Negative

So the plan is to make a Mutoscope or something similar with the footage from the performance which will be printed onto the paper made from the performance.

Step one: take stills from the film
Step two: invert them
Step three: print onto acetate
Step four: make hand made paper from paper used in the performance (allow for mistakes so about 500)
Step five: treat the paper with Cyanotype chemicals
Step six: expose the negatives onto the paper and fix
Step seven: assemble into a machine
Step eight: view. Repeat.

Most of today has been taken up taking screen shots (277) and then inverting them. At 4pm Ernest took me on the trolley bus to Freedom Square where we went to the print/copy shop Jajaa's. Apparently the ladies are really stern but we got a nice one. Ernest advised I get a few done and test them so I got 10 for 3.80euros.


We walked past a poster for the Idiot an Estonian film out next week. As we were walking past Solaris the shopping center with an art film cinema we called in to check the times. Ernest got a poster.

At the second hand shop everything was 1.50euros so we browsed and I got an outfit for the trip to Tartu and Ernest got school clothes. Then we took the trolley bus home to Polymer.




Also at 4pm before we left Kimberly Bianca left by taxi for her bus to Riga. We helped tidy the room and she gave me some food and flowers that she was given last night at her party. It was a great party. At around 8pm a bunch of musicians turned up and played some weird instruments. A poet form Russia came and performed while the musicians improvised. A really drunk guy did the most amazing performance poetry and at about midnight a hug pot of masala chai was brought in and we all had chai and apple cake. Meanwhile there was sauna and a DJ and lots of good company. More images on my flickr account.

And now I've tried out the dark room. It works. I've tried the paper it's good. But I have too much light in my room so when I get back I need to acquire a lamp so I can control the light and make better exposures.

I've made some pinhole cameras to take on the trip. I need to pack and make sandwiches for the road, for sure it will be an adventure. When I get back I need to work 12 hours a day to get this done.

Dark Room nearly ready

Yesterday was a flop to be fair. As hard as I tried the less I got done so eventually at 11pm I gave up.framed sawed

Thankfully this morning was better. On the way to brush my teeth I bumped into Mai who bought a necklace off me for 5 euro and also gave me Tanels saw which has a handle unlike the one I'd been using.

This morning was mostly taking up with sawing. Sandra came around at lunchtime and made instant mash and salad and of course tea. Her sculpture had arrived from Finland and she wanted help to move it. She brought the head with her and asked me to lick it. It was caramel.

So she left and I got on with sawing. I popped into Kimberly to give her 5 euro for her poetry CD.

Ernest had lent me his bike so after I had finished sawing I popped up to art container to borrow the staple gun. But as usual it was not simple - there were no staples and the gun was 10 years old and Tanel didn't know a shop that sold staples for this gun. So I took it with me so I could explain to the shop assistant.
frames complete

I cycled to the curtain shop to get netting, and found some carpet slippers for 4euro. After that I dropped off the bike and walked to Prisma where I found staples, a replacement bulb for my light, string to hang up photographs, black paper for making pinhole cameras and two can's of G:N long drink (to be used later for cameras). All was well. When I returned I had time to finish the frames before I bumped into Sandra and a trail of rope. It was time to move the sculpture.

We struggled for a while outside before Eric and Mai came outside, on their way to an exhibition opening. Within 15 mins the sculpture was moved to the rooftop garden and I was covered in caramel and puddle water. When we had tied it up Sandra invited me to the preview. I thought well why not I look like I've been through a bush backwards - why not go to a clean white gallery and meet people I don't know.

the exhibition

Mai Soot wearing the necklace she bought from me

I'm glad I went. It was photography but with an element of performance with reminded me of Gretta Sarfaty.

Now I am home. Hannah dropped in when I had made food so we shared it and then she headed off to collect some wood she had found for her fire.

dark room complete with red light, chemicals, trays, measuring jug and photo paper

Sandra has just asked me to go to Tartu this weekend for a TV show and Marina Amramovic show. I will not be involved but it will be an experience.

Cyanotypes and general settling in

On Friday I started to play with making cyanotypes. I made a few only two worked. I spoke to Ernest about the project and my idea to make photographic documents of the performance using the paper from the performance to print onto so that they have the aura/energy/spirit/connection with the event. I hope today that we will make a dark room.

I've also decided that I will upload photographs to Flickr as I am taking many photographs some just of my surroundings.


here is the link to my photostream





I feel I should mention that this photograph is of the sign for my residency at 42 New Briggate called The Fine Art of Rejection that I did in 2009. I found it in the suitcase on Thursday morning before the performance. My music was playing loudly and I started to dance in the middle of my floor. Then I started to loose my shoes so I kicked them off and dance on the 'I'm Sorry'. Maybe this helped or maybe it is nothing, but I thought I would note it down so that I remembered.

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.

Adventures of Poopman

When I got here the plan was to make 100 sheets of paper a day until I'd made 1000 sheets. That's all very well and good but I am in another city. So in the meantime I've also been doing my best to embrace my enviornment. Meeting artists in the factory, drinking vodka, smoking too many rollies (indoors), going to Prisma, eating Kalev, having Youtube parties, having Eurovision parties, hand washing clothes cos the washing machine is bust, making tea, documenting Smell City, I mean there's just no time.

Before I got here I started reading a Jaan Kross book The Czar's Madman and somehow one day I started to make little people (affectionately known as poopman). I introduced Poopman to the people of Tallinn at a story telling open mic night at Von Crawl Theatre and he's been hanging out at the factory since.

On Saturday we had a pin hole photography workshop and poop man got himself in a fight about art. He thinks he's a proper good artist cos he does perform ace and he's at all the cool parties. But is he a real artist if he's just made of paper.

Paper is boring. There's no real guts in that. It's not controversial. It's not expensive enough to be art. You don't even have to have a concept to make a sheet of paper. But still poopman fights on. Stickin to his guns (or shield as the case may be). So is their any point in making 1000 sheets of paper?