Space Programme 2011

February 3d 2011. It was the middle of the night when I received the message. I was invited onto the SPACE Programme 2011. While jumping a hole in the air I wondered where I'd left my space suit.

The Space Programme offers artists of all disciplines an opportunity to collaborate, experiment and innovate in an inspiring environment. The project takes place over a two-week period at Castletown House Co. Kildare, it is an open ended process hosted by The Performance Corporation. The programme facilitates artists from diverse backgrounds to collaborate and explore their artistic process while removing the pressure to come up with an end product.

This weblog gives an insight in my thoughts and working process during the Space Programme and tells about some projects that came out of this wonderful opportunity.

dinsdag 22 maart 2011

Of looks and landscapes and Lucy's


The Giant* and I went on a trip along the Atlantic Ocean today. We did well together, steep hills, amazing cliffs, sheep staring at us wherever we went. The sheep reminded me of something I read just before I went to sleep last night:
“The eyes of an animal when they consider a man are attentive and wary. The same animal may well look at other species in the same way. He does not reserve a special look for man. But by no other species except man will the animal’s look be recognised as familiar. Other animals are held by the look. Man becomes aware of himself returning the look. “ John Berger, About Looking (p. 4/5).
Although I spend quite some time in Ireland in recent years I never had the chance to spend a lot of time outside. The landscape here is breathtaking. It changes before your eyes. Clouds veil and unveil the views. When you close your eyes and open them again you moved to a different world.
I did some thinking about how people are influenced by the landscape they live in. How the gaiety and cheerfulness of the Irish can be traced back to these clouds and bogs and austere mountains. I’m not sure I found the answer yet but I’m pretty sure a certain degree of compensation for all the rain comes in somewhere. A combination of softness and roughness might be another thing to look at.
I also thought about Lucy’s, about the old Lucy at first. I met her in Greensboro, North Carolina in 2007. We were both working at the Elsewhere Living Museum. One of the things I remember about her is her red coat. It was a wintercoat, long and heavy. Red as you image the colour when you hear the word red. It was june, blazing hot. We sweated our way through the residency programme, wearing shorts and tiny t-shirts. And then Lucy fell in love. She fell madly in love with a red wintercoat even though there was no way there would be any space left in her suitcase and wearing it wasn’t an option. But she bought the coat and took it with her to England. I don’t know how she did it but she did.
I never thought about it again until today. I looked at the videomaterial I shot at the Space Programme. I saw the red coat starring in it. Lucy’s red coat. But a different Lucy. And a different coat.

Here's the new Lucy in the Map Room in Castletown House. She's wearing her red coat.



* Giant = the brand of my bike