T to T
Dialogue No 7
Penzance Day 1

Thursday 17th August 2006

RL Weather forecast is bloody awful
TK Sunny in London
RL Thanks a bunch
TK Don’t over-react. Do the quiet stuff this afternoon in the rain.
RL How’s it looking?
TK Like there are plenty of distractions.
RL Only being sociable and responsive.
TK Don’t give me the flannel. Remember why you’re here.
RL What about not needing to ‘work’ all the time?
TK Sure. This ain’t Lillehammer 03. It’s Penzance 06. Inclement weather, you’re the only suit in the street, pirate n chips and we’re talking. We weren’t in Norway.
RL That’s true. What do you think about ‘cleaning’ that yellow fisherman holding the blue fish?
TK No dirt. Too cute. Pubs?
RL Not yet. Bit early.
TK You can see it working?
RL I can see the ‘working’ working. Can you?
TK Always did
RL Shall we talk about the Saturday evening?
TK Not yet. Enough on. Focus for Christ’s sake. Make a list: find swimming hats and costumes, blue paint, step ladder, sort music, see the pool, meet the café people…
RL Cloth for cleaning, graph paper for curve measuring…schedule tomorrow?
TK How about three shifts: 10 -12, 1 - 3, 3.30 - 5, then tech at the pool from 5.30. What about something for gardening?
RL I brought some tools
TK Something that matches your suited image, like a large wicker basket.
RL I’ll head off then. Causewayhead and the Pool.
…..
RL You were right
TK About?
RL Enough to be going on with
TK Nice basket
RL Thanks. Thought I’d lost one of the small curve measurers en route.
TK Disaster
RL I got a bit obsessive about it. Better to have four than three, for symmetry. I went back to the hardware store looking for it but no luck. Then, coming down the hill, man in the art shop tapped on the window and came out with it, like it was a special object.
TK Quality small town service or business is pretty slow. Good reflection on the thing itself, piece of ply isn’t it?
RL Birch ply. That’s what gives them spring back. And the toggles make the difference. Not so sure about the green yachting string from Ban Phe in Thailand.
TK Colour I suppose. But look at the choice connections. And we were talking in Thailand. How’s it looking in the Pool?
RL Fine. Not quite how I remembered it. Serious swimmers in there. It’s enormous. Borough engineer Capt F Latham excelled himself. Holly the head lifeguard very easy-going. Rebecca in the café will be my new boss. Would be great to do white on white or blue on blue in the pool. No problem in the café.
TK Don’t rule it out. This ‘permission’ stuff is all very well but the edge is sharper when you simply turn up and brush. Just keep wearing the Venetian pirate tie. Did we buy it on that very first day of International Cleaning?
RL Blimey. You could be right.
TK You going to Andy and Delpha’s thing tonight or re-working the playlist for Saturday?
RL Hoping to do both. Thought I’d be sociable. Good to meet up with the other artists and catch up with the press interest in Kira and animal rights. Newlyn Art Gallery under pressure. All hands on deck. Be nice if you could come along.
TK Not my frame of reference as you well know. Anyway, don’t lose the plot. We start work for real tomorrow. Speak after breakfast.

