to find out more about composer residencies within businesses, i visited the tate britain archives, as this is where all the material on the apg is kept. i was aware that david toop had a residency within london zoo, co-ordinated by the apg. i wanted to know more about what he did, and how he conducted his residency with the zoo in the hope that this would help me develop my approach to my residency. i found online one image (found here) from the apg retrospective exhibition at raven's row. this image showed some text and images displayed on the gallery wall too far away to be viewed or read clearly.
i visited the archive in the hope of finding a file named 'david toop correspondence', to find the answers. this file was a disappointment as i was to find two short letters addressed to the apg. one stating that toop was unavailable to attend the agm the following month and the other stating his lack of interest in a placement due to his other commitments and lack of funds.
the trip was not in vain as i found a key source, which i believe to have been a document to the arts council detailing their work, ethos and procedures in efforts to procure funding. this document detailed each organisation they were in contact with, which artists were involved where, budgets and more.
i also found several feasibility studies by different artists within their placements, who observed the areas that they were interested in and what work they could do. reading this was inspiring and got me thinking more about my relationship with stan's cafe and the possibility of conducting my own feasibility study when i am eventually allowed into the stan's cafe premises.
i plan on making one further trip to these archives to see if i can find more information about a composer named hugh davies, who has statements and a possible feasibility study. reading more about what the apg's intentions were was also helpful in reflecting on my own position in my residency in comparison to these artists. i prioritised looking for artists' statements in my first visit in the hope these would tell me about the residencies, instead i found artist statements about their own practice that had been sent to the apg to be considered for a residency/placement.
by looking at feasibility studies and reports instead, i may be able to find more stories that will inspire me to try things in my placement. i also found that there was an artist panel established by the apg called apg noit (noitmen) that would advise the artist on a placement and help them with any artistic and practical issues. this has led to thinking about trying to establish a similar panel that exists beyond my supervisors.
to find out more about residencies and my peers, i did a callout on twitter for composers to contact me with details about their residency experiences. i have a twitter practice of tweeting to provoke a reaction that i then have to deal with. i was hoping for a similar reaction but i was only contacted by two composers.
i was hopeful to understand more about traditional residencies so i can extract the elements of their residencies that would be feasible and of interest to me and stan's cafe, but also so i can disrupt the traditional residency format. i can only do this by learning more about how they normally operate.
i'm interested in this disruption through researching ideas of aesthetic disruption (vink et al, 2017). this is the idea that through the design of situation, one can disrupt the normal expected situation that arises through past experiences with that situation. markussen proposes that aesthetic disruption 'makes the relationship between people's doings and feelings malleable for renegotiation' (2013). an example of this aesthetic disruption includes a double stethoscope that was invented by swedish masters student felicia nilsson, which allows both a patient and a medical professional to listen to the body at the same time, destabilising the hierarchy in the patient, doctor experience, encouraging play and engaging the patient practically in their diagnosis (vink et al, 2017). i view composition as the design of situations and hope when familiar enough to understand the common events and regular day to day activities within stan's cafe to enact my own aesthetic disruption, to add value to stan's cafe.
below is a small video presentation/performance of some work i have made in the situation of not having access into stan's cafe. this also includes plans for the future which are expanded on in the next section.
below is a short piece i made about what works stan's cafe have presented that they have made on their website
the next steps obviously depend on when i am able to spend time with stan's cafe, so in the meantime i can only prepare myself and my practice.
in preparation i am attempting to contact david toop, in the hoops of meeting with him to discuss what he did with the london zoo. toop was also a member of the apg, so it would be great to find out more about how the apg ran on a daily basis. i also want to find out more about composer hugh davies, who may have conducted a placement with the apg.
i will draw up a feasibility study for work within stan's cafe once i am able to attend their space. the work that i will do is feasible, but i think to share my intentions and possible ways of intervention with stan's cafe before i perform them would be best for our collaboration. by making the study collaborative i would be involving stan's cafe in disrupting and intervening with themselves.
until i am allowed in stan's cafe, i shall attempt to undertake all phd work within my near residence space, and communicate with stan's cafe the days that i will be there, should they want/need anything from me. from here i can be of use as a composer without breaking any ethical requirements. from here i can also continue to make survillance work, but i will try to incorporate stan's cafe in their own surveillance or include myself in the surveillance.
i also will continue to experiment with surveillance techniques when i'm inside stan's cafe. experimenting with different ways of surveilling their activities, and make new work with the recordings made. i could make recordings of what stan's cafe are doing and make music with those recordings. if i made a series of recordings over the course of a week of rehearsals, i could make music for each day of rehearsals for stan's cafe to reflect on how the devising/rehearsing process went.
after reading the tate about the companies providing more for their artists on the apg placements, i want to detail with the director of stan's cafe things i would like them to provide for myself. for example, a space for me to inhabit in their building, agreed office hours, time to work with the members of stan's cafe on my work etc.
along with all of the necessary forms (phd plan, research form and risk assessments) i will be open and honest with stan' cafe with the work i am undertaking. should any work involve the participation of stan's cafe members, audience or visitors, they will be asked to sign a consent form, which the participant is welcome to not sign should they feel unwilling to be involved.
work involving stan's cafe's audience will be dealt with particularly carefully.
i cannot be specific about activities involving members and audiences right now, as i need to have more information about stan's cafe before the activities begin.
the photos of stan's cafe from the surveillance projects will not be shared publicly.
any recordings of stan's cafe work will be copyrighted correctly and permission to use any performances will be asked for by all involved in that performance. should a work not receive consent, it will be left out of the portfolio. i will adhere to bcu policies and guidelines when considering making recordings, performances or visiting offsite locations.
stan's cafe works in education environments, i will be extremely careful with any work involving youths, any recordings will be made only with prior consent from parents. all names and identities involving youths will be redacted and anonymised.
some work may involve stan's cafe's members being unaware that they are having an intervention, as to prepare them in advance may ruin the effect of the intervention. to combat this and make these interventions safe, the company will be made aware that these sort of interventions will happen at any given time over a specific time period (say 15 minute intervention will be happening at some point in the next three days), alongside this, the artistic director will be informed far in advance about any such activities and will have the final say whether the activity is suitable to go ahead without distressing or harming any members of staff.
in general, the relationship between myself and the director of stan's cafe will be integral to making sure all activities are safe and above board for everyone involved. the rest of my supervisory panel will also be consulted regularly about the ethics of my activities.
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