ARTISTS TALKING

# 18 [4 September 2009]

Despite my ability to on occasion take pretty reasonable photographs, I have been taking great pleasure in reducing the quality, saturating the colours and generally creating images that look like tired old 1970’s and 80’s postcards. This current obsession is a bit quirky but I am really enjoying the unusual quality of the images, particularly in the recently uploaded “Sheep Pole” Swap Shop icon.

In a secret act of covert art installation, I decorated an ancient standing stone out on the hillside with ribbons ; marking the seemingly ritualistic (but in fact mundane and habitual) behavioural movements of the island sheep. I did actually weave the ribbons in the time honoured fashion and tied it off in a huge bow at the base, but I think the image of the as yet untangled ribbons, the ‘potential’, is far more interesting and inviting an image than the completed act.

I have completed the sorting in the Swap Shop (phew!), and out of the couple of thousand items, nearly half had no traceable provenance, but the other half I identified as having been made in one of 45 countries world-wild, with only a handful of items coming from Scotland, and three handmade garments from Eigg.
The list of “Made In” labels, for posterity, is as follows: Australia, Holland, Denmark, France, Belgium, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Germany, Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Peru, Japan, Malaysia, Portugal, Vietnam, South Africa, Nepal, Morocco, Macau, Mauritius, Czechoslovakia, Pakistan, India, Philippines, Turkey, Greece, Singapore, Lithuania, Korea, United Arab Emirates, El Salvador, Taiwan, U.S.A, China, P.R.C.(People’s Republic of China), Hong Kong, Foreign, UK, Britain, England (a huge number of books from: St Ives) Ireland, Scotland, Nowhere.

I am still interviewing islanders for the forthcoming audio walking guide, and questions have been raised about what connection the tourists (only ever referred to as ‘visitors’ on the island as a policy), or even islanders themselves- actually have with many of the landmarks. I have spoken to one or two islanders who have lived on Eigg for decades, who have never visited parts of the tiny island that visitors pass everyday!

I am currently feeling the need to re-enact the island tradition of Guising (in photography at least) with costumes described to me by the 91 year old, and the islands oldest orriginal islander, Katie MacKinnon. Though she couldn’t remember a great deal of the details, Katie said that she and her brothers would go out, on Halloween in particular; “Yes Halloween. But there’s hardly anything like that going on now. I miss it. It’s great fun. I was out guising once a time. Ha Ha. I wore any rags I could get a hold of. A false face. A ribbon round the back.” So there you go. No images of such costumes exist, so I am going to have to take a few liberties and embellish a costume of my own.

# 17 [12 August 2009]

I have defined a clearer idea of the work I am undertaking in the swap shop now and I feel it might be good to place it here like a statement of intent: I want to juxtapose the swap shop (with its cultural discards) with ideas of cultural heritage, and a fledgeling tourism industry. The items from the swap shop represent the globalised contemporary islander, whose cultural identity (represented here by their personal possessions) may be influenced by hundreds of other cultures. Hence I am going to re-order the swap-shop to reflect the provenance of these items. This is no museum though, these objects: as ‘swappable’, are positioned to be given away as- “A Gift from Eigg”. And invites a new cultural object in it’s place as donation from the visitor. By ‘branding’ each item with a symbol of the island, whoever takes an item away with them will maintain the association between the object and Eigg (regardless of it’s original provenance). And in many ways these objects away in the world that I have ‘branded’, could be seen as the ongoing artwork. This symbol (or set of symbols) will represent this “gift” idea in the spirit of tourist paraphernalia, thus depicting the island as ‘quaint’ (meaning: attractive yet unusual or old fashioned). These images might come from views and landmarks I come across that meet the criteria, and might include some of my own inventions or mythologising about the place (I have an idea to create a May-pole for sheep, and re-enact the traditional Eigg Guising of which there is no photo record). The essence of the images will be banal but with oddness hidden amongst it and every now and then complete invention. On a separate note- It might also be interesting to create a sign for the swap shop (as it doesn’t have one) explaining how the swap shop works, encouraging visitors to add a sticker to the base of any new items as they become assimilated, and explaining the wider reaching effects of this process towards an ever more multicultural and globalised Eigg.

