Working on the library of lost books – the first stage –
deconstruction!
meanwhile
As a freelance artist I spend time thinking, conceiving,
developing and believing in projects that never come to fruition for one reason
or another. I am asked to submit proposals for opportunities and I thought it
would be interesting to post some of them -
The proposal – talking city – longhouse
I am drawn to this projects immediacy.
I have been making work within the public realm for some time. This work often
involves extensive public consultation with user groups and stakeholders, negotiations with
engineers and planners alongside acknowledging health and safety, maintenance
and various design procedures and codes. This process alongside the timescale –
usually taking up to a year to come to fruition steers the work to be of a
certain kind. The work I leave behind has a certain degree of authority because
of the process’s and structures that it evolves from. It would be interesting
to make work without the support of these systems, to see if the work I create
has integrity from both a conceptual and aesthetic position and if it can stand
‘alone’ without the joint crutches of consultation and bureaucracy. I work
at Norwich University College of the Arts and enjoy my job there but I think
the rest of Norwich asks itself - What’s an art college for? What is an art
education? What do we do in that building? I would like to make an intervention
where the private becomes public, both the college becoming public within the
city and the individuals experience within the college. I think the root of
students work at this moment in time can be monitored by their relation to the
research they are engaged in. I would like to spend the day making
visible the books taken out by students from NUCA library to the general public
of Norwich. This intervention would present the range of interests and
activities undertaken by the students to the wider audience of the city and the
different courses within the University. I would do this by taking the
electronic output from both the self service and desk service and writing on
chalk boards attached to the railings on the street the titles of these books. I
believe this would develop a connection between the city and the university and
a wider discussion about the role of the arts student.
The proposal - Maggs Bros Ltd
There is a sense of excited anticipation experienced
whilst unwrapping books; this leads to revelation and pleasure.
I make artists books. My recent practice focuses on the
idea and use of the fold, considering how to extend and explore notions of
revelation and the ephemeral nature of the page; front becoming back along with
the belief in the book as a series of spaces in time. The work also considers
the specific meaning and creative use of materials in conveying ideas and
exploring a sense of place. I propose to make a series of artworks that will
extend beyond 50 Berkeley Sq, the bookshop intervention and exhibition, through
the postal service and into the homes and lives of five Maggs Bros clients. I
will respond to five books that have been bought and require postage. I will
use my skills in bookmaking and experience in utilising the fold to wrap the
books in ways that respond to the specific qualities inherent in the book,
taking care not to undermine the very reason for the wrapping; security and
care.
I would consider the history of the five books, including
known owners, the content and form of the book, making poetic visual
connections between these factors to serve as an intention or brief with which
to respond to. I would do this over two days in the space where the books are
prepared for postage. The wrapped books would be photographed by Maggs Bros; I
would be delighted for Maggs Bros to document the whole process if they wish. I
would provide an artist’s statement for each piece. I would use the materials
that Maggs Bros Ltd uses to wrap books for postage. The choice of books would
be discussed, but the decision of which books and customers would be with Maggs
Bros Ltd.
The proposal - Unravelling the National Trust: Nymans House and
Gardens
I
propose to make a large, limited edition bookwork to be seen as one of the lost
books from the destroyed library. The work would be made from paper and
card, be printed using both traditional and digital techniques and be in an
edition of at least 10. Words and images would explore and communicate ideas
around medical astrology. The bookwork would be made from hybrid structures
(lots of folding) to enable multiple narratives to be formed. I would want to focus on Nicolas
Culpeper who was involved in the advancement of medicine at a point in its development when it was
connected with religion, politics, astrology and botany. His questioning of traditional practice
and assumed knowledge, exploring new solutions for ill health would be a
starting point in the creation of a bookwork which would explore notions of truth and
the value of knowledge. The book would explore the essence of bookness -
sequence, order, time, revelation, intimacy and control. The work would create
a space for the reflective experience, taking time to connect, look, listen,
consider and explore the idea of a medical astrologist The structure of the bookwork would enable multiple narratives to be
constructed by opening, folding and revealing pages, creating many hybrid
possibilities from the fields Culpeper
was involved
with, including the possible uses
of herbs and the idea
of ‘alternative medicine’.
