La tour....and the difficult snow

Hey y'all, Katie and Ella here,

We apologize for the lateness of this post. During the holidays we did a free tour around Arnolfini for the public on the Inbetween Time Festival exhibition work. We did it before Christmas when it had been snowing like mad, so we trudged down to Arnolfini in about a million jumpers and our Docs' . When we got to Arnolfini we met Cathryn, Hannah (our YAAC coordinator) and Sasha.

We discussed the tour over tea and biscuits in the green room, and highlighted areas of the exhibition we thought we could expand enough on during the tour. Due to the snow and ice only two people turned up, but it was really nice, because instead of talking 'at' them, or overloading them with information, we could have a proper conversation. We took them to certain pieces in the exhibition- 'Aire', '37 Cuerpos', 'Untitled (after iconogrophia) and 'Drawing Breath' and 'Holding My Breath', and gave our own view on the pieces and what they signified and meant to us. We also gave background information we'd learnt through the Inbetween Time opening night and our YAAC sessions. It was really nice and relaxed and the people we showed around really seemed to 'get it' and see what we were rambling on about. They also gave really interesting feedback, which helped us have more insight into the pieces and develop even more of an interesting view on the exhibition, and to a certain extent gave us more understanding. The tour lasted about 45 minutes and went really smoothly (which we were so relieved about.. we were mighty worried about awkward silences etc beforehand..) we think it was really positive, and it was really nice that our tour-ees' appreciated what we were saying and shared their impressions and understandings of the work with us too, in return. It was also really nice to feel a proper part of Arnolfini and like we'd given something back! After our tour we went back to the green room for more tea and biscuits and to talk 'YAAC' and reflect on the tour and what we'd picked up from their response, and new views we'd formed, as a result.

We ended our Saturday Arnolfini sesh at about 4 and trekked home again in the cold, slipping on the ice once or twice and ending up with bruised legs and bums. But all in all, it was a really good afternoon and experience and we feel it was really helpful for our reflection and understanding of the exhibition, and helpful for us personally in terms of confidence and building opinions on work.

Ciao

Katie and Ella xx