Platform P- Fuller summary

My experience of Platform P was a varied one, as I took on so many roles for the performance weekend. Not only was I an artist exhibiting within the hotel, but I was also one of very few who was also assisting and invigilating throughout. Because of this, my experience of showing art, and being a part of my artwork turned out not to be the most important or difficult part of the weekend for me, in fact it barely came into it, which is perhaps a shame as I had hoped it would be an exciting opportunity for me, and also a learning experience. Though I think it still was the latter.

Firstly, the experience of invigilating; sadly not an excellent one for me, and hopefully not what you would usually expect to get from invigilating- or I’m sure nobody would do it! Unfortunately, the room that I was watching was not only housing my work, but also that of two other artists; one whose work I knew very well, fellow student and artist Kensa Rescorla, the other I had not encountered before that Saturday morning , and didn’t even know their surname, let alone how to explain their work to curious viewers. The artist in question was also not present at the hotel over the weekend, and I felt that as their work was something that very much had to be manipulated, that the person minding it really needed to know how the artist wanted this done- which nobody seemed to. I felt, as an artist, that this was an issue, knowing how particular I am about my own work. Without wanting to deliberately criticize the artist, I did feel that the work could have been greatly improved with minimal alteration- and these could be made just by confirming with the artist what they actually wanted, rather than just guessing. Or perhaps I'm being presumptuous, and it was executed exactly as the artist wanted. If so...

Of course, it was also a very long and tiring day- I believe the rooms opened at about 11am, and didn’t close until 6pm. Having to be present for the entire day also limited how much of the show I was able to view- A quick whizz around to try and see most of the rooms before I was summoned back was the best I could manage. Finally, when the hotel rooms closed up for the night I was free... to go off and assist performers. Actually, this was a much more interesting and pleasant experience, especially as both of the artists that I was assisting were incredibly friendly and polite, and a pleasure to be around.

The first was Nicola Canavan, who’s very beautiful performance in the ballroom included a bit of piercing, so for health and safety reasons I was required to clean up afterwards. This aside, my part was very minimal- making sure all of the props arrived, holding things, running around a b it. But it was actually a really nice experience after the long day I’d had, having people talk to me as an equal, and being able to enjoy myself. I was also able to watch the whole performance, which was a pleasure.

After that in the evening, Didge and I were working in shifts ushering for the fascinating Francesca Steele as she performed one-to-ones in her hotel room. This was a very interesting thing to do, and actually felt like performance itself. The artist wanted the corridor outside her room to be hushed and dark, and as the ‘clients’ arrived for their performance they were seated, reassured if necessary, and then ushered into the room in silence. Francesca was very specific about how we were to address the visitors, and having also witnessed her one-to-one in the room, I can see very well how this procedure contributed to the whole experience. To look at the performance from a curatorial standpoint, you could see very much how Francesca was deliberately curating it in this way in order to have maximum impact, and also realness from her piece. Another artist who was absolutely lovely to work with.

It was a mixed weekend that left me very drained, and not feeling very much like an artist, which was a pity. But I am very new to the game, and though I can’t guarantee that my experiences will improve, I can certainly learn what to expect, and what I’m not happy to work with.