Kate Aughey

Blickley Block
Press

ok so,i spent last night editing the history texts that everyone posted on the swiki and i think it is coming together in a really cool way. as i was reading through the texts there were so many great connections to what we are doing now; eg. the perceptions of the country club and its exclusive boundries. i was really interested in the way in which the club dealt with disputes over land by buying out the locals and making "generous contributions". i got me thinking back to the way in which sharing only occurs when those in power choose to donate or delagate. much like in the Kwon-text where public artists involve the community only because they have the power to make that choice. i was also intrigued by georges coments about the theatre and the way that adult movies were advertised at the time and it seemed as if that subject was more open than it is now. (surprising given the time period) going to the cinema is a public activity that has been made private by political correctness/taboo.
anyway, i think the booklet, (which people will be able to take away with them), really grounds the projects within the theories and contexts we were exploring (for the above reasons) at the start and im reminded about what paul says about creating a situation which is rich with many different sources as then interesting conections can be made.

in response to my last rant about the integration of text into the history room, my own project will be reformatted into a booklet/document which will become an object in the space along with the artifacts, which people can choose to sit down with or just flick through. the residents list will also be tweaked so that it can go on the wall in a frame for people to respond to with info if they have it. the booklet of other research will be a take away document and i like the idea that people could continue with the research we have begun if they found a topic of interest.

hopefully this will all fit aesthetically and will be as engageing as i would like. as always any feedback/ concerns of ideas are very welcome.
kate 4/20

its really been a long time since i wrote in this page!
its sunday and im still feeling the buzz from all the collective activity of friday. it was really amazing to see everyone so engaged and busy. the experience has really come together in a magical way CHEESY but true. im also relieved to have the history project back on track as it was kinda disheartening last class to hear that the attic may have been cleaned out. the history research has been the most seductive to me from the start and im excited to be blending my own with the other research on the area. i was also worried that my not having a specific project may come across as a lack of engagement so thats another reason why im super excited about the history room.

after talks with paul i have been thinking about the possible pitfalls of an installation type display of the information. how to make the room a representation of the discovery of the attic without cleaning it up to the point of a cheesy museum display. im still thinking of the room in terms of a curiosity cabinet like experience with multi layered visual interest. im now worried however, that the computer typed research will be out of place amongst the artifacts. at present its visually dry and so i think will need to reworked in a more sympathetic way, maybe just cream paper and a less clinical font might help as much of the info still needs to be in table form. im really just typing as im thinking to help clarify a presentation method that will work. ... important are ——->
rich visual experience/multi layered
familiar artifacts that will spark memory and reflection in viewer (old products/styles ect)
texual information interesting +engageing
opportunity for the sharing of info/stories of area
being deliberate and selective about objects and placement

weds i will attempt to arrange the room and finish choosing the objects/furniture that will be in there. i will also edit down the local research posted on the swiki and compile into some sort of order. any info that will go on the wall Ie. list of residents names/ photos found will be framed. scraps of paper also framed? record of passing time/people through space ..given importance maybe. think of what to do with un-drywalled wall.....large broadsheet news paper with propery listings from 1961 could be pinned to cover. sheets of wallpaper from attic also in strip around centre of walls....crumbling relic, texture and dinginess of attic. rug/ carpet from attic? ramble ramble

the more i type the more worried i am getting about the final look and interest of the thing. if anyone reads this and has suggestions i would really appreciate input as its often hard to step back from something you care about.
Kate 4/17

i feel as if yesterday i had a break through in finding a way to visually realise a collaborative project becky and i have been working on, in relation to relics of the building and how to present them. we havnt shared this idea publically but have been using the attic as a resource for an investigation of the history of the building. the breakthrough came as i was reading a book about curiosity cabinets and the history of them in an art context. it seems that the main draw of the curiosity was that it opens the mind of the viewer to the possibility of different realms of reality through the decontextualised presentation of these objects. one of the terms used in the book was "one reconstructed senario amongst many others". in my last post i was pondering the de-contextualising of objects as a negative thing. now i am thinking that maybe by presenting artifacts in a more ambiguous way they take on an almost magical quality through their mystery which might capture the feeling of excitement we felt upon finding them. perhaps we shouldnt be looking to prescribe an experience to the viewer but instead create a set up that allows them to dictate their own experience. it might be enough to say that all the objects came from the building. becky and i were thinking about displaying the artifacts in the dirty jars that are also in the attic and maybe displaying them in front of a window in the building. in this way the viewer has to look through layers of grime (a record of the passing of time in its self) to see these objects whilst the view of the neighbourhood acts as a backdrop, grounding the experience in this specific location. hopefully some of the magic will be retained by their being displayed in their place or origin. we hope to have samples at least of this presented by next week.
kate 3/23

