The Accumulation of Small Acts
Response to my TELEPHONE assignment, 2024
Springfield, Missouri, USA to Llangoed, Anglesey, Wales
TELEPHONE - a game played by artists.
TELEPHONE - a message whispered from person to person that changes and evolves
TELEPHONE - a secret message from art form to art form
TELEPHONE - a message start as poetry, become painting and then music and film.
TELEPHONE - branching outward exponentially like a family tree.
. . .
This behemoth of a project is the brainchild of Nathan Langston, and made possible with support from Satellite Collective and Psychopomp Projects.
See my sculptural video and get lost in the show : https://telephonegame.art/game
This is my third time playing Telephone. It is a welcome intrusion into my life and art practice. I received a piece of music – intense, immersive with a strong beat and high energy - it was the kind of music I would like to dance to with a large group of people. It began well, layering sounds and rhythms to a climax where everything seemed about to spin out of control. But it pulled itself together, finishing with a sense of order and regularity which left me refreshed and energetic.
I love incorporating repetitive labour in my art projects, exhibiting the results of hours and hours of work, but in this current phase of life I don’t have the big chunks of time I’ve had previously. I took the opportunity of playing Telephone to engage in some manual labour (with questionable purpose). I’ve been half-heartedly trying to pull up the quarry tile from the kitchen area of the house we are one day going to renovate. It is a loud, messy, and not very efficient or successful project. I keep trying though, as it’s fun to bang on tools and make noise.
I’ve wanted to be more considerate about sound in my work, so this was a great opportunity to experiment with layering of soundtracks. I was really thrilled that the final video was actually representative of what I was trying to do.
With grateful thanks to the Geologists’ Association Curry Fund and GeoMôn UNESCO Global Geopark for supporting our artwork and participation in the conference!
Finding your artistic voice in the natural world
Very proud to share our previous collaboration with the Geological Society of London. We were invited to present Void Fraction as a masterclass, an example of how artists can engage with geoscience. “Finding your Artistic Voice in the Natural World” shows ways in which geology and art can be creatively combined. This is part of their Geoscience Everyday Competition leading up to Earth Science Week 2023.