thinking through doing…

It is hard to imagine that we are soon to begin the final part of this stage of the side-by-side project. We came into it knowing that there was no pressure on us to produce a final outcome in our time here…that this is about process and that if we chose to take this further then that can happen in the future. Laila and I have already drawn up a rough plan for the next five days and there is no plan for a spectacular end but rather an open one. I think this time spent with Laila has changed me and so whatever I do now will have the reverberations of it in it…I think there is so much we could do and that we would like to do, we will be finding ways this week to sift through to how we might create future space to do something more…

I have found the past week exhilarating and challenging. At points I have thought ‘what am I doing?’. One of my challenges has been thinking about objects, things, stuff and wondering whether I could work without them…I think the answer is clear to me…the things I work with are important and I won’t be leaving them behind, but new memories of movements made and held without objects can also now hold some major part in what I do.

I have also been thinking about a wider context…what does this mean outside of this project, the particular context it’s currently in and to a wider audience – this is something that I really want to start to draw out.

Laila and I seem to have lots in common – there are things that are different and obviously a striking one is in the traces that we leave behind…whether remembered in actual presence or though a memory of a movement. But what I think we ultimately share is that we think through doing and that by doing together and side by side we have generated new thinking about what this can mean.