In the twilight of Newcastle and the haze of Monday night’s opening for Interventions (28th June 2010) the report from those that know is that the experiment has been a resounding success. The output of our mini-think-tank / trouble-bubble (Ben Singleton, Dr. Yvette Taylor (Newcastle) and myself) is at best a sketch and at worst an indication of what can be done in a small amount of time.
Looking back on the wall as a process of representation, performance, self promotion and ‘ghost-written’ statements for entrance into university and out to the world at large, I am reminded of my love for american painter Cy Twombly with his blackboard paintings, the over and under painting, suspended in liquid-form on the wall, complex and “mandarin”.
For Interventions form and lucidity were less important. More important was a persistence of process. We referred to the ongoing accumulation of data in the the form of written transcripts and personal statements as a series of ‘seas’ and ‘fog’ condensing and evaporating, at times clearing to reveal something or someone and at other times hiding, masking and obscuring identities behind a sea of bureaucratic crap. Apparently someone thought the work was nostalgic, reminding them of their time teaching in a Nigerian school and the constant struggle and restriction certain cultures impose on education, information and free will within a strict political regime.
Reference:
“Say Goodbye, Catullus, to the Shores of Asia Minor” by Cy Twombly