Hello Je suis I am a Record un enregistrement / 2009 / 21’ 10” Je suis un disque

Recording left on my telephone My mother had been taking legal drugs since the age of 16, starting with her family Ma mère a pris des drogues légales à partir de l’âge de 16 ans, débutant answer machine by my doctor prescribing Purple Hearts* in her teens and progressing slowly over the years à l’adolescence avec les prescriptions de Purple Hearts (Cœurs mother in 1993. to diazepam and fluoxetine. By the age of 28 she had become quite distressed by the pourpres) du médecin de famille, puis passant progressivement avec Cover: Photograph of le temps au diazépam et à la fluoxétine. À l’âge de 28 ans, elle était aging process. Many of our conversations revolved around a detailed analysis of each Christine Miller aged 16. complètement angoissée par le processus de la vieillissement. Nombre line on her face as it appeared. She knew the lines intimately by length, depth and de nos conversations tournaient autour de l’analyse détaillée de chaque Message laissé par ma position in relation to facial movement and had begun to prepare various homemade ride qui venait à apparaître sur son visage. Elle connaissait intimement mère sur mon répondeur chacune de ses rides, dans sa longueur, sa profondeur et sa position téléphonique en 1993. remedies to halt their development. My job as child beauty advisor was to try to par rapport aux mouvements du visage, et elle s’est mise à préparer Pochette : photographie de convince her that only she could see the lines and that her beautiful features would divers remèdes faits maison pour en stopper la progression. Je jouais Christine Miller à l’âge de 16 ans. distract from any fine lines that had begun to appear. Sometimes she would believe comme enfant le rôle de conseillère en beauté et ma tâche consistait me, other times she would sink deeper into depression. On good days she would let à tenter de la convaincre qu’elle seule pouvait voir ses rides et que la me make her face up. I would always use the things in her make-up bag that were beauté de ses traits dissipait toutes les fines rides qui commençaient à almost untouched: black eye-shadow, white powder, kohl liners and dark red lipsticks. se faire jour. Parfois, elle était prête à me croire, parfois, elle tombait I would spend ages applying it and would not let her look in the mirror until I had plus profondément encore dans la dépression. Les bons jours, elle me laissait la maquiller. J’utilisais toujours les produits de sa trousse de finished. When she saw her reflection she would laugh at her dark eyed doppelgänger. maquillage qui n’avaient presque jamais servi : de l’ombre à paupières She said she looked like Theda Bara and vowed to go to work like that the next day, but noire, de la poudre de riz, des crayons de kohl et du rouge à lèvres she never did. rouge foncé. Je passais des heures à les appliquer et je ne la laissais pas se regarder dans la glace tant que je n’avais pas fini. Quand elle se voyait, elle riait de son double aux yeux noirs. Elle disait qu’elle * Purple Hearts (drinamyl) were banned in 1978. It was claimed that they could impair judgment, ressemblait à Theda Bara et elle jurait qu’elle irait travailler comme cause paranoia and make the person lose contact with reality. cela le lendemain, mais elle ne le fit jamais.

* Les Purple Hearts (Drinamyl) furent interdits en 1978. On a affirmé qu’ils pouvaient altérer la capacité de jugement, provoquer des paranoïas et faire perdre aux gens le contact avec la réalité The Voices Les voix I am a Record 2009 / 4’ 22”

A broken radiator In December 1973 I began to hear ‘the voices’. I would get up in the middle of the night En décembre 1973, j’ai commencé à entendre « les voix ». Je me levais au recorded in 1990. and wander into the living room where my parents were watching television. They milieu de la nuit et j’allais dans le salon où mes parents regardaient la Cover: Cut-up typed text. described me as having a ghostly look and my only words to them were ‘It’s the voices, télévision. Ils disaient que j’avais l’air d’un fantôme et les seules paroles que je leur adressais étaient : « C’est les voix, arrêtez les voix ! ». Cela stop the voices’. This continued to happen over the next few months. Unannounced the Un radiateur cassé continua à se produire pendant les quelques mois qui suivirent. Les enregistré en 1990. voices would start to slowly build up in my head until they had completely taken over my voix se mettaient à grandir dans ma tête de façon impromptue et elles Pochette: cut-up de textes own thoughts. Their words were intense and there were lots of them, but I could never finissaient par s’emparer totalement de mes pensées. Leurs discours dactylographiés. quite unravel their meaning. It was as if I had somehow tuned into some strange radio étaient intenses et elles parlaient beaucoup mais je ne pus jamais frequency that I couldn’t switch off. I visited a doctor, but we never found out what had vraiment discerner le sens de ce qu’elles disaient. C’était en fait comme si je m’étais branchée sur quelque étrange fréquence radio et que je caused me to hear them and eventually they stopped. Over the years I have experienced ne pouvais plus me déconnecter. J’ai consulté un médecin, mais nous them on odd occasions, but never like they had been in 1973. n’avons jamais découvert pour quelle raison les voix étaient apparues, Unconsciously, I have been drawn to situations that mirror my experiences with the et finalement elles se sont arrêtées. J’en ai encore fait l’expérience voices. During 1991 and ‘92 I spent some time secretly recording strangers’ conversations à diverses occasions plus tard, mais elles n’ont plus jamais pris le around London. I would go to bars and cafés, travel on buses and trains, listening for tour qu’elles avaient pris en 1973. Inconsciemment, je me suis laissée entraîner dans des situations qui étaient à l’image de mes expériences people who were deep in conversation. The microphones were clipped to my bag and avec les voix. wired up my sleeve to the recorder in my pocket. I would never look at the people I was En 1991 et 1992, j’ai passé quelques temps à enregistrer secrètement recording. I wanted them to remain faceless and be left with only their voices in my ears. des conversations d’inconnus dans les environs de Londres. J’allais In the beginning I had no idea why I was doing this, apart from sheer pleasure. The most régulièrement dans des bars et des cafés, et je prenais aussi le bus et le enjoyable part was when I returned home on an evening to listen to my recordings. I métro, et j’y écoutais des personnes absorbées dans leur conversation. Les micros étaient accrochés à mon sac et ils étaient connectés au would spend hours trying to decipher the words and transcribe them into notebooks. magnétophone qui était dans ma poche en passant par ma manche. Je Listening again to the cassette tapes, it is quite uncanny how much they resemble the ne regardais jamais les gens que j’étais en train d’enregistrer. Je voulais voices. They are so layered with the interwoven noise of people talking that it’s almost qu’ils restent sans visage et que ne subsiste d’eux que leurs voix dans impossible to find a thread, but unlike the voices I was eventually able to unravel the mes oreilles. Au début, je n’avais aucune idée de la raison pour laquelle pattern of the words and draw meaning from the dialogues. je faisais cela, si ce n’était par pur plaisir. Le plus agréable, c’était quand je rentrais le soir à la maison et que j’écoutais mes enregistrements. The Voices is a recording I made almost 20 years ago, which I believe is the closest in Je passais des heures à en décrypter les mots et à les transcrire dans texture to the original voices I experienced in ‘73. It was made late one night in the des carnets. A la réécoute, il est troublant de constater à quel point ces Slade School of Art. Everyone had left for the day and I was left with the silence of a cassettes ressemblent aux voix. Elles sont tellement recouvertes par les building. At a certain point I began to hear something, a slight crackling or rapping. bruits entremêlés que font les personnes qui parlent qu’il est presque When I located the sound it was coming from a broken radiator in another room. I put my impossible d’en trouver le fil conducteur, mais contrairement aux voix, j’ai fini par être capable d’identifier des mots et de donner sens ear to the radiator and listened for a really long time. After a while I started to hear the aux dialogues. Il m’est arrivé d’enregistrer des voix à de nombreuses voices seeping through the hiss and crackle of the broken radiator. I got my microphone reprises au cours du temps : des voix parlant, chantant, sifflant, and recorded what I heard. It was as if all the babble of the world had collected in this chuchotant, criant, et même des voix venues de l’autre bout du monde. radiator. Listening again to them now sometimes I hear them, sometimes I do not. The Voices est un enregistrement que j’ai fait il y a un peu moins de vingt ans et je pense que c’est celui qui, dans sa texture, s’approche le plus des voix originelles dont j’ai fait l’expérience en 1973. Je l’ai See also Mentioning and So I Said. réalisé un soir où j’étais resté plus tard à la Slade School of Art. Tout le monde était parti et j’étais restée seule dans le silence du bâtiment. À un moment, j’ai commencé à entendre quelque chose : un léger crépitement ou de petits coups répétés. Je suis parvenue à localiser le son et il s’avérait qu’il venait d’un radiateur cassé situé dans une autre pièce. J’ai mis mon oreille sur le radiateur et j’ai passé un très très long moment à l’écouter. Au bout d’un certain temps, j’ai commencé à entendre les voix sourdre à travers le sifflement et le crépitement du radiateur. Je suis allée chercher mon micro et j’ai enregistré ce que j’entendais. C’était comme si tous les babils du monde s’étaient rassemblés dans ce radiateur. Si je les réécoute maintenant, parfois je les entends, parfois je ne les entends pas.

Voir aussi Mentioning et So I Said. Lady Evil Lady Evil I am a Record 2009 / 3’ 03”

Recorded in Leeds in 1981. My friend was determined to set up the blind date. She said David worshipped me from Mon amie avait décidé d’organiser un rendez-vous surprise avec Cover: Pencil on paper. afar. Our first date was spent looking at drum kits in every music shop in Leeds. He un garcon que je ne connaissais pas. Elle disait que David m’adorait reminded me of ‘the Milky Bar Kid’ and I fantasised about running off as soon as his en secret. Nous passâmes notre premier rendez-vous à regarder les Enregistré à Leeds en 1981. batteries dans toutes les boutiques de Leeds. Il me faisait penser back was turned. The next day he arrived at my door. I begged my mother to tell him Pochette : crayon sur papier. au Milky Bar Kid * et je ne rêvais que d’une chose, me sauver dès I was out, but she was too embarrassed to lie. We went for a walk and he tried to kiss qu’il aurait le dos tourné. Le lendemain, il se présenta chez moi. Je me. For a year I had imagined my first kiss; it was a travesty. I finished with him on demandai à ma mère de lui dire que j’étais sortie, mais elle était trop the telephone the next day. He called every night for a week and each time I picked up gênée d’avoir à mentir. Nous sommes allés nous promener et il essaya the phone all I could hear was loud drumming. My friend said he was heartbroken and de m’embrasser. Cela faisait un an que j’imaginais mon premier baiser, et ce fut une caricature. Je mis fin à notre relation au téléphone le had to drum to stop the pain. I said ‘But we only had two dates’. She called me cruel. lendemain. Il appela tous les soirs pendant une semaine, et à chaque The audiotape was left on my doorstep. It was a recording of him drumming along to a fois que je décrochais, je n’entendais rien d’autre que le bruit tonitruant heavy metal song (Lady Evil by Black Sabbath) and shouting ‘I love you’ at the top of his d’une batterie. Mon amie disait qu’il avait le cœur brisé et qu’il devait voice. It was 1981 and this was the first audiotape I ever received. jouer de la batterie pour arrêter sa douleur. Je lui disais : « Mais nous n’avons eu que deux rendez-vous ». Elle me traita de fille cruelle. Il déposa la bande sur le pas de ma porte. C’était un enregistrement de lui accompagnant à la batterie une chanson heavy metal (Lady Evil de Black Sabbath) et hurlant « Je t ‘aime » à pleins poumons. C’était en 1981 et c’était la première cassette que je recevais.

* Littéralement : « le gamin à la tablette au chocolat blanc » NdT. Le Top 40 The Top 40 en feu on Fire I am a Record 2008 / 6’ 02”

Forty records from my I started buying records in 1975 aged seven. From that time on I would visit Woolworths in J’ai commencé à acheter des disques en 1975 à l’âge de 7 ans. A partir childhood collection played in the Arndale Centre in Leeds on a Saturday to buy a single from the Top 40. Over the years de cette époque, je pris l’habitude d’aller à Leeds le samedi acheter un unison. I accumulated an eclectic collection, often songs were chosen as much for their cover art as disque du Top 40 au Woolworths de l’Arndale Center. J’ai accumulé Cover: Gouache on paper. pendant des années une collection éclectique choisissant souvent les for the music itself. I cherished these small objects as they spun around over and over on my disques autant pour la qualité artistique de leur pochette que pour la Quarante disques extraits record player. When I left home aged 18 I didn’t take much with me. I imagined my parents musique elle-même. Je regardais avec amour ces petits objets que je de ma collection d’enfance would leave my room as it was, like in the movies: a shrine to my youth. I was wrong. They faisais tourner sans fin sur mon tourne-disques. Quand j’ai quitté la et joués en même temps. maison à 18 ans, je n’en ai pas emmené beaucoup avec moi. Je supposais Pochette: gouache sur papier. immediately papered the walls and redecorated in pale pink and magnolia, it was like I had never been there. All my stuff was put into boxes and stored in the garden shed. On trips que mes parents laisseraient ma chambre dans l’état où elle était et qu’ils en feraient, comme dans les films, un sanctuaire de ma jeunesse. back home I would sleep in this strange pastel room that no longer held any mementos of Je me trompais. Ils ont immédiatement retapissé les murs et repeint en my teenage years. On one of the trips home I asked if I could collect my books and records rose pâle et rose magnolia, et c’était comme si je n’avais jamais occupé to take back to London. My mother looked puzzled at my request and said ‘Oh we don’t cette chambre. Toutes mes affaires ont été mises dans des caisses et have that stuff anymore. We had a big bonfire in the garden and burnt all that rubbish, stockées dans la remise du jardin. Lorsque je revenais à la maison, je it was going mouldy in the shed’. They looked shocked when I broke down in tears and dormais dans cette étrange chambre pastel qui ne comportait plus aucune trace de mes années d’adolescence. Lors de l’un de mes séjours, screamed and shouted. I could picture the blaze with my mum and dad casually flicking my je demandai si je pouvais aller chercher mes livres et mes disques treasured records, like frisbees, one by one into the flames and watching them crack and pour les emmener à Londres. Ma mère considéra ma demande avec melt in the heat. I could also imagine the sound: the music and voices of my pop heroes and perplexité et dit : « Oh, nous n’avons plus tout ce bazar, nous avons fait heroines all singing and playing in unison as the flames rose around them. The noise they un grand feu dans le jardin et nous avons brûlé tout ce fatras, il avait made must have been heard for miles around. After two days I was still mourning my loss, commencé à moisir dans la remise ». Ils semblèrent choqués de me voir éclater en larmes en criant et en hurlant. Je voyais la flambée en images, my dad said ‘Jesus, George don’t be so dramatic. Grow up. You’re almost 20 years old and it avec Maman et Papa jetant aux flammes, en toute indifférence, un à un, was just a lot of noise anyhow.’ tels des frisbees, mes disques chéris, et les regardant craquer et fondre sous l’effet de la chaleur. J’imaginais aussi l’arrière-fond sonore : la musique et les voix de mes héros et de mes héroïnes de la pop chantant et jouant tous ensemble alors que les flammes s’élevaient autour d’eux. Le bruit qu’ils ont dû faire a dû s’entendre à des kilomètres à la ronde. Alors que je continuais deux jours plus tard à me lamenter sur ma perte, mon père me dit : « Enfin, George, n’en fais pas un tel drame. Grandis, tu vas avoir 20 ans, et puis ce n’était de toute façon qu’un tas de bruit ».

L’ascension The Ascension de Louise of Louise I am a Record 2009/13’01”

Recorded at a sitting with My memory of Louise is scattered like the glass from the windscreen of her car. I Mon souvenir de Louise est aussi épars que l’était la vitre du pare-brise the medium Philena Bruce in remember her singing Cherry Ripe and I remember the retreat in Ilkley when we de sa voiture. Je me souviens d’elle en train de chanter Cherry Ripe et London in 2008. shared a room and dressed up as ghosts and ran around scaring the nuns. je me souviens de notre retraite à Ilkley alors que nous partagions une Miss Bruce was holding the chambre et que nous nous étions déguisées en fantômes et courions By the age of 16 she had already graduated to the next stage of her life. She seemed prayer card from Louise’s partout en effrayant les nonnes. Elle était vraiment mûre pour son âge, funeral in 1987. really tough and fearless, maybe because she had older brothers. She liked to tell us très en avance par rapport la plupart d’entre nous. À l’âge de 16 ans, Cover: Gouache on paper. stories about getting off with boys at clubs and parties and was drinking before any of elle était déjà passée à la phase suivante de son existence. Elle semblait vraiment dure et intrépide, peut-être parce qu’elle avait des frères plus Enregistré lors d’une séance us. Louise was desperate to turn 16 because she wanted to have sex with this guy, but âgés. Elle aimait nous raconter des histoires au sujet de ses aventures avec la médium Philena Bruce he wouldn’t touch her if she were underage. She said that on her sixteenth birthday avec des garçons dans des boîtes de nuit et des soirées, et elle a bu à Londres en 2008. she was going to see the doctor about going on the pill. She told us about hanging out at bien avant la plupart d’entre nous. Louise était impatiente d’avoir 16 Mademoiselle Bruce tenait reggae clubs in Chapeltown and was really into a guy who was a DJ at one of them. dans sa main la carte de prières ans car elle voulait coucher avec un certain garçon, qui ne voulait pas des obsèques de Louise en 1987. At that time she started looking a lot older than us, with her black smudgy eyeliner la toucher tant qu’elle était mineure. Elle disait que le jour de ses 16 Pochette: gouache sur papier. and her long wild hair. She did eventually start dating the DJ and once got caught ans, elle était allée voir le médecin pour qu’il lui prescrive la pilule. having sex with him in a car by a policeman. They saw his backside moving up and Elle nous raconta comment elle traînait dans les boîtes de reggae de Chappeltown et qu’elle était vraiment mordue d’un gars qui était DJ down against the window. It might have been a totally exaggerated story, but it kept us dans l’une de ces boîtes. C’est à cette époque qu’elle a commencé à entertained for days. paraître plus âgée que nous, avec ses yeux exagérément maquillés de I got the phone call in the Easter holidays; she had been in a car crash with her crayon noir et sa longue chevelure sauvage. Finalement, elle a fini par boyfriend. I couldn’t believe she was dead; she was more full of life than anyone else I sortir avec le DJ et, un jour, elle s’est fait prendre par la police en train knew. I suddenly understood why she had to do everything faster and quicker than the de coucher avec lui dans une voiture. On voyait le derrière du garçon monter et descendre contre la vitre. Cette histoire était peut-être rest of us. She had less time. It’s like she knew and had to fit everything in before she totalement exagérée, mais elle nous a occupés pendant des jours. J’ai was 18. reçu l’appel téléphonique pendant les vacances de Pâques : elle avait eu un accident de voiture avec son petit ami. Je ne pouvais pas croire qu’elle était morte : elle était bien plus pleine de vie que tous ceux que je connaissais. J’ai alors subitement compris pourquoi elle devait tout faire en avance et plus vite que le reste du groupe. Elle avait moins de temps. C’était comme si elle le savait et qu’elle devait tout caser avant d’avoir 18 ans. Frenchie I am a Record 2009 / 9’ 50”

Recorded in my studio/bedroom In 1984 our strict Roman Catholic girls convent school merged its 6th form with in London in 1996. the local RC boys school. In all its history, since the Sister of Notre Dame de Namur Cover: Gouache on paper had founded the school in 1898, ‘males’ had never roamed its corridors, until now. (after Grease: the Album) with gatefold. This monumental and life-changing event was further heightened by a particularly opportunist and effervescent drama teacher. She suggested a plan, which she believed would smooth the transition and help unite the opposing sexes – to stage a musical. The musical she chose was the most famous high school musical of the time: Grease. Her idea and the subsequent events that were to unravel over the next year changed the dynamic of both schools and the pupils who attended them. As fantasy merged with reality the lives of the teenagers became so intertwined with their fictional counterparts that the stories within the ‘drama’ began to mirror those of their real lives. The subjects within the play – underage sex, teen pregnancy, smoking, drinking and the final triumph of sexual liberation over purity – were all particularly alien concepts for us young innocents, whose only previous dramatic experiences had been singing hymns in the chapel or playing the clarinet or viola. The female stereotypes within the play, and especially those of the five female leads (the ‘Pink Ladies’), clashed violently with the teachings of the school, which were steeped in religion; faith, chastity and prayer. Only a year before we had stood in the town hall wearing our matching uniforms and singing ‘Notre Dame our alma mater, we are glad to sing your praise….we bow to your gentle rule, we are glad to be enlisted in the ranks of this your school’. Now these same girls were auditioning for roles where they would be blowing smoke rings, French kissing, drinking from wine bottles and talking about ‘going all the way’. As the teenagers in the fiction came of age and began flirting, dating and experimenting with sex, so too did its Catholic teenage cast. Some strange and almost mystical transformation took place. Girls, who were once prim and shy, came out as bold and sassy, and bi-spectacled boys with nervous twitches, stutters and square haircuts became funny and almost cool as they worked on their dance steps and sarcastic American accented put-me-downs. Every girl auditioned for the ‘Pink Lady’ roles. The girls sang, danced and acted their hearts out to secure a part, which could inevitably lead to spending more time with the boys. Each girl had an idea of which character they identified with and the play duly satisfied us with its five limited stereotypes; the virginal innocent ripe for corruption, the tough risk taking leader with a vulnerable underbelly, the femme fatale, the fun- loving ditzy airhead and the loud overweight clown. At 16 we never thought to question these clichéd labels that would continue to haunt us throughout our adult lives. I was given the role of Frenchie. Ten years later while writing a script for what would become Hypnodreamdruff (1996) I was thinking about a character, a loner who never leaves the confines of her bedroom. I suddenly wanted to see the video of our school musical, which I knew had been recorded by one of the girl’s fathers at the time. I wanted to analyse the bedroom scene, which is the only scene where all five girls are alone together, and see how we played it. It turned out it was impossible to find the video. I began to question how I felt about these stereotypes now and wondered what it would be like to try to become all of these female ‘models’; one multifaceted character who embodied all their looks, quirks and gestures. So I became this character; a woman stuck in time, constantly re-enacting the same scene over and over while searching for herself within it, and finding out that she could be all of them and at the same time none of them at all… La Française

Enregistré dans mon atelier/ En 1984, notre école conventuelle de filles de stricte observance d’adultes. On me donna le rôle de Frenchie. Dix ans plus tard, alors chambre à Londres en 1996. catholique romaine fusionna ses classes de lycée avec celles de l’école que j’écrivais le script de ce qui deviendrait Hypnodreamdruff, je Pochette : gouache sur papier catholique romaine de garçons. De toute son histoire, depuis l’année réfléchissais à un personnage : un solitaire ne quittant jamais les (d’après Grease: The Album) de sa fondation en 1898 par les Sœurs de Notre-Dame de Namur, confins de sa chambre à coucher. J’eus tout à coup le désir de voir la avec volet dépliant. jamais des « mâles » n’avaient circulé dans ses murs. Cette opération vidéo de notre comédie musicale de l’école dont je savais qu’elle avait représentait un considérable changement dans notre mode de vie et été filmée à l’époque par le père d’une élève. Je voulais examiner la elle prit une importance plus grande encore grâce à une effervescente scène de la chambre, qui est la seule scène où les cinq filles sont seules professeur de théâre qui eut la bonne idée de saisir l’occasion pour entre elles, et voir comment nous l’avions jouée. Il s’avéra finalement proposer un projet qui, pensait-elle, faciliterait la transition et aiderait qu’il était impossible de retrouver la vidéo. Je me mis à m’interroger à la réunion des sexes opposés : la mise en scène d’une comédie sur mes sentiments présents vis-à-vis de ces stéréotypes et je me musicale. La comédie qu’elle choisit était à l’époque celle qui avait demandais comment ce serait d’essayer de devenir tous ces « modèles » le plus de succès dans les écoles du secondaire : Grease. Son projet de femmes : un personnage à plusieurs facettes qui interpréterait en et les événements ultérieurs qui allaient en découler dans l’année même temps l’allure, les extravagances et les gestes de chacune d’entre à venir changèrent la dynamique des deux écoles et des élèves qui elles. Je devins ce personnage : une femme figée hors du temps, ne les fréquentaient. L’imaginaire s’infiltrait dans la réalité et la vie cessant de rejouer toujours et encore les mêmes scènes et s’y cherchant des adolescents s’entremêlait tellement à son équivalent fictionnel elle-même, et découvrant qu’elle pouvait être chacune d’elles mais que les histoires du « drame » se mirent à devenir celles de leur vie aussi absolument aucune… réelle. Les thèmes de la pièce : la sexualité des mineurs, les grossesses adolescentes, l’alcoolo-tabagisme et le triomphe final de la libération sexuelle sur le puritanisme, représentaient des réalités qui nous étaient tout à fait étrangères, à nous, jeunes innocents, dont les seules expériences de spectacle antérieures avaient consisté à chanter des hymnes à la chapelle ou à jouer de la clarinette ou du violon alto. Les stéréotypes féminins de la pièce, et spécialement ceux des cinq rôles de femmes principaux (The Pink Ladies) entraient violemment en contradiction avec les enseignements de l’école imprégnés de religion : foi, chasteté et prière. Pas plus tard que l’année précédente, nous étions allées à la mairie, toutes vêtues de nos uniformes, et avions chanté « Notre Dame, notre alma mater, nous nous réjouissons de chanter vos louanges… nous nous soumettons à votre doux règne, nous sommes heureuses d’avoir été admises dans les rangs de cette école qui est la vôtre ». Désormais, les mêmes filles étaient auditionnées pour des rôles dans lesquels elles feraient des ronds de fumée, rouleraient des patins, s’enfileraient des bouteilles de vin et « iraient jusqu’au bout » avec les garçons. Quand, dans la fiction, les adolescents «étaient en âge de » et commençaient à flirter, à avoir des rendez-vous et à faire des expériences sexuelles, c’étaient aussi les acteurs adolescents catholiques qui le faisaient. Ils se transformèrent de manière étrange et presque mystique. Les filles, qui se montrèrent dans un premier temps affectées et timides, se révélèrent intrépides et impudentes, et des garçons à lunettes pleins de tics nerveux, bégayants et les cheveux coupés au carré se révélèrent drôles et presque décontractés lorsqu’ils travaillaient leurs pas de danse et proféraient leurs insultes sarcastiques avec un accent américain. Toutes les filles furent auditionnées pour les rôles des Pink Ladies. Elles chantaient, dansaient et se donnaient de tout leur être afin de s’assurer un rôle qui les amènerait forcément à passer plus de temps avec les garçons. Chaque fille se faisait une idée du personnage auquel elle s’identifiait, et la pièce nous donnait avec sa petite série de cinq stéréotypes toute la satisfaction que nous en attendions : la vierge innocente mûre pour la corruption, la meneuse endurcie qui sait prendre des risques mais témoigne aussi de points cachés de vulnérabilité, la femme fatale, la tête en l’air frivole qui ne pense qu’à s’amuser et la grosse qui fait perpétuellement le clown. À 16 ans, il ne nous était jamais venu à l’idée de remettre en cause ces catégories de clichés qui continueraient de nous hanter tout au long de nos existences

