The last few weeks have been a bit of a creative blur! Visiting the archives a couple of weeks back triggered a multitude of ideas, and teamed with weekly visits to the Grandstand, performance concepts have gradually been unearthed. The easiest way to relay this process is through numbering each significant discovery:
1. During one of our earlier sessions, it was required of us to bring a gift to the Grandstand. I brought my perfume, which is in the shape of an apple. At this point, I was blissfully unaware of the significance apples would have upon my work!
2. On the 5th of February 1918, 5000 leaflets advertising war bonds were dropped over Lincoln. (Information courtesy of the Lincoln Archives!). I loved this idea of a mass of objects overwhelming the spectators, but wasn’t sure of how to achieve it myself.
3. It was proposed that the Grandstand be used as a mortuary to accommodate the casualties of war in Lincoln. The drawn up plans included a Sluicing Room, which Verity mistook as a slicing room!
4. I started to explore into the idea of the Grandstand being the ‘core’ of a number of experiences, questioning if “it is possible to be in a place without realizing its significance for the groups of people who have historically inhabited it” (Pearson, 2010, 24).
Upon reflection, each of these ideas could in fact link directly back to apples. Apples have a core that isn’t eaten, whereas the rest of the apple is gradually eaten away; it serves its purpose, but doesn’t disappear completely. The Grandstand cannot be destroyed because of it’s pillars. Structurally they are the buildings core, “stag[ing] and fram[ing] those who inhabit it’s space” (Pearson, 2010, 21).
Most hilariously, I am in fact unable to eat apples in their original state. Biting an apple risks me breaking my artificial teeth, therefore the only viable option is for me to slice them. Slicing an apple whilst it’s core is still in tact proves to be very difficult, so you have to remove it. But, in terms of the grandstand, each ‘slice’ of history within it is individual, and it is ignorant to think that we can appreciate the site without stripping it down to it’s core.
References:
Pearson, M. (2010) Site Specific Performance. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.