Lightbox
24/10/2009 12:40
Artist’s residency at Plymouth Arts Centre
10.16 BATTER STREET Back in. A mushy warm kind of day. Skylight leaking into an empty 5 litre Hellmann’s REAL mayonnaise tub (“...The only mayonnaise”) and a Pure Brilliant WHITE (FOR WALLS & CEILINGS) Dulux Rich Matt (WIPE CLEAN) 10 litre plastic paint pot. Behind the deep blue door: rap/hip-hop [“Birdz ov a feather now [...] get back muthafucka, u don’t no me like tha’] Young male voices [YOU HAVE LISTENED TO RAP ON TELEVISION! YOU LOVE METAL... RAP SHOULD BE LIKE THAT!]
Caroline and Jude getting stuff ready for the crafty workshop.
TOOLKIT
What I’ve brought with me, chosen about 15 minutes before I left home:
Same as yesterday, but nectarine instead of banana; extra stuff:
old flattop lightbox (present from Roy when I left Devon Library Services’ studio to be self-employed in 1988)
long kettle lead
Olympus DS-40 digital voice recorder
roll of masking tape
a free paper tape measure from Bristol Ikea (100 cm on one side, 39 and a bit inches on the other)
Elizabeth French Vivo clear nail varnish (Perfection / 2 IN 1 BASE / & TOP COAT / nail care / soin des ongles); bought at Wilkinson’s in 2005 when we were making Verge
Caroline carries out a large chipboard plinth painted white
[VERY LOW SINE WAVE] Middle ear and diaphragm oscillate. [SUSTAINED DEEP BASS HUM]
10.42 EMPTY DRAWING
The keys to the door/s - where they fell
[HA HA HA! FUCKIN’ ‘ELL! HEH HEH]
[GOOD OL’ FELLA BLUEGRASS GUITAR]
10.56 THE MEASURE OF IT: stretch the black film between my outstretched arms, and snap it between my fingers [IT WAS QUITE DIFFICULT TO MAKE IT OUT [...] FROM THE BOOK]
11.01 Cut the film at the window by the splat of bird shit. Drifts of golden wet sycamore leaves. The sun comes out. One and two, and one and two: acoustic guitar strumming. [EIGHTEEN AND SEVEN MONTHS] [SLAM! FOOTSTEPS DOWN THE STAIRS (door opens) SQUEAK ]
11.11 Lightbox: respond to scratches with scalpel. I dreamt that Stuart jumped into the sea with all his clothes on and that I went to a party at Marcel Seip’s flat (tiny and self-contained at the top of an old building in France). I was surprised that it was quite genteel and there were books about philosophy in the bookcase. [THAT GIRL MOVED IN, LIKE [...] AN’ HER UNDERWEAR AN’ SHIT] [CRIES OF SEAGULLS HANGING AROUND THE CHIMNEY POTS ON LOOE STREET]
Scrape emulsion, score the film; moving between window and lightbox, what is sensed outside leaning against the smooth coolness of glass, and looking into the dark interior of the film, pressed onto neural milky perspex. [SLAM!] [TYRES ROLL ACROSS THE COBBLES DOWNHILL THEN UPHILL, YAPPING BARK OF A MAGPIE]
EAT THE NECTARINE frame 14
Back to the window to sample the day [METALLY RATTLE OF TAMBOURINE (one two three, one two three) SCRATCHY AN’ SO ON] [RANDOM DRUMSTICKS] [CAR CRUISES OVER WET COBBLES]
11.30 [THE BOYS GO FOR A BREAK] [SLAM!] frame 29
11.42 sunshine [RUSTLING BREEZE, ON THE PAVEMENT BELOW A BOY COUGHS A SMOKER’S COUGH] [METAL ON METAL WHINE OF AN ANGLE GRINDER (outside the north west side of the building)]
11.46 frame 34 [SQUEAK, THUD, TRAINERS ON STAIRS, SLAM! JINGLING (ACOUSTIC GUITAR) AND SINGING (recorded) TAMBOURINE (live)] ”And I’ll be happy, to, get away... beautiful day ... death defy me, to my grave...“ PRESS THE PEDAL DOWN HERE ... SAVE TO LOCAL DISC (manly music tutor) THE HARD DISC IN THE MACHINE] Lean over the warm hum of the lightbox, scoring the film, the strip of uncut emulsion over my left shoulder: scratch, blow the tiny black curls away, smooth the surface [WELL DONE, LADS! THANK YOU FOR YOUR...]
12.00 EAT ONE OF THE CLEMENTINES [RIGHT NOW! THAT’S SOME SHIT! OH WAIT WAIT I KNOW WHY THAT WON’T FIT [...] TUB-THUMPING SLACK DRUM LOOP]
Caroline and Jude come in to collect some mugs and stuff [DEATH DEFY ME TO MY GRAVE...]
frame 42 scrape the film to the bone, and blow [SQUEALING GUITAR SOLO FUZZBACK]
12.19 [CALYPSO DRUMSTICK ON A WOODEN BLOCK] [COUGH (voice breaking) TAPPING. OH YES! BLUEGRASS VIOLIN] frame 56 The map of the film, climbing down the ladder into the dark well.
12 25 sound recording 3 minutes 10 seconds
[“muthfuckin’ bay-bee […] bitch […] getting it dowwwn…hey bitch […] girrrl… gangbang...”]
