Category: Uncategorized

Monday 7^th March

 

After discussing progressions in our work with Steve, he sent us on our way to develop our pieces further giving us a set time later on in the day for a tutorial. Unfortunately I and Holly were unable to be in most of the lesson because of a teaching drama observation but this did not mean that the work did not continue. Before me and Holly left we went to a coffee shop and started writing a manuscript of the conversations we collected the previous week. These included sections where we would mime along (Menial conversations like ‘I’m not even joking that’s actually what happened) as well as sections where we intend to speak over the track to create a thicker textured sound (during the phone call conversations).

 

After I and Holly left Lucy and Emma began creating a example sound file to see whether the concept was feasible for performance. They used their own voices in order to save time which made sense considering it was not the final thing. The two of them then spoke to Steve in the space and asked him practical questions regarding things such as the speakers, the space, the audience etc. When Steve listened to the recording he was really positive and gave us the feedback that we need to listen to the inflection in the voices to inspire our movements rather than the other way around. He also mentioned a theory called the Cocktail Party Effect in which random words of the dialogue stood out above the general hubbub. After me and Holly returned we spoke as a group and he reiterated what he had previously said to the two girls.

 

Since then we have gone out into the community and began recording voices for our final piece, some of which we hope to have ready for Monday to show Steve, the group and potentially Conan. Attached is the example sound file we used to determine whether our idea would initially work.

Joe Turner

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.

Today we clarified our idea and looked into specifics as to what we are going to do:

Intention – connect ourselves to the city. We previously discussed how we don’t consider Lincoln our home due to not living here for a long time and also still being very connected to our original homes (parents house, childhood town). We want to use the performance to secure a growing connection to the city so that we can start to see Lincoln as a home.

Devices and techniques – confessional exchange with members of the public. We want to have a conversation in which we discover their opinion of what a home is. We have drawn up some questions which we would like answering, but these need to be delved into further in order to succeed in our intention.

Spatial composition – creating a place within a space. Incorporating all the space. We are going to sketch a plan of how we will lay out the sofa and other homely items in the best possible way to attract an audience and efficiently use the space.

Practical theory – Place and non-place by Marc Auge, Salon Adrienne by Adrian Howells, Sophie Calle, Marcia Farquhar (use of lemonade in her tour, interaction).

Organisational skills – need to refine our historical reference. Organise furniture, tea urn and other items. Layout of performance.

Response to feedback – use of a bell and linking it to the site.

Research and development of material – need strong links to historical research and references.

 

Questions we have written for the audiences – these are brief ideas of what we want to find out, the conversations will be very informal and we will be talking about our experiences as well to keep up with the exchange.

1. Have you lived here all your life?
2. When did you consider Lincoln your home?
3. Did you ever struggle to call Lincoln your home?
4. Is there anywhere in the city that is significant to you?
5. Have you ever been to the cathedral? Who did you go with? What was it like? (conversation starter)
6. Is there anywhere in the ciry that you would recommend going?
7. What is ‘home’ to you?
8. What made you move/stay here?

 

Experiment we conducted today:

We tried out a test run of our performance and took beanbags to our site in a hope of drawing people into conversation. We found it difficult to get audiences willing to talk to us, and we decided that this was because the site looked unwelcoming and the beanbags were too low and unappealing. Because of this we decided to abandon the beanbags and approach members of the public directly. With this we found that some of the questions received the same type of answer, whereas we are hoping to receive a range of experiences. Because of this we have decided to delve deeper with the questions and specify with personal experiences, this way we will get more varied answers and the conversation won’t get boring. Also it was apparent that younger people were more willing to talk than older people, so we need to make sure our performance installation attracts a varied audience. As well as this, the idea of trust come up as we offered audiences biscuits but no one took one. We believe that once we have a more attractive and trusting set up, and audiences come to us instead of us approaching them, that they will be more willing to trust us in feeding them.

Site (include brief rationale for choosing site) The majority of the high street. It is undecided yet but as a group we will either be scattered down the high street in a straight line from House of Fraser to just before the train lines, or in the shape of a cross around the area of the arches. We chose this site as represents the journey King Edward I and the body of his wife Eleanor took to London (From near the Cathedral to the train tracks, a direct link to London). Alternatively if we use the cross shape it is because it mimics the shape of the Eleanor Cross itself.

Critical and Contextual Engagement (justification of theorists/practitioners underpinning and influencing the performance so far) Slightly Cloudy Chance of Rain by Lee Miller and Jo Whalley: The idea of trading something for something else has influenced our piece, but rather than an object for an object like they did on the motorway, we want to trade flowers for love stories. Mark Auge: We are making a non-place (the high street) into a place by making it into a place where declarations of love occur. Deodry Heddon: Autobiographical – we are using our own and other people’s personal stories to create our piece. Joshua Soafer: Our piece is a piece of Live Art as it is created in the moment in front of the Audience, and only lasts for that moment, it is not a permanent fixture.

Description of Intended Performance (think about the relationship between performance, audience and performer/s) There are a few elements to our performance. Our audience are very much going to be incidental as opposed to invited. There will either be one, two or four of the group acting as town criers, shouting from different points in the city couple’s stories that we have gathered over the weeks leading up to the performance. If there is one they will be situated at the top of the high street by House of Fraser. If there are two the second will be situated at the bottom by the railroad tracks. If there are four the other two will be to the left and right of the high street, and the second person will be brought further up. With two people it will represent the final journey Queen Eleanor and Edward I made together from Lincoln to London, with four it will be in the shape of a cross to represent the Eleanor Crosses that Edward had built upon Eleanor’s death. In the middle of these town criers will be a simplified structure of an Eleanor Cross. It will be made of wood and one or two members of our group will be scratching into the wood names and dates of the couples who have given us their stories over the previous weeks. If there are not 4 town criers the remaining group members will be approaching people, focussing on couples in the high street asking them their stories, and they will then relay these back to the person/people at the sculpture so they can add them to the wooden cross. It is undecided how this information will be relayed. The relationship the audience has with the performance and performers will differ depending on how many town criers we choose to have. If we have one/two they will have a much more personal relationship as they will be interacting with us and seeing their stories become a part of our performance. Whereas if there are four it will be less personal/intimate but more immersive as they will be surrounded by the sound of these stories and each audience member may hear different parts of these stories more clearly than others, giving each audience member a different experience.

Methods, Modes, Technologies and Experiments (what are the practical explorations that have led to the outcome as it stands in week seven)   Due to late group formation and having trouble creating ideas this week was the first week we actually tried anything practical. Although prior to this we have been gathering stories, which confirmed to us couples were willing to give personal information away, including photographs. This week we created a smaller version of the Eleanor Cross with paper on the floor of the high street and wrote down names of couples on it, and the date they began their relationship. We also included a bit of historical information about the original cross on a separate piece of paper just below it. People were immediately interested in what we were doing, and came over to read the names and information we had already written down, as well as asking us to explain what we were doing. Actually creating a structure showed to us that it will be enticing for audience members, and we believe it will be even more so when it is a 3D, larger structure and we are etching into the wood itself. We also practically tried shouting as town criers, and the public immediately quietened down when one, and four criers we shouting to hear what they had to say. Although using four town criers seems a little threatening especially in close proximity, so our next step is to try it again but at different distances and volumes. Although we were already collection stories online, we decided to try in the high street, for the short time we did it, it was successful, although as stated before we do not know how we will relay this information back to the structure, or if we’ll use it at all, considering the fact we may have 4 town criers, and may gain enough stories by asking for them through friends and on social networks.