I would like the work to be physically accessible to the public, to be held,
touched, pages turned to create the many juxtapositions. I envisage wear and
tear on the book. For me this is not an issue as the many marks made by
handling will become part of the narrative. But if it is felt that the
experience has been diminished because of the state of the book another copy of
the edition can be used.
The proposal – digital city - Manchester
A dialogue with the Radcliffe and Maconie Programme on
BBC 6 Music. The interaction will take the form of responding to the programmes
content physically. The presenters will observe this activity and broadcast it
to a global audience. My proposal is to interact with the BBC. I have been
listening to The Radcliffe and Maconie Radio Programme since April 2007 and
find them to be open and intelligent individuals who provide a witty and
knowledgeable commentary on the music news and cultural events in general.
Since their move to BBC 6 Music in April 2011 and subsequently ‘broadcasting’
from a new studio at Media City in Salford they also comment on what they can
see from a window when they are broadcasting. This opportunity for dialogue is
my space. I propose to use this as a space to interact with the output from the
Radcliffe and Maconie show and ultimately through their digital broadcast to
engage with their audience. I have a
history of working with the book form and all its associated processes,
elements and concepts including printing, publishing, image and text,
narrative, sequence, the control and dissemination of information. The book, a
symbol of power and knowledge is a vehicle to communicate directly; it is a
form that is understood in these terms. Repositioning its context and
redirecting its purpose challenges these very notions. The work becomes a
question rather than an answer, a collaboration in the mind and hand between
maker and reader/viewer. The practical aspects of the book form, of
disseminating information; of making things clearer are questioned. The
bookworks explore the idea of form as content and their manipulation enables
multiple narratives creating a space for the reflective experience of taking
time to connection, look, listen, and consider. My proposal encompasses
many of the issues I have been working with in the field of public works of art
for community spaces. The choice of show is important as I am a person for whom
music has always been an important element yet I am at that stage in life where
other factors have taken priority and the tsunami of new music has overtaken
me. But Radcliffe and Maconie play quality new music by up and coming artists
as well as off-centre classics from established acts. It also features live
sessions and interviews from a diverse collection of performers. This seemingly
comfortable mission statement means that the demographic for the show including
people a bit like me are getting educated as well as entertained. The proposals
genesis is my recognition and interest in the pioneers of guerilla broadcasting
interaction – the members of the public on news transmissions peering into my
living room, individuals who stood
behind live presenters trying to get into the camera shot. At an age when
access to a mass audience through broadcasting was very limited this was a way
of ‘getting on the telly’ and so becoming famous. Reaching a mass audience in
an age of innocence. This early form of
engagement with the media by the public could be seen as a precursor to our
interest and subsequent obsession with fame, an activity whose trajectory
eventually leads to Big Brother and twitter feeds. There are many elements to
the proposal that reference different ways of working and relationships to
communication. The main ones being around translation and interpretation
between the physical and the digital, the notion of connectivity through mass
media and the idea of collaboration and the relationships formed through
participation. The idea of communicating to a mass audience through the
possible observations of two people broadcasting on the radio is interesting in
itself and references ideas of gossip and testimony. The proposal considers
current hybrid modes of art practice including piggybacking and by its nature
viral interaction but at the same time reinterprets these activities by
grounding them in the physical world. I
envisage a continuous dialogue between the output from the radio show and
myself. I will respond to the content of a program with a number of activities
including text messaging - words written on a large pad of paper, picture
messaging - drawing and painting images including symbols, tweeting – talking
to random people in the square. The potential audience for this art piece is
1.3 million worldwide. There is also through the listen again facility the
opportunity for repeat listening. The audience demographic for the show is
evidenced by the interaction opportunities within the program. Although self selecting by its very nature
the individuals who listen appear to be interested in ideas and within the
profile there is a rich potential for new audiences to the arts. I am unsure if
there would/should be a dialogue between the Radcliffe and Maconie show before
the proposed intervention. If there is I could try and become a larger part of
the shows content through their ongoing features including the chain –a never-ending list of records, decided by the
listeners with every new track somehow connected to the last and theme
time tea time - three records that are
connected by a theme. Alternatively turning up and interacting could be more in
spirit with the proposal. The budget for the proposal is a return train ticket
from Darsham in Suffolk to Salford in Manchester and at the moment the
materials include an ‘easel’, large pad of paper and paint and pens. The
infrastructure of the BBC and their broadcasting facility would be seen as the
main ‘supporter’ of the project.