Yesterday Hier I am a Record 2009 / 1’ 22”

Recorded in the Slade School One night while working late at college I stood in the empty corridor and whistled Un soir que je travaillais tard à l’université, je me tenais dans le of Art in 1991. the Beatles tune Yesterday. It sounded so beautifully melancholic in the empty and couloir vide et je me suis mise à siffler l’air de Yesterday des Beatles. Cover: Pencil on paper. resonant space. I wanted other people to hear what the space sounded like with me C’était divinement mélancolique dans le vide qui faisait écho. J’aurais voulu que d’autres personnes entendent comment l’espace résonnait whistling in it, so I recorded myself and the next day set up hidden speakers connected Enregistré à la Slade School lorsque j’y sifflais et je me suis donc enregistrée. Le lendemain, j’ai of Art en 1991. to a tape player in my locker. The tune played on and off on a loop throughout the day. installé des haut-parleurs que j’ai cachés et je les ai connectés à un Illustration de la pochette : It was a communication without words, unannounced and unidentifiable. This is a lecteur de cassettes placé dans mon casier. L’air fut diffusé en boucle crayon sur papier. record of me whistling Yesterday, yesterday, and heard today. à intervalles réguliers pendant toute la journée. C’était une forme de communication sans parole, inattendue et inidentifiable. Ce disque contient l’enregistrement de moi en train de siffler Yesterday, hier, et diffusé aujourd’hui. I am the Whistler C’est moi I am a Record le siffleur 2009 / 11’

A collection of whistles I began to notice whistlers in 1990. Over the next few years I wrote down every J’ai commencé à m’intéresser aux siffleurs en 1990. Pendant les 1990-2009. whistled tune I heard. There was the man who used to pass every morning on his quelques années qui ont suivi, j’ai noté par écrit tous les airs sifflés Cover: Gouache on paper with way to work and whistle a different tune every day, the young guy who whistled One que j’ai entendus. Il y avait l’homme qui avait l’habitude de passer tous Ronnie Ronalde letters in the les matins en allant à son travail et de siffler un air différent chaque Day I’ll Fly Away in the lift at Covent Garden, the technician at college who whistled gatefold. jour, le jeune gars qui sifflait One Day I’ll Fly Away dans l’ascenseur à whatever he had heard that morning on Radio 1, the city worker in a suit who walked Covent Garden, le technicien de l’école d’art qui sifflait ce qu’il avait Une collection de sifflements past whistling the theme tune from Steptoe and Son... and many, many more. I tried to entendu le matin même sur Radio 1, l’employé de banque en costume enregistrés entre 1990 et 2009. qui passait en sifflant l’air de Steptoe and Son… et beaucoup, beaucoup Pochette : gouache sur papier record these encounters, but often found whistling too fleeting to capture; by the time I d’autres encore. J’ai essayé d’enregistrer ces situations, mais je trouvais avec des lettres de Ronnie had grappled with the recorder the whistler had either vanished or stopped. que le sifflement était le plus souvent trop fugace pour pouvoir être Ronalde dans le dépliant. After recording the whistle piece Yesterday (see Yesterday) I wanted to find a tune that enregistré : le temps que je m’affaire avec mon magnétophone, soit le no one would recognise and began to set up various devices to make musical scores siffleur avait disparu, soit il s’était arrêté de siffler. from chance actions like paper arrows blowing in the wind. This led to the composition Après avoir enregistré la pièce Yesterday (voir la notice de Yesterday), je of a whole series of new melodies (see Air Compositions from 1-6 and Whistle). Then voulais trouver un air que personne ne pourrait reconnaître et j’ai mis I discovered the great Ronnie Ronalde. Ronnie Ronalde was a British musical hall au point un certain nombre de dispositifs pour produire des morceaux de musique générés par l’action du hasard tels que des flèches en papier performer and famous whistler, yodeller and bird impersonator who in the 1950’s was volant dans le vent. C’est ce qui m’a conduite à composer toute une série a multi-million record selling artist. I had an idea that Ronnie should whistle one of my de mélodies originales (voir Air Compositions from 1-6 et Whistle). Puis, tunes. It took months (pre-internet) to find Ronalde, but I eventually tracked him down je découvris le grand Ronnie Ronalde. Ronnie Ronalde était un artiste living in New Zealand in a place aptly called ‘the Whistlers Lodge’. He replied to my de music hall britannique très connu pour ses performances de siffleur, letter saying he would be happy to assist me. Sometime later however, after I had sent de yodleur et d’imitateur d’oiseaux et qui vendit dans les années 1950 des millions de disques. J’ai pensé que Ronnie devrait siffler un de mes him my tune, I received another letter saying that the tune was too complicated for him airs. Cela me prit des mois (il n’y avait pas encore Internet) pour le and he was unable to do it. My tune was very simple compared to the complex tunes he retrouver, mais je finis par le localiser en Nouvelle Zélande où il vivait normally whistled, but I accepted his answer and in the end whistled the tune myself. dans un endroit justement dénommé The Whistlers Lodge (Le Pavillon des siffleurs). Il répondit à ma lettre en me disant qu’il serait heureux de m’aider. Quelques temps plus tard toutefois, après que je lui eus envoyé mon air, je reçus une autre lettre où il disait que l’air était trop compliqué pour lui et qu’il était incapable de le siffler. Comparé aux airs complexes qu’il sifflait habituellement, mon air était très simple, mais j’acceptai sa réponse et je sifflai finalement cet air moi-même.

Compositions Air Compositions d’air, 1-6 from 1-6 I am a Record 2009 / 2’ 25”

Recorded in London in 1992. Experiments into documenting air movements in and around Euston station in London C’est en faisant des essais d’enregistrement des mouvements d’air Cover: Pencil on paper in 1991 led to the composition of a series of six short melodies. There was a particular dans et autour de la station de métro Euston à Londres en 1991 (6-sided gatefold). spot on the station concourse where two currents met and created an eddy. The scores que j’ai été amenée à composer une série de six courtes mélodies. Il y avait un endroit spécial dans la station où deux courants d’air were made by throwing a number of paper arrows into wind eddies and photographing Enregistré à Londres en 1992. se rencontraient et créaient un tourbillon. Les partitions ont été Pochette: crayon sur papier the arrow movements. The photographs were then placed on musical scores and a note produites en lançant un certain nombre de flèches de papier dans les (dépliant à six volets). was made wherever the point of an arrow appeared on the line of the score. This is a tourbillons de vent et en photographiant les mouvements des flèches. record of six ‘air’ melodies played on the piano. Les photographies ont ensuite été placées sur des feuilles de partitions de musique et les notes furent elles-mêmes placées là où les pointes des flèches se positionnaient sur les lignes de portée. Ce disque contient See also Whistle, I am the Whistler and Yesterday. l’enregistrement de six mélodies d’« air » jouées au piano.

Voir aussi Whistle, I am the Whistler et Yesterday. Whistle Sifflement I am a Record 2009 / 1’ 58”

Recorded in London in 1992. This is a record of myself whistling Air Composition No.3 (see description of Air Ce disque contient un enregistrement de moi en train de siffler Air Cover: Gouache and pencil on Compositions from 1-6). The record should be played in an empty space or over the Composition n°3 (voir la notice de Air Compositions From 1-6). Il doit paper (3 sided-gatefold). announcement system of a train station. être diffusé dans un espace vide ou via le système d’annonces d’une gare ferroviaire. Enregistré à Londres en 1992. Pochette : gouache et crayon sur See also Air Compositions from 1-6, I am the Whistler and Yesterday. Voir aussi Air Compositions from 1-6, I am the Whistler et Yesterday. papier (dépliant à trois volets).

Static Steps 1-6 Pas statiques 1-6 I am a Record 2009 / 52”, 54”, 47”, 57”, 37”, 2’20”

Recorded in London in 1992. A series of six narrated instructions for two small paper figures statically charged Récitation d’une série d’instructions pour deux petites figures en Covers: Pencil and gouache on (male and female). The figures are repelled and attracted to each other by an invisible papier (une masculine et une féminine) chargées statiquement. Les paper with fold-out dance step force. The movements: the Static, the First Leader, the Streamer, the Stroke, the Attractor personnages sont repoussés et attirés l’un vers l’autre par une force drawings. invisible. Les mouvements : The Static, The First Leader, The Streamer, and the Dart Leader are described in great detail by the voice of a BBC radio presenter. The Stroke, The Attractor et The Dart Leader sont décrits en détail par Enregistré à Londres en 1992. la voix d’un présentateur de radio de la BBC. Pochettes : crayon et gouache sur papier avec un dépliant comportant les dessins des pas de danse. Hier Mentioning Citations I am a Record 2009 / 6’ 23”

Recorded in London in 1992. During 1992 and ‘93 I spent months secretly recording strangers’ conversations in and En 1992 et 1993, j’ai passé des mois à enregistrer secrètement des Music played and arranged around London. I took great pleasure in listening to people in private, not knowing who conversations d’inconnus à Londres et dans ses environs. J’ai eu by Michael Reynolds. they were, and often without looking at them. I enjoyed having their amplified voices in beaucoup de plaisir à écouter des gens discuter en privé, sans savoir Cover: Pencil on paper. qui ils étaient, et souvent sans les regarder. J’aimais ces voix qui my ears as I sat alone at tables in cafés and bars. parvenaient à mes oreilles tandis que j’étais assise seule à une table Enregistré à Londres en 1992. One of the recordings was particularly fascinating to me: a woman who appeared to dans un café ou un bar. interprétation et arrangements be talking to herself. It transpired through repeat listening that she was actually not Je fus particulièrement captivée par l’un des enregistrements, celui par Michael Reynolds. d’une femme qui semblait se parler à elle-même. À l’écoute répétée, Pochette : crayon sur papier. alone, but was talking to a very silent friend. This woman’s monologue reminded me of a sorrowful lament and I felt it needed to be transformed into song. My idea was to try il s’avéra qu’elle n’était en réalité pas seule mais qu’elle parlait à un ami qui ne disait rien. Ce monologue de femme me faisait penser à Mentioning making a theme tune style number, which would not sound out of place playing as the une triste lamentation et je trouvais qu’il fallait absolument en faire I’ve mentioned it to so many people credits rolled on a daytime soap opera. Mentioning is in three parts to encourage the une chanson. Mon projet fut d’essayer d’écrire la musique de cette It’s actually quite nice to talk to listener to sing along in the final section. chanson dans le style des thèmes qui accompagnent les génériques des someone soap operas quotidiens. Mentioning est en trois parties afin d’inciter I’m going to be honest l’auditeur à chanter avec l’œuvre pendant la troisième. I’ve not been able to talk to anyone See also The Voices and So I Said.

I’d no intention of mentioning Voir aussi The Voices et So I Said. I’m not considering Well this what I’m saying And so this why

I’m not sure if it has been noticed Which I know, which I’ve said and is not worth saying But if I don’t get it I won’t be able to talk to anyone

If he phoned up and said, “look now, he’s reconsidering” Well if this happens I’ll understand, yeah, yeah, yeah

I’ve mentioned it to so many people It’s actually quite nice to talk to someone I’m going to be honest I’ve not been able to talk to anyone

If he phoned up and said, “look now, he’s reconsidering” Well if this happens I’ll understand, yeah, yeah, yeah

I’ve mentioned it to so many people It’s actually quite nice to talk to someone I’m going to be honest I’ve not been able to talk to anyone So I Said Je disais donc I am a Record 2009 / 11’ 58”

Recorded in London in 1993. I thought Mentioning would put an end to my obsession with capturing the Je pensais que Mentioning mettrait fin à mon obsession d’enregistrer Cover: Ink and gouache on paper conversation of strangers. Unfortunately it did not. The only way I found to les conversations d’inconnus. Malheureusement, il n’en fut rien. with gatefold map. eventually stop was to actually embody the voices I had recorded and to try to Le seul moyen que je trouvais finalement pour y couper court fut d’interpréter moi-même les voix que j’avais enregistrées et d’essayer become them. So I Said is a record of my voice as 12 recorded strangers. The Enregistré à Londres en 1993. de devenir elles. So I Said est un enregistrement de ma voix jouant le Pochette : encre et gouache sur conversations are: So I Said, A Nice Day, I Used to Think, the Paranoia Problem, rôle de douze inconnus enregistrés. Les conversations s’intitulent : So papier avec volet dépliant. Mentioning It and Tea Cosy. I Said, A Nice Day, I Used to Think, the Paranoia Problem, Mentioning It et Tea Cosy.

See also The Voices and Mentioning. Voir aussi The Voices et Mentioning. Erik Erik I am a Record 2009 / 25’ 02”

Recorded in Amsterdam in 1993. After spending a year recording the overheard conversations of strangers I found Après avoir passé une année à enregistrer des conversations 20 whispered stories about Erik myself in a foreign land unable to tune into private narratives. Instead I began to d’inconnus entendues dans des lieux publics, je me suis retrouvée in English and Japanese. collect the sounds that voices and words made, and I was especially drawn to the sound dans un pays étranger dans l’incapacité de me brancher sur des récits Cover: Gouache on paper privés. En échange, j’ai commencé à collecter les sons produits par of whispering. with gatefold and booklet. les voix et les mots, et j’étais particulièrement attirée par les sons de Erik entered my life on the back of a cigar box. I found a note written to him discarded chuchotements. Enregistré à Amsterdam en 1993. in the street. It read: Erik entra dans ma vie au dos d’une boîte de cigares. Je trouvai par 20 histoires sur Erik chuchotées terre dans la rue un mot qui lui était destiné. Il disait : en anglais et en japonais. Pochette : gouache sur papier Dear Erik, avec volet dépliant. I’ve known you now for many years. It was always good to see you and Cher Erik, hear your voice. We ate together often, mostly in harmony. I’ve always Je t’ai connu il y a maintenant de nombreuses années. C’était valued the wise words you spoke to me. I’ve not seen you now for a long toujours bien de te voir et d’entendre ta voix. Nous avons souvent time, but I hope we’ll spend a pleasant evening together again soon. mangé ensemble, la plupart du temps dans l’harmonie. J’ai toujours estimé la sagesse de tes paroles. Je ne t’ai plus revu Perr depuis longtemps, mais j’espère que nous passerons bientôt de nouveau une agréable soirée ensemble. The box was placed on my wall and every time someone came to visit they would ask about it. Everyone had a story to tell about an Erik they had known. I collected Perr their stories and eventually used them to create a type of ‘Super Erik’; someone who embodied the characteristics of all the Eriks I had been told about. I attempted to link J’avais accroché la boîte au mur chez moi et chaque fois que quelqu’un the key aspects of his personality and invited people to my studio to whisper their me rendait visite, il m’interrogeait à son sujet. Tous avaient une histoire stories to me. For a while I corresponded with an Erik who had answered an advert I à me raconter au sujet d’un Erik qu’ils avaient connu. Je collectionnai ces histoires et les utilisai finalement pour créer une sorte de «Super placed in the newspaper asking: ‘Do You Know Erik? If so write and tell me Erik » : quelqu’un qui incarnait toutes les caractéristiques des Erik about him.’ dont on m’avait parlé. J’essayai de réunir les principaux aspects de sa personnalité et j’invitai les gens à mon atelier à venir me chuchoter leurs histoires. Pendant quelques temps, je correspondis avec un Erik qui avait répondu à une annonce que j’avais passée dans le journal : « Connaissez-vous Erik ? Si oui, écrivez-moi et parlez-moi de lui. » Un dîner Dining Alone seule à Paris in Paris I am a Record 2009 / 7’ 15”

Recorded in Paris in 1993. After an uncomfortable evening dining alone in a Paris restaurant I recorded my Après avoir passé une soirée pénible à dîner seule à Paris dans un Cover: Dining Alone by Le Seine. thoughts on tape. I had yearned for a table where there were no other diners, restaurant, j’enregistrai mes pensées sur cassette. Je n’avais pas eu so a few days later I dined alone quite happily by Le Seine. la table pour moi toute seule que j’aurais voulue et c’est donc avec un Enregistré à Paris en 1993. grand bonheur que j’ai quelques jours plus tard dîné seule dans un Pochette : Dining Alone au restaurant Le Seine. restaurant Le Seine. Crying En pleurs (encore) (Again) I am a Record 2009 / 8’ 07”

Recorded in my studio in In 1993 I became so frustrated by my tears that I filmed myself crying in the corner of En 1993, mes larmes ont fini par tellement m’agacer que je me suis Hoxton Square in 1998 while my studio. Since that time I have tried where possible to record all my tears. filmée en train de pleurer dans le coin de mon atelier. Depuis lors, listening to a pop song. j’ai essayé d’enregistrer mes larmes partout où c’était possible. Cover: Still from the video Crying (1993).

Enregistré à mon atelier de Hoxton Square en 1998. Pochette : stills de la vidéo Crying (1993). En pleurs Crying in au Dagmarkt the Den Haag de La Haye Dagmarkt I am a Record 2009 / 57”

Recorded in Den Haag in 1993. In May 1993 in the Dutch town of Den Haag I was suffering from a strange affliction; En mai 1993, alors que je séjournais en Hollande à La Haye, je Cover: Ingrid Bergman in every time I entered a supermarket I inexplicably burst into tears. After setting up a souffris d’une étrange affection : chaque fois que j’entrais dans For Whom the Bell Tolls. series of blind dates to relieve my loneliness I met a woman called Jehane. She arrived un supermarché, je fondais inexplicablement en larmes. J’avais programmé des rendez-vous avec des inconnus pour soulager ma on the date clad in black leather and astride a Harley Davidson motorbike. Jehane was Enregistré à La Haye en 1993. solitude et je rencontrai une femme prénommée Jehane. Elle vint Pochette : Ingrid Bergman dans a singing teacher and after the date I gave her the words to a song I had written in the au rendez-vous vêtue de cuir noir et chevauchant une moto Harley Pour qui sonne le glas. supermarket. This is a recording of Jehane singing Crying in the Den Haag Dagmarkt, Davidson. Jehane était professeur de chant et après notre rendez- vous, je lui remis les paroles d’une chanson que j’avais écrite au Crying in the accompanying herself on the guitar. supermarché. Ce disque contient l’enregistrement de Jehane chantant Den Haag Dagmarkt Crying in the Den Haag Dagmarkt en s’accompagnant à la guitare. See also Sing with Junior and One Night a Man Came Home from Work. It always seems to happen in the supermarket Voir aussi Sing with Junior et One Night a Man Came Home From Work . A turn for the trolley is a turn for the worst It’s all gone misty, it’s all misty and blurred It’s bloody absurd Lionel don’t say a word It’s a den and it’s breaking my heart It’s a den, my life’s falling apart In the den, in the Den Haag dagmart Une chanson Sing with avec Junior Junior I am a Record 2009 / 3’ 37”

Singing with Junior I gave my first singing performance in December 1974 at a family party. I had practiced J’ai interprété une chanson en public pour la première fois en in Den Haag in 1993. religiously for weeks before Christmas and had chosen to perform a song that had been décembre 1974 dans une fête de famille. Je m’étais entraînée Cover: Gouache on paper with popular that year: Jimmy Osmond’s Long Haired Lover from Liverpool. religieusement pendant des semaines avant Noël et j’avais choisi gatefold images of Junior, my d’interpréter une chanson qui était très populaire cette année-là : 1974 had been a busy year for our family as my parents had been trying to adopt a child. sister and myself. Long Haired Lover from Liverpool de Jimmy Osmond. A baby girl had been given to us in September and she very quickly became part of the 1974 avait été une année agitée pour notre famille car mes parents Une chanson chantée avec Junior family. On 22nd December however, my father returned home from work laden with avaient essayé d’adopter un enfant. On nous avait donné un bébé fille à La Haye en 1993. en septembre et elle fit très vite partie de la famille. Le 22 décembre Pochette : gouache sur papier presents only to find my mother collapsed in tears on the floor. The adoption agency cependant, mon père qui rentrait du travail chargé de cadeaux ne avec un volet dépliant d’images had taken the baby back. The loss of the child damped all our spirits, but I still sang my trouva plus que ma mère effondrée en pleurs sur le sol. L’agence de Junior, de ma sœur et song at the party. I have little memory of how it went down. d’adoption avait repris le bébé. La perte de l’enfant freina tout notre de moi-même. Exactly 20 years later I found myself alone for two weeks in a hotel room in Den Haag. enthousiasme mais je chantai quand même ma chanson à la fête. Je To combat loneliness and entertain myself I made ‘Junior’, a miniature version of me. n’ai pas grand souvenir de la façon dont mon interprétation fut reçue. With Junior everything seemed to change for the better. I conversed with her about Exactement vingt ans plus tard, je me trouvais seule pour deux the situation I had found myself in, and we also sang duets. One of the recordings I semaines dans une chambre d’hôtel à La Haye. Pour lutter contre ma solitude et me distraire, je créai Junior, une version miniature de moi- made with Junior was Long Haired Lover from Liverpool. même. Avec Junior, tout paraissait prendre une meilleure tournure. Je discutai avec elle de la situation dans laquelle je me trouvais et nous See also Crying in the Den Haag Dagmarkt and One Night a Man Came Home From Work. chantâmes aussi en duo. Un des enregistrements que je fis avec Junior était Long Haired Lover from Liverpool.

Voir aussi Crying in the Den Haag Dagmarkt et One Night a Man Came Home From Work.

Un soir un homme One Night rentrait du travail a Man came à la maison Home from Work I am a Record 2009 / 1’ 24”

James Starr singing over a In June 1993 I spent two weeks alone in the city of Den Haag and was immobilised by En juin 1993, alors que je passais deux semaines seule à La Haye, j’ai telephone line from Leeds to severe melancholia. My father had sensed this during a telephone conversation and had été foudroyée par une grave crise de mélancolie. Mon père s’en aperçut Amsterdam in 1993. become worried about my mental state, saying to me ‘Don’t do anything stupid’, which lors d’un appel téléphonique et s’inquiétant de mon état mental, il me Cover: Gouache on paper. dit : « Ne fais pas de bêtise », ce que j’interprétais comme une invitation I took to mean don’t kill myself. On hearing his words I suddenly remembered an old à ne pas me suicider. En entendant ses paroles, je me souvins tout à Une chanson chantée au folk song he used to sing when I was a child. I asked him to sing it for me, and one day coup d’une vieille chanson populaire qu’il chantait souvent lorsque téléphone he left it on my answer machine in Amsterdam. Hearing his voice sing the sorrowful j’étais enfant. Je lui demandai de me la chanter et un jour, il la laissa dans une ligne reliant Leeds sur mon répondeur à Amsterdam. Entendre sa voix chanter ces tristes à Amsterdam en 1993. lyrics seemed to encapsulate an indefinable feeling between ‘happy’ and ‘sad’, the song paroles m’emplit d’un sentiment indéfinissable oscillant entre la «joie » Pochette : gouache sur papier. was transformed into a tragic-comic lament and my spirit was momentarily lifted. et la « tristesse ». La chanson s’était métamorphosée en une complainte tragi-comique et elle me remonta momentanément le moral. One Night a Man Came Home See also Crying in the Den Haag Dagmarkt and Sing with Junior. From Work (Folk Ballad) Voir aussi Crying in the Den Haag Dagmarkt et Sing With Junior. There was a man came home one night And found his house without a light He went upstairs to go to bed When a certain thought came to his head He went into his daughter’s room And found her hanging from the beam He got his knife and cut her down And on her breast these words were found: “My love was for a sailor boy, who sailed the ocean far and wide Oh Father, father, dig my grave, dig it deep and dig it wide And on the top put a lily white dove, to show that I have died of Love” Noël est réservé Christmas à la famille is for the Family I am a Record 2009 / 5’ 22””

A conversation over Christmas I was given my first camcorder for Christmas in 1992. As I was at home in Leeds with Une conversation enregistrée pendant le dîner de Noël de 1992. dinner recorded in 1992. my family it seemed logical that they would be my first subjects. I had an idea that Comme j’étais en famille à la maison à Leeds, il était logique que ma Cover: Gouache on paper. I could film them documentary style going about their Christmas day duties and having famille fut mon premier sujet de film. J’eus l’idée que je pourrais les filmer dans un style «documentaire » en train de vaquer à leurs the usual mishaps and arguments. My family had a different idea. They all hated the Une conversation occupations d’un jour de Noël qui ne manquerait pas d’être émaillé pendant le dîner de Noël camera and would either run away or in most cases act completely unlike themselves; des accrocs et des disputes habituels. Ma famille n’était pas de cet enregistrée en 1992. speaking ‘posher’, acting refined and well-mannered. On camera they tried to become avis. Ils haïssaient tous la caméra et, soit ils se sauvaient en courant, Pochette : gouache sur papier. the model family, smiling sweetly as they took roast potatoes out of the oven and soit ils se comportaient dans la plupart des cas totalement à l’inverse being extremely tolerant of each other. When it came to Christmas dinner my father de ce qu’ils étaient : ils parlaient avec « plus de distinction » et se comportaient avec raffinement et de manière policée. Face à la caméra, had finally had enough of pretending and simply said ‘Switch that bleeding thing off’. ils cherchaient à être une famille modèle : ils souriaient aimablement I put on the lens cap, but accidentally kept the tape rolling. Finally I was able to capture comme s’ils étaient en train de sortir du four des pommes de terre them in their true light. rôties et ils étaient très respectueux les uns des autres. Quand arriva le dîner de Noël, mon père en eut finalement assez de ce simulacre et dit simplement : « Éteins ce maudit engin ! ». Je mis son capuchon sur l’objectif mais je laissai la bande tourner. Je pus donc finalement les saisir dans leur authentique vérité. Comment How vous rendre to Make invisible Yourself Invisible I am a Record 2009 / 2’ 30”

Recorded in Amsterdam in 1994. In 1994 I made a list of ‘desires’ I wished to attain. These were: En 1994, j’ai fait la liste des « désirs » que je voulais atteindre. Cover: Photographs of Being La voici : Blue and Being Invisible. * To have the power of invisibility

Enregistré à Amsterdam en 1994. * To read minds * Avoir le pouvoir de l’invisibilité Pochette : photographies de * To communicate with animals * Lire dans les pensées Being Blue et de Being Invisible. * To have a photographic memory * Communiquer avec les animaux * To star in a musical * Avoir une mémoire photographique * Être la vedette d’une comédie musicale I set about attaining these ‘desires’ one by one. J’entrepris d’atteindre ces « désirs » un par un. See also Remembering Visit to a Small Planet and Desires: To Star in a Musical. Voir aussi Remembering Visit to a Small Planet et Desires: To Star in a Musical. Je me souviens Remembering de Visit to a Visit to a Small Planet Small Planet I am a Record 2009 / 21’ 59”

Recorded in Amsterdam in 1994. In 1994 I arrived at my studio to find the room filled with orange smoke. When the En 1994, j’arrivai un jour dans mon atelier et trouvai la pièce remplie Cover: Pencil on paper. smoke cleared I found a typed note in my typewriter along with a number of gifts. The d’une fumée orange. Quand la fumée s’éclaircit, je trouvai dans note read: ma machine à écrire un mot qui y avait été tapé ainsi que quelques Enregistré à Amsterdam en 1994. cadeaux. Le mot disait : Pochette : crayon sur papier. Dear Georgina, Chère Georgina, I came to visit your small planet, but you were not here. Unfortunately I Je suis venu rendre visite à ta petite planète mais tu n’étais was unable to stay so I have left you some small gifts. The helmet will give pas là. Comme malheureusement je ne pouvais pas rester, je you the powers that you desire, and the ravioli will help you remember me. t’ai laissé quelques petits cadeaux. Le casque te donnera les pouvoirs que tu désires, et les raviolis t’aideront à te souvenir Good luck earthling, de moi. Kreton P.S The LP is a favourite of mine and may also help you remember. K Bonne chance à toi, terrienne. Kreton I sat down with a plate of the Buitoni ravioli and a glass of milk, switched on the Dean P. S. Le 33 tours est un de mes disques favoris et il doit aussi Martin LP and tried to remember a film I had watched on Saturday morning TV in t’aider à te souvenir. K. 1978. The taste and smell of the tinned ravioli, which I had not eaten since childhood, Je m’assis avec une assiette de raviolis Buitoni et un verre de lait, mis le and the sound of Dino’s voice, transported me back into the living room of my semi- disque de Dean Martin et essayai de me souvenir d’un film que j’avais detached house in Alexander Avenue, Leeds. The film I was trying to remember was vu dans le programme du samedi matin à la télé en 1978. Le goût et l’odeur des raviolis en conserve, dont je n’avais plus mangé depuis mon Visit to a Small Planet (1960) starring (I believed) Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin. enfance, et le son de la voix de Dino me transportèrent plusieurs années This was the beginning of a long and complicated experiment that saw me realise a list en arrière à Leeds, dans le salon de ma maison jumelée de l’Alexander of ‘desires’ and gain special powers. Avenue. Le film dont j’essayais de me souvenir était Mince de planète (Visit to a Small Planet) (1960) avec (je crois) Jerry Lewis et Dean Martin. See also How to Make Yourself Invisible and Desires: To Star in a Musical. Ce fut le début d’une expérience longue et compliquée qui me vit réaliser un certain nombre de « désirs » et acquérir des pouvoirs spéciaux.

