On Monday, we explored uphill Lincoln. The sites and views from there were absolutely beautiful and breath taking. When looking at these site’s many thoughts occurred to me about the history of the places and what meanings I could take from the place. As Govan states “In such work place becomes an important element within the artistic encounter and there is recognition that a space is not empty but full of meaning.” (Govan, 2007, 121). Some of the site’s came across as dull and empty, as nothing really stood out prominently to me in those particular sites. Other sites were full of life, history and horizon. The ‘fuller’ sites I am very much interested in working with because they have already triggered a lot of ideas.  However, I am going to visit the sites again with a more open mind seeing if there is anything else that I can pick up from any of them that I perhaps missed before, as Govan quotes Wrights & Sites, that suggests “Allow yourself to be stopped and diverted as often as possible. Accept these delays for whatever they seem to offer you.” (Wrights & Sites 2003: 40). I did open my mind in some aspects – such as at the Windmill. I took a photograph of a water tap. To anyone else it could have just been an ordinary tap, to me the elongated, old look made it look like a face so I had a little fun when editing my photos.

The main things that stood out to me throughout the walk around Lincoln was the secrets it held and I’m sure that there are probably many other historical stories and values not yet explored. Lincoln is a very historical city and has a lot to offer when looking for sites for our site-specific performance. Everywhere we went had some sort of sign, portal or a doorway which hasn’t really got much information about them which stands out as a secret. I’m interested in looking at signs around the top and opening my mind to them. As Phil Smith points out in ‘The Devils footprint’s video’ that people take signs  for granted they could tell us a story. Another thing that stood out to me was that Lincoln is a very spiritual city. I was very aware of the Cathedral when walking round as it was always in view. After the lesson me and a few other classmates felt the same about the Cathedral so we decided to take a look inside for inspiration. It was captivating and very inspiring.

I am going to further research into the historical stories and Lincoln’s secrets to develop some more inspiration ready for Mondays lesson.

Works Cited

• Govan, E. Helen Nicholson and Katie Normington. (2007) Making a Performance: Devising Histories and Contemporary Practices. Routledge: Oxon.
• Siobhan Mckeown (2011) The Devils Footprints PART 1 [online video] Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdEYlYJpkl0 [Accessed 5 February 2015].
• Wrights & Cites,2003 in Govan, E. Helen Nicholson and Katie Normington. (2007) Making a Performance: Devising Histories and Contemporary Practices. Routledge: Oxon.