Month: March 2013

Working from Lone Twin’s Totem

Daniel Ridealgh / / A Restoration

The artistic duo, Lone Twin, underwent a project in 1998 entitled Totem.  The pair attempted to carry a fallen telegraph pole along a straight line drawn through Colchester’s town centre, around streets of traffic, through shops and homes, with the artists carving into the pole the initials of those who helped complete the journey.  In an interview with Christopher Hewitt for the 2004 Brussels kunstenFestivaldesArts, the pair said that they aimed to ‘activate social events through personal trials’ ((Bilateral, (2006), Lone Twin interviewed by Christopher Hewitt. [online] Available at: http://www.lucazoid.com/bilateral/lone-twin-interviewed-by-christopher-hewitt/, [Accessed 10 March 2013] )) .  The inclusion of audience within the performance journey itself creates a far stronger response than if they were watching from an auditorium.

 

This is the motivation behind one of the projects we will be presenting at the Grandstand.  The piece is similar to that of a post-mortem discussion.  We would have the audience experience all of the performances at the site, which portray the different stories and uses of the stand, and then offer written suggestions as to what they think the space should be used for now.  These will be attached to a piece of horse-hair infused twine approximately 800 metres in length, and then carried back to the Lincoln high street with the aid of the audience.  The twine will be used prior to this to remap accurately placed and scaled parameters of the demolished stands that were next to the surviving one.  We intend for the audience to see the removed stands, to allow them to engage with what the site used to be at full construction.  The interview with Lone Twin reveals similar intentions with their work as they ‘create and define the location through physical activity drawing an audience into the possible commonality of the task. It is their commitment to carrying things out, to finding an end to the journey that engenders equal acts of engagement, energising notions of community against often difficult odds’.

 

The Grandstand was a popular social location for the seasonal races in the past, and we would hope to capture some of that social excitement when exploring the grandstand’s future.  By bringing the twine back to the high street for the public and the audience to see, everyone can get an idea for how important the stand was to Lincoln life in the past, as well as how versatile the space is today to cater to many suggestions about what it should become.   Through some preliminary research, many suggestions about what the grandstand should be turned into have been made.  Popular suggestions include turning the space into a race museum, a horse-racing themed restaurant and a skate park.  Though different suggestions all participants asked expressed a keen desire for the stand to become popular once again.

A Development

Lauren Olerenshaw / / War and Loss

Looking at Mike Pearson’s Some approach’s to research he asks ‘In what ways can performance provide a context for mixed method research? How might it enable a synthesis of approaches, through a working together on site, about site? ((Pearson, Mike (2011) Some approach’s to research)). We asked ourselves how we could make a performance that would enable us to show all the research we had gathered so far, and how we could make it relevant to site. Although our initial idea was a performance based on the Beechey brothers and their letters home which was something we felt very passionate about, as we could not help but to feel a personal connection to the story through reading their letters and seeing so many personal items. However, further research provided us with statistics on how many lives were lost due to war and suddenly we were compelled to know more. We felt an emotional pull towards the Beechey brothers story as a mother lost five children, we then realised how many families lost relatives, nine thousand serving soldiers died, and many more people died due to  things such as the gases released, gases such as carbon monoxide. However remaining close to our original idea men lost at war and these men’s vices we needed a new idea. Nine thousand. How to stress the importance of this number? How do we provide a context for this figure?

 

We found the men had many vices, ways to focus there energy when of duty. This included things like poetry, writing and art, one of the pieces of art we were looking at drawn by a soldier from the Lincoln regiment, drew a British flag, which is what we recreated using string, as a performance on this string we will begin to place coins, and although initially we thought to let the audience contribute by laying coins we thought of the railings as a barrier and so wanted to restrain any contact by to the audience. In total nine thousand penny’s to represent each soldier from the Lincoln regiment who gave his life for his country. We feel this shows a good indication as to the sheer number of the fallen men. Weather permits, the idea of the sun shining on the coins which gives of a bright reflection, symbolises their lives and by using a very small denominator like the penny we are showing no matter, you can not put a price on life. For respect of Her Majesty The Queen serving soldiers we would place all coins queens head facing up, inspired by a task previously I had taken place in where the face of the head decided our direction. Deciding eventually after trying many methods, we would simply count stood on a mound of penny’s as the other members of our group would be turning the coins over and laying coins to fill the gaps to complete our image, they would take coins from  the counters feat and recreate the image of the flag.

