Proposal

I propose to concentrate on specific concepts/notions of Defence and Protection referencing military and civil defence. The proposed works will engage directly with the fundamental reasons for the establishment of the Fort and the Geneva Conventions.
Both of which were set up as a means of Defence and Protection, both have been through processes of amendment owing to the changing nature of military warfare.
The Fort as it stands now no longer serves its original purpose and I wish to beg the same question of the Geneva Conventions [1].
With two outcomes;
• a public performance (with the possibility of audience participation) during the exhibition opening.
• a static art work that will be exhibited within the gallery space for the duration of the exhibition.

Both of the works will have an underlying educational and informative content in their final outcome, with the idea of providing the viewing public an abstract arena in which to ponder social, political and emotional spheres of thought both past and present.


The Works: Anarchy of Silence.
1. Public Live Performance (with the possibility of audience participation)
The performance will be divided in to 3 routines, the last of which is open to audience participation.
• Routine 1: Dressed as a construction worker - overalls – hard hat and armed with a tool box I will proceed to mark out on the floor with chalk and red tape the progressive form of the Fort [2], up until its current shape; pentagonal.

• Routine 2: Shedding the construction workers overalls and hat, revealing clothes of a Diplomat / bureaucrat and replacing the toolbox with a brief case stamped; ‘Important Document’ I will extract from the brief case one by one the individual protocols of the Geneva Conventions 1 - 5 and place them in neat stacks on the corresponding 5 ‘Bastions’ of the Forts pentagonal [3], form.

• Routine 3: Removing the Diplomat / bureaucrats clothes and brief case leaving me wearing black leggings and long sleeved black top, I will cover my head and face (suggesting anonymity), I will bring to the centre of the pentagonal fort form a paper shredder. Then in their individual sections I will begin to shred the pages of the Geneva Conventions, inviting the audience/public to partake in the process. The neat stacks of paper will be replaced by piles of shredded paper.
__________________________________________________________________________

2. Static Art Work (gallery exhibition)
A video Installation: to be shown for the duration of the exhibition.

• I propose to stage the above performance prior to the exhibition here in Finland at a chosen site that is as close in its topical and physical aesthetics as to that of Landguard Fort.
• Choice of site for performance in Finland; Suomenlinna [4],meaning ‘Sea Fortress’.
• This performance will then be videoed/filmed and documented and made ready to be presented during the exhibition. The pre-enactment of this performance allows me the opportunity to make a trail run, work out its length in time and through viewing be able to examine any possible problems or faults.

So there it is, I am actually beginning to get over my fear of a possible live performance and feel a wee tingle of excitement.

Edwina 18.03