Searching for Beauty and Art in Lincoln

Chloe Pitts / / War and Loss

Marc Augé defines the concept of a place in a setting of the supermodernity. The latter of the reading proposes a definition of place as the contrast of space, he describes space as a “frequented place” ((Marc Augé (1995) Non-Places: Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity, trans. John Howe, London: Versop. p.79)). Consequently, place can be seen as an empty geographical landmark which is yet to be filled with life ((Marc Augé (1995) Non-Places: Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity, trans. John Howe, London: Versop. 81)). In essence he is talking about transitional places, for example airports, motorways etc, the places that are part of the architecture of modern life and capitalism. Fundamentally they seem without identity and purpose built to cause a friction-less society, a society that no longer creates a united identity. Another aspect of non-places is a sense of sleep walking or amnesia, journeying through everyday life with a resistance to remembering the mundane journeys that occur every day.

Marc Augé also highlights that we spend much of our time in ‘non places’, to me it highlights an illusion of being part of a much grander scheme, than the current lives we may be leading. ‘These days, surely, it was in these crowded places where thousands of individual itinerary converged for a moment, unaware of one another, that there, survived something of the uncertain charms of the wastelands’ ((Marc Augé (1995) Non-Places: Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity, trans. John Howe, London: Verso, p. 81 )) This can be considered to be an analysis of modern life, highlighting a glimpse at a Utopian city, a city where people remember the mundane and turn it into something that confronts the expectation of what reality is. This theory links to that of Lyotard and his explanation of the postmodern in relation to Avant Garde theatre, this theatre was set out to change the rules of art by testing the limits of representation and style. In conclusion much like site specific work it confronts the public’s expectations about what art should be.

Taking these notions on board, for the task of placing cards around Lincoln, I chose places that people pass on their mundane journeys. I wanted to make people remember their routes because of where I had placed my cards. In essence I wanted to make places more interesting and turn places into areas where you can form an identity.

The first place I chose to place my card was outside ‘The Shakespeare pub’. I decided to place it here in order to cause a reaction from the regular ‘punters’. I wanted to evoke a sense of awareness to the beauty of the building without focussing solely on the alcohol within the space.

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After reading the second card I decided to concentrate on the beauty of the words, I wanted the words to stand out on a piece of artwork. Following the ideologies of Lyotard, I found beauty in the mundane, placing my card on a billboard. I felt that this highlighted the words and reflected the beauty.

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The third card reading ‘All these people are anonymous extras. I wouldn’t hold out much hope for them’ was my favourite. After reading this card, it made me think of many places I could put it, the first being a Pedestrian sign post, implying the very literal. However, the place I decided to leave my card was on a memorial statue, there are many reasoning’s behind this, the first being after passing it every day the card made me pay attention to the beauty and care put into the statue. The second being that it is an unexpected shock for passers-by to witness beauty that has been ‘vandalised’ with words of beauty.

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After completing this task, i feel that this is something i want to take on board when creating my site specific piece, one of the beauriful places within Lincoln is the Grandstand

After reading Mike Pearson’s ‘Why Performance’ and visiting the Grandstand on a drift, I decided to research further into how a ‘performance can illuminate the historically and culturally diverse ways in which a particular landscape has been made, used, reused and interpreted; and help make sense of the multiplicity of meanings that resonate from it’ ((Pearson, M (2011) Why Performance)) Bearing this quote in mind, I decided to research further into the Grandstand as it occurred to me that after living in Lincoln for nearly two years and passing the grandstand when travelling in and out of Lincoln I had no idea of its uses, past or present. As expected Lincoln racecourse is a former horse racing venue, had my detective hat on to work that one out! It was the original location of the Lincoln handicap which I found out to be a flat handicap horse race opened to thoroughbred horses aged four years or older. The racecourse was established by the Lincoln Corporation on West Common in 1773.

The Grandstand is now a grade II listed building, during the time when the Grandstand was used as a race course the A57 still passed between the course and the grandstand, this led to the road being closed during race meetings, allowing the BBC cameras to follow the racers. This idea of closing the road to allow the race meets to happen linked with the Reading Weeks reading and in particular Making Journeys in Live Art. The Study Room guide is concerned with the value of journeys as an emerging form in Live Art, this theory made me question the idea of attempting to create a site specific performance around the historical elements of the grandstand. With a strong focus in particular on the destruction and yet beauty that could be created by closing down the A57 and trying to recapture the historical values that Lincoln had to offer. How would the local Lincoln population react? Would it create Nostalgia in the older generation? Or is this an idea that needs leaving to the professionals? Either way as stated by Mike Pearson ‘Public performances can enhance public appreciation and understanding of places and describe the process of landscape formation’ ((Pearson, M (2011) Why Performance)) This is something that I very much hope is the case with the majestic grandstand that should be a part of Lincoln’s future as well as Lincoln’s past.

