7th August 08 - Development
This is my 7th day in development for Little Vikings Are Never Lost. I've been hiding in the basement of the Arches trying to piece together and drag out all the ideas that have been swimming around in my head for the past couple of years. Communting to Glasgow has been a bit of a nightmare and absolutely knackering but its worth it. Last week I worked with my designer and sound designer which has been a welcomed relief from my isolation. I'm really excited about the music and sound of the piece, its turned into a really organic process, marrying text and sound. As some may know I am not a fan of using text but its actually been very important in terms of developing the scenes. Who'd have thought it. I am really enjoying writing each scene and translating what I visualise into stage directions. The most frustrating thing is accepting that not every scene is ready to write itself yet and I have to wait for those to reveal themselves to me. The other big issue that I've been dealing with is learning not to compromise and remember what it is that gets me excited about the whole piece. Advise can spring up from the most surprising of places. As well as all this, I'm still with Lung Ha's Theatre Company, who have been so supportive of me and havent grumbled once about me running away to Glasgow to make my own show, thanks guys. Also the festival is upon us and Im looking forward to viewing it all as an audience member rather than tearing all your tickets at the Traverse. Lets hope everyone can bear to face another show at the end of it all.
2nd July 08
This is my 7th day in development for Little Vikings Are Never Lost. I've been hiding in the basement of the Arches trying to piece together and drag out all the ideas that have been swimming around in my head for the past couple of years. Communting to Glasgow has been a bit of a nightmare and absolutely knackering but its worth it. Last week I worked with my designer and sound designer which has been a welcomed relief from my isolation. I'm really excited about the music and sound of the piece, its turned into a really organic process, marrying text and sound. As some may know I am not a fan of using text but its actually been very important in terms of developing the scenes. Who'd have thought it. I am really enjoying writing each scene and translating what I visualise into stage directions. The most frustrating thing is accepting that not every scene is ready to write itself yet and I have to wait for those to reveal themselves to me. The other big issue that I've been dealing with is learning not to compromise and remember what it is that gets me excited about the whole piece. Advise can spring up from the most surprising of places. As well as all this, I'm still with Lung Ha's Theatre Company, who have been so supportive of me and havent grumbled once about me running away to Glasgow to make my own show, thanks guys. Also the festival is upon us and Im looking forward to viewing it all as an audience member rather than tearing all your tickets at the Traverse. Lets hope everyone can bear to face another show at the end of it all.
2nd July 08
Hello, you may have noticed that the Artist Diary has disappeared, this is mainly due to my inability to update it regulalry and I also found I put most of what I was talking about in the news section anyway.
So whats the news, well, I have the creatve team on board for Little Vikings, we have been working away with intial prep and I also had some promo shots taken taken by Jannica Honey, which we are all really pleased with. I go into developement on the 28th July, so wil finally be able to get the show on its feet and out of my head. Thats it for now, I have to go, im at work, sneaky sneaky.
Bench Review
Best of Show
Jenna Watt, Bench
9 February 2008
Sometimes it happens at NRLA. You're shuttling from one performance to another, diving in and out of queues, not having time to eat and being caught up in the madness. Then you stumble across something perfect, something just for you and just at the right moment. For me, Elevator Artist Jenna Watt's Bench was just such a work.
Bench is a quiet, simple, low-fi live installation in which Jenna sits on a wooden bench on the upper floor of Tramway waiting, taking time out from the NRLA crowds and queues, enjoying an in-between moment and taking the occasional polaroid to record relatively nothing for the purpose of posterity. Jenna doesn't take many polaroids- mostly she sits, wonders around to chat with her friends or goes off to the toilet- but when she does take a shot she writes on it then hangs it on a string stretching across the bench area. Photographic highlights of Bench include a shot of the bench itself, one of the adjacent Tramway staircase, a picture of a family friend who came to visit the installation and a partial pic of Jenna's legs and feet. The writing on the polaroid of the bench says 'You don't have to queue for this one!'. 'I'm not going to take my clothes off' reads another. And on the far side of the string I pick up a sparse looking installation shot of Bench that says 'Eventually, you get into a state where you appreciate the crap you talk'. Quite.
The meagre installation, the humble photographic subjects and throwaway polaroid form, not to mention the artist's flippant approach to her own art, all combine to choreograph the specific in-between moment or deliberate non-event that is Bench. The tender, self-reflexive and deprecating statements the work displays about itself make me smile and I chat to Jenna a bit about the installation then carry on looking. Two minutes later Jenna takes a polaroid shot of the wall next to the Tramway upper floor toilets and writes on it 'And I'm wondering why you're even up here- it just confirms to me that you're a dickhead' .
This comment completes my perfect moment with Bench. Jenna is right to question my festival fervour, my motives in coming up here specifically to seek out a woman quietly trying to remain undetermined and waste time in the name of live art. In coming here to witness I have transformed Bench into something entirely more definite and spectacular than the productive in-between Jenna is trying to articulate and in the process I have been called a dickhead. It serves me right. It's a long time since anyone called me a dickhead so directly – and no-one ever did it in a piece of live art – because of this I smile all the more. Such an antagonistic response to audience is a beautiful and all too rare thing in live art.
The carefully constructed low profile of Bench, with its bold questioning of its audience and acute sense of self awareness, represents a brave move for a young artist caught in the headlights of NRLA. Bench is also one of the only live works this year that has responded overtly to the specificity of its NRLA context in form, content and concept; Bench is a deliberately in-between work by a not-quite-yet-arrived Elevator artist, it acts as NRLA programme down-time or filler to Kris Verdonck's Duet and it is installed in an architectural space specifically designed for lingering or waiting. Bench was a much needed antidote to other more sincere and overtly staged live works at NRLA and the scripted 'looking away' Jenna achieved in the work perfectly harnessed the notion of waiting, killing time or purposeful lingering to which audiences and artists at NRLA are so accustomed. Jenna says she is at her most productive in these in-between moments, and I believe her.
