
THE MOMENT
OF
DISCOVERY
An attempt at articulating an
ephemeral moment in history through an enactment.
Various locations, Cornwall
2017
Once upon a time, a few thousand years ago, in a land unknown, lived a person, this person dived down into the Sea one day to discover a Scallop. This may not seem that strange, or exciting, but this person was the first person to have done so, the first person to ever pluck a Scallop out of the Sea and upon doing so, prise open its mighty shell and pop it in their mouth.
This new performance draws on this initial inspiration, celebrating a little known or rarely discussed part of human history. As the artist it was my intention to attempt to give every participant their own moment of discovery. How can you ever represent or talk about an ephemeral moment in history? To ever attempt to translate a feeling, a moment in time, a moment of discovery, an intangible idea into something solid, something transferable, is surly an impossible task? For me, the only way to ever do this is to create a moment, to curate an intimate moment for each participant. to not talk about the idea, but to let them experience it, to leave them to their own devises with little to no instruction and see what they do.
I have always felt reluctant to talk about this work, as to me, its one of the greatest, but also as soon you know about it, the work is ruined for you, for yo will never be able to experience it the way it was intended. you will never have The moment of discovery.
During the course of the show I handed each willing participant a small charred amorphous rock made of clay. throughout the show, or maybe later at home, or maybe never, this rock would crack, come apart and split in two and by doing so expose the hidden shell inside.
Instead of a scallop, cooked within the rock, the participants discover a shiny hard substance stuck to the sides of the rock, it is amidst this discovery they will make a decision, to lick it or not.