Unresolve
My approach to the research festival will be to apply cut-up and collage techniques to my critical reflection essay as the basis for a performance lecture.
This form mirrors my method which I have recently devised when dealing with the subject of monumentality; to create a monolithic object, destroy it, and survey the ruins/remains. This in turn mirrors some of the things which have been done to monuments recently, combining elements of iconoclasm and a practice of re-orientating or re-contextualising them. Sometimes monuments are removed, while others are themselves formalised ruptures or absences, therefore some awkward silences would be appropriate. Overall it is taking a gestural, performative approach to, and nearby, a modernist/monolithic object.
Between now and then I will also experiment with incorporating some of my earlier research, which in Unit One was largely about the celebratory/residue side of monuments, and in Unit Two largely charge, resistance, undermining and parody. Whether all these can be incorporated usefully will be seen in further trials, perhaps at Semillero or at open mic nights (I’ve been attending clown shows at the Pen Theatre, Surrey Quays, in preparation, and this is a useful benchmark.)
I hope the final internal structure will more resemble a score than a script.
Photography: Ben Birchall Credit: AP Source: Washington Post
Alongside Unresolve, I will be an artist-in-residence at Bow Arts, Shaftesbury Ave, until March 2024. This will allow me to continue exploring and expressing my research through material. I hope that by collaboration with performance and sound artists (who make up the majority of the residents) the work will be informed by new collaborative avenues. Additionally, I will continue the practice of identifying parts of research which could be made public, and presenting them, through Unresolve and beyond, by continuing to speak, run reading groups, and critical refection groups, in my new post-MA studio community.