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My name is Paul Connelly, I'm a poet, artist, and record label manager from Loughborough. Tonight I'm going to be performing a piece called "Start Where You Stand." It's exactly what it says. I believe that we should be making art, poetry, and music about and from where we are right now. I mean that spiritually, physically, whatever.
00:00:23.100 --> 00:00:27.000
Existentially, where are we at the moment?
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Existentially where we are at the moment? Well, we’re stood in the bottom of Leicester College of Adult Education in Leicester. Physically and existentially.
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But does that have a... what would you describe, if this was listened to in a hundred years' time and the culture had shifted and changed, what would you say that meant to be here, in this place, in Leicester, at this time?
00:00:52.100 --> 00:01:25.000
Do you know what? That's a really difficult question to answer. What it means is, for me anyway, it means that I’ve made something specifically about this place that we are in. This place and where it is within this mad world that we are in right now. With all the things that are going on in the world, sometimes we feel we can't actually change things or respond to things. But what we can do is start where we are. Don't worry about what other people are thinking about you; engage with other people, share things, collaborate. That's what this exhibition and performance cycle is all about.
00:01:25.100 --> 00:01:38.000
So what kind of things do you look forward to when you come to an event like this? I mean, what gets you—when you walk out and go "I feel refreshed, I feel it's given me something, I've connected with the present, I've connected with where I am"?
00:01:38.100 --> 00:02:00.000
I'm looking for something that’s moved me in some way, and that's moved me in a way that I didn't really expect it to. I’ve got no preconceptions about what I’m going to see today. Somebody just told me, straight off the cuff, that a song that I appear on with Will of Margaret, "Disco Orgy," is now probably going to be done as a cover tonight, and they’ve never heard it before. Things like that excite me.
00:02:00.100 --> 00:02:05.000
So leave your preconceptions behind and just experience the moment.
00:02:05.100 --> 00:02:22.000
Leave your preconceptions behind, experience the moment that you’re in, and share that moment as you see it. Say what you see, say what you hear, and move on from there.
00:02:22.100 --> 00:03:00.000
Hi, my name is Paul, Paul Dexter. I've been working with Miffy about five or six weeks now developing a cloak for her which has symbols and patterns—symbols based around working-class life, everyday life. The lettering on there says "Create and Destroy," which was a concept she was interested in and got me to explore: the idea of renewal—creating, destroying, creating again. I decorated the garment, which is about 10ft by 9ft, using permanent marker pens and spray paint. We're all quite happy with the result.
00:03:00.100 --> 00:03:22.000
The symbols—eyes—play a prominent part. There are three large eyes over the shoulders and the back, and things like a football, a can of beer, a lighter, pack of cigarettes, bag of chips, spray can. All things we thought would be suitable for such a garment to be used in this nature.
00:03:22.100 --> 00:03:32.000
Why is there so much police around anyway? Is it the football?
00:03:32.100 --> 00:03:57.000
Okay, this is "Start Where You Stand." Start where you stand on the pavement, outside the shop, by the bus stop, the edge of the park where the grass gives way to path, and the path gives way to whatever happens next. Look around for something not grand, for something small—a sweet packet in a hedge, a child's chalk line.
00:03:57.100 --> 00:04:06.000
These are openings, here you go. No, it's fine. Come through the opening. These are openings, little doors, step through.
00:04:06.100 --> 00:04:14.000
Yeah, we’re doing the Velvet Acronyms, Anna-Leigh, Simon Raven, and we’re making disco songs lately. Miffy, can you please... oh, you’re filming, thank you.
00:04:14.100 --> 00:04:18.000
Yeah, we’ve got multiple angles, you’re getting captured all over the place. Tapes... we're all over you.
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This is a special performance by the Velvet Acronyms. We’re honored to have them at the closing event of Intangible Labour, the New Folklore. Thank you for joining us, artists Simon Raven and Anna-Leigh.
00:04:32.100 --> 00:04:58.000
D-I-S-C-O. More cheerful. D-I-S-C-O. D-I-S-C-O. She is disco. She is disco. Amazing. D... amazing... amazing... Incredible... I... Outstanding... S... Supportive.
