27 July 2012

Where did these come from?

Following on from the "memory ball" made at the CQ summer school, but not using my idea of using a thumbtack (drawing pin) to hold the slip of paper holding the memory-word onto or into the ball as it was being wound, this ball simply has tacks held together with thread -
contains 100 tacks, wrapped around a pebble
Then another one needed to be made -
wrapped around a tennis ball
And another - 
nails are harder to hold in
Perhaps they are "just procrastination" (several other projects need finalising if they are to be part of my degree show - in fact I need to decide, soon, exactly what to show).

The tack-balls are exciting to make, and I've been trying to photograph them and make a little video for the show. The overwhelming problems are security for the device on which they'll be shown and the lack of a power supply near my bit of wall. The answer might be to show them on an ipad - the battery should last throughout the day and can be recharged overnight. But - how to get the pix, the video, to show on it? And what about security - last year a laptop was stolen, and the rooms won't be invigilated during the week that assessment is going on. I'm thinking of going back to "old technology" - printing the photos and making a flicker book instead of having a video - it's a way to get audience participation, wot?

Another aspect of audience participation is that I'd like people to touch and hold these intriguing objects - their weight is surprising - 60g for the small gold one and 222g (half a pound) for the red one.

Part of the procrastination/distraction aspect of making the tack-balls is that I can't get my head round how they might (or... might not...) fit into my project theme (reminder to self: the project theme is loss of memory). "Perhaps they are what destroys memory" said Karen, and she went on to brainstorm the concept:


Tacks...?
 A way of attaching  something,  
A temporary fix causing  permanent damage
Sabotage...  tacks on the road , puncture,  on a chair seat
Push (in )pull (out)
Sinks in deep, leaves a hole

Other names -thumb tack , drawing pin, brass tacks 
Could you write on the heads( heads -memory)


I'm hoping that the tie-in of the memory ball I'll be making at the exhibition, and a suitable title, will link these tack-balls into the theme. But maybe that won't be enough. It's got to feel right; it's got to fit; it's got to be part of "a resolved body of creative practice".

3 comments:

Diane-crewe said...

what ever you do.... I sort of like them... while finding them a bit spooky somehow x

Sandy said...

I like them too.
here is an idea. Sometimes people who have lost memory turn loved ones away or become agressive towards them.

One of my students has come to do the C+G fashion because her mother taught her to sew and was apparently a very accomplished seamstress. The daughter has fond memories of sewing with her mother. Now the mother has alzheimer's and besides not remembering anything about sewing also does not even recognise the daughter.
might help with fitting into the whole picture.

oh, I have one of those digital frame things to show photos. I think it can run on battery...but again, it is the security. the flicker book is a good idea. but maybe something like that can just be there while you are doing the performance art part (can't remember what it was at present. LOL)
Sandy

Jane Housham said...

I like them as well. They put me in mind of some work/s by Leonid Tishkov that I saw in a show called 'The Fabric of Myth' at Compton Verney a couple of years ago. You can see them in this link (the second thing down): http://academia-rossica.org/en/art/artists/leonid-tishkov1. But at the show the balls were hanging on long thin strips of fabric.