Documentation of both the city of Lincoln and the site; The Usher and Collection, was first and foremost the focal topic for today’s lesson. We were each sent a personal invitation detailing tasks to complete prior to the lesson and as well as while we were exploring the space within the museum and gallery. The first sets of tasks to be completed in the city of Lincoln were from Carl Lavery’s “Instructions for Performance in Cities” and were of “two varieties: general and specific” (Lavery 2005, pp.286). The set of instructions enabled me to interact with the city of Lincoln in a way which normally I would not, to focus on such elements as the sounds of the city and the smells of the city. At first the list seemed restrictive and yet it was the opposite, allowing you to focus on a specific area of your choosing, such as “list ten things you saw, heard and smelt on your way to class” (Lavery 2005, pp.223) but to explore these instructions to the point where things which you may have ignored within the city became more apparent than ever.
The tasks for the museum and gallery replicated a similar system of discovery as the Lavery tasks. The interpretation of the task within your own mind was crucial in this section as each of us had our own personal tasks to complete. By completing this task independently, it allowed me to explore the space at my own pace as well as begin to form ideas about the way in which the site and its contents can be used as a stimulus for the final project.
Ultimately, the tasks themselves were not the critical part of the experience; indeed it was the documentation of the tasks which were significant. Documentation is not only the recording of information, moments in time or experiences for nostalgic purposes, as Matthew Reason states “preserving and making present to see” (2011, pp.164) but also “can be understood as another occurrence” (Ledger et al 2011, pp.164). Documentation often takes place pre-performance as part of research into the site but can also be classed as part of the performance, for example if an installation piece was created through objects which had been collected from around the city of Lincoln, then the installation piece would serves as the documentation for the creative process. Documentation can also enable us to make artistic connections between our own work and the work of others, for example in class we each created a story, an idea or an image from the documentation of the tasks. We gave each creation a title and then used string to see how our ideas and the ideas of others connected to each other. Without the documentation of the tasks, it would have been difficult to collaborate in this way.
Works Cited
Lavery, C (2005) 25 Instructions for Performance in Cities
Ledger, J, Ellis, S.K, Wright, F (2011) “The Question of Documentation: Creative Strategies in Performance Research” in B. Kershaw and H. Nicholson (ed.) Research Methods in Theatre and Performance, Edinburgh University Press, pp 162-171
Reason, M (2011) “The Question of Documentation: Creative Strategies in Performance Research” in B. Kershaw and H. Nicholson (ed.) Research Methods in Theatre and Performance, Edinburgh University Press, pp 162-171