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Oh, you're a star, thank you! I'd never have got out. No, this is it, I'd be trapped forever in the lift of the Adult Education Centre.
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Until the next person needs it. That's very true, until they kick you out.
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We’re here tonight to hold a candlelit vigil to all the people who enact intangible labour. All the people whose work and effort goes unnoticed in this world. To all the people who are working in silence and obscurity.
00:05:43.100 --> 00:06:10.000
We’re here tonight to hold a candlelit vigil for all the work that is hidden and goes unnoticed. To all the people who are on the margins, who are suppressed and repressed in this world. We bring light into the darkness, and we thank you. Mark is now going to enact a spiritual cleansing of the site whilst Tilly keeps the fire alive. We bring light into the darkness. Paul, could you please put some magical symbols on the cloak? Thank you.
00:06:10.100 --> 00:06:21.000
Oh, I wasn't expecting that. That's quite impressive. Are you casting any spells or incantations?
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It’s just a purification smell. Reminds me of the chips cooking now, unfortunately.
00:06:33.100 --> 00:06:46.000
It’s incredibly reminiscent of that time we were talking about when we were riding hobby horses in a car park in an industrial estate in Loughborough, and it was about this temperature.
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So now in a side street in Leicester.
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So now in a side street in Leicester, yeah. We seem to only do this in late January when the weather is at its most appalling. I mean, this wouldn't be out of place with the Greeks or the Romans.
00:07:18.100 --> 00:07:33.000
Well, these are sacred games. I was rereading Nietzsche’s "Thus Spoke Zarathustra," and the thing that struck me was, "what sacred games must we create?" So I was thinking about traders as being an obvious kind of sacred game now that God is dead.
00:07:33.100 --> 00:07:44.000
Because I was thinking Hestia, the goddess of the hearth, keeper of the flame.
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Yes, so obviously the Romans reinvented the Roman gods to suit themselves, but so it’s kind of up to us to reinvent them to suit us again—a pagan version.
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Yes, a kind of like a re-paganing, yeah. So obviously we don't know what the Druids or anyone did because they weren't literate, they were oral societies, so we don't have a record apart from their enemies as to what British tradition was. So it’s kind of up for grabs to kind of remake it in a mold that you want it in.
00:08:24.100 --> 00:08:50.000
And there’s kind of like some interesting kind of folk art going on at the moment; there’s the Folk Art Manifesto being written as well, which is to, you know, it’s not just about the "White Cube," it’s not just about artists in capital letters, it’s about people and places. And so obviously Leicester Education Centre has been part of my life for 30 years. It's become a temple. Yeah, I've been coming here for one thing or another. So it’s nice to actually be part of something that celebrates that.
00:08:50.100 --> 00:09:05.000
And these things kind of come from—you don't think it, do you? It's like deep within, it's like a sediment and stuff, isn't it? Someone’s fossilized in you, but when it kind of rains, it comes back to life.
00:09:05.100 --> 00:09:08.000
Fire! Keep the fire! Fire, fire!
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Well, there’s been a procession where Miffy has led and Tilly is following behind on roller skates. Paul is holding a cauldron full of fire, and it’s been documented by everybody else. The sign at the front is the sign that says "Caution: Spiritual Cleansing in Progress."
00:09:30.100 --> 00:09:44.000
Very—I was just saying to Mark—it’s very kind of could have taken place in the Greek times. Who’s the winged Mercury is the winged shoes? So Tilly’s got the roller skates on.
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Well, whatever time it’s supposed to take place in, it does kind of seem out of place in the middle of a city center. You’d walk past it at a festival, wouldn't you? And yet people flock to festivals to do this kind of thing.
00:10:00.100 --> 00:10:15.000
And if they don't get it, they complain! Yeah, whereas in the middle of Leicester, it’s kind of a bit of an oddity. Taxis, fire engines, buses. But I guess everyone’s just going about their life. It’s a Thursday evening, a lot of people are just getting back from work.
00:10:15.100 --> 00:10:45.000
Hello everyone, I'm James. I'm going to tell you a ghost story tonight. I’m an artist and writer, and I make work that’s in particular places, like psychogeographical places, particularly the Lincolnshire Fens and coast where I’m from. So this particular ghost story is about burgeoning queer anxiety and how spectral manifestations in kind of mystical but suburban places happen. An empty house on a suburban 1970s estate...
