I have variously written about changing direction in previous posts. These reroutings have been about process and content but always with a physical outcome in mind that has absorbed and embodied the notions and feelings that have led to its emergence. The virus has imposed a change of circumstances that has made me rethink how I can work what I have done so far into an online experience.
I have also written about how the online presentation cannot substitute for the physical presence of the work. So I have adapted my thinking to this new set of circumstances by shining a light into gaps that would have remained out of sight in a gallery show. I see this adaptation as enriching my practice by explicating in some way the content of the work.
However, yesterday’s Skype meeting resulted in something more profound in terms of outcome. I needed to ask questions of Aristotle in order to fully understand both what is required of me and what is actually possible: it can be so easy to get carried away.
It has taken a while to digest the implications of what Aristotle has developed and so generously made available to us as a group. I have communicated with him since, and have come to realise that this is the moment of changing direction in the way I express my ideas. I am by no means rejecting any of my current way of working, but for now, I need to concentrate on how things will develop online and envisage how I shall present it online. This will necessitate a different way of thinking and content form.
The online environment offers a very different way of communicating and importantly, I will not be present, at least in reality. You see, just saying that makes me think that I can have a presence. Perhaps more on that later. I see this online show as an opportunity to develop a new strategy to reach out in different ways and people, and start developing a methodology for:
a) working with others – so far my work has been a solitary endeavour
b) putting together complexes of ideas in a synthetic way
c) transmission
d) to be more in line with platforms, institutions and so on.