Reflections...

This week has been one of the hardest and most stressful weeks of the entire year. I have had to face a few harsh realities and re-think my project completely. Basically, the structure I am proposing to make is too big to be placed in any space inside the university and I am being advised to go back and re-think my plan.... It is very frustrating at this stage, because I have put all my energy into creating this structure and even though I understand that perhaps the project is too challenging, I still very much envision the piece as part of my degree show. I guess, because my degree is at stake here, it is best that I do take their advise and find a way to scale the structure down and make a few compromises....

I have been told for the moment to focus on my sound piece and building the internal environment and soundscape for the installation, rather than focusing on the structure itself. Then, once I have created the sound I can build and design the space around it.... I had sort of planned to do this anyway and to go on more expeditions around Scotland to look at other historical sites for inspiration. So far I have been in touch with the Hamilton Mausoleum and am currently in discussion with them about recording in the space and I also plan to visit Roslyn Chapel and Wallace’s Cave. Hopefully within these spaces I will be able to source the sites for my virtual soundscape, looking at human resonance. I would like to find more spiritual and sacred places and to go visit existing chambers around the country. As part of my research on space, I am also thinking of setting up an investigation week with a group of volunteers to come and investigate space with me and look at the different ways we can resonate within it. This could also include a series of improvisational performances, where I ask them to resonate in the space within their own way...In discussion with a tutor last week, he said that it would be interesting to see how people understand their presence within a space. For me, my natural way of interpreting space is by singing into it, this reveals to me what sort of space it is, how my body sits inside it and how I feel within it. It would be interesting to see how other people resonate in space and how they understand space in relation to their own presence. I am also really looking forward to the performance workshop Richard Layzell next month. I would like to take this opportunity to do a sort of private performance, 1-1 where I invite the public to enter a space alone and where I just sing to them directly. This could be an interesting way to see how people react to the presence of the voice, especially in this more private encounter. There is definitely a lot more to do and go through before I know what I am really doing for my final show, but for now, I am going to contine researching and exploring....I am still going to keep the idea of the soil and the chamber at the back of my mind, but right now, I need to focus on the internal space, and then once this is formed, I can create the external one...

Degree Show Specification...

For the degree show, I want to propose to build a physical space that will allow the public to enter it. Within this piece, I set out to create an experience using the frameworks of space and sound to do so. The structure will be built like a chamber, in which one person at a time will be invited to enter and have an individual experience. Inside the space, sound will be projected from within, giving the sensation of being embodied through its presence. The sound piece shall encompass elements of the human voice, creating a virtual landscape of the internal body and creating metaphor for human presence. In the space, the person will also have the opportunity to experience their own resonance, as microphones will be hidden inside the chamber to reflect their own movement and presence.

The chamber will be constructed out of natural materials and will appear like a huge mound of soil. Within the soil a chamber will be placed, using a hard surface to allow the sound to travel and echo through out the space. I am proposing to build the framework of the structure out of wood and then I will line the inside of the space with metal, cement, or stone. These materials have been chosen for their resonant qualities and I will work with them to create the environment inside the space.

It is important that the space allows the sound to resonate as this will give the feel that you are inside e someone else’s body, almost like being within the voice itself. This piece is about creating a dimension for a body to enter as a space of reflection of our own humanity and presence. Hopefully, like a womb does, it will regenerate the person within it and make them feel transformed. I want this piece to symbolize human presence, and reflect our relationships to the spaces we inhabit. This space will hold the essence of a womb and a tomb; the external wall will be covered in earth, representing a material that is used for growing and for burial. The internal structure will be made out of a hard material, juxtaposing the outside of the structure and to the inside and giving a dual entity. These elements will allow the sculpture to shape as its own body, having both an external and internal presence. Inside the space it will be dark, with light coming in from the opening at the top of the chamber. This space will also be injected with warmth, giving a sense of a space of comfort and protection. The audio will be designed to penetrate the space and the body inside it, creating a 360 sound experience. Speakers will be placed all around the bottom of the structure, allowing the sound to travel upwards and spiral through out the chamber. The sound itself will be activated through human presence, only playing when a body enters the space. This again will relate to human presence and reveal how we activate spaces through existing within them. This is a very intimate and personal piece, a piece for the public to become aware of themselves and of their own presence, through the presence of the space and the voice echoing inside it. This piece will represent a sort of inner ritual, in which we loom at the invisible traces we leave behind to be re-discovered through out time…

Sketches/Thoughts....

These are some sketches taken from my sketchbook looking at how I plan to build my structure. For the piece I want to work with soil as it is a materilal that represents both growth and fertility as well as something that we use for burials and decomposition. I want my final piece to relate back to the chambered cairns, almost like a womb/tomb space in which the public can enter and have an ephermeral experience within a solid strcuture. In order to do this, the exteriopr of the space will apear like a mound of earth and inside it, concealed will be the chamber. These juxtaposing spaces will form together to create the over all final piece. In order for the framwork to hold the earth, I will build a stair-like structure around the chamber for the soil to be compressed into. This will create the illusion that the entire space is filled with soil, but in fact will only be coating it.

Semester 2...

Now, with my dissertation finally handed in after an intensive month of being consumed by words, I am now free to focus and continue on my personal project...
This semester is going to the 'making' part of the year, where I construct my final piece for the degree show that will take place in May. I'm going to give myself some time at the beginning of the semester to continue looking at spaces and meet with different tutros to guide me and give me advice on how to build my final structure. I  also want to visit other existing sites with resonance as my trip up to Orkney proved to be very beneficial to my research. Possible sites to visit are the Hamilton Mausoleum, Hospital Field and Roslyn Chapel.In the spaces I will collect a series of recordings as a way to begin thinking of how I want the sound to form as part of the installation. I will have the first two months to do the final bits and bobs and then I shall have to make all the final decisions. In March I will focus on the construction, giving me a month and a half to construct my sculpture. I also need to start working out which materials I am going to use and understand how I am going to bring all the aspects of this project together. I also need to start thinking of where I want to exhibit it...The sculpture needs a space where it can be its own entity, to breathe as a living sculpture... Because of its size it is quite imposing so it needs to be in a very large space, and preferably on its own so it doesn't interfere with other students work. This week I am going to go scouting for suitable places and hopefully find something that will work.I also need to get in touch with Arthur Watson, a Fine Art tutor who I found out makes his own singing chambers, which is a great because he knows how to construct structures on the same scale I am proposing to do. This is the beginning of the end in many ways, my last semester at art school and I hope it proves to be challenging, engaging, motivating and transformative.