den the score (proposed)

Set up: a table laid with a vase of flowers, crocheted doilies, table cloth. Underneath table is a kids walkie talkie. Nearby (around 3 metres or more) a childlike den made of old curtains, bed sheets, and furniture in orange torch light.

Inside den: orange torch, pen torch, cash box and key, tray, photopaper, cards, pen, moist wipes, cloths, towel, hand fan, scissors, frames, blankets.

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I’m inside the den.

I ask via the walkie talkie if there is anyone there, and to push the side button on the walkie talkie to speak.

Once get a reply, ask them if they’d like to come in the den, and then stick my hand out to show where to get inside.

Once settled, open and spread out the pack/bag of greetings cards.

Ask the participant to pick and write one to a female who was important in their life.

After writing it, ask them if they’d like to discuss who they chose, and why. Have a conversation responding to each other.

I ask the participant to place the card on the tray, get out photo paper, and photogram it using the torch light.

Bring in the shredder behind me forom outside the back of the den and shred the card. Remove the shredder again.

Develop the photogram. Wash, dry and frame the photogram.

Hand the frame to the participant to put on the table. Participant leaves den and goes to the table.

Confirms via walkie talkie when then have left the table, places it back under the table.

Starts again.

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how long will each encounter take? lora has said that there's a poet who has composed for the event after seeing a listing of it- so spoken word amongst the visual art with my work hovering somewhere in between..or outside... i will stop when this poetry happens.

sooo grateful to imelda another artist in the show who picked up the den load today. i really must learn to drive. and then i could become ultra photo-portable, like genius camera truck- imagine :) and meanwhile, am just excited about the shed man coming round next weekend to chat, er garden sheds for my garden, my true sanctury, hooray!!

am thinking this is the piece i will propose to the accidental festival, the thematic is right up my street. the web info in particular says this;

"What we are looking for this year:

We are interested in all kinds of art forms and particularly in work that fuses different art forms or disciplines to create performance-based work that is contemporary and innovative. This year we are focusing on creating and developing a community of artists and audience and truly celebrating performance in all its forms over the course of the three days of the festival. The theme we are asking artists to respond to is 'connection' as we are trying to create a network of artists interested in truly connecting with their audiences and exploring collaboration across disciplines. We aim to make the festival a place where artists and audience can exchange ideas and form lasting links. We are interested in both established works and ideas that are in development or 'scratch' pieces."

dolls house mini world back again?

ahhhh, mini-me thoughts return. i own 3 metal cash boxes of varying sizes i have used as troughs. today in the hardware shop getting stuff for Private View, i found this really minute one. small enough to fit in a pocket..is there something in the idea of a darkroom in my pocket, truly portable?? thinking lisa cheung and her gift work, out on the street, perhaps a mobile darkroom? in working on my MA show i was really interested in total portablity in fitting with the total temporality of performance ideas. before i decided on sheds, i was thinking about making dens in participants houses out of whatever they could lay their hands on- this will be good to explore in my work den, in Not a F******* art show next month. more to follow on this......

The Darkroom @ Duckie: The score

The score I set to follow of the 'happening' : Outline of an encounter

Mitch approaches a person in the main bar/dancefloor/outside area.

Mitch asks person “ Would you like to go to the darkroom?” and continues to ask until gets a willing participant and puts a sticker on them.

Performer approaches person wearing a sticker, gets out a mobile phone from her handbag, puts arm round them(?) and takes a phone photo of the two of them together. Performer plays back image and shows the participant the image. Mobile phone goes back in the performers handbag.

The Performer says/whispers “Come with me” OR lead by hand, and the two go to the edge of the bar near the club entrance, to the door marked “Private.”

They open the door and walk upstairs, across the landing and sit together a few steps up on the main (ornate) staircase. If there is someone already on the stairs they sit below/above.

The Performer asks them what they keep in their pocket/on their person, and if they’d like to share it.

They then talk about the item if they want to share, and the Performer may share an item too.

The Performer then gets up and walks to the bathroom with the participant. Performer knocks on the bathroom door. If there is someone in there they stand and wait OR return to the ornate staircase and sit.

They go inside and sit on the floor.

Performer gets out photographic paper and asks the Participant to put their item on the paper. Performer does the same if they also told their story.

Performer/participant then turns on the bathroom light/ gets out torch on a key ring and exposes the photo paper.

Performer then gets up and moves towards sink. She puts in the plug.

She asks the participant to put the image in the sink. She then opens a bottle sitting on the side of the bath/sink and pours it over the image. Performer gets out tweezers from her handbag, moving image around with tweezers to coat it fully.

They watch the image partially develop.

Performer then gets out their mobile phone and finds the photo of the two of them, and holds it over the image to kill it to black completely.

The image is then deleted by the participant. The mobile goes back into the performers handbag.

The Performer turns on the cold tap and as it fills up, takes the plug out and holds the image under the tap to wash it.

Performer wraps and blots the image in a towel/flannel and puts it [in a small wash bag] inside her handbag. The two leave the bathroom, shutting the door firmly behind.

The two go to the laundry room. The photogram is taken out of the handbag to hang up on string with pegs in the laundry room with all the other ones.

The performer leaves the laundry room shutting the door firmly behind. She then walks down the stairs with the participant and stops by the door to the club. She gets out a business card form her handbag, takes off the participants sticker and sticks it on the back of the card, and puts the card in the participants pocket. She then opens the door back to the dance floor and the participant and the performer leave one another.

Event starts again.


Questions


Does the performer offer their story first or only if feels right to do so

How much do you need to gesture for the participant to move around the space, if performer sat down or walked in the bathroom would they follow?

How much developer to pour each time and how to sort out refilling. Using the idea of a bottle on the side of the bath OR perfume bottle? Test out half strength dilution in the chosen exposure lighting conditions.

Set up:

Black out bathroom, laundry room, Top landing (all single windows)

Hang up black curtain over the door to laundry room if needed and other glass door possibly.

Laundry room:
Set up red light. Hang up string for photo paper. Put pegs on the side.

Bathroom:

Set up red light. Clear space to sit on floor. Check plug fits if needed. Sort out white lighting arrangements. Test exposure and development time.

Walk through whole piece with Laura and Mitch.

Get dressed up for the club!