Wheels Of Peacock Blue, Gas Jet Blue

Photo Credit: Bevis Bowden (2009)
(Image Credit: Bevis Bowden/FVU 2009)

Participatory performance

The White Building

Hackney Wick, London

8th September 11am-1:30pm

In this new participatory artwork, Simon Pope revisits some of the key locations of the film Memory Marathon (2010). In the mode of Brion Gysin* and Stan Brakhage, the artist and participants walk to various places around the Olympic park, only to close their eyes and describe their “closed-lidded visions” – external architectures, light effects, internal reveries, visions and imaginings.

More information at: http://thewhitebuilding.org.uk/whats-on/wheels-of-peacock-blue-gas-jet-blue-a-participatory-walk-and-performance/

*The title is derived from a quote from Leila Hadley, describing her 'close-lidded visions' while using Gysin's Dream Machine, (in Geiger, John. Nothing Is True-Everything Is Permitted: The Life of Brion Gysin. Red Wheel/Weiser, 2005. p187)

Thanks to all who took part…

Transcripts of the event published subsequently in ArM #4 [Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford]

Photos: Brada Barassi, 2013

Some 'close-lidded visions'

"Flooded areas where the canal has risen; canal boats with insignia and flags; a fire, possibly of the burning of the Arcor Mital tower; that's burning like an oil-rig burning; choirs of religious African churches in warehouses; everything's still, but there's quick bursts of energy; lots of silver; and reflective materials, and rust, copper, elemental… wire, carbon, oil, gold; green algae; vertical points, brickwork with graffitied messages.

Strobe lighting; arcs, electrical arcs; green flashes; greens strobed flashing and arcing; like an electrical storm; a rising dome coming from below, a white dome; like a fingernail."

"Purple, right in the centre; like light at the end of the tunnel, it's gone; now its changing; it's diffusing and now Ive got grey and green; everything's matt and dull, a blue background; there's no structure in this picture; now some distant clouds, they're forming they're distant clouds; maybe that's the sun, in the clouds."

"There's a kind of black arch in the middle, everything's pretty dim; but if I move my hands, because my hands in my eyes. there's little flickers of red light; and towards the top there's now emerging a sun shaped circle, and behind the circle there's a meeting point of two rectangular shapes, like a Richard Serra sculpture or something, big pieces of metal; everything's vague, dim and evolving, everything's changing. "

"The shape of the horizon is almost mountainous, it doesn't seem like man-made structures at all; it's not foreboding in any way but the peaks are fairly high and overshadow the landscape which is closer to me that the mountains' the sky appears fairly stark against it; it appears to have coloured strands, not in any particular pattern or oder; generally leading from the horizon up into the sky; coming back down to the ground, there are large amounts of foliage, growths, small tenement blocks in the mountains, built into the side; you can see evidence of where they've been carved away as you come towards the horizon, it becomes less mountainous, less peaks; it becomes more of patchwork of buildings; I guess it feels residential."

" It seems to be a very big peak and dip, right in the middle; and, I'm not sure if that's the last gasp of life or the first, or perhaps just someone exerting themselves in a really intense way for one second; there is no sky; it's kind of a dullness or a almost like a misty layer, seeping over the heartbeat, the pulse, but not in a formalized way; sometimes it's there, it's dirty, it softens the line or shape; It's not moving, it's a static image; but I can imagine it moving."

"It's very bright to my right, the top right of my vision is very white; it's dark to the left, then a tall building there that I can still see; I can still see the canal running diagonally from my right; again there are ripples on a yellow plane in my eyes, coming from the bottom left and top right; as the ripples carry on it's as if there's a window in the top left, in white on a yellow ground.

" it's very dark, kind of velvety dark, but there's light moving across it, almost in silhouette; I can almost see the outline of the tall blue building facing me and the concrete bridge and the canal to my left; I can feel the breeze at the back of my neck; and it's all gone dark now; it's a deep velvety dark' i can hear feet scuffling on the ground and I can see this skyline full of concrete and a huge sky full of clouds and the sounds of planes overhead match those buildings; there's a big wide sound, like the big wide sky. "

"I can see a horizon, a horizontal line that's moving and shifting; other lines are coming to join it' it's light above and dark below; i can see a wrought iron panopticon, funnel; black iron; I can see lighter shapes coming in from both sides, that are mirrored, cutting out of the space, white voids coming in from left and right; I can see two domes with zig-zags of colours, like looking at the sun, the moving light coming off it. going up into the sky; I can see angles now, like looking inside a cube; I can see three right angles; I can see two zig-zag lines coming towards me, down towards me from above; and a compression on both sides; my horizons shifting, turning on an axis, turning to the vertical; I can see a puddle, but my vision's split, so I can see water below and sky above; and seeing shapes and reflections in water; i can' make anything out, just an impression of it; I can't even place what I'm seeing; shapes and things moving around; it feels like there's more movement; anything that I'm seeing is shaking, with a vibration to it; also the colours are less red and orange; it feels cooler; more blues."

"There's a very dark shadow, which takes up a large amount of the top left of the frame, but because of that, it enables the light on the other side to envelope everything that's there; I'm letting things come in for a second; all the noises create different geometric shapes that pulsate on the eyelid; and the sound of the rain, changes what you can see; there's a very solid path which comes from the top right which comes from the top right which merges with the geometric shapes that come and go; there's a strobing effect; standing looking at sun, there's a strobing effect if you just let it happen; it might be my eye flickering; as et of scales, with things either side, being held by something loose in the middle."