The Big Walk - Lobby - Curatorial issues (Long!)

J: I’ve got loads of photos, black and white photos. I quite like that one, because you can only see the lights, in black and white. And I like that one with the sign. And I have loads of bits, so they can just go up wherever... just all of the stuff from the big walk. I quite like the photos... They’re cheaply printed, and black and white. But it didn’t really seem necessary...

D: It was kind of black and white wasn’t it? Cattle. Monsters!

J: I thought that was necessary. And I like the signs as well... We were being dictated to even up there.

D: Amy came up with an idea to have a wooden sign saying  ‘25 miles home’, but I didn’t have time to do that. But we can do it if we want to.

J: We had a good time didn’t we, for much of it.

D: It was hard though. For me it was, I’m sure it was for you as well.

J: It was a long way, I was very thirsty.

D: I think I put that on my ‘negative’ boot. Thirsty!

J: We should have an empty bottle, just to sum it up.

D: Right, we’ve just laid it all out so we can have a look at what we’ve got. It’s going to be hard doing this... You know that?

J: It’s a curatorial challenge!

D: It certainly is... I never got to see the Scott exhibition either.

J: Oh, it was good. This is our own Scott of the Antarctic exhibition.

D: Scott-ess

J: Of Lizard Point

K: Right, so are we going to work around the horizon, do you reckon? Or just cover it?

J: I think there are benefits to doing either

K: it kind of doesn’t matter really does it, just go with it?

D: Let’s just decide where things are going to go? I like the idea that if that thing goes up, you just write on top of it? So that it continues the thing across it... Because I’m not sure whether we should cover it or...

K: We won’t know, will we? Until we get going?

D: I think it would be interesting not going over it

J: It’s a constant thing... And they can be in weird places as well.

K: We want it to flow don’t we?

D: Well maybe we should make that the defining point of reference? Because then we have something to work with.

J: I like the idea that it’s this sort of chaotic... splat... following this journey. So I think it’s quite appropriate that we work around the horizon.

K: One part could be the beginning and then we could work around do it that way... So if we’ve got photographs... I don’t know, we could have daylight... then night time

J: It’s a small space, but there’s no reason that we shouldn’t creep up the stairs.
So, what are we going to do then? Just place things where we think...?

D: I’ve just got an idea... That that moon, that one there should be high up! As though it’s looking over...

K: With the light shining on it. We could start with that point. In a corner somewhere

J: I like that corner... It looks over everywhere.

D: I need to be able to take it off...

K: Can you get up in the ceiling? You can push these up can’t you, and then just hook it on in there...

J: Just hang it from the metal... That would mean it would move which would be quite nice. Do we have any wire? Hang it over the bar, put the tiles back...

K: If we can get a bit of wire, or a bit of string to hold it up.

D: I need to be able to take it down, so I can put it for my assessment.

J: But your assessment can still be... Or do you need it to be a part of your structure?

D: Well I kind of like the idea of being able to take it from here and put it back there... Then bring it back again.

J: If you get a bit of string or wire then you can make something that it just fits into.

K: Do we want anything, like a plinth or anything to just put things on? Because we’ve got bits and bobs, haven’t we. I’ve got the map there...

J: We’ll come to that in a bit... Get the moon up, then we’ll have our guiding light.
That wire’s quite thick... Will the tiles slot back over that? What about fishing wire? Because that’s quite strong and you won’t be able to see it.

(Found some metal wire)

D: So what do I need... A hook at either end don’t I?

J: Well what you need to do is just hang it up from the ceiling... And then you can slot that in. So the wires around each other so it’s really strong. It needs to be really secure, so go round and round as tight as you can.

D: I should make sure it’s the right height.

J: Maybe just make one loop... And then move it round so the ugly bit is behind the tiles, and then that’ll just slot in.

D: I’m just hoping it’s the right height, what do you think?

J: I think that’s probably about right.

D: Is that too low, does it need another one there?

K: No, that’s a good angle. Go round and make sure it’s secure. You could double it up.

D: It’s ugly though, isn’t it?

K: You don’t take any notice of it really, you can’t really see it.

J: While you’re up there, do you want to angle the light?

K: There, you’ve got the shine where it moves.

D: If I move it that way, the moon will actually move, what do you think?

J: I like it at this angle because it overlooks the whole room.

D: I like the fact that it’s quite close to the horizon line as well. I got to use one of my pieces, that’s good!

K: It’s got a nice shine hasn’t it, and on the wall...

K: Right!
J: Right!
D: Right!

