Reaction to the Library as a Performance Space

Andrew Brooks / / Main Page

I normally tend to think of the library as a studious place where some social interaction is allowed (well, in the university library), but I hadn’t considered it as a place to perform, even if we all are performing in that space without consciously knowing or thinking about it. A performance in the library isn’t something that comes naturally to ones thought process, so the ideas that first sprouted to mind consisted of possible social experiments and the breaking of library rules – particularly on the third floor where you HAVE to be silent.

It was this idea of breaking the rules, being rebellious in the library that got me thinking about the more extreme possibilities of what can be done in the library, for example, being purposefully loud on the third floor so that eventually someone will come and tell you to be quiet as the rules are very strict.

However, the first idea that came to mind was something that wasn’t anywhere associated with the libraries history or the purpose of a library, nor was it appropriate for the time of the year. I wanted to use a whole floor and just use it as a haunted library-come-scare fest; something that I knew would be out of the question but would be incredibly fun. After having a couple of sessions of watching videos in seminars and the reading we have done, the ideas of what could be done were increased further. I particularly liked a video we watched of a group of people wrapping the Reichstag as, for me, it made me question why they did it. The whole idea of wrapping something well known, or maybe something not so well known, is something that makes that object a blank canvas that anybody could envisage what the building really looks like or what it could look like in their heads, different to what it actually looks like. This is something that I certainly found intriguing, at first.

As I have previously said, it wasn’t something that came naturally to oneself when you think of a library, therefore, ideas for this project came few and far between at this early point because there was so much to take into consideration: the architecture, the history, and the uses of the library. So it is relatively difficult to decide at first because of the amount of different aspects of the library it is possible to focus on and create something on or around. For example, it’s possible to focus on why people use the library or the people within the library rather than the library as an object or building itself. As much as this appealed to me, to do a sort of social observation, it was something that I didn’t think would be as challenging as what I would have liked.

Andrew Brooks

 

A Guide to Using Facebook while pretending to work at the Library

Josh Curran / / Tasks

Script for a test audio guide:

Sometimes it’s really hard to just do that essay or that assignment whilst having no idea what’s happening in the lives of your Facebook friends. If only there was some way to look like you’re working while actually reading about how much someone loves cats. Well now there is.

It may not be against the library rules to go on Facebook, but what would people think if they saw you doing it? Everyone else there is hard at work on their education, using all the resources of the library, to forward human knowledge. But then they see you, on Facebook, watching a video your friend has posted, of a fat person falling over. How do you think they would feel, seeing a valuable space in the library, wasted like that? That’s why they can never know. Let’s go find a computer shall we?

Now just log in. Good. No-one knows what you’re about to do, there’s no need to panic. Ok. Good. Now just open up Google Chrome. Or, if you’re a beginner, you can even use Internet Explorer.

Now, the first thing you open, needs to look clever. Why not find an article on ‘War and Peace’? Or the biography of an Italian painter? Anything that’s long and complicated will do. Have a look.

Very Good. This is what’s called, the decoy. But now it’s time, to open, Facebook. You have to be very careful while logging in, in case someone sees. You can try making the window smaller, to make it harder for people to see. Or you can stand up slightly to block the screen with your body. Or you can simply just turn the screen away slightly to make sure no-one sees. That’s it. Now log in as quickly as you can. When you’re done, switch to the decoy.

Well done. You’re in the clear. It’s easy now to switch back and forth between Facebook and the decoy. It’s going to be smooth sailing from here on out. But, if someone does catch you, make sure you have some excuses prepared. For example, “I’m doing a Psychology study on social media” or “I design websites and I was looking for inspiration”, or “This is the most suitable and reliable method in which my study group can liaise. What are you trying to do? Destroy my opportunities for employment after graduation?” Your excuse, should be personal to you. Why not have a go?

Excuse me, I was just browsing research documents whilst studying for my PHD, when I happened to notice that you were merely browsing Facebook. Can you explain your actions?

Very well, I suppose that is an acceptable explanation. I am sorry to have bothered you.

Excellent, you’re now an expert at hiding your internet activities. You’re a star.

Josh Curran

What is the Space?

