So... the Paul Hamlyn funded project that I work for, called Lincolnshire One Venues Young People's Programme (the clue's in the blog name eh? Neon-LOV), asked The Collaborators to deliver a series of workshops that culminated in a final projection at the Market Square in Lincoln. LOVYPP (it's easier to say it like that) approached Framework (a support organisation for young homeless people between the ages of 16-25) to participate in these workshops.
I didn't really know what to expect when it came to the first day of the workshops, but I was excited as I guess I consider myself to be a (or trying to be) a fine artist, after graduating last year, so I have a bit of a vested interest in making. So, I met Kate and Lea on day 1 and they were very friendly and exciting; we set up and waited for Framework to arrive.
Later Ollie (Framework worker) and Kieran arrived- Kieran braced with two skateboards- one was enormous, and we got him to show us a few moves (probably shouldn't tell the venue that, although we were in an education room so I'm sure they're used to all sorts of experimental activities)!
The original idea of the workshops was that the young people involved would take lyrics from their favourite song, or words from their favourite book or parts of a script from their favourite film and, using the ingenious invention of the internet, use a magical system which would somehow filter the chosen words down so that you would be left with two- these two words epitomising the meaning of the song/movie/book etc.
But unfortunately, let's just say, that the room wasn't particularly a hot-spot for internet activity, so we only had one computer that would connect itself to the world-wide web (and this tended to be the computer that we used to share artists/music that we had seen and liked, with one another).
So, with no access to the wider world we had to rely on one another's knowledge and sole creativity and ended up creating ways in which to break down the meaning of our chosen topic of inspiration.
Kieran chose to think about the book (not the film as that's no where near as good apparently) 'How to train your Dragon'. For him the most important themes that it raised were those around friendship and loyalty, and he explored lots of different ways in which to portray these; be it writing in sand, drawing, creating models and even creating his own music when Steve and Andy came to deliver the workshops.
Ollie looked at the story of Icarus, particularly an interpretation by a music artist that he likes who also does spoken word poetry, and had a wonderful amount of patience in using binary code to break it down into one word, 'never'. This perfectly epitomised the story in that it was about a son's quest to be free and fly, and how his father warned him not to fly too high as the sun's heat would melt his wings. He however did not listen as he needed to experience life for himself and make his own decisions and so he flew too close, fell and drowned. In one sense it was failed ambition in that he never managed to fly all the way but in another it says a lot about allowing ones own freedom and discovering things for oneself.
After the meticulous work of breaking it down, Ollie took on some more careful work and decided to create a stop-frame animation, with figurines, plastic letters and plasticine, and had a go at creating some beats to go with it.
I ended up choosing to look at Joy Division's 'Love Will Tear Us Apart', as I find the lyrics to be quite pertinent and strangely perceptive. I wrote out all the lyrics and created my own wacky number system to break them down by taking the third word, adding it together, doing something else, adding a bit of whipped cream and mixing it all up, (I'm not being serious about the whipped cream...)
But yeah I ended up with a few words: 'Love will tear, tear will love'. I chose to create a collage with some material from magazines, using theatre seating (how one's love is under constant scrutiny and public attention, unless you manage to hide it away well), two soldiers battling, a thunder bolt and a shower head who's hose looked strangely like a noose (that's a sad Ian Curtis reference :( ) From this I created a stop motion in which I moved all the parts and ended up tearing it apart (get it? haha). I also created some electronic, 80's(ish) music- Andy said it reminded him of music they played in a club in the early hours of the morning (probably my inspiration...).
But yeah, overall it was fantastic for the people involved to experience the potential in art. I think for a lot of the participants, their experience at school was perhaps a little frustrating, and their understanding of art from it was quite two dimensional from what they had been exposed to. I think that these workshops really allowed them to break away from ideas that have previously been placed upon them, with them being expected to immediately respond and find relevance in them, even when they don't find it at all!
However, the way in which The Collaborators work, gives them the freedom and realisation that it is ok for them to explore their individual ideas and discover where they may take them and how their portrayal can enable people to have a better understanding of them as an individual, as well as the world around them. For example, I know that at least for me, art helps me to develop a better understanding of the world in which we live and acts as a vessel by which I can comment on things in society that may catch my attention as well as others, or things that I may find problematic- wanting to further understand and get other people's opinions.
The workshops also acted as great platforms by which word spread, knowledge and interests were shared and explored further. We started with one participant on day 1, and by day 4 there were 6 young people involved, with a desire to meet up again and continue using the time for creative ventures within a creative space, (exactly what it should be used for).
The projection night was brilliant on the final day, and it was fantastic to see the groups work projected so greatly, with sound emitting from it that could be heard from streets away. Local people got involved and asked questions about the work they had done and were excited to see something as expressive and creative as this happening in Lincoln!
I'd like to say a BIG THANK YOU to Kate, Lea, Andy and Steve from The Collaborators (all divine inspiration) and Ollie, Kieran, Becky, Lee, Steve, Tilly (all creative geniuses)!
And now for the next series at NCCD... (yay)!
Lots of love Alice xx
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