Voir aussi How to Make Yourself Invisible et Desires: To Star in a Musical. Tarot in ’92 Tarot en 1992 I am a Record 2009 / 38” 23’

Recorded in London in Are you at a crossroads? Do you have a major life-changing decision to make? Es-tu à un carrefour ? As-tu une décision majeure à prendre qui September 1992. The answer was yes and it was my first venture into the world of the psychic. changera le cours de ta vie ? La réponse était oui et c’était ma première Cover: Pencil on paper. expérience de passage dans le monde des esprits.

Enregistré à Londres en septembre 1992. Pochette : crayon sur papier. Séance de A Palm chiromancie à Edam Reading in Edam I am a Record 2009 / 22’ 44”

Recorded in Edam in 1993. In 1993 I visited a psychic at her cottage in a remote region of Holland. The psychic En 1993, je suis allée voir une voyante dans sa propriété située dans Cover: Gouache on paper. shared her home with a large Alsatian dog and a black raven in a cage. She chain- une région reculée de la Hollande. Elle partageait sa maison avec un smoked throughout the sitting, which gives my memory of the occasion a misty glow. grand chien-loup et un corbeau noir en cage. Elle fuma cigarette sur Enregistré à Edam en 1993. cigarette pendant toute la séance, ce qui recouvrit mon souvenir de cet I was 24 years old and still at college. Much was communicated about my past, present Pochette : gouache sur papier. épisode d’un voile de brume. J’avais 24 ans et j’étudiais encore à l’école and future in this strange and memorable sitting. Listening again 16 years later d’art. Dans cette étrange et mémorable séance, elle me communiqua I discovered that many details she conveyed were uncanny in their accuracy, in fact, beaucoup de choses sur mon passé, mon présent et mon futur. most of what she predicted had come true. Réécoutant l’enregistrement seize ans plus tard, je m’aperçus que dans ce qu’elle avait dit, de nombreux détails étaient tout à fait troublants de précision, et qu’en fait, la plupart des choses qu’elle avait prédites s’étaient réalisées. Les voix The Voices de Georgina of Georgina I am a Record 2009 / 43’ 33”

Recordings sent from In 1993 I attempted to get to know a stranger using only psychic and paranormal En 1993, j’ai voulu faire l‘expérience d’apprendre à connaître un GS to GS in 1993. methodology. We never met or spoke to each other and our only communication was étranger en utilisant une méthode uniquement basée sur la voyance Cover: Pencil and gouache via a series of written requests, which I wrote and he responded to. I took his palm et le paranormal. Nous ne nous sommes jamais rencontrés ni parlé on paper with gatefold. et notre communication n’a consisté qu’en des demandes que je lui print to a palm reader, his date of birth to a numerologist, his dreams to a dream faisais par écrit et auxquelles il répondait. J’ai apporté l’impression Enregistrements envoyés analyst, his handwriting to a graphologist, descriptions of his face to a physiognomist des lignes de sa main à un chiromancien, sa date de naissance à par GS à GS en 1993. and the leaves at the bottom of his teacup to a tea-leaf reader. After three months a un numérologue, ses rêves à un analyste des rêves, son écriture Pochette : crayon et gouache sur manuscrite à un graphologue, la description des traits de son visage papier avec volet dépliant. portrait of a man emerged. At the end of the experiment I asked him 11 questions about me. He answered my à un physiognomoniste et les feuilles du fond de sa tasse de thé à un spécialiste de l’art de la divination dans les feuilles de thé. Au bout de questions and with the answers came an audiocassette. On the cassette was written trois mois, un portrait de l’homme a pris forme. A la fin de l’expérience, The Voices of Georgina. The tape was filled with the most beautiful voices, each one je lui ai posé onze questions sur moi. Il m’a répondu en accompagnant played from vinyl record onto tape. Also on the tape, in between these lovely female son courrier d’une cassette audio sur laquelle il avait écrit The Voices voices was my own rather hoarse voice singing a song called Paper Doll. In one of my of Georgina. Toute la cassette contenait des voix extrêmement belles, earlier requests I had asked him to name the first song that came into his head when qui avaient été enregistrées à partir de disques vinyle. Au milieu de ces délicieuses voix de femmes, il y avait aussi ma propre voix, assez he woke up that morning. He wrote that the song was Paper Doll, so I recorded myself rauque, chantant une chanson intitulée Paper Doll. Dans l’un de mes singing the song and sent it to him. Another request made was for him to choose his premiers envois, je lui avais demandé de me donner le titre de la favourite colours in the Luscher Colour Test. He chose yellow and blue and I had sent première chanson qui lui était venue à l’esprit ce matin-là à son réveil. him flowers of yellow and blue. Through our brief communication words had changed Il m’avait écrit que c’était Paper Doll et je m’étais donc enregistrée into music and flowers. en train de la chanter et je lui avais envoyé l’enregistrement. Je lui avais aussi demandé lors d’un autre envoi de sélectionner ses couleurs préférées dans le test des couleurs de Lüscher. Il avait choisi le jaune et le bleu et je lui avais envoyé des fleurs de couleur jaune et bleue. Grâce à notre bref échange épistolaire, les mots s’étaient changés en musique et en fleurs.

Gros bisous. Lots of Love Ta petite Your Little sœur Sarah Sister Sarah I am a Record 2009 / 5’ 2”

Recorded in Sheffield in 2009. At the beginning of 1996 my little sister entered New Hall Prison in Wakefield on a Au début de l’année 1996, ma petite sœur fut condamnée à deux ans Alanis Morissette sings, while two-year sentence. She was 21 years old. It was hard to feel truly sorry for the position d’emprisonnement et incarcérée à la prison de New Hall à Wakefield. my sister reads her letters. she had found herself in as she had terrorised my parents for well over five years, Elle avait 21 ans. Il était difficile de vraiment s’apitoyer sur son sort Cover: Pencil on paper. car elle s’était retrouvée dans cette situation après avoir terrorisé mes leading them into a world they never thought they would experience outside of TV cop parents pendant au moins cinq ans, les entraînant dans un monde dont Alanis Morissette chante shows and gangster movies. They had dealt with police arrests, death threats, stolen ils ne pensaient pas qu’ils feraient un jour l’expérience hormis dans pendant que ma sœur lit ses money and belongings, attempted murder, unwanted pregnancies, violent boyfriends des séries policières télévisées ou des films de gangsters. Ils avaient lettres de prison. dû faire face à des arrestations policières, des menaces de mort, des Enregistrée à Sheffield en 2009. and heroin drug dens. vols d’argent et d’objets, des tentatives de meurtre, des grossesses non Illustration de la pochette : My sister’s letters began arriving as soon as she entered prison and over the course of désirées, des petits amis violents et des repaires de drogués à l’héroïne. crayon sur papier. that year I received almost one every month. She had never written to me before. The Les lettres de ma sœur commencèrent à arriver immédiatement après letters were a complex combination of conflicting emotions: confessional, apologetic, Forgiven son incarcération et je reçus au cours de cette année-là environ une by Alanis Morissette (4’41”) angry, fearful, troubled, and at times mundane and even poetic. The person in the lettre par mois. Elle ne m’avait jamais écrit auparavant. Ses lettres letters was very different from the one I knew on the outside. This ‘letter-writing’ étaient un mélange complexe d’émotions contradictoires : confessions, You know how us Catholic girls can be sister was philosophical, remorseful and full of promises to change and start afresh. In excuses, colère, peurs, inquiétudes, et parfois des choses très terre-à- We make up for so much time terre et même de la poésie. La personne des lettres était très différente a little too late the letters she became the person she wanted to be. de celle que je connaissais dans la vie. Cette sœur « épistolaire » était I never forgot it, confusing as it was The only personal possession my sister was allowed to own in prison was a cassette No fun with no guilt feelings philosophe, habitée par le remords et pleine de ses promesses de The sinners, the saviors, Walkman. In the letters she would ask me for tapes and audio books, and the one she changement et de nouveau départ. Elle devenait dans les lettres la the loverless priests wanted more than any other was the new Alanis Morissette album Jagged Little Pill. personne qu’elle voulait être. I’ll see you next Sunday Coincidentally she was the same age as Morissette, so the post-teenage, angst-ridden Le seul effet personnel qu’elle était autorisée à posséder en prison était un baladeur. Dans ses lettres, elle me demandait régulièrement We all had our reasons to be there lyrics that filled this début album must have struck a chord with my sister. I imagined We all had a thing or two to learn des cassettes et des livres audio, et ce qu’elle désira plus que tout fut We all needed something to cling to her walking around or lying on the bed in her cell with her headphones on and Alanis’s l’album qui venait de sortir d’Alanis Morissette, Jagged Little Pill. Il So we did voice blaring out in her ears ‘What I learned I rejected, but I believe again I will suffer se trouve qu’elle avait le même âge que Morissette, l’âge de la post- adolescence, et les paroles dominées par l’angoisse de ce premier I sang Alleluia in the choir the consequence of this inquisition. If I jump in this fountain, will I be forgiven?’ For I confessed my darkest deeds myself, the letters and the Morissette songs have become synonymous, each one as album ont dû entrer en résonance avec elle. Je l’imaginais déambulant to an envious man dans sa cellule ou allongée sur son lit, les écouteurs sur la tête et la fictional as the other. My brothers they never went blind for voix d’Alanis hurlant dans ses oreilles « What I learned I rejected but what they did I believe again I will suffer the consequence of this inquisition. If I But I may as well have In the name of the Father, the Skeptic jump in this fountain, will I be forgiven? ». Les lettres de ma sœur and the Son et les chansons de Morissette sont pour moi de même nature, aussi I had one more stupid question romanesques l’une que l’autre.

We all had our reasons to be there We all had a thing or two to learn We all needed something to cling to So we did

What I learned I rejected but I believe again I will suffer the consequence of this inquisition If I jump in this fountain, will I be forgiven We all had our reasons to be there We all had a thing or two to learn We all needed something to cling to So we did

We all had delusions in our head We all had our minds made up for us We had to believe in something So we did Sarah’s Teeth Les dents I am a Record de Sarah 2009 / 3’ 37”

Extract from a conversation My sister always had tooth trouble. She cried a lot as a child, which was usually Ma sœur a toujours eu des problèmes de dents. Elle pleurait beaucoup with my sister, recorded attributed to ‘teething’ or toothache. In later years when her teeth were fully developed quand elle était enfant, ce qui était en général attribué à la « poussée in Sheffield 2009. I was envious of her small, flat, neat looking teeth. My mother liked to remind us ‘You des dents » ou au mal de dents. Plus tard, lorsque sa dentition fut Cover: Gouache and pencil arrivée à maturité, je fus envieuse de ses dents qui étaient de petite have nice eyes, Sarah has lovely teeth’, managing to both compliment and insult us at the on paper with gatefold. taille, bien droites et bien rangées. Ma mère aimait à nous rappeler : same time. One of the first things to visibly deteriorate with my sister’s drug problem « Tu as de beaux yeux, Sarah a de belles dents », une façon de nous faire Extrait d’une conversation was her lovely teeth. She looked deceptively healthy on the outside, but her teeth began à toutes les deux un compliment et en même temps de nous offenser. avec ma sœur enregistrée Ses jolies dents furent une des premières choses visibles à se détériorer à Sheffield en 2009. to tell another story. Eventually through years of neglect, combined with the decay à cause de son problème de drogue. Extérieurement, elle avait l’air en Pochette : gouache et crayon brought on by sugary methadone, her teeth were reduced to small brown stumps at the bonne santé, mais ce n’était qu’apparent, et ses dents commençaient sur papier avec volet dépliant. premature age of 28. I remember being shocked one Christmas to see what was left of à raconter une autre histoire. Finalement, après des années de them; hanging like the last brown leaves on a sad winter tree. She had suffered years of négligence associées aux caries amenées par la méthadone sucrée, ses agony with these teeth and her only real option was to have them all removed. dents étaient à l’âge de 28 ans prématurément réduites à l’état de petits Although she was relieved to see them go, the ‘tooth trouble’ did not end there. chicots brunis. Je me souviens avoir été choquée un Noël de voir ce When I went to record my sister reading her prison letters (see Lots of Love Your Little qu’il en restait : pendantes comme les dernières feuilles brunies d’un arbre lugubre en hiver. Ces dents l’avaient fait souffrir atrocement Sister Sarah) in 2009, we spent two days together. It was the first time we had done this pendant des années et la seule solution était maintenant de les faire in years, and we talked and laughed like we had when we were children. toutes enlever. Bien qu’elle fût soulagée de les voir partir, les « problèmes dentaires » ne s’arrêtèrent pas là. Quand je vins en 2009 pour enregistrer la lecture par ma sœur de ses lettres de prison (Voir Lots of Love Your Little Sister Sarah), nous passâmes deux jours ensemble. C’était la première fois que nous faisions une telle chose depuis des années, et nous avons parlé et ri comme nous le faisions lorsque nous étions enfants.

DeHier l’importance The Importance d’embrasser pour un jeune homme of Kissing to à Vienne a Young Man in Vienna I am a Record 2009 / 3’ 39”

A man I had only recently met had invited me to Vienna for New Year. He was an actor Recorded in Vienna in 1996. Enregistré à Vienne en 1996. Un homme que je ne connaissais que depuis peu m’avait invitée à who spoke as if he was playing the lead in a romantic movie from the 1930’s. He said Cover: Pencil on paper. Illustration de la pochette : Vienne pour le Nouvel An. Il était acteur et il parlait comme s’il était crayon sur papier. he had fallen in love with me. I was ambivalent and mistrusted his flamboyant diction. en train de jouer le rôle principal d’un film romantique des années 1930. Il me dit qu’il était amoureux de moi. Mes sentiments étaient I read Stendhal’s chapters on ‘love at first sight’ and ‘thunderbolts’ in his book On ambivalents et je me méfiais de sa magnifique élocution. Je lus, à la Love*, looking for a sign. Then suddenly I thought: I have spent my whole life watching recherche d’un signe, les chapitres que Stendhal a consacrés dans old movies where this type of man romances women they have just met. It Happened son livre De l’amour à « l’amour au premier regard » et aux « coups de One Night (1934), Nothing Sacred (1937), Now Voyager (1942) and The Gay Divorcee foudre ». Puis je réalisai soudain que j’avais passé toute mon existence (1934) were some of my favourites, and all told tales of opposites attracting and ‘against à regarder des vieux films où des hommes de ce genre cherchent à séduire des femmes qu’ils viennent tout juste de rencontrer. New York- the odds’ passion and romance. I remembered that classic line in Now Voyager that Miami (1934), Une femme cherche son destin (1942), Vacances (1938) et summed it all up ‘I wish I understood you’ he said and she replied ‘We only met this La Joyeuse divorcée (1934) faisaient partie de mes films préférés, et tous morning, how could you?’ I decided to go. I figured it might be the closest I would racontaient des histoires d’attirance de contraires et « contre toute get to a starring role in one of those films. attente » de passions et d’idylles romantiques. Je me suis souvenue d’une réplique célèbre d’Une femme cherche son destin qui, à elle seule, résume toute la question : lorsque l’homme lui dit « Si seulement je te See also A New Years Astrology and Serenade. comprenais.», la femme lui répond : « Comment le pourrais-tu, nous ne nous sommes rencontrés que ce matin ? » Je décidai de m’en aller. J’ai pensé que j’aurais sans doute eu là ce qui se serait le plus rapproché d’un rôle de vedette dans l’un de ces films…

Voir aussi Astrologie du Nouvel An et Sérénade

*“You are unconsciously bored it created, and consecrates « L’âme, à son insu, ennuyée de maître de son destin ce qu’elle by living without loving, and for ever to the master of your vivre sans aimer, convaincue rêvait depuis longtemps. » convinced in spite of yourself destiny what you have dreamt malgré elle, par l’exemple des Stendhal, De l’amour, Tome 1, by the example of others. You of for so long.” autres femmes, ayant surmonté chapitre XXIII : « Des coups de have overcome all life’s fears, toutes les craintes de la vie, foudre ». and are no longer content Stendhal, On Love, Book mécontente du triste bonheur with the gloomy happiness One, Chapter 23 ‘Concerning de l’orgueil, s’est fait, sans s’en which pride affords: you have Thunderbolts’. apercevoir, un modèle idéal. conceived an ideal without Elle rencontre un jour un être knowing it. One day you come qui ressemble à ce modèle, la across someone not unlike this cristallisation reconnaît son ideal; crystallization recognizes objet au trouble qu’il inspire, its theme by the disturbance et consacre pour toujours au Serenade Sérénade I am a Record 2009 / 16’ 11”

Recorded in Vienna A Hollywood-style musical romance set in Vienna in 1996. Une idylle romantique musicale dans le style de Hollywood qui se in December 1996. passe à Vienne en 1996. Cover: Gouache on paper See also The Importance of Kissing to a Young Man in Vienna and A New Years Astrology. (with pop-up silhouette Voir aussi The Importance of Kissing to a Young Man in Vienna et A New dancers). Years Astrology.

Enregistré à Vienne en décembre 1996. Pochette : gouache sur papier (avec des pop-up de silhouettes de danseurs). Astrologie A New Years du Nouvel An Astrology I am a Record 2009 / 3’ 14”

Recorded in Vienna in 1997. It’s New Years day morning in a third floor apartment in the Lichtental district of On est dans le quartier de Lichtental à Vienne et c’est le jour du Nouvel Cover: Pencil on paper. Vienna. The window is open and the Wien-Schubertkirche bells can be heard ringing An dans un appartement situé au troisième étage. La fenêtre est in the New Year. There is a thick layer of snow on the ground outside. In the apartment ouverte et les cloches de la Schubertkirche (Eglise Schubert) sonnent Enregistré à Vienne en 1996. la nouvelle année. Une fine couche de neige recouvre le sol dans la rue the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra is playing its famous Neujahrskonzert on the Pochette : crayon sur papier et, dans l’appartement, l’Orchestre philharmonique de Vienne joue television from the Wiener Musikverein, this year conducted by Riccardo Muti. A young son célèbre concert du Nouvel An à la télévision, retransmis depuis man reads out the newspaper’s daily horoscope to a girl. The Vienna Philharmonic provides le Wiener Musikverein et cette année conduit par Riccardo Muti. Un a dramatic backing soundtrack to his strangely accurate astrological predictions. jeune homme lit son horoscope à une fille dans le journal du jour. Le Philharmonique de Vienne fournit un fond sonore dramatique à ses prédictions astrologiques d’une étonnante précision… See also The Importance of Kissing to a Young Man in Vienna and Serenade.

Voir aussi The Importance of Kissing to a Young Man in Vienna et Sérénade. Ô, Ohhh, What que l’amour est une chose a Wonderful merveilleuse Thing Love Is I am a Record 2009 / 1’ 33”

Recorded in London in 1997. In 1997 I was invited to give a lecture at an art school in Los Angeles. A student (who En 1997, je fus invitée à faire une conférence dans une école d’art à Cover: Gouache on paper. happened to be the same age as me) was sent to the airport to collect me and be Los Angeles. On avait envoyé un étudiant (qui se trouvait avoir le my guide for my two-day stay. Within about an hour of meeting him I was smitten. même âge que moi) me chercher à l’aéroport et il devait être mon Enregistré à Londres en 1997. guide pendant les deux jours que j’allais passer sur place. Une heure This young American was the embodiment of my own teenage American dream. He Pochette : gouache sur papier. après l’avoir rencontré, j’étais sous le charme. Ce jeune Américain drove an old beaten up American car, he was quiet and brooding, but also kooky and incarnait l’adolescent américain de mes rêves. Il conduisait une vieille shrewd, an oddball mix of Salinger’s ‘Holden Caulfield’, S.E Hinton’s ‘Ponyboy Curtis’ voiture américaine déglinguée et il se montrait aussi silencieux et and Wes Anderson’s ‘Rushmore’. As we spoke it transpired that he was very recently maussade que fantasque et subtil, dans un mélange excentrique du heartbroken and our two days together were spent talking in great depth about love, Holden Caulfield de Salinger, du Ponyboy Curtis de S.E. Hinton et du Rushmore de Wes Anderson. J’appris au cours de notre conversation loss and music. I returned to London. I thought about him and hoped he might write, qu’il avait souffert très récemment d’une rupture amoureuse, et nous but there was no word. passâmes nos deux jours ensemble à parler d’amour, de perte et de About three months later I received an invitation to take part in a project he had musique avec une grande intensité. Je suis rentrée à Londres et je devised called ‘I’m Still in Love with You’. He was no longer at college and was inviting pensais à lui et j’espérais qu’il m’écrirait, mais ce fut le silence. Environ artists to choose a song to cover from the legendary Al Green album. At exactly the trois mois plus tard, je reçus une invitation à participer à un projet qu’il avait choisi d’intituler « I’m Still in Love With You » (Je suis toujours same time I received an offer of a teaching job for a semester at the art school starting amoureux de toi). Il n’était plus à l’école et il invitait des artistes à at the beginning of ‘98. I arrived in LA with the song in my bag. sélectionner une chanson dans le légendaire album d’Al Green pour en faire le sujet d’une œuvre. Exactement au même moment, je reçus une offre d’un poste d’enseignement pour un semestre à l’école d’art qui devait démarrer au début de 1998. J’arrivai à Los Angeles avec la chanson dans mon sac… Une nouvelle A New Life vie (sans toi) (Without You) I am a Record 2009 / 3’ 14”

Recorded on a Dictaphone As my boyfriend surfs in the sea I imagine that he will drown... Quand mon petit ami surfe sur la mer, j’imagine qu’il va se noyer… on Dockweiler beach, Los Angeles in 1998. Cover: Text and gouache on paper.

Enregistré sur un Dictaphone sur Dockweiler Beach à Los Angeles en 1998. Pochette : texte et gouache sur papier. Misty Roses Les roses I am a Record vaporeuses 2009 / 2’ 16”

Ben Walford recorded In August 1998 I held a series of auditions in my studio to try and find a child with the En août 1998, je fis une série d’auditions dans mon atelier afin de in London in 1999. saddest singing voice. Over two hundred children applied. For three days I listened trouver une voix d’enfant qui soit capable de chanter le plus tristement Music played and arranged to each of the children as they sang their chosen songs. After hearing Ben Walford, a possible. Plus de deux cents enfants posèrent leur candidature. Trois by Michael Reynolds. jours durant, j’écoutais tous les enfants chanter les chansons qu’ils 13-year-old, avid darts fan from Surrey, I knew I had found the voice I was looking for. Cover: Gouache on paper. avaient eux-mêmes choisies. Après avoir entendu Ben Walford, un A few weeks later, by chance, I received a mix-tape in the mail entitled ‘Miserabilia’. garçon de 13 ans, un passionné de fléchettes du Surrey, je sus que j’avais Ben Walford enregistré Each song held a hidden message. One of the songs on the tape was Misty Roses by Tim trouvé la voix que je cherchais. Quelques semaines plus tard, je reçus à Londres en 1999. par hasard par courrier un enregistrement de chansons d’origines Musique jouée et arrangée Hardin. At that moment the song and Ben’s voice merged in a super-magical harmony. diverses intitulée Miserabilia. Chaque chanson contenait un message par Michael Reynolds. caché. Une des chansons était Misty Roses de Tim Hardin. C’est alors Pochette : gouache sur papier. que la chanson et la voix de Ben se confondirent dans une harmonie absolument magique… Bright Eyes Les yeux I am a Record brillants 2009 / 2’ 56”

13 year-old Ben Walford Bright Eyes is dedicated to my sister Sarah, to the memory of the tear I saw glisten in Bright Eyes est dédié à ma sœur Sarah, à la mémoire de la larme que je recorded in London in 1999. her eye as she watched the film Watership Down (1978). vis briller dans un de ses yeux pendant qu’elle était en train de regarder Written by Mike Batt. le film Watership Down (1978). Cover: Gouache on paper. See also Misty Roses and Lots of Love Your Little Sister Sarah. Voir aussi Misty Roses et Lots of Love Your Little Sister Sarah. Ben Walford, un garçon âgé de 13 ans, enregistré à Londres en 1999. Écrit par Mike Batt. Pochette : gouache sur papier.