# 16 [10 August 2009]

I’m over two weeks into a six week residency now, and thankfully the interactions I am having with islanders are becoming more meaningful and productive. I was worried that I might loose momentum and I wondered to what extent I would actually want the islanders’ input to drive the work? Also I was initially worried I might make some faux pas that would get me tarred and feathered. 
Interestingly I have been talking about just such attitudes as this with several of my peers by phone (when the signal is able to bounce of the clouds at the correct angle/ time of day/ position of the moon or whatever). Is it possible that just such a conflict might produce a more interesting piece of work than something that could otherwise be seen as ‘straight’ or clear cut? I thoroughly enjoyed a presentation by Marcus Coates about a year ago, where he explained how a residency he had undertaken in which he created a large billboard, with a huge poster of himself in character, in the middle of a wood; led the local population to unite in burning it down, “It brought the community together in a beautiful and unusual way” he explained (I paraphrase).

I am currently having a little ‘battle of interests’ of my own it seems, though the enemy is unseen, perhaps even entirely in my own head. As you can see by the newly attached image, someone has come along and torn up some of the labelling work I have begun, and keeps removing the sign from the door stating “Sorting. Take what you like but please don’t rearrange the order, Cheers!”. I am imagining some brownie or sprite coming along each evening after I have been sorting in the remote Swap Shop and putting everything back where it was. In all likely-hood it is some overly attendant individual who didn’t get the memo and assumes someone is playing a prank. I find this really entertaining and have gone from feeling disgruntled to actually hoping they will return and do more mischief! The battle continues…

# 15 [10 August 2009]

When someone looks at Eigg, perhaps, buys something from the gift shop, they aren’t just buying ‘’a gift from Eigg’‘. They are taking away all of the influences imbued upon that object. This taps-in really well to a chapter I wrote last year for an academic book on ’materiality’ (a PDF is available from www.museumcabinet.com).

That London city guide printed in Singapore I mentioned in my last post, or the English language guide to Italy printed in Germany; perfectly represents the way multi-culturalism and globalism shape our perception of ourselves, and affect what we associate with a place. These guide books have become cultural artefacts ‘from Eigg’. Also, I really like the ‘gift’ ideology. The swap shop exists because people don’t want to throw things away- (it’s an Eco sin!). So “A Gift From Eigg” means: please take it away!- but it still exists as a cultural artefact of the island, as much as any tourist paraphenalia (probably more because it was once owned by an islander).

I’m working on logo’s that can represent this over the next two weeks between interviews and I might start posting up prototypes as I go. Be good to use this blog as a source of feedback.

One thing that is clear about undertaking a residency of this kind, is it never makes the list of options open to me any smaller the longer I am here. Rather than focusing in at this early stage; I feel as if I may be drowned in subtleties, interrelationships, and wholly new choices!

# 14 [8 August 2009]

It’s been a few weeks now since I landed on shore, and I have settled in very well. The public information letters that I sent out before my arrival are starting to tally-up in the islanders’ minds, with the strange late-twenties gentleman who keeps cycling around the island; saying hello to everyone and asking what they think of the place.
There is a strong drinking and dancing culture on Eigg that anyone who has joined the community in the last thirty years has taken on as their own. It’s a great way to meet people and ask them questions. But personally I find it hard to see straight, let alone think straight when I’m nursing my fith red-can; so I’m trying to meet folks in other myriad ways. 
There is the inter-island games coming up on the 15th (all welcome!) this year hosted on Eigg, and I’ve put my name down to help with the preparations for the Eigg-n-spoon, the sack race, and the tug of war etc. It’s really nice that such things still happen. And ties in well with the pub-mumming play still planned for the 24th. I have long wondered if wider-reaching public art is a reaction to the death of many of these fetes and carnivals at the hands of the dreaded ‘Health n’ Safety’?

Feeling positive about intereviews today. I need to get at least another twenty to create a really comprehensive audiowork from them in September. There are lots of people who are saying they will come and chat with me at somepoint after the games, and who don’t seem to need it explaining particularly so all the information I sent is getting through. I get a sense from people that either they’d be happy to to be interviewed, or that they never will!

I also realised that I really need to get on with the swap shop this week and next if I want it done in time, and it’s going to be a really tricky piece to pull-off.
I am really interested in the cultural influences that have helped to shape the contemporary island, so I am thinking of persuing the re-ordering of the swap shop to represent the place in the world each object was made. There are plenty of items that came from all over Europe from places that you wouldn’t expect, and obviously lots from China, Australia, USA. etc. There is a plastic flute/recorder from Italy, a teasppon rack from North America, plates from all over England and France, plastic wares from Czechoslovakia, and the books are even more ridiculously well travelled; for instance- there are are English language childrens books printed in Budhapest and Tokyo, and a London Guide Book, printed in Singapore!

