I had some time today, so I went for another long walk. I think I'm in a good place with regards to the five-minute video - my current plan is write a (fairly) conventional 'script', probably record myself speaking it, then add video, then experiment with removing the audio... We'll see - I've never done anything like this so it's fun to explore.
Open Casket continues to be an interesting one... I'm sort of weirdly enjoying the process of being more deliberate with my process - I'm remembering a lot of the lessons I have learnt over the two years like remembering to be led by emotion, but tempered with reflection; like resisting the urge to write myself a verbal brief and fulfil it; like leading with meaning, not technique or materials; like not over-working; like prototyping.
Speaking of prototyping, I made a life-size cardboard cut out, and started placing elements on it. I can immediately sense the nub of the problem - it's a very big space, and I need to fill it with elements that work together. This is tricky, but the urge to make something life-size, but still transportable makes it very tough. I am really drawn to plaster and wood and metal, but I need to make myself be drawn to things like fabric and paper and light stuff! I do wonder if I'm shooting myself in the foot by trying to do something 'big' - I did think a lot about just doing a face.
I still think I want to do something with a body, but with the absence, not the presence of a body. My 'message' is still about the fragility of life, and how recognising that can help you find happiness, not anxiety. Some 'themes' I think are work, death, permanence, antiquity, transience, fragility, nature. I toyed with stuffing my work clothes with natural materials to make a 'nature body' in 'human clothes'. I love the idea of making something that would rot over the course of the show, but I don't think I can control it enough - it would either dry out and fail to rot, or turn into a stinking mess by lunchtime of the first day...
For some reason, I can't get away from the desire to make a cast of my entire body - not a detailed life-cast, but more like a really rough cast of just the front or back surfaces. I am looking into ways to do this, and ways to create a cast that is transportable. I think maybe I just need to see where that leads... I guess one approach would be to literally cast my body, a 'smarter' one might be to use photogrametry to make a 'virtual' cast of my body. Somehow though, I really like the idea of making a real cast...
If I can make a real cast, I think there's a few things I can do... I can display it 'as is', and leave people to interpret it as they see fit, or I can do something further based on it. I wondered about suspending a sheet with hundreds of threads to pull it into the shape, but I am not really a textile artist. I wondered about cutting the cross-sections out of a series of wood panels to leave a Tom-shaped hole in the middle of a cross-sectioned 'coffin'. I wondered about hammering nails to different heights to follow the contours of the body - not very practical or affordable or transportable, but i love the idea of wood and metal and effort and force.
I wondered also if the body should be 'at rest' or whether I explore darker territory and make the body look like it has slammed into the surface.
So much food for thought that I might vomit it all up... But I think I am making steady progress.
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