Monthly Archives: November 2009

Here is a stop frame of part of the live Tagtool drawing to accompany Beseppy and Martin Janicek at A studio Rubín.

At the weekend we had a rehearsal in our studio when I took these photos of the first practice session.

This rehearsal was really useful as it gave me an opportunity to listen carefully to the sounds of the instruments before I started to draw. Then we each made up a ‘story’ which would set the scene for the three performance improvisations. In order that Martin and Bethany could see my drawing projected on the wall behind them while they were playing, Dima set up a monitor in front of their table. I put a clock on my table so that I could check the pace of my drawing. This arrangement worked very well in our studio and by the end of the session we had agreed on the shape of the three pieces for the performance.

The venue was quite small, a vaulted cellar in a very old building in the centre of the city. I had not been there before and when we arrived at 5.30pm for the sound check I discovered (to my horror!) that the whole place was painted matt black. I realised that I would have to adjust my drawing ideas very quickly! Some of the tonal gradations that I had planned to use were not possible as the black walls just soaked up the Tagtool colours and using the transparency slider was also really tricky.  In order to see the stage I had to stand on a ledge at the back of the auditorium with our flight case upended on top of a small table to make a work station for my Tagtool, drawing tablet and computer, but as there was a large audience this improvisation proved both necessary and successful. There was a very neat ceiling mount for our projector and video camera that was adjustable and hooked over the lighting rig, so in the end the whole set up worked well, despite the black drawing surface.

The videos made by O.M.A. International of Artists’ Performances and Jam Sessions at the York Festival are now on Vimeo. Here is the video of the performance that we gave on Wednesday 28 October.

Here is a link to the Vimeo Album that has all the videos of the Wall of Light Artists’ Performances and the Jam Sessions. I think that this collection of videos demonstrates much better than any words of mine, just what an exciting and versatile instrument the Tagtool is.

We had a great time in York, it was a most rewarding experience and we learned such a lot by watching the different artists’ performances and working together in the Jam Sessions. So – a big thank you to the organisers of the Festival, a big thank you to GaiaNova for the beautiful super bright projector and a big thank you to O.M.A. International for inviting us to participate!

On Sunday morning the weather changed – there was torrential rain and a high wind that blew all day but miraculously by 6pm, although it was much colder than before and still rather windy, the rain had stopped. Although the weather had kept some families away there was no shortage of people wanting to draw in the public sessions. More people gathered for Iink and Maki’s performance but as there were not the crowds of the previous evening, this time I managed to take lots of photos. I noticed there were people in the audience setting up their cameras and tripods who had been at the Saturday performance too and they were rewarded on this last evening with a delightful and colourful animated sequence of fairytale images including this amazing pink sea monster and mermaid. A very nice finale!

Then it was time to carefully lower the beautiful projector into its box, dismantle the tower and clear everything away. The next morning the only thing that remained to show where the projector tower had been was a pale green square in the grass.

On Friday evening the featured artist was Die. Puntigam. A large crowd had gathered for his performance – and they were not disappointed! I took lots of photos. Here is a selection. They are not able of course to convey the amazing speed of his drawing or the rapid succession of images that continuously poured over the tower, then swirled away to be immediately overlaid or replaced. For this solo he was working with two Tagtools and simultaneous double animation – a high octane virtuoso performance that drew deservedly loud applause from the audience.

On Saturday evening Iink and Maki gave the first of their two weekend performances. I was on crowd control duty – which turned out to be a full time job so I was unable to take any photos of their work at all! There were so many spectators, and everyone wanted to have a clear view of the tower or take photos of the artists at work. It was extremely difficult for us to maintain even a narrow line of sight for the artists. Somehow they managed to see to draw through the ever narrowing gap in the delighted crowds (many of whom, both adults as well as children) were in full Halloween party mood – there were lots of pointy witches’ hats, luminous collars and scary made-up faces in the crowd! I’m really looking forward to watching the videos of these performances – once they are all on the Tagtool website I’ll post a link for Drawinglive News readers.

I’ve failed (again!) to carry out my intention to do a posting every day about the Tagtool performances on the Multangular Tower, so this is another ‘catch up’ posting. Now I have taken so many photos that it is really difficult to select just a few for this blog. Every evening has been different, but one thing has been a constant – the expressions of pure joy and delight on the faces of all the children, and their parents, who have ‘had a go’ at drawing with the Tagtool. One parent, on discovering that the festival ended on Sunday said to me, ‘What a shame! I think they should have kept the Wall of Light until Christmas.’ All the public sessions have attracted long queues, with people who didn’t manage to ‘have a go’ coming back early the next evening, or waiting for the late evening public session. I have taken so many photos – but here are some of my favourites.