Wednesday 5 November 2008

typewriter walks and film work

Here is the second series of typwriter walks and a showreel of film/performance/text experiments... any feedback would be lovely!

Tuesday 4 November 2008

workshops, wondering and worry

'Typewriter walks' lower Glenelg National Park Tuesday 4th November Yesterday I ran a workshop with the school kids, which went quite well. Last night I edited the footage, adding a final layer by reworking some of the text they wrote/dissected/generated and spoke into typed text over the video. It was a really interesting way of learning about peoples relationship/connections to the land- I hope the wider community gets involved similarly. I got the kids to construct non sentence lines of words thinking abstractly about the words, their sound and feeling, many of them found this quite hard- but one boys brain just naturally worked in this way, he seemed to get it with no instruction at all. On the way home I bought an inverter- this means I should be able to project outside either from the car or literally anywhere with a car battery. I'm keen to try it out, but am really struggling to realise ideas at the moment due to fear. I took the typewriter out this afternoon determined to get over this, but still struggled. I just don't feel safe/at ease out in the bush by myself. This is really frustrating, and not what I anticipated. I expected to be out experiencing and exploring the land. I thought it might just be unfamiliarity; I constantly hear noises but can't establish their source. But I feel the same staying in the Arts Co apartments, I think due to the fact I am not used to living alone. When working I often have some assisting me filming, or am in a wide-open space such as Dartmoor. Planning this projecting I was expecting Tim to be here a lot more, and expected his help with filming/photography- this has not been possible financially so he is working elsewhere. Initially I thought this would be a challenge for my work technically, but with a new tripod, remote control and play locks on cameras this has been fine. It's the lack of another human's presence, or at least nearness that has really affected my work. Visiting Tim at the weekends, I have been able to go off and work alone whilst he is at work, and remained relatively relaxed, although a little edgy. But back in the Dartmoor area my heart races and eventually I have to jump back into the car and lock the doors! So this anxiety has become an unexpected authority, which I'm taking as a challenge. I find this fear interesting and want to explore it through my work by continuing to put myself in these situations that are both central to the narrative of my project and that I'm very nervous in. Now if I can pluck up the courage I'm going outside to try out my inverter and projector in the car park...how lame.