Lacey Cole – The Collection Of…

Considering Our Performance

Lacey Cole / May 7, 2013May 9, 2013 / Cultural Terrorists, Evaluation

We have finally performed our site specific piece, after months of development and discussion. Naturally, there are some elements that we consider less successful, and if we were to perform this piece again, it is likely we would want to be able to alter these elements. I felt our performance fell into two sections essentially, the first half in which we smuggled the Big Ben sculpture into the Usher Gallery and the second half, which seemingly began as soon as we took our balaclavas off. The difference in these two sections in terms of pace gave a much more durational feel to the piece I think, despite the 25 minute run time. This was achieved by slowing down the performance once the instillation had been built. I think this was a very successful way to stage the performance as it gave the audience time to consider our actions of ‘terrorism’ in the first part, compared to the leisurely elements of jazz music and books introduced in the second section.

However, we found a few things that could have been improved. Due to the nature of the site, we were not allowed to eat or drink in our performance area, and thus our original idea of having a quintessentially British tea party once our sculpture had been completed became obsolete. Instead, we reapplied lipstick and read leather bound books. It seems a shame that our tea party idea had to be scrapped, as the variances between the first and second sections could have been much greater and more focused on the differences in class levels traditionally found. The ladylike nature of our 1920’s costumes could also have been emphasised through this tea party, although after some discussion it was noted that our costumes had a significant impact, especially the dissimilarity between the dainty stockings and lipstick worn with black balaclavas.

It has also been discussed in depth if in fact Big Ben was an appropriate sculptural model to create; given the feminine styling we gave the performance, as it is clearly a phallic object. However, we maintain that our focus was not meant to be on the femininity versus masculinity of the Gallery or its creator, but rather on our own personal history relating to that object. Given that Big Ben is a widely recognised building, we found inspiration in the way Janet Cardiff’s 1999 ‘Missing Voice’ piece ‘seeks to alter viewing conventions more traditionally associated with tourist’ spots (Gorman 2003, p.168). Instead of our audience seeing Big Ben as London, we wanted them to look past that and see their own roots in whichever city or town they feel closest to. The feminist take is of course, another way of looking at our performance, and an interesting one at that, which we would very much like to explore should we have the opportunity to create anything similar to this piece again.

Missing Voice, Audio Tour (1999)

References: Gorman, Sarah (2003) ‘Wandering and Wondering: Following Janet Cardiff’s Missing Voice’, Performance Research 8, no.1.

Author: Lacey Cole

Last Minute Considerations

Lacey Cole / May 3, 2013May 9, 2013 / Cultural Terrorists, Development

As with any drama performance, we have had a few last minute things to consider in relation to our piece. Firstly, costume. Although we have organised our 1920’s costume and props, the question of shoes still remains. Having come to the conclusion that heels would probably not be feasible, we have decided that boots will be our footwear of choice. Whilst they clash with our costume, the balaclavas will also do this, and we feel make more of a statement considering the nature of our performance and the idea of ‘terrorism’.

Secondly, our means of transport. Whilst our London iconography is an obvious theme throughout the piece, it seems impractical to have a black taxi as we originally wanted. Having spoken to various taxi companies, it seems we cannot guarantee we will have a car waiting outside once our performance has finished, and we feel it is necessary to have our performance framed by the arrival and departure of a car. Therefore we will be using Fotini’s car instead. Although it is silver, we hope this will have more of an impact as we will be able to drive faster and it may have more of an element of a get-away car.

Despite these elements, it seems our performance is coming together nicely, and will hopefully have the impact we desire.

Author: Lacey Cole

Costume

Lacey Cole / April 29, 2013May 9, 2013 / Uncategorized

We have considered many elements of costume and it seems we have finally decided on 1920’s inspired cocktail dresses with fringing or sequins, with hold-up stockings, pearls and balaclavas. The balaclavas should hopefully portray the ‘terrorist’ aspect of our performance, whilst the dresses will give a nod to the building of the Usher Gallery, as it was officially opened on the 25th of May 1927. Before coming to this decision, we had also discussed full length ball gowns, also with balaclavas as a really shocking statement, but we found the 1920’s dresses fit in better with the history of the site, as well as being easier to move around in. There was also the consideration of simple, modern clothing, in keeping with the balaclavas and the idea of moving around the building anonymously. However, we have come to realise that we don’t want to be anonymous, in fact it is necessary that we should be looked at, and what we are creating should be acknowledged.