00:10:45.100 --> 00:11:15.000
So we have just been at the closing event for Intangible Labour and the New Folklore. We were joined by Paul Connelly, who read a poem about community and people coming together through work. Then we had a performance from the Velvet Acronyms, which is Anna-Leigh and Simon Raven, and they performed two songs for us: "Disco" and "Staying Alive."
00:11:15.100 --> 00:11:45.000
Then we were joined by Tilly, and she took her altar out into the street, assisted by Matt Buckley, and lit lots of candles whilst Mark lit his cauldron and Sarah carried a sign saying "Spiritual Cleansing in Progress," like a hazard sign, so to tick the health and safety boxes. Tilly was the keeper of the fire and kept the fire lit whilst I wore the cloak which has been part of the show and that Paul made. We did a procession down the street and at intervals I would stop and Paul would spray-paint the cloak using stencils.
00:11:45.100 --> 00:12:15.000
Other people who have been in the show include Annon, Stefan Tibio, Lauren Alwyn, Dawn Yao, Allie Woollicott, Francis McLean née Ryan. And we’re just going to close with the last thing, which is a reading by James Chantry. Rob Watson has been very engaged, doing lots of taping, and as far as I'm concerned has been part of the show as well with all the interventions in radio. Paul Cape-Dexter has been doing the spray-painting of the cloak this evening and Paul Connelly was doing the poetry reading. Tilly Wheatley is Tilly, Annon is Annon, and I curated it and my name's Miffy Ryan.
00:12:15.100 --> 00:12:28.000
Ha, ha, ha, ha, staying alive, staying alive. Ha, ha, ha, ha, staying alive, staying alive.
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:23.000
My name is Paul Connelly, I'm a poet, artist, and record label manager from Loughborough. Tonight I'm going to be performing a piece called "Start Where You Stand." It's exactly what it says. I believe that we should be making art, poetry, and music about and from where we are right now. I mean that spiritually, physically, whatever.
00:00:23.100 --> 00:00:27.000
Existentially, where are we at the moment?
00:00:27.100 --> 00:00:36.000
Existentially where we are at the moment? Well, we’re stood in the bottom of Leicester College of Adult Education in Leicester. Physically and existentially.
00:00:36.100 --> 00:00:52.000
But does that have a... what would you describe, if this was listened to in a hundred years' time and the culture had shifted and changed, what would you say that meant to be here, in this place, in Leicester, at this time?
00:00:52.100 --> 00:01:25.000
Do you know what? That's a really difficult question to answer. What it means is, for me anyway, it means that I’ve made something specifically about this place that we are in. This place and where it is within this mad world that we are in right now. With all the things that are going on in the world, sometimes we feel we can't actually change things or respond to things. But what we can do is start where we are. Don't worry about what other people are thinking about you; engage with other people, share things, collaborate. That's what this exhibition and performance cycle is all about.
00:01:25.100 --> 00:01:38.000
So what kind of things do you look forward to when you come to an event like this? I mean, what gets you—when you walk out and go "I feel refreshed, I feel it's given me something, I've connected with the present, I've connected with where I am"?
00:01:38.100 --> 00:02:00.000
I'm looking for something that’s moved me in some way, and that's moved me in a way that I didn't really expect it to. I’ve got no preconceptions about what I’m going to see today. Somebody just told me, straight off the cuff, that a song that I appear on with Will of Margaret, "Disco Orgy," is now probably going to be done as a cover tonight, and they’ve never heard it before. Things like that excite me.
00:02:00.100 --> 00:02:05.000
So leave your preconceptions behind and just experience the moment.
00:02:05.100 --> 00:02:22.000
Leave your preconceptions behind, experience the moment that you’re in, and share that moment as you see it. Say what you see, say what you hear, and move on from there.
00:02:22.100 --> 00:03:00.000
Hi, my name is Paul, Paul Dexter. I've been working with Miffy about five or six weeks now developing a cloak for her which has symbols and patterns—symbols based around working-class life, everyday life. The lettering on there says "Create and Destroy," which was a concept she was interested in and got me to explore: the idea of renewal—creating, destroying, creating again. I decorated the garment, which is about 10ft by 9ft, using permanent marker pens and spray paint. We're all quite happy with the result.
