Halfway house

by Janie Nicoll, 18 May 2008

Over the last couple of weeks I have been able to kick back and take things a bit easier after the hectic time of the last few weeks, putting up the exhibition, and putting on the Big In Falkirk events. It was good to get it all out of the way, as these are things that have been hanging on the horizon pretty much since we began the residency. The year planner seems comfortably empty in relative terms and that’s almost a relief.

I’ve just realized that it’s exactly six months since we began the residency so we therefore have exactly six months to go. It’s definitely time to take stock, to look back and assess how things have been going in order to get on with the future. It feels like it has been a bit of a rollercoaster ride so far.

We were sent a copy of the video footage from the presentation we did at Praktika and we have had to do our reports for the book. The Praktika seminar definitely seemed to highlight the very differing approaches Alex and I have to socially engaged art practise. Maybe that would have come out in the wash anyway over the course of our year working together but it seems to have been catalyzed by the intensity of the two days there. Whether that’s been a good thing or a bad thing remains to be seen but its food for thought anyway. It has been quite hard to sum things up for their publication in a very restrictive 250 words each.

There are a few practical things that I need to sort out in order to push on with my own work, but in general I feel fairly comfortable with the way things stand with regard to the group we have to work with, and the potential for making things happen over the next six months…

As in all situations it’s all in the interpretation whether the glass is half full or half empty, my glass is definitely still half full.

On wards and upwards…!