“Photofinished” was developed as a piece of site-specific performance work which was performed at the Grandstand Community Centre on Carholme Road in Lincoln, on Thursday, 8th May, 2014. The piece was a one-to-one experience lasting around 10 minutes, and performed repeatedly for multiple individuals throughout the three hours of performance.

The piece was staged within a long brick cellar space beneath the main seating of the Grandstand, accessible from a corridor in the main building. I created a photographic darkroom, using trappings of the aesthetic of the darkroom such as the red safe light, trays and bottles of chemicals and analogue cameras. Audience members entered the space through a small door and descended the steps into this space, and were instructed to close the door and put on a white lab coat, safety goggles and a mask. They completed this action by themselves, before entering the main space, entering past plastic curtains which masked the main space on entry. After entering the space the audience member was invited in, and engaged in a conversational narrative which asked how they thought a photograph could simultaneously be a beginning, a middle and an end. During this process, they were invited to develop a print of a photograph of the West Common racecourse.

The piece examined photography through the lens of the Grandstand, and the Grandstand through the lens of photography, studying how the Grandstand might be seen to be, like a photograph, a space frozen in time. It considered acts of creation, like capturing a photograph or the construction of a building like the Grandstand, to be simultaneously beginning, happening and ending. The idea was informed by the idea of the photo-finish moment within horseracing, a link to the racing heritage of the Grandstand and the West Common. The piece studied the singular moment, such as that frozen in a photo-finish shot, and how the act of taking that photograph is a creative act that begins a process of production; but is also a constant middle, frozen in stasis, and also the final destruction of a real moment by shoehorning it into a new form. The performance was a one-to-one experience, made up of an aesthetic installation of all the props and kit of the developer’s darkroom, which was interacted with through a performative narrative.

The space itself was a difficult one within which to work, and posed challenges that needed to be considered. The space was very dark, which was useful for its function in the performance as the darkroom, but this was controlled by providing light which fit the aesthetic but could still be used to see, and each individual was given a torch to use should they need it when they entered. The space was also very cold, a product of its lack of heating and various open vents; audience members were warned of this on the blurb affixed outside the space, and the lab coat they were asked to wear acted as another layer to mitigate the short-term effects of the lack of heat. The other challenge was that the door to the space was quite inconspicuous, and might have led to audience members not entering due to not knowing it was being used as a performance space. I avoided this by affixing a blurb to the door of the cellar space to encourage audiences to understand that they could enter and that it was being used.

The first development in my piece of site-specific performance took place very early into our first explorations of the Grandstand site. An early session at the site led to the capturing of photographs of the site for documentary purposes, and the creation of short texts, as a method of capturing and archiving our early initial interactions and impressions of the site. I documented these in a blog entry named: “Response, creation and site: discussing space through authorship.” The small texts led to a consideration of what purpose they had other than the purely documentary, even though the initial motivation behind writing them was as a documentary exercise. Through some further research into theoretical approaches to site-specific performance, I began to consider these mini-stories as narratives which responded to the narrative of the site itself, a cyclical process of representation and re-representation, in which my mini-narratives not only serve as recognition of the past existence and story of the Grandstand but also form a stimulus work for further consideration of the site and development of work. The theoretical research led to the idea that the conventional understanding of ‘site’ has shifted “from a physical location […] to a discursive vector” (Kwon, 2004, 29-30), and this idea of a site as discursive rather than purely physical led to my understanding of a site as a narrative. My creation of small texts, like the creation of photographs in my final piece, was “a distribution of stories and dramatic episodes” (Lorimer, 2006, 515) designed to create a narrative of site. Fiona Wilkie’s idea of “site as story-teller” (Wilkie, 2002, 158) cemented this idea of site as a narratological vector rather than simply a physical construction, a “space of encounter” (Wilkie, 2008, p. 101) which both told a story, and could be used to tell a new story. These short textual responses were the first instance in my process of using documentary recordings to freeze the narrative of the site in stasis, and it was these short texts – as well as my understanding of how a document can be a device through which to narratively represent the story of the site – which led inevitably to the use of physical photographic prints for the same purpose in the final performance.

