7/04/16 HAH Show (Half Arsed Harry) - 'Noughts & Crosses'

As a group of about 30 students, we had four days to set up our work in ERC space in University, working together to decide how the work will be displayed and where. We had artist Kathryn Elkin helping us throughout. Helping us decide what works and what doesn't, and really made us question and criticise everything, which was helpful in making decisions. There were a lot of paintings, but there were also a bit of sculpture, installation and a few performances. For this number of people i personally thought it was a small space. Also it wasn't the best space, as the lighting for me was too yellow and patchy, and in the corner there was a big window instead of a continuous wall. But we had to work with what we had.

A lot of people knew where they wanted to place their work from the start, however i wanted to experiment in the space and wait until it starts to form to respond somehow in the space. After talking to Kathryn Elkin about my practice she suggested to look at an artist called Pilvi Takala and her interesting confrontational performances. I kind of already knew that i would come up with a performance for the show, however this research helped me to shape it. Whilst researching Takala one particular piece of work stood out to me called 'Real Snow White', where Takala dressed in snow white costume went to Disneyland and everybody thought she was the "real snow white". People started asking her for an autograph and took pictures with their children. Then the security appeared and confronted Takala that she could not wear the costume as she is not a real snow white. Apparently only the real snow white can wear the costume that is employed by them. The security had concerned for her intentions and really wanted her to change to normal clothes. I loved the response Takala came up with "Isn't the movie character the real Snow White?" With her performance she pushes the boundaries and explores thresholds, and at the same time putting herself in awkward situations and her audience.

 This made me think about the performances that i did just a month ago in the Walker Art Gallery and in university for the 'Instructions on the Label' show. In the Walker i put myself in an awkward situation by dressing like a child in school uniform and by sitting on the floor and mimicking how children draw. Also in the 'Instructions on the Label' the performance called 'Inside Out' i put the audience and myself in an awkward situation by asking the person to swap coats with me, which is a random thing to do when you meet a person. In a sense in both performances i explored boundaries too. This connection with Pilvi Takala's work was interesting for me and allowed for me to see my work from a different angle. 

For the HAH Show i decided i wanted to create something interactive but silly and out of place at the same time. So i thought of children's games that might be seen silly in a gallery space where everyone is trying to be serious and professional. The first one that came to mind was a hop scotch. After researching the history of the game i discovered that boys played the game first and later on girls joined. I also discovered a lot of variations of the game in different countries. Although i was interested in creating a piece that was interactive, this idea felt like it belonged somewhere else. The work belonged in a different setting. I started thinking of other games that requires physical engagement of the audience. I wanted to use the gallery as a playground, interacting with the space and the audience everywhere in the gallery. I thought of noughts and crosses, its quick and easily understood as well as we can play it anywhere in the gallery space. It's interactive, one on one and really out of place. 

In the exhibition whilst doing the interaction i found people were eager and actually had fun playing it with me. They couldn't get enough. Also there were people who watched the interaction and thought it was really silly and stupid but that was the whole point and to question the White Cube gallery space and its authoritative nature. 

Some images:

~Ev

15/03/16 Walker performance

'KATIE'

Performance

15/03/16

A couple of weeks ago i did a performance in Walker Art Gallery. Each time i go there i cannot but feel overwhelmed and overpowered due to its heavy framing and packed display. Looking at all the heavy framed paintings and detailed wallpaper is a bit too much for me to handle. I love the place but i cannot stay there for long. So the performance was a test for me to see how i feel in a space when i go through a particular experience. My performance that i did required me to see the space through the eyes of a child. School trips are really popular in the Walker, and by joining one of the trips myself a couple of days before the performance, to observe the behaviours and responses by children, i decided to do a performance which required me to be one. I dressed in school uniform, not wearing any makeup or jewellery, i decided to sit on the floor of room 8 of the gallery and using pencils and crayons i drew the paintings i saw like a child would in my observations on a trip. During my two hour performance which was more of an experience i found myself feeling strange. Sitting on the floor whilst people walked passed me made me feel below them. It intensified my feeling of vulnerability. I felt like i did not deserve to be around these paintings. They were looking down on me. I felt small. Its interesting how in my observations children did not display such behaviour, they were happy and eager to find out more about the paintings. Does something happen in the way we see museums as we grow older? What changes? Children don't feel it but adults do.

