Dan Auluk: 'looking at me looking at you and not looking down'

Sunday 26th June 2011

HEATWAVE!

Went to the visit the sea today. Simply beautiful - I think I could live here!

'looking at me looking at you and not looking down'

Originally attempted in a workshop environment in a self-intiated residency at Laurieston Hall in Scotland. Meditaiton and music were used to begin the workshop. Particpants draw each other at the same time firstly for 1 minute, then 5 minutes and then 10 minutes.
See images below:

I wanted to retry this experimental idea (without the meditation and music) to create a composite drawing of myself from a group of strangers by asking local residents to do a continuous blind line drawing of me (without taking the pen of the paper and not looking at the paper) for 1 minute.

I would go first to show them what I meant and give them a signed drawing of themselves and also another way of building a rapport and trust with them. Most of them thought I was a little odd!

My intention was to create a 1 minute animation of all the drawings made by these strangers.

See some of the drawings below:

I would like to retry this idea again and not be so restrictive in the timing and allow for the drawing to last as long as the particpant needs to!


After some drawings by the local residents I decided to take a rest on the benches overlooking the sea and started to smile at passers by. This lead to conversations with the local residents on such topics as:


The jobs they had done before.
The local riff raff.
The beauty of Folkestone.
Gay cruising 
Married Life
Mark Wallingers stones
The Mermaid
Boats/Ships in the Church
The Folkestone Triennial
The HEATWAVE!