Following my exploration of short texts and other similar items as narratological devices, and the idea of site as a discursive space, I was interested to consider the way in which, since our first visitations to the Grandstand, I – and, indeed, the rest of the group – had used photography and the taking of photographs as a method of documentation, and how our experience of the site to that date had been almost wholly mediated through the use of the photographic image, seen and documented through the camera viewfinder, on mobile phones or high-end DSLRs. I was encouraged, having studied my use of short texts as a form of documentary or archival process, to consider the same of the photographs that I had taken of the site when we were first exploring, and in our subsequent returns to the site. I did further research into the ways in which the photographic image and performance interact and collide, and the results were extremely influential to my final performance piece. The most influential piece of research at this point in the process was Karel Vanhaesebrouck’s essay ‘Theatre, performance studies and photography: a history of permanent contamination’. His work signposted the way in which photography and performance are continually “contaminating each other in a permanent and systematic way” (Vanhaesebrouck, 2009, 97), for the reason that “theatre photography is an integral part of the signification process which is at the very heart of performance studies” (Vanhaesebrouck, 2009, 97); that the performance itself – or, in our case, the site itself – is not the sole signifier of meaning for an audience member, but that the peritextual documentation surrounding the site, such as my mini-texts or the photographs taken at the site, are equally important in signifying meaning, and therefore the surrounding documentation can “serve as dramaturgical matière brute, or it can be utterly performative in its own right” (Vanhaesebrouck, 2009, 97) The idea of photography not only being a creative act of bringing into being, but also of being a trace of a lost or dying moment, and therefore representative of ending, is also seen in the statement that “one cannot consider theatre photography […] to be a direct residue of an event that disappeared from the moment it was acted out” (Vanhaesebrouck, 2009, 100), an idea backed up in further research, which also identified how “an image […] cannot necessarily fully capture or evoke […] rhythms or their qualities” (Simpson, 2012, 425). Overall, in considering those photographs I had taken at the site through the frame of photography, and the ways in which photography interacts with performance, I took away the central understanding of my piece, of “photography as an autonomous performative practice” (Vanhaesebrouck, 2009, 105). My research also validated my idea of the photographs we take being a part of the overall narrative of the site, and therefore photography as being central and inseparable from the process of developing my performance.

My understanding led me to take a series of images on our next visit to the site, which were designed not only to document the site purely for the sake of creating a record of our interaction there, but are also designed to be a story within themselves and also to be a part of the overall story of the site. I made the creative decision to shoot most of these images in black-and-white, despite colour photography being an available option, as the act of shooting in black-and-white meant when taking each image, I was more likely to look closely at the subject of my shot for contrast and tonal range. While this is a technical requirement of good black-and-white photography, the act of looking for those technical ideals meant that I studied my subject more closely and therefore noticed more detail, which led my photographs to tell a richer and more detailed story as narrative devices in their own right. I attempted to identify details about the Grandstand that might go unnoticed, to create images that adhered to the idea of photography as an autonomous performative form, my central idea at that point. Some of those photographs are embedded below.

Following some weeks of exploration of these ideas at the site, documentation through photography and theoretical research, I developed a pitch idea to be presented in a seminar for feedback. The idea at this point, based upon these ideas, focussed on the idea of performance as photography, and was intended to tell the story of the site through photographs which represented the narrative of the space. These would be developed using traditional photographic methods within the space as a durational piece, to create a visual timeline of sorts. Based on my earlier research about the photograph itself as a performance site as well as a signifier of narrative and basic factual information, this idea was developed. Within the pitch seminar, further ideas contributed by classmates and tutors, and through discussion about the ideas, led to a more solid overall concept that centred around the idea of the ‘photo-finish’, the photograph taken at the end of a horse race which decides the winning horse in a race, relevant considering the Grandstand’s previous use as seating for the West Common racecourse. I later found out the photo-finish image was used for the first and only time at the Lincolnshire Handicap at the Grandstand in 1964, and so this idea generally seemed a relevant and compelling lynch-pin for my performance, which drew clear links between the site and its heritage, and photography as a site and a narrative in itself.

