TRAVEL DIARY

A weblog regularly updated by Jodi Rose.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

9:56 PM
Posted by jodi rose

I wrote the opening ceremony speech for bridgeland while in the bath...
a nice kind of synchronicity really, since the last time I performed live in Glasgow was from the bath in Slovakia, during Zoe Irvine's fabulous dial a diva project. Hearing people calling my name over the phone from the crowd in the cca was quite a bizarre experience, I still have no idea who was there!

It's been an intense few days, those moments before a project is realised that suddenly flare up with anxiety and stress. A quiet evening at home with inspired euphoric speech writing is just what I need.

The ceremonial sashes are being printed later tonight - very glad to have them, as somehow our leading light, the magnificent statue of la pasionaria has been taken away from her place by the bridge. I imagine her as the guardian of all who are trying to live by their own beliefs, to follow the voice of integrity and intuition - as she says, It's better to die on your feet than live on your knees.

Someone died on the bridge recently, I don't know how or who, although presumably the obvious - by jumping into the Clyde. It's the one further along past Glasgow Green that is reportedly the site of more regular border conflicts. There's a shrine of two flower arrangements woven into the fence at the mid-point, and a handwritten note that's a little crumpled and washed out now by the rain. When we spoke to the first representative from the council about doing a work on the bridge, he talked about the concept of 'changing people's mental maps' of the city, which i liked, in this case through the lighting project that took place a while ago, and now hopefully through the designation of Bridgeland with our stunning opening ceremony.

It was interesting being down there while hanging the sign, which attracted a good deal of interest and not too many people were upset at having to avoid walking underneath while we rigged it - 'for your safety'. I wasn't a customer service operator for three years at one.tel for nothing! Apparently the people at the hospice across the road are enjoying the sign there, and some have promised to join us at the opening, while others will watch through the window with a glass of sherry. I can only offer virtual champagne for our toast, don't want to be encouraging alcohol consumption in a public place - you'll have to come to Berlin for that!

We had an amazingly smooth run making the sign, once the best way to get the letters into a template was sorted out - and over two nights the fabulous Will and Nick cut them using Glasgow's only scroll saw - borrowed and sourced for us by the genius technical director and font designer and all-round magical problem solver Dava! Then stepped into one of the most renowned public art fabrication studio's to finish hanging and bolting the letters in place. Finally got it onto the cherry picker platform with a minimum of fuss, and in an hour and a half it was there, looking exactly like the mock-up version on the flier. Strange how that happens - an artist's impression come to life!

I'm thinking a lot about the idea of 'art in context' lately - more than 'public art', there is a wider field of operation. Art in the context of life, of geography, of community, of place or location, of the seasons, of materials, a political and economic context, the varied cultural connections and symbolic readings, metaphors and connotations...

How you never really find yourself in the 'ideal' conditions for making art (or indeed for living life) - well maybe you do - but for me, there's always something. Something you need to manage, get through, figure out, sort out, get round, get under, get by... and that while everything is going twisted and topsy-turvy around you, somehow you still find the place of stillness and rest that you need to alchemise (is that a word? no says the spellcheck!) the base materials around you into something with a glimmer of golden inspiration. The process can be messy, things can get ugly, but you know that if you keep coming back to that essence, stripping away the inessentials and illusion, finding the absolute centre, cutting back to the bare minimum of superfluous and unnecessary trimming until you have the core manifest - well then it's all worth it in the end.... I'm sure!

Come along tomorrow night if you happen to read this and be in Glasgow, or find us in documentation form and take part retrospectively. There is no separation between past present and future in Bridgeland, so whenever you are there you're always there!