Isolation T.A.N.K.

Stephenie Clubley / / T.A.N.K

The T.A.N.K. group originally wanted to to represent the claustrophobic environment that the interior of a real tank would have created by performing to a small percentage of the audience at a time. We were going to create a tent-like structure of material in between the caterpillar tracks made of chairs to make the body of the tank. Three actors would have supported this structure while one performed inside to between 1 and 3 audience members, and the speaker would swap with one of those outside each time new audience members arrived.

This idea partly stemmed from a discussion about The Long and Winding Road, a live art project by Michael Pinchbeck; particularly the section where Pinchbeck wrote a one-to-one performance piece intended to take place inside a parked car that had been the center of the project. ((Pinchbeck, M (n.d.) The Long and Winding Road, Online: http://www.michaelpinchbeck.co.uk/installation/the-long-and-winding-road/ Accessed 10th April 2013)) We had information about the experiences of those trusted with testing the first tanks, including the dangers they were faced with, and we wanted to impart that information in a personal and direct way. Inviting the audience into our vehicle to listen at close quarters seemed like an excellent way to create the level of intimacy we were looking for. Continue reading “Isolation T.A.N.K.”

‘War and Loss’… expanding ideas

Chloe Pitts / / War and Loss

Our concept was “inspired by…the characteristics of the place” ((Pearson, 2010, p.148)) it gave us our concept as McLucas comments “deciding to create a work in a ‘used’ building might provide a theatrical foundation or springboard…it might get us several rungs up the theatrical ladder before we begin” ((Pearson, Mike (2010) Site-Specific Performance. London: Palgrave Macmillan. p.149)). In terms of Brith Gof’s considerations of the ‘host’ and the ‘ghost’, the building was such an imposing host that regardless of what the ghost was that we brought into the site, the host and the ghost would begin to “bleed into each other” ((Pearson, Mike (2010) Site-Specific Performance. London: Palgrave Macmillan. p.149)) and therefore the site would heavily influence the performance. As, even though the site had been emptied of the majority of its paraphernalia which had been left behind when it closed in 1965, there were still a large number of traces of what the race course once was. There still remained the old weighing rooms, and remnants of the old course. These were all part of the “fixtures and fittings” ((Pearson, Mike (2010) Site-Specific Performance. London: Palgrave Macmillan. p.35)) and from this we wanted to create something that would become, as McLucas calls it, a hybrid of performance 20 which combines the “performance (ghost), the place (host) and the public” ((Pearson, Mike (2010) Site-Specific Performance. London: Palgrave Macmillan. p.143)). We wanted to make the piece specific to the site in some way whether that is in “subject matter, theme, and dramatic structure” ((Pearson, Mike (2010) Site-Specific Performance. London: Palgrave Macmillan. p.149)). We wished ultimately to explore the notions of site-specific performance in our work and where our performance could fit into this field. We wanted the site to be a central influence to our piece and using it as our primary stimulus for devising helped us in this. We started our devising process similarly to Pearson’s process with “a process of research, frequently interdisciplinary research: into site and subject” ((Pearson, Mike (2010) Site-Specific Performance. London: Palgrave Macmillan. p.151)).

After doing our own separate research and finding key areas of interest, we, as a group had a turning point after visiting The Lincolnshire Archives, ‘of over 50,000 men recruited into the Lincolnshire Regiment during the First World War, almost 9,000 were killed and at least 30,000 more were wounded, gassed or taken prisoner’. The sheer quantity of Lincolnshire men that died shocked our group and we decided to make this our focal point. Researching further we found an estimate of the amount of money which was given to the soldiers as a ration, one penny. Using these two strands we decided to construct an installation piece of artwork with 9,000 pennies, portraying 9,000 lives. We decided to do this by creating a giant Union Jack which was found in the Lincolnshire Archives, the flag was created by a Lincolnshire man; in essence bringing Lincoln’s heritage back to the Gateway of Lincoln.

 

flag

The idea of using the coins also links directly to the site; the idea of placing bets, this although sticking to the conventions of the site also brings fantasy into the piece with the idea of War being a theme, much like Gob Squads work in 1995. We wanted to create an installation piece of work that the audience could be involved with by allowing them to place down coins as well as the ‘performers’ doing it. Whilst doing this we decided to also read out facts that we have researched; The Beechy boys story and the facts about the artwork, this will enable us to create poignancy and much like Rirkrit Tiravanija’s Relational Aesthetics below we are placing the lives of the soldiers in a live social context (performed) rather than it being kept in a private space (kept as a fact)

 

“Rirkrit Tiravanija’s Relational Aesthetics” ((Weburbanist.com (2008) Amazing Collection of Artworks Made From Money | WebUrbanist. [online] Available at: http://weburbanist.com/2008/12/14/art-from-money/ [Accessed: 10 May 2013].))