# 13 [8 August 2009]

Almost a year since I first stepped off the Cal-Mac Ferry, I finally returned to Eigg. I’ve spent almost a year proposing, planning, and preparing, and it feels as if I have already done the project a hundred different ways in my imagination.

I have, of course, had to make formal statements about my intentions to no less than five different bodies and trusts, but the very essence of a residency (in my mind at least); is the intention to observe one’s surroundings and be influenced by what you see, hear, and imagine whilst assuming the grandiose title of ‘artist in residence’. In other words- you shouldn’t plan too much, you should be responsive and allow a good deal of chance to form outcomes and activities. With this in mind I am not sure how much I can say about activities in advance. As I said though, I have imagined hundreds of possible outcomes, enough that perhaps I will make Eigg the centre of my practice for several years to come.

One particular activity that I wanted to take place and has been a part of previous projects; is the interviewing of people involved.
I still intend to lead-on from recordings I make with islanders twofold: to guide and influence activities and objects I create; and to form an alternative audio walking guide for future audiences. But it has proven a challenge to get a very private people to offer opinions that they often feel they will later be judged by. 
The content of the guide so far remains open, and may be quite philosophical or ambient, but the potential is still there for the islanders to contribute personal and island-wide myths and stories, create new ones, or simply have a platform for voices that don’t necessarily speak as one on issues that are important to Eiggach.

The pub-mumming-style play that I created the first time I visited Eigg will see a re-enactment in line with the posters created before I arrived. This assimilation of periphery, tangency, and imagination is set to continue with the children of Eigg Primary, when they perform their own re-enactment of the play in the last week of August.

# 12 [8 August 2009]

My goodness, my Blog!

I have neglected to write for a bit, as I have been busily undertaking the beginning of the residency and with minimal internet access. Now I am back online I'll add a few posts to update you.

Also I think it would be appropriate to give a potted history of the island-

The 12th June 1997 marked the end of a long and hard fought battle for the tiny island of Eigg in the Scottish inner Hebrides.

The earliest clans fought amongst themselves and Eigg’s entire population was twice wiped out entirely (save an old lady who could tell the tale). The English, of course, considered sheep more profitable than the Scotts and ruined many of the Small Isles creating bracken strangled moors, unfit for farming. With the sheep farming came evictions, the new owners using the stones of old tenant housing to build field walls. There were the odd couple of progressive owners at the beginning of the 20th century, but the last pair of these trinket collecting King-for-a-day types took it a step too far. Advertising for new islanders to create a thriving community, followed by insensible and whimsical behavior and constant threats of evictions drove someone (no-one will admit to the crime) to set fire to His-Nib’s antique Bentley Limousine, by the pier. Schellenberg (a name that a decade on still draws a grimace) was shortly afterwards driven away only to be replaced by a more illusive despot; the German artist Maruma. This con-man laid out a set of bizarre development plans, only for it to turn out that he had bought the Isle with money from questionable foreign sources and had passed it through doubtful companies and guises. The Isle and its mixed bag of inhabitants (from England, France and from other parts of Scotland- immigrants of the Schellenbergian era, and numbering only 50) bought their island, in partnership with the Highland Council and the Scottish Wildlife Trust. Whether it is true or not that Pavarotti put in a serious bid against the islanders is still a source of hilarity more than certainty.

The community that had fought and won now busied itself with becoming self sufficient with its own hydroelectric power, and other Eco accolades.

I intend to question the relationships between the preservation of historical and cultural artifacts, and the commodification of these artifacts for tourism. I want to explore how personal and island-wide myths are affected, and if any new ones are created as a result.

The recent history defined their identity then, and unsurprisingly they are still largely defined by it today.

# 11 [3 July 2009]

I have finally finished the retrospective posters for the "Battle for Eigg: part 1" (see attached). This is just one of about eight different colour variants as a reduction print with Linoleum. It depicts the play in Grulin last Septmeber but has taken on the mythological status of a battle in the skies above the island. I am not as pleased with them as I had hoped I would be. The layout is nice and the images are okay, but with so little of the detail coming through I doubt they will ever see the light of day or be exhibited...I had originally wanted to create posters that referenced a combination of three styles:

-Those old paintings which contrive an event such as a battle or a massacre.