I stayed in room throughout the 2 hour performance, going from one painting to the next. In this sort of authoritative atmosphere it was hard not to question my every move and put down everything that i was doing. People looked at me and my drawings and often walked passed me, some took pictures and some stayed with me to see the completion of a drawing. I did not feel like myself due to removing everything that was me - the clothes, the hairstyles, the rings, even the makeup. Everything that was me was gone and i was a clean slate, vulnerable in a setting where i did not feel like myself. The more time passed the more uncomfortable i felt in the space. However, i have completed the 2 hours of performance and learnt a lot from it.

It wasn't a fail it was still a success in terms of what i have found from it. I think i would have felt like this in any of the gallery spaces which have an authority to them, as they tend to overpower their viewers. But i could not help but wonder at what age do children start feeling like this, as when i was observing how children behave in gallery spaces as i mentioned before, they did not display such behaviour. They were excited and happy and intrigued by the paintings. I guess this is my outcome. I have tried to go through the same experience as a child would on a school trip, however i am not a child and will never know what goes through a child's head when looking at these great paintings.

I think there's is still a potential to explore this further.

~Ev

Instructions on the Label: "INSIDE OUT" 16/03/16

"INSIDE OUT"
Performance
17:00 - 20:00
16/03/16

I did my performance from the start to the end of the exhibition. Circulating round the space and interacting with random people who came to see the exhibition. It was a hidden performance as it wasn't visible to a great number of people, only the people I interacted with knew there was a performance. I approached people and introduced myself before asking whether I could swap coats with them for a couple of minutes. Surprisingly throughout the performance everybody was willing to swap coats with me without knowing me in the first place. I believe this might be because of the setting - an exhibition where people are open to anything that happens as anything could be art.

Whilst swapping coats with people we started talking about our coats and sharing information with each other. One leather jacket that I tried on was 10 years old, warn, soft and still intact. Obviously it was very dear to the person wearing it. Again it is very interesting how we get attached to clothes as they hold memories of the moments spent together. By swapping coats it created very interesting conversations about attachment to clothes and memories that people willingly shared with me themselves. As though by asking to swap coats it triggered memories to surface. I was very pleased with these moments as it meant my "performance" was showing success. I still walked around the space in coats that were given to me to wear, writing anything that came to my mind. However, I have found that having a conversation with people during the swapping was true success. I felt that conversations were easily formed and weren't initiated by me but by the people. After swapping coats it was as though a boundary has been broken and people were willing to open up and share memories with me.

I had one experience that wasn't really comfortable for me as the person who swapped coats with me although was willing, I could see didn't trust me enough with his coat. It wasn't obvious but I really felt it when I tried his coat on. It is very interesting how we can pick up on it so quickly. I still did my interaction however I felt uncomfortable so it was an interesting experience. I can't say it was a complete fail, it was just a different experience from the rest that stood out to me. For me this performance is more of an interactive experience between two people. I call this performance an experience because that is what I was after. An experience between two people. So any sort of reaction is natural and therefore successful in itself. Positive and negative reactions also say a lot about the person and their attachment to clothes and about trust in people with their items. You get to know the person just by doing a simple interaction. Also you can clearly see the relationship between clothes and their owners.

As I have already mentioned the writings that I did, didn't do a lot for me but they allowed me to write down how I feel, what associations come to mind and gave me time to bond with the coat. It was important for me to spend some time with the coat and for the person to spend some time in my coat. It's a collision of two different energies. For me the interesting moment happened when I asked to swap coats or when we were swapping coats back. Its the actual doing - the swap - which was performative in the visual sense, the rest was more of an experience in the actual coat, for both me and the person. The more comfortable the people were in giving me the coat, the more comfortable we felt in each others coat. It was all down to trust.

Sometimes I stopped writing notes and instead walked around the exhibition looking at the work, one by one, as though I was the person in the coat exploring the exhibition. I really liked it.

With every coat I wore it was a different kind of experience as two people are never the same, and in return my response to wearing the coat changed as well, from one to the other. It was subtle.