Given these decisions, I decided to conduct some research into contemporary artistic representations of the photographic darkroom within performance works, and how the darkroom is used as a symbol, a setting and a space. I considered the way in which the photographic darkroom in performance is seen as a performance setting, a literal ‘dark room’, a catalyst space of creative potential and experimentation, and a static space of archival. Following a seminar using ‘The Many Headed Monster’, a performance lecture pack which gave many examples of contemporary and site-based performance, I decided my best approach was to look at a wide range of contemporary performances and how they represent the contemporary darkroom. I considered Revelation in a Dark Room  by Martha Jurksaitis, in which her piece is “situated in a photographic darkroom” (Jurksaitis, 2012), in which the “audience were invited in while the red darkroom safelight was on” (Jurksaitis, 2012). I also studied Metro-Boulot-Dodo’s Blownup, which encourages the audience to “enter the darkroom as [they] expose the very private world of photography” (Metro-Boulot-Dodo, n.d.). Both consider the darkroom as a performance setting. The idea of physical darkness is seen in the Crispin Spaeth Dance Group’s Dark Room, which is performed “in a lightless room for a small audience” (Novek, 2006) and The Dark Room by the Black Swan State Theatre Company sees the darkroom as a “dark and dangerous territory” (Black Swan State Theatre Company, 2009). Furthermore, within the theatre industry more widely, I found many examples of the idea of the dark room as a “‘creative place for imagination’ – much like a theatre” (Spontaneous, 2013), a space of creative potential, with many programmes for experimental, untested material and workshop development called ‘Dark Room’, hosted as widely as Battersea Arts Centre, the Cleveland Public Theatre, the New Life Theatre Project and the Roundhouse. Overall, this research provided examples of the dark room within the overall scheme of contemporary performance, as well as where photography and its surrounding aesthetic is used within performance. From this research, I decided to use many similar trappings of the photographic darkroom to those used in the pieces I researched, such as the red photographic safelight, chemical trays and photographs hanging to dry. I also decided to explore the idea of the photograph as a creative space within itself, and how it might simultaneously be the beginning, middle and end of a creative process as well as a documentary one, and decided to engage audience members in a collaborative idea-creation process by asking how they thought a photograph could be each of those three stages, and what they thought a photograph might be.

My final performance saw a traditional image of the photographic darkroom established, with a dark, quiet and isolated space set up as the photographer’s laboratory. The use of the red light established a familiar image, as well as trays and bottles of chemicals, and various safety equipment, including lab coats, which created a recognisable impression of the photographer’s darkroom. The series of photographs being developed contained a narrative within each individual photograph, and also told the story of the West Common racecourse, where all of the photographs combined created a series of images documenting the course. Each image was taken 201 paces precisely after the last, where the number 201 represents the number of metres in a furlong, a measurement of racecourses. The cameras used as props were from the 1950s and 60s, establishing an aesthetic true to that of the final years of the Grandstand’s racing activity. The audience member was encouraged to develop the photograph, to contribute themselves to the narrative of the Grandstand and the course and to engage them in the photographic process being questioned; and they were also asked to brainstorm ideas surrounding how a photograph could be a beginning, middle and photo-finish ending. The fact that the photo-finish was used for the first and last time at the Lincoln racecourse in its final year, 1964, was used as a final point to tie together the strands of the performance relating to photography and those relating to the Grandstand and its heritage, to create a single, rational overall point that the audience member could take away.

