ABOUT
TWO POETS. ONE ROOM. ONE ARTIST. TWO CONVERSATIONS. FOUR POEMS
HARRY SAID:
Hello, are you visiting the gallery today?
Ah, great. My name’s Harry; I’m doing a poetry project and was hoping you might have a few minutes to collaborate on a poem with me. Really what we’ll be doing is having a conversation about some art, a particular set of artworks in a particular room of the gallery. How does that sound?
Awesome. So, we’ll just walk over there now; it’s a little way. Here’s my notebook. What I would like you to do is to make notes, while we speak, about whatever comes up in our conversations that you find interesting. I’ll use your notes to create a poem, and whatever you write will dictate what form it takes. Are you happy to do that?
Great. Here we are. Shall we take a seat?
A LITTLE BIT LATER, LAURA SAID:
Hi, I’m Laura. Sorry to surprise you.
I’ve been sitting here listening to you and Harry talking. If you don’t mind, I’ll be writing a poem about your conversation as well, except I’ll be using my own notes. I’ll be taking complete artistic ownership over my piece.
Poets do it all the time: eavesdrop and go away to write a poem about what they’ve heard. You don’t usually get to read the results.
See, this is a project – an experiment – about the nature of collaboration itself. To explore two responses to the same conversation with the same person in the same room: one collaborative, one non-collaborative.
Thanks for letting me listen.
LATER LAURA SAID:
Hello, are you visiting the gallery today?
Ah, great. My name’s Laura; I’m doing a poetry project…
Rothko Room was produced during the Arvon Word Exchange, a three-day Tate Exchange Residency based at Tate, led by Sarah Butler and Jacob Sam-La Rose with ten writers from The Writing Squad and four from HIVE South Yorkshire. There’s a description of the project here by HIVE writer Iram Ahmed.
LAURA ATTRIDGE
Laura is a writer and director working in opera, theatre, and the spaces in between these forms. She has had poetry published in magazines including Mslexia and The Rialto, and song cycles premiered at Glyndebourne, The Royal College of Music, the National Gallery and Bard College (NY). As a librettist and playwright, her pieces for the stage include Now (2014), Damsel/Wife/Witch (2015) and P.U.C.K. (2016); she is currently working on chamber operas commissioned by Glyndebourne and Scottish Opera, both with composer Lewis Murphy. Laura is Artistic Director of And So Forth, and is proud to be a graduate of the Writing Squad.
‘Rothko Room’ is a chance for Laura to ask questions about taking ownership of artistic output with and without a collaborator.
HARRY JELLEY
Harry does the three Ps of poetry, performance and producing in the sunny city of Manchester. As one half of iOrganic, he explores heritage through poetry and play and also co-produces First Draft Cabaret, celebrating spoken word, music, comedy and all other performance. Working with Alex Hogan, he founded Content Providers, exploring the relationship between coding and poetry. He has recently worked on music and poetry collaborations for Rite, an evening ‘futuristic utopian boogie’, and produced concrete poetry banners for events in Manchester.
Through ‘Rothko Room’, Harry is interested in exploring the limits of collaborating in short interactions with museum and gallery visitors.
Photos and site by Steve Dearden.