performance for global container

So last night was Global Container 19. It was hectic. I went to buy a dress at 6pm and got lost in the rain on the way back. Eventually I got a tolley bus back and arrived drenched at ten to eight. The line up pretty packed with things kicking off at 8pm so I had ten minutes to get myself together.
I was billed at 22.25 so I had time to dye my hair and see all the performances. It was a rollercoaster on emotions ans sensations as we followed Sandra through the factory to the first performance by Erik Alalooga. I'm finding it impossible to describe his piece which involved huge contraptions, rivers of wires, sound and light techicians, a throat singer, a blow torch and cannon balls. I was on the edge of my seat for the whole show. Apparently this is a much softer version of what he usually presents.
The next two performances I have not got the correct names of the artists to hand so I will talk about them when I find out their full names.

Finally at 23:00 I began to set up my piece. You can see some stills from the video here:








After I had informally ended my work many people came to me with things they had found, photographs and business cards and others took photographs. I found myself on the floor being covered in torn paper.

then I had to sweep it all up and pack it away again!

Stew and Pipe day

I arrived in Tallinn yesterday. Jaanika was waiting for me at the airport and collected me in her new car. After dropping the bags off at Polymer we went for lunch in Teliskivi and a cool little cafe there. Last year it was used for the university degree show but now it has totally changed. The cafe is very rustic but the food is amazing and we had lunch for less that 10euros.


Today Sandra and I decided to make food to sell at the festival to make some money. Sandra made pies and I made an Irish stew but they have no lamb here so I used beef. I hope it is okay.


The pies are finished now, but you can't see them until tomorrow! The stew also needs time to rest.

We had tomato, rocket and caper soup for tea. Some of the performers joined us.

Of course then we had tea.And more tea. And then we had a visit from Super Mario.

The heating in the room is a stove with a pipe to take the smoke outside. The pipe was rusted so the guys here had acquired some new piping but then the next problem was how to replace it. My room is one floor up and the pipe goes from outside my window to above the roof. After one failed attempt we Polymered the pipes and tried again - it worked!!

All the time Kimberly Bianca is at the end of the hall working on her performance for tomorrow. It's loud. She says it's somewhere between a concert and performance poetry - it's looking and sounding pretty epic. She's made CD's and booklets which she's printed on the letterpress print they have here at Polymer. I can't wait to see how it all goes.

Tanel is painting the gallery white where I will be performing. I told him I am making boring art to contrast with all the excitement of the rest of the day. I'm still not sure entirely of the details. Most of it will be about the suitcase of paper I took from Dorset.

Also today I spoke with Mai Soot who is a brilliant performance artist. She says we don't have to understand everything and that we also can't make a brilliant performance every time. Some are better than others for many reasons.

I feel a number of things about my planned performance. Outwardly I am calm and non-chalant about it, but also hinting at the fact that it will not be like the other work on show. I've met all the other artists now. A couple from New Zealand, a girl who has graduated from the same college Sandra went to, Kimberly, Eric - Mai's partner and Hanna. Here sat in my room I wonder what will happen for my performance. I want it to develop by itself. To have a starting point and then for the audience to decide how it goes from there. It will be up to them how long it lasts, whether it is fun or serious. I must decide what I will wear. I was thinking of dressing up like I was going to one of the big events in Bournemouth. I will have to imagine what Violet would suggest I wear. I have good accessories and I will dye my hair. I have no dress. Maybe tomorrow I will buy a dress.

Return to Tallinn

On Tuesday 27th around lunchtime I will be back at Polymer Culture Factory. Sandra Jogeva has asked me to take part in Global Container on 29th September so I have been working on that for a few weeks.

There have been several ideas that have not made it through the self selection process. Finally I have decided on a starting point for my contribution to the 17th Global Container. I am going to transport 3 years of collected paper to Tallinn.



The collection has already travelled from Leeds to Dorset this time last year with the intention of using it to make an object based on the dimensions of a domestic vacuum cleaner but I never got around to it.

Now I will use my 20kg bag allowance to take my collection to Tallinn. Today I located a suitable suitcase and transferred the paper from the cardboard box into the bag. Already I have come up against a problem as the suitcase is full and not all the paper is in there.