 

 

money photo money photo 2

 

 

Rirkrit Tiravanija is a Thai contemporary artist known for exploring the social role of the ‘artist’ using the ideology of relational aesthetics. The artwork creates a social environment in which people come together to participate in a shared activity, the idea of creating a piece in which the audience can participate is an idea that we want to include. Bourriaud claims “the role of artworks is no longer to form imaginary and utopian realities, but to actually be ways of living and models of action within the existing real, whatever scale chosen by the artist.” ((Bourriaud, Nicolas, Caroline Schneider and Jeanine Herman. Postproduction: Culture as Screenplay: How Art Reprograms the World. New York: Lukas & Sternberg, 2002.)) In Relational art, the audience is envisaged as a community, rather than artwork being an encounter between a viewer and an object, relational art produces intersubjective encounters. ‘Rirkrit Tiravanija is most famous for installation art pieces where he cooks meals for gallery-goers, reads to them, or plays music for them. However in this piece he used money in order to create a reaction from his audience. Rirkrit’s treatment of money, above, is a perfect example of the examination of human beings in their social context rather than in a private space’. ((Weburbanist.com (2008) Amazing Collection of Artworks Made From Money | WebUrbanist. [online] Available at: http://weburbanist.com/2008/12/14/art-from-money/ [Accessed: 10 May 2013].)) Much like this art work we want to use the coins to send a message – to highlight the vast quantity of men that died from Lincoln to protect our country.

Another Practitioner that we have taken inspiration from for our Piece is John Newling’s ‘Ecologies of Value’ in which he used explored the social and economic system of society with 50,000 two pence coins; much like our installation piece he replicated a static object (a cash machine) but also related his artwork to the act of taking communion in the Christian church. This idea of using two themes relates to our work with the aspects of war and betting creating one united installation. These ideas further link to Higgins and his theory of how artwork links what is understood to what is not ‘The concept is understood better by what it is not, rather than the what it is’ ((Higgins 1969:25)), much like Higgins and Newling the piece is more focused upon conceptual art, as the group is more focused upon the ideas presented compared to the finished article.

Performance Rituals

Sophie Jane Bullivant / / Women of War

In my previous blog (The Wall), I touched upon the notion of rituals. The whole group has seemingly integrated the idea of rituals more and more frequently as the performance rehearsals have progressed. For example, the T.A.N.K  group have recently explored the technique of repeating a series of moves with chairs, to create the simulation of a moving tank. The regimented physicality of the piece also suggests the serious backdrop of warfare.

The art of performance itself is speculated in site-specific performance, as performers are exposed to “extended conditions of surface, climate and architectural enclosure” ((Pearson, Mike (2010) Site-Specific Performance, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.)) that we are not usually subjected to in a theatre. Furthermore, our bodies and voices are affected by sites not designed for theatrical performances, and the performers must adapt. For example, our Women of War piece is largely set in the kitchen/shower/wash room, located at the far end of the Weighing Room. Becoming factory women of the war, we perform patterns of movement and actions that resemble their roles. Phoebe and Emily’s characters’ perform a sewing routine, folding and cutting material, whilst my character weaves through the space pouring tea and sweeping the floor. The ritualistic movement demonstrates how we are at one with the site, and are responding to the objects around us. Moreover, “Tschumi speaks of ‘architecture in an expanded sense whereby the movement of bodies in space [is] just as important as the space itself’” ((Turner, Cathy (2010) “Mis-Guidance and Spatial Planning: Dramaturgies of Public Space”, Contemporary Theatre Review, XX (2): pp. 149-161.)). Gododdin (1988), performed by Brith Gof, also suggests that site-specific performance is strongly associated with physical theatre, as the “performers are put to the test” (Pearson 2010, p. 173). Totem (1998), by Lone Twin, also demonstrates how “the physically gruelling effort expanded by the performers drew attention to the actual process of labour inherent in the piece” ((Govan, Emma, Helen Nicholson and Katie Normington (2007) Making a Performance: Devising Histories and Contemporary Practices, London and New York: Routledge.)). Thus, the audience are watching something real occur, and the repetitive, formulaic movements that we have created, help to exaggerate this concept.

Another form of ritual that occurs is the journey that binds the Grandstand performance together. As part of the Women of War group, it is planned that our characters will become guides for the audience. Our leadership though the performance demonstrates our on-going exploration of the site, and is a method of chorography. Ingold states that “To be a place, every somewhere must lie on one or several paths of movement to and from places elsewhere. Life is lived, I reasoned, along paths, not just in places, and paths are lines of a sort” ((Ingold, T. (2007) Lines: A Brief History, London and New York: Routledge.)). In effect, we are mapping out the site with our movement, which is similarly presented towards the end of the performance. A key idea of the Restoration group is to plot the outline of the original Grandstand that once stood on the site, with yarn, so that the audience have a vivid image of the site’s past. The audience will be led around the shape, in silence, for each of them to read the ideas about the site’s future that have been attached to the yarn. This journey is itself a moment of ritual, as the audience can reflect on what they have seen and imagine what they would like the site to be.

Ultimately, the use of ritual, through journeys, physical theatre and repetitive sequences, will emphasise our connection to the site and encourage the audience to respond themselves.

