What the F*** is happening now?

the slightly inflammatory nature of this post's title is not an attempt to provoke you dear reader. And i have not had a breakdown after a bad session in the library. Instead it directly replicates the name of an art festival i was taking part in this weekend past.

As well as working hard to get a dissertation together there is a practical side of my course (50% in fact). Not only that there is life beyond University and as such i have tried to get involved with as many projects as possible this summer and see if my work has any relevance to the outside world. So i wrote a proposal, sent it off and the organisers of the festival were kind enough to accept it.

The event took place in an old Manor House in Falmer, Brighton. It is a fascinating place and rare to see somewhere that seems so rural in such close proximity to the city. I was quite struck by this and wanted to do a piece of work that encouraged people to not look at the work itself but the space in which it is located. So i decided to hang a piece of string the length of the property with the Manor House itself at the centre (a distance close to 400m). This was to be the first time i had ventured away from photography so it was a little daunting. But after a prolonged battle with all sorts of vegetation the string was finally up.

On Saturday 14 August the festival opened and unfortunately it was a rather wet day. While this was a bit annoying it was still a great day. In true British style people weren't perturbed and plenty turned up to enjoy the myriad of events such as: secret cinema, music, sculptures and cake.

From my own point of view the string was rather interesting. The main reason being the difficulty i had photographing it. It was hard to pick out from its surroundings and any wide shots often saw the string obscured. Close ups were better but the sense of place was lost as a result. Video might have been more successful as some of the movement would have been detected. Ultimately it seemed that this was a piece that had to be experienced in person and the documents were always going to be poor substitute. Still hopefully this will encourage more people to go the next one!

Overall it was a fun day and nice to be back doing some practical work after a few weeks of being confined to theory. Especially as it relates quite closely to much of the reading i have been doing. A welcome lift to the spirits.