The Virtual connection always has its challenges but the beauty also is that it can be done from anywhere. I had to go to Holland for a funeral but this beautifully did not have to impact on the project. Sadly we ended up doing this session via Email (as phone were not an option) because of an internet issue in the school.

But preparations were made and the class could get to work on their constructions of the rooms. I could not show them to them, (yet) but continuing on the idea of traces and unfolding history I always return to Gordon Matta Clark.

in his work he investigates structures, layers and investigates places in ways we wouldn’t dream of trying.

deconstruction is as interesting as construction.

(example of one of my (older) trials)

In order to catch up verbally with the class we logged in again a few days later just for a little hour to discus their beautiful photographs. in groups they came up and speculated over the origins of the marks, dents and scrapes.

‘Maybe a chair was thrown after a hard maths exam?’

‘the hole in the brickwork would make a wonderful hideout for insects’

‘The big blob of white paint could have been made by a clumsy painter’ or even a pancake from a pancake competition which was painted over?’

‘ and a long time ago, (because I saw it) these marks might have been made by people carrying chairs in and out of the classroom’ or ‘ maybe it was the cleaners trolly bumping into the wall’ or ‘ someone carrrying in a chair for the inspector?’

We have a lot of research, making and investigating done now its maybe time to step back for a minute and see what all these bits are telling us. which bits grab our attention, what needs more experimenting and investigating and what can we leave behind?

‘ in years gone by there might have been an earthquack that caused the crack in the ceiling near the junior infant classroom?’

The construction of the rooms that the class are working on is hard but I hope very satisfying, we don’t have to be precious about the materials and the efforts will still be visible even if we try to deconstruct them again. (We haven’t gotten to that yet)

So lets see what wonderful conversation unfolds this week!