Site and Sense Part 2

Phoebe Wall-Palmer / / Women of War

‘I got to see a place which seemed to me empty, silent and uncared for. Then I got to talk to people who work there. For the people who work and use the market, I had the feeling that the perspective of ‘tomorrow’ seems to be something vague and empty, a bit frightening, there is a feeling of not knowing what will be.’ – Willi Dorner 2005 ((Pinchbeck, M (2005), Nottdance 2005 Toolkit. Dance 4: Nottingham))

  Above, Wili Dorner, a widely respected choreographer, comments on his first experience of Sneinton Market in Nottingham. His interest in the site was of redevelopment, particularly noting the ‘empty, silent and uncared for’ ((Ibid.)) atmosphere to the market.

The feeling Dorner expresses resonates hugely regarding our own work. The Grand Stand is a place in limbo due to it being under protection by the Lincolnshire Act, meaning the building can not be developed unless it is confirmed by the council and funding is available for it. There have been many suggestions for the future of the Grandstand, from a Clubhouse for golfers to a skate park (see http://lincolngrandstand.com/4.html for full list) but with a site full of potential and saturated with history and former life it has found itself in an indeterminate state. As a group we are realising the importance of both past and future being celebrated within the perimeters of the site. In particular, the liberation of women through time and specifically how both World Wars, but predominantly World War II, allowed a new lease of life for the daughters, wives and sisters of the men fighting on the front line. The challenge we face is transforming this revolution, within the site, using installation pieces, for example, that commend and respect the sites past.

With this in mind we have developed the preliminary idea of dressing as war-time women, inviting audiences into the performance, serving tea and gingerbread (which was originally sold on race days at the Grandstand), before leading the audience through the piece. This was inspired by the small piece we created in class (see Site and Sense Part 1). We were all keen to enliven the senses through our performance, and also feel excited about exploring and celebrating women’s roles in war.

As aforementioned, we will be using the taste of gingerbread and smell of tea, which have many connotations, although these are personal to the individual, we hope there will be a welcoming and warm sensation induced from them. Helen Paris states that ‘smell permeates the everyday, triggering memories, transporting us through space and time even though we are mostly unaware of it.’ ((Paris, Helen (2010) ‘The Smell of It.’ In Freeman, J. Blood Sweat & Theory: Research through Practice and Performance. London: Middlesex University, p. 45.)) In this light, it seems unnecessary to bombard the audiences with smells and tastes, and feel the subtlety of introducing them will be enough to have an impact. As Paris describes, the link between smell and memory is generally in the unconscious mind. Therefore, the familiarity of being served food and tea should be elusive enough to allow for free thought.

However, Helen Paris who was part of the creation of On the Scent, wanted sense at the forefront of their performance: ‘The extraordinary power of smell to evoke memory inspired me to want to create a performance that not only used smell as one of the elements but wherein smell had a leading role.’ ((Ibid.)) Paris collaborated with Dr Upinder Bhalla, a leading expert in the field of neurological connections between smell and memory. Bhalla states that ‘humans themselves seem to be conditioned by society to ignore smell, especially in the sanitized modern world. It is interesting to see what happens when they are asked to pay specific attention to it.’ ((Ibid. p. 46.)) Taking this into consideration, would it be a more enticing performance when the senses are explicitly overwhelmed with different smells and tastes? In the context of our piece this may be excessive, as our contribution is only part of the entire performance and there is a difficulty in containing smells within a specific area. Therefore it may have an unwanted effect on the other parts of the performance.

Predominantly, we hope that the use of sense will add a more rounded experience for the audience member. We are hopeful that this will bring the past into the forefront within the Grandstand, using the senses to rejuvenate the vacant site- the smell of tea and taste of ginger- in the same light as Dorner wanting to redevelop Sneinton Market.

Aircraft At The Grandstand- Flying Into The Abyss

Christopher Greg Sellers / / War and Loss

In addition, to emphasize the sombre mood and general outlook of war, it was inferred that the planes could have the names of Lincolnshire airmen who had died written on them. Perhaps, to provide extra realism  I could offer a 1942 briefing to my participating audience . They would then be given their plane and will fly it. Afterwards, they will be informed that the particular veteran they played has died and possibly a brief summary of this. Although the briefing worked in practice, I felt that this was too harrowing and could spark ethical issues. The personal connection is still profound as each participant is flying a Lincolnshire airmen’s model. There were even plans to ,every time a plane is thrown, remove a penny as a life is extinguished.  The planes are to be flown into the pennies, in other words they will be destroyed .  Through a demonstration we learnt that after being briefed alongside the wall in groups of approximately 7 and flying the aircraft, each spectator turned airman should add a penny to the work in progress union jack.  We consequently answer the question “Can the audience be assigned a role: as witnesses to be questioned after the reconstruction of the incident?” ((Pearson, 2011)).

 

 

 Area Of The Grandstand In Which The Aircraft Will Be Flown From 20130130_155842 (2)

 

Works Cited

Peason, Mike (2011)  Perfomrance Composition Online: http://blackboard.lincoln.ac.uk/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2

Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_67088_1%26url%3D  (accessed 5th April 2013)