trent light took some great photos on the night.
jason richardson wrote a review. to complement derek motion’s long form one
sarah posted about her work on her website.
db’s ode to a travelling salesman is here
one week later – thoughts of room 9
having spent the day putting together some of the documentation from my week at the grong grong motor inn. and it being exactly one week since i left the grong grong motel, i thought it might be a good time to respond to vic’s request
Also, I wonder if everyone could give thought to submitting to me a small contribution towards out acquittal. What I am thinking is a couple of paragraphs about what you got from the residency. I have had several of you contact me and tell me about personal or artistic realisations/thoughts/projects etc that came out of this Grong Grong Project. Over the next week if you could all give this some thought and forward me something that would be great.
It took me nearly three hours to drive the 77km back home. We stopped every chance we could to allow the bubble a little longer before it burst. The first thing I noticed when i turned into my driveway was how beautifully green the hill i live on was. Whether it was the shock of colour after a week of brown brick or whether the week just got me noticing and observing again I can’t be sure. But wow. What a green it was.
Grong Grong Creative House provided unexpected luxury from a *** motor inn. To have time, space, assistance, advice and others to join in a mad quest to lock yourself away from the rest of the world and produce something for public consumption in just seven days was a gift, a priviledge and one of the most fulfilling projects I have been involved in.
The beauty of this project was its shared-ness. eating meals together (so good to have meals prepared), living next door, suggested collaborations, borrowing of equipment, talking into the night, exchanging ideas, helping out where you could, a sounding board or an audience whenever you needed it. Every aspect of my work was influenced by the people I was with, every aspect of my work was enhanced by my interactions with others.
Personally, I got to spend time with my puppet, to try out something that I had wanted to do for a long time but could never rationalise the time away from my responsibilities. But somehow a motel room seemed the right place to play with my puppet for a week, to explore performance, to find a way for me to engage in theatre/performance making as a solo artist, to throw myself into the spotlight after years of directing/producing.
I came to Grong Grong thinking about grief, about doubt, about banality and failure and ended up creating work that spoke of love, beauty, grief, life, failure and doubt. I am in awe of the work all of us created over the week. What might have seemed like experiments at the start of the week resolved themselves into provocative and interesting works.
To all who came, to all who let me go, to all who made it possible I offer my sincerest thanks. Lets do it again.
s
Shower (is it still raining? i hadn’t noticed)
Shower (is it still raining? i hadn’t noticed)
A video extract installed in a digital frame in the window of room 9. a small hand-cranked music box attached to a cork sanding block sat on a table outside the window with the instruction pick up the music box and turn handle slowly (or very slowly) while watching the screen.
performed by: scott howie
gopro camera borrowed from: db
suit carefully restored by: sunshine laundry, narranderra
umbrella borrowed from: jasper howie
(then you were gone)
11 performances of (then you were gone) were given throughout the evening. anywhere between three and eight people squeezed into the room.
The video below is the camera feed from the 5th performance. it works best when watched from a distance
puppet manipulation: scott howie
music: moonlight madness (then you were gone) – ted lewis and his bands
gramophone and 78 provided by: john kooper
gramophone lit by: clytie smith
remembrances ( a retrieval) with clytie smith
remembrances (a retrieval) with clytie smith
a series of private rituals by the artists and friends saw degraded synthetic flowers retrieved from the fringes of the grong grong cemetery placed on the sconces outside the rooms in memory of those who were here before us, those who will come after us, those who are with us now or those who never made it here at all.
postcards from room 9 (god bless you)
postcards from room 9 (god bless you) with david shrigley
postcards from evil thoughts by david shrigley
left behind in room 9
by mail to:
johannes klabbers
chris orchard
jacob raupach
janine middlemost
tractorgirl
zeb schulz
sarah last
leon ewing
rebecca tapscott
casey ankers
savvy small
postcards from Joy by david shrigley (received in reply from sarah last) hand delivered to
clytie smith
julie montgarrett
vic mcewan
darrin baker
sarah mcewan
remembrances (a returning) with casey ankers
remembrances (a returning) with casey ankers
the synthetic flowers were returned to the grong grong cemetery and placed back around the fringes of the cemetery. one flower was placed on the unmarked infant grave towards the entrance after casey and i had removed the weeds. meanwhile ivy picked flowers
Day 6 – Completion
As the time of performance draws near I am taking a moment before my family arrive to announce the works are finished
I have created three works, one in collaboration with clytie, but really all of the works have been changed by the contributions of everyone here.
Shower (is it still raining? i haven’t noticed) is a 6:48 video work that requires the viewer to accompany the image with la vie en rose played on a small music box mechanism. the title references a line of dialogue that andi mcdowell says to hugh grant at the end of four weddings and a funeral. this piece might be about missing people you love. the video is an excerpt of a 24 minute performance recorded earlier in the week.
(then you were gone) is a play for puppet. its beauty relies heavily on the beautiful track moonlight madness (then you were gone) by ted lewis and his band played on a lovely old his master’s voice gramophone.
The record player I brought out to use broke down on the first day and John (the owner of grong grong motor inn) gave me the gramophone and a stack of 78’s. by chance moonlight madness was the first i played. the performance is an exercise in stillness, with me manipulating the prone puppet by making gentle movements on tensioned springs
remembrances (a retrieval) with clytie smith, is a ritual for those who came before us, those who are with us now, those who are yet to come and those who never came here. each of the artists was asked to place synthetic flowers retrieved from the grong grong cemetery (where they had blown far way from the graves they had been originally placed on) on the sconces outside their rooms. the flowers will be returned on sunday morning.
full documentation of the works will follow in the days to come.
Day 5 – work continues
late night. Casey visit for lunch. video install. suit dry cleaned. dress rehearsal. conversations and work into the evening.
Day 4 – silly buggers
today a flea circus is performing hamlet (outtake) – 11secs
tonight i recorded a (non) performance. 6 minutes in i realised i had forgotten to take my iphone out of my pocket. this was supposed to be a piece about grief (?), about sometimes being andi mcdowell is it still raining? i hadn’t noticed (?) and sometimes being glenn close in that shower scene from big chill(?). but a large part of it is me worrying if i stuffed my phone. iphone seems to be doing fine – reluctant to charge though.
i am getting much closer to having my puppet piece prepared. it is titled then you were gone. the title comes from the record i am playing on the hmv gramophone that john (the owner of grong grong motor inn) has lent me. the full title of the song is moonlight madness (then you were gone) by ted lewis and his band (but if you are coming to grong grong please don’t listen to the track yet).
i will be performing then you were gone every 15 minutes on the night for audiences of 6-10. today a flea circus is performing hamlet will play on loop in a location yet to be determined.
