Artslab Blog

ArtsLab11

ArtsLab — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 05:46:22 +0000

Inspired by the work that has been created by ArtsLab10? Keen to create your own new works?Expressions of interest are open for ArtsLab11.

email admin@shopfront.org.au to receive an information pack
Applications Close Friday December 10, 2010

Goodness, it’s over.

alicemcooper — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 02:53:16 +0000

The last thing I ate last night before going to bed, was rather aptly, a toasted piece of mountain bread with nutella. Yes, I thought I would be sick of it too, but alas I think I am more in love with it than ever before. (For those of you who didn’t see/smell the show- I have a moment where my clown covers her entire body in nutella then attempts to lick it all off when she realises it tastes like chocolate).

I will write some notes in the days/week to come about the process and the performance experience, but for now I just wanted to say thank you so much to everyone who came to see the season of work. It was lovely to play to such a packed house every night and be geared on by such a supportive crowd.

Also, a huge merci bien a’ Michael, Saskia, TJ, Eddi, Nerrida and Tom- we truly, truly, truly could not have done it without you all. Thank you from the bottom of my nutella coated heart.

Of course, Andy would disagree…

tjeckleberg — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 07:03:57 +0000

But frustratingly, all the bets are off, as Andy Warhol would tell us… How much time does it take?

Yes, no, maybe.

Warhol would remind us… Product is king, show me the money, decide for yourself, be successful at your own risk, you’ve got at least fifteen minutes…

And you can endlessly repeat yourself.

If it looks like art, it must look like someone else’s art…

Even inauthenticity, pursued relentlessly, has a kind of honesty in it.

What else would you be doing?

tjeckleberg — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 05:13:03 +0000

It takes time. I’m reminded all the time, but mostly by myself, that it takes time.

Which means having to mediate my own desires for immediate success, or success full stop, having to re-envisage my time frames, having to postpone, work harder, let things go, or re-orient. Mostly having to admit when I’ve got it, but being willing to know when I haven’t.

To borrow and re contextualise the famous quote from The Princess Bride – “Anyone that says differently is selling something”.

It also helps me to ask… what else would I be doing? Walking to the shops? Drinking coffee? Chatting with friends? Earning money? And then?

When I was eighteen I discussed not going to University with my boss – who was also an early mentor for me. I told him I didn’t want to waste my time, cause University took three years, at least. He replied by asking how old I was going to be in three years – pointing out that no matter what, in three years I would be twenty one either with or without a degree. The question then arose… what would I want to have done by the time I was twenty one…? When I was twenty one, what kind of life would I want to look back on?

I’ve always thought, since then, at how amazingly different time spend looks from before and from after a project.

When your world begins to crumble, bake a pie

aslamabdussamad — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 22:13:38 +0000

Art: A series of happy mistakes? That seems to be how my show is coming together!

The last weekend i had a bit of a moment. It came to my attention that a key effect i wanted to create was not possible. At the time i couldnt think of a solution and was very devastated. Since then, i looked at the footage i generated and realised, “Hey! It’s not what i want but it’s kinda cool” and voila! I created an amazing image! (A component of which is below)

This week has been all about getting my pieces and beggining to put them together. I have new original music, gotten an actor in and am in the process of organising shooting dates. I also taught myself to use adobe after effects and thats become quite a prominant feature in my show. It’s tricky territory because im trying to lay things down in the space but also trying to jam out some new material.

I had an interesting discussion with fellow artslabber, Alice. We are both doing solo shows and we were observing that after a long days worth of rehearsal, it’s very difficult to quantify any of the work that was created. That’s because we are not outside our pieces so we cannot see cant form of ‘product’. So working with my sound designer has been very interesting because he has very specific questions such as “What am i trying to communicate in the scene” and “Tell me how long the track needs to be”. These simple questions really make me think about the specifics of my scenes which has been a wonderful tool for re-approaching them with a new sense of clarity.

