it lives....

....www.millyhirst.co.uk

Degree show up, a bottle of wine drunk, frogs jumping in my pond, Joanna Newsom on my stereo.....this is the life.

I can be fairly sure...

...that I won't ever feel this tired again, at least I hope not. People tell you the end of degrees are stressful, particularly creative degrees as there's an exhibition to go up on top of your other work load. You smile and agree, and say how awfully time consuming it must be whilst secretly berating them for being an ungrateful, lazy student. Well turns out they were right....they were all so very right. I've been locked in a dark space listening to Atlas Sounds and inhaling paint fumes for two days, and by night time I am trying to pull together a website (with some extraordinary Flash skills from my housemate). Things are going to come together, they have to come together, and then I will sleep and drink in whichever order I can muster. I will stop moaning now, here's something happy;

A man with amazing hair who is the lead singer of Endless Boogie, who I saw at ATP festival last weekend, thoroughly marvelous all round..

The panic has officially set in..

...or it could just be jitters from the amount of caffeine I'm consuming at the moment. I went to check out my space for the degree show again today, after being up nearly all night writing lists of pro's and con's for Plasma screens vs Projectors. The space looks good, a lick of black paint and some cleaning and it will really start to come together. Projector won the death match (not to imply that I ceremoniously had the plasma screen killed....although that does sound tempting) so I've been positioning it for the last two hours and testing film footage. I have so much to do before next Friday, I don't even want to think about it. This week I've been working on digitally editing some of the photos of the dust collection to put them in the show, I kind of want them to look like photograms but less, 'clean', I think? Here's a couple..

Heading to ATP on Friday, which is going to be incredible as long as I am sorted enough to not be in a state of mental hysteria all weekend.

We've got to get out of this place.

We took an 'unchartered voyage' out of the city to give Hester a hand with her latest performance art piece, which was incredible by the way. You can find out what Hester does here....
http://www.hesterdraycott.co.uk/ and keep an eye out for any performances coming up, they are an amazing experience.

The space that was used for the performance was also really interesting, a concrete bridge with traffic streaming over head and all this beautiful scenery right next to it.Aside from all the art malarky, it was good to get some fresh air. I walked along the river bank as far as it would take me and relished half an hour of simplicity; no degree show planning, no frantic editing, just me and a river and some cold spring sunshine.

More projected dust.

Our country may not always be governed in the way that we would like it to be. We might have never felt as under represented as we do now. We might not even agree with all of the fundamental morals and policies of any one party but we are lucky to have the democracy we do, and we have a responsibilty to allow our voices to be heard.....however insignificant you think that voice is. So go vote, and vote wisely.

New website ideas..

The ever elusive website, which I'm trying to create to encapsulate the project, is nearly on it's way. Sincerely hoping to have it up and running by the weekend. You will be able to check it out at www.millyhirst.co.uk....

In the mean time I'm still finding it hard to choose a layout, I never was much cop at fancy design. Also stumped with decisions for the degree show, include dust samples and documentation? Show film on plasma, projector, iMac...? Brain...failing..........

New series.....

Statement for degree catalogue;

'My work is concerned with the elemental nature of existence. I am fascinated by what we leave behind in every room or place we have inhabited. Layers of dust sift over the edges of books, on the periphery of furniture, in the corners. Hair and skin ground down into a fine powder, an ongoing residue. The beauty of dust as it catches the light, watching the particles float, swirl and fall evokes contemplation. We are so quick to discard our dust, and yet it remains

The project has slowly become an obsession. The very nature of collecting something that is intrinsically everywhere has meant I am continually equipped and prepared; seeing how the dust differs from person to person, place to place, filming it when falling. I am intrigued by the similarities and differences between the samples. My knowledge of the individual contributors leads me to search for identifiable features.

One obsession leads to another; a personalized act of the documentation and categorisation of the samples, seeking order from chaos. The status of my obsession becomes elevated in the process. The particles become evidence, the mundane is rendered special. That which is around us but which we often overlook, becomes precious.'