DÉSIRS : DESIRES: être la vedette d’une comédie To Star musicale in a Musical I am a Record 2009 / 3’ 39”

Recorded in London in 1998. In 1994 I had made a list of ‘desires’ I wished to attain. The last desire on the list, ‘to J’ai fait en 1994 la liste des « désirs » que je voulais atteindre. Cover: Gouache on paper. star in a musical’, had always eluded me. Three years later I began writing Tuberama, Le dernier de la liste, « Être la vedette d’une comédie musicale », an animated musical set on the London Underground. The script followed my m’a toujours échappé. Enregistré à Londres en 1998. Trois ans plus tard, j’ai commencé à écrire Tuberama, une comédie character on a hellish tube journey, which transforms into a fantastical adventure. Pochette : gouache sur papier. musicale animée qui se déroulait dans le métro. Le script suivait un Each tube passenger had their own theme tune and the grand finale was a song entitled personnage (moi-même) lors d’un séjour infernal dans le métro qui se All About Love. My favourite album at that time was a record called A Short Album transformait en aventure fantastique. Chaque passager du métro avait About Love by Divine Comedy. I had a fantasy that the perfect person to compose the son thème musical propre et le grand thème final était une chanson music for my ‘finale’ song was the Divine Comedy’s musical arranger Joby Talbot. After intitulée All About Love. Mon album préféré était à cette époque le disque A Short Album About Love de Divine Comedy. Je pensais que la sending him the lyrics he agreed to compose and arrange my song and said he thought personne qui serait parfaite pour composer la musique de ma chanson I should try singing it. As I stood in front of the microphone, inside the sound booth « finale » était l’arrangeur musical de Divine Comedy, Joby Talbot. of a London recording studio with 10 professional musicians in front of me, I suddenly Ayant réussi à savoir où le joindre, je lui ai envoyé mes paroles et il a realised that my final ‘desire’ was about to be fulfilled. accepté de composer et d’arranger la musique de ma chanson. Quand je fus devant le micro, derrière l’épaisse vitre de la cabine d’un studio d’enregistrement londonien, avec dix musiciens professionnels face à Music composed and arranged by Joby Talbot. moi, je me rendis soudain compte que mon dernier « désir » était sur le Voice and words by Georgina Starr. point de se réaliser…

See also How To Make Yourself Invisible. Musique composée et arrangée par Joby Talbot. Voix et paroles par Georgina Starr.

Voir How To Make Yourself Invisible. On t’aime We Like You (Dick Donkeys (Dick Donkeys Dawn) Dawn) I am a Record 2009 / 3’ 37”

Dick Donkeys Dawn The three of us lived in the same street in Leeds. At a neighbour’s Christmas party in Nous habitions tous les trois dans la même rue à Leeds. En 1976, lors recorded live at the 1976 we performed a song to entertain our parents. The most memorable things about d’une fête de Noël entre voisins, nous avons interprété une chanson John D Rockefeller our brief friendship were performing our song that Christmas and witnessing a cat pour distraire nos parents. De notre amitié, les deux choses les plus Centre in Oslo in 1997. mémorables ont été d’avoir chanté cette chanson ce Noël-là et d’avoir called ‘Fluffy’ get run over in the road where we lived. Cover: Dick, Dawn and été témoins de l’écrasement d’un chat nommé Fluffy dans la rue où Donkey in 1976. It was to be almost 20 years later before our paths would cross again, by chance, at nous vivions. an art exhibition in Graz. The coincidence of us all having become artists thrilled the Presque vingt ans plus tard, nos chemins se croisèrent à nouveau, Dick Donkeys Dawn enregistrés par hasard, dans une exposition d’art à Graz. Le hasard qui faisait en live au John D Rockefeller three of us, and spurred on by this excitement we said we should re-form our ‘band’. que nous étions tous les trois devenus artistes nous transporta de Centre à Oslo en 1997. We spent a month together in London writing a bunch of songs. The songs were joie, et emportés par l’excitation, nous avons pensé que nous devrions Pochette : Dick, Dawn mostly inspired by our childhood, the memory of the dead cat and our shared love of re-former notre « groupe ». Nous avons passé un mois ensemble à et Donkey en 1976. the American rock band Ween. With a minimal repertoire (and super low-fi musical Londres à écrire tout un tas de chansons. Ces dernières étaient pour technique) ‘Dick Donkeys Dawn’ played their first gig in an Oslo city rock venue in the la plupart inspirées de notre enfance, de la mémoire du chat mort autumn of ‘97. After performing a couple more times in Berlin and Austria we went our et de notre amour partagé pour le groupe de rock américain Ween. separate ways again. Avec un répertoire minimum (et une technique musicale de super basse fidélité), Dick Donkeys Dawn joua son premier concert dans un lieu rock à Oslo à l’automne 1997. Après avoir chanté ensemble deux autres fois encore à Berlin et en Autriche, nos chemins se séparèrent à nouveau. Draaiorgel Draaiorgel de de Noorderkroon (London, Paris, Noorderkroon Venice, Oosterwolde) (London, Paris, Venice, Oosterwolde) I am a Record 2009 / 5’ 12”

Recorded in In the month of July in the year of 1998 the ‘Draaiorgel de Noorderkroon’ arrived in Au mois de juillet de l’année 1998, le Draaiorgel De Noorderkroon Oosterwolde in 1998. the peaceful village of Oosterwolde, in the Dutch province of Ooststellingwerf. The (L’orgue de barbarie La Couronne du Nord) arriva dans le paisible Cover: Gouache on paper. Noorderkroon, an ornate mechanical street organ, began to play a melody from its village de Oosterwolde situé dans la province hollandaise de Ooststellingwerf. La Noorderkroon, un orgue mécanique de rue orné, hole-punched, fanfold music roll. Customarily its tunes were traditional melodies from Enregistré à commença à jouer la musique inscrite sur son rouleau perforé plié en Oosterwolde en 1998. the early 1900’s, but on this occasion the organ played a specially composed ‘dance’ accordéon. Habituellement ses musiques étaient des airs traditionnels Pochette : gouache sur papier. track written by a local musician. As the tune blasted out from the pipes, bells, horns du début des années 1900 mais, en cette circonstance, l’orgue jouait and strings the organ seemed burdened by the incongruous melody. A group of local un air de techno spécialement composé par un musicien local. Tandis teenage clubbers attracted by the sound, suddenly arrived on the scene and started to que la musique fusait à plein volume des tuyaux, des cloches, des cors et des cordes, l’orgue paraissait submergé par cette composition dance to the organ’s tune. incongrue. Un groupe de clubbers adolescents attiré par le son arriva soudainement sur la scène et commença à danser sur l’air de l’orgue. Concept: Georgina Starr Composition: Phil Mills Conception : Georgina Starr Organ notation: Tom Meijer Composition : Phil Mills Notation musicale pour l’orgue : Tom Meijer Organ operator: Cor Anjema Joueur d’orgue : Cor Anjema Bunny, Suky, Bunny, Suky, Sarah & Me Sarah & Me I am a Record 2009 / 16’ 24”

Recorded in London In 2003 I tracked down and arranged to meet Suky Appleby, the actress who in 1965 En 2003, j’ai retrouvé la trace de Suky Appleby, l’actrice qui joua en and Sheffield. had played Bunny Lake in Bunny Lake is Missing. The Otto Preminger film had long 1965 le rôle de Bunny Lake dans Bunny Lake a disparu, et j’ai organisé Cover: Gouache on paper been a personal obsession of mine and had inspired a series of works spanning almost un rendez-vous avec elle. Le film d’Otto Preminger a longtemps été (after Saul Bass) with l’une de mes grandes obsessions et il m’a inspiré une série d’œuvres five years The( Bunny Lake Series 1999-2003). My fascination with the film was a very gatefold booklet. que j’ai produites sur une période de cinq années (The Bunny Lake personal one, although this was well hidden within the complexities of the works I had Series 1999-2003). La fascination que j’éprouvais pour ce film était Enregistré à London made. Meeting Suky felt like closure; a way of finally laying to rest the theories I had très profonde, même si elle était bien camouflée par les agencements et à Sheffield. complexes des œuvres que je réalisais. La rencontre avec Suky me fit Pochette : gouache sur papier about the film and also about my complicated relationship with my own sister with l’effet d’une fermeture : le moyen d’enterrer enfin mes théories sur le (d’après Saul Bass) avec whom I first watched the film. film et aussi sur ma relation compliquée avec ma propre sœur, avec un livret dépliant. On that night in 1982 I had been babysitting my sister. I was 14, she was eight. Always laquelle j’avais vu le film la première fois. a paranoid child I would imagine being burgled, attacked or worse, while we sat alone Ce soir-là, en 1982, je faisais office de babysitter pour ma sœur. J’avais in the house, and watching the film only intensified my terror. I never saw the end, I 14 ans, elle en avait 8. J’avais toujours été une enfant paranoïaque et je couldn’t watch it. Years later when I finally did see the ending it seemed to be strangely m’imaginais toujours que nous allions être cambriolées, attaquées ou connected with various real life events in the 10 years that followed this first viewing. pire encore, pendant que nous étions seules à la maison, et regarder le film ne fit qu’intensifier ma terreur. Je n’en ai jamais vu la fin car j’étais The scene I had not watched aged 14 was a strange and haunting one. The child, incapable de la regarder. Des années plus tard, tandis que je la voyais Bunny Lake, who I never saw in the film the first time I watched it, is revealed in the enfin, il m’apparut qu’elle était étrangement liée à divers évènements boot of a car. It is not clear at first if she is alive or dead. She is carried into a walled de ma vie réelle qui s’étaient produits dans les dix ans qui avaient suivi garden where her abductor has prepared a child-sized grave. Bunny sits by the grave le premier visionnage. La scène que je n’avais pas regardée à l’âge de with a box of burnt toys, while her mother appears and tries to coax the abductor into 14 ans était une scène étrange et obsédante. On y découvre l’enfant, Bunny Lake, que je n’avais jamais vue dans le film, dans le coffre d’une releasing the child. In the end the child is saved. But for me it did not end there. I had voiture. Dans un premier temps, on ne voit pas bien si elle est vivante lots of questions, primarily, how could this ordeal affect her in later life? The questions ou si elle est morte. Elle est emmenée dans un jardin clos où son I asked myself about the fictional ‘Bunny’ were really ones I was constantly asking ravisseur a préparé une tombe de la taille d’un enfant. Bunny est assise myself about my own sister, who like Bunny, had also been separated from her real près de la tombe avec une caisse contenant des jouets brûlés tandis que mother before our family had adopted her in the 70’s. My theory was that these events, sa mère apparaît et essaye d’amadouer le ravisseur pour qu’il libère son enfant. A la fin, l’enfant est sauvée. Mais pour moi, le film ne finit pas là. although she was only six months old at the time, had subconsciously affected the J’avais toutes sortes d’interrogations, à commencer par celle de savoir pattern her life had taken. Could meeting Suky (the real Bunny Lake), help me complete quelles conséquences cette épreuve pourrait avoir sur sa vie future. Les a circle and unravel the mysteries surrounding the film and my sister’s actions? questions que je me posais sur la Bunny fictionnelle étaient celles que je me posais en permanence sur ma propre sœur qui, comme Bunny, avait été séparée de sa vraie mère avant que notre famille ne l’adopte dans les années 1970. Ma théorie est que ces évènements, bien qu’elle n’avait que six mois à cette époque, avaient influé de manière subconsciente sur la tournure que sa vie avait prise. La rencontre avec Suky (la vraie Bunny Lake) allait-elle pouvoir m’aider à boucler la boucle et à dénouer les mystères entourant le film et les actes de ma sœur ?

Luise Rainer Luise Rainer au téléphone on the Telephone I am a Record 2009 / 2’ 54”

Recorded in Hollywood in 1936 In 2005 I spent a year researching lost movie stars. I went to visit an actress called J’ai passé l’année 2005 à rechercher des vedettes du cinéma perdues de and in London in 2006. Betsy Blair who had played in one of my favourite 50’s films Marty (1955). We talked vue. Je suis allée voir une actrice du nom de Betsy Blair qui avait joué Cover: Photograph of about acting and silent screen stars and I told her about my idea to re-enact scenes from dans Marty (1955), l’un de mes cinquante films préférés. Nous avons parlé Luise Rainer in The Great du métier d’acteur et des vedettes du cinéma muet et je lui ai fait part the lost films of Theda Bara. I was looking for someone to play a very small role at the Ziegfeld (1936) de mon projet de rejouer les scènes des films perdus de Theda Bara. Je end of my film and wanted an actress who was in her 90’s. Blair, unfortunately for me, cherchais quelqu’un pour jouer un tout petit rôle à la fin de mon film et je Enregistré à Hollywood en 1936 was a very youthful 75, but she immediately recommended Luise Rainer as a perfect souhaitais avoir une actrice qui soit nonagénaire. Blair, malheureusement et à Londres en 2006. pour moi, était une jeune septuagénaire de 75 ans, mais elle me conseilla Pochette : photographie candidate. I knew Rainer from her Oscar winning performance in The Great Ziegfeld immédiatement Luise Rainer comme la candidate idéale. Je connaissais de Luise Rainer dans Le Grand (1936), but I had no idea she was still alive. Betsy was convinced that she was alive and Rainer pour l’interprétation qui lui valut un oscar dans Le Grand Ziegfeld, Ziegfeld (1936). quite sure she was living somewhere in London. mais je ne savais pas du tout si elle était encore en vie. Betsy était Luise Rainer had been the darling of the Hollywood scene for a couple of years in persuadée qu’elle était toujours vivante et elle était sûre qu’elle vivait the late 30’s, but there had always been controversy about her winning an Oscar for quelque part à Londres. her role as Anna Held in The Great Ziegfeld. Rainer was a relative unknown at the Luise Rainer avait été la coqueluche de la scène hollywoodienne pendant time and she beat much bigger name stars, such as Norma Shearer, Irene Dunne plusieurs années à la fin des années 1930, mais son oscar pour le rôle d’Anna Held dans Le Grand Ziegfeld a toujours été sujet à polémiques. and Carole Lombard. In certain circles it was intimated that she had won the Oscar Rainer était une relative inconnue à cette époque et elle avait battu purely on the intensity of one particular scene in the film: a telephone call where the des vedettes comme Norma Shearer, Irene Dunne et Carole Lombard, heartbroken Held congratulates her ex-husband on his new marriage, while she is dont les noms étaient beaucoup plus illustres que le sien. On disait dans clearly distraught. The scene remains one of the most famous scenes in movie history. certains cercles qu’elle avait gagné l’oscar grâce à l’intensité d’une scène Rainer has said that she based her interpretation of the scene on Jean Cocteau’s La Voix particulière du film : un appel téléphonique où Held, le cœur brisé, félicite son ex-mari de son nouveau mariage alors qu’il apparaît tout à fait Humaine, a monologue play about a woman’s breakdown while talking to her lover on clairement qu’elle a le cœur brisé. La scène reste une des scènes les plus the telephone. célèbres de l’histoire du cinéma. Rainer a raconté qu’elle s’était inspirée de After weeks of searching I tracked down Rainer, having found out that she was living La Voix humaine de Jean Cocteau pour son interprétation et qu’elle l’avait in the old apartment of Vivien Leigh. I wrote to her asking if we could meet. Over the fondée sur le jeu de l’actrice dans le monologue où une femme s’effondre next few weeks we exchanged postcards, but to my dismay I discovered that Rainer pendant qu’elle parle à son amant au téléphone. Après des semaines de recherche, j’ai fini par retrouver la trace de Luise Rainer qui vivait dans (now 97 years old) had recently had a bad fall and was no longer accepting visitors. A l’ancien appartement de Vivian Leigh. Je lui ai écrit pour lui demander few weeks later out of the blue I had a message on my answer machine. Seventy years si nous pouvions nous rencontrer. Pendant les quelques semaines qui after her famous telephone call with Ziegfeld, Luise Rainer was on the telephone to me. suivirent, nous avons correspondu par cartes postales, mais je découvris This is a record of both those phone calls. avec consternation qu’elle avait récemment fait une mauvaise chute The afternoon I spent with Luise in her apartment drinking tea, eating chocolate cake (elle était alors âgée de 97 ans) et ne recevait plus de visiteurs. Quelques semaines plus tard, j’eus sans prévenir un message sur mon répondeur and listening to recollections from her film career was unfortunately unrecorded, téléphonique. Soixante-dix ans après son célèbre appel téléphonique à because that is how she wished it to be, but the stories she told me and her performance Ziegfeld, Luise Rainer était au téléphone avec moi. Ce disque contient in The Great Ziegfeld inspired my own performance in Theda l’enregistrement de ses deux appels téléphoniques. L’après-midi que je passai avec Luise Rainer dans son appartement à boire du thé, manger du gâteau au chocolat et écouter les souvenirs de sa carrière au cinéma ne fut malheureusement pas enregistré parce qu’elle ne le souhaitait pas, mais les histoires qu’elle me raconta et son interprétation dans Le Grand Ziegfeld ont inspiré ma propre interprétation dans Theda (2006). Nana’s Nana’s Finale Finale I am a Record 2009 / 3’ 19”

Recorded on the Theda studio In July 2006 my search for someone to play Theda Bara in the final scene of my En juillet 2006, ma recherche de quelqu’un pour jouer Theda Bara set in London in 2006. film Theda had reached a dead end. I had met with the actress Betsy Blair who dans la scène finale de mon film Theda avait abouti à une impasse. Cover: Gouache on paper. unfortunately looked too young for the role. Betsy had suggested the actress Luise J’avais rencontré l’actrice Betsy Blair mais elle avait malheureusement l’air trop jeune pour le rôle. Betsy avait suggéré l’actrice Luise Rainer, Rainer, who I met and found perfect, but she was unable to take the role due to a Enregistré sur le plateau que j’avais rencontrée et que je trouvais parfaite, mais elle était dans de Theda en studio à Londres recent fall. Then by chance one day I spied my ‘Theda’. It was as if she had stepped out l’incapacité de jouer le rôle car elle venait de faire une chute. Puis un en 2006. from another era: a strange concoction of Alla Nazimova, Theda Bara and Tallulah jour, par hasard, je découvris ma Theda. Elle semblait sortir d’une Pochette : gouache sur papier. Bankhead. Wearing an eccentric large black hat cocked to one side that was half autre époque : un étrange mélange de Alla Nazimova, Theda Bara et covering her heavily made-up face, her eye make-up had been applied with vigor. Tallulah Bankhead. Elle portait un grand chapeau noir excentrique au bord relevé d’un côté qui couvrait à moitié son visage lourdement Thick black kohl lines had been painted between eyelid and brow and her bright red maquillé. Ses yeux fortement maquillés portaient d’épaisses lignes de lipstick had missed the mouth by a few millimetres. Without direction the lady was kohl noir dessinées entre la paupière et le sourcil, et son rouge à lèvres already expressing herself as I imagined Bara would: in an exaggerated and theatrical d’un rouge éclatant débordait des lèvres de quelques millimètres. Sans manner, moving her long thin arms while balancing a dark brown cheroot style cigar in être dirigée, la dame s’exprimait déjà dans le style que j’imaginais pour her spindly, black nail painted fingers. After a couple of weeks of wooing, ‘Nana’ (who Bara : avec exagération et théâtralité, et levant ses longs bras maigres en agitant le cigare cheroot brun foncé qu’elle tenait de ses frêles doigts was not an actress) finally agreed to come to the studio to film a scene. aux ongles vernis de noir. Après une cour qui dura deux semaines, In the studio Nana looked perfectly at one within the ‘Theda’ setting, and once on set Nana (qui n’était pas une actrice) accepta finalement de venir au studio the inner actress was unleashed. As if possessed by the spirit of a Hollywood diva she pour faire une scène. ranted, she had tantrums, she shouted and screamed for her vodka glass to be refilled, she Dans le studio, Nana s’intégrait à la perfection au décor de Theda, et demanded props that offended her to be removed, she snapped at the make-up girl and une fois sur scène, l’actrice intérieure se déchaîna. Comme possédée par l’esprit d’une diva d’Hollywood, elle déclamait, piquait des crises, flirted with the cameraman. It was as if she had been acting all her life and it was exactly hurlait et criait pour qu’on lui remplisse son verre de vodka, exigeait the performance I had hoped for. Sadly Nana’s scene did not make the final edit, but the que des accessoires qui lui déplaisaient soient supprimés, invectivait sounds from that day reveal a performance of a lifetime. la maquilleuse et flirtait avec le caméraman. C’était comme si elle avait joué toute sa vie et c’était exactement l’interprétation que j’avais espérée. Malheureusement, la scène de Nana ne fit pas partie de la version finale du film mais les sons de ce jour-là révèlent une interprétation impérissable. Theda (prelude) Theda (prelude) Soundtracks 1-5 Soundtracks 1-5 I am a Record 2009 / 12’ 09”

Theda (prelude) accompanied Theda is a single screen film in two parts, ‘Prelude’ and ‘Act’. In ‘Prelude’ a fixed camera Theda est un film pour grand écran composé de deux parties intitulées by The London Improvisers records a single 12-minute shot of my face in close-up, expressing a wide range of « Prelude » et « Act ». Dans « Prelude », une caméra fixe filme, en gros Orchestra (LIO), recorded emotions. For each screening of the film a different group of musical improvisers are plan et en une seule prise de douze minutes, mon visage exprimant in London. une grande variété d’émotions. Pour chaque projection du film, un invited to interpret the film and play live in the cinema. The musician’s see the film for Cover: Still from Theda groupe différent de musiciens est invité à improviser sur le film devant (prelude), 2007. the first time when it appears on the screen in front of a live audience. le public dans la salle de cinéma. Les musiciens voient le film pour Theda was accompanied by the London Improvisers Orchestra at the Prince la première fois en même temps que le public lors de la projection Theda (prelude) accompagné pendant laquelle ils jouent. par le London Improvisers Charles Cinema in London, by Frakture Six at the A Foundation in Liverpool, by the Theda fut accompagné par le London Improvisers Orchestra au Orchestra (LIO), enregistré humansacrifice quintet at Anthology Film Archives in New York City , by Domenico Prince Charles Cinema à Londres, par Frakture Six à la A Foundation à Londres. Caliri at Palazzo Ducale in Genova and by the CCMC (Canadian Creative Music à Liverpool, par le quintette humansacrifice à la Anthology Film Pochette : still de Theda Collective) at the Harbourfront Cinema in Toronto. (prelude), 2007. Archives à New York City, par Domenico Caliri au Palazzo Ducale à Gènes et par le CCMC (Canadian Creative Music Collective) au LIO musicians: Harbourfront Cinema à Toronto. Syvia Hallett on violin Les musiciens du London Improvisers Orchestra : Ivor Kallin on violin and viola Syvia Hallett au violon Marcio Mattos on cello Ivor Kallin au violon et à l’alto Adrian Northover on alto and soprano sax Marcio Mattos au violoncelle Tony Marsh on drums Adrian Northover aux saxophones alto et soprano Dave Tucker on guitar Tony Marsh à la batterie Dave Tucker à la guitare Steve Beresford on piano Steve Beresford au piano Adam Bohman on amplified objects Adam Bohman aux objets amplifiés Terry Day on bamboo pipes Terry Day aux flûtes de Pan John Rangecroft on clarinet John Rangecroft à la clarinette Suzanna Ferrer on violin Suzanna Ferrer au violon Pat Thomas à l’électronique Pat Thomas on electronics David Leahy à la contrebasse David Leahy on double bass Alison Blunt au violon Alison Blunt on violin Theda (prelude) Theda (prelude) Theda (prelude) Theda (prelude) Soundtrack 2 Soundtrack 3 Soundtrack 4 Soundtrack 5 I am a Record I am a Record I am a Record I am a Record 2009 / 12’ 09” 2009 / 12’ 09” 2009 / 12’ 09” 2009 / 12’ 09”

Theda (prelude) accompanied by the Frakture Six at Theda (prelude) accompanied by the humansacrifice Theda (prelude) accompanied by Domenico Caliri at Theda (prelude) accompanied by the CCMC (Canadian the A Foundation in Liverpool in 2007. quintet at the Anthology Film Archives in New York Sala Minorie in Palazzo Ducale, Genova in 2008. Creative Music Collective) at the Harbourfront Cover: Still from Theda (prelude), 2007. City in 2007. Cover: Still from Theda (prelude), 2007. Cinema, Toronto in 2008. Cover: Still from Theda (prelude), 2007. Cover: Still from Theda (prelude), 2007. Musicians: Musicians: Adam Webster on cello Musicians: Domenico Caliri on guitar and electronics Musicians: Phil Lucking on trumpets Bil Bowen on double bass Michael Snow on piano and keyboard Phil Morton on accidents and treatments Michael Evans on percussion, electronics and vocals Paul Dutton on voice Ray Dickaty on saxophone Chris peck on laptop and electronics John Oswald on alto sax Tim Downey on laptop Nate Wooley on trumpet Xavier Bosch on voice Fritz Welch on percussion and vocals Recorded by Mani Mazinani.

Theda (prelude) accompagné par Frakture Six à la A Foundation Theda (prelude) accompagné par le quintette humansacrifice à la Theda (prelude) accompagné par Domenico Caliri au Palazzo Theda (prelude) accompagné par le CCMC (Canadian Creative Music à Liverpool en 2007. Anthology Film Archives à New York City en 2007. Ducale de Gènes en 2008. Collective) au Harbourfront Cinema à Toronto en 2008. Pochette : still de Theda (prelude), 2007. Pochette : still de Theda (prelude), 2007. Pochette : still de Theda (prelude), 2007. Pochette : still de Theda (prelude), 2007.

