Some time back I reconnected with an old friend who lives in Leitrim in the North West of Ireland and sent him on a link to this site. Stephen Rennicks is an artist who has been active since the mid 2000s (and for many years prior to that as a musician) and I dropped him a line on a whim that my project would appeal to him. He liked it, and pointed me towards the documentation of a somewhat similar project he had undertaken in 2006, mapping a trail to a previously "lost lake" near to Lough Key Forest Park, Co. Roscommon, Ireland.
This particular lake, it seems, was visible on local O.S. maps but virtually inaccessible to the general public and without prior knowledge of its existence most people would walk right by it. Stephen commented that "its probable lack of fish no doubt played a large part in it not being given pathway access along with its larger neighbours".
Finding the lake took him three attempts but on finding it he marked out a basic route from a local car park using red cord ties. Several audio cds, each containing a recording inspired by the Russian philosopher Gurdjieff, were placed at the foot of the final marked tree on the route was included as a bonus find for the initial visitors.
Stephen chronicled the project and it's subsequent exhibition on his site at www.freewebs.com/blacklough. However it was the introductory quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson on the the Black Lough home page that really grabbed my attention:
"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."
As strange as it may sound, ever since I started this project I've been looking for a way to explain it to myself. I love the idea of reinvention: moving to Brighton was a chance to change so much in my life and creative change was no exception. As I've mentioned in previous posts the whole idea of undertaking this project is just really to "see what happens". Now I'm slowly realising that I'm finally not following any path, and this site and the music I'm making are a trail of sorts. Despite the ultra low-key nature of the project I feel now that it is beginning to develop a backbone which delights me more and more.
Stephen is also very much interested in self development and the change in perspective that comes from undertaking personal artistic projects, no matter how small. In 2005, while working as a baggage handler in Dublin Airport, he became as he puts it, the airport's first "secret artist in residency", clandestinely photographing and recording visual and sonic detritus throughout his working day as a means to alleviate the tedium of employment.
One of his more recent projects, the "One Minute Residency", encourages potential participants to undertake small projects or micro-residencies which can help bring about a shift in personal perspective, or taking "a holiday from yourself", as it were. I guess then that this is my own personal residency, a conversation between myself, my machinery and the South Downs.
This particular lake, it seems, was visible on local O.S. maps but virtually inaccessible to the general public and without prior knowledge of its existence most people would walk right by it. Stephen commented that "its probable lack of fish no doubt played a large part in it not being given pathway access along with its larger neighbours".
Finding the lake took him three attempts but on finding it he marked out a basic route from a local car park using red cord ties. Several audio cds, each containing a recording inspired by the Russian philosopher Gurdjieff, were placed at the foot of the final marked tree on the route was included as a bonus find for the initial visitors.
Stephen chronicled the project and it's subsequent exhibition on his site at www.freewebs.com/blacklough. However it was the introductory quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson on the the Black Lough home page that really grabbed my attention:
"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."
As strange as it may sound, ever since I started this project I've been looking for a way to explain it to myself. I love the idea of reinvention: moving to Brighton was a chance to change so much in my life and creative change was no exception. As I've mentioned in previous posts the whole idea of undertaking this project is just really to "see what happens". Now I'm slowly realising that I'm finally not following any path, and this site and the music I'm making are a trail of sorts. Despite the ultra low-key nature of the project I feel now that it is beginning to develop a backbone which delights me more and more.
Stephen is also very much interested in self development and the change in perspective that comes from undertaking personal artistic projects, no matter how small. In 2005, while working as a baggage handler in Dublin Airport, he became as he puts it, the airport's first "secret artist in residency", clandestinely photographing and recording visual and sonic detritus throughout his working day as a means to alleviate the tedium of employment.
One of his more recent projects, the "One Minute Residency", encourages potential participants to undertake small projects or micro-residencies which can help bring about a shift in personal perspective, or taking "a holiday from yourself", as it were. I guess then that this is my own personal residency, a conversation between myself, my machinery and the South Downs.