Life of late has been quite full and draining, both emotionally and physically forcing a weekend of R'n'R. On the physical side there has been a lot of running around the town to the various meetings involved with the castle project notwithstanding the treks up and down the Castle hill for a variety of reasons, surveys, TV and media as well as my own mental process; the external wall mural I have recently been asked to do is in timely delay while an access door is now being cut into the wall where the Mural was intended to go so it is all free time for castle project..
If the project is to be completed as I see it I have to identify all pitfalls and all possibilities. To find these I must firstly be able to visualise the entire event as a film, over and over again in my mind, cutting and pasting here and there, deletions and additions, these visits are absolute escapeism for me, during these moments, there are no people walking around, there are no sounds from the town other than as a harmonious backdrop to the images that I am seeing through my mind.
By playing this film in my head it allows me to run through the entire event in real time throughout different time periods of each day, this would include watching the different modes of transportation both to and from the castle following the events completion, currently I have been looking at Horse and Carts loaded with blood red poppies each one in my having light, reflection, movement colour and ambience, on a different level a simple a link of respect to the towns past,
each time I visit the castle, the weather is different providing different view, different sceneries, different affects on the materials used and the interactions of man against elements, wet, dry, moist, warm, different smells on different days, different emotions, when one thing is different everthing is different, when you smell the life from a damp and living earth you essentially smell out the possibility of damage to the natural ecology, by feet, wheels, equipment, metal, wood and rope, from my part I get to enjoy all of these different visions and emotions along my own journey; a couple of drey horses. Heads down on a frosty morn followed by glistening poppies; how beautiful an image of tribute that would that be.
The various access points to the castle hill, all will need to be removed and replaced for the transport, these works will need permissions, I can to know who and where I have to go for the permissions, this film I watch, conjured up from my own known reality allows also for ensuring the health and safety of individuals (and animals) who will work in the setting up the instalation, if something goes wrong in my mind I can take steps to rectify through a change in design or chronology of events; only when I am able to successfully complete the project through to the castle being returned to its previous timeless condition in my mind, only then the installation start to be put into place and removed safely only through this process will it bring the veteran and the viewer together in heart and mind.
This 'connection' is truly what it is all about, it is about the work reaching out for a purpose, be that purpose of joy, sorrow, a memory, or just inspiration, even if that be but one viewer who who takes something away with them, in the case of 'Vigilance', the Installation, it has done its job, that however can only come when every aspect of every detail is cohesive with every other part of this mind invasion machine that is art, put simply, if something isn't right no matter how small, it is all wrong and the thing wont work, it wont do the veterans justice for their sacrifice and it wont find empathy with the families left behind.
The drain on my emotions is equal to that on my physical well being though this in itself is an inspirational drain. When I am fatigued I cant but help to feel for those who patrol the streets of Afghanistan on constant alert for their and their colleagues lives, hours upon hours of walking in the heat and dust, misstrusting any and all who is not sharing the same uniform though at the same time maintaining a friendly aire holding their fears, their fatigue, their tiredness and families deep inside, knowing that their next second could be their last, yet they continue in the professional manner our forces excel, they have to, its how they stay alive a bit longer, no, by comparison my suffering and exertion is zero.
Back to the project; this week sees provisional agreement from the local District Council that they would like to see the Event take place and that they would support my Bid at future discussions, in particular English Heritage, I await a date for that meeting and will post details on the facebook site (Kendal Castle Poppy Bid)when we have that meeting and the results of which, for the most, their main concern will be that the castle will be treated with due respect and that there will be no structural work either on the building or the ground.
Also a part of local council remit is the licensing department that deals with enforcement of street collections and events to raise funds, at Wednesdays meeting it was all quite positive with minimal form filling, the way the town has been split into sub areas for the purpose of revenue collection which would also include buskers and street entertainers and probably Big Issue sellers, is something new to me as I had not previously imagined that such control was enforced even in the sitting down and the playing of music in the street.
The facebook site, having had its automated fun blocking software ban me from the network on two occasions for inviting too many people, forces me to now allow the friends list to grow organically without marketting the event, this is frustrating in one way but positive in another as I am now able to watch the viral nature of social networking 'do its thing', on occasion this brings along a surprise new friend, sometimes in another country who has no direct link with the event until you do some tracing back and find that they are a friend of a friend of another friend, terrific stuff. Thats about it for now, not a lot of studio work done this past ten days though fortunately there are only two commission on the easel neither particularly demanding technically and borne of fun, something for me to chill out to after a day on the streets. Take care and have a good weekend
