Another public test of the (M)ollie project in Darlington, with new context, in that this time it was part of a festival happening in the town. It was interesting to note the way that different areas of the town seemed to affect participant take up. We started in the indoor market and that proved hard, but when we moved over to the public square by the cinema people seemed more accommodating. This time the activity was taken up by people around us. We had a strong musical accompaniment with the accordion which helped signal the activity to those around. I felt I got a better idea of imaginative affordance and exactly how it operates now. Strangely in Darlington it proved slightly harder than the other locations in the town centre to find poles that were not obstructed by other bits of street furniture or up against walls etc a couple of the poles we undertook, were in pretty difficult locations. So the actual area of the town centre is pretty overpopulated with objects, mostly bins and flower displays. Many of the participants came from people working in the festival, who wanted to show their support, but also many people passing were happy to join in. The festival made a real atmosphere for people to pass in to the activity. I did get lots of comments, ‘but it isn’t May’ , but explained it was more of an urban activity with roots in Maypoles. I found the puzzle aspect of the unwrapping really engaged participants, it was then that you heard the most laughing and discussion among those in the activity, it also bought people into close proximity so had aspects of transgressive play. It also needed a lot less explaining, than a work like Sign Language Duel did when I undertook it at the Toffee factory.
The festival meant it was simpler to find larger groups becoming involved, there was a large footfall. This was not true though for the whole festival area. When we moved to the space near the cinema where a number of workshop like activities were occurring, then the groups were easy to muster, and crossing the boundary was simple for people, as they felt engaged in the whole festival atmosphere. But when we moved to a more packed area where people were watching live acts perform, then even though the numbers in the area were dense, people were less inclined to become involved, as they were there to watch the acts and to sit.
It was interesting contrasting this day to the day at the Toffee factory with Sign language Duel. earlier in the week. I heard comments when doing (M)ollie that it was immense and epic. When looking back at the documentation, it really seems to fill the space, and the large groups makes it seem like it is dominating its environment. I feel it is actualising the elements of Arts Magic Circle. Sign Language Duel was a much smaller and more intimate day. Also I was playing in with the other person most of the rounds. How important is my interaction with those in the work. I found in the (M)ollie work, that the rules transference was natural, and people did not question the activity, as most people had an understanding of Maypoles and even the idea that it is a bit like skateboarding the way it brings play to the urban environment through its attachment to street furniture, and as it is part of the festival. While in Sign Language Duel, it was a pop up activity, with no context for those around. I did engage in a little bit of conversations with the participants of (M)ollie but I felt in a way that the participation in Sign Language Duel was deeper, and that I built up a relationship with those in the work, if only for a short period of time. (M)ollie seemed more machine like an experience, with large groups being funneled through the activity, they did laugh a great deal, and the challenge of unwinding the pole was fully involving but there was little need for me to interact with the participants. The work did almost run itself, people knew how to interact with the poles chosen. People even seemed to understand the nature of the action required to wrap the pole, with participants weaving in and out, alternating under and over.
There was even though people moved quickly at times, a reluctance to fully skip in the dance around the pole. This does affect the aesthetic. But then again, this is an art gamework, the wrapping of the pole, the first part, is almost the set up, for the challenging experience of unwrapping the pole, which I see now as more the gameful centre of the activity. Is there some way perhaps the skipping can become a mechanic in order to connect the participants to the activity, soe way it has to be done in order to succeed at the task.
Though in some sense, even though there was less participants of Sign Language Duel at the toffee factory, it was a more truthful articulation of the ideas of how the magic circle can operate. The (M)ollie at Darlington was part of an existing festival, so perhaps it didn’t bring anything extra to the environment in which it was in. There were already many street acts and workshop activities, it fitted in to the new context. In some way then it could be seen as undermining the prime idea of a space apart but of and in the world, and in the idea of a disjunctive occurrence within the everyday urban environment. The test that I undertook in Newcastle, felt truer to the ideas of Arts Magic Circle, with participants coming in order to have a break from their everyday activity. In Darlington as part of a festival environment, the activity, became merely another ride to engage in, another activity as part of the general festival, so it was not a space apart, but of the general day. In some way this reinforce for me the notion, that Arts magic Circle is most powerful and successful when the work is alone in the world, and the public not forewarned. Then it can fully utilise its various properties for engagement and aesthetic creation. It is not a numbers game, but is a balance with how deep the interaction with the activity is. How unexpected the occurrence. I found the one to one at the Toffee Factory allowed a large gap for people to input themselves into the experience, to question it and feedback their own biographical details around the occurrence. But the test has reinforced for myself what the strengths of arts magic circle are, and the way it operates in public space. That being part of a festival setting dilutes its main structural element, and that though at times it may have less particiaptns, the reason for the participants partaking are more interesting if it is a lone work, unexpected in the area. That it allows those partaking to have a time out of their ordinary day, which being part of a festival, where those attending are aware of the new rules of engagement in the space, don’t have. It becomes just another attraction.
While it was good to get numbers, I felt in some way the poles chosen and the area to do the work, weren’t as exciting as they had been in other test.
research 