J: Okay, so do we just choose what goes next then? Is there anything else that needs a specific place? That’s probably the way to think about it. And then fill the gaps...

D: Do you think that needs to be somewhere opposite?

K: Balance it out a bit.

J: I’d quite like to see it over there.

D: It’s really nice just starting with big stuff. I think it’s great that you did all of that writing there. Because that has got to be the biggest thing here really, in lots of ways.

J: I think I’d like that to be lower, closer to the horizon.

D: And what, near a mountain... or? Do you want that writing to be through the crack there?

K: It looks better lower down. I’ll tell you what!...

J: It matches up!

D: Are you going to write on that?

K: No, I don’t think it’s needed! You have all of those scratchy marks that are a bit like writing.

D: Picture hook!

J: Do you want to play with the light at all?

D: Definitely, shall we have it on the moon?

K: Shadow as well!

J: Do you have anything big that needs its own space?

K: No, I’m not going to put my moon up. It’s not going to go.

J: So now is it just plastering the walls, basically?

D: Are you sure?

K: Yeah, if the whole wall was black then I wouldn’t ‘mind, but it has edges, and I don’t really like that. I’ve got it on my poem. I wanted to put a background on, so I put it onto acetate...

J: I might also have... a poem on a picture! Should I photocopy it so it’s on A4 and we have one each?

D: Do you think that we need to have that table here? That we had for your maps,to put things on.

K: I’ve got a map, I’ve got a book of photos, you’ve got your bits..

D: So do you think that we should do that? Have a table, and have those chairs like we did last time? Because I like that.

K: It was nice; you can sit and just take it in... And I don’t like the chairs there to be honest.

D: So we can make a sitting area. We’ll do that after though. So shall we decide what will go on the table, make another pile? Have you got the string that you used? It’s in something, isn’t it?

J: Oh! I’ve got my string!

D: Excellent... So we can have that..... What do you reckon to the table we talked about earlier? So like a lit table. And then have it as a hanging out place for people to sit.

K: (The map) It doesn’t have to be open, but you can see where it’s been used.

D: I think it’s really nice because we have photographs of the map in places that you can see.

K: So there’s connections... So if we have the seating area there, we can have the shoes... And it’s almost like somebody’s sat down there and taken off their shoes, and is resting there for a minute.
D: How about... What’s the next big thing?

K: Well we’ve got pictures and poems, haven’t we?

J: My stuff is mostly just little splatters that can be collaged, and montaged.

K: It kind of needs a place of its own doesn’t it?

J: But it doesn’t all have to go together, and it doesn’t need to be one big...

K: You could do little groups couldn’t you?

J: So is there anything else that needs specific place?

D: I’m just thinking about the fact that people are going to be sitting here looking at the map and the string... Do you think the black and white photos should go into this like, framed area?

J: What in the door?

D: Yeah, because people are going to be sitting here.
Shall we just get our poems out and see what they look like, because I have two versions.

K: And we’ve got up there as well...

J: Okay, well they should go together in their little family.

D: Because I think they’re kind of important, they’re a big statement, these things.

J: So they probably need space.

D: How about here? Because that is actually at eye.... What is it, 160? Is that the classic...?

J: We don’t need to bother with that shit!

K: So we can either have them there, or we’ve got that there (Other wall), but that might be out of the eye a bit.

J: That’s good, and then we’ve got the light too, so we can have two lights as well if we want. What do you want them up with? I have Blu-Tac or tape or pins.

D: What pins have you got... the gold ones?
Blu-Tac would be easier wouldn’t it?

K: Yeah, I think Tac. Pins can be really distracting.

D: I’ve done mine on photo paper which is a bit shiny.

J: If you don’t want it shiny you can always photocopy it.

D: Do you think that would be better? I’ll just try it.

J: Okay, is that far enough from the wall?

K: I think you need that gap; otherwise it’s too tucked away.
And it doesn’t matter that that paper’s shiny does it, you don’t notice.

J: The light’s right on it and it’s not giving any kind of glare is it?

D: That’s really neat, isn’t it?

J: The rest of it won’t be!

D: That’s okay... because we’ve got this formal element in it, and everything about it can be chaos. Such a good decision not to go over the line.

K: Do you want to do your photos next?

J: Do you want them just like a grid?

D: How many have you got?

J: Well they don’t all have to go up, just the most important ones. Definitely cattle.

K: What about in a line? Like going with the line of the horizon?

J: Oh I don’t know, that might be a bit like... family portraits?
What do you both think about how they all go up? Because like I said, they don’t all need to go up, or go up together. I just pulled them out because they’re photos.

