Tag: Jennie Chapman

Documentation/ Research of Cafe

Jennie Chapman / / Development, Inspiration, People

Reading the introduction to Susan Bennett’s book Theatre and Museums, it has allowed me to further understand the context of our site.

“theatres and museums are crucial to a city’s vitality and appeal” (Bennett,2013, p3).

In comparison to some of the other sites for this module, The Collection at  first glance seemed to be the hardest to respond to as it already has a function and purpose, what could we do as a performance in response? It felt as though we were limited with what we could do, but then again, in some way this gave our group a head start as there was plenty of inspiration from the different exhibitions and galleries. “Both theatre and museums require an infrastructure supported by a diverse range of technical and intellectual skills, acts of interpretation and mediation, and eventually, an audience” (Bennett, 2013,p4).

As well as highlighting theatre and museum commonalities, Bennett then goes on to speak of theatre in museums, which is even more relevant to our  purpose. Although we are not directly responding to what is in the museum as in re-enacting the past, as explained in this section, we are engaging with the whole site; to things that may not even be noticed or thought about on a daily basis. Our performances will still “enhance the visitor’s appreciation and critical understanding” (Bennett,2013, p7) but of the entire site as well as its exhibitions and galleries.

After having some initial performance ideas for our piece, we started to research further into café culture and different reasons as to why people go to cafes and who those people are. Reading from ‘Theatre/Archaeology’ the main points that came from it were to be true to the history of the space and the motion of uncertainty as the artist(s) do not know how the audience will respond to the work.

By the observations we made in the cafe whilst there we were intrigued as to why people go to cafes and who those people are. We researched the history of The Collection, the building itself and also the café owners ‘Stokes’ to understand the importance of the café within The Collection. Stokes of Lincoln describe the cafe: “The sleek, modern café is housed in Lincoln’s archaeological museum fused with the Usher Gallery in one incredible visitor centre” (R. W. Stokes & Sons Ltd, 2012)

Whilst researching for general opinions of cafes and why people go to them I found an article titled ’20 reasons why creative people like to go to cafes.’ The writer of which said it is a ‘”third place between work and home, where you can relax without the worries associated with either” (Dirkoff, 2012)

Another article I came across more specifically based on museums and cafe describes cafe as thus: “Cafés are rather like good exhibitions” (Brown, 2006) This opinion given here has given me confidence in our ideas we have for our performance. Within the cafe there are people who by coming to the cafe highlight the different activity and what we find most intriguing; why do people come to cafes? However later on the writer comments “the downside is that cafés are not static exhibits” (Brown, 2006) Does it matter that cafe’s are not static exhibitions? Due to our ideas of turning the cafe into an exhibition we want the audience to see the cafe for what it is in action. Or could we look on the other side and make the cafe a static exhibition similar to the ones we have seen within the museum?

Bound by Love

This painting hanging in the Usher Gallery has become another influence on our ideas for a performance in the café, The location of the painting in the gallery is rather random as the other paintings in the particular room are landscapes of Lincoln and other landscapes where as this is a surrealist painting. We made it link with the people who come to the café and why. For example, those on a first date might go to a café as it is an informal setting and relaxed atmosphere. The two ‘people’ in the painting are lovers trying to come together. This also linked with our observation of the café being separate from the rest of the building and us wanting to make the café an exhibition itself, joining the whole building together. Using the courtyard space between the café and the other side of the building we want to somehow recreate the painting for our performance to represent the people and emphasise the architecture.

Bound by Love    P1010257

 

Works Cited:

Bennett, Susan (2013) Theatre and Museums, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Brown, Chris, 2006, Successful Cafe Museums, [online] Available at: http://www.aim-museums.co.uk/downloads/fe0a6c94-dd78-11e1-bdfc-001999b209eb.pdf, Accessed on: 4th February 2013.

Dirkoff, Mitch, 2012, Huffpost Arts and Culture, [online] Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mitch-ditkoff/creativity-cafe_b_1879907.html, Accessed: 4th February 2013.

