Harriet and I managed to get in the space this
week to do some devising and thrash out some ideas for the project. Although it was freezing it was great fun to be finally in a space where we can devise practical work.
We are looking at doing the project
in three parts
in order to enable us b
oth to work in our research areas and try out ideas (although to be fair there are a lot of cr
oss overs in our chosen areas anyway). The first part is going to be an exchange based on the '(in)visible exchange' that Harriet did for the Nunnery (but obviously an expansion of it); and also to maybe try out creating some narratives. The second part is to try out some of the ideas that I have been having around the past and present and using projections. It is really good as I feel that trying out different ways of working in
the same project is really helping me get lots of inspiration at the moment.
Below are a few pictures that we took whilst trying out some ideas;
I really like the projections as I think that they work on a number of different levels (although these are not the projections that we will use they were good to have a play around with).
I think that it is funny to project nice brand-spanking new furnishings and equipment into such a dilapidated space, especially since once-upon-a-time it was used in the way that we are referencing. The fact that they are disfunctional, and we are simultaneously in the space and are not - says a lot about the current occupation and usage of the space.
I kind of feel like the projections also reference how we ourselves project into a space and imagination working and I started making up narratives for what may have happened in there in the past, who might live there in the future, what it might have and still could look like. I project all this onto a derelict surface as does a projector.
Putting my live body next to a still, projected, image was interesting. The cracks and surfaces show though the projection and I like this layered scenery a lot. My live self felt more present as the projection had a ghostly feel and effect to it. I really felt as if it referenced a past much more effectively (if not a little literal) than my present self ever could using dialogue.
Seeing this working practically has really started me thinking about how my live self occupies a space and the history of creating a performance. Perhaps a next step for me (after this project) will be to film rehearsals and project them back on top of a live performance. Process in performance is as interesting to me as the finished product and my 'past rehearsing self' is as much as part of a performance as my 'present live self'... does that make sense or am I rambling???
I think the next step for this project is working out the specifics of the performance, its content, and playing around with some more ideas. Interacting with projections is a great stepping stone for me and having to exhibit it at a set date publicly is just the push I needed.
I feel much better working for this exhibition than I did when I was contemplating the Nunnery. Maybe it is that the context is different, or maybe I am just in a better place. The exhibition is framed as a work in progress to try out new ideas which makes me feel a lot more comfortable.
2 comments:
Hey lady
I love the projecting narratives and projecting images connection, and describing the projections as ‘layered scenery’ idea. I think it says how sometimes our images might be contextual backdrop and then the opposite- sometimes performative eg in live feed- am looking forward to experimenting with both. The static and the moving image- when to use which and how this contributes to, or voices, the narrative, as well as how we give attention to the projection / away from it. We also don’t need to be automatically thinking the projection is rectangular- we can shape as we which through angle of projector hitting surface and adapting to the contours, or shaping the image on the computer/ shaped mask onto the projector lens- sorry- stevies peep hole idea has got me thinking- not about peep holes but about the peep hole circular shape.
As you know process is what i’m interested in sharing using photography- the photograms experience shared with the participant in this case. Maybe there is something in, as the whole exhibition is work-in-progress revealing the rehearsals process as you state in your post as well in our piece? With the idea of having the old projector for old slides and new multimedia one for the future identity, the technology to create the show is exposed and part of the performance, the photograms created from part one are used in part two, so maybe we could expose the process of making our show too? Are fictive and real history personas engaging in a debate partly about that perhaps? Or maybe this is all TOO MANY LAYERS haha
Having barked on to lena about her work being about technology (and her saying it isn’t) I’m actually thinking that mine is becoming a lot about that- the device used to create/give life to (projector) a photograph, the process of image making and the narrative in the image itself, and all of this is good for me to explore in our project :)
I think that the site excites you in this project as it fits with your deconstruction ideas and when the nunnery was happening you were thinking more black box? Anyway whatever it is that’s getting you practical is great for me too as we can learn from each other- you’re right our research ideas are along a similar tack at this point and helping me explore projections, projectors, storytelling, non-verbal, gain confidence in constructing narrative performance and persona, plus developing a different take on the nunnery closet/photograms ideas is all good for me! And its also good to go back and revisit aspects of our original investigation together in the ‘evidence of an action’ in December in way that now suits us both.
x
Hey love, like I said to harriet - these images look great! Do you think this could be the beginning of your aesthetic breakthrough? hehe x
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