I remember very little about this place except that I worked for some professional firm that was providing expert witness testimony to the inquiry into the fire at King's Cross Station (so that would make it the Spring of 1988) and I was there as a photocopier operator.

I hardly saw anyone all day, I was in the basement with a photocopier for company.  The jobs would come down from the office upstairs on a dumb waiter with a covering instruction sheet and be sent back up the same way.

I'm pretty sure it was working here that convinced me to learn to touch type so that I could get more interesting work.Originally posted on I worked here

An important aspect of projects like this is that whatever happens, whether it turns out according to plan or not, it’s all part of the story.  Things don’t “go wrong” they just go differently to how we expected.

So today I had a chat with Nick and he told me that he’s now got theatre work until June.  Which is fantastic! Not only that but it sounds like some really interesting theatre.  However, it does mean that things will have to work differently than we’d thought and so we’ll have to see how it turns out.

Our intention had been for Nick to start training and for me to get started on collecting material properly in April or May after I get back from a trip across the USA.  I will still do this, but it’ll have to be something else.  And what that something else will be will depend on where we are at that time.  All part of the story…

Originally posted on In the Blue Corner

On Friday, I gave out three moleskine notebooks, labelled with their intended destination and including a set of instructions from the original post over here.  Each journal also comes in a stamped addressed jiffy bag so that they can come back to me at the end of the month.  They went to two people who were working in #C4CC that afternoon and one person who I had coffee with later.

There was a wrench to giving them up – I felt very responsible for making sure that they got on their way OK and that the people I'd given them to understood the instructions.  It's a surprise to me whenever this happens.  I make a great deal of the importance of "letting go" but when it comes down to it, I don't find it that easy myself.

So now i have nothing to do but wait for them to come back.  I shall also keep an eye on the hashtag. And I expect I'll also add some posts here as I learn stuff – this is an experiment to find out what works, after all.Originally posted on Journal Racing

I just bought a 1inch to 55miles map of the USA for plotting out the physical locations of my "safety net" – yes I shall also be using Google Maps to show things online, but I always like to get a nice analogue feel for what I'm doing.

I also purchased three empty, plain moleskine journals for the racing prototype.  i shall show these off at #tuttle in the morning before setting them free into the wild.Originally posted on Tuttle2Texas2

I think I’ve come up with a new title for this project and another way of looking at it’s theme.  It just came to me after writing about the journals – I was thinking perhaps of putting something on the front like “Please look after this journal and help it get to its destination”  And realised that the rules I’d been making were kind of in that vein too, I want it to pass through the hands of people who care.

And then isn’t that also what I want to do with myself?  It’s as if I’m abandoning myself at the beginning of the trip and allowing others to move me along, handling me with care as we go.  But it also made me think of Paddington Bear, how he becomes part of the family and has adventures, although he gets stuck where he is, he’s not trying to get anywhere.  Part of looking after the journals and looking after me is not holding on to us for too long, keeping us moving, passing us on to someone else.

What a lovely way to draw out the social network, make it visible, tangible – the people you would trust with a valuable package.

So I’m thinking of wearing a luggage label round my neck throughout the trip that just says:

“Please look after this Englishman, Thank You”

Originally posted on Tuttle2Texas2

As I mentioned when talking about racing earlier, I'm going to run a prototype version in the UK starting next week.  Just to see how it works really.

I will be giving out 3 empty journals/notebooks in stamped self-addressed jiffy bag with intended "final" destinations of Edinburgh, Liverpool and Penzance

This is a first draft of the instructions that I'll put in each book – your comments and insights are welcome – please let me know if you think I've missed something obvious.

If you receive this package:

on or after 31st January 2011; or
in {the intended final destination} before 31st January 2011; or
there is only room for one more entry, regardless of the date

then please add an entry as described below, put the book in the jiffy bag, seal the jiffy bag and pop it in the post.

Otherwise…

Please do:
Start a new page for your entry.
Put your name, today's date and your location, preferably a postcode (the first part only will do eg BS1, W14 etc) at the top of the page.
Write and/or draw something about you and your day
Pass it on to someone you know who is closer to the intended destination
Keep it moving, if you can let it go again within a day that would be best.

Please don't:
Abandon the package in a public place assuming someone else will pick it up
Just take it straight there – this is about a human-scale journey, not necessarily efficiency.
Hold on to it for more than a couple of days maximum.
Add anything else to the package that will increase the postage.
Modify the packaging so that it can't be posted.

Thanks for taking part!

If you wish to, and if you are on twitter, please tweet when and where you pass the package and include the hashtag #journalraceuk

Again, only if you wish to, e-mail a picture of yourself with the package and/or any thoughts on the project to post@journal-racing.posterous.com

If you have any questions, or just want to say hello, give me a call on 079191 82825 or e-mail lloyd.davis@gmail.comOriginally posted on Tuttle2Texas2

There's a nice little side exhibit at Tate Britain on Turner's use of Colour and Line.  It includes this descriptive panel which caught my eye in relation to this project.

Some thoughts:

What was tourism like in the early 19th Century?  How did these travels work?

The story of the journey itself is secondary to the things that get made as a result of the journey.

For those who need to know purpose: "to gather (visual) material to use as an inspiration for … finished works"Originally posted on Tuttle2Texas2

I'm going to take a look at what was required to do the first trip.  The idea of using these experiences to put a value on the power of my social capital is becoming more and more interesting to me.  I think this is one way into it.

Lets group things under the following headings:

Kit (camera, phone, laptop etc)
Flights
Accommodation
Travel between cities
Travel within cities
SXSWi
Food & subsistence

I think there'll probably be a post for each of these – it's not as simple as adding up a list of numbers (even if I'd recorded things in any detail) but I think it will help in being more structured in keeping records next year.

I'm starting to look for cash sponsorship for next March's trip to cover those things that can't be received in kind as well as offers of other corporate support.  If you know anyone who'd be interested in getting involved in this way, point them in my direction.Originally posted on Tuttle2Texas2

Thanks to a helpful man from the University and his blow torch and to Brian and his salt-sprinkling skills, the Centre will be open at least today, tomorrow and Wednesday this week

We’re happy to welcome anyone who’s unexpectedly in town and stuck because of the snow.

If you need somewhere to touch down, plug in, recharge, sup some coffee and maybe meet some new people, we’re at 16 Acton Street, WC1X 9NG very close to King’s Cross/St Pancras station and we’d love to see you. 

I’m going to be here from 11am to 5pm but there may well be others in at other times too – call me on 07919182825 to check.

Originally posted on Centre for Creative Collaboration – blog

Download now or watch on posterous

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Originally posted on Centre for Creative Collaboration – blog