Monthly Archives: January 2014

First thoughts.

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Being from Doncaster I am used to visiting a large race course that is modern and current. As Doncaster is famous for its race course it is always busy with many people turning up to its events which creates a lively  and electric atmosphere. The grand stand at lincoln is not as big and therefore I believe the same type of atmosphere would not have been created. Instead, I believe as it would have been quieter there would have been an intense feel especially when watching a race. Many people visit Doncaster’s race course to be seen and to socialise with friends rather than to watch the racing, whereas in lincoln as it is smaller I think there would have been more concentration on the race creating a rollercoaster of extreme emotions, victory, defeat, fear, success. Maybe modern day Doncaster is a reflection on what lincolns grandstand may have once been.

The Art of Not Living in Lincoln.

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To put it bluntly, I had never even heard of a city called Lincoln, let alone visited it, before I decided that the university here was the one for me, and I came for an open day as most prospective students do. So when I was told that we all had to write a post discussing what we knew of the Grandstand and its history without having done any research, I was more than a little stumped for what to write. Because truth be told, I do not know anything about the Grandstand- I have never visited it and would never have thought to until this very moment.

So what do you write about when you know nothing about the proposed subject matter? Well, as this is the beginning of a beautiful site specific journey we are all going to embark on, I will just say that I am excited to visit the Grandstand, see where we will be performing for this module and get a feel for what we can create within the space. I am sure/ I hope I will be able to produce a much more interesting blog post once Michael lets those of us who are not from up north (don’t shoot me, I know it’s the Midlands but it’s north to me!) do some research.

 

 

 

The ‘Bandstand’

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I know very little about the Grandstand. In fact, towards the beginning of the week I was calling it by the wrong name, ‘The Bandstand’, and therefore had no idea of its actual purpose and location, let alone its historical value. I have never visited the site, only coming into contact with it when driving past into Lincoln. My flatmates and I believed it to be a football stadium… not too far off I guess! During the week I have heard various information surrounding the Grandstand, my favourite being of it’s resident ghost. I wonder if, with further research, this could be an interesting starting point for our project?

The uncertainty of the module itself makes me rather anxious, so I’ve been trying to find ways of channelling my anxiety into possible ideas; uncertainty within our performance could work well in our favour, hence the mentioning of possible hauntings/spirits etc. The building (from pictures) appears to be quite isolated, and with our traditional, ‘beautiful’ English weather prowling over the site I imagine it can sometimes appear severely ominous. However, I am extremely excited to pay my first visit to the stand with a small group of others later this week, and to see whether my derelict vision of the Grandstand drastically changes.

Off To The Races – Initial thoughts and ideas of The Grandstand Project

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On initial reaction to the task at hand I was anxious I don’t know much about the actual venue we are performing in other than it was a horse racing track and as a group we are going to view it next week but my mind is still brewing some ideas we could incorporate into our piece. The idea of it being disused and run down is actually something that interests me greatly for some reason. You could put forward the idea of it being alone. From pictures I have had a glimpse at I get the impression of something dead. A very macabre idea obviously, but from the images I have seen it seems to be a shell of what it once was.

I’m still really onto the idea of having something eerie take place here. I love the idea of ghosts, spirits or something along those lines finding this little building as a new home. Nothing says bloodcurdling and goose bump enduring quite like a horde of zombie horse jockeys scrambling towards a unwilling audience or even recreate the legend of Sleepy Hollow and have the headless horseman come to collect the souls of those foolish enough to come but of course this is coming from somebody who wouldn’t last 5 seconds watching any horror film so I digress.

Of course I am only joking as my opinion of this building could be changed completely upon going to visit the place but right now from basic media and visuals I have seen alone the only theme I can think of is along that of incorporating some element of horror or suspense. The initial idea of spirits or something dark happening is something I just can’t stop circling my mind. It’s actually exciting me to see how we can all put our ideas into this.

Again, as previously mentioned I have some ideas in my head that could be put forward but until I actually go to see the place I can’t get a real grasp for the tone of the place.