The last part of the week has been as busy as any other point in the residency. Up to the last day we worked on the support structure of the piece, and we were lucky enough that plenty of people came through the studio to have a chat and some even discussed our work.
Knowing we would not be able to finish the piece, we concentrated on getting it as complete as possible for the sake of documentation. We also came to decisions about how to handle some of the outstanding issues: most of the blue tape, over which we debated as over no other home repair product before, will be removed from the piece in its finished state, with perhaps the exception of a few spots that will connect larger segments of the institution; the support structure will be made up of institutional detritus, assemblages made from furniture and books; lighting will be a combination of lamps used in the support structure and actual gallery lighting. We were always bothered by the floppiness and imprecision of the model architecture, but this will be taken care of when we actually glue up the walls and floors and the whole thing gains a considerable ammount of rigidity (and when it will become a true challenge to ship and store, as it will take up half a container of space.) We also would like to position the piece with plenty of space around it (or at least on 3 sides), which will change the way it relates to the space around it from the way it did to the corridor shape of our studio.
We left Banff on Friday the 14th, having had a last pool-playing and drinks session at the centre’s pub. Many of our co-residents dropped by for a farewell drink. We were sorry to miss those who didn’t. Now the sculpture is in pieces, in storage. Once we have figured where and when it will be shown, we will have to get together a few weeks before-hand to finish our work and install. Perhaps at that point we will pick up the thread of this blog…?
’til then.
thanks and bye.
Well done on all your hard work, and for taking the time to write it up on this blog. The piece is looking really good. I love the lampshades as supports. I’m glad to hear the blue tape is going because that kind of bothered me.
Congrats guys. And thanks for sharing your process — a very brave thing to do, and actually pretty enjoyable to read too!
Would love to see the finished (or should I say, ‘stopped’) project – send pics when you have them.
Actually, quite interesting to think of it exhibited within a similarly confining space. Hmmm…