Up and Running
As I mentioned in my last post, Origins part 2, the squat was too precarious an environment to realise modestly ambitious how we had planned it. I was not sad about it. On the contrary, I felt I found something that was even better for me in this time and place. Not all of us agreed though and after some conversation, we came to the conclusion that we had very different needs for studios due to the nature of our practices and therefore trying to find a studio together didn’t seem very meaningful. Modestly ambitious became a frame work for other art activities and Sophia and I decided to stay with Tape Modern. The funds we made in our crowdfunding still went for new tools and equipment for our studio, everything that is left will go to other art activities, for example, the exhibition Sophia and I are building for Tape Modern at the moment.
We have had two events in the studio, they were like pilot runs of how to move everything quickly and transform the space to suit any kind of event the crew has planned. The other side of the building is living quarters, so combining the event space and the studio is really the only viable option. Not necessarily the most convenient solution, but so far, I have found that every time I had to move my sculptures and materials they have ended up back in the studio in a different way. As if every move was contributing to the process.
So far, there are only four of us working in the studio more or less consistently. I don’t want to crowd the space by having too many people, but we could do with a few more. Our model is still the same as it was supposed to be back in Cozy; we have a few people who have their own working stations in the studio and any one from the community who wants to do a project, build something or just needs a practice space can come in and if they need help or tools we will provide it. We have had a few people come in to do things, building carts and boxes but I think we need to get the word out more now that we have got the space up and running smoothly.
