I returned to the room with the castanets and played around with an idea for installing them on the floor. The idea was that the viewer would be prevented from entering and would have to view the installation from the doorway...However the idea I had formed whilst outside lookng at the grid was still forming so I decided to take the castanets out there to see what I could do with them.
This strange contraption was in the drawers with the castanets and I decided it could be my perfect stranger for the participants to explore... I left it on the chair for them to encounter in their own way without any instruction from myself.
The castanets themselves I lay on top of the grid
It had struck me earlier after visiting the ladies bathroom that waste water from there passed underneath the grid. The sound this made was a beautiful trickling stream sound.
I decided to place the castanets on top of the grid to draw attention to this sound of water and the notion that being framed in this way and not being used as intended - transformed the castanets to become artifacts rather than instruments - their music or soundtrack coming from the stream of water underneath the grid. Instead the castanets became an interesting composition for a photograph (above) and an installation with the participant as performer, encountering the stranger the odd castanet contraption.
Chloe documenting her experience of my encounter
Hannah examining the castanet contraption
i felt here a pressure to look, interesting i think. or at least to look like i was looking interestingly. as soo as i became buisy with this i was really looking. i was exploring for real. even if it was in something that wasnt quite connected to the piece. i also love how this piece connected seemlesly throught the experience. lovely tie up at the end. i turned the tap off in the morning thinking "bastard dancers" and look what i may have been disturbing...????!! hah! thanks emma.
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