Musiciens : Musiciens : Musicien : Musiciens : Adam Webster au violoncelle Bil Bowen à la contrebasse Domenico Caliri à la guitare et à l’électronique Michael Snow au piano et au synthétiseur Phil Lucking aux trompettes Michael Evans aux percussions, à l’électronique et à la voix Paul Dutton à la voix Phil Morton aux accidents et traitements Chris Peck à l’ordinateur et à l’électronique John Oswald au saxophone alto Ray Dickaty au saxophone Nate Wooley à la trompette Tim Downey à l’ordinateur Fritz Welch aux percussions et à la voix Enregistré par Mani Mazinani. Xavier Bosch à la voix Des portraits Portraits de Ronaldo by Ronaldo I am a Record 2009 / 30’ 52”

A conversation with Ronaldo While searching for a portrait artist to make a series of drawings of me as Theda Bara Alors que j’étais à la recherche d’un artiste spécialisé dans le portrait Wright recorded in Watton-at- for my film Theda, the artist Ronaldo Wright was recommended. An avid film and pour faire une série de portraits dessinés de moi en Theda Bara pour Stone in 2007. theatre fan, Wright had spent the 1950’s and 60’s trying to capture the likeness of the mon film Theda, on m’avait recommandé l’artiste Ronaldo Wright. Cover: Ronaldo Wright’s first Pendant toutes les années 1950 et 1960, Wright, amoureux passionné beautiful, elusive film stars he had idolized since childhood. Over the years Wright has ‘star’ portraits painted in 1944 de cinéma et de théâtre, s’était appliqué à saisir la beauté subtile des (with gatefold). met and illustrated Mae West, Vivien Leigh, Marlene Dietrich and Dinah Sheridan, to vedettes qu’il idolâtrait depuis son enfance. Au cours de ces deux name but a few. décennies, Wright avait eu l’occasion de rencontrer et de figurer Mae Une conversation avec Ronaldo West, Vivien Leigh, Marlene Dietrich et Dinah Sheridan, pour ne citer Wright enregistrée à Watton-at- que quelques noms parmi une liste beaucoup plus longue. Stone en 2007. Pochette : premier See also Looking at Ronaldo Wright, Spirit Messages and A Séance on an Afternoon in 1948, Séance with an Alien, A portrait de « vedette » peint par Sausage-Shaped Spaceship, Lulu and Unlucky Like St.Sebastian. Ronaldo Wright en 1944 (avec Voir aussi Looking at Ronaldo Wright, Spirit Messages and A Séance on an volet dépliant). Afternoon in 1948, Séance with an Alien, A Sausage-Shaped Spaceship, Lulu et Unlucky Like St. Sebastian.

Regards sur Looking at Ronaldo Wright Ronaldo Wright I am a Record 2009 / 73’ 45”

Recorded in the Ronaldo I was introduced to the artist, writer and spiritualist Ronaldo Wright in 2006. As well J’ai été présentée à l’artiste et écrivain spiritualiste Ronaldo Wright Wright Archive (inside The as being portrait artist to the ‘stars’ (see Portraits by Ronaldo), Ronaldo had been a en 2006. En plus d’avoir été portraitiste de « vedettes » (Voir Portraits Hall Carpenter Archive) LSE prominent illustrator for many gay men’s magazines in the 1950’s and 60’s, at one time by Ronaldo), Ronaldo avait aussi été un illustrateur très en vue pour de Library, London in 2009. nombreux magazines homosexuels masculins dans les années 1950, working for eight magazines internationally. This is a recording made at the ‘Ronald Cover: Photographic collage travaillant pour huit magazines à la fois au niveau international. Ce using the drawings and Wright Archive’ at the LSE Library in London. In whispered tones (due to a ‘silence’ disque contient un enregistrement qui a été réalisé à la Ronaldo Wright photographs of Ronaldo Wright sign in the library), Ronaldo talks about his illustrious career and about life as a gay Archive conservée à la Bibliothèque de la London School of Economics (gatefold). man in 1950’s England. and Political Science. Dans des tons de chuchotement (à cause du panneau « Silence » dans la bibliothèque), Ronaldo me parle de ses Enregistré à la Ronaldo Wright illustrations pour les magazines et de la vie comme homosexuel dans Archive (conservée au sein de la See also Portraits by Ronaldo, Spirit Messages and a Séance on an Afternoon in 1948, Séance with an Alien, A Sausage- l’Angleterre des années 1950. The Hall Carpenter Archive) Shaped Spaceship, Lulu and Unlucky Like St. Sebastian. à la LSE Library (Bibliothèque de la London School of Economics Voir aussi Portraits by Ronaldo, Spirit Messages and A Séance on an and Political Science) Afternoon in 1948, Séance with an Alien, A Sausage-Shaped Spaceship, Lulu de Londres en 2009. et Unlucky Like St. Sebastian. Pochette : collage photographique utilisant des dessins de Ronaldo Wright (avec volet dépliant).

Messages spirites Spirit Messages et une séance de médium tenue un and a Séance après-midi de 1948 on an Afternoon in 1948 I am a Record 2009 / 45’ 26”

A conversation with Ronaldo In 2004 I received a VHS tape in the mail. The envelope had been badly damaged, but J’ai reçu en 2004 une cassette VHS par courrier. L’enveloppe avait Wright recorded at his home the tape inside was still intact. There was no accompanying note and no writing on the été sérieusement endommagée mais la cassette était intacte. in Watton-at-Stone in 2007. tape. As I pressed ‘play’ the first scene to appear on screen was a séance, before a title Il n’y avait pas de mot d’accompagnement et rien d’écrit sur Cover: Pencil on paper. la cassette. Lorsque j’appuyai sur « play », c’est une séance de médium announced a film: Séance on a Wet Afternoon. I never found out who had sent the tape. qui apparut d’abord sur l’écran, puis, dans un second temps, le titre : Conversation avec Ronaldo Séance on a Wet Afternoon (1966) is about a couple who have lost a child, and through Séance on a Wet Afternoon (Le Rideau de brume). Je n’ai jamais pu Wright enregistré chez lui à desperation and grief the wife, who is a psychic medium, hatches a plan to kidnap découvrir qui avait envoyé la cassette. Watton-at-Stone en 2007. Le Rideau de brume (1966) est l’histoire d’un couple qui a perdu un Pochette : crayon sur papier. another child and pretend to use her psychic powers to find her. It is a dark thriller set in a black and white 1960’s Britain with the themes of child abduction, grief and enfant, et dont la femme, accablée par le désespoir et la douleur, et qui prétend être médium, manigance un plan pour kidnapper une autre psychological trauma at its core and uncannily resembles the Otto Preiminger film enfant, puis faire semblant d’utiliser ses pouvoirs psychiques pour Bunny Lake is Missing (1965), which had inspired a series of works I had just finished soi-disant aider à la retrouver. C’est un thriller noir qui se déroule dans making. Séance on a Wet Afternoon however, presented another fascinating subject: les années 1960 dans une Angleterre représentée en noir et blanc. Le the communication with the spirit world through psychic mediums. In the past I had film traite fondamentalement d’enlèvement d’enfant, de souffrance et visited many people who profess to have psychic abilities (see Palm Reading in Edam, de traumatisme psychologique et il ressemble étrangement à Bunny Lake a disparu (1965) de Otto Preminger, qui m’avait inspiré une série Tarot Reading in ’92 and The Voices of Georgina), but had never visited a medium. d’œuvres que je venais tout juste de terminer. Mais Le Rideau de brume A couple of years later I met spiritualist Ronaldo Wright. Throughout his long life s’intéresse aussi à un autre sujet passionnant : la communication avec Wright has attended a great many séances, both as attendee and medium. In this le monde des esprits à travers les médiums. L’année précédente, j’étais recording Wright recalls his very first séance in 1948 and also an important séance he allée voir de nombreuses personnes qui déclaraient avoir des dons de attended some years later, which set in motion a series of strange and life-changing voyance (voir Palm Reading in Edam, Tarot Reading in ’92 et Voices of Georgina) mais je n’avais jamais rendu visite à un médium. events. Deux années plus tard, je rencontrai le spirite Ronaldo Wright. Tout au long de sa longue vie, Wright avait assisté à un grand nombre de See also Bunny, Suky, Sarah and Me, Portraits by Ronaldo, Looking at Ronaldo Wright, séances de médiums remarquables, à la fois comme consultant et Séance with an Alien and A Sausage-Shaped Spaceship. comme médium. Dans cet enregistrement, Wright se souvient de sa toute première séance en 1948 et aussi d’une séance très importante à laquelle il a assisté quelques années plus tard et qui déclencha une série d’évènements étranges qui ont changé le cours de son existence.

Voir aussi Bunny, Suky, Sarah and Me, Portraits by Ronaldo, Looking at Ronaldo Wright, Séance with an Alien and A Sausage-Shaped Spaceship. Séance avec Séance with un extraterrestre an Alien I am a Record 2009 / 8’ 51”

A conversation with Ronaldo Since his first séance with a transfiguration medium in 1948, Ronaldo Wright has Depuis sa première séance avec un médium pratiquant la Wright recorded in continued to experience many extraordinary and unexplained communications transfiguration, Ronaldo Wright n’a cessé de faire des expériences Watton-at-Stone in 2008. through spirit and the spirit world. In this recording Wright describes a séance de communication extraordinaires et inexpliquées par la voie de Cover: Drawing made by Wright l’esprit et du monde des esprits. Dans cet enregistrement, Wright he attended in which an alien was channelled through the medium and imparted during the séance with the alien. décrit une séance à laquelle il a assisté et où le médium a transmis information about a world beyond our own. une communication avec un extraterrestre où ce dernier donnait des Conversation avec Ronaldo informations sur un monde situé au-delà du nôtre. Wright enregistrée à Watton-at- See also Portraits by Ronaldo, Looking at Ronaldo Wright, Spirit Messages and A Séance On An Afternoon in 1948, Voir aussi Portraits by Ronaldo, Looking at Ronaldo Wright, Spirit Stone en 2008 Séance with an Alien, A Sausage-Shaped Spaceship, Lulu and Unlucky Like St.Sebastian. Messages et A Séance On An Afternoon in 1948, Séance with an Alien, A Pochette : dessin exécuté par Sausage-Shaped Spaceship, Lulu et Unlucky Like St. Sebastian. Wright pendant la séance avec l’extraterrestre. Un vaisseau spatial A Sausage-Shaped en forme de saucisse Spaceship I am a Record 2009 / 3’ 51”

Recorded in Watton-at-Stone Ronaldo Wright describes an encounter with a UFO, while watching TV in his living Ronaldo Wright décrit sa rencontre avec un OVNI alors qu’il regardait and Embrosneros, Crete in 2008. room in Hertford in the 1980’s. A Cretan Scops owl accompanies his narration. la télé dans son salon à Hertford dans les années 1980. Un petit-duc Cover: Gouache on paper, crétois accompagne son récit de ses ululements. 8-sided gatefold. See also Portraits by Ronaldo, Looking at Ronaldo Wright, Spirit Messages and A Séance On An Afternoon Voir aussi Portraits by Ronaldo, Looking at Ronaldo Wright, Spirit in 1948, Séance with an Alien, Lulu and Unlucky Like St.Sebastian. Enregistré à Watton-at-Stone et Messages and A Séance On An Afternoon in 1948, Séance with an Alien, à Embrosneros en Crète en 2008. Lulu et Unlucky Like St. Sebastian. Pochette : gouache sur papier, volet dépliant de huit feuillets. I am the Medium Je suis I am a Record le médium 2010

250 ‘locked grooves’ from 12 In 1870 a series of séances took place led by trance medium and artist David Duguid En 1870, le médium de transe et artiste David Duguid conduisit une séances recorded with his spiritualist circle. Each séance was documented and the findings from série de séances avec son cercle spirite. Chaque séance fut consignée over 12 months. 100 séances were published in 1875 under the title of Hafed Prince of Persia: His par écrit et des comptes rendus de cent séances furent publiés en Cover: Gouache on paper. 1875 sous le titre Hafed Prince of Persia: His Experiences in Earth-Life Experiences in Earth-Life and Spirit-Life. The document is said to reveal, via the séance and Spirit-Life (Hafed, prince de Perse : ses expériences lors de sa vie 250 « sillons fermés » produits à communication with the spirit ‘Hafed’, the missing years of Jesus Christ. The details sur terre et comme esprit). Le document était censé révéler, via les partir de 12 séances enregistrées of these events were told to me by spiritualist Ronaldo Wright, who in the 1970’s began communications avec l’esprit de Hafed, les années manquantes de la vie sur une période 12 mois. de Jésus Christ. Les détails de ces évènements me furent rapportés par Pochette : gouache sur papier. a long and extraordinary journey that was closely linked to the events of a hundred years earlier. Wright had attended a séance at the Spiritualist Society in Belgrave le spirite Ronaldo Wright, qui entreprit dans les années 1970 un long et extraordinaire voyage étroitement lié à ces évènements qui s’étaient Square, where it had been communicated that he would be ‘involved in the writing and déroulés cent ans plus tôt. Wright avait assisté à une séance à la distribution of an important book’. The spirit called itself ‘the Spirit of Light’ and gave Spiritualist Society de Belgrave Square où il lui avait été communiqué mysterious clues that led Wright to eventually rewrite the Hafed book, updating and qu’il « s’engagerait dans l’écriture et la diffusion d’un livre important ». redistributing it to a new audience in a new era. L’esprit s’appelait lui-même « L’Esprit de Lumière » et il livra des In 2008 I began my own year of monthly sittings with psychic mediums. I started at indices énigmatiques qui amenèrent finalement Wright à réécrire le livre de Hafed, afin d’en produire une version modernisée et de la the Spiritualist Society in Belgrave Square and I went on to visit a different psychic diffuser auprès d’un nouveau public dans une nouvelle ère. in a different location each month. I chose the psychics carefully to reveal the En 2008, je me lançai moi-même dans une année de séances mensuelles unique approaches, methods, personalities and skills involved in spiritualism in the avec des médiums. Je commençai par la Spiritualist Society de 21st century. The psychics knew nothing about me or my experiment and all their Belgrave Square et je poursuivis en allant voir chaque mois un médium communications were recorded onto audio. Listening afterwards to the voices and différent dans un lieu différent. Je sélectionnai soigneusement les médiums avec l’objectif de repérer les approches, les méthodes, les sounds on the tapes strange patterns had begun to occur within the information they personnalités et les compétences les plus exceptionnelles présentes channelled to me. On repeat listening I began to hear sounds within the recordings that dans le spiritisme au XXIe siècle. Ces médiums ne savaient rien de I had initially missed, sounds that had fallen in between the gaps of words, as if new moi ou de mes expériences et toutes leurs communications furent voices had actually appeared on the recordings. enregistrées en audio. Lorsque j’écoutais plus tard les voix et les sons I am the Medium holds 250 of these sounds on one 12-inch record. Each ‘sound’ is given des enregistrements, des sonorités étranges se mirent à apparaître au milieu de l’information qui m’avait été transmise. À l’écoute répétée, one groove (1.8 seconds) and each groove is locked into its circle and will repeat forever je commençai à entendre des sons qui m’avaient d’abord échappé, des until someone knocks the needle onto another groove. The full range of sounds cannot sons qui s’étaient introduits dans les blancs entre les mots, comme si de be heard unless the needle is tapped by the listener. nouvelles voix étaient en fait apparues dans les enregistrements. I am the Medium contient 250 de ces sons dans un maxi 45 tours. À chaque « son » est attribué un sillon (1,8 seconde) ; chaque sillon est fermé sur lui-même et se répète indéfiniment tant que l’aiguille n’est pas placée sur un autre sillon. L’écoute de tous les sons est subordonnée à l’installation de l’aiguille par l’auditeur sur chaque sillon concerné. The Séances Les séances I am a Record de médium 2009 / Durations vary for each recording

A suite of 12 recorded sittings A day each month for a year spirit messages were communicated to me (see I am Pendant un an, un jour par mois, des messages spirites m’ont été with 12 psychic mediums the Medium). The spirit voices were channeled through a selection of mediums who communiqués (Voir I am the Medium). Les voix spirites étaient over a 12-month period. narrated stories and gave guidance for every aspect of my life: past, present and future. canalisées par des médiums que j’avais sélectionnés ; ils racontaient Cover: Gouache on paper with des histoires et donnaient des informations sur tous les aspects de The same spirits would often appear in more than one sitting. One reoccurring female booklet. mon existence : sur mon passé, sur mon présent et sur mon futur. Il spirit had a great amount of information to impart to me: an invisible cicerone, she was est souvent arrivé que les mêmes esprits apparaissent dans plus d’une Une suite d’enregistrements candid and loquacious. séance. Un esprit féminin qui est intervenu régulièrement avait une de 12 séances avec 12 médiums grande quantité d’informations à me révéler : cicerone invisible, il était sur une période de 12 mois. With each monthly sitting I became increasingly unsettled by the complicated and direct dans ses propos et parlait abondamment. Pochette : gouache sur papier extraordinary prophecies delivered relating to work, my personality, love, health, Plus les séances avançaient, plus j’étais perturbée par les prophéties avec livret. family, death and money. Gradually the spirits had begun to influence my actions as I compliquées et incroyables qui m’étaient livrées sur mon œuvre, ma allowed them to instruct and direct my life and my work. personnalité, mes amours, ma santé, ma famille, ma mort et mon argent. Comme j’autorisais les esprits à commander et à diriger ma vie A Séance in Belgrave Square (23’49”) et mon œuvre, ils se mirent progressivement à influencer mes actes. A Séance in Hertford (72’33”) A Séance at Mysteries (32’46”) Séance à Belgrave Square (23’49”) A Séance in Shepherds Bush (85’17”) Séance à Hertford (72’33”) A Séance in Selfridges (26’25”) Séance à Mysteries (32’46”) A Séance with Wong (71’36”) Séance à Shepherds Bush (85’17”) A Séance in Lewisham Spiritualist Church (36’03”) Séance à Selfridges (26’25”) A Séance in Covent Garden (34’24”) Séance avec Wong (71’36”) A Séance in Romford (27’21”) Séance à la Lewisham Spiritualist Church (36’03”) A Séance in a pub in Forest Gate (47’12”) Séance à Covent Garden (34’24”) A Séance by the Sea (34’16”) Séance à Romford (27’21”) A Séance in Belgrave Square (29’21”) Séance dans un pub à Forest Gate (47’12”) Séance au bord de la mer (34’16”) Séance à Belgrave Square (29’21”) Tu es You’re Very très Intuitive intuitive I am a Record 2009 / 2’ 47”

Recorded in London A conversation with myself about intuition. Conversation avec moi-même sur l’intuition. in 1994 and 2009. Cover: Pencil on paper.

Enregistré à Londres en 1994 et en 2009. Pochette : crayon sur papier. Lulu Lulu I am a Record 2009 / 6’ 15”

A telephone conversation Spiritualist writer, 1950’s gay magazine illustrator, celebrity portrait artist, nude Les 81 années de vie de Ronaldo Wright, écrivain spiritualiste, recorded in 2006. model and psychic medium, Ronaldo Wright’s 81 years have been filled with strange illustrateur de magazines homosexuels, portraitiste de célébrités, Cover: Gouache on paper. encounters and extraordinary experiences. On July 14th 2006 Wright and I spent a modèle nu et médium, ont été remplies de rencontres étranges et d’expériences extraordinaires. Le 14 juillet 2006, Wright et moi avons summer’s afternoon in his local town of Hertford, eating lunch and touring the town’s Une conversation téléphonique passé ensemble un après-midi d’été dans sa petite ville de Hertford : enregistrée en 2006. tea rooms. Unbeknownst to us on this particular day there was a terrible incident nous avons déjeuné, fait le tour des salons de thé de la ville et discuté. A Pochette : gouache sur papier. taking place in Ronaldo’s garden a few miles away in Watton-at-Stone. Although notre insu, un terrible événement était en train de se produire ce jour- this is ultimately a tragic tale, it is somehow tinted, like all Ronaldo’s stories, with a là dans le jardin de Ronaldo à Watton-at-Stone à quelques kilomètres surreal quality. His recounting of events is peppered with quirks and details, which de Hertford. Bien que ce soit en fin de compte une histoire tragique, elle est plus ou moins teintée, comme toutes les histoires de Ronaldo, incorporate his humour and unfaltering spirit in the face of adversity. d’une couleur surréelle. Son récit des évènements est agrémenté d’excentricités et de détails où prennent place son humour et son See also Portraits by Ronaldo, Looking at Ronaldo Wright, Spirit Messages and a Séance on an Afternoon in 1948, opiniâtreté face à l’adversité. Séance with an Alien, A Sausage-Shaped Spaceship and Unlucky Like St.Sebastian.

Voir aussi Portraits by Ronaldo, Looking at Ronaldo Wright, Spirit Messages and a Séance on an Afternoon in 1948, Séance with an Alien, A Sausage-Shaped Spaceship et Unlucky Like St. Sebastian. Malchanceux Unlucky Like comme St.Sebastian Saint-Sébastien I am a Record 2009 / 3’ 08”

From a telephone conversation A tragic ‘accident’ befalls a friend of a friend of Ronaldo’s. Un tragique « accident » arrive à un ami d’un des amis de Ronaldo. with Ronaldo Wright in 2009. Cover: Gouache on paper. See also Portraits by Ronaldo, Looking at Ronaldo Wright, Spirit Messages and a Voir aussi Portraits by Ronaldo, Looking at Ronaldo Wright, Spirit Séance on an Afternoon in 1948, Séance with an Alien, A Sausage-Shaped Spaceship and Lulu. Messages and a Séance on an Afternoon in 1948, Séance with an Alien, A Extrait d’une conversation Sausage-Shaped Spaceship et Lulu. téléphonique avec Ronaldo Wright en 2009. Pochette : gouache sur papier. L’extase The Ecstasy de Foxy of Foxy I am a Record 2009 /2’ 35”, 8’ 54”

From a telephone conversation I met Ron Rowan on the towpath of the River Lea in 2004. He stopped and asked if I J’ai rencontré Ron Rowan sur le chemin de halage de la Lea en 2004. with Ron Rowan in 2007 (side 1), could take a photo of him carrying his aged pet dog ‘Chaz’ on his shoulder. For over 40 Il s’arrêta et me demanda si je pouvais prendre une photo de lui en and an expedition to film ‘Foxy’ years Ron lived in the Old Pumping Station by the banks of the River Lea at Old Ford train de porter son vieux chien Chaz sur son épaule. Pendant plus de later that year (side 2). quarante années, Ron avait vécu dans l’ancienne station de pompage Lock in London. For the last 15 of those years Ron lived almost completely in his own Cover: Gouache on paper. sur la rive de la Lea à Old Ford Rock à Londres, et pendant les quinze world surrounded by dense foliage, his house hidden from view in this neglected part dernières, il avait vécu presque totalement isolé dans un univers Extrait d’une conversation of the city. Ron’s only companion during this time was Chaz. entouré de feuillages denses dans ce quartier délaissé de Londres où téléphonique avec Ron Rowan en sa maison était située loin des regards. Durant tout ce temps, Ron n’eut 2007 (face 1) et d’une expédition In the bitterly cold winter of 2005 Chaz fell into the murky and freezing waters of the pour seul compagnon que son chien Chaz. pour filmer Foxy, plus tard, River Lea. Ron’s attempts to save the dog from drowning were unsuccessful. Soon after Lors de l’hiver terriblement froid de 2005, Chaz tomba dans les eaux toujours en 2007 (face 2). this sad occasion a wild fox befriended Ron. The fox would visit each night and often troubles et gelées de la Lea. Les tentatives de Ron pour sauver le chien Pochette : gouache sur papier. enter Ron’s living room to keep him company. We named the fox ‘Foxy’ after the fox de la noyade restèrent sans succès. Juste après ce triste événement, un in the Powell Pressburger film Gone To Earth (1950). The friendship of the fox helped renard sauvage prit Ron en amitié. Le renard lui rendait visite chaque alleviate the pain of losing Chaz. Like the character of Hazel Woodus in Gone to Earth, soir et il entrait souvent dans son salon pour lui tenir compagnie. Ron lived a romantic lifestyle at one with nature and wildlife, but like Hazel he was Nous avons appelé le renard Foxy en référence au renard du film La Renarde (1950) de Powell & Pressburger. L’amitié du renard aida Ron à always under threat from the outside world who didn’t care for his romantic ideals. In rendre sa douleur d’avoir perdu Chaz plus supportable. Tout comme le this, one of our last conversations before Ron was finally evicted from the land (which is personnage de Hazel Woodus dans La Renarde, Ron vivait un style de now part of the 2012 Olympic site), he describes how Foxy had tried to run off with my vie romantique qui ne faisait qu’un avec la nature et la faune et la flore, video camera as he tried to capture him on film. As we spoke on the phone I imagined a mais, comme Hazel, il vivait en permanence sous la menace du monde film made of Ron from Foxy’s perspective; a true vision of a man ‘gone to earth’. extérieur qui se fichait pas mal de ses idéaux romantiques. Lors de l’une de nos dernières conversations, avant que Ron ne soit finalement expulsé du terrain (qui fait maintenant partie du site olympique pour les jeux de 2012), il explique comment Foxy avait essayé de s’enfuir avec ma caméra vidéo quand il avait tenté de le filmer avec. Tandis que nous parlions au téléphone, j’imaginais un film sur Ron fait depuis la perspective de Foxy : une vraie vision d’un homme « entré dans sa ta nière ».*

* En référence au titre original en anglais du film La Renarde : Gone to Earth, que l’on peut traduire par « entré dans sa tanière ». NdT 52 coups 52 Gun Shots de fusil à Al Manarah in Al Manarah Square Square I am a Record 2009 / 4’ 02”

Recorded in London and We had just left Ramallah’s No.1 ice-cream parlour Rukabs and were walking towards Nous venions de quitter le Rukabs, le plus grand café glacier de in Ramallah, Palestine in 2008. Al Manarah Square. There was some sort of party happening with loud music and Ramallah, et nous marchions vers Al Manarah Square. Il y avait une Cover: Gouache on paper. crowds of people. I switched on my recorder to tape the sounds. A car pulled up right sorte de manifestation festive où la musique était très forte et où il y avait beaucoup de monde. J’ai mis mon magnétophone en marche afin beside us and a man got out holding an AK47 rifle. I stood motionless with my recorder Enregistré à Londres et d’enregistrer les sons. Une voiture s’arrêta pile à côté de nous et un à Ramallah en Palestine en 2008. in my hand as he cocked the rifle… homme en sortit tenant un fusil AK47. Je m’étais immobilisée avec mon Pochette : gouache sur papier. magnétophone dans la main, quand il arma son fusil… Voix de Voices in Palestine Palestine I am a Record 2009 / 26’ 43”

Recorded in Ramallah, Jericho, Voices recorded around Palestine. Voix enregistrées dans toute la Palestine. Bethlehem and Nablus in 2008. Cover: Painting of the taxidermy section at Qalqilya Zoo.

