my thoughts on the nunnery- get more feedback!....

some initial thoughts; (stop filling my notebook and start filling this blog with its contents)

i haven't written yet on here what an incredible experience i found this nunnery performance to be- quite profound in fact- and i feel i should have written this sooner. i feel honoured to have shared stories and memories with so many people- from strangers to family and friends; friends i have known for ages i feel i now know more about. i loved the closet in the gallery- perfect location, full of the typical under the stairs closet- screws, cleaning products, hoover, ladder. i need to carefully examine the area which was of greatest concern for me- performative self; however i do feel that the story was much better developed than in the run throughs. i am very pleased with the matching of the ideas of overdevelopment and death of the images with the momentary re-telling of a memory and hope this was communicated well. the piece had many layers of actions generating meaning- need to take these one by one to think about in depth.

from a train ticket to a close friend's funeral to a key to a past lovers' flat (that they didn't know they still had on their key ring), its made me think that its the little things in life that are actually the most significant.objects of personal significance to only the holder, to the outsider, just a train ticket. i watched in awe on my way home from the nunnery how this lady opposite me on the tube painstakingly took out a mother's day card from a carrier bag, meticulously wrote a long message within in, and gave a very careful long lick across the edge to seal it, followed by a precise folding of the card back into the depths of the carrier bag.....my matchbox i tried to empty and then fill again with this same care, thinking about how i filled it those 18 (gulp!) years ago in the park

feedback;

having spent intense periods post run throughs with my participant getting their feedback to support future directions of work- due to the nature of this piece as a finished durational work, which, at many points was back-to-back engagements, feedback or any kind of discussion was not possible. i had also decided that i may let the flow of actions chosen upon pathways taken alter as i gained in confidence through the piece to test out responses; after a few participants i decided to see what might happen if i not only offered them the opportunity to take the image on an onward personal journey but that what if they could send me a photo of where the image ended up- but as doug pointed out this means the event isn't temporal anymore- although the image will still eventually die- do i need to be entirely true to this? what opportunity has been created by letting the image go home?

i also feel as this piece although created and directed by me, became a co-authorship, and therefore the feedback is vital. it has been suggested to me to approach those that i do know at WCA on a one-to-one basis which i will do this week to then i hope provide me with a richer basis for a fuller analysis. i also hope to get more feedback emailed/on the blog, however the public/private nature of blogs v personal discussion may inhibit this?

what to ask people- what's it about? what do you remember about the experience? how did it make you feel? had you seen this photogram technique before- how does it match to re-counting a memory? why did you chose your particular ending? one week on have you had any particular different thoughts to then?