Day 2
Friday 18th August

TK You scared?
RL Was hard to get out of the Peach Room at the Penzance Arts Club this morning and after the heavy basement breakfast. Just as well we’d worked on the schedule. Paul’s arriving to document at 1pm. I’m in St Anthony’s Gardens.
TK More flesh on the bone please
RL I was scared. Now that I’m here and working, the line’s been crossed.
TK Ivan?
RL God knows Tania, maybe that’s part of the dilemma. Different having this scheduled and publicised, not just incidental. People could show up and watch.
TK Sounds like there’s enough other stuff going on. It could all happen on Saturday night when it comes to that kind of audience.
RL That’s what’s stressing me as well. Think we should be working on it.
TK I don’t. This is my meat and veg. That’s the suppa inglese. You look the part.
RL And feel it. My patch. This material to mould and shape, hoe and trim.
TK I want to ask Ivan
RL But I’m just getting going
TK Tough. Ivan, this ok for you?
IC Definitely, but he’s still got the bloody video camera out. I thought we were being spared that till 1pm when the tousle-haired Paul arrives. This is a great location and a perfect scale. I could be here right through. And, believe me, the performance would improve incrementally. Are you sure we need to keep switching locations and roles?
TK That’s the plan, Ivan, but thanks for your thoughts. Glad you’re into it, although you’re gardening not cleaning, thought you might struggle.
IC You’d be surprised at the concomitance. Remember International Cleaning in Brisbane, collecting the fallen jacaranda blossoms? Well, he had me dead-heading the geraniums just now and dropping them in the basket. It was just so resonant of that earlier piece. And let me tell you, Tania, this garden needs attention. I sometimes think it’s all about cleaning: painting, waiting on tables, curve-measuring, the lot. Cleaning as mark-making, choreography even.
RL Can I quote you on that, Ivan?
IC Oh, piss off
RL Sorry. You didn’t mention the banner we found behind the hedge.
IC That’s your territory Mr Ideas
RL I might have leapt on it a bit, to have some material for Saturday evening
TK Zabaglione
RL I think it could come in though: a rolled up full-size banner advertising The Chinese Emperor restaurant, in pretty much perfect condition. What was it doing there? Sabotage, racism, prank?
IC Who cares?
RL Then we found this plastic sword and scabbard under the bench alongside. The link is there.
TK Ok, but don’t let this get cute, the anecdotal is fine. You know I’m for this work clearly informing the evening. This is The Radiant Curve just as much. Publicity is misleading.
RL It happened in a rush, should have shown it to you
TK Tell me about it. Anyway, time for transition. The Poolside Café?
IC I’m just getting in the groove
TK This is Segway 1, you knew it was coming. We’re relying on your professionalism, Ivan. At least he’s buying lunch when Paul arrives.
IC I know there’ll be more resonance, I can feel it.
RL Did I mention that Rebecca tracked down the actual blue paint they’d used in the café?
TK So that’s a runner
RL She’s put me on table cleaning first
IC Me you mean
TK Can you two sort it out
RL We’re working together
IC It’s already happening. These square tables with plastic gingham tablecloths. The rhythmic action of hand on cloth on surface flashes back to International Cleaning in Skyros.
RL I’m hoping Paul can film it after lunch. And the blue on blue.
TK Into the Pool?
RL They do seem relaxed about it. The camera can stay up here, looking down and over. White on white may be as far as we get today. Keen to get around to the exterior wall of curvature and graffiti as well.
TK I like the small brush in the Pool, spotting out the orange rust drips. Why don’t you use it on the exterior wall?
RL The scale of the graffiti, even this two-incher struggles to make an impact, maybe tomorrow. Do you think we’ve moved away from white on white here?
TK We’re somewhere else, this one could run and run. It’s enough for me for the duration, puts the other jobs in the shade.
RL Why?
TK New territory. About making a relationship with the graffiti artists. About re-working the imagery, thinking about how they’ll react, the white becomes the force for change. The wall is seaward and public. Are we being bad? Is this illegal?
RL People who just went by thought I was a politician doing some public work
TK You are. Hey, that’s another thing, raising questions of status with the audience. I like it. More of same tomorrow, for sure.
RL Third shift this was.
…..
RL 8.30pm, back at the Pool. Obvious really. Not dark enough to test the follow spot till now.
TK What kind of rusty thing is that?
RL It’s what Alex brought. I’m not gonna be a prima donna about it. He suggested coming back to test the light levels after all. Thought I was some kind of production manager at first.
TK Nice. Job titles mounting up, as planned. Think it will stay focussed for tomorrow night?
RL Tough call

