An Icon of Change: The Kiln

 

The kiln, a symbol of transformation, from the flesh of clay to a ceramic fossil of its former plastic life, is now a symbol of change of direction in my practice caused by COVID-19. This change is taking the shape of a translation from a larger physical, touchable scale to a smaller one imprisoned behind the smooth, cool surface of the screen, exchanging a sensual presence for the vicarious sensation of virtual dimensions and prosthetic ears. This theatre will have no living wings, nonetheless, I hope that it might transport the imagination to a point where an altered perspective offers a different view. One that enriches what might have been remaining hidden behind my mind’s eye.

 

 

The electrician can no longer come to connect the 11 kilowatt beast to its source of energy in the wall. I now have to revert to the lesser capacity of its antecedent smugly ensconced, like a vizir set behind a boy Sultan, whispering considered suggestions.

I am evolving tactics that one by one are beginning to coalesce into a strategy. The aim is not to produce a final outcome for a show, but rather to present a process that responds to the exigencies and contingencies of the present, but most importantly offers broadened possibilities for the future.

The final works will eventually come about. So as I finish them as far as I am able to, the idea is to weave a world around them that reaches out and catalysis responses and notions in the gaps that would otherwise be left unseen in a physical show.

Creating models, projections of the ideal exhibition; focusing on elements that would not appear in the show, lingering over details, augmenting them, are some of the ways that I see myself working at the moment. I do not know whether I can do all I have in mind in the time given, but completion is not the paramount thing now. I am thinking of how to represent concepts that inform the process and developing my practice instead of using the process to bring about the expression of ideas. This confirms the end of the MA as a point of completion, not stasis.

For now, I need to continue the time-consuming work of inscribing the component parts of Logos. In the meantime, I am building ideas and planning their implementation.