter....

SPRINT Festival proposal- site visit- Part one the cleaning cupboard/ hallway/out the back

ok, so to start to think about a site-responsive piece developing from my previous work, here follows the possible cleaning cupboard that is very tucked away (and which not even the cleaners realise is there)




cleaning products...and not


walls are quite delapidated

charity shop ticket, old toys- props, books, traces from the youth club?






the hallway stinks of urine. light only work in this part. door to right goes into the basement cellar/rehearsal room, up the stairs out the back of the theatre


"escape" written on stairs

half size door to the cupboard. ceiling light fitting inside is broken





like the arrow on the wall

heading out the back of the theatre: possible route in or out? like the idea that you only remain in the behind the scenes of the theatre




intriguing door to right







back out towards the street. turn left and your back at the theatre

SPRINT Festival proposal- site visit- Part two the cellar bar/rehearsal room

rehearsal notes on the wall



really like the serving hatch and shutters and the air con noise. public and private spaces



lights- strip, side, spot


able to put on the strip light leaning on it....







bolt missing



used to be a pub cellar









side entrance






on Hampstead road