Hiding in plain ‘site’

Emma Taylor / / The Odds Are Stacked

To many passers-by the Grandstand goes unnoticed, it fades into the background, it becomes hidden in plain sight. So as we think that the Grandstand has lost its identity, we want to bring it back to life and to bring back its former glory. So taking the idea of something being hidden in plain sight we looked at the idea of filling a wall or even an entire room with newspaper pages, and then also completely wrapping ourselves in the newspaper too- in order for us to blend in with the background, to become camouflaged, and to ‘lose our identity’. We looked at a couple of other artists who use a similar concept before trying it out for ourselves. We had seen the idea be used recently in a music video for Gotye’s ‘Somebody that I used to know’, where the singers had their bodies painted to match the background behind them. The artist who helped design this was called Emma Hack, who explores the notion of camouflage in her work, and was inspired and influenced by the work of Veruschka (an artist who camouflaged herself into rustic walls and environmental settings in the 1960s and 70s). Looking more closely at artists who use this same concept but for site-specific performance, we found Christo and Jeanne-Claude. This couple have done similar pieces of art but instead of using camouflage, they wrapped items, people and buildings in material to draw attention to and to create intrigue and mystery of the wrapped piece. By wrapping the building it “compel[s] us to look anew at our everyday surroundings” ((Allain, P. and Harvie, J. (2006) The Routledge Companion to Theatre and Performance. Oxon and New York: Routledge. P36)) and as quoted on the Christo and Jeanne-Claude website “The concealment caused by the fabric challenges the viewer to reappraise the objects beneath and the space in which it exists” ((Blackbourn, A. 2011, www.christojeanneclaude.net/projects/wrapped-objects-statues-and-women?view=info)). We want the spectator to see the Grandstand properly, as opposed to just letting it fade into the background as they drive past.

The following photos show an example of Emma Hack’s work, and also our first attempt at using newspaper to camouflage a person, in this case me.

Emma-Hack-10
Emma Hack’s work. ((Emma Hack, Wallpaper 2008 Collection. http://www.emmahackartist.com.au/emma_art/emma_wallpaper08.html))

newspaper person
Our work.

Whereas Christo and Jeanne-Claude wrap the outside of buildings, we have reversed this and will be wrapping the inside of the building. And whereas they use plastic to wrap the buildings, we have chosen to use newspaper. We chose to use newspaper for the reason that it creates a link to the media which constantly broadcasts adverts for gambling and betting, and also covers the horse racing when it takes place. Another reason we chose to use the newspaper, was because of an old article we found. As part of our research we took a visit to the Museum of Lincolnshire Life, and here we found an old newspaper article that was about some riots that had taken place at the Grandstand back when it was open. The article detailed numerous pick-pocketing incidents that had eventually led into full scale riots. The article was written in a very poetic style, and we really like the idea of including it somehow in our performance. We also liked the fact that it brings in the theme of loss, something of which we have spoken about in my group. Spectators at the Grandstand would have lost money when placing bets, they lost money through being pick-pocketed, and then the Grandstand lost its purpose altogether. This is a theme which we would like to recur throughout our piece.

Alongside this camouflage idea, and working to a similar theme of ‘loss’, we have been looking at using a poem called ‘the horse that I am riding’ written by Ric S. Bastasa. The short poem is written from the jockey’s point of view, and ends with the line “the horse gets nothing”, which we liked as it links to the Grandstand which now is nothing compared to what it was 70+ years ago. The poem creates a direct link with the site, as it revives the grandstand’s original purpose of being a ground for horse racing events. We played around with different ways of delivering the poem- having one person speak it, having us all speak it in unison, and lastly us all speaking it in canon. The last way we felt worked the best, as we realised it almost replicated the sound of galloping horses in a race.

In an exercise we have done recently, we stuck post-it notes over our mouths with words describing the ‘lost’ nature of the present grandstand written on them. We then slowly tore them off and dropped them to the floor. This action became almost reminiscent of the old betting slips that would have been thrown to the floor when they hadn’t won at the races. This, we thought, was really simple but powerful and we endeavoured to include it in our piece. So we decided that whilst we were reciting the aforementioned poem, we would drop ripped up bits of newspapers and possibly betting slips on to the floor. So that the floor would end being littered with scraps of paper, in the same way that it would have been littered with betting slips in the past.

We have also had the idea of projecting the first moving picture, which was of a horse and was created by Eadweard Muybridge, on top of us whilst we are camouflaged in the newspaper and whilst we are reciting the poem. However this idea still needs to be put into practise to see how well it works, and will be explored over the coming weeks.

Restoring the Grandstand Part II

Abigail Dawson / / A Restoration

Following on from my last discussion of attempting to restore the Grand Stand, our group have been focused on giving the site back its lost voice. 240 years of activity now lies silent and we want to bring it back to life. After spending a few hours inside the site – going from the waiting room, to the weighing room and to the kitchen – we were able to take in its present existence and what it felt like in the current bare space. We discussed where in this space we could inhabit, where we could create “a restoration of the absent present” ((Pearson M. (2010) Site-Specific Performance, London: Palgrave Macmillan, p. 46)), what should still be alive. While those interested in Woman of War took the waiting room, we decided that we’d be the ones to guide the audience throughout their journey of the Grand Stand, through the use of a sound system. They will break up each of the groups live and/ or installation pieces and will then prompt the audience to move to the next section of the performance.

