675 mini homeless veterans finished this time last year in a 1000 piece instalation for the Royal British Legion and Veterans Day Organisation. On any given day in the year there are on average 1000 homeless veterans on the streets of the UK.I awoke this am with a decision made; through the nite I had pondered over what would be required by way of exhibits that would be powerful enough as to dominate the massive space that is the Baltic Exhibition Hall in Newcastle which I visited last year, the moment I walked in, it was not the exhibits by Kendel Geers that took my breath away but the space and what could be done in there, my theme was simple enough I had thought of a working title already though the direction I was to take was right there infront of me, around me and behind me and as I stood in a long and cold queue of the, now defunct, Woolworths.
There was little joy of the season amongst those in the queue and around me as all I could hear were individuals pouring their woes out, either to a friend or to some poor innocent person forced to join them in the queue, while stood even in a place where working people were just about to lose their jobs and security, their own personal grievances took priority.
Water Rates, Electric charges, Gas, Telephone, Money, notwithstanding of course the British inability to greet someone without a moan about the weather, the wars being fought in Iraq and Aghganistan hardly a mention, the theme therefore can only be our country and, whether we like it or not, we live in a country full of miserable people who are only happy when their woes are greater than their neighbour. that is only my opinion however but the evidence serves my opinion solidly, research, research research, that which I hate most in life is about to become the mainstay of a successful exhibition.
eeeh! Whats a man to do, so, without further ado, the theme is simple, the crushing of a nation by a nation that persists in seeing itself as a world leader in everything!!!! the people dont matter, even in saying that statement however I quickly remind myself that it is the people who are happy to moan that will never see any change, nor will they come to realise how fortunate they are compared to others around the world, but, I will not get drawn into the have's and have nots on a worldly level for there is sufficient grief in our own country.
My enquiries to the Baltic was most fruitful as a starting point, I now know how much it will cost at the very least to even start to raise, it is a substantial amount over a 4 or 8 week period but if it is to be, such is life, I even have a cinema within the cost to show some filmatography which can only add substantially to the project, incidently, the project title, simply onemillion for it is the number of individuals that I shall be seeking to collaborate.
Of course, the title, as is everything in this world, subject to change but it is a starting point.
My next course was to imagine how to find one million, already I am on Facebook a social networking site with the ability to form public groups so in it went, I found a free webhost http://onemillionproject.synthasite.com/ where I am able to theoretically find random people on the web.
I have a You Tube and My Space accounts where I can drop in film clips and promote the project from another angle, other than this, I am off to explore other social networking sites where I can spread the word as it were. For those reading this I can also be found on Facebook but am having difficulty placing the icon on this site at the moment.
This project is, of course some years away and none of us know what tomorrow will bring, for me it brings me art, it brings me beauty, it brings me so many things that I have to capture in one form or another, exhibitions go on and charities still require that I honour my pledge to them. For Manna House I have 7 jars of Tobbacco collected over the year from the bits in the bottom of my baccy pouches that would normally have been thrown in the bin. to be without a cigarette for most is difficult enough but for those with problems the absence of nicotine can make the difference on which side of sanity they reside.
In the hope that the tobacco is good enough for their clients (i myself have dipped into the jars on one or two occasions) and proves to be a successful initiative I can only hope that they are able to see the possibility of it becoming something that would be worthwhile in other schemes where the disadvantaged are the main consideration.
Well that is today done, with 3 new members in the facebook group I await their one liners because that is all I need, that is all anyone should need to express a sorrow be it personal or worldly, how they will appear in the final piece only time and development will tell, so, until then watch this space.
In keeping with the 'past and present' theme I add this brief video entitled...
'order amongst chaos'
taken today, I'm sure I could get some gripes simply by asking around those who were working out in the cold and rain but that, perhaps, is for later, but for the now it fits in with my early morning thought,
from little acorns............
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