Week Seven – Development and Structure

Group Meeting Pre-session

• Discussion started between the groups about Lincoln town’s crier. Surprisingly Lincoln’s town crier was appointed in 2010. This was the only record from the 21^st century that we could find based on town criers.
• The criers place to stand was right at the top of the high street. (Where our perimeter ends) This site is nowhere near speaker’s corner which we found surprising due to the irony of all the speaking’s that this location had seen throughout the years.
• However, Speaker’s Corner was only officially named this in 2010.
• In the history of the 1300’s, Romance was emphasised by a specific couple that has major significance within this time period. Edward I and Queen Eleanor. The pair’s undivided love for each other was unbreakable. This situation is a real life and love documentation with evidence.
• The couple travelled to Lincoln from their home in London making 12 stops along the way. Once they had gotten to Lincoln they were separated by means that no one could answer for. When they found each other again Queen Eleanor died shortly afterwards. This act of everyday life shatter Edwards’s heart. To prove his love and as a sense of memory to his deceased wife he decided to create 12 ‘cross’ statues to be placed in every single village/town/city that the couple stayed in on their last journey together.
• These ‘crosses’ were built from four tiers on top of one another:
• 1^st – Plinth of stairs
• 2^nd – Her Shields
• 3^rd – Platform for her Statue
• 4^th – Colum and the Cross

• The ‘cross’ for Lincoln was originally situated in St. Katherine’s Church. This cross was disfigured during the Civil War. However, the remains of Queen Eleanor’s cross is kept inside the quarters of Lincoln Cathedral.
• Members of the 1300’s public were all aware to pray for Queen Eleanor whenever they were in the presence of her crosses in respect for the monarchs and country’s loss.
• After this discussion as a group we decided that this solid link between love, life and Lincoln had to be incorporated to our piece.
• We decided on the idea to build a structure that resembled the cross for Queen Eleanor. However our structure would-be a lot more detailed and mouldable towards our performance. Our 1^st and 2^nd tier will not consist of stairs put columns that on the date of the performance shall be etched on with the details of the couples we’ve gathered evidence on as a group.
• The 3^rd tier is going to be a reminder of the original cross because it shall continue to be a platform for her statue. In this case a portrait etched onto it. In remembrance to Eleanor and Edwards passionate connection that they cherished in Lincoln.
• We discussed as a group about how we actually wanted to structure the performance. We all referred back to the first brainstorm we had in week three about having three collaborative sites. The pictures available following this post show how we had planned this to be laid out.
• When we went out into the site to rehearse our ideas so far, we had to improvise due to not having the time to build the structure. So we gathered A3 sizes of paper that we stuck to the floor and wrote on the bottom two tiers with pens of the data we had gathered so far. We also had Chris stand in the middle of the high street and preach from his data. Whilst Dequan gathered immediate information from passers-by about their relationships.
• After relaying this rehearsal for half an hour we had a few public members come and ask what we were doing. When our tutor Steve fossey came to discuss with our group how things were going he introduced us with the idea of making it more of a performance whilst still incorporating the instillation we wanted.
• To achieve this I situated myself on the right hand side of a kite shape we had assembled, once we all were in position we all began preaching the data, in exactly the same style as Chris did during rehearsal.
• As we started this rehearsal the atmosphere created by the public previously had been completely change to a more intense and intimidating due to the shouting we were creating. Although firstly the public were intimidated and unsure, when they familiarised themselves with the shouting they began listening to the words we were actually saying.
• We realised that this style of performance could complement our already formed structure of performance. There was a specific reason that wanted to keep the piece as completely minimalistic as we could. This reason being from the first brainstorm of ideas we had and how many there was, we wanted to keep the performance simple rather than having to many components.
• By this time of this session we had run out of time to rehearse and made or way back to the studio. Where as a group we created a list of influences that our piece has so far.
• OUR INFLUENCES
• BOB WOLLY & LEE MILLER – Slightly cloudy, chance of Rain. – Giving to receive – Rose for memory.
• MARK AUGE – Place and Non-Place – giving a place on the highstreets significance to the public.
• ST. KATHERINES CHURCH – Original resting place for QUEEN ELEANORS cross in Lincoln.
• MICHEAL FRIED – Marrying of places – Lincoln to London – Romance to Katherine’s Church.
• DEODRY HEDDON – Our stories and experiences and others.
• BLAST THEORY – Phone calling instructions – Receiving data from Dequaine, Chris and Laura.
• ADRIAN HAUS – Bonding with the audience – Myself, Mary-Jane’s, Laura’s, Dequaine’s and Chris’s connection to the public through action or voice.
• RECKLESS SLEEPERS – This influence came from the sound instillation they use in most of their art works.
• ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
• In relation to deciding wether or not as a group we were all comfortable with going forth with this idea brought forward to us by Steven. But we did leave on the note that we would consider it as a group and decided next week.