Because of this I want to create a piece which confronts the audiences expectations of art and engages a topic which isn’t considered a focal point in today’s society.  I want to illuminate the beauty within the site whilst referring to the ugliness of the past, creating a juxtaposition for the audience to contend with.  However throughout the performance i want to create a united identity, bringing audience member and performer into one space creating an installation piece.

Site and Sense Part 1

Phoebe Wall-Palmer / / Personal Posts, Women of War

Experimenting with the senses is something that is hugely inciting for any performer or director. Theatre tends to be a visual medium, whether it’s a physical piece with elements of dance and using the body to create art, or the West End where it’s often the spectacle of the grand stage that attracts audiences. This is also combined with the aural sense, from the music in a piece, to a single voice from centre stage entering into a monologue.

In class we formed a small group and took an element, or theme from the Grandstand as inspiration for a short performance. We created a piece that insisted on one of these major senses being removed or reduced and fused this with the theme of war. Making the room dark, with very limited visibility, we played audio of a sewing machine, Vera Lynn and Judy Garland singing war-time songs and a very faint sound of bombing. Simultaneously, we sprayed perfume on ‘love notes’ and kissed them with red lipstick on, before putting them in front of one of the audience members. We wanted to experiment with how the other senses would be heightened or warped because sight was limited.

The feedback from the audience suggested that the audio of the sewing machine sounded heavy and mechanical and when juxtaposed with the uplifting war-time song and the smell of vanilla from the perfume it created a stirring and effective contrast. When the lights were turned back on, the audience then saw the generically feminine kiss, in red lipstick. It meant there was a focus on the women in war. We discussed how the war, in many respects, gave women a sense of importance as they contributed to help there country, in the same light as the men fighting on the front line.

Rotozaza’s Etiquette is an example of using the aural sense to create a piece that challenges the participants/audience to trust in an unfamiliar voice, and transfer the voice into actions: ‘Etiquette exposes human communication at both its rawest and most delicate and explores the difficulty of turning our thoughts into words we can trust.’ ((Rotozaza (2007) Etiquette/Rotozaza’s Micro/Autoteatro Work, Online: http://www.rotozaza.co.uk/etiquette2.html [accessed 23 February 2013]))  Rotozaza communicates the lack of confidence we have to act on our own thoughts. Etiquette allows for the participants to be directed by what feels like our own inner thoughts. Journalist, Jason Zinoman for The New York Times, also highlights the ‘way around the problem of pesky performers by giving the audience something else to look at: themselves.’ ((Zinoman, Jason (2007) ‘A Two Character Play Starring Both Members of the Audience’, The New York Times, Online: http://theater.nytimes.com/2007/08/08/theater/08frin.html?_r=0&adxnnl=1&pagewanted=print&adxnnlx=1361744832-aav9iGUW/96EAQVDQ40abA [accessed 23 February 2013])) Rotozaza’s work is arguably so thought provoking because the audience is in the performance- they make the performance. Generally, the best way to learn from something is to experience it for oneself.

In our piece we wanted the audience members to sit around the room, with no order or centre focus, as there was nothing to see visually. With the audience all around and between us, we hoped that the experience would surround them, so that they felt within the performance, in the same light as Etiquette. It would be interesting to experiment with the sound recordings playing on headphones and wearing a blindfold. Or, to make it a one-to-one experience, an audience member could just be in the room, in the dark by themself. Rotozaza suggests there is a ‘resulting thrill of disowning responsibility in a performance situation.’ ((Rotozaza (2007) Etiquette/Rotozaza’s Micro/Autoteatro Work, Online: http://www.rotozaza.co.uk/etiquette2.html [accessed 23 February 2013])) Therefore, the use of headphones, for example, would allow the audience to trust the sound and be coerced into whatever or wherever the performance wants to take them.

