I am observing and listening as my first steps. Looking outside the space that I live by, there are so many changes. The docks have all been eaten by tiny beetles like oil drops, the nettles are growing strongly and the bracket fungi are doing well. The reeds and reed mace are now a few feet high. Since cutting down a lot of the docks, nettles and thistles, whilst still leaving several dense patches of them, there has been an increase in flowers and other wild plants. This state of observation, noticing, paying attention, has been part of my art practice for a very long time, particularly in relation to my sound practice. The states of listening and hearing are a constant see-saw of noticing and not-noticing. Putting this into practice in this tiny space where the bird sound is a constant, it only becomes noticeable when something different happens.
The idea of the quiet residency has become a gentle meander through ideas, thoughts and small interventions. However, I have been offered a residency and exhibition in Derby and Osnabrück and want to continue with these ideas but also need to produce work for the exhibition. The ‘gathering’ stage of the residency in Germany will begin with my known ways of working, slow running and recording sound, water collecting and testing and drawing along the journey which will be done by train. From there, it is a wonderful unknown.