Friday, July 31, 2009

Alison Knowles: Loose Pages, Museo Fortuny, Venice 2006

In 2006 Alsion Knowles came to Venice with her 'A Rake's Progress' show, to accompany this an evening of performances was held in the Museo Fortuny, here are some images:

materials from giovanni orsini
the roll from an industrial embroidery machine - starting point for my "orsini pattern" project:



materials in the gallery

i can't remember the name of this piece. it is a tea stained shirt with flax and printed/handwitten pages - rather beautiful when scene up close, fascinating to read too!


materials from giovanni orsini

a mock up for an installation - AK


striking a rather fetching pose!

alison in the emily harvey foundation gallery space.

piano nobile, museo fortuny the walls had been scraped back revealing traces of something like 600 years of continual redecoration. guest numbers were limited to a max of 50 due to the age and structural weaknesses of the floors. if this place hasn't got ghosts nowhere has!

bean turners and chicken thingy toy


museo fortuny, getting ready

5 minutes peace, with caterina gualco of unimedia modern, genova


a fire extinguisher point - with spooky eyes peering out? this photo really freaked me out, especially after knowing the age and the history of the walls.



alison knowles introduces proceedings


loose pages: getting dressed in the loose pages.












loose pages: look out for the late arrivals!

loose pages: exiting stage right. what you can't see is the couple who, after arriving late, decided to sit quietly on the floor out of the way. right in the path of our exit. they didn't know what to do and stayed put, apparently for fear of disturbing the performance. alison walked me out right over the top of them. i the loose pages i am blind, i had no idea what was going on until i stood on what felt like a thigh.

loose pages: on the way out...

loose pages: exiting. the performance ends.


onion skin song

onion skin song: stretching out the cling film!

onion skin song: sprinkling the onion skins.

onion skin song: the second layer of film.

onion skin song: treading the skins, making the score.

onion skin song: playing the score. alan bowman playing the large red bean turner, alison knowles the round bean turner.
onion skin song: playing the score

onion skin song: playing the score

onion skin song: instrument change. i read the score from left to right, alison from right to left. when we met in the middle we exchanged instruments.


Alison performing "shoes of your choice".


performing ay-o's rainbow with alison.



Bob Watts: Trace for Orchestra







aftermath of trace for orchestra



with our able assistants!