00:03:00.100 --> 00:03:22.000
The symbols—eyes—play a prominent part. There are three large eyes over the shoulders and the back, and things like a football, a can of beer, a lighter, pack of cigarettes, bag of chips, spray can. All things we thought would be suitable for such a garment to be used in this nature.
00:03:22.100 --> 00:03:32.000
Why is there so much police around anyway? Is it the football?
00:03:32.100 --> 00:03:57.000
Okay, this is "Start Where You Stand." Start where you stand on the pavement, outside the shop, by the bus stop, the edge of the park where the grass gives way to path, and the path gives way to whatever happens next. Look around for something not grand, for something small—a sweet packet in a hedge, a child's chalk line.
00:03:57.100 --> 00:04:06.000
These are openings, here you go. No, it's fine. Come through the opening. These are openings, little doors, step through.
00:04:06.100 --> 00:04:14.000
Yeah, we’re doing the Velvet Acronyms, Anna-Leigh, Simon Raven, and we’re making disco songs lately. Miffy, can you please... oh, you’re filming, thank you.
00:04:14.100 --> 00:04:18.000
Yeah, we’ve got multiple angles, you’re getting captured all over the place. Tapes... we're all over you.
00:04:18.100 --> 00:04:32.000
This is a special performance by the Velvet Acronyms. We’re honored to have them at the closing event of Intangible Labour, the New Folklore. Thank you for joining us, artists Simon Raven and Anna-Leigh.
00:04:32.100 --> 00:04:58.000
D-I-S-C-O. More cheerful. D-I-S-C-O. D-I-S-C-O. She is disco. She is disco. Amazing. D... amazing... amazing... Incredible... I... Outstanding... S... Supportive.
00:04:58.100 --> 00:05:15.000
Oh, you're a star, thank you! I'd never have got out. No, this is it, I'd be trapped forever in the lift of the Adult Education Centre.
00:05:15.100 --> 00:05:19.000
Until the next person needs it. That's very true, until they kick you out.
00:05:19.100 --> 00:05:43.000
We’re here tonight to hold a candlelit vigil to all the people who enact intangible labour. All the people whose work and effort goes unnoticed in this world. To all the people who are working in silence and obscurity.
00:05:43.100 --> 00:06:10.000
We’re here tonight to hold a candlelit vigil for all the work that is hidden and goes unnoticed. To all the people who are on the margins, who are suppressed and repressed in this world. We bring light into the darkness, and we thank you. Mark is now going to enact a spiritual cleansing of the site whilst Tilly keeps the fire alive. We bring light into the darkness. Paul, could you please put some magical symbols on the cloak? Thank you.
00:06:10.100 --> 00:06:21.000
Oh, I wasn't expecting that. That's quite impressive. Are you casting any spells or incantations?
00:06:21.100 --> 00:06:33.000
It’s just a purification smell. Reminds me of the chips cooking now, unfortunately.
00:06:33.100 --> 00:06:46.000
It’s incredibly reminiscent of that time we were talking about when we were riding hobby horses in a car park in an industrial estate in Loughborough, and it was about this temperature.
00:06:46.100 --> 00:07:01.000
So now in a side street in Leicester.
00:07:01.100 --> 00:07:18.000
So now in a side street in Leicester, yeah. We seem to only do this in late January when the weather is at its most appalling. I mean, this wouldn't be out of place with the Greeks or the Romans.
00:07:18.100 --> 00:07:33.000
Well, these are sacred games. I was rereading Nietzsche’s "Thus Spoke Zarathustra," and the thing that struck me was, "what sacred games must we create?" So I was thinking about traders as being an obvious kind of sacred game now that God is dead.
00:07:33.100 --> 00:07:44.000
Because I was thinking Hestia, the goddess of the hearth, keeper of the flame.
00:07:44.100 --> 00:08:00.000
Yes, so obviously the Romans reinvented the Roman gods to suit themselves, but so it’s kind of up to us to reinvent them to suit us again—a pagan version.
