The Usher Gallery (2015) [Photograph] At: http://www.thecollectionmuseum.com/ (Accessed 3rd February 2015)

On the 28th January 2015 I visited The Usher Gallery and The Collection along with the rest of my Site Specific group. Our aim is to, eventually, create a performance piece specific to the site we were given. Since I have grown up in Lincoln I was at an advantage as I have already visited The Usher Gallery as part of school trips and family days out, however this was the first time I had visited The Collection.

What really stood out to me about The Collection was how it showcased exhibitions and combined them with learning. For example as I was watching around the archaeological gallery, which displayed artefacts from different points in history, a group of school children were learning about the Romans by participating in an activity which had them act as if they were in a Roman army. This could be something interesting to incorporate into a performance piece in the archaeological gallery. Perhaps a historical piece that the audience would enjoy watching but also learn something about the Romans or Vikings that they didn’t know before.

Something I really liked about The Usher Gallery was the way it showcased both contemporary and traditional artworks. I liked how one room would display traditional paintings or status but the next would display artworks which you wouldn’t have expected to see. For example one room simply had a sofa in it and a range of contemporary paintings on the walls. This really stood out to me as something a little strange, but also as a welcome change from the traditional artworks I had seen in the room before. Mixing the traditional and contemporary in the gallery really adds a new sense of excitement to the viewing experience.

As a task we were all given an envelope that contained two pictures and two task questions. From these we have to create a one minute performance piece for the next session. I have personally struggled a little with this task, as I had to find a piece of art that is about silence and one that is about noise. As these two conflict it has been difficult to incorporate them both into one performance piece. One idea I had is flipping the task on its head, in a sense. By this I mean showing how a piece of artwork that is about a noisy situation could also be silent and/or how a piece of artwork about a silent situation could also be noisy.