To claim a territory, we need to first feel that it needs to be claimed. The whole day had been about the moment between the exhibited work, the object within the hand and the individual. The seemingly inert forms that they were given at the start of the day had become assertive, the individuals had become assertive, found a voice and activated the work before them in a different way than their familiar approach to the gallery. The held objects had become catalysts for thought and encounter or rather thoughtful encounters. From the start of the day when we sat in the turbine hall as a small cluster and discussed how we could make an impact on this space, the architecture, the work, the experience we were now catapulted into another position. This position was one of importance and of value. The group were now insistant about the appropriateness of their actions. If I reference hermeneutics and particularly the notion of play within learning I am not using play as an aside or passive wandering. I am asserting purposeful play that is full to bursting with intentionality that stops the imaginings being such and moves towards the imaginings as truths. They come into being. Everything during the day had come into being as though now highlighted, underlined and in bold the objects and the individuals were present in the experience. It was their experience and whilst informed and set by my ingredients they now owned the experience. The transformations of meanings, functions and actions had enabled the play to become critical and essential. ‘through such an objectification the player transcends his established world. Produces a new set of possibilities, and in doing so appropriates them as his own.’ ( Gallagher, 1992. P144) The yellow line. We had claimed the territories and become more forceful more vital in the spaces during the day. Our tentative beginnings were now overthrown. In the turbine hall, we unravelled 50 meters of yellow satin ribbon. It ran down the space drawing its silky line straight and fluid. It ran just next to the scar of the Salcedo crack which was zig zagging its way in the concrete. The yellow ribbon followed alongside, a glamourous parking delineation (maybe) as it demarcated 2 different areas of the Turbine Hall. The shibboleth (2007) piece refers to a geographical and cultural exclusion (http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/salcedo-shibboleth-i-p20334). It was a test of belonging. This rupture into the floor was now present as a stain of the action, patched and smoothed over but still visible and very much part of the hall. A fault line. The polite ribbon silently rolled across the floor like it was brushing the surface, stroking it, no rupture and no etch. As it was rolled it sailed along the space claiming its territory but the action of the roll, the stream of yellow was only vital because of the action it enabled. It was as though the group now spread across the turbine hall like the 50 meters were all of us holding hands or tips of fingers stretched across the space. It belonged to us, a temporary capture. It started at the door to the staff entrance of the turbine hall and as people came through the door they walked along the line following its path, not aware of it but following its route. A group of children were suddenly held on one side of the turbine hall by the ribbon as though it could become part of their game or their rules. We had made a car park, a court, a restriction. All day we had talked about what we could do, what we couldn’t do and what we wanted to do. We ended with what the handled objects had enabled us to do., make a mark, touch what was infront of us, assert ourselves and be present within the encounter. Before any session, I try and write what my expectations are, my pre-thoughts. This is a part of what I had written on the way to Tate Inert potent New Materialism - disintegrating dualism - is always paramount, it speaks of an inter disciplinary cross disciplinary position. INTRA - The anchors are where? We need to pivot on an axis or from a base line so that we are not set adrift in a sea of matter without being able to differentiate any- thing. The status can change and dilute, everything could become as relevant as the next. So, we are matter and we can anchor other matter Or other matter anchors us. The objects I have been making feel like a plumb line, a measuring stick of thought or pre-thought re configured. A plumb line will offer a line of truth temporarily, not marking permanently but creating a line in space or the chalk line that lasts for a short period of time. A measurement of depth or a perfect line, a point to attach to. Let’s see the matter, what is the matter with seeing the matter. The plumb line became the ribbon a temporary yellow truth. There is something about this stopping point - of running out. I enjoy the mark coming to an end and the edge where it ends.
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Kimberley FosterKimberley's practice as an artist is pedagogical, it doesn’t just reference learning, it plays with, embodies and encourages learning at its core. The objects consider ideas of collaboration and authorship, discussions about touch and encounter, and bring into active consideration issues of learning within social and participatory practices. Archives
October 2018
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