T.A.N.K – Page 3

Horse: Nature’s Athlete, Tractor and T.A.N.K.

Stephenie Clubley / April 5, 2013May 12, 2013 / T.A.N.K

Whilst developing our group’s piece at the Grandstand, we wanted to explore the relationship between the tank and its evolutionary roots. During the First World War, heavy haulage tractors were used to transport naval guns. The concept of the tank was first touched upon by Admiral Bacon in 1914 when he remarked, “If a machine could be capable of laying its own bridge, being equipped with means of offence and defence, it would be of assistance in trench warfare.” (( William Foster & Co (1920) The Tank: Its Birth And Development, Tee Publishing))

Before the invention of the tractor and the complete mechanisation of farming, horses were the farmers’ choice in work animals. They were used to pull ploughs and transport everything from carts of produce and raw materials to people and their tools. Other breeds of horses were bred for the purpose of entertainment, such as the racehorses that would have attracted the crowds to Lincoln’s own Grandstand.We wanted to show the relationship and transition between horse and machine in our performance piece. We felt it would create a stronger link with the site, through Lincoln’s rural setting and the role of the horse at work and in entertainment.

Continue reading “Horse: Nature’s Athlete, Tractor and T.A.N.K.”

The T.A.N.K: Part 1

Ben Middleton / March 30, 2013March 30, 2013 / T.A.N.K, Uncategorized

One of the first ideas for the Tank group was to create a video recreating the conception of the tank. The video was to use the Yarborough room within the White Hart Hotel in Lincoln where historically we know the idea of the tank was first conceived. We did this because this could be a real starting point for our performance since we could use it as a mapping point and explore the creation of the tank from this very beginning. We also this was a strong point because ‘Relationships between the arts and everyday life became subject to radical scrutiny in the period of the historical avant-garde’ ((Goven Emma et al (2007) Making a Performance: Devising Histories and Contemporary Practices, Routledge p. 18)) we thought this was important because ‘Place is a space in which important words have been spoken which have established identity, defined vocation and envisioned destiny.’ ((Brueggeman, Walter (1989) ‘The Land’, in Liburne G.(ed) A Sense of place: Christian Theology of the Land, Nashville: Abingdon Press)) the tank changed the face of warfare and the idea of war altogether and we believe that this notion of the changing of warfare needs to be highlighted.

We then moved onto looking at turning this video into more of a commercial, or an American-styled infomercial where the presenter tempts you into buying the product being sold, this being the tank, mixed in with soundscapes of tanks and collages of images from testing out the tanks to them on the battlefield. We thought this would be effective because it the audience could take it as if we were trying to ‘sell’ the idea of a tank to them today. Plus it plays with the idea that all the investors of the tank back in the early 20^th Century were placing a huge bet on the effectiveness of the tanks, similar to the people who placed bets on the horses at the grandstand.

Another idea we looked at was building a small scale model tank within the grandstand whilst being dressed as engineers and other workers who would have been involved in building the tank. We talked about doing this because ‘The first tank was built in Lincoln by William Foster and Co.’ ((Fish, Elizabeth (2013) Tank Memorial Proposed for Lincoln Roundabout, online: http://thelincolnite.co.uk/2013/03/tank-memorial-moves-to-lincoln-roundabout/ (accessed 20 March 2013) ))Showing how Lincoln is essential to the conception of the tank and how it was vita to helping Britain win the war. We also wanted to play with idea of building the tank as a scale model because the action to build a small scale model takes precise intricate movements which would be reciprocated in the idea that when originally building the tanks every choice had to be precise and carefully planned in order to make the tank work.

Since this idea of ours it has come to light that a group within Lincoln wish to create a memorial of the birth of the tank on the roundabout at the end of Tritton Road in Lincoln ‘The aim behind the idea… is to remind and educate people on Lincoln’s engineering history, and commemorate the effort made by civilians in the city during the war.’ (( Fisch, Elizabeth (2013) Tank Memorial Proposed for Lincoln Roundabout, online: http://thelincolnite.co.uk/2013/03/tank-memorial-moves-to-lincoln-roundabout/ (accessed 20 March 2013) ))This idea highlights the fact that Lincoln and Lincolnshire in general was essential to the cause of winning the war.

T.A.N.K Part 3 – The Model &The Motion

Callum Pepper / March 27, 2013May 10, 2013 / T.A.N.K

When examining the model of the mark I tank, the main feature that people can relate to is the caterpillar tracks. Caterpillar tracks were first invented for agriculture use from ploughing the land instead of using of horses. The tracks themselves would plough the earth crushing the earth engraving there marks across the land. The tracks were put on the new war machine to help them cross the trenches built by the enemy during the war.