in relation to a talk with paul and my own studio work, i have thinking about what it means to re-contextualise (or De-contextualise for that matter) something. particularly artifacts/historical relics like the ones surrounding us at the Rock Shop. as a former archaeology student, it alwasy bothered me that there was a specific point at which i would lose interest. there is a huge thrill in uncovering something unexpected and an even bigger thrill when it is something that connects you (through experience) to a person or time. then the scientific process comes in and you have to measure,document and bag the thing. as soon as the artifact was lifted and washed and bagged, it would become boring. i lost all sense of being able to imagine who might have used and the lost the piece. this also brings up all kinds of ethical questions regarding burials which become statistics in a box on a shelf, with all the ties to the people who laid them there being broken.

its like when you are at the beach and you see a really pretty stone in the water, so you pick it up but as soon as it dries off, you realise that its just a regular stone.
im wondering how to convey that wonder and 'aura' of a place/ object without destroying it. and how to share that with people even though they may not feel the same magic that you do.
2/25

wow, somewhere i can splurge my brain with a balloon tied to my head if i want to.(i actually do have a balloon tied to my head)

got back from Rockin' it an hour ago and my head is reeling with projects. i keep being drawn to the hidden bathroom. that institution green on the walls keeps bringing me back to an experience i had inside a derelict victorian asylum a couple of years ago. what it means to be in a place where there is a history and a charge so strong that it pushes in on you from all angles and you feel like you will never leave. to pace the cells and walk the wards and look out through the ivy onto barbed wire fences. to have the stories of the place ringing in your ears and to wonder which of them are true and which of them you want to accept and believe.
what was the person thinking when they nailed those slats over a fully functional bathroom? the last thing they see disapearing is a mirror, toilet paper,lightbulb, soap ect. everything we need to be comfortable in a bathroom environment. and what was the expression on the face of the person who revealed it? surprise or wonder?

there are relics everywhere. i walked around in the basement today photographing and picking scraps from piles of dust swept from the floor. torn off bits of paper each connecting me to a person, place, time and function. a query over a rock type. a removal form, a label made on a typewriter. plywood board that kids had scrawled their names over and dated 1954. kids that have grown up, moved on or left altogether. for me this is the community. not in presence but in collective absence. absent physically and absent in our knowledge of the space and time
we are inhabiting just by being there.

NOTE TO SELF:make CD of rock shop images relating to idea of relics.
2/16

im still thinking about the conversation we had with that guy outside the other day, and the story he told us about his very early brush with art, at the age of 5. it seems weird to think that if his life had taken a slightly different turn he could (leap of imagination!) be an artist now. could it be that the reason there is a general stereotype of 'artists'/the art world' is that we all share the ability to choose (and have chosen) art as a path in our lives. this guy began as many of us do but for reasons of background and situation, he wasnt able to choose to pursue his artistic talent. maybe that is where the perceived separation lies in part.

im also reflecting on a derive i just went on. having missed the first class i realised that i havnt been out into the neighbourhood yet. becky and i (and later anne too) had a discussion about Creston seeming to be a very strange area with its mix of industrial and suburban/ old and new ect. we then considered whether we wouldnt find the same thing any time we placed ourselves in the middle of a completely new place, that we didnt understand from direct experience. is Creston unique in that regard or is everywhere a twilight zone from the perspective of an outsider? is it that we are just training ourselves to see things we never noticed before?

i also saw on my walk a building behind plainfield on Queen Av NE (number 1545) which was that last address (1941) i have managed to find for the woman (an Elizabeth Mills) who i have been researching, after finding that she was the longest continuous tenent above the Rock shop. the building was one of the ugliest i have ever seen with stone that had been covered in fake brick cladding, rotting and peeling off in places. it had a walking frame outside and looked very much like it was accomodation for the elderly. somehow to see this rundown old place made me feel sad for this woman who im only getting to know through cold facts. it also made me think about her obvious connection to the area as she has lived on or around plainfield (within 2 or three streets) for at least 40 years. after the readings about people and their ties to places in the past, compared with our more nomadic existence today, i am questioning the merits of each.
2/18