Raising the Voice: Sculptural and Spoken Narratives from the Flat Sheet

Hannah Clarkson

This exposition explores ideas of narrative and storytelling through sculptures and texts raised from a flat sheet, a kind of visual and spoken poetry which is both particular and multiple. In this paper, the key area of investigation will be the relationship between sculptural and spoken narratives in my practice. This is engaged with in four main areas: • The flat sheet and the fold as sites for storytelling • Multiplicities inherent to storytelling • Architecturality and the space between bodies and buildings • Words, text and the voice, and their relationship to sculpture I explore the role of the architectural in the space between sculptural and spoken narratives, both of which are forms that begin with a flat sheet. The research also looks at how one might write about art in order to expand understanding but not reduce it to one meaning, writing around or through objects so as to leave gaps for the imagination and other narratives. The importance of the voice in the telling of these narratives is investigated, as well as the relationship between bodies and buildings.

Introduction // Background // Theory and Context // Methods // Discussion i. Bodies and Buildings // The Pleating Papers // Discussion ii. Spaces and Voices // Other Stories // Conclusion // References and Image List

References

Architecturality: Architectural Inter-Modalities,

<https://architecturality.wordpress.com/2010/09/03/architecturality/> [accessed 14 August 2021]

Artist Rooms: Phyllida Barlow,

<https://www.artistrooms.org/rooms/phyllida-barlow> [accessed 14 August 2021]

Bal, Mieke, Louise Bourgeois’ Spider: The Architecture of Art-Writing (Chicago: University Of Chicago Press, 2001)

Barlow, Phyllida, Objects for... and Other Things (London: Black Dog Publishing, 2003)

——, Text for untitled: molotov, 2015 in FOUND: An Exhibition Curated by Cornelia Parker (Foundling Museum, London, 27 May–4 September 2016)

Butler, Judith, Excitable Speech: A Politics of the Performative (New York & London: Routledge, 1997)

Clarkson, Hannah, Interviews conducted at Konstfack Spring Exhibition 2017, Stockholm, 11–21 May 2017

——, The Pleating Papers (Parts I-X), Audio, image and text, 2017

Connor, Steven, Beyond Words: Sobs, Hums, Stutters and Other Vocalizations (London: Reaktion Books, 2014)

——, Building Breathing Space, lecture, Bartlett School of Architecture, London, 3 March 2004, <http://www.stevenconnor.com/bbs> [accessed 30 November 2016]

Gysin, Brion, Back in No Time: The Brion Gysin Reader (Middletown: Wesleyan University Press, 2015)

Jackson, Paul, Complete Pleats: Pleating Techniques for Fashion, Architecture and Design (London: Laurence King Publishing, 2015)

Kelsey, John, ‘Escape from Discussion Island’, in Rich Texts: Selected Writing for Art (Berlin: Sternberg Press, 2010), pp. 87-98

——, ‘Our Bodies, Our Shelves’, in Rich Texts: Selected Writing for Art (Berlin: Sternberg Press, 2010), pp. 129-131

Krauss, Rosalind, discussed in Nicky Hamlyn, Film Art Phenomena (London: BFI Publishing, 2003)

Merleau-Ponty, Maurice, Phenomenology of Perception (London: Routledge, 1962)

De Waal, Edmund, The Hare with the Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance (New York: Random House, 2011)

Image List

Phyllida Barlow, untitled: upturnedhouse, 2, Softwood, plywood, hardboard, steel, expanded polyurethane foam, cement render and paint, 2012

Louise Bourgeois, Spider, Steel, tapestry, wood, glass, fabric, rubber, silver, gold and bone, 1997

Hannah Clarkson, After the Dance, Steel, wood, feathers, fringing, 2017, 100 cm × 200 cm × 60 cm

Hannah Clarkson, Cork Blimey!, Roofing felt, silk thread, synthetic hair extensions, 2016, 60 cm × 80 cm × 30 cm

Hannah Clarkson, Origami Simulator 2, GIF, 2021

Hannah Clarkson, Pleating, GIF, 2020

Hannah Clarkson, So Clear It Clouded Secrets, Copper oxide patinated zinc, mirror glass, steel, tin, 2017, 80 cm × 120 cm × 80 cm

Hannah Clarkson, The Pleating Papers (Parts I-X), Digital photographs, 2016

Hannah Clarkson, Thieving Words from the Very Walls of Amsterdam, Zinc, wood, velour, faux leather, 2017, 160 cm × 160 cm × 60 cm

Hannah Clarkson, Untitled (Work in Progress), Roofing felt, silk thread, 2016

Hannah Clarkson, We Call Out to the Rooftops, You are Warned, Roofing felt, silk thread, zinc, copper nitrate, 2017, 80 cm × 200 cm × 80 cm

Hannah Clarkson, You Are Very Kind, But There Must Be Some Mistake, Roofing felt, artificial hair extensions, silk thread, 2017, 80 cm × 80 cm × 100 cm

Paul Jackson, Pleat diagram taken from Complete Pleats: Pleating Techniques for Fashion, Architecture and Design (London: Laurence King Publishing, 2015)

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