When it came to replicating a model/ image of the tank, our groups idea was first to find an air fix model that we could use it during the performance, our research and feelings about that the first tank spread around while we were building it gluing the parts together by one following the blueprints that were inside the box. When it came to creating something in the space inside the weighing room at the Grandstand we tried to recreate what we had made during our afternoon session at the village hall, a tank built from chairs. When in the weighing room we decided to turn one chair on top of the other and when look at what we had created the chair legs looked like the Caterpillar tracks that ploughed across the ground. The movement of the tracks when first used were slow and would turf the ground up. Our tanks tracks when moving them along would hit the ground creating a rhythm with the sound creating the motion of a convey belt repeating the action over and over moving along the room from one side to another.

Now that we had the movement for our tank sorted, we decided to apply some text to our actions. The first piece of text we practised with was the Tanks regiments meaning which we had found at the Museum of Lincolnshire Life.

BROWN from the Mud

RED through the Blood

GREEN to the Green Fields Beyond

Firstly we would have someone shout out the colour then the group would say what the meaning of that colour was then moving the chairs to their next position repeating the text and the movement until we reached the other side of the room. While doing this process it did make me think, could we have the audience on the inside of the tank and transport them from one side of the room to another shouting out or even whispering our text to them? While working on our movement and looking at the space in between our tracks I kept thinking could we make our audience part of the machine, the inside of the cabin, have them experience what it would have been like on the inside the Tank.

The noise of the engine rumbling behind them, the smell of cordite fumes lingering in the air and the feel the overwhelming heat from the engine. There would have been no escape from what the crew experienced being inside this Killing Machine.

T.A.N.K. Part 2 – Development of an Idea

Callum Pepper / March 14, 2013May 10, 2013 / T.A.N.K

Just like William Tritton, William Rigby and Major Wilson did in 1915, Myself, Ben, Gabby and Steph had a meeting to discuss and layout our ideas of what we could do about the Tank and its development in Lincoln, but also how it could relate to The Great Grandstand.

Our first couple of ideas centred on how the Tank could link to the Grandstands building, but we realised its more about the area surrounding the Grandstand than the building itself, most notably West common. Research we had found prior to our meeting suggested that West common had been used during the First World War for the testing of new aircraft, also the practising of building trenches, but there was no evidence about the First Tank and West common.

We had come across a problem, how could we relate the Tank to the grandstand?

That question got me thinking outside of our meeting and after reading the hand out we had been given during our seminar, Mike Pearson had posed the question “What are the marks, traces and details of human activity: past and present” ((Mike Pearson, 2011, Some Approaches to Research)) Could there been traces from testing of the Tank in Lincoln? Could we try and replicate its testing on grandstand area? Because I had asked myself those questions it got me again thinking about how we could leaving our mark just like the Tank had done 98 years ago. Even better could we replicate the Tanks process start to finish? Drawing our own blue print, construing a model on site and final testing it out at the end of our performance.

How would the site be affect by us bringing a piece of the past to present?

T.A.N.K. Part 1 – Museum of Lincolnshire Life

Callum Pepper / March 6, 2013May 10, 2013 / T.A.N.K

Last Wednesday afternoon a group of us ventured up to the Museum of Lincolnshire life to see what information and documents they had on the first tank. On discovering the museum and its interior, it struck me how little I knew about life in Lincolnshire and the history that surrounds Lincoln. The museum itself is a listed former barracks built in the 1857 for the Royal North Lincoln Militia, in its present form, it is a collection of social history that reflects on the culture of Lincolnshire, also featuring a large selection on the areas military history.

The section that intrigued me the most was the First World War and how Lincoln had played a major role in its duration. A small part of the area had been built up like a Trench and that as you walked through you would be stepping back in time witnessing horrors of what Trench warfare would have been like, mannequins lie on the tops of the trenches injured or trying to get to cover, barbed wire stringed across the tops, even a soundscape of a battle echoed through the passage and the sense that death could been only a footstep away. Previous research that I had found indicated that the area of West Common, which is across from the Grandstand had been used to practise digging Trenches, handfuls of men craving their way through the earth, changing the landscape of the area, making their mark.

The main aspect of what we had come to see was located in the Transport area, The Tank. During 1915 the Landship Committee had decided that a new weapon was needed for the war, to conquer trench warfare. They commission William Tritton, William Rigby and Major Wilson of the war cabinet to come up with a design and that Fosters of Lincoln (owned by William Tritton) where to build a ‘Landship’.

On September 22nd 1915, William Tritton sent this famous telegram to the Admiralty.

“New arrival by tritton out of pressed plate STOP

Light in weight but very strong STOP

All doing well Thank you STOP

Proud parents” ((http://www.friends-of-the-lincoln-tank.co.uk/4.html,accessed 5th March 2013))

Little Willie was born.

Little Willie would change the face of warfare forever…….