The Journey to CoP26 Continues

 

It’s now 3 years of chat about getting to CoP in some shape or form. Even though the thought of advocating 30,000 delegates flying in from around the world to this conference is insane, mixed feelings, but for now the journey into ideas is continuing…

Can we cut through the red tape of finding a venue and go sustainable airship? I approached Airlander H.A.V based in Bedford, firstly to see if it’s possible to project from the inside of the hull ( balloon bit)… Yes… I’d mentioned CoP26 in my email and they want to go to CoP, but have no prototype or any ship we could use until 2025. ‘Try Zeppelin’, they kindly said. It’s on tomorrow’s list.
Meanwhile the potency of our show Dark Room has been resonating and we started thinking… being in complete darkness allows the audience to make the art for themselves, have feelings conjured from within. Taking away a sense can be powerful ( I know you know that, I’m talking to myself) could this be the show for CoP26 with the mannequin choir making an appearance. Hmmm things are starting to make sense.

How to make a room dark

 Notes for my future self. Use layers of materials on the windows. Step one was foil. I had bought some extra thick foil a few weeks before but ended up using it during cooking and was left with the inferior stuff. Not fit for purpose really. A good roll of low-tack fabric-style gaffa tape, not only saves the window surround paint work but is a pleasure to use.

Next I cut polystyrene to size, obviously I'm not a fan of the stuff, but we had a package delivered that had  lots of it in, perfect for the moment.

Then because I was projecting on that wall, some very thick white paper. 

Then on the other side of the window, outside,  a huge tarpaulin clipped to the window frame. We started the shows on the shortest day of the year for maximum darkness. The first show was at 1pm. This didn't feel so dark, but by 2.30pm it was pitch! Audience comments included 'it was dark, then it seemed to get darker'. 

We made sure people started off in a very bright room, as it was nearly Christmas, we used tonnes of fairy lights. They walk into the room, are sat down, shown the safety light and plunged into darkness.

Folks were brought back into the light gently by my lovely companion, the slide projector. They found themselves in a darkroom. Which gave us all the idea to do a KlangHaus in a photographic darkroom in the future.... ooo... pictures emerging from the dark, the smell of chemicals, sounds whizzing round, red lights, shadows.

Here is one reaction that made me glow...

Dark Room : Listen In

 

How could I have not written about this until now? Today would have been the last day of 200 shows in our house. One audience member at a time, in complete darkness for 10 minutes listening. It had a couple of surprise live elements and some sensations, haha. No one was ever touched, a big fear for the incoming audient. Covid-safe with people wearing masks, us sanitising the armchair they sat in during the show. We opened doors, kept our distance, closed doors. It was safe but on Dec 26th, day 5 of shows, Tier 4 came into play and all non-essential business was halted due to the pandemic and a second more contagious strain of the virus doing the rounds. We had performed 80 shows. It was an impactful, emotive show. The darkness was the star. I was in the dark room for safety and for crawling about doing stuff. I emerged on Christmas Day pale and broken with fatigue. More thoughts soon

Hum

 I totally forgot that 'You Can't Hum Your Way Out of This One' was originally inspired by David Cameron's resignation speech from the UK Government after the Brexit results. As he walks into 10 Downing Street, he hums a little tune.... very clearly .... 

You Can't Hum Your Way Out of This One Video

 This song came about after some home truth serum activity and Jeron messing around with his drum machine… We knew that it needed a guest vocalist and, ‘though this is the first time that we’ve worked with Jimmy, he has really meshed well with the band and done a superb job. Huge thanks to the puppet theatre for the loan of Jimmy.

It took me a while to bond with Jimmy, I had to mend his trousers and then we just had to get on with getting on. I remember Sal saying how she had to take up Nick Cave's trousers for a video shoot and that had a similar affect. Similar types of guy I guess, haha.

A lot of practicing with lip sync and eye position, you can only move his eyes by moving his head. The mouth movement is a strange metal hook on a lever in Jimmy's back. The body is made of paper mache the head is plaster I think. He'd had a little accident with his face before we met. 

As you can hear, he's noisy, but I think he can impersonate my voice really well.  When Mark came up with the idea of a ventriloquist dummy for this video, I said, what for.... knowing that I found them horribly creepy, but it was great fun and working with puppets, you learn stuff about yourself, sounds like a cliche, I know, but give it a go and then you'll see. 

Being Heard

 I have had a wonderful experience of being listened to. In one day the chairman of the Plantation Gardens contacted me to ask if it would be useful for the gardeners to take into account my possible show of musicians in trees to prune undergrowth over the winter. Norwich City Council got in touch to request I meet with their head of Strategy and Transformation to chat through my idea of city centre vertical farms finding a home in the ailing shopping centres and the plant science labs, John Innes contacted me saying I could talk with their vertical farm experts. It's a privilege to be heard and the energy it's given me to keep asking questions and seeing new ways forward is priceless. Thank you to things that keep us moving forward.

Vertical Farms and Musicians in Trees

To keep track of my questions and visits to folks, I'll make some notes. I got a reply from Norwich City Council re my question of could Castle Mall and Chapelfield Intu Shopping centre be converted to vertical farms. They said it was interesting and they would consider it for their 2040 vision. I'm speaking to a friend this morning who works at the John Innes Centre ( local Plant Science Lab that has a world reputation), to find a way in to have conversations with John Innes folks who might be researching and developing vertical farms. I'd like to talk to someone from Chapelfield Intu, the company is in administration, but would be worth a dig. I want to record these conversations, but I'm feeling that at least at the moment, I'd like to get people's trust, then return with a microphone... although, some conversations won't be repeatable, due to people's availability.

Last night I popped to see Tully, a tree surgeon I know, to talk about putting musicians into trees. I'd like to orchestrate socially distanced gigs using the trees in the Plantation Gardens. Is it viable to strap musicians into trees and have them look like they have lived there for a while, that they are always in that tree? The musician would research the tree, write about the tree, build a friendship with the tree, write songs as if the tree were singing or creating the noise. The musician connects with the tree, learns about arboriculture, shares their learning and experience through online chats, blogging, a short film, live story telling. Over the weeks, you can drop into the plantation garden for a talk/story by one of the musicians, they share their process. 

It culminates in a gig, a promenade show, musicians in the trees, low lights, sounds, individual songs and songs all together. A soundscape to move people, connect to the space, the here and now.