We have again taken inspiration from Lone Twin in this aspect, as in one of their pieces Totem (1998), they ‘negotiated the streets of Colchester while dressed as cowboys’ (Govan, Nicholson and Normington 2007, p.125). Whilst this costume does not signal a link to the history of the site, unlike ours hopefully will, it does give the audience a chance to identify the company as ‘others’, a reason to watch and in the case of Lone Twin, to interact. However, Govan does comment on the necessity for costume in the duo’s works as it ‘gestures towards the concerns of exploration and environment’, and the environment of the Usher Gallery is a key element we are portraying here with the 1920’s style costume (Govan 2007, p.125).

The social hierarchy is also something we want to touch on with our costumes. The massive gap between what we are doing and what we are wearing should be clear to the audience, especially once we stop and remove our balaclavas, and begin to act in a way which can be seen to be more feminine and correct within the context of the costume, and of the time. We hope that our costume can clearly signal everything we want it to, and is realised as a major part of the whole piece.

References: Govan, Emma, Helen Nicholson and Katie Normington (2007) Making a Performance: Devising Histories and Contemporary Practices, Oxon: Routledge.

Author: Lacey Cole

The Pleasure of Treasure

Lacey Cole / April 14, 2013May 9, 2013 / Cultural Terrorists, Development, Inspiration

With our sculpture continuing to be built, I thought I’d take some time to consider other parts of the performance. I was interested to read an article recently on the Pleasure of Treasure, a site specific piece based in London which gave people the opportunity to follow clues on a city-wide scavenger hunt. Since the piece was based in London, it was thought-provoking to read and in fact has some similar elements to the performance piece we are now creating. The Artangel group, initiated by Kathy Battista, recreated maps from 1868 merged with contemporary maps for those taking part. Our initial idea bore some relevance to this, as we discussed the idea that previously where the Usher Gallery stood it was just woodland, and the bringing together of what used to stand and what now does stand in the space was considered. We also had a chance to look at some older maps of Lincoln in the Lincolnshire Archives, which may have added an interesting element, as we discussed covering Big Ben with maps of London or Lincoln. This idea has evolved and we are now looking at incorporating both the history of the site and modern elements.

Another part we found struck a chord with us was the final effect the Artangel group wanted to produce with the walk. As we want the audience to consider their personal attachments to a city, the group wanted people to question ‘what they thought they already knew about… inner-city London’ (Battista et al. 2005, p.431). This idea of wanting people to query where they live and what they know about their roots and the city they feel comfortable in is prevalent in both site specific pieces. Along with this we also wanted to consider the ‘overlapping histories that make up urban space’ (Battista et al. 2005, p.439), in accordance with both London and Lincoln, with the idea that we’d be able to overlap both cities to create our own version. I feel this is somewhat close to what we are working towards, two intersections of historical places overlapped in order to become our own personal culture.

Although not much is documented about this particular site specific performance, other pieces by the Artangel group can be found on their website at www.artangel.org.uk.

References: Battista, Kathy et al (2005) ‘Exploring ‘an area of unnatural beauty’: a treasure hunt around King’s Cross, London’, Cultural Geographies, 12: 429-462.

Author: Lacey Cole

The Construction Process

Lacey Cole / March 11, 2013May 9, 2013 / Cultural Terrorists, Development, Experimentation

Having attempted our first go at creating a sculptural model using polystyrene, and failing miserably, we decided to go in search of other materials. We researched the types of material commonly used for smaller scale models, such as very thin wood known as balsa wood. However, due to the size we want to attempt, balsa wood was too flimsy and brittle. We eventually ended up in B&Q, and found a product known as ‘Selitac’, thin foam sheets with metallic covering that clip together to form boxes. After buying the Selitac boards we realised it was an extremely useful material for the type of sculpture we are making. It is very easy to carve and does not flake easily like the polystyrene we experimented with previously. It is also similar to a material known as ‘grey board’ which had a considered as it is a well known modelling material with a thin layer of foam. The tools we are using to carve the sculpture are scalpels, we researched into many different tools such as craft knives and Stanley knives but we decided the scalpels were the best and cheapest option, mainly because they have a smaller and more precise blade making it easier to work with.

We have decided to make the sculpture as large as possible in order to make it stand out, we decided rather than making our Big Ben half-heartedly we wanted to make an impact in the gallery so not only people watching our performance will be shocked but the passers-by will also be intrigued. Whilst carving the sculpture we have decided to make slots in the material so it is easier to put the sculpture together. In addition to making the performance smoother and faster, this will also increase the impact upon our audience as we will (hopefully) have managed to create a impressive sculpture and place it in the Usher gallery in a small amount of time. So far with the material we have made the base of the Big Ben and it is coming together nicely and staying stable. The photos below are from the first time we have carved the material and how the sculpture has started to come together.

Author: Lacey Cole