D: Do you think the colour ones should go in there as well? Because if they’re like a collage as opposed to a symmetrical...

K: I just think that if it’s too symmetrical it might be too box like, and might be a bit contained...

J: Especially within that frame.

D: We could paint the door black... And just leave the horizon line... For your moon.  Just experimenting.
Shall we just put some up? Or put them in front of that wall... Move the chairs.

J: Oh we have the whole door! I was thinking of it being cut off, but it’s not, we have the whole door.

D: I don’t know about these, but I’ll put them there anyway. They might just look a bit odd because they’re different, or they might strike something into it. They’re very blue aren’t they, it’s quite a nice contrast.

(Kensa matched a photo up with the horizon)

D: Oh, that definitely has to go there! Right, that’s a starting point!

K: It’s a shame we didn’t think about this before... We could have had lots of them, fitting.

D: Well there’s no reason why we can’t... We know what photos we’ve got.

K: We’re adding...

 J: Are they working like this... Splattered about? Because I really like it being on the horizon...

K: It’s fitting the others into this...

J: The others don’t necessarily need to be part of this club?

 D: Well we can be more formal about it now, I think. Have kind of groupings.

K: Well we’ve got maps. Maps and signs, and then driftwood...

D: Do you guys think that there should be Christmas lights up?

J: Yep!

D: And where do you think they should go?

J: Not sure yet....

K: Were adding to the landscape, aren’t we?

J: Putting our own memories in it.
What next? The space is kind of filling up.

K: So we’re going to have people sat here... We don’t want much behind it, do we?

D: Shall we do that bit now? 

K: Is the light box going to be switched on? It doesn’t need to be, does it?

J: Well if we’re not using the light box... What about the really low plinth that they had for the two hour hang... because if we’re not using the light box, that might be a bit neater.

K: It’s really hard isn’t it?

J: It’s harder than I thought it would be.

D: Right, there is a plinth here. It’s about 13 inches deep.

J: It might be nice it being quite low, I think that’ll be alright. It’s a little bit lower than the chairs, isn’t it?
Oh no! It needs to be facing the wall, I didn’t realise it had that opening.
How are you going to have it? I thought it was going to be like, chairs either side?

D: We can just try it, can’t we?

J: Another thing, we might not need to have all of the chairs.

K: Right, which way, because you want to have the chairs facing out really.

D: I quite like the idea of it being out, and the chairs being behind. I don’t like the idea of them being next to the wall, I feel as though it’s a social space. But this’ll be exposed... But at least it’ll be exposed on that side.

J: Unless you have it in that corner under the moon, and have the chairs ‘round it like that.

D: Let’s try that.

J: So that it won’t take up too much space. Are you happy for it to be in the corner?

K: But then they’ve got their backs to everywhere.

J: How did you have it for Kensa’s?

D: We had it kind of in the middle with the chairs either side.

J: It’s just that that exposed edge really gives me issues.
You could have it as we did before, longways, with the edge a few inches away from the wall so you couldn’t see it, but it’s not squished up against the wall. And then you could manage two chairs on either side. That’s a bit more social isn’t it?

D: At least somebody can sit there, and go like that... That’s how I’d like to sit.

J: And you can come in there and it won’t be in the way.

K: And actually, because they’re sat there, you could have something on the wall. You could have a collection of your little bits, so they have something to look at as they’re sat there.

D: Is that far enough away from the wall?

J: I’m happy with that... You can’t see the edge, and it’s not squished up against the wall.
Right, are you happy with masking tape and Blu-Tac? I like tape.

D: It’s kind of utilitarian, and that’s what I like about it.
What’s that Kensa?

K: This? It’s to stop them reading the next page. Because it’s got nothing to do with them! And nothing to do with the walk. So I’m just taping the book together... It can be opened.

D: Is that just an old map?

K: It’s the road map, so it’s kind of pinpointed... So there’s Coverack, and Cury there. And my ramblings.
Tape it up! Keep out.

D: Shall I sort the lights out so that they’re pointing at the photos?

K: Have you noticed with the horizon... How they’re spaced!

J: It’s like it wants us to do it.
I like that, our table of curios.

D: That’s a great shot, I love that one... The last one at the end. That’s so striking isn’t it?

J: It just was though, it was so bright.

D: I like the fact that this is here (Chairs).

K: It gives them somewhere to sit, and to look at, get close to it.

D: Torches!

K: I thought about my head torch, but I didn’t want it to go missing.

