In the garden with Entelechy Arts and Siobhan Davies Dance at the Garden Museum.

In the Garden

I'm finally getting around to writing about my collaboration with Entelechy Arts in Deptford in 2014.  http://www.entelechyarts.org

 This amazing experience ran along side my exhibition Lines, Levels, Layers

Which was part of the year long Human Nature season at Siobhan Davies Dance.
Both myself and Christian Kerrigan separately worked with Entelechy to produce a movement based performance accompanying our indivdual work shown at the the dance studio in Elephant and Castle. 

Entelechy Arts works from the Albany theatre in Deptford South London and run a programme of weekly workshops such as ambient jam working with the elderly, people with varying levels of disability and the local community. 

'Entelechy Arts is a participatory arts company based in south east London. Entelechy
works with people of all ages, abilities
and backgrounds to produce high quality theatre, music, dance and video events
and performances.'

From entelchy arts website

I was initially working along side Rebecca Swift to discuss how we could approach this and met a few of the dancers and volunteers including Shane Waltner a weaver who had also exhibited at Siobhan Davies in 2012.

http://www.shanewaltener.com

I attended a ambient jam session one afternoon to get a taster and a greater understanding about the approach and more importantly get to meet some of the regulars attending these sessions.

For me this was one of the biggest steps I made out of my comfort zone.

I went along with notebook and pen in hand. Expecting to be quietly observing from the corner of the room.

Instead the reality was quite different I was encouraged in to the centre of the action. Boxes of props came out including paper brightly coloured fabrics, musical instruments, sounds, dancing, movement, colour and and most importantly happiness.

This group varied from people with profound physical disabilities, sight and hearing impairments, some of the participants were in wheelchairs others had come along with family members and carers so I had to think on my feet, throw all inhibitions aside and just get stuck in the best way I knew. 

Visit to the Garden Museum

Our first visit to the Garden museum in Lambeth took place very early on in 2014. 
The museum was set up in 1977 on the former site of St Mary's church which sits next to Lambeth Palace and has this small but perfectly formed garden at the back. In the centre is a fine example of a knot garden.


'The church is the burial place of John Tradescant (c1570 – 1638), the first great gardener and plant-hunter in British history. His magnificent and enigmatic tomb is the centrepiece of a knot garden planted with the flowers which grew in his London garden four centuries ago.'

From the Garden museum website

http://www.gardenmuseum.org.uk

With a couple more visits and then some group meeting we all came up with a  a copy of our working score before the event. Where our thoughts, observations, ideas and plans all went down on paper to share with the rest of the group including the musicians and volunteers. 

Soil was one of the key elements, the ground, being rooted, attention to the nuanced moments, allowing the performance to naturally unfold as Entelechy always do with such elegance. This experience was about surrendering control and allowing the senses to lead the outcome. 

The day of the performance 

The performance at the garden museum on Sunday 6th July 2014 

These wonderful images taken by Gorm Ashurst really capture a sense of openness, happiness, and freedom to explore. 

It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon and unfortunately I was unable to make to final performance as my dad had so sadly passed away four days earlier. 

Although I wasn't there in body I was certainly there in spirit and finally feel I am able to reflect back on this experience with great fondness and thank Rebecca for subtly encouraging me to step out from being the observer and becoming immersed. 

Richard Serra at the Gagosian Gallery London 2014

The last time Richard Serra was exhibiting in London was back in 2009 
Five years on the Gagosian gallery www.gagosian.com nestled in between the streets near Kings Cross in Britannia Street is host to another breathtaking exhibiton of Richard Serra'a gigantic steel structures. 


Room One

You are confronted with two large sheets of steel wedged into the edges of the room one balanced on top of the other with the smallest point of contact. This is something Serra seems to be able to effortlessly achieve. The interaction of two structures combining weight, density, counter balance and the engineering of materials. 

Room Two 

Comprised of a series of steel rectangles positioned very much like a maze,
allowing you to walk through and interweave in between these structures. Each and every angle opens up into a different view point or perspective within the work and the space. 

Room Three

For those familiar with Richard Serra's works this is a structure that you recognise however, the outer appearance of these huge imposing forms always provide an element of surprise once you enter inside. These works have to be experienced, from first glance you may make the assumption that you are simply going to be entering a darkened tunnel space. Part of that is true but these forms have been designed with much more consideration the subtle changes within the curves the undulations on one side, the quality of light and the distortion of sound. 

All of these elements combined can throw the senses off balance. 
You enter with a sense of wondering and the journey through this contained space is changing with each step. The difference with this particular piece is that it is completely closed at the top making the experience more claustrophobic. 

This exhibition is on until 28th Feb 2015 
for anyone interested in large scale works the human senses and spatial works this is not to be missed.