The Inspection

Jamee-Lee Fleming / / Uncategorized

“How am I affected? What do I feel? What do I perceive? And what do I experience” (Pearson 2010, p. 22)

 

As I went round the back of the grandstand, there were a set a horse stables which were derelict. There was a door which had “no authority” signed onto it. Inside had individual compartments stuffed with old planks of wood and tree branches pressed down with metal barred doors with a lock on. So not only was the Grandstand an abandoned building but also its surroundings. There was fresh hoof prints in the mud which gave the signal that there are horses still around. Next door to the old stables where a new set of other ones, this gave the impression that the old stables were not getting used for a certain reason.

Abandoned horse stablesThe door of the abandoned stables

 

We also saw that the announcement speakers had been taken down, Danny came up with the idea of the Grandstand losing its voice towards the society of what it had been. This goes back to how the site can be portrayed as a prison because of it not allowing to have a voice and feeling of being alone.

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As we were searching the grounds of the Grandstand, I felt as though I was trespassing because the only people that was there were we. Especially because this was my first visit around the site, it made me feel uncomfortable and very unwelcoming. This sets questions in my head such as does anyone else feel the same way and is that why you never seen around there? Why does it not get used regularly? Maybe I won’t feel alien to it when I visit more.

Investigation: Images of space.

Charlotte Restall / / Uncategorized

Everyday spaces go unnoticed by the world. These unnoticed spaces show a “disquieting familiarity of the city” ((Certeau, Michel de (1988[1984]) The Practice of Everyday Life, trans. Steven Rendall, Berkeley, Calif. London : University of California Press. p. 96.)), they may be acknowledged for their existence and use but not used. It seems as though most people don’t have time to appreciate things for their potential and therefore “to walk is to lack a place” ((Certeau, Michel de (1988[1984]) The Practice of Everyday Life, trans. Steven Rendall, Berkeley, Calif. London : University of California Press. p. 103.)), this suggests ‘dead’ space between points. However, the space you use while walking could be interacted with. For example: a hallway between rooms where it’s function serves to connect two or more rooms. By exploring these sorts of unnoticed spaces in different ways it creates a new meaning for them. As a task we were able to give a new use for these spaces then use free writing to create a response to the site.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2t9gIuDH7I

Free writing in response to image:

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Lonely. Alone. Stillness like a button. Chosen. Choice. Decaying city. Metal ice cold hard shiny surface. The coldness burns. Ache, torn between metal and flesh. Symmetrical  symmetry  Mirror image of a lifeless face. Mirror. Cold and empty like a grave. Stillness in death. Death. Dead. Dead cold icy stare searing into a heart. Heart beating strong, death. Stop. Dead. Cold. Ice. Bitter face.

 

 

The Grandstand

Charlie Jane Doherty / / The Odds Are Stacked

When our class was first told by Michael Pinchbeck that the site our class might perform in was The Grandstand I had to ask what it was. As a second year drama student at Lincoln University I thought if I don’t know this place would our audience know it?

When I first visited The Grandstand, I thought that the building seemed isolated and abandoned from the rest of the city as it seemed so far away from the cathedral, the restaurants and the shops. I feel that it looked like the building had been neglected and shut off from the public because the front of The Grandstand was surrounded by a metal barrier so that the general public were restricted from going up to what used to be the seating area 240 years ago as it looked damaged and unsafe.

It was interesting to discover the history of the building; the fact that the site was used 240 years ago as a racecourse for horse racing really intrigued me so I went home and researched more about its history.

I discovered that the Grandstand was rebuilt in 1896 giving us the building that we all see today which is at the end of Carholme road and opposite the West Common. During the nineteenth century entrance to the grandstand cost a guinea and several race meetings were held at the grandstand every year.  One of the most popular race meetings was The Lincolnshire Handicap; it was established in 1849 and took place in August.  In 1857 the August meeting was stopped and the moved to the spring this became the main meeting in Lincoln.

I also found out that the racing was suspended for the duration of the world wars and when it was resumed the fortunes of the racetrack was in serious decline.

The Echo reports on the announcement of the end of racing at Lincoln which was relocated to Doncaster Racecourse.
July, 22, 1964- The Echo reports on the announcement of the end of racing at Lincoln which was relocated to Doncaster Racecourse.

After the City stopped the funding to the Grandstand the racing was relocated to Doncaster Racecourse, today the Grandstand is used as a community centre until the Lincolnshire City Council decides what they want to do with the building.