16-16.59hrs Thursday 9th April Southbank Centre

16 – 16.59hrs Thursday 9th April Southbank Centre
I’m tired. I brought a bottle of sparkling mineral water and some pure apple juice.  I’ve been confidently told that this is good for rehydration because, and I suspect I’m a sucker for buying this, it resembles something to do with haemoglobin.  

Tuesday 14th April Home
I am a sucker.

(16-16.59hrs cont…)
Anyway, the ritual alone of decanting these liquids into a glass and then taking the time to drink it leisurely while sitting, as opposed to necking it from the bottle as I walk down the road, is good for something.  Steve calls and suggests that he may pop around with the kids after picking up some fried fish from my mum.  I said that I  was doing the installation for the Young Messages show but I would try to be back.

17h-17.59hrs
Toby the art technician starts to hang the work drilling admirably into concrete walls with only a selection of wood drill bits.  I love the way that these sculptures change where ever they sit.  In the recess, it looks like a giant macabre cobweb and I rather like the way it disappears behind the column.

18-18.59hrs
Becca comes back from picking up some additional frames and points out the large, highly visible, white wall, with spotlights set up in place.  It’s about diagonal from the, now obviously, dark and dank corner that we had put the work.  I have a cigarette and call Steve.

19-19.59hrs
I don’t remember what happened in this hour.  It’s my contention that if you’re working hard and you lose an hour like this early in the evening, that you’re destined for a late night.

20-20.59hrs
It’s all got pretty zen.  We’re in the White Room. Becca is sitting on the floor painting frames black, Daniel is cutting and sticking velcro on the back of his frames, and I’m sitting in front of a series of images in photoshop applying adjustments to colour balance, brightness/contrast and curves in that order.

21-21.59hrs
Latte and a chocolate cornflake crisp

22 – 22.59hrs
Becca tells security we will be there after the building is closed.  We’re all in the gallery. Daniel is writing on the wall and I’m loving how the photographs play against the sculpture and thanking that Becca pushed for us to use the frames. 

23hrs – 23.41hrs
I pick up about a hundred pieces of plastic that comes off sticky backed velcro, carry a few heavy things, think about a cigarette for the tenth time that night, and get into a black cab.  Its all over. 

07-07.59hrs Friday 10th April
I hope it hasn’t fallen over.