00:08:00.100 --> 00:08:24.000
Yes, a kind of like a re-paganing, yeah. So obviously we don't know what the Druids or anyone did because they weren't literate, they were oral societies, so we don't have a record apart from their enemies as to what British tradition was. So it’s kind of up for grabs to kind of remake it in a mold that you want it in.
00:08:24.100 --> 00:08:50.000
And there’s kind of like some interesting kind of folk art going on at the moment; there’s the Folk Art Manifesto being written as well, which is to, you know, it’s not just about the "White Cube," it’s not just about artists in capital letters, it’s about people and places. And so obviously Leicester Education Centre has been part of my life for 30 years. It's become a temple. Yeah, I've been coming here for one thing or another. So it’s nice to actually be part of something that celebrates that.
00:08:50.100 --> 00:09:05.000
And these things kind of come from—you don't think it, do you? It's like deep within, it's like a sediment and stuff, isn't it? Someone’s fossilized in you, but when it kind of rains, it comes back to life.
00:09:05.100 --> 00:09:08.000
Fire! Keep the fire! Fire, fire!
00:09:08.100 --> 00:09:30.000
Well, there’s been a procession where Miffy has led and Tilly is following behind on roller skates. Paul is holding a cauldron full of fire, and it’s been documented by everybody else. The sign at the front is the sign that says "Caution: Spiritual Cleansing in Progress."
00:09:30.100 --> 00:09:44.000
Very—I was just saying to Mark—it’s very kind of could have taken place in the Greek times. Who’s the winged Mercury is the winged shoes? So Tilly’s got the roller skates on.
00:09:44.100 --> 00:10:00.000
Well, whatever time it’s supposed to take place in, it does kind of seem out of place in the middle of a city center. You’d walk past it at a festival, wouldn't you? And yet people flock to festivals to do this kind of thing.
00:10:00.100 --> 00:10:15.000
And if they don't get it, they complain! Yeah, whereas in the middle of Leicester, it’s kind of a bit of an oddity. Taxis, fire engines, buses. But I guess everyone’s just going about their life. It’s a Thursday evening, a lot of people are just getting back from work.
00:10:15.100 --> 00:10:45.000
Hello everyone, I'm James. I'm going to tell you a ghost story tonight. I’m an artist and writer, and I make work that’s in particular places, like psychogeographical places, particularly the Lincolnshire Fens and coast where I’m from. So this particular ghost story is about burgeoning queer anxiety and how spectral manifestations in kind of mystical but suburban places happen. An empty house on a suburban 1970s estate...
00:10:45.100 --> 00:11:15.000
So we have just been at the closing event for Intangible Labour and the New Folklore. We were joined by Paul Connelly, who read a poem about community and people coming together through work. Then we had a performance from the Velvet Acronyms, which is Anna-Leigh and Simon Raven, and they performed two songs for us: "Disco" and "Staying Alive."
00:11:15.100 --> 00:11:45.000
Then we were joined by Tilly, and she took her altar out into the street, assisted by Matt Buckley, and lit lots of candles whilst Mark lit his cauldron and Sarah carried a sign saying "Spiritual Cleansing in Progress," like a hazard sign, so to tick the health and safety boxes. Tilly was the keeper of the fire and kept the fire lit whilst I wore the cloak which has been part of the show and that Paul made. We did a procession down the street and at intervals I would stop and Paul would spray-paint the cloak using stencils.
00:11:45.100 --> 00:12:15.000
Other people who have been in the show include Annon, Stefan Tibio, Lauren Alwyn, Dawn Yao, Allie Woollicott, Francis McLean née Ryan. And we’re just going to close with the last thing, which is a reading by James Chantry. Rob Watson has been very engaged, doing lots of taping, and as far as I'm concerned has been part of the show as well with all the interventions in radio. Paul Cape-Dexter has been doing the spray-painting of the cloak this evening and Paul Connelly was doing the poetry reading. Tilly Wheatley is Tilly, Annon is Annon, and I curated it and my name's Miffy Ryan.
00:12:15.100 --> 00:12:28.000
Ha, ha, ha, ha, staying alive, staying alive. Ha, ha, ha, ha, staying alive, staying alive.