12.40 Upload
10.16 BATTER STREET Back in. A mushy warm kind of day. Skylight leaking into an empty 5 litre Hellmann’s REAL mayonnaise tub (“...The only mayonnaise”) and a Pure Brilliant WHITE (FOR WALLS & CEILINGS) Dulux Rich Matt (WIPE CLEAN) 10 litre plastic paint pot. Behind the deep blue door: rap/hip-hop [“Birdz ov a feather now [...] get back muthafucka, u don’t no me like tha’] Young male voices [YOU HAVE LISTENED TO RAP ON TELEVISION! YOU LOVE METAL... RAP SHOULD BE LIKE THAT!]
Caroline and Jude getting stuff ready for the crafty workshop.
TOOLKIT
What I’ve brought with me, chosen about 15 minutes before I left home:
Same as yesterday, but nectarine instead of banana; extra stuff:
old flattop lightbox (present from Roy when I left Devon Library Services’ studio to be self-employed in 1988)
long kettle lead
Olympus DS-40 digital voice recorder
roll of masking tape
a free paper tape measure from Bristol Ikea (100 cm on one side, 39 and a bit inches on the other)
Elizabeth French Vivo clear nail varnish (Perfection / 2 IN 1 BASE / & TOP COAT / nail care / soin des ongles); bought at Wilkinson’s in 2005 when we were making Verge
Caroline carries out a large chipboard plinth painted white
[VERY LOW SINE WAVE] Middle ear and diaphragm oscillate. [SUSTAINED DEEP BASS HUM]
10.42 EMPTY DRAWING
The keys to the door/s - where they fell
[HA HA HA! FUCKIN’ ‘ELL! HEH HEH]
[GOOD OL’ FELLA BLUEGRASS GUITAR]
10.56 THE MEASURE OF IT: stretch the black film between my outstretched arms, and snap it between my fingers [IT WAS QUITE DIFFICULT TO MAKE IT OUT [...] FROM THE BOOK]
11.01 Cut the film at the window by the splat of bird shit. Drifts of golden wet sycamore leaves. The sun comes out. One and two, and one and two: acoustic guitar strumming. [EIGHTEEN AND SEVEN MONTHS] [SLAM! FOOTSTEPS DOWN THE STAIRS (door opens) SQUEAK ]
11.11 Lightbox: respond to scratches with scalpel. I dreamt that Stuart jumped into the sea with all his clothes on and that I went to a party at Marcel Seip’s flat (tiny and self-contained at the top of an old building in France). I was surprised that it was quite genteel and there were books about philosophy in the bookcase. [THAT GIRL MOVED IN, LIKE [...] AN’ HER UNDERWEAR AN’ SHIT] [CRIES OF SEAGULLS HANGING AROUND THE CHIMNEY POTS ON LOOE STREET]
Scrape emulsion, score the film; moving between window and lightbox, what is sensed outside leaning against the smooth coolness of glass, and looking into the dark interior of the film, pressed onto neural milky perspex. [SLAM!] [TYRES ROLL ACROSS THE COBBLES DOWNHILL THEN UPHILL, YAPPING BARK OF A MAGPIE]
EAT THE NECTARINE frame 14
Back to the window to sample the day [METALLY RATTLE OF TAMBOURINE (one two three, one two three) SCRATCHY AN’ SO ON] [RANDOM DRUMSTICKS] [CAR CRUISES OVER WET COBBLES]
11.30 [THE BOYS GO FOR A BREAK] [SLAM!] frame 29
11.42 sunshine [RUSTLING BREEZE, ON THE PAVEMENT BELOW A BOY COUGHS A SMOKER’S COUGH] [METAL ON METAL WHINE OF AN ANGLE GRINDER (outside the north west side of the building)]
11.46 frame 34 [SQUEAK, THUD, TRAINERS ON STAIRS, SLAM! JINGLING (ACOUSTIC GUITAR) AND SINGING (recorded) TAMBOURINE (live)] ”And I’ll be happy, to, get away... beautiful day ... death defy me, to my grave...“ PRESS THE PEDAL DOWN HERE ... SAVE TO LOCAL DISC (manly music tutor) THE HARD DISC IN THE MACHINE] Lean over the warm hum of the lightbox, scoring the film, the strip of uncut emulsion over my left shoulder: scratch, blow the tiny black curls away, smooth the surface [WELL DONE, LADS! THANK YOU FOR YOUR...]
12.00 EAT ONE OF THE CLEMENTINES [RIGHT NOW! THAT’S SOME SHIT! OH WAIT WAIT I KNOW WHY THAT WON’T FIT [...] TUB-THUMPING SLACK DRUM LOOP]
Caroline and Jude come in to collect some mugs and stuff [DEATH DEFY ME TO MY GRAVE...]
frame 42 scrape the film to the bone, and blow [SQUEALING GUITAR SOLO FUZZBACK]
12.19 [CALYPSO DRUMSTICK ON A WOODEN BLOCK] [COUGH (voice breaking) TAPPING. OH YES! BLUEGRASS VIOLIN] frame 56 The map of the film, climbing down the ladder into the dark well.
12 25 sound recording 3 minutes 10 seconds
[“muthfuckin’ bay-bee […] bitch […] getting it dowwwn…hey bitch […] girrrl… gangbang...”]
12.40 Upload