‘Postman Time’ was a collaborative performance between MA Fine Art and Drama, which was inspired by Hans Ulrich Obrist who curated an event called ‘Il Tempo Del Postino’. For me, the concept of ‘Postman Time’ was to allocate time rather than space to creative practitioners to deliver a piece of work. What they did with that freedom was up to them and it was this freedom that led me to consider surface rubbings as a live performance, initially inspired by Do Ho Suh’s apartment.
Do Ho Suh (2014) Rubbing/Loving Project: Kitchen, Apartment A, 348 West 22nd Street, New York, NY 10011, USA
As I am interested in revealing hidden histories and raising awareness of materiality, I decided to produce a live surface drawing where an element of the space was covered by newsprint but slowly revealed through surface rubbings. My initial intention was to amplify the sound of this process by using contact mics, unfortunately these were not sensitive enough for the live performance, which meant that a pre-recording was required. This led to an interesting dialogue where the sound would sync and fall out of sync so that it became a dance between current and past time. Once the performance had concluded, the surface drawing was torn down to reveal the fireplace underneath where the fragments were subsequently given to members of the audience as a memento of the space.
Overall, this was a fantastic opportunity to collaborate with creative practitioners from other disciplines and work in an alternative space. This has led me to consider new ways of working, which I hope will lead to some ambitious work that envelopes whole rooms and environments. Keep an eye out for some exciting developments in the future!
Video to follow.