I wanted to leave you with something that i forgot i had. It’s something that didnt quite make it into the show. Enjoy!

ArtsLab10 Season Trailer

ArtsLab — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 01:11:23 +0000

Five short works flirt with the banal, the fantastic, the mundane, the dream-world and the everyday. Contemporary story-telling meets clowning, Irish love songs get a burlesque twist, dance makes passionate love to new media, gaps in time cut open a typical office space and friendships are tested to difficult limits.

I have found out where I am!

alicemcooper — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 05:25:52 +0000

Hello hello!

So I had a rather exciting discovery on Wednesday night (yes, even more so than my last post’s discovery). I am actually a clown on a stage. There is no house. It is just me, a clown, who has stumbled (or been beamed onto it- haven’t quite decided that yet) onto an abandoned stage where there happens to be an audience. And this audience have clearly come to see a show. So a show I will give them, using whatever I can find lying around. And so now I have a safe space to play and I’m a much happier little clown this Friday.

together Alone, Alone together

ArtsLab — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 04:10:07 +0000

Finding out how I get on stage

alicemcooper — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 01:54:10 +0000

So this week I have been thinking, and moving, about a basic question one encounters when making theatre: why am I on stage and who are the audience in relation to the performer/s (in this case me). It’s seemingly simple, as all complex things seem to be. So I am a clown. Yes. I am alice performing as a clown. Yes. The audience is there and expect something of me, both from me, alice, and (as I am wearing a red nose), my clown. Ok, that much is clear. I have been exploring an idea, not too far remote from Aslam (in content rather than style), how do you ‘show’ nothingness, or emptiness, a lack. I want to now begin the piece with my no identity- an impossible task in itself I know for x, y, z reasons but at least to start with s little as possible. So, I thought for a moment this would mean I begin my show in the nude. But then (thankfully!) I thought perhaps that identifies me (alice) too much- in a way- it shows that I am infact a woman, when indeed I had always thought of my clown having a less constrained sexuality, that it was more of an ‘it’ than a he or a she- it was androgenous and asexual. So I’m settling on a flesh toned underwear that technically could be identified as male or female- big briefs, bonds singlet, that kind of thing (if anyone reading this has a better suggestion please feel free to let me know). The show opens with me ‘caught’ in the (follow)spot light unawears in my underwear. I see the light and am annoyed at it for eposing me- and then, I see that not only is there a spotlight, but that behind it there is an audience, and Oh golly! I’m in my underwear. But they have come to see a show, but I am in my underwear and am not prepared. But they are waiting to see me perform, they are waiting for a show. And thus this is where I begin from. I try at first to do the obvious thing and step out of the light, but the light is persistant and follows me around the stage. And so, after trying ‘flight’ it’s now ‘flight’ time- I hold in my anger at the light, put on a happy face and begin a journey of trying to find out what the audience want from me and thus, what I can do for them. It’s just a beginning, and it’s changing all the time, but it’s something to start from and hopefully allows a set up that inspires a genuinely imaginative performance where the audience is witnessing the actual act of creating as it happens. Well, thats the goal, I’ll see how we go.

Lets hang out in the un-knowing

aslamabdussamad — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 08:00:32 +0000

Dear James,

It’s too easy to say that I love you.

I have become so diluted in you. No one else has ever made me feel so whole. When you are away from me, even for just an hour, I just want to become a hermit, because nobody else is worth connecting to.

Who wants silver when you can have gold?

It is our special day tomorrow and you are out planning a surprise I’m sure of it! I am so excited but honestly, just seeing you walk into a room and knowing it’s me you’re looking for…that is all I need.

It hurts so much to think of you being anywhere but here. But if it didn’t hurt so much then it wouldn’t feel so good every time you come back. So for our anniversary, all I wish is that you always come back. Always…forever how long we are living. I don’t know how long that is, but lets hang out in the un-knowing!

Who needs ‘I love you’?

x Adam