Encounters is the latest in a series of projects exploring modes of oral / aural interaction and exchange - conversation, listening, talking, sharing information and knowledge, story-telling. Following is some background about previous projects.
In 2008, I was invited to be part of a group show of visual art at some allotments in South London. Over a number of visits to the allotments, to create site-responsive work, I had a series of conversations with several allotment holders. These conversations traversed many topics – some relating to the allotments, gardening and the growing process, others to various aspects of day-to-day life.
Over time, I realised these conversations were, themselves, rich in content. They were perhaps the most significant aspect of my visits to the allotments – in hindsight, they are certainly the most memorable.
I created, and showed, mappings of these conversations, in an effort to render visible the subjects traversed, the points of intersection between various conversations and subjects around which conversations tended to cluster.
Around a similar time, I was invited by Senaka Weeraman of Mnemonic Space to develop a piece of work in response to the history of the Crystal Palace. This was for an event, Interventions of Memory, that took place as part of the London Festival of Architecture, on the site of the original Crystal Palace in Hyde Park.
Initially I had envisaged that I would undertake research using published writing on the history of the Crystal Palace and, potentially, archival research. However, as it came to pass, I met a number of individuals who are interested in, and have undertaken extensive research into, the history of the Crystal Palace.
I began to learn about the history of the Crystal Palace through conversations with, and by listening to the stories told by, these individuals. From the material gathered, I created a visual mapping, in the park, on the day of the event. During the course of the day, others who happened upon the mapping highlighted aspects not yet captured. These were added to the mapping.
As a by-product of this initial Crystal Palace project, I also began to learn about the history of that part of South London now commonly referred to as Crystal Palace. Through conversation, I happened upon some of the stories that make up the collective history of the area. This was developed more formally into Collecting Crystal Palace Stories, a series of conversations at the local library, taking the Crystal Palace area as a point of departure. These conversations traversed several different aspects of the area’s history, stories, memories and imaginings.
Each of these instances involved capturing, then sharing with a wider audience, information, stories, knowledge, anecdotes and memories shared via conversation.
I was interested to experiment with this approach in an arts context and am pleased to have the opportunity to do so at the Accidental Festival.
The intention is to engage in a series of conversations taking the festival itself as a point of departure, over the three days of the festival, to write about these encounters and to share the writing via this blog.
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