One interesting moment that I found very amusing and funny was when I was swapping coats with a woman who had a red jacket. When she was putting my coat on we realized that she put the coat the wrong way round. These sort of moments I love. I thought back on the name of the performance "INSIDE OUT" and how this moment really suited it. These moments were very important to me as you could not make them on purpose - they are one off experiences that you need to live through and experience. There is no way you can capture it. They are subtle and invisible to the rest. It is something that me and the person experience.

On my last interaction there was a girl who had a vegan sandwich in her inside pocket of her denim jacket. We all have are own habits and rituals that are seen as a bit strange by other people. We are all different and interesting. We all have different things that we repeatedly do every day, its who we are, so for me it was interesting to experience that.

Throughout the exhibition period I have really enjoyed myself. I really enjoyed sharing moments with people though my interaction with them. There was a lot of great work shown and it all came together really well. 

Great photos by Sam Dobson:

The whole of the exhibition: photos by Carlos 

~Ev

Walker Art Gallery Intervention Idea for 15/03/16 RESPONSE

I was part of an Walker Art Gallery intervention last year when i was a first year. I have decided to join the first years this year to develop my work from last year and see how far i can push it. It is a good opportunity so why not do the intervention again? I feel i will benefit from this opportunity. 

From last year I was interested in children's drawings and the way they see the paintings they have drawn. For example, drawing a sad painting with happy faces and bright colours, or focusing on one aspect of the painting. Seeing just the shapes in the painting rather than the scenery, or really focusing on one figure in the paining and trying really hard to replicate it through their own individual perception and skill. It was and still is very fascinating to me. Last year i did experiment with children's drawings by photoshopping their drawings into the frame of the painting they have drawn. 

For the intervention last year I ended up overlapping children's drawings with the original paining. I adjusted the original painting to the size of the children's drawings. I loved the transparency of them and the way you could also see your reflection in the glass. An interaction between yourself, the painting and the drawing. 

This piece of work was a result in me walking into one of the rooms in the Walker and seeing a group of school children on floor with paper and a pencils nearby, drawing what they saw. They were on a school trip from a nearby primary school. They were between 5/6 year olds. I was inspired by them so i asked the teachers if i could have the drawings. That moment was so important to me that i still remember it, and that moment has pushed me to do a performance this year. The performance consists of me wearing school uniform - white shirt, red school jumper, black trousers, and black shoes. I will not wear any makeup, will have my hair in a bun or ponytail. No earnings or nail polish. Basically my identity will be gone. I will be a child, replicating how children draw. I will sit on the floor as the children that i saw and try and go back on myself - be a child - try to unlearn the drawing skills that i have. I will be using gallery materials that they provide for school trips. I will stay in room 8 of the Walker gallery, circulating round and drawing from 11:00am - 16:00pm with breaks. 

I have been reading about children's development in drawing (from random scribbling to controlled scribbling to lines and patterns, people and objects) and how they perceive things, to better understand what children focus on and how they draw. I have also asked the Walker Art Gallery whether i could join on one of the trips before the intervention, to study and observe children's mannerisms. So i will have this on the 10/03/16 for a couple of hours. 

I have named the performance "Katie", i took the name from one of the paintings that one of the children has drawn by George Frederic Watts (Katie, 1882). It was one of my favorite drawings by a child and it really did fit really well with the performance. As though i was Katie whilst performing, another character.

I will make sure there will be a person to film me and take pictures of the performance on the day. It will be interesting for me to go back anf wach the film and reflect what i did whilst in the Walker. 

Link to my last years response to the Walker intervention - click here 

~ Ev

Charity Shop "performative interventions"

During my interest in Marina Abramovic's performances I began to think more freely in terms of what I can do and what materials I need to use to achieve my ideas. I began to make what I call small performative interventions in charity shops. It consisted of me visiting charity shops and trying on coats/jackets/blazers, men's and women's that I saw around me. I put them on, feeling the previous owner's energy, experiencing how the object has molded to the owner and looking at the imperfections that for me are full of information. Subtle imperfections such as warn buttons that are about to fall off, loose piece of thread, warn elbows - they all can tell you a lot about the owner.  

