So, on a cold morning on the 28th of January, me and my fellow performers embarked on a journey to the collection and usher museum. This is located just off of the high street, about 2/3 minutes to be exact. Walking into the reception of this monumental building was both astonishing and breath taking. We were met by a noise of children yelling and the smell of the beautiful cafe just to our left.
We were then led into one of the side rooms by our lecturer, where we then began a discussion about what is expected of us and all the do’s/don’ts in the museum. We then met Ash, one of the guys working for the university, we then began to discuss about the new gallery being opened just across the hall. We were all in for a treat, we were given access to the gallery a few days before it was being officially unveiled to the public. When walking in, we were met by a wall of fresh smells and pure colour.
On first glimpse the main thing that stood out was a giant blue square in the back left corner, that hadn’t yet had its description placed upon the wall, which aggravated many many questions from us all. After a few minutes, we were rounded up and herded out. After this brilliant experience we were given a task, of finding 3 things in both sites, and creating a 1 minute performance from them. i found my task relatively easy, apart from one question… “What part of the museum is the most meaningful?” This to me was tough, due to slight confusion, i wasn’t sure whether to ask a worker or use my own opinion. After much collaboration, i decided to my own opinion and work it into my piece of work.
After working for just a few hours in the museum, i gained so much knowledge of its history and it’s future. However, i was taken back by the phrase “this is a place where art goes to die” as for me, this is both true, yet severely false, and this is something i will be taking forward when devising my site specific performance.
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