Lincolnshire County Council, 2013, The Collection. [online] Available at: http://www.thecollectionmuseum.com/ [Accessed on 28th March 2013].
Pearson, Mike and Michael Shanks (2001) Theatre/Archaeology, London: Routledge.
R. W. Stokes & Sons Ltd, 2012, Stokes of Lincoln, [online] Available at: http://www.stokes-coffee.co.uk/index.html, Accessed on: 4th February 2013
The Collection, 2012. The Collection Profile Provision Performance 2012-13. Lincoln: The Collection.

First Performance Ideas

Jennie Chapman / / Development, People

Following our initial visit to The Collection, we have developed some ideas for our performance. We’ve decided to focus our performance on the café as we were intrigued by its position in the museum and the observations we had made there when we first visited.

One of the ideas that we came up with was inspired by the architectural layout of the building and the café as it is separated from the rest of the museum. We thought that we could create something in the café that is not meant to be there such as an exhibition. Due to the fact that the café is in a museum it seems out of place and so to include the café as another exhibition would emphasise this fact. Another idea came from the different people we saw in the café.

“Analyses of everyday like similarly influenced much environmental theatre and site specific performance” (Allain and Harvie,2006, p 151).

We thought that the people themselves could be exhibits by placing placards with the information found by the artifacts and paintings at The Collection. Further thought needs to be given to what we ourselves will do as part of the performance. Hopefully in the next week we will put our ideas into motion and experiment with how we can be a part of our performance.

Some of the other ideas we collaborated were to use objects to create our own exhibition in the café for example cups, plates, cake stand. We liked how the alcove seating in the café were framed and from the outside it could be seen as a framed painting, the windows in the café also mirrored those of the Education Suite, which were on the second floor of the building. Thought went in to the duration of the piece and whether it would gradually progress throughout the day or be at a certain time. Another observation we made in the café was the music playing, we thought that perhaps we could create our own soundtrack similar to an audio tour of a museum but instead change the information to the café and the people sitting in the café.

Works Cited:

Allain, Paul and Jen, Harvie (2006) The Routledge Companion to Theatre and Performance, London: Routledge.

Initial Response to The Collection

Jennie Chapman / / People

The Collection promotes Art and Archaeology in Lincolnshire. It is run by Lincolnshire County Council and this purpose built building opened in 2005, alongside the already well- established Usher Gallery which opened in 1927. By the time the new building was finished The Collection had over 2 million objects already collected and is ever increasing. It has become even more popular over the past few years with its visitor numbers increasing by over 50,000 in total.

Visiting The Collection as a member of the public enabled us to examine and discover the space, The main exhibition focuses on the history and archaeological artifacts found in Lincolnshire. It is a very interactive and modern museum that invites people to explore the space with its angular and irregular architecture. Whilst exploring The Collection for the first time, I did not think of myself as a member of the public visiting the museum but as a ‘professional stranger’ to the space. Govan states that “the stranger’s perspective may result in the space itself appearing strange to the spectators as the visiting artist offers up new understandings of the location and practices within the site” (2007, p 122).

The Collection      P1010260

 

There are many differences between The Collection and The Usher Gallery, comparing their architecture, style, shape and most importantly, I think, their atmosphere. The Collection itself is wide and open with plenty of space to walk around, unlike the Usher Gallery which is much smaller in size and enclosed. Although The Collection is much newer in terms of establishment the two styles of the buildings is very different. The Usher Gallery maintains the notion that art galleries  are associated with the upper class with its traditional, formal style where as The Collection Museum is much more modern in terms of its architecture and its interactive technology. The atmosphere in the Usher seemed to be more intimidating as it was so quiet and formal unlike The Collection which was noisy due to the café, children’s play area and sound wall.

Eventually we took our research to the café in the museum. Thinking about the observations made from the museum and gallery, we realised how the café was positioned in relation to the main part of the museum, off to the side, not only because people by pass it on the way into The Collection but also the architecture has purposefully separated the café from the rest of the Museum.

P1010256
So why is our chosen site a museum? At first look a museum already has a lot of things to observe and inform us, how can we use this museum for a performance? What do a museum and performance have in common with each other?

