6 minute read. Content warning: Mentions of anxiety and social pressure, brief discussion of fatigue related to hearing
chatGPT Summary: Kay reflects on their day at FLEET, contemplating the concept of an artist residency, discussing the pressure of opening events with a fellow artist, and capturing 360-degree shots while balancing work with personal reflections on their radical silence project.
When I arrived at FLEET this morning, I contemplated how to explain “artist residency” to someone for whom English was an additional language. The word residency needs to be more accurate as it is a synonym for home or dwelling place, and there are very few artist residencies in Vancouver that include living accommodations. I realized that I had adopted the initialized sign using the R handshape + HOME, which reinforced the idea that my artist residency allowed me to live in the studio and that the sign wouldn’t mean anything without including “artist” along with the term. I started drafting a response to the question, “What is an Artist Residency?“.
While I was drafting that, a friend (and an excellent artist pal) came by to say hello. They were working on the island, across the street from me, over at Malaspina Printers and asked if I wanted to visit. I was delighted and asked if I could have some time to complete my video before I came over. We agreed to text when I was done, and I shot my video while the light was good. There was still no wifi in the space, so I decided to edit it from home later.
Over at Malaspina, I got to peek at some work my friend had completed for an upcoming show opening at the Richmond Art Gallery later in the month. We both talked about our anxiety around opening parties. I shared how my radical silence project was designed to help me come to terms with the pressure I felt to push past hearing fatigue and anxiety and go to noisy events where speaking/socializing was expected. I used to go to openings to support the artists and congratulate the art workers on their exhibitions. Still, after a few years, I learned that it was barely about that, with the art workers exhausted and ready to leave and (depending on the space) the artists looking for a particular audience to rub elbows with and not particularly interested in chatting it up with a prep. Now, I feel good working behind the scenes and preparing the show so artists can be celebrated. I encouraged my artist friend to skip it and be a badass, but we awkwardly laughed at the suggestion. Sometimes, it’s not about what you want but what the audience or presenting institution wants. I get it.
I received a lovely new pronoun pin during my visit and then got a sneak peek at the forthcoming new location of the Out on the Shelves queer library that will be reopening after leaving its 8 year home at UBC (and before that at QMUNITY). I’m looking forward to visiting when it’s open to enjoy their content and to borrow some warmth as the October days grow colder. Today, I returned to my studio to buckle down and get to my current reading. I honestly enjoy reading the Building Codes and Bylaws because I like to be informed, but it is a knot of articles, exceptions, and technical language, so it made for a long afternoon. I had to keep moving because it was very cold, and between planking, walking back and forth across the trailer, and working my way through 2 litres of tea (leading to cross-island washroom trips), I stayed warm enough. Still, I am planning to dress in a few more layers tomorrow.
I captured another few 360 shots, and I now have a complete enough picture to upload what I have captured and play around with some of the newer Matterport tools I usually ignore when I do gallery captures. Since I record 360 exhibitions regularly, I am familiar with most of the tools, but I plan to explore some of the newer features and add-ons I am less familiar with. Gallery shows at an artist-run centre often come down to the wire, and I sometimes capture the exhibitions a week into their run. There is little time to play around, so I hope to use this time to pick and choose some features to bring back into the gallery when the month is out.
Technology note:
I continue to test the use of AI within my writing and artistic practice. I used chatGPT to create a summary and reading estimate and to recommend some content warnings for this blog. Grammarly also assisted me with spelling and grammar.
I used my iPhone to shoot a picture of myself and co-wrote the visual description with chatGPT. In fact, this time, I’ll share my process.
Kay: Can you help with a brief objective visual description of the following photo? It’s me in glasses, outside Malaspina printer’s posing while pointing at my they/them pronoun pin, a grey background and slime green letters. My shirt is a bright pink screen print from the Power Street festival 2024, and I am wearing a stone grey hoodie.
chatGPT 4o: The image shows a person wearing glasses, standing in front of a grey corrugated background. They are pointing at a round “they/them” pronoun pin, which has slime green letters on a grey background. They are dressed in a stone grey hoodie over a black shirt featuring a bright pink screen print from the Power Street Festival 2024. Their expression is neutral, and they have braided hair with grey highlights.
Final edit: Kay stands in front of a blue corrugated background. They are pointing at a round “they/them” pronoun pin, which has slime green letters on a grey background. They are wearing large plastic glasses, and are dressed in a stone grey hoodie over a black shirt featuring a bright pink screen print from the Power Street Festival 2024. Their expression is in a half smirk, and they have side-braided hair with grey highlights.