“Landscapes told as a distribution of stories and dramatic episodes, or as repertoires of lived practice, can be creatively recut, embroidered, and still sustain original narratological integrity” (Lorimer, 2006, 515).

Friday was our first official visit to the Lincoln Grandstand, and most probably the coldest day we have seen this year so far! Despite the freezing temperature, we ‘found’ our way around the site, indulging in its architectural beauty and historical grounding.

Previous discussion in Thursday’s seminar led to in depth thoughts surrounding the term ‘found’; Is the site ‘found’ historically/geographically? Is ‘finding’ something an individual experience, or is it a collective effort? Can we argue that inspiration and/or objects ‘found’ on site are actually OURS? This leads me nicely into the idea of people creating temporary tenancies in regular everyday life. If we are, for example, to enter a train and sit down, naturally we allocate ourselves seats. If we then were to leave briefly, and return to find someone else sat in said seat, we claim that the seat is ours and that they are in fact intruding on our ‘site’, as it were. But we all know that the seat doesn’t actually belong to us.

Whilst wandering around the Grandstand, this idea of temporary tenancy thoroughly interested me. There were visible remainders of previous ‘tenants’ everywhere, either suggested by objects left behind (more recent), or by memorials on the wall (older). Sadly, “it is possible to be in a place without realising its significance for the groups of people who have historically inhabited it” (Pearson, 2007, 24), however I refuse to be ignorant any longer, and I am excited to delve further into who these tenants may have been, the stories they have to tell and how they will shape our artistic discoveries.

References:

Lorimer, H. (2006) Herding memories of humans and animals. Environment and Planning D:Society and Space.

Found in: Pearson, M. (2010) Site Specific Performance. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan