This week was the first week that our group had been able to meet as a whole due to a variety of absences and prior engagements. We took this opportunity to have a meeting prior to the seminar, something which will now occur every week. During this meeting we brought together all the ideas we have had and decided upon the theme of romance and the relationships of the people in Lincoln. At this stage the way in which this would be done was still undecided, these decision was made following our research within the city.
At the beginning of the seminar the class had a brief talk with Steven during which we explored the idea of Live Art through a video by Joshua Sofaer, called ‘What is Live Art?‘. In this video Joshua explains that Live Art “comes into being at the actual moment of encounter between the artist and spectator”. (Joshua Sofaer, 2011.). Having watched this we decided that we wanted our piece to do just that, but not only will the piece be created for the audience, we wanted the audience to help us create it.
Following this discussion a meeting with Steven was arranged for later in the afternoon, until this meeting our group went out into our site to see what we could observe to help us determine a location and how we wanted to approach the theme of love within the site. After visiting a variety of places up and down the city we decided upon an empty building on Speakers Corner, photos of which are attached. This was decided upon due to the fact we could decorate it by both sticking things to the glass walls and hanging things from the poles surrounding it, transforming it from an empty building into a large display of romance.
Having this location meant we now began to think about our performance. From the beginning we have much preferred the idea of an installation piece as opposed to a performance that involves us acting. After speaking to a couple in Argos, an interaction which I have included on a separate blog post, it was decided that getting personal stories from the couples to use as part of our piece was best. This would include photos of the couples. Their stories, including the date they met and a favourite location they have in Lincoln will be written down. Both the photos and stories will be used to decorate the building as well as variety of items you associate with romance such as flowers.
After speaking to Steven during our meeting in the city, it has been decided that research needs to be done into Speakers Corner, as he explained that it is too significant a location to use without the history behind it. As well as this he asked how we are going to obtain the information from the couples in a way that entices them to take part and view our performance. We have decided to obtain these stories both on the day and during the weeks beforehand. Some of these will be gathered online, but most of the stories will be obtained through talking to couples in the city. Having stories and photos already on display on the day of our performance will make other couples more likely to give us their stories because they’ll see that they’re not the only ones taking part. As well as this we have taken inspiration from ‘Slightly Cloudy Chance of Rain’ , in particular the part of their performance in which they take bottles of urine from the roadside and replace them with other items. Using this idea we will swap a flower, something that people give to each other as a sign of love, for a couples’ story and a photo. This will be done both on the day, and in the weeks prior so that we can rehearse this interaction and see if it works, as well as obtain more stories before the performance.
(Photos of the building at Speakers Corner)
References
Joshua Sofaer (2011) What is Live Art? [online video] Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOUxv4Do01g [Accessed 2nd March 2016].
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