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?

Art saves print shop

So there's an old wood block printers here and today there was a workshop on so I met Uda briefly.
The story goes when times were tough they were going to sell off all the machinery for scrap metal but they had a contract with the art gallery in Tallinn and the media got together to keep the print shop going. They moved here to Polymer and it's still in use. I'm hoping to put together a text based image to make a print. i better get my skates on cos I've not got long left.

Progress?

Well I've been busy. Spending a lot of time with the other artists here, still making 100 sheets of paper a day and people are coming to me with ideas for collaborative work. Yesterday Sandra took my blood to use in the paper. Damaso, who's a photojournalist was here and took some pictures. Actually they are rather good and not for the faint hearted. I haven't decided if I should distribute them publicly.

The Factory here has defiantly got it's unique style and way of working and it has effected my work. The work produced here challenges our morals, what we think of art ourselves and life. I've been open to these ideas and it's seeped into my work. To a point where I'm not sure if the people who know me will recognise me. I feel positive about this development but also concerned as it looks like a big leap.

Since I got here I have been working all day everyday. Spending time with other people here too discussing their work how they approach it and how things work here in Estonia. I've been told 'Estonian believe in nothing' and that's why a group of these artists were asked by Insurance brokers to put on a performance which included naked artists with raw meat on them, branding, and writing Xmas cards in human blood. At first I was shocked but then I thought well it's great that people support artists work on a holiday where it's usually all about shopping and drinking and eating as much as you can.

In the meantime I've chugged along with making 100 sheets of paper a day and when bloodletting was suggested I thought well why not, my blood sweat and tears go into my work why not show it.

...and then somebody stood all over it

so I made a book out of them. And now I have decided to make 100 sheets of paper every day.