All agreed on pretending it’s Wednesday right now? Good! Okay let’s continue...
Hello there! I’ve just returned from a wonderful break pretending the pandemic didn’t exist for a bit at Latitude Festival. Rick Astley was there and he played Never Gonna Give You Up but if you think about it the perfect reverse rickroll would have been if he didn’t play it, yknow?
Ordinarily I visit Latitude Festival every year. If last year hadn’t been cancelled then the next one would have been my 10th in a row (gutted). I don’t really go to any other festivals or big events, but I’ve been drawn back to this one time and time again. There’s something really magical that appeals to me about this short burst of other-worldliness that comes and goes in just 4 days. It feels like a portal opens up just briefly before disappearing again, a momentary glitch enabling one to step out of reality into a weird woodland fantasy land. So you can see why it’s the kind of thing I would love.
On being removed
Last night was the virtual launch event for All Alone, the exhibition with Meadow Arts that I’ve been going on about for the last few newsletters. Big thank you to those who came along, I hope it was interesting to you. I enjoyed hearing from the other artists involved, as although we’re all part of the same programme we had not yet been brought together in this way - working on each of our elements in separation from each other. Which I suppose works nicely with the theme of aloneness.
One thing that stood out to me in the conversation was the notion of being removed from something. It’s a term I use a lot when I talk about the aims of my work, a desire to somehow temporarily remove the audience from reality or from the passing of time. It’s also something I noted mentioned by others involved. For example ...kruse shared an image of their AuTCRONE statement that featured the words "she is removed from society in order to serve humanity."
I also thought about this when Adam Chodzko recounted the story of his site visit to Fishpool Valley when preparing to make work for All Alone. On the day he was there, a dog had gone missing in the area, and he described the way everyone was looking for this lost animal. I thought, where did the dog go while they were looking? Might it have slipped into another dimension for a short time? Like how my fiancé says his keys or wallet occasionally take a brief trip to ‘the void’, and that’s why he can never find them...
I like to imagine that origin for the chairs that I’ve placed in the valley. They slipped through from another space or time, perhaps soon to disappear again.
"There is no Sanctuary"
Another reference I made during last night’s event was to the film Logan’s Run (yes I know, I’ve never seen a film, but just go with me on this okay). Logan’s Run has definitely had an influence on my practice over the years. The first time I saw it was in the café of a London art gallery, where I was so taken by the set and costume design that I immediately rushed to go ask what film it was (which bear in mind was a big deal for a shy person such as myself).
I feel like Logan’s Run relates a lot to this idea of removal, as well as the theme of the natural world that runs through All Alone. The population lives within a sealed artificial environment, removed and shielded from an unknown outside world. Overgrown ruins represent the fate of a place when nature is allowed to take over from humanity, and of course the main premise of the film surrounds the idea of being removed from society vs escaping it. As someone who feels claustrophobic just at the thought of existing (more on that another time), I really enjoy the concept of a mythical sanctuary outside of the world one knows.
If you haven’t seen it, I would recommend it (not that I have seen it of course, as it is a film). This has also got me thinking about the Twilight Zone and I’m starting to wonder whether the next phase in Unreality might have a focus on unreal media…
Thanks as always for reading. Sorry for the few hiccups lately with keeping on schedule. If all things go to plan I will actually have some dedicated time soon to ramping up the Unreality content, so don’t be going anywhere!
Don’t forget to keep up with All Alone via Instagram and have a go using my Claude Glass filter by visiting ediejomurray.co.uk/claudeglass from your phone. Use #shareyourview to share what natural views you have around you (and how weird you can make them look with my silly filters).
Love to all
Edie x