Point Project: Steps

The steps outside the art room at Green Hills Academy in Kigali, Rwanda:

-You can hear them whenever they are in use, the creaking of the hinges, the bending of the metal

- The puddle of water surrounding the last step after it rains

-The group of students constantly surrounding the banister, gossiping, sharing notes

-The scraping of the shoes on the concrete block below it

-The wind pushing the cover of the stairs back and forth

-The mixture of grass and cigarette smoke creating a wall of air just past the steps

-The back exit, closest to the dining room, visible to the headmaster and blocking the view of the art room.

-They overlook the thousand hills of Kigali

-They are part of the new extension to the school

- A deep forest green to match the uniforms of the students

Display Methods

-To change the direction, to throw off the natural movement of the student body

-Disrupting the constant flow, blocking the waves of green uniforms.

-To change the weather, to make it snow, blanketing each step with a layer of white, the cold air biting at the red cheeks of the kids.

-Adding music to each step, bringing to life the ntore dancing and enriching the natural rhythm of the students

-Removing the light and forcing chaos. Students falling, tripping up and down each step, the usual banging exaggerated to an extreme.

-Disrupt the uniform structure and colour of the stairs. Painting them a fluorescent colour, contrasting from the green and cream of every other aspect of the school

-Slanting each step and creating a slide, the screaming of the girls scared to go down ad the pushing and shoving of the boys trying to prove their masculinity.

Point 2 My black notebook, sitting on the floor of my room:

-On top of the grey manufactured carpet

-Below the dark mahogany desk

-covered by last semesters books, old sheets of paper, discarded clothing

- Inside my apartment, through the kitchen and dining room, past the bathroom, to the right of my roommates bed

-Leather bound and falling apart. Marked, stuffed, scratched, worn, beaten.

-Stuffed with images, drawings, cutouts, words, illegible musings, boredom

-A story teller of the past few months of my life. Each experience, every idea, inspiration, thrown inside.

-The pages weathered from spilled coffee. Originally a crisp white colour, the pages have dirtied, having an older creamier look

Display

- Changing the scale, enlarging the entire notebook.

-Taking some of the images of the notebook, focusing just on those images.

- Taking the story line from each page and recreating it.

-Shredding each page, showing the instability, the impermanence and the passing of each moment. Constant change, nothing stays the same.

-Photograph each page and display them side by side

-Completely deconstruct the book and display

- Open the book and display it in a clear, sealed box.

-Paint over each page in black, covering everything on it.

- Glue the book closed.

- Hang the book from the ceiling

Point 3 A cut line in the table:

- A line deeper than any other cut into the table

-sharp, you can feel the knife going through the plastic

-it is the darkest of all the indentations in this table

-about a foot in length, slightly curving from midway down the table to 3/4 of the way down.

-the edges of the slash pealing back against the rest of the surface.

-Paint seeping down the slit

-The lasting impression of the work of an artist.

Display

-Fill in the rest of the surface of the table, making just the one line visible.

- Make the line deeper, darker, more obvious

-Make the colour of the line more vibrant

- Make a sculpture of the table/ slash. 3D

-Deepen the line, forcing it all the way through the table, shining light through the line.

- Make thousands of deep lines in the table.

-Make the lines white on a black table, black on a white table

-make the line wider, as well as longer.

-have knives sticking out of the table.

-have performance art and have the artist actually cutting into the table