Day 3
Saturday 19th August

TK Back to the wall?
RL Yes and no, later
TK The early finish then
RL Has to be, balloons are due at 17.30
TK You spoken to Hullaballoons since landing?
RL Forgot
TK Work on an alternative ending then
RL Any ideas?
TK Your shout. This is me: anchor cleaning, yucca picking, curve-measuring in the rain. Your evening gig.
RL Since when?
TK Since it struck me square that I was edited out of the publicity. All we get is …”let your shirt fly in the face of the weather…a tourist tool, the expansive host.” That’s you not me.
RL Not deliberate. You’re mentioned on the website.
TK Big deal. The eternal web presence. It may have escaped your attention, but any stress levels you’ve been grappling with are entirely to do with The Manifestation and its now central positioning.
RL So that’s why you’re more interested in the incidental stuff
TK It’s more interesting in and of itself
RL And it feeds into The Manifestation
TK It could
RL I’ll make sure it also features in the evening, so the connections are made, curve-measuring, painting, gardening
TK And will I get a mention?
RL It might over-complicate the narrative
TK Pathetic
RL Did you like the anchor sequence?
TK Will need to see the video.
IC (muttered) Jesus
TK I’m optimistic about the photos of curves and the wall, a professional on the job with a big lens. I’m pissed off that the evening is eclipsing the day.
RL It won’t seem like that in retrospect
TK Don’t patronise me. Just tell me whether you’ve been using the small brush on the graffiti wall.
RL Both brushes. You were right. The smaller one allows for a different relationship with the sprayed edges. And it reinforces the paradox of the activity. The artist’s brush meets the artist’s spray paint. Bacon tickles Banksy.
TK So we could talk about this exclusively, and that would suit my tastebuds, although the curve-measuring has made some progress and could also have longevity.
RL What struck you?
TK It’s not a recognisable job. The implement looks convincing enough for people to chase after you if you leave it behind in their shop. There’s a certain poetry. I believe in you.
IC Thanks
RL It’s having a significant place in the evening. I point out where the measured curves come from: The Yacht Inn, the fountain in the gardens (carved from a single block of granite), the Pool itself…
TK You might as well fill in the other flesh tones to get it over with. How’s the spotlight?
RL Unfocussed but ok
TK Swimmers?
RL Pull out the stops. What an effort. Paul and Alexandra – swimmers, performers, documenters, recent graduates from Falmouth, black caps.
TK Balloons?
RL Pete and Kirsty arrive 15 minutes late and do a great job. Holly shows us a store cupboard on the other side of the Pool.
TK What’s the other side of a triangle?
RL Opposite the measured curves and the audience.
TK Chinese Emperor?
RL Makes an appearance. Nothing without the sword.
TK Weather?
RL Touch and go. Intense black clouds but rain passes by. We’re in the weather for sure, just like it says in the publicity. Blair was right about the dusk time in Pz.
TK How do you get to the other side?
RL I land up running across, apparently in time, to the LTJ Bukem track. For some people this is their favourite moment. And the mike works over the other side.
TK An Ivan moment
IC Head to body. I keep trying to tell you
TK Me too
IC No video cameras at least and no flash, small mercies
TK So playlist becomes soundtrack after all
RL And not spectacle becomes bit spectacle
TK Like work is not work and jobs are the art. Bring on The Manifestation meetings, let’s get infamous. Did I get a mention?


Day 4
Monday 21st August

RL Doubting anchor footage can’t be the only reason
TK Out of schedule, drawn to keep it going
IC Or find the essence of excrescence
RL Car packed, curvers bent, traffic jammed, rain break, no rush, pleasure of the real thing
TK Location scout. Harbour or war memorial
RL Harbour
TK Harbour
IC Nice framing. Lead me to it. I hear music
RL Camera discretion. Harbour wall. Could be shooting boats, would be
TK Kate as guardian having a smoke
RL That box, chalked up and ready
IC Raising the patina of blue framed by weather rust. Angular repetition one two one three
TK Square in the circle
RL Sea’s out, horizon radiates
TK Now you know what I’m talking about

Other Dialouges

www.mdx.ac.uk/rescen/Richard_Layzell/TalkingToTania/tttintro.html