Enregistré à Ramallah, Jéricho, Bethléem et Naplouse en 2008. Pochette : peinture de la galerie des animaux empaillés du zoo de Qalqilya. Jésus-Christ Jesus Christ (Le Bon Berger) (the Good Shepherd) I am a Record 2009 / 4’ 43”

Recorded in the Church Our guide describes the Israeli siege of the church and the city in 2002. Notre guide décrit le siège israélien de l’église de la Nativité et de la of the Nativity in Bethlehem ville de Bethléem en 2002 in 2008. Cover: ‘Jesus Christ’ by Ronaldo Wright.

Enregistré à l’église de la Nativité à Bethléem en 2008. Pochette : Jesus Christ de Ronaldo Wright. À l’écoute Listening in des paysages Landscapes I am a Record 2009 / 9’ 44”

Recorded in landscapes. Voices in landscapes. Voix dans des paysages naturels. Cover: Gouache on paper.

Enregistré dans des paysages naturels. Pochette : gouache sur papier. Phosphorescence Phosphorescence I am a Record 2009 / 7’ 34”

Recorded in Cap Ferret in 2009. Description of a midnight landscape while drunkenly searching for phosphorescence. Description d’un paysage en pleine nuit alors qu’on est ivre et qu’on Cover: Gouache on paper. cherche des phosphorescences.

Enregistré au Cap Ferret en 2009. Pochette : gouache sur papier. Ta voix Your Voice quand When You tu m’aimais Loved Me I am a Record 2009 / 21’ 03”

Twelve voices recorded At the end of the Julie Delpy film Two Days in Paris the character Marion says ‘It A la fin du film de Julie Delpy, Two Days in Paris, le personnage de 1981-1998. always fascinated me how people go from loving you madly to nothing at all, nothing’. Marion dit : « J’ai toujours été fascinée par la façon dont les gens Cover image: Gouache on paper. The real mystery of that transformation for me has always been encapsulated in the passent de l’amour fou à plus rien du tout, à rien. » Le vrai mystère de cette transformation est selon moi tout entier contenu dans le change of the voice. You might have shared days, a week, months or even years of total Douze voix enregistrées changement de la voix. Que l’on ait partagé une totale intimité et entre 1981 et 1998. intimacy and intensity of feeling and then all of a sudden it’s over, it’s all gone and une grande intensité sentimentale pendant des jours, une semaine, Illustration de la pochette : with it the spirit of the voice that once loved you. More than anything, even more than des mois ou même des années, tout à coup, c’est fini, tout disparaît, gouache sur papier a look, I remember how a voice sounded when it was totally in love. Sometimes the y compris l’esprit de la voix qui nous a naguère aimé. Plus que de change is extreme and obvious, but often it is a subtle shift in pitch or tone or texture or toute autre chose, plus même que d’un regard, je me suis toujours souvenue du timbre de la voix quand elle était très amoureuse. Parfois, something. I have heard the change when I was still with a person and tried to ignore le changement est extrême et évident, mais le plus souvent, il s’agit it, but mostly I heard it afterwards, and even though you may stay friends there is a way d’une modification subtile dans le ton, ou la tonalité, ou la texture, ou their voice sounded that will never, ever be the same again. quelque chose de ce genre. Il m’est arrivé d’entendre le changement quand j’étais encore avec quelqu’un et alors que j’essayais d’ignorer que 1. Your voice in a café in Vienna in 1996. quelque chose avait changé, mais la plupart du temps, je l’ai entendu après coup ; et même lorsque l’on reste amis, il y a un timbre que la voix 2. Your voice while drumming to Lady Evil by Black Sabbath n’aura plus, comme si elle ne l’avait jamais eu. on a cassette tape you left on my doorstep in Leeds in 1981. 3. Your voice while playing the guitar on a cassette tape you threw into my studio in 1. Ta voix au café à Vienne en 1996. Amsterdam in 1993. 2. Ta voix pendant que tu joues de la batterie sur Lady Evil de Black Sabbath 4. Your voice via Kate Bush left on my answer machine in 1996. sur une cassette que tu as laissée sur le pas de ma porte à Leeds en 1981. 3. Ta voix pendant que tu joues de la guitare sur une cassette que tu as 5. Your voice while talking to your mum on the telephone in balancée dans mon atelier à Amsterdam en 1993. an apartment in LA in 1998. 4. Ta voix via Kate Bush laissée sur mon répondeur en 1996. 6. Your voice via two movie stars voices on a cassette you sent 5. Ta voix pendant que tu parlais à ta maman au téléphone dans un me in 1997. appartement à Los Angeles en 1998. 7. Your voice via Blossom Dearie on a cassette you sent me in 1994. 6. Ta voix via les voix de deux vedettes de cinéma sur une cassette que tu m’as envoyée en 1997. 8. Your voice reading my stars in an apartment in Vienna in 1997. 7. Ta voix via Blossom Dearie sur une cassette que tu m’as envoyée en 1994. 9. Your voice singing on my answer machine in Amsterdam in 1994. 8. Ta voix interprétant mes planètes dans un appartement à Vienne en 1997. 10. Your voice via Ween on a cassette you sent in 1998. 9. Ta voix chantant sur mon répondeur à Amsterdam en 1994. 11. Your voice singing on a cassette you sent in 1997. 10. Ta voix via Ween sur une cassette que tu m’as envoyée en 1998. 12. Your voice via Billie Holiday on a cassette you sent in 1994. 11. Ta voix chantant sur une cassette que tu m’as envoyée en 1997. 12. Ta voix via Billie Holiday sur une cassette que tu m’as envoyée en 1994. It’s Just a Dream Ce n’est I am a Record qu’un rêve 2009 / 2’ 41”

Christine Starr singing It’s Just In an interview with Studs Terkel in the 1980’s the American composer Leonard Dans un entretien avec Studs Terkel paru dans les années 1980, le a Dream by Kath Bloom. Bernstein said; ‘Music is one of our basic and deepest levels of communication. We compositeur américain Leonard Bernstein déclarait : « La musique est Recorded in Scarborough on talk for hours using words, but we can never communicate on so deeper level as when l’un de nos niveaux de communication les plus élémentaires et les plus Christmas Day 2009. profonds. Nous parlons pendant des heures en utilisant des mots, mais we sing to each other.’ I thought about Bernstein’s words when I heard the folk singer Guitar by Jo Girdlestone. nous ne communiquons jamais à un niveau plus profond que lorsque Cover: Pencil on paper. Kath Bloom sing It’s Just A Dream in October 2009 on an American Public-access TV nous chantons ensemble. » En octobre 2009, alors que je pensais channel. The combination of Bloom’s tender lyrics together with a fragile voice that aux paroles de Bernstein, j’entendis la chanteuse folk Kath Bloom Christine Starr chante chanter It’s Just A Dream sur une chaîne participative de la télévision It’s Just a Dream de Kath Bloom. seemed at times to struggle with the melody she was singing had a huge affect on me. américaine. L’association des douces paroles de Bloom et de sa voix Enregistré à Scarborough I sang the song to myself repeatedly for days before I had the thought: I want to hear fragile, qui semblait parfois lutter avec la mélodie, eut un énorme le jour de Noël 2009. my mother sing this song. Although my mother is not a singer, she reluctantly agreed to effet sur moi. Je me chantais cette chanson à de nombreuses reprises La guitare par Jo Girdlestone. give it a try. Pochette : crayon sur papier. pendant des jours avant d’avoir cette pensée : je voulais entendre ma mère chanter cette chanson. Bien que ma mère ne soit pas chanteuse, It’s Just a Dream by Kath Bloom de mauvaise grâce, elle accepta d’essayer.

Sit at my dresser Everything in its place The brow, the hair, the cheek, the eyes How come I’m starting to despise Everything there is about this face It’s just a dream

Lie on the sand Love, you love the man The rock, the tree, the air, the fun Before the hurting had begun I’m sitting in a white house underneath a fan It’s just a dream

