Site and the City

Monday 14th March

Today we were able to go and view other group’s work in progress. Getting a fresh pair of eyes on the piece meant that issues were raised that we hadn’t previously seen. It also meant that we could confidently explain and justify our piece using practitioners and methodologies.

 

After discussing with the group we know have a greater understanding of how Mark Auge’s concept of place and non place influences our piece. Whilst the high street as a whole has lots of history people don’t engage with it and as Sue Palmer says ‘it’s the people that normally inhabit that place’ having a relational connection with each other and the place which creates significance. When we were talking to Steve and the group our site was full of people sitting on the benches and socialising. This created a potential problem but we were able to show Steve how we would move around the space to accommodate people. In fact having people in the space creates a more naturalistic looking piece which helps us in the effect we are attempting to create.

 

Over the next three weeks we are going to finish creating the script, recording the voices and creating the sound file which gives us a four week rehearsal period to perfect the actual performance. Something we are now going to experiment with is having headphones in instead of/as well as the speakers to aid us in keeping in time with the track and each other.

Joe Turner

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.