“Performance and archaeology are social practices, or modes of cultural production, and social practice has performative and archaeological dimensions”

“The special practice that is performance operates in a liminal space or heterotopia. Archaeology too is at the edge and in the gaps, working on discard and decay, entrophy and loss. Its topic of the material and ineffable immediacy of the past has given it a special place in constructions of personal and cultural identity”

“It is in these liminal spaces and with these heterogeneous elements that both archaeology and performance work and negotiate identities, of people and things” (Pearson and Shanks, 2001, p53-54).

 

Works Cited:

Lincolnshire County Council, 2013, The Collection. [online] Available at: http://www.thecollectionmuseum.com/ [Accessed on 28th March 2013]

The Collection, 2012. The Collection Profile Provision Performance 2012-13. Lincoln: The Collection.

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

Pearson, Mike and Michael Shanks (2001) Theatre/Archaeology, London: Routledge.

Site Specific Performance- An Introduction

Jennie Chapman / / People

Site Specific Performance; it seems self explanatory if you break it down into three separate words and look at their definitions. However, a deeper meaning to these words is required to truly understand the concept and purpose of Site Specific Performance.

What is ‘site’? – According to Nick Kaye ‘The site, it follows, is not available as an ‘object’, for it is not static, the site is mobile, always in a process of appearance or disappearance’ (Kaye, 2000, p96). In other words ‘site’ is always in action and has action in it. Another way of looking at it is that ‘site’ is a combination of space and place, an event and is on going; changing, evolving.

This leads me to the difference between ‘space’ and ‘place’. If we look at Peter Brook’s book The Empty Space, he said that “I can take any empty space and call it a bare stage’ (Brook, 2008,  p11). This is precisely what ‘space’ is; empty, neutral, undefined. Its function is to be occupied. ‘Place’ on the other hand, suggests history, society and significance.

‘The notion of place has traditionally been understood ‘externally’ as a geographic, anthropologic, economic or political site, as opposed to ‘internally’ as a disembodied space in terms of psychoanalysis, memory or philosophy’ (Rugg, and Sedgwick, 2007, p48).

What is ‘specific’?

In this case of ‘site- specific’, it means that the artists involved draw upon something connected to the site and respond to it. That ‘specific’ is collaborated and inspired by the site.

What is ‘performance’?

Performance as opposed to theatre and drama is unlimited, it can take any form. It involves awareness and the conscious becomes performative.  So why is performance different to Theatre? A simple answer to this question is that there is no set form with performance. It allows us to explore and experiment without limitations where as theatre has limits. Site specific performance is a dialogue between the site and the artist/performer which enables us to use not only the visual but also the people in that site. It also allows performers to intervene in life through the changing nature of society and reach a broader audience.

So, overall, Site Specific Performance is a performance inspired by something in particular at a particular site. Why? It has become a contemporary practice ‘which put creative and often critical work in unusual sites in order to ask questions about these sites and the ways people behave in them’ (Allain, and Harvie, 2006, p149). It also ‘offers spectators new perspectives upon a particular site or set of sites’ (Govan, Nicholson and Normington, 2007, p121).

To begin our journey on this module we have looked at some inspiring Site Specific work. For example Stephen Koplowitz and TaskForce UK have completed many projects in different sites around the UK. In particular this piece ‘Liquid Landscapes’ (2009) below:

With inspirational pieces of work such as this, we will focus on the development and experimentation for our final performances.

 

Works Cited:

Allain, Paul and Jen, Harvie (2006) The Routledge Companion to Theatre and Performance, London: Routledge.

Brook, Peter (2008) The Empty Space, London: Penguin.

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

Kaye, Nick (2000) Site Specific Art: Performance, Place and Documentation, London: Routledge.

Rugg, Judith and Michele Sedgwick (ed.) (2007) Issues in Curating Contemporary Art and Performance, Bristol: Intellect Books.

DartingtonTV, 2009, Stephen Kopolowitz: TaskForce UK Chapter 6 (Site specific Dance) Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwiPzI-OQUA [Accessed on: 21st January 2013]