it's really good to see everyones enthusiasm for this. i'm really into all the ideas so far... haven't seen space:1999 but lovin those screenshots! it's all getting much more imaginative so well done everyone.
i have a few things to say about the secrets idea... i like it a lot but there's a couple of issues that conern me somewhat. i don't mean to be a kill joy (again) and i feel like all i've contributed so far is harsh criticism so i do apologise but i think it's important to be critical of what we're doing as well...
anyway, she's beaten me to it but emma mentioned www.postsecret.com in the previous post. i'm not like some massive postsecret fanatic or anything but i've done some research into it and i think a few things should be mentioned about it....
post secret, if you're not aware of it already, is a pretty big phenomenon. it originally started in 2004 as an art installation inviting people to write their secrets on a postcard and decorate the walls of the gallery. in 2005 a blog was set up by frank warren and it has since become massively popular and has collected up to 2,500 postcard secrets. it's updated every sunday and people from all over the world send in anonymous postcards with their secrets on. lots of people email in saying things like how a postcard has touched them in a certain way or how one particular postcard stopped them from commiting suicide and all this kinda stuff. last year a community website was set up (www.postsecretcommunity.com) and over 10,000 people have signed up to the discussion forum. there's also been four post secret books published and people often go into book shops and hide their own postcard secrets into some of the books. here's some more examples:
some of them are pretty well designed too. all i want to say is that we need to be careful we don't make something that, to the audience, looks like we're just jumping on the postsecret bandwagon. also don't get me wrong, i know there will always be something or someone who has done something similar to what we do but i think postsecret is almost too new and fresh (and popular) to be referencing it (intentionally or not).
the other thing about postsecret is that it works so well because it involves pretty much everybody. there are secrets that range from funny little musings, to sexual habits, criminal confessions and suicide notes... it encompases a broad range of human emotion from every walk of life and i think for the nine of us to do something so similar it may become a really watered down version... i don't know, maybe not. but something to bare in mind.
honesty. i agree with what flo says about being honest, as half hearted secrets will appear bland and meaningless... however this is a tricky situation to get into because making work about our secrets is almost hypocritical considering the nature of a secret is that you don't want anyone to know about it. which means we'll get into all kinds of confusion over where we draw the line on what secrets to express and what ones not to express. i think maybe the only way to go about this is to be anonymous (like postsecret) however we all know each other's visual style and will be able to guess who's who, which is not a problem necessarily but if anyone actually has something personal to them they don't want people to know about then chances are the rest of the group will find it out (or the person will not submit the secret in the first place - which defeats the point of this whole idea). i don't know... maybe i'm missing the point here but this feels like a complicated issue to me.
however i like flo's suggestions of including everyday thoughts, i really love the ones she's posted, there's something very warm and human about them, good too in that they can be funny or serious (as with the secrets). i also wasn't aware that the bar was called 2012... i thought it was just called the brick lane gallery... could someone enlighten me on this please?
i apologise again for long ranting... and also sorry if i'm missing the point or misunderstand what the ideas are surrounding the secrets thing... but i think it's important to bare this issue in mind and be aware of other projects that are similar to what we want to do.
also i will try and be more involved from now on with this blog, but i am very busy at the moment, there's about a million things flying around my brain so it's difficult to concentrate and think about this project. but i'll try be more pro active about it. we should also keep our eyes peeled for other projects similar to the ideas we come up with, the more informed we are, the stronger our ideas and work will be.
x
p.s. i was talking to chie in college yesterday... she's so cool. i was wondering whether we should invite her to join in on the jungle club fun...?
p.p.s. i just added the photos of the space to the side bar.
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