the-space-between

As people entered the workshop space they were greeted with a new smell, the room had never smelt like this before: rosemary essential oil (clean and warming) and underneath that, in bowls of warm bubbly water, the scent of orange and geranium liquid hand-wash.

The next thing I introduced people to was the idea of working in threes (usually in workshops here we work in pairs). However, some people wanted to work in their usual pairs and I felt that it was really important to respect that. I wanted people to consider the idea of plaiting the bread together, intertwining themselves with each other.
I also needed to introduce the idea of the evaluation of the workshop, which wasn’t going to happen at the end but all throughout: People were asked to note moments of warmth and of kindness in their interactions together and whenever they felt this, that their working together was going well and made them feel good, they were to put a ceramic baking bean in the metal tin in front of them. This sound would be recorded throughout the bread-making part of the workshop.

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I began the bread-making and sharing workshop with the Rocket artists by introducing myself and my practice.
“Hello, I’m Alice and I’m an artist and I’ve been making work for about 25 years. Mostly I make performances.
My performances are about the way people treat each other; the way they are with one another; whether there is love and care in what they do to/with one another.
And my work always starts from everyday actions, things that happen in the home. I’ve made performances where I’ve made people a cup of tea (steep, 2002/03), or where I’ve brushed their hair (reSPITE, 1992). Once I went all the way to Scotland,(closed-circuit-surrender, 2002) to play a solo on a musical instrument: the musical instrument was an egg-slicer.
From my Kitchen. So, my work is often inspired by something coming from the bathroom, the bedroom or the kitchen.
In today’s workshop we’re going to be making and sharing bread.”

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On Tuesday 24th November 2015 I led my first workshop-performance with the Rocket artists at the Brighton Museum and Art Gallery. Over the next few days I want to write about my thinking behind the piece; what happened during the workshop-performance and how, reflecting upon the documentation material, both photographic/video and audio,’the traces of an encounter’, I gained new insight into my practice. Not just with regard to this piece, ‘you and me’, but overall.