Eleanor McHale / / Main Page

Looking round the library you suddenly realise you are not in an ordinary surrounding. You have been transformed to a different world. A place you can feel at home surrounded by all the different information; where if you wanted to learn about the human body you could do. But not only are you immersed with the stories there you are also immersed in the architecture that is the library. It isn’t just what you see it is how you feel when you enter and really think to yourself how lucky we are as a society to be aloud all that knowledge in one place. That education is a gift and so is the ability to be able to use these books free of charge. An unspoken bond between the library and the community is shown when you are aloud to borrow however many books you need as long as you bring them back so other people can also experience the book like you have done. The mix of both the old and new building shows the history of the library previously being a grain factory and that is still a place of hard labour and work.

If you listen closely you can faintly hear the workers shoes hitting the hard floor and the old machines brimming to help the workers. This mirrors the University of Lincoln students sat at other machines, these being the computers, still working similarly to the workers at the grain factory. A cycle that seems to carry on and will hopefully carry on in this building.

Eleanor McHale.

Salon Adrienne

Catherine Hayes / / Main Page

Adrian Howells creates an artistic piece centrered around a hair salon and explores the bonds that can be made with the clients that visit there. He investigates the relationship between the hairdresser (portrayed by himself as Adrienne) and the client he is looking after. The video shows the break down of certain boundaries we may expect these two people to have; normally at a hair salon there would be a certain amount of small talk between the client and the hairdresser but to a certain point, not usually revealing anything that could be seen as ‘personal’. Adrienne asks the clients to take ‘a long hard look at yourself in the mirror’, commenting that usually people start to describe the superficial things amount themselves such as ‘the bags under my eyes’ but Adrienne pushes them further, getting them to concentrate on the metaphorical things they see when they look at themselves. To enable his customers to share more about themselves, Adrienne will always give something back to them, a personal thing about himself that then creates a bond of trust and respect, meaning that the client can then respond and share something equally as personal. What’s interesting to think about with this video is what effect the piece being set in a hairdresser has upon the performance. Personally, I think that it symbolises how a hair salon can be quite a personal space, where people become very aware of themselves, thinking about both flaws and positives about themselves and how exploring this is important in understanding the mindset and emotions of people in certain places compared to others.

Creating a book.

Eleanor McHale / / Main Page

The Woman Who Drew the Stars.

Midnight. A small alcove is seen dimly lit. A family fire is causing the light; creating a flickering effect on the rest of this dark world. Almost like it was the only light left in existence. The street was very ordinary it had around eight houses each side of the road and an old post office that had been closed down for what seemed like an eternity. The small town of Dudley was neither nice nor nasty it just seemed to appear at being satisfactory reflecting its residents well. Down past the post office and up passed the houses lived Francesca. The alcove was the entrance to her home and her existence. Francesca was a pretty girl and so was her life and nothing had ever been simpler than that. Or so she thought until the 23rd of April, in which she discovered her life was about to end. Many people had dreamed of the future of what it may or may not hold. If they would be happy, or rich or married. But no one ever imagines the end. What happens then when the lights go out on this world? And why would you? But for Francesca Stone that was closer than anyone would ever hope for.

 

Imagine your last day to see your family, or your friends or your soulmate. Now imagine what your life would be like if you never even got to see the person you are meant to spend the rest of your life with. What would you want your final image to be? Maybe a new born baby opening its eyes for the first time; or your parents on results day or even the first time you bought your new pet? Francesca’s final image was her mother crying by her bedside wishing for her daughter to be okay.

 

You see Francesca had be going slowly blind from the age of sixteen; it was no surprise to her but she would never know her final day. When the lights go out one last time and they never come back on again. However I don’t want you to have any misconception of Francesca Stone’s life. This is not a sad story; this is a very happy story in which bad things have happened. She lived a good life and felt everything more than anyone will ever know. She lived more in her eighteen years than others do in a hundred. She laughed and loved and danced and she was everything you could ever wish to be.

Have you ever seen black like the black where you can’t wait to turn the light on? That’s what blindness is. Francesca left Dudley hospital with a grip on her mother’s arm she had never been particularly close with her mother but then again her choices weren’t very ranged with who she would have around her. She looked up to the sky she could feel the sun on her face; she could feel it but she couldn’t see it “I’ll never see the sky again” she thought to herself it was a thought she had but as soon as she said it. She regretted it.

 

Eleanor McHale