ARTISTS TALKING

# 1 [12 May 2009]

10 May 2009  

Richard and I are preparing for the new swim circle project. We intend to start after we are back from Berlin in June. We continue to discuss elements of the work we will do at each tarn without being too prescriptive thereby damping spontaneity. I find this aspect of planning similar to when I was making series of paintings. The important question was always - how to approach each new piece of work without trying to replicate the last? Repetition is to be avoided; otherwise one becomes a copier, even of oneself.

Such an approach, in order to be truly innovative within the constraints of one’s own practice, itself set within its own strands of art history and practice involving all previous and contemporary relevant artists, demands a clarity of personal thought and communication with one’s co-worker.

So, in practice, Richard and I need to share our ideas and plan what we can, but remain prepared to respond to the moment and break from our plan if necessary. This demands a sustained focus on the task and the concepts that inform it. It also demands physical preparation for the climbing and swimming and technical preparation in terms of the equipment we take with us.

Psychologically, it means that we establish a framework for the project, and then hold focus on the shared here-and-now responses and creativity of each event. It’s where the Apollonian meets the Dionysian.

Apollo: the dream state or the wish to create order, principle of individuation, plastic (visual) arts, beauty, clarity, stint to formed boundaries, individuality, celebration of appearance/illusion, human beings as artists (or media of art's manifestation), self-control, perfection, exhaustion of possibilities, creation.

Dionysus: chaos, intoxication, celebration of nature, instinctual, intuitive, pertaining to the sensation of pleasure or pain, individuality dissolved and hence destroyed, wholeness of existence, orgiastic passion, dissolution of all boundaries, excess, human being(s) as the work and glorification of art, destruction.

Paul

# 2 [12 May 2009]

Richard made this simple, yet beautiful, map, which I think is a really exciting representation of our swim route. The map defines the conceptual circular route rather than the actual geographical line following an OS map. We talked this through at length and likened it to the London underground map. 

Paul

# 3 [12 May 2009]

12.05.2009 Tuesday

As we walk up to a pre-project swim at Potter Tarn Paul and I rehearse the list of tarns/lakes we plan to swim in the ‘Swimcircle’ project. I begin to learn them by heart and together with the image ‘Swimcirclemap’, create a place in my mind to which all the disparate talks, ideas, and images can begin to move. They start to assemble there and jockey for position.

The pieces of performance art – ‘Swim Home’ and ‘Full circle2’ from last year are still finding their place in my mental landscape. The hope is that somehow this new project will integrate them and become a fresh creation. The future is always unknown but somehow lodged in this coming project the ‘unknownness’ of the future now feels paradoxically tangible.

Richard

# 4 [31 May 2009]

Recently returned from Berlin and now able to properly think about the Swim Circle. This last trip was like a stopper in a bottle that is now released. New energy flows. Richard and I plan a first swim for tomorrow, the first day of June.

Urban Berlin strangely showed elements of the coming summer's rural project. Core elements were experienced: the cold clear water of open air swimming in Sommerbad Neukoelln; the ancient stone from the Pergamon Altar friezes and the Beuys' stones at the Hamburger Bahnhof; and the clear, hot, blue sky that brewed into a thunderstorm on our last day.

Paul

# 5 [2 June 2009]

Blea Tarn

1st June, Blea Tarn in the centre of the swim-circle; this is the 'fixed point' around which we aim to swim on a circle of radius 12 miles (approximately). Being quite high,  we scanned the horizon and realised it was essentially what we would be swimming round; in the north we could just make out Bassenthwaite lake which stood at '12 'o clock' and would be roughly half way round. The water temperature was a balmy 17degrees and we swam a circuit of the 40m deep tarn. Paul placed a prepared post overlooking the lake and we collected some stones from the floor of the tarn - one stone in particular had the shape of Blea Tarn imprinted on it - as if the lake was presenting us with a copy of itself.

 Richard

# 6 [2 June 2009]

Blea Tarn 1.6.09

We drove north to Keswick, then south to Watendlath, the road climbing and narrowing. As we drove, we discussed a quote from Tarkovsky that Richard had emailed me the previous day, focusing on the value of the individual vs the global/universal approach to art.

Hot sun. A steep early climb then a couple of miles along the valley above the river flowing from Blea Tarn.

Discovering the lake recalled childhood memories of first seeing the sea on family holidays. It's still exciting to 'find' open water.

