Referring back to Methodology, the process of getting to the manifestation of KODISTA (Of Home, Homing) was unexpected and full of discoveries as the process unfolded, and became the research. In July, at the beginning of the process, I had plans and ideas of how I would execute the creation of the piece, but it had to evolve as I carved out the process.

In the beginning I had a few key ideas that would guide the process:

• From the early days I knew that one of the key components I would work with is the idea that performance always happens in the moment, and in the presence of an audience, and therefore it cannot be rehearsed, which emerged from my research into performance art. This posed a challenge to me as I have never undertaken such a creative process, and therefore I had to create my own rules and conventions. How do I rehearse a live performance without rehearsing it?
• I had set out to do a durational performance, not that I knew the what but I knew how and why. Initially the form itself attracted me to create this work because it is such a radical act, committing to doing it would require discipline and rigor – Marina Abramovic’s durational work had inspired me in this especially. Additionally, I am fascinated by our understanding and experience of time, and wanted to create a space that bends, questions, and disrupts it.
• I knew I would be working with autobiographical material. It felt fitting because I wanted it to reflect authentically from my own person to discuss questions of home, belonging and identity – and by doing that I would help others reflect on the same questions from their perspectives.
• I would be playing with conventions of both performance art and contemporary theatre – communicating a feeling and a set of thoughts over a story. Throughout my research across the year at Rose Bruford College, I have investigated the forms and conventions of theatre and performance art and what they have in common. See: APPENDIX B - The Seminar Slides. Based on this initial analysis I came to the conclusion that I do not always agree with the conventions of performance art, and therefore want to adopt ideas from theatre into my performance work.
• I also wanted to include the audience in the meaning making of the piece – not just as a presence but as active participants. This has grown to be an important aspect in my work through my year at Rose Bruford College and is due to the influence of Hannah Ringham who mentored us. Hannah would often talk about audience integrity – how to consider the audience meaningfully in creating an experience where the audience holds power over how much they want to contribute to the piece. This thought traveled alongside me throughout the process and constantly filtered and influenced my thinking.

Here is a link to the initial moodboard I created for the project:

FIP

The Process

From July to September 2024, I embarked on a journey of conscious slowing down; in order to comment on our understanding of time, I had to confront my own relationship with it. I adopted a range of practices ranging from free-writing to meditation, as well as dreaming as a way of creating. Marina Abramović often talks about the mental aspect of performance art and how important it is to prepare the mind as well as the body: “The whole idea is to slow down your mind.” (2022). This turned out to be much harder than I initially predicted – the journey was unsteady and truly challenged me to face the anxieties of keeping up with the pace of the world. During this preparational period I would regularly meditate, free-write and have a dreaming session, as well as working on different practices, such as The Marina Abramović Method (2022).

Here are some key moments of that journey:

6th July – The Abramović Method Cards: ”Move in slow motion for two hours (2022).”