That leads you on to ask more and more questions based on the state of the object. I became more and more interested in knowing more about the owner by trying coats on and investigating them. I perfectly knew that I would not find any true information, however I became interested what kind of questions my brain will think of in relation to what I find unique about the coat. Whilst trying on and wearing a man's blazer for a couple of minutes I had a moment when I really wanted to write something about how I personally feel in it. Whilst wearing it I quickly wrote down what came to mind and slipped the piece of paper into the blazer's pocket. I did not mind if the next owner finds it or if it is left there unnoticed for years.

This experience has given me an idea to see how something like this will work out in a different setting, for example, the project exhibition (16th March 2016).

I have thought about doing a one on one interaction with people who come in to see the exhibition. It does count as a performance, however, it is a performance that isn't easily visible. The only person that will know that a "performance" is happening is the person that I will interact with. I thought about asking the person whether I can swap coats with them for 10 minutes and if they say yes, I will swap coats and walk around the exhibition space exploring how I feel in it and what I can figure out about the person based on the coats condition. For example, if the coat smells of cigarettes I would know that the person smokes. The perfume can also say a lot about the person. Just little things that I might be able to pick up on based on wearing the coat.

I am not sure if I would leave the notes that I make in the pockets, as I did in the charity shop. I think I will keep notes on every interaction I make - successful or not successful. I think there might be a potential to form another piece of work from them or at least read them and see what I focused on the most in my writings. Analyse them. In the charity shop there was no interaction with people (it was just me and the object), this time there is and it changes the piece of work. Inn charity shops I could freely explore the pockets but this time it is somebody’s belonging and it is not acceptable to go in people's pockets.

This time it is also about the willingness of the person to give me their personal belonging to wear, which also says a lot about them.

I realize that I will get negative responses as well as positive. If I will not get the chance to swap coats with the person, then I would ask them whether he/she could give me something from their pocket that they don't need any more. Then I will move on to the next person.

~Ev

Williamson Tunnel SITE VISITS

Site visits on 26th/27th February and 3rd of March

As we all have our own timetable and cant make it on certain dates and times i have decided to do a number of site visits so everybody has the chance to go to the tunnels and get as much information as possible. I really wanted the group to go to the tunnel tour to get as much information on the history of the place as well as how the space was made, as i believe that could trigger the response they might create for the show. 

I wanted to go to the site visits with them as it is important for me to be present and always available to answer any questions. The site visits consisted of the group to go to the tour that is run by the volunteers of the Williamson Tunnels for 30 minutes. Really focusing on how the tunnels are made and the history of the space as well as Williamson himself. Following with another look around the tunnels but this time discussing what stood out to them the most and what are their initial impressions. Discussing our possibilities of where the work might be placed and what our limitations are in the space. Basically the second look around consisted us in discussing the use of the space in terms of placing work in it and what they might like to focus on or what kind of work they already thinking of creating in response. 

We are going to show in the tunnels themselves as i believe that if we show in the hiring space just at the end of the tunnels it will be unfair. As the whole history and the importance of the space lies in the tunnels. So we need to use them and create work in response to them. The hiring space will be used for the private view for 2 hours, where when people come in they will have to make a donation to the Williamson Tunnels (as it is run by volunteers only) then they will through the tunnels to see the work the group has made, followed by drinks and socialising in the hiring space at the end. Where we will possibly have some entertainment in the form of a cardboard bar or games. All comes down to what Jon (one of the group members) decides to do. 

So far some are thinking of creating a sound piece to show in the tunnels. Some are thinking about projecting. Some are thinking about sculpture out of moss. Performance where the artist is the tour guide. Some are thinking of using the dampness of the tunnels to produce work or using it to their advantage. Some idea was to use fairy lights to highlight the space. Many interesting ideas. 

My next goal would be to talk to the Williamson Tunnels finance manager to discuss the price and the dates of the show. I would have preferred to do it earlier, however the person responsible for finance wasn't available. So i will be going to the tunnels tomorrow to discuss the dates and prices and really make it concrete, so the group would know what deadline they are working towards. Preferably it would be on Friday 15th April. 

I have added 4 more people to the group, this time from 3rd year. 