We made a triangulated swim round the tarn, the water beautifully cool under the immediate sun.

I drove a marker into the ground and drew a red circle in earth pigment. It felt like a statement - now it starts.


Water surface on Blea Tarn - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdZPQjKJLVk

Paul

# 7 [16 June 2009]

15th June Moss Eccles Tarn

We crossed Windermere on the ferry and set off from Sawry up to Moss Eccles tarn. Hail and thunder-and-lightning on the way up so we sat for a good while under a tree wondering what had become of all the sunny weather. Actually we could see it sitting over Coniston – our next swim. Meanwhile we began to accept that the circle might be begun in the rain, Paul put in a post and we gathered some water and sediment from the lake.

After searching the skies for a sunny gap we gave up and decided to get on with it – as we started to swim to the west the sun came out from somewhere – it flashed and played on the weed below us on the bed of the relatively shallow lake – it waved in slow motion in the slightly merky water. The tarn teemed with life compared to Blea Tarn which was much higher. Vegetation, birds, insects, even the consistency of the water, taken as a whole, seemed to witness the fact that we were swimming through a complex living being – the lake had an existence as a single entity.

Richard

# 8 [28 June 2009]

24^th June       Coniston Water

High summer heat in the afternoon and early evening. No climb, just park and swim. Entered the water from a beach full of picnicking families, who were suddenly entertained by two men walking straight into the water, heading for the far bank. Canoeists and sailboarders were out on the water in force plus an Irishman from Dublin training for the Frankfurt Iron Man in early July. The strength of the water’s call was demonstrated by the numbers of those so called.

We swam east to west through balmy currents and cooler water. Landing on the opposite beach, we were applauded by someone who had been watching us land, then we headed back.

This swim felt different because of the numbers of people present and the fact that we were observed. It changed our practice for the swim and it felt inappropriate to plant a post or paint a mark. This spot already has its signposts and needed nothing further.

The sun reflecting on the surface was intense and we spent some time on a small headland just watching the play of light.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxxaqmYarZg

Later, over a pint in a beer garden near by, we watched the light over Coniston Old Man and toasted this day.

Paul

# 9 [30 June 2009]

As Paul described, it was a bit like the seaside. We swam across Coniston - it took a while and left time for the mind to wander as we swam. To be honest my mind was still swimming Moss Eccles tarn - I hadn't really finished with it or maybe the contrast with Coniston was so great that it floated me back to the previous swim.

As I recollected it, we approached Moss Eccles on a broody, thundery day. It's greenery was already full of reds and browns, and summer seemed to be at it's height. The 'body of water' showed traces of lilac in it's reflections and seemed thick and alive. Then I thought you could as well say the 'mind of water' – for was this eco-system in all its interdependent complexity not, essentially, a sentient being? - self absorbed maybe and withdrawn into a deep silence; locked in extravagant cogitation and idling its time away in endless self-transformation – yet an integrated living creature all the same?

At that moment it felt like our arrival at the lake was a moment of contact with an ancient being who would rather not be disturbed. Our un-stated aim seemed to be to evoke a response from the lake which would reveal it’s miraculous plenitude and personality.

Upon our entry into the still lake it writhed into a turbulent state; this introverted world became a vortex of mental currents, created, confused, and confined in it’s murky depths: it’s thoughts, emotions and sediments were stirred by our intrusion. We looked at it's bed and saw rocking weed through the occasional shafts of sunlight. These were the elements of our encounter with the lake and when we finally emerged, leaving it to calm down, I felt this ‘mind of water’ returning, ineluctably, to its original state of quiescence where it would dream of us for a million years or forget us instantly.

Meanwhile back at Coniston Lake it felt like a beach party was going on and we swam ashore. 

# 10 [29 July 2009]

Seathwaite, Wednesday 15^th July – passing clouds as we walked up from the Duddon valley. The water was enclosed by a high circle of hills and we walked on to where an island lay not far off the shore. No people around and the scene had the wild remoteness that I crave. Swam to the island and Paul placed a post on the far side.

Under the water the stones were a creamy colour and the water seemed turquoise when the sun shone. We swam across to the far side, to a rock face that plunged straight into the water and we found a small shelf to rest on and as the sun beamed down on us we looked back to the island straining to see the post. Underwater we saw visions of churning bubbles as we swam back.

On the way back to the valley we made a stone sculpture in a small abandoned quarry - by this time we were beginning to discuss which pub to go to.....

Richard