A r ti st R esid ency Rebecca Jones : Notes For Marijaia 17 - 25 April 2014
How could I communicate in a way which spoke to everyone is some capacity? Music was the answer. Music is universal.
Rebecca Jones Notes For Marijaia 17th - 25th April 2014 Artists Residency Project Space Patrick Studios St Marys Lane Leeds LS9 7EH eaststreetarts.org.uk @eaststreetarts
Project Space
Over the last twenty years East Street Arts has developed projects that have supported artists to take time out from the ordinary constraints of day to day living and spend time within a new environment, a new city, and a new community. Artists Residencies are non-prescriptive and process-based, offering artists freedom to play, respond, probe and reveal. We take a very flexible and open approach in terms of the residencies location, scale, length, output, access and partners. This is important to us as it enables us to work with and benefit from a wide range of artists at different stages of their careers, based locally or further afield and who bring new voices into our community.
Artists Residency
Artists Residencies are important also for our audiences as they open up artists working processes to the public through discussions, viewing work in progress, hands on workshops and presentations. This offers audiences glimpses into new work in development and access to the artists approach.
Rebecca Jones lives and works in Leeds. She recently graduated with BA (Hons) in Fine Arts from the University of Leeds. Her works comprise predominately of scores, sculptures and performance pieces. During the summer of 2013 Rebecca was artist-inresidence at pocagallery in Spain, a project funded by East Street Arts as part of our international residencies programme. ‘Notes for Marijaia’ is an exhibition that brings to Leeds the works made during her stay at pocagallery and new works developed since. In the following text Rebecca describes her experiences in Spain.
Meeting Marijaia Having the chance to work at pocagallery in Portugalete was a major turning point in my practice. I had just graduated from the University of Leeds and was desperate for a new setting and the opportunity to work without an agenda or institutional influence. It was my first time on Spanish soil and within an hour of my plane landing, I was thinking to myself, ‘why have I never been here before?’ I took to the people, the area and the language immediately. Scoring the Aste Nagusia/ Semana Grande festival was an incredible experience. With my dictaphone in hand and eyes peeled, each day of the festival revealed new sights, sounds and sensations that fed my imagination. Working completely alone in the gallery space was also an entirely new experience for me. I was very productive, but at the same time having no one to talk through ideas with often left me afraid that my own thoughts were suffocating the work. Furthermore, part of my practice normally
entails inviting musicians or performers to interpret and respond to what I make. Therefore, it was essential for me to be proactive about meeting people. I needed to leave my comfort zone and put myself out there, amidst languages I had never learned before, in a place I had never visited.
concept, especially since the idea itself is formed and shaped through our environment, an environment whose very foundations are built upon these aspects? I wondered how my ideas would operate and be perceived in PaĂs Vasco (Basque Country).
What could I do to ensure that my thoughts and my experience Quickly, I came to realise that I had some meaning to others? How could I communicate in a thrived in my own solitude. way which spoke to everyone is some capacity? Music was the Everyday I woke up more excited than the last. I had time answer. Music is universal. So I began my search for to think, time to make, time musicians. I spent many days to read, time to experiment. I felt like anything was possible. looking for them; everyday at the festival, when I saw a I was addicted to meeting musician or performer I invited strangers. I enjoyed every them to play, but August and fleeting and passing moment September were difficult I had with each individual. It turned into a game; how much months to get hold of them. further beyond the usual small They were already booked, unavailable, on holiday or not talk in Spanglish could I go comfortable with interpreting with each person? Because graphic notation. I tried other of the language barrier, I tactics and I contacted local had to find new techniques bands and music societies. I in expressing myself and in understanding others. I thought went to bars, clubs, and schools - everywhere I could think of intensely about my audience; what do I want to express? And where musicians lurked. After how will I go about articulating two weeks of searching, I was completely unsuccessful in it? Is it possible to escape finding performers to interpret limitations in language and my scores and starting to make culture when expressing any
plansEast to modify the work. Street Arts is a membership organisation that Just creates as I wasand about to give up, provides space visual artists develop. whilstforwalking down atodeserted street in Bilbao, I saw a man dragging a double bass in the distance. He was quite far away, but I decided to run after him anyway. I remember that he walked very fast for someone carrying a double bass. Eventually, I managed to catch him up and stop him in his tracks. Breathless, red in the face and probably looking quite a state, I asked him in terrible Spanish, “Ess ooh-sted-ess oon moo-si-coh? Bus-can-doh a moo-si-coh!” The man smiled and took pity on me and invited me to speak to him in English. His name was Ander Garcia, he was indeed a musician and I was thrilled to meet him. I quickly explained the project and he seemed very excited but said that he wouldn’t be available to play on this occasion. However, he said that perhaps he knew someone who could. Ander invited me to watch him play at a bar later that evening and said that there would be plenty of musicians to invite. The gig was superb; as I listened my skin tingled all
over in excitement. The drummer was enchanting; I imagined that he was born with drumsticks. The two saxophonists played together as though they had one mind and Ander’s energy was completely intoxicating. I felt disappointed that he wasn’t able to perform at pocagallery, but at the same time I was very excited because I knew this wouldn’t be the last time our paths would cross. Eventually, through meeting various people I found the perfect pair of musicians: Gorka Diez and Maite Zornotza. They were so enthusiastic and open to the idea and performed ‘Notas para Marijaia’ in the gallery space on the opening night of the exhibition. Strangely, during their performance I could see some of the notes from my score in my mind’s eye as they played, perhaps it was due to a combination of exhaustion, beer and sadness that I was leaving - either way the performance was beyond anything I had envisioned and so overwhelming, I was brought to tears.
Since completing the residency at pocagallery I was desperate to return to Spain. Over a beer, Ander planted a seed in my head as he explained to me that Madrid was an incredible city to work in and that I would love it, “the sky is always blue and it’s very creative”. After a few weeks upon returning to the UK, I saw an ‘Arts Across Borders’ program in Madrid run by Beam in Wakefield. The opportunity seemed too good to be true. I applied and, I think thanks to my residency in Portugalete, I was offered a role. I’m in Madrid as I’m writing this, scoring the sounds, sights and surroundings. I’m also working on a music project called ‘esto es para ti’, a project that places cd’s in public spaces for people to take for free. Each disc is a surprise because all the albums come in a coloured bag with a hand written letter. It was an absolute joy to work in Portugalete and incredible to dedicate each day to my practice. Furthermore, taking part in the residency at pocagallery and chasing Ander down the street brought me to a city I love.
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