J: I don’t know if it’s just me, but I kind of feel that I don’t have ownership of any of this work you know... It doesn’t feel like stuff that we’ve made individually?

D: What, because we’re a group?

J: Yeah... I don’t feel like I made that, and I made that...

K: Not at all. Actually, it didn’t even come into my head. And that’s really good, I think it shows...

J: It was very much a shared experience wasn’t it?

K: And we want that to reflect.

D:  What I was quite excited about was seeing everybody’s own experience of the walk. And that’s exactly what we’re seeing right now, actually.

K: And we’ve all done a poem... And we all became obsessed with the moon.

J: And the horizon. We’ve turned into lunatics.

D: It’s so cool that you got this space before, and the horizon. It wouldn’t have been the same thing.

J: And it really gave us a sort of grid to work from. Framework.

D: And so important to the walk. Even when we couldn’t see it, it was still there.

K: You could certainly feel it... Especially when you saw the outline of the cows... I wanted to do something with that, but I just couldn’t really think of anything.

J: I felt that the cows were really important. I feel like I need this cattle picture somewhere!
There’s a spare wall in there, maybe I should just stick in on that wall!

K: On the door.

D: Why don’t we have them there, underneath there? Maybe just the dangerous ones... The darkness. Because they’re actually indicative...

J: I think there’s only room for two.

K: I quite like them one on top of the other.
I quite like that there’s lots going on here, and not much going on over there... Because that flows, doesn’t it?

D: We’re walking.

J: The walk was kind of like that... There were times of peace and serenity, and time when there was a lot happening... different districts.
Is that okay?

D: I’m not sure actually, I think they look kind of clumped up there. I think they should be longways. Kensa, what do you think?

K: No, I like it like that. If you come over left, make them more central, that’ll be ideal.

D: We should have that little cow, photocopied... and have them dotted around! It’s a shame you couldn’t have little words like ‘monsters!’

K: ‘fucking hell!’

J: ‘COWS!’ ‘PONIES!’

D: I’m not so sure.

J: Neither of you have your happy faces on.

K: Something’s not quite right... and I’m not sure what it is.

D: I think it’s because... The man falling should be kind of, on top of the top of the mountain maybe. I don’t know.

J: I don’t feel like there’s space there though, I think the moon needs it. Shall I try them alongside each other?

D: But have the black one on the right hand side... It looks like it’s closer to that mountain.

K: I’ve just had an idea! Because we’re going to have something there... Put them there.

J: That’s a good idea!

D: Have we got the something that’s going there?

J: I’m going to write it today!

K: Is that better?

D: That is better.

J: It makes more sense, I don’t know why, it’s really weird.

K: It wasn’t balancing, was it? I think it’s because we’ve got that there, we’ve got the moon over there, so we’ve got this more kind of triangular...

D: It interrupted the flow a bit didn’t it? I didn’t think the horizon line was that important, but it most certainly is.

K: Right. Do you want to put anymore bits up there?

J: I don’t think it needs it, do you?

K: I think that’s find, I think it’s balanced...

J: I didn’t want to give it too much.

D: More photos. We have this space here as well.

J: All of those photos are like artefacts aren’t they...

K: Maybe at the top of the stairs. Just at the top there. You could have a nice... They are recordings, aren’t they. They are artefacts. So how many have we got, 8?

J: I don’t like that one though, I don’t think it goes, it’s too black. And I don’t know what you think, but if that colour one goes in, I’d like it to be black and white rather than colour. I know it’s almost black and white...

D: It doesn’t have to go in, we can take it out.

J: I’d like it to go in...

K: But in the same format.

J: I’d rather see it as a photocopy.
I’ve taken out one of the map ones because I don’t think we need it. And that makes an even number.

D: Are we going to have these in some sort of order.

K: You could have those two together, two maps...

D: Or should we mix them?

J: I’d quite like to see them mixed.

K: Opposites. Stick the maps at opposite corners.

D: Now we need to discuss Blu-Tac... as a point that we might well be picked up on. Is the fact that we used Blu-Tac, and they’re just stuck to the wall, and they’re unprofessional.

J: It kinds of feels though, as though they’re documentation rather than ‘art’.

K: It is, yeah. So it’s nice and neat and tidy...

J: It’s practical because it’s very very sticky. It doesn’t damage the work, which double sided tapes and things would. It does look fairly neat, and it’s very secure. It does the job. There are reasons why we’re using Blu-Tac as opposed to anything else.

K: I like that. You’ve got the railings as well haven’t you; it’s all square up there.

J: I think this looks great. So if I sort out the thing to go in the wotsit...