-Raphaella Davies

-Philippa Hulse

-Catherine Cox-Field

-Devon Forrester-Jones

~Ev

The Williamson Tunnels - meeting no.1

Williamson Tunnels: Link to the website

"The Williamson Tunnels Heritage Centre is the only tourist attraction in Liverpool dedicated to 19th Century philanthropist Joseph Williamson.

Opened in 2002 the Williamson Tunnels Heritage Centre has welcomed over 100,000 visitors into the fascinating underground world created beneath the streets of the Edge Hill district of Liverpool by Joseph Williamson, a wealthy tobacco merchant who employed many hundreds of men in the construction of a huge and elaborate underground labyrinth of tunnels, chambers and passageways.

Visitors to the Williamson Tunnels Heritage Centre can take a guided tour through a section of the network of tunnels and view exhibits and displays which depict the life and times of one of Liverpool's most eccentric characters.

The Williamson Tunnels Heritage Centre is owned and operated by the Joseph Williamson Society.(Registered Charity No: 1062091)

The Joseph Williamson Society is a registered charity which receives no public funding, therefore, the Society relies entirely on visitor income and donations to maintain and develop the Williamson Tunnels Heritage Centre."

The space that can be hired:

The tunnels:

I think it is a very interesting environment to show work in. It has character, history and no plain white gallery wall to display work - which is exciting and challenging at the same time. They have tours for general public in the tunnels which i find very interesting. Especially seeing how passionate the people who volunteer there are about the tunnels and the tours and the extension and development of them. They are volunteers so don't get paid for their work. They run events in the hiring space at the end of the tunnels which are used for number of things, for example raves, music groups, lectures etc

The number of times i have visited the tunnels i was welcomed and the people were positive in what i had in mind for the space. They are open minded and that is great to hear as a creative. 

I came up with a group of 10 individuals from my course, 1st and 2nd years, who are interested in responding to the space and produce work for it.

List of artists:

1st year - Lucy Jane Smith 

1st year - Jon Edgley

1st year - Callum Morley

1st year - Danielle Waine

2nd year - Vinny Quirk

2nd year - Eryn Gross

2nd year - Wayne Shaw

2nd year - Osian Fletcher

2nd year - Rory Larbalestier

2nd year - Ellie Hoskins

+ me

These artists produce a range of work from different disciplines (sound, sculpture, painting, performance, interactive etc) and it will be very exciting to see what we as a group and as individuals can produce for this exhibition. I am aiming to have as many group discussions possible every week to discuss the development of this project and listen to individual needs and communicate throughout so everybody is happy in what we are doing. 

We are planning to have the exhibition sometime in April which is yet to be discussed both with the tunnels and the group. 

First meeting:

In the first meeting what i really wanted to discuss with the group is what space they are keen in using - the tunnels themselves or the hiring space at the end of the tunnels which is used for all kind of events. Personally i am keen on having an exhibition in the tunnels themselves, where there are tours for general public, sounds more appealing to me than just using the hiring space to show work. It also sounds more demanding in terms working around the tours and the limitations of the space e.g. hanging artwork on the walls. The work in the tunnels need to be placed in a way that does not block the tour path or in any way damage the tunnels themselves. The walls and the whole of the space is damp which could be and negative and a positive as well, as we can use the dampness and natural conditions of the space to our advantage. 

So far i think we have determined as a group that we will be showing in the tunnels where tours happen, responding to the space and creating work for it. The hiring space at the end of the tunnels will be used for socialising on the day of the private view which will be for one or two hours. It might also be the space used by Jon Edgley for his piece of interactive work if he decides to follow with it. The rest of the work will be shown in the tunnels. As the tunnels close at 5pm and the last tour is at 4pm, we might want to have our private view running from 4-6pm or 5-7pm depending on the discussions i will have with the staff there and how much we can afford. The private view will be for one night only and the work in the tunnels might stay longer, for a couple of days if it isn't in the way of the tunnel workers. So again something to discuss with them again. 

What also be of our interest os the charity shop next door. What is sold there the money goes back to the tunnels. Maybe we could think about a way of helping the tunnels to gain more money from our exhibition. Maybe the charity shop be of help for that. 

We will have our next meeting on Friday 26th at 4:15pm in the tunnels to discuss our thoughts and ideas further, when we will have the chance to explore the space together.

I am very excited and i hope the group is too!

~Ev