The whole world is for sale Everything is going stale I’m going to run, I won’t turn back I’m going to run, cover up my tracks You say I’ve succeeded, but I think I’ve failed It’s just, it’s just a dream The Ascension which you don’t in a heavenly body. So she… it’s almost found her fun, so there’s pros and cons there. Now I’m of Louise like she’s saying there’s pros and cons. getting the sense you don’t need to worry about me, I’m fine. Sitting in an attic room surrounded by psychic Georgina: Yeah. paraphernalia with Philena Bruce (medium, palm Georgina: Right, yeah. Medium: You’ve got the earth body. And if you open reader, healer, tarot reader, clairvoyant, space your ears you may hear her whisper to you. Anything Medium: I’m having a really good time. But the healer) in Shepherds Bush, London. The medium is to do with having fun… question is really, are you having a good time? Because holding a prayer card from the funeral of my friend if you’re not, do something about it. Again I’m seeing Louise who died in 1987 aged 18. Georgina: Right. this thing, it’s difficult… as if it’s got… as if you can take [Start of recorded material] Medium: Going dancing, taking the day off work to a pencil or pen and sort of sticking a hole in this thing have some joy somewhere when you’ve given in a and then do something… go down with something, as if Medium: Well I’m getting completely different energy sick note. I mean anything to do with really enjoying it’s some sort of counting machine or whatever. with her. I get a tingling sensation as well. It’s like yourself, she’ll be with you cos that’s what she likes to she’s saying, “I’m here, where else would I be?” And Georgina: I can’t think what that could mean. do. And yes she’s saying that’s what’s important is to of course I mean I know that makes sense because in be true to yourself, it’s not so important obeying the Medium: I don’t know. Did she sort of count how heaven there is no place but here, there’s no time but laws of your country, obeying the laws of your parents, many… I mean was she into sort of counting how many Selected Transcripts now. Time and place is a phenomenon we’ve all agreed obeying the laws of your religion. What’s most times you succeed in something or… ? to, so that we can have a good time. Although a good important is obeying your own laws, or obeying what time doesn’t cover most people at the moment, but Georgina: No. you… how you feel you should act in yourself. Are you that’s what it’s supposed to be. She is telling me that obeying that? That is what will make you healthiest Medium: Or whatever. Yeah, I don’t know. Maybe she didn’t suffer at all. and wholest, as in whole rather than the half. it’s just a red herring being flung in. She hasn’t got something like that in the picture has she? Georgina: Okay. [Pause] Georgina: No, no, she just… Medium: My sense is that she’s playing around on Medium: But she… does it make sense that she flew what one might call the lower planes, in the light, not Medium: She hasn’t got a pen in one hand? threw the air? I get the sense that she’s telling me… stuck. But I feel as if she’s got a certain amount of… Georgina: No, she’s just holding a chocolate bar I Georgina: Yeah, maybe. I think it was a really bad almost like a certain amount of… she… I think to a think. crash. certain extent she’s probably getting earth experience through her friends as well, but I feel part of the reason Medium: Right, right. It’s like and again I get, don’t Medium: Yeah, as if she kind of flew out the car or that she likes playing around on the lower planes… I worry about me, get on and enjoy yourself. something. call them lower because there are lots of higher ones, Georgina: Yeah, yeah. Georgina: Yeah, I think she did. they’re not low, but that’s different. Medium: So I think the whole message here is that if… Medium: And I felt she was dazed, so wasn’t even Georgina: Yeah. to please her, to make her happy and healthy… well, I aware of the flight as it were. But I do… I get a sense Medium: And partly because I feel as if she needs to mean she’s obviously happy and healthy, but to make that she almost like woke up a time later rather than get a certain amount of life experience through her her sort of… the best thing you can do is look after immediately in the other reality. friends, as she now hasn’t got her own body. yourself… Georgina: Okay. Georgina: Yeah. Georgina: Yeah, yeah. Medium: Well… and that might have been something Medium: And I feel that later on when the time is Medium: And looking after yourself is to have fun. to do with any drugs or anything she’d been ready she will move further into the light. But I get Remember, having fun comes first, work comes second. swallowing earlier, but… she’s saying to tell you to have the sense as if she maybe around you for the rest of Having fun is more important than being serious. a good time. It doesn’t… it’s like life isn’t about living your earth life, as well as around her other friends, Being serious is boring. Having fun is fun. Having until you’re 92 and not had an accident on route. Life encouraging you to do the things that matter in life, fun leads you to lots of other fun people. Being overly is to do with having a good time. It’s like it’s better to one of which is grow, and the other which is have fun. serious leads you to a whole lot of dead bores. have a good time and die early than have a bad time She’s saying to me she’s not so good on the growing and die late, type of thing. Georgina: That’s the sort of thing I can imagine her bit, she’s better on the having fun bit. Did she have a saying. Georgina: Yeah. sister? Medium: So it’s like she’s alright, don’t need to worry Medium: I feel that she possibly had an odd sense of Georgina: Yeah, she did, yeah. about her. She will be around you and I feel that logic during her life. Did that make sense? Medium: I got a sister with… does she wear boots a lot? part of the reason is she’s got to sort of finish her Georgina: Yeah. Or did she wear boots? I’m getting… you know… earth experience. I feel yes, on the one hand she was supposed to die then. On another hand, she possibly Medium: And something here, did she have a Georgina: I think I only met her sister once. wasn’t. I feel as if she helped herself get there by not calculator or was always adding things up? Was she Medium: What? being completely on the ball at the wheel. And, but it good with numbers? was in her nature not to be on the ball on the wheel. Georgina: I think I only met her sister once, I don’t Georgina: I don’t remember that. And I think that almost like she’s telling me that she know, yeah… could’ve easily got killed quite a bit before then in Medium: Right, well something is… I can’t say that Medium: Oh right, well I’m getting some… actual fact from the risks she took. But she’s… yeah, it’s almost like I see her with a pencil and it could be she’s saying she has had it all explained to her by the a calculator or a little noted paper… pad paper so she Georgina: Yeah. angels after she died where she went wrong. And, but writes things down. Oh there’s some… well no, it’s Medium: I feel her… I’m getting her sister was younger I think she… I think she might have missed various almost like a machine with a pencil, as if she’s holding maybe? Not that clear about, but I feel that the sister opportunities in her early life, but I don’t think she… something big with a pencil and moving… I don’t know. was perhaps of quieter nature than herself. but I think she brought a lot of joy to people because I’m not certain, it could be symbolic and it could be of the way she was. It’s almost… yeah, she’s like she’s literal, but there’s a definite feeling of expansion with Georgina: Yeah, maybe… saying, yeah, bring joy to other people but keep your her, as if she’s expanded. She feels to have been having Medium: And I… I think she may have spent quite a head screwed well on. No, don’t do anything too a whale of a time exploring the heavens. So she’s met lot of her life teasing her sister actually, who I feel was stupid. up with some people from past incarnations, people sort of maybe more together, less… but less fun. And I that she used to be friends with in past incarnations. Georgina: Yeah. feel her sister has done quite well in life. Georgina: Alright, that’s good. Medium: Do fun things. Do things which are a Georgina: Right. challenge or even possibly dangerous, but don’t be Medium: And I feel she just enjoys excitement, change, Medium: As if her sister somehow came out of herself outright stupid. And drugs, drink and driving don’t go different things to do, variety. It’s like yes, she says on more when she didn’t have another sister, was… well together. the one hand she’s having a much better time up there than she would have done on Earth, but on the other Georgina: Yeah, yeah. Georgina: Yeah. hand you grow and you learn through an earth body Medium: Sitting on her, although I think she also Medium: They’re fine for driving chariots in the sky but not, unfortunately, earth cars on the planet. So Christmas Georgina: What? Georgina: No! How a widow because she… I also see symbols and when they’re saying you get on with your life and you just women are widowed and never have another partner is for the Family Mum: 3 days? I wouldn’t be like that if I hadn’t been Mum: I don’t believe you. To Make need to be kind to people you meet along life’s way who in their life again they have a kind of veil around their It’s Christmas Day in Leeds in 1992. The Starr for 3 years. Yourself are not very good at getting their lives together. It’s Dad: On my life… on your Georgina’s life… head of, which shows me that it is a widow. And your Family are talking over Christmas dinner. Invisible like when you find somebody who’s a drug addict or an Georgina: What hadn’t been… oh I thought you said mother is a widow? Georgina: Oh thank you!! Inside a studio in Amsterdam in 1994. alcoholic or… and a telly addict or pick your feet addict [Recording begins] the inspector hadn’t been for 3 days! Georgina: No. or whatever, just show them compassion, because Mum: That’s disgusting, how could you? If I would’ve [Start of recorded material] Georgina: There’s a cobweb on the ceiling. (All laugh) they’re a bit twisted at that point, they need help not been there until next Christmas I wouldn’t have done Psychic: One of your grandmothers is a widow and Georgina: First you have to set up the room which derision. And I think that’s coming a bit from her. I Mum: Never! Georgina: The bottom inspector! that. never had another partner in her life? And a tiny you’ve decided to make yourself invisible in. You must think some… I think she might have treated her own woman, very bright woman, humorous, very fast Georgina: Yeah… Mum: She said ‘I hadn’t been for 3 day what do you Dad: I put a coat hanger down and couldn’t just clear have the right setting, the right atmosphere. There sister slightly better had things been… had she known moving… . expect’. it all… should be an empty wall in the room and above all she was going to cop it young as it were. Mum: Not in the this house, I don’t believe you… you should have complete privacy. First you must Georgina: My mother’s grandmother… Georgina: Look at him looking as if he’s above it… Mum: Oh give up now. Georgina: Yeah. Sarah: Yeah there is… sit quietly and comfortably. Then direct your eyes Psychic: A fairly small woman? Mum: ‘What are they talking about?’ Your dad Dad: Anyway let’s talk about something else. to a single point in the room. The point you have [Pause] Mum: No it must be… probably doesn’t even know what we are talking about. chosen will be the point where the cloud will collect. Georgina: Yeah. Georgina: It’s disgusting… Medium: It’s almost like every single time you’re Sarah: Yeah there is I can see it… it’s a cobweb. You should look for about a minute in this direction Dad: I do. She’s got an arse like the Mersey tunnel. Psychic: Not really thin but not really fat. having a really good time and letting go, she’s going Dad: It didn’t help that… directing all your attention to this specific spot. Mum: No it must be a spider that’s just blown in I to be there. And you could give her the odd drink as Georgina: Channel tunnel. Defocusing your eyes to enhance sight is important; let Georgina: I never met her… think… Mum: We’re all going ‘yuk’ and Sarah’s laughing sat well. It’s like you buy two drinks, one for yourself and your eyes become passive. Dad: Channel tunnel… there… Psychic: She is a nice, nice woman. She’s very strongly one for her, and you put the one for her over there, you Georgina: It’s hanging on the Artex… You then have to try and collect the cloud. You have to feeling to you, very strong feeling to you. don’t watch the rest of the people in the bar. Just put Mum: Oh God. I can’t believe it. Dad: It didn’t help with all the toilet paper you slung Mum: (Whispers) It‘s a wonder there isn’t one hanging recognise that you are collecting it. If the background the other drink there and then sometime later you’ll down… Georgina: I never met her… . on Sarah’s arse after this morning… Georgina: I can’t. is white the cloud will appear as being a faint orange find a plant or something to pour it down, or even Mum: I didn’t sling a load of toilet paper down. I said I stain. You will know that you are getting results when Psychic: She wants to be with you. Can’t you look up a take it to the loo or whatever and pour it down. You (G & S laughing) Sarah: Shut up! must have a wee… anything beyond the cloud is blotted out. When you photo of her? can’t drink it yourself because she will have taken the Georgina: I thought she’d got over that. Georgina: It’s one of the 6 wonders of the world… think you are getting results you must then start to essence. Now I’m seeing a see-through glass… where’s Dad: I had to… Georgina: Yeah, I could. build the cloud. You can use two methods for this. the table. The see-through glass that goes a bit like an Sarah: I thought I had. Mum: It’s a wonder she didn’t crack the toilet… Georgina: You what dad? One method is to use your hands, bringing them Psychic: Because there is a resemblance between you egg timer, inwards, and I’m not certain what type… did Mum: (Mimics Georgina) I thought she’d got over it! Georgina: One of the 7 wonder’s… it’s the 8th wonder together and drawing them apart then bringing them and her. She feels that you’re the child of her child and she like cocktails? Gin and tonic sort of thing or… ? Dad: I had to have a wee in the sink when you were of the world… together again. Alternatively you can use your eyes. she want to be with you through some phases of your Georgina: I did. out. Georgina: She liked pretty much everything. Once you have seen the cloud look away from it, allow life, and she’s very strongly warning you all the time Mum: Yeah. Mum: What making them too large? Mum: Oh dear. it to collect in another area. The willing energy used and she said… she is telling you, “you have too much Medium: Right, okay. What I’m seeing is like I think Dad: I know why it blocked. to form the cloud should be mental, do not strain confidence in people, be careful because not everybody she might like vodka, she might like gin or cocktails get (Mum laughs) Georgina: It’s funny isn’t it? your eyes. You should move between concentrating, you can trust”. And she is… her own life was not in a bit expensive, but gin and orange I think would go Sarah: I know why it blocked! Georgina: Making them too large to fit down the toilet. Dad: She’s always been the same. Every time she comes building up the cloud, then concentrating again. a big world. She had her family and she had a little… down very nicely next time you go to a pub… Sarah you’ll have to get a really big toilet fitted in your Georgina: I know why it blocked… because it was too for a few days she always block the khazi up. a very small circle of relatives around her and other When you’ve successfully built up the cloud it will Georgina: Okay. flat. big! people, she was looking a bit careful at other people, Sarah: There must be something wrong with your probably disburse to the four corners of the room. because there’s a strong binding between you and Medium: Just put it to the side in an empty space and Mum: Extra large toilet. Mum: No wonder she fell over… toilet because I do it at home and I don’t block the When this happens it will take the form of a spin. If her. May I look at your hand now? And she had been just say, what’s her name? toilet… it’s your toilet. the cloud is going to be of any use the spin must be (Sarah laughs) Dad: No… married to one of your grandfathers, he wore glasses. countered by another spin in the opposite direction. Georgina: Louise. Georgina: Oh I’ve ruined my trousers look… He had short hair, grayish, dark grey and small face, Mum: She must have an extra large back passage Mum: It’s a wonder she didn’t fall on her knees and slip To counter this spin you must direct your eyes to a spot but a visible chin. And he kind of, slow moving… a Medium: Yeah, Louise, here’s your gin… here’s your mustn’t she… if I did something like that I’d be off toilet… Mum: Awww… in front of you and generate an anticlockwise spin. slow mover. She was a very fast woman and he was… gin and orange. And then, you know, later take it to ahhhhhhhhhhhahhhhhh! When the cloud starts to do this, continue to build it Dad: No, it had turned round and sort of broke up like a Dad: It will come off will that… he tried to pull her back all the time. Ask your mother the ladies with you and stick it down whatever unless up. You can build a cloud which is very dense if you (All laugh) sausage and gone down… about her parents. there’s a convenient plant, but you might kill off the Mum: Don’t mess with it… persist. plants so the loo’s probably better. Or even take it Sarah: I don’t know how it escaped my bum. (Hysterical laughter from S, M & G) Georgina: Yeah, I’ll ask her. Dad: Don’t mess with it… Once you have a cloud the final step is to draw it outside and pour it down the drain. After all, you have Georgina: Basically she’s got an extra large bum! Dad: It had gone like that… .look… (Demonstrates with around yourself to block yourself out of view. The Psychic: Because they are nice… these are really nice paid for it, you can do what you like with it. But she Mum: Use a clean cloth not your mucky saliva… two Christmas crackers)… it had gone like that Chris… . cloud you’ve produced must therefore be big enough to people and they have a very strong binding to you, will take the essence so therefore you mustn’t drink Mum: She must have. Georgina: Salarva? enshroud your body. Will the cloud to come towards binding which is good. At first I’m going to look at what’s left. Georgina: It was double! Georgina: Fat arm. you and surround you. For this it is important to close your hand itself. If you look with me, sometimes it Mum: You’ll have all Christmas pudding in that, it’ll Georgina: Yeah, yeah. Mum: She must have twin passages. your eyes and to have complete concentration. When happens that you will see the aura of somebody else Mum: “This is fat arm, I mean Sarah… ” make it worse… it’s gone all shinny now… you think you are invisible check it out in a mirror. clearer than at your own hands. Your… this finger, Medium: It’s very… it’s not so much bad for you but the Dad: No because it… the pipe’s like that… but that was Georgina: Triple shit Sarah! Dad: It’ll come off with some of that shampoo of yours Place the mirror six or seven feet away. If you no they call it Jupiter and Jupiter is telling me how you spirit doesn’t like it. like that… so there were two of them… you want to stop Chris that you bought, that squirty stuff… longer see yourself you have had good results. think about other people as well. Now I understand Mum: Triple plus… triple plus Sarah. eating peanuts and all… Georgina: Okay. why your grandmother told you so, because this is Mum: Eh? [End of recorded material] (All laugh) Mum: I bet that’s what it was… peanut coma… the same feeling what you have in your character, Medium: And… and she says if you want buy four gin Dad: For the carpet… because you also are very careful, watching other and oranges if you like, for the other friends she’s got Georgina: As big as my arm. Dad: It was all down my nails… people. You don’t trust other people too soon. And there now. But I feel she’s joking. Don’t want to look Sarah: That’s carpet cleaner! Sarah: I think it was as thick as it. Georgina, Sarah and Mum (In unison) – Oh no… don’t! A Palm Reading that is what you learned, what you have inherited completely barmy. Okay, so I think that’s… I think… Mum: She’s doing it all over the place now… what you in Edam from your grandmother as well. But it is at the base what’s the time? It’s about half past two? Georgina: Big as a baby’s arm. Sarah: He wanted me to shove my hand down the doing? Get some kitchen roll… Sitting with a female psychic in a remote of your Jupiter finger. You’re looking at other people toilet. Georgina: Yes, it’s… Mum: It was bigger… big as a baby let’s say… cottage in Edam in 1993. carefully. But when you close them in your heart, you Georgina: It’s Sarah’s fault… Dad: She wouldn’t do it. try to help them, to lift their problems up, because Medium: Yeah, I think I’ll come out of it. Georgina: Oh dear [Start of recorded material] Dad: Get a tea towel… here… this is getting it, going up a bit. Your Saturn finger Mum: (Mimics Dad) She wouldn’t do it! [End of recorded material] Mum: She shouldn’t have any problem giving birth… Psychic (With Dutch accent): Okay Georgina, shall is bended, see? And Saturn stands for doing things, Mum: What’s wrong with these glasses… Sarah: What do you expect? I’d have brown nails not we start? really doing things. Not thinking but acting. And this Georgina: She can do it through her bum. pink… . Sarah: I thought you were making coffee. is bending to your Apollo finger and that means that Georgina: Yes. Sarah: Don’t! everything you have to do, to develop in your life has Dad: So she put them rubber gloves on of yours… Dad: I will when I’ve had my brandy, I thought you Psychic: So at first I start to look at your hands, but I to do with harmony, to create things in beauty, luxury Mum: “Have I had a baby? Oh I don’t know? Have I?” were making me one… here put that over there… Mum: Oh not my new rubber gloves! have to tell you something, I told you already that I can or in harmony. It is one of your needs. Apollo is also Sarah: Don’t! Sarah: Shut up, I said put the kettle on, you said you’d see people. bending, see? Yeah? Dad: I said there’s no point putting them on… they only make it… Georgina: (Mimics Sarah) Don’t! came to there, because she had to… I had to do like Georgina: Yes. Georgina: Yeah. that… Dad: Go get yourself a Malibu Sarah… . Mum: (Mimics Georgina) Don’t! Psychic: And I don’t know who it is because I don’t Psychic: And it’s bending to Saturn here. It means that Mum: Oh you lie! [End of recorded material] know your family or your friends. And you took with you are… are you an artist or something else? Sarah: What do you expect I’ve haven’t been for 3 days. you a tiny, not really slim woman, but not really fat as Georgina: Yeah. well, but she’s tiny, she’s not very tall. But it had to be Psychic: Because this shows Saturn and Apollo that Uranus is also inside your soul, the trembling of your surprises, mostly not nice surprises. So you come out Georgina: Yeah, I like it. Sarah’s Teeth Georgina: I can’t believe it! And you were still in the colour and form is in you. soul. Mercury, Mercury in your face you show the of a year, out of a phase that brought you sudden things, bakers? Psychic: Because this shows that you can use the Inside the house of my sister in Shiregreen, world. Oh Uranus is a very strong planet for you. sudden things where you had to act immediately. Georgina: Yeah. trembling of the music to build your mood up… Sheffield in 2009. Sarah: No, I was actually stood outside the bakers and Saturn in the blockade line, it’s just in Neptune. That Georgina: Yeah. I thought, oh my god, I’d bit into it… Psychic: It is a talent that is inside yourself and you is (calculating) building up the future. And you come Georgina: Yeah. [Start of recorded material] like to make your things in beauty and harmony, very from (calculating)… Pluto, oh good. You come out of Psychic: See? Georgina: Not both bottom and top? Psychic: Your Saturn line, here, oh what a beautiful Georgina: Are they uncomfortable all the time? creative bending is this. Here your pink, your Mercury a Pluto year and you enter Jupiter year. And I’m start Georgina: Last year, yeah, yeah. line. Beautiful thin line and it touches the lifeline. Sarah: No, it was the top… the top came out and dug finger is telling me that you need in partnership, the here… this pattern is like a… what is a (Says a Dutch Sarah: No. That means whatever you do for a job, it is your life to in the sausage roll. So I just covered my face and ran… man who says, “okay, darling, sit down, I help to solve word)… Psychic: Yes, last year. So last… the year you have work and to work is your life, see? It can’t be a parted Georgina: I mean only when you’ve just put them in, ran down the hill… your problems, you don’t have to do anything yet”. And passed now, and the Jupiter phase is… building up your Georgina: An x-ray. because it is together. yeah. you need a daddy sometimes. Look here, your Jupiter own… building up your own home. Georgina: Imagine if it had been both top and bottom. finger, well it stands for other people, the other people Psychic: X-rays. Yes. This is like an x-ray of yourself. Georgina: Yes. Sarah: No, the other ones were terrible, really awful. Georgina: Yeah. Sarah: Oh god I know, and I thought please, please around us, so the people we know and the people we Here you are born under the planet of Venus with They weren’t… the bottom was digging right in Psychic: It’s very close here. And I tell you… and I can don’t tell me someone’s seen me… love as well. You are very interested in people, because a hidden moon in Uranus. That shows me that you Psychic: Sometimes wanting to have a baby is also part there and the top were absolutely too big, they were tell you now a nice message, because you will succeed this line is strongly building up from your childhood, must have been a very soft child, a very… a quiet child of this year, this year, which is coming. absolutely massive were the top… Georgina: Oh no. Did you carry on eating the sausage here. The very small Saturn line, that here after it started already, your interest in people. But here we with a search for a mother. And your puberty stands roll? Georgina: Oh my god! you’re 40th year of life your Saturn line is spreading. Georgina: So you looked like Esther Rantzen or see that you are choosy… selecting people, see? And for two very strong planets. The first again Neptune That means that at that time you start to develop something? Sarah: No, no, I threw it. It really put me off. you look at people and you think you can walk in the again and Venus. That shows me that you didn’t fit Psychic: But I have to warn you, if you don’t want to certain other talents what you can mix, mingle, with door of my house and my heart, but you don’t, see? in your generation because they were too small for have a baby this year, from October until October next Sarah: Yeah. And even the teeth were big. I’ll show Georgina: Some people, you hear that they cough and the marriage life you have, because you will have a Very selective is the word, isn’t it? Here you see a very your wisdom during puberty. You didn’t feel part of year, ’94, then if you make love do it carefully, because you in a minute, comparing the size of the teeth to their teeth fall out don’t you… marriage life. You had two previous partners and beautiful strong line here, and are you sometimes a your generation there in your puberty, but you accept this shows that you are… those in the other ones. broken off? Sarah: Yeah… . little bit afraid of people? it because this Venus shows that there was shyness Georgina: Fertile. Georgina: Why did they make them so big? and… but also accepting things. Uranus stands for Georgina: Yeah. [End of recorded material] Georgina: Yes, sometimes. searching for security, searching for what is real. But Psychic: What is it, fertile? Yes? Sarah: Because, now I have had all the rest of my teeth Psychic: And this is a very strong partner line and you Psychic: Yes. also flashes of intuition, flashes of knowing things, and out… my mouth’s shrunk and it’s gone really small now. Georgina: God. want to have children? not knowing why. Georgina: Slightly, yeah. Georgina: So the other teeth were too big to fit in A New Life Psychic: So if you make love, do it very carefully Georgina: Maybe. Georgina: Yeah. your… (Without You) Psychic: Timid is the English word I think. because fertile is what you are very much this year. Psychic: You don’t know yet because… Speaking into a Dictaphone on Dockweiler Because this, the line of self respect is much stronger Psychic: See the intuition is strongly built here. But But it also means looking at your partner. I want you Sarah: Yeah, they were too big. beach, Los Angeles in 1998. than here, this line. It fades away a little bit, see? also the work, whatever you have chosen, must be self… to be like that, and if you are not like that, out of my Georgina: I’m not quite sure. Georgina: Oh gosh. But they made you a whole new Saturn, oh well you must do quite a lot of things, self dependent? life. So you will be very strict this year, looking at him, [Start of recorded material] Psychic: The lines are very thin, it is depending on set? because Saturn stands for developing things, doing but also wanting for more love, more attention, asking Georgina: Independent. partner you’re with, you want to do it together… Even (Sound of the sea) things and it’s very broad field, see? So in a very broad more attention from him, see? Now I’m going to look Sarah: Oh yeah, yeah. Yeah, they made me absolutely if you long for a child or he longs for a child and you field you are artistically busy, see? Psychic: Yes, independent, yes. And this… because at the lines of your hands. May I have your right hand a whole new set, so it’s a lot better. But these are just Female voice: You’re out there in the sea on your $20 don’t, or he doesn’t, then you won’t have it, because you Uranus comes back three times and one hidden time, please? Most people think I start with the lifeline but bloody ridiculous. (Goes out of room and returns) Now surfboard, and you just told me that with you around Georgina: Yeah. want to have a baby when both people like it and want so four times, and Uranus stands for… you’re not a I don’t. I start with the Saturn line because… oh, sorry, you look at the teeth on them… They’re my old ones. I’d never come to any harm, but you never said what to have it. There is a possibility of at least one child, Psychic: Colours forming, doing things, placing things person who can take commands, if somebody says “you the work you do, the work you have chosen I hope it is would happen if you drown. I’m watching every if you choose for one baby, you can have one baby. If Georgina: Right. Oh yeah, they’re much bigger. together. I see quite many people and it is a little bit have to do it like that”, you said “yes, and no and say something in artistic, in… in shows. You do it? move you make, it feels like you’ve been out there for somebody tells you, you can’t have any babies, they’re chaotic. Yes? And I see them coming in and coming okay, bye”. You need it. You can work among other Sarah: Can you believe it? ages even though there are no waves. Every time you Georgina: Shows, yeah. lying… Because here it is written in your palm of your out but they should be… oh yes… it’s very fast the place people but you are more depending on yourself and disappear I think about what I would have to do if you hand. And I think you will have one child when you Georgina: They’re like twice the size. you work. And it should be very friendly too because your own intuition. Because your intuition is very Psychic: Or developing clothes? were gone. I imagine driving your flashy car, although are somewhat older because then you stop this kind it is a nice atmosphere there. It’s very good. It’s so strongly developed here. The face you show to the Sarah: Yeah. And even the actual pallet. I can’t drive, and I think about buying a dog. I imagine Georgina: Not clothes. of career and you try to change it because of the baby, often that I see people in a wrong working position, but outside world stands under Mercury, and Mercury is finding a surfboard of my own up a tree and driving see? You are as well a mother then and you are called Georgina: Is really big as well, yeah. here there is looking at each other, you see? It’s very the world of illusion, and it has to do with films, to do Psychic: Designing? off with it on top of the car. I think about walking onto to develop all kinds of other things to… but keep on good there. I’m not asking whatever you do because with movies, with plays. Actor. You’re not an actress Sarah: Is really big… the beach in my Hawaiian shirt and about dancing Georgina: It’s just art really. building up career, but also taking care of your mother I’m trying to find it out from the pattern of your date of are you? No? Only you can act? and doing cartwheels by the edge of the water. I think position. Here this very nice hill here, beautiful. Oh Georgina: So which… so they’re the ones that you wear birth it is. Look at this, Apollo, the finger of harmony. Psychic: Art. about buying rollerblades and skating really fast Georgina: Yeah, I do sometimes… this is a leuk… this is nice… now? When you look at it, the aura can’t stay still. This with the sun behind and the wind in front so that my Georgina: But it is shows, it’s like exhibitions. shows a very creative mind, see? And it is very fastly Psychic: But it is part of yourself, you need it, you are Georgina: What? Sarah: These are my new ones, and they fit so snug. shadow’s always ahead. I just looked up again and moving here. So you must be an interesting woman. a builder, so you need to build something with your Psychic: Yes, because this is what is very much a part you’ve reappeared in the water. You have folded your Psychic: She’s got a star, here, see? You’ve got a star on Georgina: But why did they make them so big? Your Mercury stands for communication and you can also talents you need to build them up with your mind and of you and if you would have chosen something else, clothes all neatly on the beach just like you do with the hill of Apollo… teeth were much more that size, than that size weren’t maybe… giving commands. And you don’t like people your head. But the face you show to the people around then you wouldn’t have used your talents in your job. mine at home. The way you sometimes sneak round they? telling white lies and so on. You do it yourself just a you is the happy young woman, the happy little girl, So it would be wasted and that is a pity, because you Georgina: What does that mean? when I’m at work and the only way I know you’ve little bit to try to protect yourself, but when somebody and you’ll show nobody your tears. So you make a show quite a lot of it. Have your own business. Sarah: Yeah, they were nowhere near like that. been there is because my clothes are all tided up in Psychic: That means that you can succeed in career, else does it, you don’t like it. Your date of birth? show to the outside world. And that’s where you’re piles when I get in. I sometimes get worried about you Georgina: Yeah. that you will make name, that people will remember Georgina: They’re like teeth that you get in the joke very selective, the one you trust can enter, anyone you always been around, especially that time when I saw Georgina: It’s the 24th… your name… shop. don’t trust you leave them outside. You seem to let Psychic: Your own responsibility in this, because the your car parked up the road when I was dropped off by Psychic: 24th. them know everything is alright, although your whole only one who you can depend on is the partner you Georgina: Really? Sarah: They are. my mates, and you banged on my door after and said world could be broken down. Here we see Uranus in love. And other people you accept but until this. This you’d just called round on the off chance when I knew Georgina: Of the first… Psychic: In the work you do. Yes. On the hill of Apollo, Georgina: That sort of really big teeth. Yeah, they’re your lifeline and Uranus four is a very strong planet, we call the Upper Mars and the Upper Mars shows full well you’d been waiting there all night. here. And the star is success in Apollo, in harmony, in much more like your old teeth, and the colour seems Psychic: Oh. keep four at the back of your mind, always, everything the aggression you feel inside you, you like to talk to the creative things you make. I don’t think you will be better on those ones. You’re walking back along the beach towards me. you do, it’s your lucky number. You do it your own way. defend yourself, when somebody is attacking you, you Georgina: ’68. world famous, but you will make name, sure. When you see me looking you try to hide yourself Saturn is blockaded and that means… laws are… you have very strong feelings here, aggressive feelings. Sarah: Yeah, I mean on those, they’re done more like behind the surfboard. I think you’re paranoid that your Psychic: ’68, born under Venus, sun, the family you can’t escape laws and you act within laws but actually Your Lower Mars is hardly developed, that shows that Georgina: (gulping sound) a whitey colour… but they’re, they’re just more like my body’s gone all chubby from all the Mexican carnitas come from… .and Neptune of your… hopefully your up you want to make your own world and your own laws, you make career between 20 and 40 and after that that real colour. Psychic: Yes you will… we’ve been eating this summer, but when I asked you bringing. Your puberty stands under Neptune Venus,… see. And what people tell you, you take it as an advice, you will… after 40 you like to have a more quieter life. Georgina: Yeah, yellowy, sort of… before if that’s why you wore a T-shirt in the sea you thirteen… Uranus? you can follow or you can’t. You decide. Here we see I’m looking at your Saturn line later on… [End of recorded material] denied it and said it was to stop your nipples getting Neptune as well in the way you look at life, your life. Sarah: Yeah, but god it was terrible. Georgina: Uranus, yeah. Georgina: Yeah. sanded by the board. You just asked me if I missed you. And the way you look at life in Neptune let me see that Georgina: God, no wonder they were hurting. I daren’t tell you that I planned a whole life without Psychic: Uranus? you look for your own responsibility - what will I take? Psychic: To look if it… you will succeed in this you, with a car and a dog and everything. What can I take? And what will I leave? What can I thing. But this, this first knuckle of the thumb shows Sarah: Yeah, and every time I put them in they fell out. Georgina: Yeah, that’s it. leave? You must be a very strong woman. There are musicality. Is the word musicality? (Sound of airplanes and sea) Georgina: Oh no. Did they fall out anywhere bad? Psychic: Oh yes, so I do it again. very strong planets and Venus comes back three times Georgina: Yes. [End of recorded material] as well, so Venus means bringing harmony, creating Sarah: Yes. They actually… I actually once walked into Georgina: You can’t win with that one, it’s difficult. harmony. Lucky for you, you leave your Pluto year. Psychic: Musical feelings, musical movements inside a bakers and I got a sausage roll, and I bit in and as I (Laughs) This year from October until October, so last October yourself. You like music very much? pulled it out my teeth came out with it. Psychic: Uranus? Okay, thank you. It tells us that you started your Pluto. And Pluto is a planet full of A Séance in Medium: And the only thing I know about him at this joyful, cheerful kind of woman, not like the man at all. come out naturally though. So it’s always been quite a Georgina: None of my aunties are dead, it’s funny as Medium: Has he proposed? moment is he’s not a very tall person. If I had to guess This lady comes across as sort of very sensitive, very struggle, an onward struggle, but you are an ideas lady. they’re all… Belgrave Square Georgina: He would, but I’m not interested in I’d probably would have gone 5’7”/5’9” in