'One Minute Residency' - Stephen Rennicks

In May 2010 I first floated this concept of mine with this video and the following text about a One Minute Residency, which as you'll see is more of a starting point than a duration.

Its always struck me that a big element of doing an artist's residency is the change in perspective you experience when you are in a new environment. There are many other elements to it as well but in my work I'm more interested in this change of how we see the world. When suddenly everything becomes more interesting and you start to notice and appreciate things again about the everyday. Of course it's very possible with some effort on our part to have this same experience without having to go anywhere. I've explored this general idea most obviously before when I did a six month Secret Residency (2005) at Dublin Airport when I was working there as a baggage handler. But with a one minute (or however long you wish to make it) residency I believe I've found an effective technique both for finding inspiration for an artist or simply to make life more interesting again for anybody.

A one minute residency can be done at any time and at any place. It does take an effort of concentration but once mastered you should be able to do it easily enough. You only have to really learn how to become less subjective, stop resisting and begin living in the moment. Which is really just the classic holiday feeling we all know so well, when you find yourself so easily losing track of time, noticing things you wouldn't have previously and generally feeling like another person. The openness and freedom which should result can be experienced easily for short periods like a minute at the beginning. But with time and practice I can see this being easily extended to a little longer each time until you may just end up living the rest of your life with this new outlook. This might sound unlikely but give it a go and remember you can restart at anytime and think in terms of moment by moment and minute by minute and it will be easier.

Everyone is an Artist.

Stephen Rennicks

http://oneminuteresidency.wordpress.com/
http://stephenrennicks.webs.com
http://airportresidency.webs.com

Category:

Education

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• stephen rennicks
• one minute residency
• artists residency