-Fly posters that are poorly printed and get pasted up all over cities.

-And lastly, a hand crafted political print, where the maker did not see the event or has contrived it for emphasis. 

I suppose that it ticks all these boxes, but is still not that interesting an image in it's own right...don't you hate it when something like that happens? You spend months on something and it is not quite right at the end of all that investment and hard work! 

Two weeks to the residency now and I'm getting a bit nervous. It's been so long coming that I have already done it a hundred times in my head, and I'm not sure I can live up to that. The best way to do such things of course is to go and create something new again, and leave all the preconceptions at the pier. But easier said than done. 

I'm making the shadow puppets myself now as I said in my last post. I have found a way of stencil spraying them onto transparent material and then cutting around the outline with a bandsaw. It looks great, just like the designs I posted last time. Hopefully they will survive and be nice enough objects to exhibit afterwards in their own right.

# 10 [25 June 2009]

Technical Hitches and Jubilation

I was working towards a set of shadow puppets to be laser cut out of a very thin laminate material, and was very excited about the possible results. I imagined beautiful sharp laser-cut edges on art objects in four colours of shiny laminate, but it seems the CNC routing man had the wrong idea. I was not clear enough on the details such as shadow puppets needing to allow light through them, and some parts being delicate (hence the laser cutting option). Either way, that has come to a dead end, so reluctantly I will be making my own puppets. It's a shame though as I liked the idea that by having them made, they would not connote a hand-crafted artefact from the island, which is now a potential hang-up. I am thinking maybe I'll make them out of really modern materials and stick with really simple silhouettes (as opposed to hand-woven wicker-dolly clichés! If I did that, I wouldn't blame islanders if they decided to lynch me!).

On a more jubilant note, both of the two major sponsors- Scottish Arts Council and the Highland Tourism Development Fund have confirmed their financial support! Hurrah! Hurrah! My past 12 months of hard labour will not be in vain! I can now cover my costs, buy the best production materials for the artworks, and even pay myself for the trouble. I am, in case you can't tell, extremely pleased and relieved...3 weeks to go. Bought a mosquito net-hat and a book on foraging.

(For anyone still following this blog, you might be interested to know that what I said earlier about the percentages of scottish arts council funding was slightly mean (and they are now my best friends of course); This round they funded almost a fifth of the money requested, but with my £3,000 representing just under 6% of the total amount awarded. That could mean as little as twenty individuals in all of Scotland receiving arts funding this quarter! There really isn't very much to go around...)

# 9 [16 June 2009]

All is going smoothly but time is running out for preparatory elements for the residency. I know I will feel like a small child at Christmas time when my new digital recorder arrives, but for now I have been chasing the last couple of details from the early funders.

The tourism board are debating whether or not a different (and partly european funded) project already taking place with an interpretative element, is too close to what I will be doing with the audio guide idea. I tried to explain that this is not a cultural sciences project, but visual art which is utilising those techniques...we'll see whether this is different enough! They should get back to me any day now. Still waiting on Hope Scott Trust as well, again, should be a reply any day. Scottish Arts Council by the end of the month. I hate the waiting and not knowing!

On more cheery notes, I have negotiated to have a whole day of activities with the primary school. But it asks difficult questions for me as I do not want to be seen as an artist that does "kiddy-workshops" or tries to cure social ills with finger painting! But I have undergone a play for the dead, thus now I want to do a play for the youth, the future decision-makers of Eigg. I want them to almost take it on as their own, and have it grow so that perhaps it becomes a new tradition. Tradition-making has long been an interest of mine. So it means working with the kids (still waiting for CRB form from the School so time is short there too!). I will perform a puppet show to illustrate what I would like them to do, make costumes and then document tableaux-style scenes. Really looking forward to this bit.

The weather up here is Scotland is so unseasonably glorious that, fingers crossed, it will remain throughout the summer and I can go out walking on Eigg every day that I am there. Must create a strong visible presence or I could risk residents not knowing I was ever there! a few flyers is NEVER enough to have any kind of real involvement or have a group take something on as there own. Yet again I am reliant on many elements of contribution from people I work with, both with people coming forward for interviews, and for them coming to see work installed afterwards.

I have created some slick logos to go with each stage of the project and will attach them to public information letters which will hit the island regularly throughout the project. They are artworks in themselves and fully describe the processes I want to undertake.

One month to go...