Through my engagement with the theoretical concepts underpinning site-specific performance, I have been led to challenge some of my understandings of performance more generally. Site-specific performance has shown that to perform is not always to act, and that any site can constitute a performance space. It has led me to approach work as an artist rather than as an actor, considering details beyond simply the content or delivery of the performance, such as the challenges and constraints of site and details such as its historical and social background which the performer might not consider in more traditional forms of performance. The final performance was a five-to-ten minute one-to-one experience within the darkroom space, in which I represented the photographer and the audience member represented the photographic assistant. I feel that the overall aesthetic of the piece was impressive, with key trappings of the darkroom such as trays, the red safelight and photographs hanging to dry, establishing a convincing aesthetic of the darkroom. The use of the process of developing a photograph as an activity for each audience member was a strong method for establishing a comfortable environment within the one-to-one piece, which might otherwise be daunting, and led to the audience members being open and willing to engage with the activities and ideas within the piece. However, while the narrative was designed to be a natural conversation rather than a staged script, I feel the narrative could have mean further structured to lead to a more standard experience across all the individual interactions and with more time to develop the piece I would restructure the narrative, rehearse it further and ensure the semi-improvisational dialogue had a very solid groundwork to prevent the narrative from feeling under-rehearsed or awkward. Throughout the three hours of performance, the piece was undertaken a total of eight times with eight individuals. This was slightly disappointing as, even with a full ten minutes for each piece, I could have catered for a total of eighteen different audience interactions. This weakness I feel was due to a combination of the lack of forced interaction – audience members could choose whether or not, and indeed when, to enter the space – and also the fact that audience members entering the space would take a good amount of exploration time, taking in the various other pieces which were more instantly present than Photofinished before discovering my space. While the time they take for exploration is difficult to control, if I were to develop the piece I might take bookings for slots prior to the event to maximise the number of potential experiences of my piece. If I were to perform the piece again, I would maintain the visual aesthetic, including performing in the same space within the Grandstand site, but would restructure the narrative to make the overall ideas of the piece more apparent to audience members experiencing the piece for the first time.

 

Word count: 3,048.

 

Works cited

Black Swan State Theatre Company (2009) The Dark Room by Angela Betzien. [online] Perth, Australia: Black Swan State Theatre Company. Available from: https://www.bsstc.com.au/about/archive/2009/the-dark-room/ [Accessed 23 March 2014].

Jurksaitis, M. (2012) My live film performance ‘Revelation in a Dark Room’.[online] Available from: http://cherrykino.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/revelation-in-dark-room.html [Accessed 22 March 2014].

Kwon, M. (2004) One Place After Another. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Lorimer, H. (2006) Herding memories of humans and animals, Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 24, 497-518.

Metro-Boulot-Dodo (n.d.) Blownup. [online] Leicester: Metro-Boulot-Dodo. Available from: http://www.metro-boulot-dodo.com/blownup.html [Accessed 22 March 2014].

Metro-Boulot-Dodo [Production still from Blownup] n.d. [image online] Available at: http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5207/5222937999_2e0db20c78.jpg. [Accessed 22 March 2014].

Novek, Y. (2006) Dark Room. [online] Available from: http://www.yannnovak.com/works/score/dark-room/ [Accessed 22 March 2014].

Simpson, P. (2012) Apprehending everyday rhythms: rhythmanalysis, time-lapse photography, and the space-times of street performance. Cultural Geographies, 19(4) 423-445.

Spontaneous, C. (2013) A Union of Disciplines and Minds: The Body Narratives Collective and Their Upcoming Production, Dark Room. [online] Vancouver, Canada: Vandocument. Available from: http://vandocument.com/2013/11/a-union-of-disciplines-and-minds-the-body-narratives-collective-and-their-upcoming-production-dark-room/ [Accessed 22 March 2014].

Vanhaesebrouck, K. (2009) Theatre, performance studies and photography: a history of permanent contamination. Visual Studies, 24(2) 97-106.

Wilkie, F. (2002) Archaeologies of memory: Mike Pearson’s Bubbling Tom. Unpublished paper.

Wilkie, F. (2008) The production of “site”: Site-Specific Theatre. In: Holdsworth, N. and Luckhurt, M. (eds.) Contemporary British and Irish Drama. Oxford: Blackwell.