height, quite emotional, very affectionate but very family orientated. And a lot of ideas that you’ve not used in your past, you Inside a small room at The Spiritualist Society in Medium: What about a sister of your Gran’s? She is marriage. good head of hair on his head, but I think he may have And even though she says that she deteriorated quite should’ve done. Belgrave Square, London in 2008. I am sitting with more related to you on your mum’s side than your dad’s receded slightly somewhere round the front but still a lot in her weight before she passed away, and it also Medium: No, no, that’s what she actually said, say no the psychic medium Alan Acton. Georgina: Right. side. not visible enough to say if he’s going to bald. would have affected her eyesight. So she did suffer every time. Well she actually believes you’ll get on [Start of recorded material] quite a lot before she went over. And apparently she Medium: Are you a businesswoman now? Georgina: Right. Yeah, my Grandma didn’t have any better with him than signing that bit of paper, getting a Georgina: Right. was taking different types of medication as well long sisters. ring on, then it all goes wrong. Medium: Now I’m going to do this truthfully and I’m Georgina: Well business, I’m not really a Medium: He’s very… I would say more ‘chesty’, very before she passed away. But her mobility’s quite slow, not going to tell you anything just to make you feel businesswoman, but I work for myself. Medium: Right, yeah, this lady’s definitely connects Georgina: I believe that myself, so yeah. tight across the chest, and around the throat passages mobility’s not fast. And she’s getting exasperated good or make you feel happy because I can’t. with your mum. where he’s finding it difficult to breathe, which I think walking over towards you now she’s seen you there. Medium: Right, because she’s associated you as a Medium: So that’s why she said always say no to Georgina: Yeah, yeah. he suffered long before he passed away. He could Does she make sense at all? businesswoman. Georgina: Yeah. marriage. But the bizarre thing is he’s not the only come across as quite a nice old boy but he was also a one that’s going to be a part of your life. There’s either Medium: I have to say exactly what they tell me to say. Georgina: Again that could… it could be… well it’s not my Georgina: Oh right. Medium: And she won’t change her mind. bit grumpy as well, he tended to want to stand his own someone now that fancies you or someone else that’s Grandmother as she’s still alive, so it’s definitely not her. Georgina: Okay. ground, be very independent. He’s got a very strong Medium: What do you do in your work? Georgina: Again, it could be my mother’s grandmother going to come along between now and the end of this looking kind of face, so quite a few lines around there Medium: No. but… year. Do you know anyone called Chris? Medium: Now do you know your relatives that have Georgina: Well I’m… I make films and exhibitions. and around here, so it’s like a worn out face that he’s passed away? Georgina: I never knew my dad’s mother… Medium: No, she doesn’t sound as old, the language is Georgina: No. actually got. So I’m not sure if he would’ve reached a Medium: Right, but do you not want to extend on this different… Georgina: Yeah, well I know some of them… good old age or that’s exactly what he was. Now either Medium: Right. though? She’s wants you to stretch it out further and Medium: Or Christopher? he’s smoking or someone else is smoking behind him, I further. Georgina: Right. Medium: Well that’s alright because when they come Georgina: I never knew her. Georgina: No. can smell it coming from here. But he’s quite a casual through I won’t know what the relationship is… Georgina: Right. Medium: Since I hear their voice quite clearly I know dressed kind of man, that felt comfortable with what Medium: What about an aunt? Is there any aunts, she Medium: Remember the name, apparently roughly the kind of century they’re from by the dialect Georgina: Okay, alright. he wanted to wear. But he was very strong minded and seems to be coming across as like an aunty more than a Medium: But she wants you to do something with Christopher sticks with the past. Some connection to of the talk. definitely a very strong independent person that would grandparent. it. Again ideas that come into your head you’re not do with the past. Whoever he is, he’s going to come… Medium:… between you and them. not burden or worry or tell anybody what was going using and she wants you to use them. It’s a bit like Georgina: Right, I see, yeah. they’re bringing him back in your life for some reason. Georgina: I’m trying to think. Georgina: Okay. on with his life or his health. He’s been dead for quite re-drawing the whole business plan again but this time But you will have to choose between two men… Medium: And this woman’s more of a modern talker or some time, yeah, he’s been over there quite some time Medium: And there is definitely some form of cancer changing little things here, little things there. Then Medium: So you might say I want my uncle or my definitely of this century’s talker. Georgina: Chris… . now, or he believes he has. Oh and he never got the or something that made this lady’s weight plummet she says you’ll find it will work more in your favour. Gran… but whoever comes through I’m still going to chance to say goodbye to everyone before he died, so he very, very fast before she went. Georgina: On my Grandmother’s side of the family, it Medium:… as to who you want to be with. tell you what they look like because I wouldn’t know if Georgina: Right. would’ve died at a different hour where people weren’t was quite… her mother wasn’t married so it was… it’s them or not. Georgina: Right. There’s my dad’s stepmother. Georgina: It’s a name that I know… yeah, I didn’t ever there. Does he make sense at all? Medium: And you’ve got a website done as well? Medium: Yeah, things like that were kept behind known anyone called Chris. I know Chris, Christine Georgina: Okay, yeah. Medium: Right, that’s alright. Georgina: Mmm, I’m thinking it could be my father’s Georgina: Yeah, I have got a website. closed doors then. This is definitely one of them then, but… Medium: When they do that they just start generally father. Georgina: Mmm, it could be somebody like my dad’s it’s got to be. She won’t change her mind. But what Medium: And you’ve jazzed it up. Medium: Did you go to a university college? talking about themselves to clarify, then they start step mum. she does feel though is that you are going to make it in Medium: Right. telling me about you, hopefully things you’ve done in Georgina: My website is just… I’m an artist, so I… this life. In a bigger way than what you can actually Georgina: I went to… I went to university… I went to Medium: Right, did you ever know her? your past that you shouldn’t have done, or things you Georgina: It could be. imagine. You have the quantity, the quality, the the Slade, which is part of University College… Medium: Well she wants it all jazzed… do now that you shouldn’t done. Or it could just not Georgina: I think as a child again I knew her but not… knowledge , the know how and the people. But you’ve Medium: Did you know your Grandfather? Medium: Right, look in that area. happen at all. You just never, never know. But if there’s she died like when I was maybe… Georgina: Oh really? got to kick yourself and move forward faster. And you anything that you do want to ask, feel free, but be Georgina: As a child I knew him, yeah, yeah. write the scripts as well? Georgina: Oh right. Medium: Oh no, no… Medium: And looking wonderful and attractive, as she careful what you ask… because you might not like the Medium: Right, that’s okay. believes that that’s going to help in your publicity as Georgina: I do write scripts, yeah. Medium: Definitely in that area. And he should be answers that come out. Georgina: Five or six or, yeah. well. And also like business cards as well. Jazz them coming round to you in the next couple of months, Georgina: Yeah, but not really, really well. Medium: And you’ve got some ready for use or ready Georgina: Alright, okay. Medium: But do you not sense or see spirits? She tells me up as she says a dull business card attracts dull people, two/three/four months time. And you will actually to send off? Medium: No. But even as a child did he come across you do. She believes that you’re like a little bit of a book, where a raving business card she says attracts raving be quite taken back when you see or know this person Medium: Now is there any point you want me to find sometimes as grumpy? Or had one of those faces you only reveal the pages to people that you want to. people. And since you have got a long, long life down in Georgina: Well I work for myself and I’m more in the again. But there’s definitely in years to come a decision out about? where never knew whether to say hello, goodbye, just this world, and it’s going to be a hard life, it’s not going art world than the film world. It’s more an art thing, to make as to which man you want. Georgina: That’s true. Georgina: Well once I went to a palm reading, years keep quiet? to be an easy one that you’re going to get… you never I don’t make movie movies, I show in galleries and Georgina: Right. Better not tell my boyfriend then. and years ago and… Medium: She calls you cautious, careful, but always have done. But she feels the rewards that you’ll get at museums and… Georgina: Yeah, he was quite… he was quite quiet, I’d got this barrier, and it’s to do with the past more than the end of the day are definitely going to be a bonus and Medium: Oh no, I wouldn’t tell him that. Medium: Oh my ancestors used to do that. say that. He was… Medium: Oh really? That’s strange as she wants that the present. worth it. But you don’t just film in this country though. door shut, but the other door open. Georgina: No. Yeah. Georgina: Really, and this woman said that… this Medium: But he believes that he was quite old- She wants you going overseas. Georgina: Yeah, I suppose I’m not a particularly… always stayed with me, she said that there was a fashioned in his ways. Well he’s one of the ones that Georgina: Really? Medium: But you are… you’re definitely very psychic. Georgina: Yeah, well I travel a lot with work. person, there was a woman that I’d brought in with me are standing there anyway… Medium: You’re not fully open is what she says And it does run on your mum’s side, not your dad’s side Medium: She believes you’ve got a lot more to give in that stood behind me… Medium: But do you ever go anywhere near Nigeria, of the family. Georgina: Right, yeah, yeah. Georgina: Yeah, yeah, no definitely not, yeah. the opposite direction than what you’re working in at South Africa and all round that area? Medium: Oh right. the moment. Georgina: My mum’s definitely more open to things Medium: So if anybody else comes in, which I think Medium: But she seems to put deceit, deception in Georgina: I’ve been to Africa but years ago. like that. Georgina: And she described this lady and I never they are now. Now your mum’s mum, she’s in the spirit your past somewhere but someone doing it to you. Not Georgina: Oh right. knew if it was a real palm reader… and she might have world as well? you doing it to them. Medium: Right, remember she’s said it because you Medium: Well this one, as I say, is not just the psychic Medium: She says you’re not giving a full a hundred been making it up, I don’t know anything about that. I might well be going back there, but not for a holiday, thing, it’s like alternative therapies, alternative Georgina: No. Georgina: Right. percent. Where on the opposite direction of filming, always wondered if that old lady’s still behind me. You this has got to be to do with work. medicines and alternativity all round where you dig scriptwriting, arranging, organising, that is more know there’s things you don’t know… and I had to look Medium: She’s alive? Medium: Even though she calls you a jolly, happy, up the roots and you ground them in their bowl and Georgina: Right. you because she says you’ll be fully in control, fully in round when she told me… vibrant young woman, but you do get hurt quite easily. that kind of thing. That’s how far back your family go Georgina: She’s alive, yeah. charge and you know what you want. So your life will You may never show it on the face, but on the inside the Medium: But you don’t have people working for you at in that kind of lifestyle. But your lifestyle now is more Medium: Well you don’t have an old lady there at the take a little turn around but for the better, definitely Medium: Right, let me find out who this lady is then. pain is always there. And it’s somewhere in the past… the moment? the modern methods, the modern approach. To be a moment. not for the worst. And she also seems to want the next I notice as this lady walks towards you and I don’t… success… to be a success, to reach the goal, you’ll have Georgina: There’s no big deceit I can think of. Georgina: Now and again when I do big projects… half of your life becoming a lot more open. Bit like to Georgina: Oh right, okay. couldn’t even put a… if I had to put an age on her I’d no problems, none at all. Only you do underestimate have more fun but in a good way. Now are you in a say between 70 and 75, I could be totally wrong and Medium: Not… no, I don’t think it’s a big thing… Medium: Yeah, because she seems to want more bigger yourself a little bit sometimes, which she wishes that Medium: You’ve got an old man, but not an old relationship now? I’ve just insulted her. But she’s not a small woman You’ve never had a great deal of close, close friends and bigger projects so you’ve got people there all the you wouldn’t do, because it is all there. How old are woman… though, or she is a small woman, I mean. Somewhere around you in your life. She says that you selectively time throughout the course of the year. Georgina: Yes. you now? Georgina: Really, an old man? between 5 feet/5’5” but quite a slender looking kind take the people that you want to take on board your Georgina: Right. Medium: And you’ve been in one for over a couple of Georgina: 40. of lady, not big in any areas whatsoever, and she’s got little kind of boat. Medium: Yeah. years now? a lovely oval kind of shaped face, quite nice skin for Medium: She calls you fair but mean, cruel but soft Medium: You’re not? Georgina: True. Georgina: Oh no. a woman of her age, but a very small shaped mouth. and what you have to be she says. Georgina: Yeah, yeah. Georgina: I am. She’s got whitish kind of hair that’s quite curly in parts, Medium: But she actually calls you a very Medium: I know he’s standing behind you. But he’s got Georgina: I wonder who she is. Medium: Right, and you’re not married to him? which I don’t think was natural curls at all, she’s like philosophical woman and knows what she’s talking Medium: I’m not going to tell you how old I thought to connect with your mum or your dad’s side of the family. permed or curlers went in. She did wear glasses but about, knows what she wants and always tries to aim Medium: She definitely comes across as an aunty, more Georgina: No, no. you were… Georgina: Right, okay. not all the time. But her complexion was quite… a very to get what you need to get in life, but it doesn’t always like an aunt. Georgina: Oh really, how old did you think I was? 60? wishes that you’ve made over the years, she says Georgina: Yeah, it’s a boy, yeah. mystery on my mum’s side. Georgina(1): I actually think you once said it about me. Georgina: Yeah. wishes never come true but they do if you want them Medium: I would have thought you was about 23/24. Medium: Well the other thing she’s said about who Medium: Oh yeah. Is there anything else you want to Georgina(2): No way, I never said that. Ronaldo:… to collect the body, rang the doorbell. The to or allow them to. So major changes to you, not that he is, he’s perfectly okay, he will be brought up over know before she goes? woman wasn’t in so I guess she was out with her two Georgina: Oh really? much, minimal changes, yes. Georgina(1): Well actually I think you did, you did say there, but he will always know who his mum is. So dogs. So I thought ‘Well I’ll wait ’til she comes back, [End of recorded material] that. You said that I was very intuitive, a very intuitive Medium: Yeah. Georgina: I’d love to know who she is… . they will bring the baby back as it grows up more and but then I noticed there was a plastic bag just round person. more to come back and see the natural mum. But when the corner and I thought ‘Oh no, don’t say she’s in Georgina: Oh my gosh, no. Medium: I know I wish I knew their name, date of she goes… when she dies and goes over there, he will Georgina(2): It is just not the sort of thing I would ever there’, opened the plastic bag and sure enough there birth and everything. Medium: You don’t look your age. shrink right down to a baby again and she will be able You’re Very Intuitive say. was my dear little Lulu. Georgina: I know, it’d be great wouldn’t it? to watch the process of him growing that she didn’t see A conversation with myself about intuition. Georgina: Well that’s good. It’s because I’m not Georgina(1): Well you did and I’ve actually got it, I’ve Georgina: Oh no! Not in a plastic bag? if he’d lived. married! Medium: They never… I’ve never found one medium [Start of recorded material] got it on tape somewhere. Do you want to hear it? Ronaldo: Yes. yet who’ll do this, or do that anyway. Georgina: Right. Medium: That’s true, that’s… that’s a good point there. Georgina (1): Hello, hello… Georgina(2): Yeah I do actually, I do want to hear it Come on… come on. Now was someone in your family Georgina: On a hot day as well. I’ll have to tell my boyfriend I’m not marrying him now. Medium: And now the child is perfectly, perfectly because it’s just not true. born in 1975? Georgina (2): What do you think? okay. But you’re not having no kids though. Ronaldo: Yeah. Georgina: Yeah, it’s… . (Sound of tape rewinding in a Dictaphone) Georgina: Yeah. Georgina (1): What do I think about what? Georgina: I’m not? Georgina: Oh God. Medium: Give it about a year and a half/two years, Georgina(2): You’re very intuitive. Medium: Right. And also in 1951? Georgina (2): You’re very intuitive. that’s when she believes you’ll take off. Medium: No. She’s not putting none with you. Well Ronaldo: Wrapped up in a little bit of sheeting. Georgina(1): See I told you. Georgina: There might be, but I don’t… I can’t think not at this moment anyway. Georgina(1): I think, I think that… Georgina: Oh. Georgina: Right. off the top of my head who that would be. [End of recorded material] Georgina: Yeah, I’ve never really wanted children. Georgina(2): Go on… . Medium: According to what she says, the spirit world Ronaldo: Anyway, I brought her home, put her on the Medium: And also 1924. have got great, great things for you to be doing… and Medium: No, she calls you a career woman. A Georgina(1): I think your right hand is what you’re bathroom floor… you read your star signs? Georgina: Okay, well I’ve got that on the tape and so I career woman that will need to put man in his place born with and your left hand is what you make of life… Lulu Georgina: Oh, I’m sorry, it’s awful. will try to find out. apparently. Which you’re not very good at doing but Georgina: Sometimes. Georgina(2): Who told you that? A telephone conversation from a house in Watton- you’ll learn to have to do. But you’ve got a thriving life Ronaldo:… and brushed her out. Medium: I asked her when she was born and she said at-Stone to a studio in Hackney Wick. Medium: Well she says why, it applies to a million though. And disappointing… well not disappointed Georgina(1): I have no memory of who told me that. she believes she was born in 1924 but in the month of Georgina: Yeah. other people in this world. She says by you being really cos she says no children, no marriage, yet you’ll [Start of recorded material] March. Georgina(2): Who was it who told you that? yourself and believing in what you can do… there’s a always be with a man. There will never be a day will Ronaldo: Immediately phoned my aunt who I think Ronaldo: We had such a lovely afternoon together… lot more of that to come out of you. You’re very, very Georgina: Right. go by where you’re not with someone to share what Georgina(1): Why do you want to know? I’ve told you before is actually younger than me talented and if you weren’t, I’ll tell you that as well. you’ve got in life. But apparently you eat a lot of fruit as Georgina: Yeah, it was fantastic. although she’s my aunt… Medium: And she’s quite a nicely spoken kind of Georgina(2): I just asked that. But there’s definitely a lot more of you to come out, well cos she says that you need to. woman as well. She talks better than I do. But, yeah, Ronaldo Wright: But something absolutely dreadful Georgina: Yes, yeah, yeah. abilities, talents, even from the gob there’s a lot more to Georgina(1): It was a palm reader that I met in she’s definitely related to your mum’s side. Definitely, Georgina: I don’t eat enough fruit… happened while I was in Hertford with you, which I be spoken and shouted out and spoken about. Because London. Ronaldo:… asked her to take me to a vet in Welwyn definitely. Now you’ve not got no babies? wasn’t aware of. she says that people value your opinion but sometimes Medium: And you need to eat more vegetables. The Garden City. They looked her over, thought she’d been Georgina(2): A palm reader? you don’t think they do. And this is where you’ve got Georgina: No. fruit is more for the bowels. Georgina: Oh no, what? hit by a car because every rib was broken. to voice it more and more and more. But now though, Georgina(1): You are really getting on my nerves. Medium: Did you ever lose one though, as she’s got one Georgina: I’ll try… Ronaldo: Yeah. When I got home I found a note. You Georgina: Oh no. mentally and physically she says you’re knackered. She was, she was… with her and she keeps pushing it in your direction? know I left my little cat, I think you may have seen my… Medium: She… yeah, she wants to make sure that you Ronaldo: And all her inside was smashed to a pulp. Georgina: I don’t know. Georgina(2): Why did you believe her? Georgina: No, never lost one, no. have regular bowel movement. Georgina: Yeah, I did see your cat, yeah. Georgina: Oh my God. Medium: A little bit of stress. A little bit tired. Worn Georgina (1): It was her that told me that. Medium: No, she never lost one. Is there anyone in Georgina: Right, okay. Ronaldo: Yeah, a little black and white. out. Could do with a nice little break or a little couple Ronaldo: Well, I was so distressed, as you can your family who did? Georgina(2): Why did you believe her? of days rest. Medium: And you won’t if you don’t eat fruit she says. Georgina: Yeah. imagine… Georgina: Yeah. Though she absolutely adores you though. Georgina(1): Why you, why you believe her? What Georgina: I’m going on holiday on Tuesday. Ronaldo: She’s so timid and frail. She’s 16 years old Georgina: Yeah, that’s really awful, God. makes you believe her? Medium: She keeps pushing this baby. Georgina: I wonder who it is. bless her. Medium: Oh good. Check the case. Have you got one Ronaldo:… but the strange thing was Georgina, Georgina(2): I just said that. with wheels? Georgina: Yeah. Medium: She adores you. Georgina: Yeah. although the chest was. Georgina(1): Why shouldn’t I believe her? She’s a Georgina: With what? Medium: Oh right. Do they still ponder or think of the Georgina: But did I meet her when she was alive? Ronaldo: And she’s never been outside the garden gate, Georgina: Yes. professional. child that they lost? she’s so nervous of people. Medium: Wheels on your case. Medium: Did she meet you when you were alive? Ronaldo:… the rest of her – her head, back, legs – all Georgina(2): You’re so predictable. Georgina: Yeah. (Pause) Apparently you did. She died when you was Georgina: Right. looked in perfect condition and I couldn’t understand Georgina: I have, yeah, yeah. either seven or eight years of age. See ‘Mary’ is such Georgina(1): Well she said, she said that I was going to that and the vet said ‘Do you live near a busy road?’. I Medium: Can you tell them it’s perfectly okay. Ronaldo: Spent her entire life, in this village anyway, Medium: Check the wheels on the case. a common, common name that every medium uses. be successful. said ‘no’. in my garden and in the house never going outside Georgina: Right, okay. But I don’t know if that’s her name, she’s just come up Georgina: Okay. Maybe I won’t take that case. Georgina(2): So you believed her because she was the garden and I’d left her asleep. As I went, came Georgina: No, it’s really, it’s quite quiet on your street with the name of Mary. In fact she says you should Medium: If they believe this sort of stuff anyway. Oh, saying what you wanted to hear? to meet you I thought ‘Now what shall I do? Shall I isn’t it, yeah. Medium: But it will be a trip and you’ll enjoy, but you remember her and there are quite a few old black she wants to know if you’ve got any questions. She leave her out in the garden or shall I put her indoors?’. won’t enjoy. and white photos of her. Quite a stunning lady in her Georgina(1): So basically you believed her because she Ronaldo: Well it is, very quiet. I said ‘No. In any case wants to know when you’re going to grow your hair. And I thought it was such a lovely day and she was younger days. was saying what you wanted to hear. she never goes out the garden gate’. Georgina: I always feel like that about holidays. fast asleep under some shrubbery and I thought ‘Oh Georgina: Really? Georgina: And she’s definitely on my mother’s side? Georgina(2): You just said that. she looks so peaceful there, it’s a pity to wake her up, Georgina: Yeah. Medium: But sometimes, she says on the holidays that Medium: Yeah. disturb her’. Well when I came home I looked where you go to, when you get there you wish you hadn’t got Medium: Definitely on your mother’s side as she keeps Georgina(1): No I would have believed her what ever Ronaldo: So I said ‘But what is that wet patch on her she’d been lying, nothing there. I thought ‘Oh perhaps there and had gone somewhere else. Georgina: I just had it cut yesterday. referring… well I said what about the dad? She said no, she said. chest?’ she’s moved to another spot, perhaps she’s in the back mother’s side. Georgina: That’s true. I always wish I’d gone to Medium: Oh she had it cut yesterday. Georgina(2): What even if she would have said you’re garden’. When I got to the door I saw there was a note Georgina: Yeah. Greece. In fact I’m going to Greece this time as I Georgina: Right. going to be unsuccessful and unlucky in love? sticking out of my letterbox and when I pulled it out of Georgina: It was really long. Ronaldo: I said ‘Quite frankly, to me it looks like she’s thought… the box before opening the door… Immediately I saw Medium: But she’s going to be like your little guardian Georgina(1): Well she said that I had intuition. been in the mouth of a dog.’ Medium: Well in a nice way she says you should have the note incidentally my heart leapt and I thought ‘Oh Medium: Yeah, and you never do. angel though now. So if you want to talk to anyone, talk kept it. Georgina(2): Ha! no, please God, don’t say something’s happened to the Georgina: Oh no. to her. Georgina: Yeah, I hardly ever do, but this time I am. cat’. Georgina: Yeah. Yeah, older people never like short Georgina(1): There you said it I knew you’d said it. Ronaldo:… and he said ‘Well you could be right’. Well Georgina: I wonder if she was the person that was Medium: Oh, you’ll enjoy it cos Chris is… no, she comes hair on girls. There’s evidence. Georgina: Yeah. later on I found out it was this woman who took her there before when the… from Greece. Anyway… but have you ever wanted to go away from my home. She’d actually come up to collect Medium: No. Georgina(2): It’s such a palm reader type of thing to Ronaldo: And when I read the note it was from a to Mauritius? This lady here is showing me the island Medium: Was she there before? Apparently she says her dog because he’d leapt over my fence… say, no one ever says that. neighbour saying ‘I found your cat dead on your path. of Mauritius. Georgina: Can you tell me more about this child, just she was. But she’s only there to look after you, protect Would you like to come along to my house to collect Georgina: Oh shit. so I can tell the person, but I don’t know if there’s you, definitely not to hurt you. But you have got a Georgina(1): Actually a lot of people have said that Georgina: No, I’ve never been there and it’s a place I the body?’ anything… bulldozer of a career to look forward to. Was there any about me. Ronaldo:… and of course grabbed poor Lulu while she used to think about when I was a teenager… males in your mum’s side of the family called Tom or Georgina: Oh no. was fast asleep. Medium: Do they know the sex of the child they lost? Georgina(2): Like who? Come on, like who? Name Medium: Really? Well hold onto that dream then. I Thomas? This one’s a boy. names? Ronaldo: And I immediately went along to No. 2. Georgina: Oh God. The dog did it. know this lady keeps referring to dreams, all your Georgina: Not that I know of, no. But it is quite a Ronaldo:… and that’s how she was so crushed. almost if she’d still been alive and been in a complete The Ecstasy Guide: Yeah, most of them… state of, you know… that would be terrible, yeah. Jesus Christ Georgina: Yeah. of Foxy (the Good Shepherd) Paul: The Israelis knew who was in there… Ronaldo: Well… had that happened Georgina I think I A telephone conversation from Ronaldo: And so yesterday, when your parcel arrived A group people are walking around the Church of would have gone out of my mind quite frankly. the Old Pumping Station at Old Ford Lock Guide: Because they gave the names. And finally one at about 10.30, I was just going out of the door with my the Nativity in Bethlehem with a local guide. to a studio in Hackney Wick, London. day, I have a colleague he’s a Christian, he used to be aunt to go back to the vets again to collect her ashes Georgina: Yeah. Oh I feel terrible that you were out [Start of recorded material] inside, a guide. All the time they came to arrest him actually. that day and like… [Start of recorded material] and he escaped, because he don’t want to be arrested. (The sound of a choir singing hymns) Georgina: Oh really? What, you can get cats Ronaldo: Well it had, it was to be… Ron Rowen: I’ve never seen anything like it. And finally they came as a tourist… they arrest him cremated? I didn’t know that. Guide: In 2002 in April when the Israelis reoccupied for 3 months and they release him, that’s it. “Why you Georgina: Yeah. Georgina: So tell me what happened again. Bethlehem and a lot of the refugees they came into this escape?” They say, that’s it… Ronaldo: Oh yes. church looking for safety. Ronaldo:… but I spent all that night, the 19th, I didn’t Ron: Well, I went out with your camera under my arm, [Pause] Georgina: It’s amazing. go to bed. I just sat in the armchair crying my eyes out it fits snugly under there, it’s nice and bulky. Khaled: The wanted. all night… Guide:… I hope you will a good shepherd for us. Ronaldo: And I’ve got a – she’s in the bedroom now. Georgina: Yeah. Guide: Not wanted, but 250 person, imagine Georgina: Yeah, that’s awful. Paul: (Laughs) Hahaha. Georgina: Right, okay. Ron: Cup of tea and his tray of meat in the other hand. something… Guide: Go speak about us, how is Bethlehem and how’s Ronaldo:… and looking at pictures of her, you know. Reem: To take shelter. Ronaldo: She’s in a lovely little, a beautiful little box Georgina: Yeah. the people… just like a miniature coffin in a way, a little brass plate Georgina: Yeah. Ron: He was already out there so I put down the Guide: Yes to take shelter inside the church and on it with her name… Paul: Yeah, yeah… of course. Ronaldo: But the next day of course my sorrow had camera and my cup of tea at about the same distance Israelis make siege around this church for 40 days. Georgina: Yeah, that’s nice. really turned to anger. from where you sat the other night when you came They killed 8 persons, one of them Christian the Guide: Yes. other Muslims. And that is the bullets in the top of the over here. Paul: I’ll have to find some sheep first. But I will be a Ronaldo:… and all little scrolling on it… Georgina: Yes of course. windows… Georgina: Yeah. good shepherd. Georgina: Yeah. Ronaldo:… bitter anger. But I’m over that now and Paul: Oh yeah, yeah… all I want to do now is I’m gonna have a few breaks. Ron: Marched to the same distance where the meat (All laughing) Ronaldo:… and, you know, it just feels nice to… Guide: They used to release up balloon, hot air I’ve told you in the letter actually. I plan to go to was, I put it down and I turned round just in time to see Guide: Anyway you are a good shepherd, you know balloons, with x-ray and gun shooter to shoot anyone Georgina: Yeah. Manchester down memory lane for a few days. him, he actually got hold of the handle in his mouth. why? in the area… Ronaldo:… because I didn’t want to bury her. In any Georgina: Yeah that’s good. Georgina: It’s crazy. Paul: Why? My hair? case the ground is too hard. I can’t dig it you see. Georgina: Inside… Ronaldo: And I might pop down to Cornwall just for a Ron: Yeah, and I had to break into a run to stop him (Laughing) Georgina: Yeah, yeah. But have you spoken to the couple of days and I’d like maybe to go on the Eurostar because he was away. Guide: And they bombed on this side… woman whose dogs did this? to Paris. Guide: No, no, no, remember… Georgina: He actually ran with it in his mouth? (Some conversation in Arabic) Ronaldo: I have and she was very callous at the time. Georgina: Oh yeah. Georgina: It’s more like a sheep dog… Ron: Well he was going to and I would have never Paul: But 40 days, how did, I mean that’s a really long Georgina: Really? Ronaldo: I’ve never been on it. caught him, because being only, what about 15inches time… Guide: You know the shepherd, what happened? The angel appeared for them and announced for high he could easily slip through the shrubs and the Guide: Yes, they used to throw packages of food from Ronaldo: She said ‘Oh, cats should be able to stick up [End of recorded material] them Jesus was born, then they came and they left bushes and I’d never be able to get him. house to house… for themselves’. everything and they came to see Jesus and the manger. Georgina: No. But I wonder what attracted him to Georgina: Well not when they’re 16. Paul: Yeah? And you also are the same, you left everything, you left picking it up? your home and you came here to see where Jesus was Emily: It was the whole city, it wasn’t just the church, Ronaldo: Well I said that to her. born… Ron: I don’t know. it was the whole damn place. Georgina: Yeah. Paul: Yeah… Georgina: It’s not like they’re magpies, it’s very strange… Paul: Yes, yes, right… Ronaldo: I said ‘When they’re young yes maybe.’. I Ron: I was going to say that to you. As far a I know Guide:… same as the shepherds, good news! said ‘If it had been a young cat it might have gone for Guide: And until the 25th, one day they passed it’s only magpies that have got a mania for picking up your dog’s eyes… ’ I said, ‘… but my old cat she was 16 through the soldiers in the street, one girl dropped [End of recorded material] things, out of curiosity or not, I don’t know. I thought I and very frail. How could you expect her… ’. I said the package of food, dropped it in the street, and the must tell somebody. ‘That’s the equivalent of 80 years as a human being’. solider discovered the package and said ‘food?’. Then Georgina: Yeah. they get angry, and all the roofs, they took all the Georgina: Yeah of course it is, yeah, yeah. roofs off… and that’s why after that they negotiate the Ron: Because if I were to just leave it and it comes up in Ronaldo: I said ‘What could an 80 year old woman do European countries with the Israelis; “What do you a conversation, it’ll be like “he’s waffling… he’s making against a lion for example?’. want from them?” And they said… it all up”… Georgina: Yeah, yeah. Paul: Yeah, “what are you doing here?” Georgina: (Laughing) Yeah… Ronaldo: I said ‘She didn’t stand a chance’. Guide: They said there is some wanted inside. The Ron: Well I said to you, being the young lady that you Europe Community said, “Give us the name and we’ll Georgina: Didn’t she apologise? are, I don’t find that I could ever lie to you… because… check it.” They said, “No give us the name of 250, well that’s just the way things are… Ronaldo: Oh she did then. First of all she denied her plus 50 priests, and we decide which one is wanted or dog had killed it. Then when I told her what the vet Georgina: (Laughing) Yeah. But I mean it would be a not.” And finally they gave names and everything and had actually said – oh because I didn’t tell you. One strange story to make up, wouldn’t it? they said, “OK, we didn’t find the wanted but there is thing the vet did say is that ‘One thing you can be twelve person dangerous. So they said we can deport Ron: Yes it would be. I did actually, when I retrieved grateful for… ’, and I was very grateful for it, he said ‘… then to a Europe country for one year and you must it I settled down and I was sort of moving it around, I think… ’ – and she was grabbed – the shock was so allow then to come back to their homes and you must and occasionally it caught it eye. And then I actually great that she died instantly of shock, traumatic shock. release the rest of the people. Ok they released the rest trained it on him and he never moved a muscle. and deported twelve persons who until now are still in Georgina: Yeah, yeah well that’s good. Georgina: Oh that’s good. Europe, they don’t accept them again… Ronaldo: So he said ‘She actually died before the body Ron: So if he comes tonight I can try it out. How long (Arabic speaking) was crunched up’ if you see what I mean. shall I keep it going for? Guide:… and also the ‘less dangerous’ of them is twenty Georgina: Right, yeah, yeah. That’s really… oh it’s not Georgina: Well just as long as he’s there. I mean the six… good, but… tape lasts for an hour. Obviously you’re not going to Reem: They sent them to Gaza… Ronaldo: Well it was. have it running for an hour but maybe like 10 minutes.. Guide: They sent them to Gaza… Georgina:… but it’s yeah, it’s better than yeah knowing Ron: I’ll try and catch him in various shots. The one that, like finding out that she suffered or anything. that I particularly want is where he’s sitting down and Paul: Yeah… . his head is raised and his eyes are shut, like he’s in a Ronaldo: Well exactly. It was… Guide: And until now, most of the people they are state of ecstasy… arrested, from 250, most of them… Georgina: I mean the worst thing would have been [End of recorded material] Paul: Really? This publication was produced on the occasion of Publishing directors/Direction de la publication Georgina Starr would like to thank Georgina Starr’s exhibition I am a Record and I am Georgina Starr, Yann Chevallier Georgina Starr tient à remercier : the Medium at Le Confort Moderne, 19 March - 9 May 2010 Editorial direction/Direction éditoriale Paul Noble, Georgina Starr Christine Starr, Editorial Advisors/ Coordination James Starr, Cette publication a été éditée à l’occasion de l’exposition Conseil éditoriale/Coordination Sarah Jane Mills, de Georgina Starr, I am a Record and I am the Medium Emma Reverseau Ronaldo Wright, au Confort Moderne du 19 mars au 9 mai 2010 Translation/traduction : from English to French/ Tracy Williams ltd, de l’anglais vers le français Rachel Ortas, Published by/Publié par Le Confort Moderne Monique Nicol Sophie Dauvois, With the support of/avec le soutien de OUTSET Proofreading/Relectures Sabrina Tabuchi, Monique Nicol & Caroline Clutterbuck Henry Bainbridge at Dub Studio, Copyright Publisher and the artist, 2010/ Art Direction/Direction artistique Candida Gertler and Outset, Tous droits réservés zl’éditeur et l’auteur Georgina Starr, Yann Chevallier, Yann Chevalier, ISBN : 2-908252-51-1 Laurent Mészáros Emma Reverseau Graphic Design/Conception graphique & Le Confort Moderne team. Limited edition on 250 copies/ Laurent Mészáros Éditon limitée à 250 exemplaires Photographic credits/Crédits photographiques Prudence Cumming, London /250

Achevé d’imprimer en février 2010 Par XXX (ville), Pays Dépot légal : mars 2010

Dedicated to / Ce livre est dédicacé à la mémoire de Marjorie Lois Miller (1917-2010)