At the Lincolnshire Archives a copy of what appears to be a tannoy broadcast was found. From this we were able to take parts of the text to be recorded and announced through our speakers. For example, ‘Welcome ladies and gentleman to the second seasonal race for the Lincoln Handicap, day 3’.  We want it to be spoken in the same style of voice a race broadcaster would speak, quite fast, this gives the impression that we are at a day at the races. Here there is a potential have audience participation; there is around 15 different horses in a race, perhaps each person is given a horse name on a sticky label that they must wear. If each group’s pieces only want a few members of the audience to witness it at a time then if a few spectators have the same horse’s name it may be instructed over the speaker that it is their turn to move. An idea which can possibly be developed to help with the journey of the performance. However not only do we want the speaker to act as an instructional device to help move spectators on, we want it to convey emotions. Perhaps of how the jockey’s felt being weighed in the weighing room and the anticipation of waiting to go out and race in the waiting room. Research needs to be undertaken of past jockey interviews in newspapers and online to find authentic quotes and thoughts from these people. We also want to broadcast the issue of betting at the race course and the gambling problems that may be connected. By using emotional monologues the audience are able to imagine the people that stepped onto the Grand Stand and how they personally felt.

We want the space to appear as if it’s lived in, revive life back to the lifeless. Several of Jerzy Grotowski’s productions “created a sense of a living environment through utilising a mode of witnessing” ((Govan E. et al. (2007) Making a Performance: Devising Histories and Contemporary Practices, Routledge: London and New York, p. 114)), so it is important we build a relationship between actor and spectator so they are engrossed in the ‘living environment’. The construction of this lived in space is also utilised by the British performance company Reckless Sleepers. In 2003 they created a performance called the Last Supper which was concerned with literally eating your words. Part of their research process was reading biographies and the requests for last meals from the prisoners on death row. From this the audience were invited to dine with them while the performers spoke the last words of the famous, not so famous, criminals and victims etc. Some of the audience members would receive a silver platter that would contain one of the last suppers. Lyn Gardner observes that the show “gives voice to the voiceless” ((Gardner L. (2004) ‘The Last Supper’, Guardian, 19 November)) as these last words are documented from those who are now dead. The past now inhabits the present space by re-enacting the last words, an effect we want to create with the past thoughts from those who stepped inside and outside the Grand Stand. Yi-Fu Tuan states that “the building or architectural complex now stands as an environment capable of affecting the people who live in it” ((Tuan Y. (1977) Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience, London: Edward Arnold, p. 102)), which will hopefully be the spectators who get involved with our piece.  We want them to hopefully re-live the past, not necessarily be moved by it, but by gaining the knowledge of the past they have a greater understanding of what the site used to be. Also they may be affected by how bare the Grand Stand is at present day and how much it has lost.

Evolution of A Racing Idea

Eloise Fitt / / The Odds Are Stacked

When we first started this project Emma, Charlie, Rachel, Kash and myself came together originally as a group because we all shared an interest in a document we had found at the Lincolnshire archives. The document in question was a 1939 plan to turn the grandstand in to a mortuary if Lincoln was badly bombed in the Second World War and there became a need for it. Seeing this document made us think about the loss and loneliness that the people would have felt during the war and how this linked to the building itself. We already knew that the grandstand had once been a hub of activity due to the Lincoln Handicap races that were once ran there but then, from hearing others ideas and research, we discovered that the grand stand was actually once part of a number of buildings that had once all stood around it. Over time these buildings had all been demolished, leaving the Grandstand all on its own. It had lost not only the event that gave it purpose but also the other buildings that surrounded it leaving it practically useless as a modern structure.

Our first idea was to bring a bit of that same racing atmosphere back to the building. To give life to a building whose purpose was lost in the past. By this we wanted to get the feeling of bets being placed and the feel of being so close to horses and the thrill of winning or losing! However saying this, we still wanted to have a hint of the lost history as well pertaining to the document we had found at the archives. The first idea we had was to have an outline of a horse on the floor of the main room with a projection of the grandstand on the back wall. This would then be surrounded by pictures of how the grandstand used to be reminding audiences of the grand history the building held. In order to be gain some feeling of what the atmosphere may have been like, Kash, Rachel and I decided to go to the William Hill betting shop and places bets of our own! Even though we weren’t very successful in the bets we placed, the shop did give us a hit of inspiration.

All around the walls of William Hill were copies of the Racing Post. The idea to plaster the walls with the same newspaper came to us from this experience. Using the original idea as a foundation our idea then evolved to include this new inspiration. Right now we are still working on the logistics of this and trying to decide how we can incorporate everything we want to do into the one performance while still not losing anything that helped us to come up with the idea in the first place. I feel our overall aim is to bring back an actual history of the grandstand infused with a proposed history all embodied together as one linear strand.