Written by Rachel Lois Clapham, Co-Director of Open Dialogues
Best of Show
Jenna Watt, Bench
9 February 2008
Sometimes it happens at NRLA. You're shuttling from one performance to another, diving in and out of queues, not having time to eat and being caught up in the madness. Then you stumble across something perfect, something just for you and just at the right moment. For me, Elevator Artist Jenna Watt's Bench was just such a work.
Bench is a quiet, simple, low-fi live installation in which Jenna sits on a wooden bench on the upper floor of Tramway waiting, taking time out from the NRLA crowds and queues, enjoying an in-between moment and taking the occasional polaroid to record relatively nothing for the purpose of posterity. Jenna doesn't take many polaroids- mostly she sits, wonders around to chat with her friends or goes off to the toilet- but when she does take a shot she writes on it then hangs it on a string stretching across the bench area. Photographic highlights of Bench include a shot of the bench itself, one of the adjacent Tramway staircase, a picture of a family friend who came to visit the installation and a partial pic of Jenna's legs and feet. The writing on the polaroid of the bench says 'You don't have to queue for this one!'. 'I'm not going to take my clothes off' reads another. And on the far side of the string I pick up a sparse looking installation shot of Bench that says 'Eventually, you get into a state where you appreciate the crap you talk'. Quite.
The meagre installation, the humble photographic subjects and throwaway polaroid form, not to mention the artist's flippant approach to her own art, all combine to choreograph the specific in-between moment or deliberate non-event that is Bench. The tender, self-reflexive and deprecating statements the work displays about itself make me smile and I chat to Jenna a bit about the installation then carry on looking. Two minutes later Jenna takes a polaroid shot of the wall next to the Tramway upper floor toilets and writes on it 'And I'm wondering why you're even up here- it just confirms to me that you're a dickhead' .
This comment completes my perfect moment with Bench. Jenna is right to question my festival fervour, my motives in coming up here specifically to seek out a woman quietly trying to remain undetermined and waste time in the name of live art. In coming here to witness I have transformed Bench into something entirely more definite and spectacular than the productive in-between Jenna is trying to articulate and in the process I have been called a dickhead. It serves me right. It's a long time since anyone called me a dickhead so directly – and no-one ever did it in a piece of live art – because of this I smile all the more. Such an antagonistic response to audience is a beautiful and all too rare thing in live art.
The carefully constructed low profile of Bench, with its bold questioning of its audience and acute sense of self awareness, represents a brave move for a young artist caught in the headlights of NRLA. Bench is also one of the only live works this year that has responded overtly to the specificity of its NRLA context in form, content and concept; Bench is a deliberately in-between work by a not-quite-yet-arrived Elevator artist, it acts as NRLA programme down-time or filler to Kris Verdonck's Duet and it is installed in an architectural space specifically designed for lingering or waiting. Bench was a much needed antidote to other more sincere and overtly staged live works at NRLA and the scripted 'looking away' Jenna achieved in the work perfectly harnessed the notion of waiting, killing time or purposeful lingering to which audiences and artists at NRLA are so accustomed. Jenna says she is at her most productive in these in-between moments, and I believe her.
Written by Rachel Lois Clapham, Co-Director of Open Dialogues
Support from SAC
20/01/08
Happy New Year! Better late than never.
And what a Happy New Year it is.
The Scottish Arts Council will be supporting Little Vikings Are Never Lost at the Arches Live Festival, September 08. I would like to thank the SAC and the Arches for their support so far and I'm looking forward to working on this project with them.
National Review of Live Art
I will be performing my live installation,Bench, at next years National Review of Live Art. The installation will be taking place on the 9th February 08 between 3pm and 7pm at the Tramway, Glasgow.
newmoves.co.uk
30/10/07
I am delighted to announce that I am working as administrator for Lung Ha's Theatre Company. I look forward to working with the company and its members - Lung Ha's
28/10/07
I'm hoping to announce some news in the next few weeks, so keep stopping by, join my mailing list if you want spam free updates direct to your inbox.
Arches Scratch Night
I will be performing a 10 minute preview of my latest work in development Little Vikings Are Never Lost at the the Arches' Scratch night this month. Not only are you given the chance to see some exciting new work by a range of different artists but you can also give them feedback after the previews. Brilliant.
The Arches
Scratch Night
Tuesday 25th September 07
7.30pm
20/01/08
Happy New Year! Better late than never.
And what a Happy New Year it is.
The Scottish Arts Council will be supporting Little Vikings Are Never Lost at the Arches Live Festival, September 08. I would like to thank the SAC and the Arches for their support so far and I'm looking forward to working on this project with them.
National Review of Live Art
I will be performing my live installation,Bench, at next years National Review of Live Art. The installation will be taking place on the 9th February 08 between 3pm and 7pm at the Tramway, Glasgow.
newmoves.co.uk
30/10/07
I am delighted to announce that I am working as administrator for Lung Ha's Theatre Company. I look forward to working with the company and its members - Lung Ha's
28/10/07
I'm hoping to announce some news in the next few weeks, so keep stopping by, join my mailing list if you want spam free updates direct to your inbox.
Arches Scratch Night
I will be performing a 10 minute preview of my latest work in development Little Vikings Are Never Lost at the the Arches' Scratch night this month. Not only are you given the chance to see some exciting new work by a range of different artists but you can also give them feedback after the previews. Brilliant.
The Arches
Scratch Night
Tuesday 25th September 07
7.30pm